Being Thankful Part 2.

So now that the water works are all done and out in the open, I'd like to share with all of you the fun Hubby and I had with our family over the holiday weekend. Our Thanks giving was spent hanging out with family and chowing down on some great food and though not everyone could be there (we missed you Shannon and John) we sure did have a good time!

I even got a few recipes share with you all because my family is nothing if not fans of a family potluck.

This year for thanks giving I made some pumpkin cupcakes like I did for Halloween. But this time I left the bugs off and opted for a swirled color effect with orange food coloring, a little edible shimmer dust, and an edible pear on top. I thought that was a bit better for the setting then bugs: P.

I also made apple sauce, which I didn't get a photo for but can add the recipe here if anyone asks, and a jello salad.

This was actually the best photo of it that I could get. I know it looks a little mangled but it was really good. You can tell because half of it is missing! XD. Well... that's my excuse. Anyways, I found the recipe on pinterest but I thought I'd cut out the middle man for you all... here's the link to the recipe.

Of course, I wasn't the only one to make some great grubs; my cousin Melissa made the most amazing trifle that was so good I almost stole the left overs and took them home... no joke. She was so sweet she even gave me the recipe!

Its called Pumpkin Cream Trifle and here's the recipe -

 You will need : a 9x 13 baking dish, large mixing bowl, medium mixing bowl whisk, rubber spatula, a trifle hurricane, or a clear glass bowl.

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 oz) packaged spice cake mix
• 1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding
• 1 Cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 Cup water
• 1/2 Cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 2 T spoons Pumpkin pie spice ( or use your own with ginger, all spice (or cloves), and nutmeg to taste; used only 2T spoons for this recipe and save the rest! )
• 2 Cups cold milk
• 2 (3.4 oz) packs cheese cake flavored instant pudding and pie filling
• 2 Cup whipped topping ( you can make your own with heavy whipping cream,sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat heavy whipping cream with an electric mixer until its firm but not yellowish. Add in about half a cup of sugar and about a 1/2 T spoon of vanilla extract and vuala! It makes more and is cheaper and taste better!)
• 1 Cup chopped toasted pecans
• 1 Cup English toffee bits.

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease the baking pan.
2. combine the cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, pumpkin puree, water, oil, eggs, and pie spices in the large mixing bowl. Pore into the prepared baking dish.
3. bake in the oven for 45- 50 minutes. When done, let cool completely to room temperature.
4. Once cooled, cut the cake into 1 inch cubes.
5. In your medium mixing bowl, whisk together the milk and cheese cake pudding mix. Allow to set (about 2 minutes).
6. In the trifle hurricane or clear bowl, layer on 1/3 of the cake cubes. On top  of the cake, layer on the c1/3 of the cream mix. top with 1/3 of the pecans and toffee bits. Repeat this until all the ingredients are used. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

I'm thankful for all the wonderful food me and my family got to enjoy and the awesome conversations we got to share and talk about. Really though, they are some of the most vocal people I know and I just love it! Thanks for having us everyone (if any of your family memebers are reading this) and I hope every one enjoys having a bit of trifle for themselves!

Being thankful part 1.

Alright, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, or have some sort or tragedy for to account for my tardiness. No, it was sheer exhaustion. BUT, I'm back and with a slew of updates and fun stuff. I think we've all been there, were we  feel like you just need a break from the same retrain and just feel like everything is going in the same circle; like some sort of cruel marry-go-round and if you stepped off the whole thing would come crashing down?

 Well that's sort'a were I was at. Well, that's sort of where I'm STILL at. You see, I'm going to keep it real here. After all, this is a story about my life and all the ups along with all the down. I think this is going to have to be broken up into parts and possibly need a bit of back story and defiantly more than one post. So if you care, please bear with me. As all of my family knows, My Hubby and I have been working on trying to get our credit good enough to where we can get a loan.... for that last year! Despite the inability to get a credit card (even to places like target!) we decided to try and call a loan place and find out if we are able to get a home loan. Mind you, we weren't going in with an amount we wanted. We just wanted to see what kind of budget we would be dealing with.

That's when we found out that our credit is so crazy that we aren't unable to get a loan... of any kind that I know of. This takes a lot for me to say, maybe because of my want to be normal, or my fear of being looked down on, or even the disapproval of my family and friends. Unfortunately, the only way to heal and to grow it to talk about it. If no one reads this but me, at least I said it and I was being honest to all of you. I don't think it would be right to tell people we are looking for a house when we no longer are or tell people we are waiting because of some other reason. No, this is it. The cold hard truth. Though, it feels like I'm jumping off a cliff into a pool of piranhas that I call my family, I know that they shouldn't be left out of the loop or even you readers and friends of ours. That would be shellfish and dishonest of me. And, while all this craziness goes on in our lives, I debate with myself the wisdom of trying for a child as well.

If there is one thing I want more than anything in the world, apart from being my amazing husbands wife, it’s to be a mother to his children. It may seem unconventional but I want a big family and to be a house wife. Being as head strong as I am, and an almost-neurotic planer, I want to space them out wisely and plan their bedrooms and silly things like that.

This is where the dilemma comes in. I simply can't wait to have children unless I want their father to be like 70 when they move out. This is what I get for marring someone 10 years older than myself. : P

So here I am stuck. Do I put aside my dreams of planning a baby room and having a perfect family in a wonderful home and everything as planed? For a life were I'm pregnant in a one bedroom apartment and rushing to find a home somewhere around eight or nine months and have nothing planned in way of design or functionality but am blessed with the life of another and the opportunity to pursue my dreams as a mother? I honestly don't know. For once in my life I'm not as sure in myself of what path in life I should take.  The only thing I can think of is how grateful I am now to have a roof over my head, a husband that comes home with a smile and greets me every day, and the people who build me up and support us along these changing times. After all, thanks giving aren’t the only time of year we should be blessed for what the lord has given us.