Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from the Bass Family!!

We hope you have some much deserved family time over the holidays! Hey... when we all get together it can be a little crazy!!

You know you want one.....

Don't all of you women want this man helping install your new mailbox? I mean, LOOK at that hat ladies! Can we say

H-O-T-T-I-E!?!

Sorry ladies, unfortunately he's not available, but you all know you are dying to get a handy man like this to help around your house!

Poor Mailbox

If you don't know it iced Sunday night here in Owasso and school was cancelled Monday and Tuesday. So on Monday, I stayed home all day and did "wife" things around the house. When Walt got home from work around 5:30 he asked me if I wanted to go with him to get gas. I didn't realize how bad the roads really were until I actually got out to see it for myself. We probably saw 5 cars just spinning in circles in the parking lot. I've only lived in Oklahoma for 2 and a half years and in this time we have had 4 ice storms. I guess I thought Oklahoma would be better equipped.... ha. After about an hour we were on our way home. Now, I must tell you that our house is located on a hill, so to get into our garage we have to go up. Our entire neighborhood looks like an ice skating rink, so we just kinda slid along and tried to have enough power so that we could just "skate" on up the hill. Well, Walt tried to turn the car to the right, but the ice just simply was not cooperating with us. And before I knew it "BAM" we ran completely over our mailbox. I shouldn't say "we".....I should say WALT. Gracie and I just sat there and then I busted out laughing. I guess you had to be there, but it really was the most hilarious thing I think I have ever experienced with Walt. The wind chill was -3 and it was freezing cold and we could not get our car back up into our garage. I knew that I was only riding with Walt so of course I was not wearing ANY shoes. "Walt, we have to get up into our garage! My feet are NOT touching the ground!" After several attempts we made it up to our garage, but needless to say our mailbox did not survive. What was so funny was that when I asked Walt how we were going to get our mail, (I mean COME ON....Christmas cards!!!) he then proceeded to tell me that hopefully they would just LAY OUR MAIL ON THE GROUND! Because that really is the smartest idea, right?! So, after we went inside and put on some warmer clothes, we went back outside to examine our damage:

Gracie decided she would take a little tinkle right where the accident happened...

Goodness, Walt did a great job of taking out the mailbox didn't he?? He never disappoints

R.I.P. Bass Mailbox May 2006-December 2008

Walt's face after he went out and really looked at what he accomplished. Word to the wise... this is NOT a face that you ever want to come in contact with....

What I found Walt doing after his first trip outside.....

Look closely...he's pouring himself some wine... always the remedy

Walt decided that he would try to "dig" the bottom portion out of the ground...only he lost his balance and was sliding down the driveway...

I think at this point I am telling him, "Walt... if the ground is frozen, how are you going to dig something up? Give up! It's too cold out here!"

Oh yes... he definitely succeeded in killing the mailbox

I know it looks like it just rained, but that isn't wet rain...that is ice.....

It's been a "Chili" day!

No, that wasn't a typo...since I did not have school today I decided I would make some super yummy, slow cooker, turkey chili. This is so easy to make... so easy that you could pretty much do everything in about 15 minutes, which is perfect, because then you can set the slow cooker on low for 8 hours and go off to work. When you come home, the smell will make you weak at the knees!! Oh goodness it is oh so good and I decided that I would share!

Here are the suspects for this meal, except, the corn is missing.... sorry!

1 1/4 pounds of turkey
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 1/2 c. frozen corn
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1 (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 package chili seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt

I've invested in a chop wizard. Yes, I got it off an infomercial... and surprisingly enough it is one of the greatest things I have ever purchased! It saves SOOO much time. See here, I cut the onion in half, placed in on the chopped wizard:

Pushed down... and Voila! This is what happened.. it is as easy as that!

So you take the turkey, onion and the garlic, cook the ingredients until the turkey starts to crumble. Drain the mixture, unless you want that fatty stuff, and place it in the bottom of your slow cooker: While the turkey was browning, I took my two bell peppers:

And you can either chop them up very fine, or if you have the chop wizard like me, in a matter of seconds, you have this:

Then take your frozen corn place into the slow cooker

Pour in the bell peppers... this is starting to look so rich in color!! My mother in law has always told me that food should look vibrant in color.. and this chili recipe does just that!

Mix everything in nicely:

After that, mix in the tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes, stir around nicely

Pour in those DRAINED and RINSED black beans

Add the chili seasoning to it, (I also add some jalapenos and red pepper, this is because Walt and I like things H-O-T!

Give it another stir... oh doesn't it look good.. and it has taken me longer to write this post than to make the chili!

Set your timer on low for 8 hours, or high for 4

Now, if you work... you are off and when you come home your husband will surely thank you for spending so much time on dinner. If you stay at home, or if you have an ice day, grab yourself some coffee (it is early)

Curl up by the fire with your favorite day time partner

You've just made a fabulous "winter" meal in minutes! Don't tell your husband though, you want him to think you worked all day on this!! I know mine will thank me after he eats two or three servings of this hearty chili!

Wrapping Away....

Walt and I took our annual trip to Kansas City this weekend to go Christmas shopping. I say annual only because we have made this a yearly excursion since we got hitched. I try really hard not to buy Christmas stuff up until this point, so that we can spend all day on Saturday shopping. Why go to Kansas City when Tulsa has everything that we need? Ok.. have you ever BEEN to Kansas City? I'm talking if I could, I would sell everything I have, quit my job, leave everything behind...(ok, well Walt and Gracie would have to come with) and move to Kansas City right now. RIGHT NOW. I lllllloooooovvvvveeeeee (you get the point) Kansas City. We always stay at the Marriott right on the Plaza, so everything we need is in walking distance.

This always seems to be a great get away for me, Walt and Gracie. What did I say... Gracie? Yes, Gracie... she can actually stay at the Marriott AND all of the shops allow dogs inside the Plaza. She loves it... can't you tell from this picture right here?

Ok...so this picture doesn't do her justice. If you are an avid blog reader of mine then you know that Gracie HATES clothes... but it was so cold outside, she had to wear her jacket. (Actually yes, this jacket is from the early 90's... my old family dog Puddin' that's Puddin' without the "g" wore this coat. Nothing like handmedowns. And we had SEVERAL people comment on how badly they wanted this jacket.. talk about a stylish dog.) Gracie went shopping with us all day on Saturday and by the time Saturday night rolled around she was ready to stay in the hotel room and sleep. I don't know if it was because she was tired, or if she was going to try to get into the dog birthday cake that we got her. Oh yes.. she will be turning 3 on December 25th. But actually, in dog years she's going to be legal... the big 2-1!
So... Saturday night Walt and I went out for drinks at Brio and then we went to eat a Classic Cup. Talk about AH-MAZING! Their hummus, soup and shrimp pasta was "the best" we have ever eaten. While we were at Brio we watched the Heisman Trophy presentation.....needless to say Walt and I were utterly disappointed. I feel like I have a strong connection to The University of Texas considering that my mother and brother both went there...oh wait and I am from Texas. I really was sad when Colt's name was not announced. Can't you tell by the face?

Back to Kansas City.... so the Plaza has amazing lights at night.... these pictures aren't very clear, but it so gets you into the Christmas spirit.

We were disappointed that it did not snow this year. However, when we left Kansas City and made our drive back to Oklahoma the temperature slowly rose to 70 degrees. Depressing, huh? Well, Walt made a little trip to get our weekly groceries and he called me to tell me to step outside. The weather had gone from 70 degrees to 40 degrees in a matter of minutes. And now... the weather is 21... with a wind chill of EIGHT! Yes... single digits baby!! Here is our weekly...COLD forecast:

So... I was extremely excited to get home and start wrapping presents!! I mean I almost couldn't contain myself!! I had already picked out my color scheme, green and brown, and I had to get to town on wrapping those presents. Here are some of the end products. Of course the ornament has the "receivers" name on it!!

And this is what my sweet, darling, dear, extremely creative husband was doing while I wrapped ALL of our presents:

Now it is back to wrapping presents, hoping that the Cowboys win, wishing that I had never said anything good about T.O. and trying to stay warm with my husband!! Baby... it's cold outside!

Week full of surprises!

In one of my previous post I talked about how it was going to snow in my classroom this week while we were reading, The Family Under the Bridge. Well guess what?!? It SNOWED!! It snowed last year in my classroom while we were reading Stone Fox and my students loved it... so they asked me if they could have snow again. Of course, I didn't tell them when it was going to snow... I just told them to bring their scarves, gloves and mittens because according to my forecast it was going to happen. We opened up the windows a little to let in some cool air, and the children in the book went and purchased pancakes from a vendor, so what do you know....we had snow AND pancakes! It's been a fun week!

On another note...my husband absolutely CANNOT keep a secret. I came home from school recently and he had already opened up the box that my Christmas present had arrived in. He then told me he was NOT going to wrap it because it was already so pretty.... so this is what I found under the tree. I do wish it would have been wrapped, BUT I am very excited about opening up this present!!

Oh... the lonely present under the tree

Oh wait.. NOW you can tell what it is!!

Recent Blog Headers

Just wanted to fill you in on some recent blog headers that I have created:

The Broach Family

The Dyke Family

The Graham Family

The Thomas Family

If you are in need of a blog makeover, just let me know and I will be happy to create one for you!

I'm going to have some free time over the Christmas holidays!!