Finishing out 2011

I'm trying to catch up on my blogging for 2011. My last two posts were about Molly, but before that I think it was Halloween. So, I'm gonna give a quick run down on how the rest of our year played out:

In October I opened up a shop on Etsy. My shop name is Happy4ever which you can find at www.happy4ever.etsy.com. I don't have a ton of items up - just some scarves, floor quilts, and purses. My first item that sold was my soccer quilt. I've sold one more soccer quilt since and I've also sold two scarves, a baseball quilt, two Yankee's quilts (one was for my sister Melody and you can see the quilt in her little boy Hudson's room at www.melodysvoice.blogspot.com/2012/03/hudson-nursery.html a football quilt and a purse. I love creating things and my shop allows me an outlet for the sewing I enjoy doing.

And I also sell headbands occassionally. I have a hairdresser who displays them in her home where she cuts hair and also a friend of mine who is a trainer will sell them every now and then to her clients. Joel made me a website which looks totally awesome. It is 99% done, but there are a few things I need to fill in....But, it is workable and headbands can be ordered off of it. Here is the website: www.everbands.com

Also in October Gabe celebrated his 11th birthday. He got some gifts and we went out for pizza and a movie.

He also earned his webelos (couldn't find a picture even though I thought for sure that I had some...)

Then in November we DID celebrate Thanksgiving with the traditional Turkey and sweet potatoes with apple pie for dessert, but again NO pictures (I have discovered I am not very good at remembering to take pictures. Maybe if I had a way awesome camera I would take more pictures.) So now I will skip to Christmas. I DID remember to take a few pictures around Christmas time.

Here are the girls in their pretty dresses. I KNOW I took pictures of us getting our Christmas tree, but they aren't on my iPad or my camera, or my phone...so I don't know where they are. Possibly they are still on my broken lap top that I can't get to right now. If I find them I will post 'em - same goes for Gabe's Webelos pictures and Thanksgiving pictures.

We did something a little different for our Christmas Eve dinner this year. My absolute favorite dinner that Joel makes are his Bourbon-Glazed Baby Back Ribs but we don't have them very often because it is a little expensive and it's also not very healthy (or in other words it's "fattening") So instead of doing a turkey or a roast or a ham this year for Christmas I requested Ribs. He also made Cinnamon apples to go along with it (I think the Ribs and the apples are better than Chili's). I'll post the recipe in case any of you would like to try this yummy Jack-Mormon dish. I called it Jack-Mormon because it has bourbon in it, but Joel cooks the glaze extra long so that the alcohol gets cooked out. I PROMISE!! I think this is our new Christmas Eve dinner tradition.

Bourbon-Glazed Baby Back Ribs

5 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup bourbon

1 1/2 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon plum sauce

1 1/2 teaspoon mild-flavored (light) molasses

1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce

3/4 teaspoon hot chili paste (such as oelek)*

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 2 1/4 to 2 1/2-pound rack baby back pork ribs

1 cup sweetened pineapple juice

Preperation: Whisk first 11 ingredients in small bowl (Glaze can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate). Joel simmers his glaze until the alcohol is gone - about 5 to ten minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place long sheet of heavy-duty foil on each of 2 large rimmed backing sheets. Sprinkle rib racks on all sides with salt and pepper. Place 1 rib rack on each foil sheet. Fold up sides of each foil sheet around rib rack to form boat-like shape. Pour 1/2 cup pineapple juice over each rib rack. Fold up foil to seal packets. Bake until ribs are tender, about 1 hour. Remove ribs from foil packets. Transfer to roasting pan; pour any juices from foil over and cool.

The above can be done 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. (Joel does it the day before I think).

Prepare barbeque (medium heat). Cut each rib rack in half. Grill until browned, brushing frequently with glaze and turning often, about 10 minutes. Cut racks between bones into ribs.

*An Indonesian hot chili paste; available at many supermarkets, at Asian markets,and from mingspantry.com

OK! That was a very quick recap of the latter part of our 2011. Hopefully I will be better at blogging (and taking pictures) in 2012...I'm not off to the best start, but what's that phrase?: "There's no better time like the present" and so presently I have decided to be better. Hehe. We'll see how long that lasts!