Halloween

I was so excited about Halloween this year. It's the first Halloween that Glen and I would actually be home since we lived in Columbia. I love dressing up (but I didn't) and I love seeing others dressed up. So here's how our night went.

-get candy ready (days before)
-walk abby so she won't terrify the trick or treaters (afternoon)
-light jack o lanterns (6:00)
-get abby dressed (6:15)
-get 0.50 corn dogs from sonic (6:30)
-wait for trick or treaters (7:00-8:00)
-get one trick or treater (8:05)
-wait
-wait
-maybe a few more trick or treaters
-wait so more

so not much excitement around the Scogin house and I was so sad. We certainly did not get any cute little kids and many of the kids we did get weren't even dressed up and were a little too old to be trick or treating if you asked me. I need to recruit some kids for my neighborhood!

Abby waiting for the trick or treaters...



Watch dog

Jack O Lanterns

We got to carve pumpkins with some people from our church this past weekend. The weather was amazing- slightly chilly and perfect for a fire. We drank cider and ate smores, two of my favorite things.

My pumpkin looks better in the light...



while Glen's pumpkin looks better lit up.

Loss

This past weekend we attended the funeral of a friend of ours who recently moved up to Hendersonville. She and her husband were involved in a wreck on I-26 that left 5 people total dead. She and her husband were highschool sweethearts and had been married just 2 short years. It has been a very difficult week. I haven't had anyone really my age die and it hits hard. Please pray for him as he has lost his wife and best friend.

Friday Confessions: Pet Peeves

In general, I consider Glen and I to be really layed back kind of people. We don't really let things get on our nerves or under our skin. So adjusting to married life the first year wasn't difficult for us. However, I learned that Glen really hates two things bad posture (oops, I have that) and bad breath, understandably. That first year in the apartment Glen learned one of my pet peeves too. Glen would constantly leave a cabinet or drawer in the kitchen open. I have no clue why, but he would open one to get something out and then just leave it open. It would absolutely drive me crazy. After learning of this pet peeve of mine he decided to play a little trick on me. One day I walked into the kitchen and every single cabinet drawer was open. So we laughed about it, and then Glen kicked the habit. Now if I could just learn to sit up straight...

Happy Halloween

(2009)



A Silkie?

Earlier this week I asked "What is it?"

The answer is a Silkie. We saw these last weekend at the fair along with some other interesting chickens and roosters. This is a type of chicken bred for showing. They apparently are good pets because they are gentle, and it is considered a gourmet meat in asian cultures.

Chocolate Chip Pumkin Granola Bars

I really hadn't thought about making homemade granola bars before but we eat enough of them that I think it would be worth it to make them homemade. It makes sense though. You know what exactly goes into them and there's no preservatives. I found this recipe the other day and just substituted the cinnamon chips and nuts for chocolate chips. At first bite I wasn't so sure but as soon as I finished the first bar I loved them. The only change I would make it to try to attempt to make them thinnner and with that they would hopefully be a little less chewy. I am going to try to make a bigger batch next time (these didn't last too long), but I still haven't figured out how to wrap and store them individually without using a ton of plastic bags (which I don't want to do). If you like granola bars you should try these!



Drumsticks and Salad Dressing

It was nice to not have to cook for an entire week while we were on vacation. Plus, it was all "free" being all-inclusive! I should really say it was nice not to have to plan and clean up. I really love to cook but I don't like having to run to the grocery store for ingredients we don't have and even more I hate to clean up afterwards especially since I have a tendency to use every pot, pan, and bowl in the kitchen. Well we are back to reality where no one cooks our meals or cleans up after us.

So we tried 2 new recipes this weekend. First we tried these Hot & Sweet Drumsticks. These were quite yummy. However, we like things pretty hot so I added double the called for hot sauce and it still needed something. I think next time we might try adding some fresh jalapenos to the sauce. We also grilled them instead of putting them in the oven!

Second, I whipped up this Whole Grain Mustard Vinaigrette for our spinach salad. It was awesome! I love vinaigrettes and this one has super simple ingredients. It's officially my new favorite salad topper. I would love to try it on green beans too.

What is it?

We don't have cable and we are dorks. So, you will find us watching This Old House many Saturday mornings while we are making breakfast. They always have a segment towards the end of the show where they introduce some funny looking tool and ask "what is it?".

So today I will ask you, what is it?

Multitude Monday, Week 26

296. Getting back to normal
297. Half way through a put off project
298. Glen cleaning the paintbrushes so I don't have too
299. Homemade omlets
300. Real vanilla
301. Potluck at church
302. A growing Sunday School Class
303. David and Julie
304. Sleep
305. New salad dressing
306. Fun Saturdays
307. Pumpkins
308. Oliver will be born this week

Week 25

Friday Confessions: JTT

If you grew up in the 80s/90s you should know exactly what this blog post is about just from the title. That's right- Jonathan Taylor Thomas. In elementary school, everyone had a crush on him including me. If you say you didn't, you are in denial. I didn't have much money growing up (you know, being a kid in all), but I made sure I saved up to buy the edition of the Disney Magazine that had the 3 page interview with JTT. I treasured it!

Fun

We had a blast on our trip and I haven't really shared much about what we actually did. I just shared pictures. We did a lot of relaxing. We originally thought we would do some excursions outside of the resort but after finding out that none of them were included with the package we got we decided that we were very content with just staying at the beach. We got up every morning and went to breakfast. Honestly this was one of my favorite parts of the day. As the week went on it seemed like we hung out longer and longer at breakfast just talking. Then we would go to the beach. We would swim, read, lay out, and grab lunch at some point. We then moved to the pool. After the pool we would get ready and go to dinner. The resort had shows every night so we went to some of them. It was really great!

This is the only picture we got of all four of us.

Silly friends holding coconuts.

The resort

Here are a few pics of the resort.

Coolest bushes ever!

Animales

One of my favorite things to do in the Dominican was wake up and walk down to the beach before breakfast. We always passed the flamingo pond on the way. Flamingo Pond! How fun is that?! They also had a few peacocks running around, but sadly we never saw them with all their feathers out. There were also a few other animals around that week that you could get your picture taken with. I got mine taken with a 5ft yellow snake (I honestly don't know what kind it was) but I didn't buy the picture.

This is an aweful picture but I wanted to get one with the flamingo. My camera fogged up and the flamingo started honking at me so we only got one.

Lastly, there were Tarantulas in the Dominican Republic. These were less like spiders and more like rodents. It was ridiculous. 

Scenes from D.R.

Us

#1 reason to go with your friends on vacation- you always have someone to take your picture! Just kidding. We loved hanging out with Andrew & Elizabeth. It wouldn't have been the same without you!

Highlights

We are back and so excited to be home! Here are some highlights to our vacation...

1. Full buffet breakfast every morning with an omlet station.

2. Not having to cook for an entire week.

3. Beautiful beaches.

4. Clear blue water.

5. Flamingo Pool.

6. Peacocks.

7. French and Mexican restaurants.

8. Maid service and turn down service everyday.

9. Giant pools.

10. Mangos.

11. The best cappaccinos I have ever had.

12. The best friends to spend the vacation with!

Pictures to come!

Multitude Monday, Week 25

282. A relaxing week
283. Safe traveling
284. Sunsets
285. Flamingos
286. Sun
287. No rain
285. Not having to cook for a week
286. Good books
287. A new book for Bible Study
288. Being home
289. Sleep
290. Clean clothes
291. Walking Abby
292. D.R. Vanilla and Coffee
293. Cappacinnos
294. Great Friends
295. New favorite songs

Week 24

Later Gators

We are off in our new shades! See you in a week...

We're serious about vacation!

Commercials

I really like commercials, not all commercials but a lot of them. I really don't mind them. They give you an automatic break in a show so that you can go to the bathroom without missing anything or switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer. I am also one of those people who will laugh at certain commercials every time I see them, no matter how many times I see them. Like this Nationwide commercial (Hook, Line, Sinker) or any of the Allstate Mayhem commercials. My favorite holiday commercial is this one for gap kids. But today I relate with this Disney commercial.

I'm too excited to sleep...

What to pack and some randoms

I haven't been on a vacation this long in who knows how long. I am not sure what to pack or how much. Especially since this is the weather forecast for the next week. Boo.

 I have definitely decided that the following are necesities.

Sour Patch Kids
Real Simple Magazine
Yellow Aviators
Phase 10
Deck of Cards
Fake stick on mustache

O.K. just kidding about the mustache, although we do have them. I found them in one of those gumball machines at the grocery stores. Who sells fake stick on facial hair??? More than that who buys it? Okay, maybe me only because it literally made me laugh for 5 minutes straight and I thought somehow we could incorporate it into our Christmas picture which has to top last years.

Back to the fake mustache...I thought it would be funny to dare Glen to wear it in the airport. He said yes and told me I had to wear mine through customs. I got very excited and then he told me it would be a bad idea to do anything that brings attention to ourselves in an airport. I guess he's right. I certainly don't want to do anything that might keep us from getting to the D.R.

Chicken Chili

One of my favorite things to make in Fall, Winter, whenever its cold is chicken chili. I fell in love with it at Atlanta Bread Company. I could eat it for days, even weeks. Actually its what we are eating almost everyday this week! The best thing is its a little different everytime I make it! I have a general guideline of what I put in the chili but I never measure it so I couldn't write down a true recipe. That way everyone can make the chili to their own liking!

Chicken Chili

1 can each Black Beans, White Beans, Kidney Beans (drained)

4 cans dice tomatos

1 small can tomato paste

chicken
chicken broth (if its too thick)

diced onions (3 small)

diced green peppers (2)

diced jalapeno peppers (1-2)

pickled jalapeno peppers (handful)

garlic

chili powder

cumin

red pepper flakes

hot sauce
Cheese (garnish)
Sour Cream (garnish)

Saute the onions, peppers, and garlic. Dump everything in a pot and simmer for a couple of hours. You don't have to let it cook that long but I think that it really makes everything good and blended that way!


p.s. This recipe makes a lot! But it can easily be frozen and saved for later. This is a very chunky (filling) chili so if you want more "soup" you'll have to add tomato sauce or more paste and broth.

Finished

A couple weeks ago we bought 2 old windows for $5 and wanted to do 2 cool new projects with each of them. We are officially done with the first. It only took 3 weeks. We repainted the frame replaced the glass and added a little special touch. We had a few bumps on the way. We almost finished the project in the first week but the glue we had to keep the glass in place failed us. both pieces shattered! It was so disheartening. So we got new glass and repainted. This next round we discovered that the glass had been cut uneven so Handy Man Glen carved out some of the wood in the frame to make the piece fit and then that piece of glass broke. Finally this Saturday we were able to complete the project! So here it is....

Before

After

Multitude Monday, Week 24

271. 5 days till vacation
272. finished projects
273. new projects yet to be started
274. new ministries coming to life
275. transparency
276. fun hangouts
277. God's is in control
278. unexpected thank yous
279. examples of love
280. friends' families Sunday lunch
281. chicken chili & a new cornbread recipe

Week 23

Friday Confessions: Sharks

Growing up my family went to Edisto Beach, and when I say my whole family I mean grandparents, aunts, cousins, ect. - the whole she-bang. Well, on one trip we (the kids) were out swimming. I am pretty sure we were the only ones out there too. All of the sudden the soundtrack to jaws started playing and we see a fin come up out of the water. Okay maybe the soundtrack didn't start playing, but that makes it more dramatic, doesn't it? Without skipping a beat, we ran out of the water screaming. When we got to shore a couple of old people were sitting there laughing. We looked back into the water to discover these were dolphins not sharks. We sure did give them a good laugh. I guess better safe than sorry.

Anyways, I surely hope there are no sharks in the Dominican Republic (or at least we don't see any), but I wouldn't mind seeing some dolphins while riding on the Catamaran!

1 week

This is my last or maybe next to last count down post. Nothing much to say other than we are getting so excited about our trip. I can't wait to get there! Although, I am kind of dreading the travel. Have I told you?- I hate planes. I am getting more comfortable with them every time I fly but I still DO NOT like them at all really. We are so thankful that our friend Candice can come and take care of our house, Abby, and Cosmo. It is so much better than having to stick them in a kennel. Thank you SO much!