We are officially a family!

I know that sounds a bit weird, right? Well, Mike and I decided that we have officially become a family because this was the first Thanksgiving where we didn't go somewhere. Instead we hosted family and friends and I got to make pretty much everything. So I'm an official "Mom that makes Holiday dinners"!!

As usual I bite off more than I can chew, and can I just say that I really appreciate this weird attribute of mine? It's kind of like reaching for the stars and in case of failure you didn't do too bad....We invited three different families over and at some point no one was coming, and then at the last minute the Hendricks who just had a baby, ended up not traveling and Mike's two sisters decided to come visit us.

So with oodles of pictures to take for our holiday card, and another baby and family shoot, and having the kids since there was no school on Wednesday, I left the kids with a friend and ran to the store to buy all the ingredients to make the dinner. Yes, nothing was made somewhere else, it was all done here,  from scratch, in my 40-year-old-falling-apart-kitchen where my oven door doesn't even stay closed shut!  Actually, the Hendricks made a delectable sweet potato casserole at 'their' home. 

So we ended up with a very "nummy"(as Bella says it) dinner, thanks to the Food Network Recipes I found online. Our menu consisted of the following:

Green Bean Casserole 

(side note: I've never liked onions, but after deep frying my own for the casserole, 
I'm now in love with onion rings)

Wild Rice and Goat Cheese Dressing

(with chorizo in it too)

Sweet Potato Casserole

(made by Ginna, which reminds me I NEED the recipe)

Buttery Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

(with a sprinkle of rosemary, I seriously just made it up as I went)

Best Ever Gravy

(compliments of the Food Network)

Rhodes Dinner Rolls

(Ok, I lied. I forgot I bought the rolls frozen, oops!)

Herb Roasted Turkey

(It could've turned out better if my oven weren't so small, I was really worried the turkey wasn't going to fit, 
let alone cook well. So it was average...)

And with all that food, we enjoyed ourselves to the brim. About a month ago, I started thinking about all the events of this year, and first of all I was really surprised that I would be even thinking ahead about this year's recaps. I must be getting old. But...thinking about all the good things that happened and all the bad things that happened, I have come to feel extremely grateful for all the trials that I've gone through this year. I think I've definitely have learned to enjoy my trials. I know it sounds ridiculous, but this year I have come to understand a few things more clearly and with a different perspective. In turn that has made me look at my trials in a completely a different way.

One thing that I have been very grateful for this year, is deep friendships. I've been thinking about it almost daily in the last few months as I have been confiding with friends about my stupid issues, they have enlightened me to different thoughts, new visions, and the hardest and yet best part of these conversations, is the realization of how I need to change and become a better person. One of these friends once said that we're all put in each other's lives for specific reasons, and it's up to us to figure out how we can help each other and how we can learn from each other.  I certainly have learned from these girls. I know we were brought to Santa Fe for many reasons. 

If anything, I know that the friendships Mike and I have made here, are extremely important to us, and have helped us grow and become better people. It's too bad some of you will most likely never see this post. But it's ok, because we have enough time to tell each other how we feel face to face, eye to eye, and that's all that really matters.  I hope everyone has had a great Thanksgiving weekend so far...

Project #2: almost there...

So windows are in, stucco is done, side door has been replaced, the lights on the porch and by the garage have also been replaced, and now we are waiting for the front door which takes 6 weeks to make. I was hoping to be able to get it in, trimmed and painted as well as the side door and the garage doors, but.....it's getting cold and I don't think we'll make it. I'm really channelling all positive thoughts so that in two weeks when the front door gets here it'll be warm enough to still paint it.

However, we have a hang up. I was hoping to paint the front door red, and had the idea of painting the garage doors red too. Not blood red, but something more subdued that would match and/or complement the brick coping. But now Mike is thinking it's too much red, and I find it interesting because our house in Utah was left pretty much up to him in terms of the exterior design and he had two stucco colors and a multi color stone wainscot. I think he's afraid of red.

If I had my way, I would have one of two options: 1. Glass garage doors, they are beautiful, just my style and they don't call crazy attention to themselves. Or, option 2 would be flat garage doors or wood slat doors stained in a rusty brown color to match the color of the future iron gate on the side of the house and iron on top of the pony wall in front of the house. Then I would paint the door to match.

"Before" picture of the family room

As far as the next project we are not sure what it'll be. First we need to stop and take a breather, we're low on reserves. So we'll be doing small minor little things here and there like taking down the hideous wood panelling in the family room, and the room looks 30% bigger and much brighter of course. We've also covered a door that went from the dining room into the family room. We're not sure why it was there because just on the other side of the wall which one could get too by taking 5 steps. These are the joys of buying and remodeling an old house, and events that I have overall quite enjoyed figuring out about. Like knowing that the old owners were alcoholics who drank themselves into poverty(paraphrased from the neighbors who were their friends)

 "After" the panelling came down. Now a blank slate waiting for me to decide on paint colors.

Most likely project #3 will end up being the bedroom wing. We've been stalling on this one because we're still not sure and keep ignoring designing our bathroom. But I think both Mike and I are ready to get the other bedrooms in the house spruced up even if ours doesn't get any updating for a while. I just don't understand why people would put white carpet in a house, especially with pets and alcohol being served right and left. I just can't take my filthy white carpet any longer!

Well, in a month or so we'll have more pictures.