Thanksgiving Prep

turkey brine recipe

It’s too close to my due date to do any traveling for the holidays. Since we don’t live anywhere near either of our families, we’re on our own for Thanksgiving this year. I haven’t cooked a Thanksgiving meal in years, so I’m a little nervous about being rusty. Luckily it’s just the three of us so there’s no pressure  🙂  I’m planning on using this recipe (pictured above) from the Pioneer Woman to brine the turkey. Mmm… I can almost smell it now! We’ve also got some other yummy dishes planned. I’m going to try my hand at my first ever pumpkin pie and Brad’s making a cheesecake!

Landscaping

Modern Garden

Modern Garden

This past weekend was the first weekend in a couple of months that I had Brad all to myself – no work project deadlines, no client meetings scheduled, no nothing. He was asked to help move a new military family in the ward, but I put my foot down. Selfish? Maybe… but I’ve got a “Honey Do” list as long as my arm of house projects that I’ve been waiting months to get accomplished. I’ve been doing what I can on the list, but at 34 weeks and counting my contributions to heavy labor are becoming increasingly limited.

So Saturday we knocked out two big projects:

– Organizing the kitchen (my job) and cutting new shelves for one of the cabinets (Brad’s job). Doesn’t sound terribly urgent, but it was to me. I must be nesting. It looks amazing and feels so nice to have everything clean and organized. I ordered some metal mesh bins from the Container Store and that will help wrangle the tupperware section. Hopefully that will arrive this week.

– Landscaping!! Boy does that feel good to have done! We raked, weeded, swept, mulched, planted, installed dividers, washed windows, scrubbed the deck – you name it. It looks so much better! I’m really, really hoping I can keep my new plants alive. I don’t have the best track record. It’s a cecilia aglaonema. It’s usually an indoor plant, but I think our winters are mild enough that it may do fine outside. But like I said, I don’t have the best track record.

All of this was done in the nick of time. We have three showings scheduled over the next three weeks. Hopefully we’ll get an offer (that won’t fall through this time) and we can finally move! Cross your fingers, say a prayer, and send us some good vibes!

Triangles!!!

I’m loving the triangle trend. LOVING IT I SAY!!

modern art

Image via ABC

Brad and I were watching Extreme Home Makeover the other day on Hulu and caught the episode where they rebuilt the boys’ dorms for the Oregon School for the Deaf. One of the boys’ dorm rooms had a triangle mural on the wall that totally caught my attention. Oh, WOW! It was fantastic! I wanted to re-watch that segment over and over. In fact, I loved the whole room. (Check out the crate beds!) I’d love to recreate this room for my boys. I wish ABC had provided more pictures of this room. If you haven’t already seen it, you should check out the episode while it’s still available online.

If you have a moment…

haitian roots

This isn’t something I would normally blog about here, but I’d like to take a minute to spread the word about a fundraising opportunity for Haitian Roots. Haitian Roots is an organization that our family (along with our extended family) became involved with last year. They’re a 501(c)(3) charitable organization who’s main focus is to provide educational opportunities to the children of Haiti. Because the average cost of tuition for a year is $250 per child, many children receive little or no education. A recent report released by the Global Campaign for Children’s Education listed Haiti (alongside Somalia) as one of the two worst countries in the world for children to be students.

Education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty.

Haitian Roots

SixSeeds has generously offered to donate $2.00 for every comment posted on their website article about Haitian Roots. If you would, please take a moment to go here and leave a comment. This wonderful fundraising opportunity extends through the month of November so spread the word!

{Images via Haitian Roots}