It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas!

Ok...yeah...I know..It's been a while....So it's December 1st and we are starting to get into the Christmas Spirit around here. Thanksgiving was wonderful. We hosted at our New House this year. Drama Teen(who is a Teen NO more) was flown in for the festivities.

The day after Thanksgiving we made like the Griswalds...and went in search of the perfect Tree to chop down. Ok so maybe not sooooo much like the Griswalds..we didn't trudge thru the snow, Freezing our eyeballs off. But we did  find the perfect Tree and She's a beaut!

I'm really trying to get into the Holiday spirit this year and try to have a nice Peaceful Christmas. One of the blogs I've been following has this great idea for reminding yourself to keep the Peace this year. Starting today she says to light a special candle every day this month and let it remind you to calm down and say a prayer nto create a sense of Peace in everyday. I think it's great and I'm stealing her idea. So for the month of December I'll be lighting a Candle every day to remind myself to take it easy and not overdo the Holdiays.

This is the Good Life

Ahhhh. A Whirlpool Bath, some good Wine, and a few pieces of Dark Chocolate! Yeah! THIS is the life!

How to Impress Homer and His Buddies...

Commander now works at a Nuclear Power Plant(Hence the reference to 'Homer'..hmmmnn maybe I should change his nickname to Homer instead of Commander?? Nah) Anyway, last night he told me he it was his turn to bring the baked snacks tonight(he's working mid-shift--HATES it). Well luckily for him he A.) asked me a day ahead(believe me..there are times when he doesn't mention until we're climbing into bed that he needs baked goods to take to work the next morning...I am NOT a Happy Camper on those nights!!)and B.) I just happened to have a some Peanut Butter Cookie Mix in the pantry and some Hershey's Kisses leftover from the last time I made Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies.....Lucky him!

Years ago, Pioneer Woman did a post about making these in mini-muffin tins instead of just making cookies on the cookie sheet and I loved the idea. So today that's what I did. They turned out awesome and I'm sure all of CDR's co-workers will be impressed.  It's amazing, sometimes, how impressed people are by some of the easist, simplist things I've done. One year I made Christmas Cookies with those Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Rolls( the ones with a picture in the middle-Rudolph, Santa, etc.) I rolled them in little noparaels, and sliced and baked. One of my neighbors was totally impressed and wondered how I got the picture inside the cookie!!LOL!

Anyway, I had fun making these today and realized I should bake cookies more often...they are really so easy and there are so many variations. I've been wanting to bake more, but with it just being the Commander and I these days we usually end up wasting half the Cake or Pie if I bake one, because we can't eat it fast enough. But cookies? I think those we'd have no problem eating up , plus  they can be packaged and saved for later. Christmas is coming and I should start baking and freezing soon. I need to get out the Christmas Notebook and start prepping for the Holidays. I also figured out what I want to give friends and family as gifts this year. I think I'll make up some of those Cookie Mix in a Jar, and add a pretty handmade Doily and maybe even package them wtith a Bamboo Spoon and some handmade Potholders.(The idea came to me as I was stirring the cookies) I need to start crocheting now though if I'm going to do this.....

Pure Chicken Heaven!

Oh-My-God! This meal was one of my best in a looooonnnnnggg time! And it was sooo frickin' easy! I will definitely be adding this one to my repertoire. I hardly ever buy a whole chicken, I've been more of a boneless chicken breat type person, but I really loved how this came out, and it's a much better deal to buy it whole like this......so far we were able to have dinner tonight, tomorrow CDR will bring some leftovers for work, and I still have a big container of mostly breast to make another meal, and I'm thinking ....I'm going to try to make chicken stock out of the carcas!! Woo Hoo ! Look at me, all home-makerish!..LOL

A Little French Cooking

Ok, So a few months back I ordered a book on Amazon by Dorie Greenspan. It wasn't actually 'out' yet , so I had it on hold to be shipped as soon as it was published. I recieved it about a month ago, but hadn't tried any of the Recipes yet. I've been soooo looking forward to having my new kitchen so I could cook scrumptious meals like the one I'm making tonight. I've really been obsessed with All Things French for quite a while now( Heck really, my whole life---I'm French Canadian/American BTW), and really wanted to make something 'French" ..so I started pulling out some of my French cookbooks(I have quite a few) and noticed my new Dorie Greenspan Around My French Table cookbook and thought, why not? I quickly found a ton of recipes for Roast Chicken, and seeing as how I had recently bought a whole fryer chicken , I decided to make the first recipe I saw. It seems very simple so I'm sure I can't go wrong with it. It's roasting in the oven as I type and OMG, the smell is INCREDIBLE right now! Oops, there goes the timer....need to go add the veggies so they can roast too..be back in a sec!

There , I'm back. Added a few potatoes, and carrots. Opened a bottle of wine and had a quick snack of some Raspberry Asiago Cheese..YUMMM. I've never really been much of a Wine drinker, but since moving here, between having a ton of really good Wineries in the area, and the close proximity to a SIL who LOVES wine , I'm starting to become quite the Connoisseur. As I mentioned I'm obsessed with All Things French and have been trying to incorporate a bit of French Chic into my life. What could be more Chic than sipping on a glass of wine while inhaling the wonderful aroma of a Roast Chicken in the oven?

A Little Halloween Decorating...

Been doing some decorating...Brought most of my Halloween Decor over from the Two Rivers house and last week I spent a little time decorating....I LOVE Halloween! It's one of my favorite holidays. I just LOVE all the "spooky" decorations!

I got this Glass Pumpkin years ago from Princess House ...The Doily I crocheted myself.

I'm loving my table runner and decor...The runner I got at Kohls last year....those Monkey Candlestick holders I got at goodwill last year! They were an awesome find!

Crocheted pumkins I made YEARS ago....threw a few silk leaves in with the pinecones...

Got this at the Octoberfest Craft Show in Appleton last year.

Got this there as well....

And finally my most favorite Decorations of all ...my Spooky Village!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Baking Day

Well....lately almost EVERY day is 'Baking Day" as I've had tons of apples and pears that need something done with them. The Two Rivers house has about 4 apple trees and 2 pear trees and ALL of them have been producing a TON of Fruit. I've mainly been making Apple Crisp, but I've also made Apple Cake and Applesauce. Today I needed to do SOMETHING with the pears....so I found a recipe at Allrecipes.com for a Cheddar Pear Pie. So far it 'looks' pretty good...I guess we'll see how it tastes this evening when we have it for Dessert.

Movin' On In...

Wow ...so it's been a good month since my last post. We've moved into the New House. (Actually I'm still moving stuff over from the Two Rivers house) I'm slowly getting it all put together. I've been a bit paralized when it comes to hanging pics and such(what with all those newly painted, never had holes in them, walls!) But the girls over at Sweeping the Cobwebs have inspired me to bite the bullet and just get it done. So it's really starting to come around and look like 'Home". I finally have it presentable enough to share a few pics. So here goes:

Welcome to ChezMaggii:
Here you get a nice view from the Living Room, thru the Dining Area, to the Kitchen.

I suppose I could probably take the tags off the couch now...LOL

The kitchen. It looks way less cluttered in person....Our latest purchase were these bar stools. I put them together yesterday. I actually have one more to put together but they were aggravating me so I gave up with one left..LOL. I'll get to it tomorrow...

Had no idea I had THIS much wine! Had to get a wine rack...found this one at TJMaxx in GreenBay.

Looking into the Living Room from the Kitchen.

And here is my Library/Art Area. ...still a little cluttered from moving and unpacking. Eventually I'd like to have some seating in here..Maybe a love seat and some chairs...or maybe just a few chairs?

Master Bedroom....

Master Bath..I LOVE how this room turned out!
Walk-in shower.....

and my closet!! (ok...I DO share it with the Commander)LOVE it. CDR put in those shoe shelves last week. Had NO idea I had THAT many!! and THAT's not oven all of them...not even close! YIKES!

Spare room downstairs....

Jack and Jill guest bath, downstairs....I decorated it with kids in mind...(have tons of grand nieces and nephews)

The other spare room-this will probably be my craft room.

Theatre area...we are still finishing up this area so it's a little messy now...

The bar area...there is another larger TV(for movies) on the wall to the left....

This is the area behind the Theatre Room....not much going on in here yet....eventually we'll probably get a pool table and some arcade games or something....
Back upstairs....we JUST finished this room today! Commander and his Brother put in the carpet today. This is CDR' s 'man' room....(not to be confused with the 'man cave" downstairs(ie. the theatre/ game room)We'll probably put all his music equipment in here....

And here is the "company" bathroom upstairs....I really LOVE how this turned out too!

Paintings from my trip to VA Beach this summer....

Well, except this little one..CDR brought this home from one of his Navy Trips...

And last but not least my Laundry Room (Exciting ..I know!!)

Well I hope you've enjoyed your visit..come back soon......

P.S. There's another bathroom that I forgot to take pics...and there's CDR's 'workshop downstairs that I also forgot to take pics of....