Twilight

Ok, Katya and I were totally belated in our viewing of the hit "Twilight". But with good reason.

The director of "Twilight", Catherine Hardwicke, has family that lives here in Central Oregon and decided to do a screening and a Q & A afterwards. I found out from a fellow Bend blogger and immediately called the Sisters Movie House and bought Katya and I some tickets.

There was a 2-hour talk with the director where I guess she talked about where the movie was shot, how she did certain shots, technical details...etc. But that was by invitation only through the Film Oregon Alliance (I think I got that right). We didn't score any invites to that.

The talk was from 3-5pm and it said that the movie would show afterwards. So I figured (without double checking anything, dork that I am) it would start around 5:30 or 6:00pm. At 3pm Katya and I headed to Sisters and pulled up to the Sisters Movie house to grab the tickets and get the true time - 7:30pm. We were a bit early.

Not a big deal! We found a bookstore, bought some good books, went to the Sisters Coffee House and had some warm drinks and read for a couple of hours. It was so nice!

We went out to find a place to have dinner but were disappointed to learn that we couldn't get seating anywhere because of a football game called the "Civil War". It is between the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon Beavers (University of Oregon and Oregon State) and it is a big deal. Some day I'll blog about the whole Duck/Beaver phenomenon that we have here, but not today.

Luckily the Sisters Movie House has warm food and we had ourselves a couple of very yummy cheeseburgers while we waited for the film.

The movie itself was really good! I was surprised somewhat because the book is always better than the movie. But I was seriously disappointed by Jacob not making more of an impact on-screen. But you do what you can when trying to film a movie. Things get cut out. But some of the sceens in the movie were amazing. Like the standing in the tree over the Columbia River Gorge. WOW

The Q&A afterwards was very interesting. I never really gave much thought to what a director of a movie did, so I learned a lot. I hope that she comes back after filming the sequel. I'd love to do this again!

Holiday Photo Shoot

It is that time of year again to get holiday portraits done of the kids for Christmas gifts for the family. Sears is always a good bet for us since it is affordable and they work so hard to try and get good pictures.

This photo shoot was just as painful as previous ones since Alexis has again decided that getting her picture taken is just about the worst thing in the world. I had to opt out of a group shot of the three of them together and instead I ordered some collages.
Logan was awesome! He loved the props, smiling for the camera and being the center of attention. The only problem with him was that he was so busy running in circles, jumping, rolling on the floor....etc that we had a hard time getting a picture of him standing still.

Katya of course took amazing pictures. She is so beautiful inside and out. I had the hardest time picking which pictures of her to buy.

Since getting a picture of the three of them was going to be impossible, I settled for a picture of Katya with her little brother. This is so cute!

Grading Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving for me was a day of non-stop cooking in the kitchen. My day started at 8 am and I finished cooking / serving around 6pm.

All in all the food turned out pretty good, but I now know why we normally ate at 1pm. Then you feel that all of your cooking efforts were worth more when it turns out to be an all day eating feast instead of a fancy dinner. Plus, you actually have time to sit and visit with all of your friends and family that came over to share it with you. If I ever have to do a full T-Day dinner by myself again, I'm taking shortcuts. Like buying mashed potatoes from COSTCO.

Our menu was:

Turkey (cooked in a bag): Everyone liked it, but I still though it was a bit dry. Not sure all the trouble of brining it was worth the effort.

Sausage, Cranberry, Apple Stuffing: I really liked it. I did use "stuffing" bread from the bakery downtown which I think made a difference.

Make Ahead Gravy : A+ all around. I made it the night before using turkey wings and it was marvelous!

Mashed Potatoes : Next year I'm going with the COSTCO ones. Not worth all the time with peeling and boiling.

Cran-Raspberry Sauce: Always wonderful and quick to make

Sweet Potatoes: I tried a fancy recipe where you whip them with vanilla and cinnamon. Nah, next year I will remain a purist. Boiled, sliced, topped with brown sugar and butter and baked. THAT is my favorite. Easier too.

Carrots w/ Bacon: Yummy, but too much orange food overall. Next year I will just try something simple like steaming green beans and have them with Hollandaise

Caesar Salad: Ed brought this over. Quite yummy

Fresh Fruit: Bob's mom brought a big fruit salad and Logan ate most of it.

Rolls : From the Great Harvest bakery downtown. Wonderful as usual.

Pumpkin Pies: A tradition and yummy. Katya was bummed I didn't get them baked and cool enough for breakfast. She had to have some for lunch instead.

Apple Pie: Not a big mover. A great pie, but too ordinary. Next year I will cook a marionberry for sure.

I was totally wiped out last night. We only had our family, Bob's mom, Bob's sister, Diane and our friend Ed (his wife was sick and couldn't come). So, it was the smallest Thanksgiving dinner I think I have ever had. But it was lovely and everyone seemed to enjoy the food. I did miss the crazy chaos that usually surrounds holidays with my huge family.

Our turkey was organic, and I learned the hard way that those birds don't have a lot of dark meat on them. Quite a bummer for me, but good to know for the future.

I hope that everyone had a lovely Turkey Day no matter what you did. To those that joined me for dinner, thank you for coming and sharing the day with us. To all my family in San Diego - I missed you terribly.

Kaput

That is what my car did right after we pulled into the garage last night.

It went ka-put.

I thought I would just put the babies in the house with Katya so I could run to the store to get some stuff for T-Day. But when I got back in it I turned the key and the engine sputtered and died. I tried valiently to get it to turn over, but it wouldn't. I am so thankful that it waited until we were in the garage though and not somewhere in the dark on a side road.

I am so BUMMED!

I hate it when my car doesn't work. I just feel so trapped when I don't have wheels! I am a huge maintenance girl because I always want to avoid situations just like this.

I had to miss going into work this morning because of the whole lack of wheels thing. At 8 o'clock I will call a tow truck to haul my beauty to the repair shop. I hope it is just a fuel pump or something relatively quick, easy - and cheap - to fix.

Bob and I are going to attempt to do a bit of carpooling today so I can still go into work for a while. But we'll see.

Christmas on the Brain

I know that Thanksgiving isn't until Thursday, but I can't help thinking about Christmas!

There is so much family that is coming up here for the holidays and I really would love for them all to have a wonderful time while they are here. I'm trying to make sure that I do what I can to make sure everyone feels loved, busy and full.

In preparation we bought a new futon mattress for the "Lounge". An 8" innerspring one, it feels awesome! We are keeping the old one for one of the boys to sleep on while they are here. I only need another twin mattress and we will be all set for sleeping arrangements for my brother and his family. I will be putting them in the Lounge and I am sure they will be most comfy with the TV, DVD player, puzzles, crayons and other craft supplies and desk space. Then there is the "Art Room" that is clean and ready for occupation. It has the foos ball game thing in there as well as lots of floor space for my spunky nephews to utilize with their gifts. After all, everyone needs their space to run to when they have had enough visiting.

I have been giving the menu planning a lot of thought and I am planning on lots of crock pot meals since I will be insanely busy. But it all has to be yummy.

Then there are activities. I will have to work two full days while they are here, but I figured that they could go tubing at Mt. Bachelor one day and I am open for suggestions for the other day. One day we will stay home and bake and decorate sugar cookies. We will have to find some snow to play in at least one day, maybe two. Then there is the High Desert Museum with their bug exhibit. What little boy doesn't like bugs? One day we could hit the Family Fun Center and maybe Bouncing Off the Walls. Anyone else have some ideas? I'm thinking just one outing a day to keep people from becoming fried and to keep costs down.

I put up my Christmas lights on the house today. Tomorrow I'll pull out our little light up deer. I just love twinkle lights! After Thanksgiving we're going to the forest to cut down our tree and get it all decorated. Now all I need is snow and lots of it. Keep your fingers crossed that they get a white Christmas.

Harlem Ambassadors

Last Saturday night was the big basketball game with the Harlem Ambassadors. This was a charity event to help Campfire raise much needed funds in this economic downturn.

I had first heard that we were getting the Harlem Globetrotters. Then I heard it was the Harlem Globetrotter Ambassadors. The truth was they are just the Harlem Ambassadors. And although they were not the famous basketball team I was expecting, they were excellent and entertaining nonetheless. I know that we had a good time and I think that the people that went to the game had a good time too.

Katya was a referee and I think that she did an excellent job. She was a little freaked to make a call on them in the first half of the game, but she warmed up and was all over the place the second half. They even had a bit of fun with her which was fun to see. I got some video of her dancing with the other ref, so check that out on You Tube.

The babies couldn't have cared less about the basketball game, but they were kept entertained by Bob, Ginger, Danae, Debbie K (with her mentor child), Ed and Barbara.

Afterwards Katya and I headed over to join the team and the other Board members for a spaghetti feast at someone's house. It was excellent and we even had a chance to talk to a couple of the players. I love it when opportunities arise in our lives to be a part of fun stuff.

Recipe Thursday

Today I bring you a quick, slap together with stuff you probably already have in your fridge/cupboard, takes less than an hour to make from beginning to end, but tastes totally awesome and was a COMPLETE hit in my house recipe.

If you are coming to visit this Christmas, you will be eating this for dinner some night.

Easy Mexican Casserole

1 pound ground turkey
2 cups salsa
1 (16 oz) can black beans
1 (16 oz) can corn
2 -3 cups torn up corn tortillas or 2 cups of crushed tortilla chips
2 cups sour cream
1 (2 oz) can of sliced black olives, drained
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook ground turkey until no longer pink. Stir in salsa, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in beans and corn; heat through.

3, Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 torn up corn tortillas (or 1/2 chips) in dish. Spoon 1/2 meat mixure over tortillas. Spread 1/2 sour cream over beef (and follow with olives and onions if you want) and 1/2 tomatoes. Top with 1/2 cheese. Repeat another layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Fabulous! Everyone in my house was fighting over the leftovers. That is when you KNOW it is good.

And if you want to make it a smidge more healthy, use light sour cream and stick with the corn tortillas. Enjoy!