Hooked.

Hooked on what you might ask? AUCTIONS. Oh. my. word. My mom convinced me to go to a model home furniture auction Sunday afternoon. I've heard great things about the auction, so I was definitely excited. I really needed a console table for one of our walls. Well, there were 3 I liked. Did I mention this was an ENTIRE warehouse full of FABULOUS furniture and accessories? I was on a bit of a schedule and couldn't stay all afternoon, so I refused to get my hopes up that I'd get my table. My mom on the otherhand, was hell bent on a mission. Her table came up within the first 45 minutes. Wham, bam, thank ya ma'am...she got her table for $300 less than what she was going to pay for it at Star!

The tables I had found that would make me happy were on the complete opposite side of the room from the direction they were pulling, and I was running out of time. Then it happened. There was another table, just like the one I wanted. It got moved up to position...and then, they started sitting accessories on it for people to bid on. It was 3 o'clock at this point. Starting to sweat (did I mention there was no AC?)...I kept willing them in my head to lift that table and let me bid. They finally held up my table and started the bidding. I was not leaving without it. I had sat there for 2 1/2 hours, I was sweating, and by golly...I GOT MY TABLE. How sad is it, that when I won, I looked down at my hands...they were shaking, I was SO excited. Ridiculous, I know. I am on the lookout for more auctions, because I may enjoy it more than garage sale-ing!

Here's my fabulous new table...I don't know how we did without it for so long!



Here's my mom's new end table. {$500 @ Star...$200 @ Auction!}



Warning. Totally changing the subject now. A couple of weekends ago, my friend Sheila took our family pictures. My mom has been wanting a picture of all of us for a couple of years and we finally got it done. Sheila is AWESOME, and if you're in the Dallas area...book her, you won't regret it.

Here's one of our shots...



Lastly, I had seen this somewhere and wanted something easy for dinner...and something that didn't force me to load and unload the dishwasher. So, that called for mummy dogs and apple slices with the fat free caramel dip. Check out the mummy dogs!



They are super duper easy. 1 can of crescent rolls, and a package of hot dogs. Unroll the crescent roll dough, cut thin strips and wrap a short one around the top of the dog for the 'hat' and then wrap the bottom. Bake for the allotted time on the crescent rolls. The eyes are little dots of mustard, but you could use ketchup if you're not a mustard person. The kids LOVED these...gobbled them right up!

Excuse the pictures, I figured it was time to unload my iphone pics!

Crab

Take the b out of crab, and replace it with a p....that was one of the words that flew out of my mouth last night!

I was SO going to be an awesome food blogger today and give you a picture by picture recount of the new recipe I tried last night. No, not the PF Chang's Orange Chicken bag dinner, but the baked crab rangoon that we had along with it. I was so excited, because Joe and I both LOVE crab rangoon. I whipped out my camera and was doing so good taking the step by step pictures...well, kind of. It came time to put the crab stuffed wontons back into the oven, I put my mit on and what-do-ya know, the muffin pan slips and about 6-7 of the crab rangoon fly out into the oven and about 2 of their fillings land smack on the bottom of the oven, sizzling away. I made Emery put her ear muffs on at that point...the girl LOVES to be under my feet in the kitchen. Anyway, I managed to salvage 90% of them. I would change a few of the things I did, but they were still yummy.

I could provide you with a picture, but I'd be hijacking it from someone else's blog, so you'll just have to deal with a no-picture post...

Here's the recipe:

• 1 - 8 oz block of cream cheese, room temperature (I used fat free)
• 1- 6 oz can of crab meat (FYI...by the tuna)
  
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1 dash hot sauce
• 1 package of Wonton wrappers (FYI...in the produce section)
• 1/4 cup Apricot preserves
• 2 to 3 tbs of Sweet Chile Sauce (FYI...in the Asian food section)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. Put the cream cheese, crab meat, chopped green onion, garlic powder, onion powder, and hot sauce in a bowl, and stir until mixed well.
   
3. Spray your muffin tin with cooking spray. Place Wonton wrappers in each spot of the muffin tin, pressing lightly to get a nice inset. Don't press too hard, or you will tear the wrapper.
   
4. Spray the muffin tin again (yes, with the wrappers in them, this helps them get brown)
5. Place the Wonton wrappers in the oven for 5-10 minutes, until they start to get golden brown.
6. Remove from oven, and place a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture into each of the wrappers. (I used a mini scoop for these, and it worked great)
7. Place back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes, until the mixture gets nice and bubbly.
8. While the Wontons are in the oven, you can make the dipping sauce: Mix the Apricot preserves, with the sweet chile sauce...
9. If you like the dipping sauce, the recipe I had says you can spoon it over each one of the wontons. I wasn't sure if Joe was going to like it, so I kept it on the side.
10. Serve!

The one thing I would change, is to not let the wontons get too done during their first round in the oven. I let them get too brown, and then when the cream cheese was in there, they got a little too done because I was waiting for the cream cheese to bubble. Know what I mean? Anyways, these were yummy, and not fried! Obviously, they're no PF Chang's Crab Rangoon, but they're a good substitute for the budget, and the belly!

Enjoy.

Pumpkins!

Sunday evening I decided we would head to the Pumpkin Patch. I really want to take the kids to Dewberry Farms, but can't bring myself to fork over the almost $40 to get us all in. I missed out on the Groupon that had the tickets half off...oh well. I looked around for other pumpkin patches around us, and stumbled across Old Time Christmas Tree Farm. Don't let the name fool you...each Fall, they do a pumpkin patch along with hay rides, train rides, jumpers, etc. Mimi accompanied me and the kids and it was worth the $3 admission. The rides/games are $2/piece, so I took Trey and Em on one train ride and Mimi treated Trey to a duck race and we called it a day. There's probably enough to keep you entertained for about an hour, which was just right for us. Their pumpkin prices are great too!

Going in the evening meant we had the yummy lighting for pictures...see?



Em found herself a Christmas tree she wanted. Too bad daddy doesn't do real trees...Sorry Em, I've tried for 7 years. However, if you show him your pouty face, you'll probably get a lot further than I would.



Here's my two turkeys on a turkey...


Here's what happens when there is a plane right above us...
There is not a one of these pictures that he is looking at me. Boys.


Trey's duck race...


The only way they would get close to the spider was with Mimi...


If you're in the area, I would definitely go check this place out.

Love that Shot

Today I thought I'd share a cool photography resource. Love that Shot is a fun site with all sorts of tips and tricks. Right now they are having a Love your Shot Link Up to share your favorite shot of September/October. If you haven't ventured over to my photography blog or site, you may not have seen Mr. Mason. He was a stud muffin. Who does this at 6 days old? Seriously. This is my favorite shot at the moment. Hope you like it as much as I do!







One of the nice things about the link up, is that everyone is sharing tips on how they got the shot. Mason did most of the work and really made my job easy. Mason's house had LOTS of windows, so it made getting the shot indoors very easy. My processing has changed so much since I began my photography journey a year and a half ago. Lightroom and presets are now my new best friend, and I really use Photoshop on a minimal basis, other than resizing for the web. Go check out the Love that Shot link up!

Nothin' New

Another week has started, which means we survived another week of football season! We won this past weekend...can I get a hallelujah?! I was threatening Joe that I might have to be committed if the Wildcats lost this weekend. I am not a good loser. I was looking thru the last few posts, and realized y'all may have forgotten what Trey and Emery look like! We went outside {is this weather not fabulous?!} Sunday while we were waiting for Joe to get home from work and had a little impromptu photo shoot...I should have known that Joe wouldn't be home before dark, they have a Saturday - Thursday game turn-around this week...YUCK. Okay, okay, the pictures...


Let me set this stage for you. Trey wants nothing more than for Emery to play tackle football with him. However, if you remember...Emery does NOT like to get dirty {other than taking her dirty diapers off in bed}, so she declines the invitation 98% of the time. In this picture, Trey says to Em, "Emery, take the football and run...I'll tackle you very nicely!"



This is Em's mad face...you're scared, right?!




Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend...get outside and enjoy the weather!