SaS- Thanksgiving pie!

Yes, I'm actually blogging today!  It's time for SaS with my sissy!  So get out those Thanksgiving Day family sweet treats and link up over at the Tank!  If I can do it, you can too!  Plus I want everyone to give my sissy lots of baking ideas, beans how I'm living with her and all now!   

Growing up, nothing said Thanksgiving like my mom's lemon pies.  Yes, I said LEMON PIES!  I know right!  Most people have pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie or apple pie and the weirdo southerns down here even have pecan (pronounced peCAN not pecon) pie.  But not the Best family.  Nope, we had lemon pie.  It was, and to this day still is my FAVORITE pie.  And my favorite part of Thanksgiving.  Okay, my favorite part right after the ham rolls we have for breakfast and the stuffing and gravy!  Oh man, I do love Thanksgiving.

picture provided by Google images

Mom would start baking days in advanced.  She always made like 6 lemons pies.  SIX!  Two to take with us to granny's house and four to stay home for our family.  Then she'd turn around and do it all over again for Christmas.  I kid you not.  We love us some lemon pie!  Not lemon meringue pie, just lemon pie.  We top ours with Cool Whip!  I'm so excited Thanksgiving's right around the corner!  

I took over making the lemon pies about 4 or 5 years ago.  Mom just isn't able to make them anymore.  I do a great job at making them, except for that one mishap where I forgot the lemon zest!  (Yeah, my family will never let me live that one down).  I have to admit, they just weren't the same.  I remember the first year I made them myself.  As usual I waited to get started until the very last moment and didn't realize I needed something to zest the lemons with.  So William and I made a Wal*Mart run at about 2 o'clock in the morning to go buy one.  When I finally got home and started making the pie I realized I had forgotten the eggs.  It's moments like this we tend to remember the most.  (I'm not a baker, so how was I supposed to know that eggs went into pies)?  Seriously!  So I had to go back to Wal*Mart since nothing close to us was open.  I swore I'd never make another lemon pie as long as I loved.  But here we are, 6 years later, and I will be making my family's favorite lemon pies!

 

Lemon Pie         

1 large or 2 small boxes of Jello Lemon Cook and Serve Pudding  (pie filling)

(You will need the ingredients listed on the box)

1 lemon

1 Frozen Prepared Pie Shell 

(I like to use Marie Callender's)

1 8 oz container of Cool Whip

 

                          picture provided by Google images

First bake your frozen pie crust according to the directions.  You can make your own crust from scratch or use the refrigerated Pillsbury kind.  But I love the Marie Callender's brand!  (Yum)!  Set aside to cool.

Prepare lemon filling according to box directions.  While whisking, add the juice and zest of one lemon!  (The pie filling takes a really long time to thicken).  Your arm will fill like it's going to fall off!  I kid you not!  Well, maybe not if you only make one pie?  Let me know how that works out for you?  The more lemon juice/zest you add, the tarter your pie will be!  Don't be afraid to make it tart, you're going to top it with Cool Whip!  We like to top our individual slices just before eating!  It's really that easy.  It will look just like the picture above!

 picture provided by Google images

Seriously, I cannot wait until Thanksgiving now!  I have so much to be thankful for.  Most importantly my family!  I can't imagine my life or the holidays without them.     

SaS~ It's time to SQUASH IT!

Happy Thursday Seekers!  It's time to break out those fall recipes and link up with my sissy over at the TANK!  Today's SaS is all about the squash!  I love squash.  I especially love butternut squash!  It reminds me of the fall.  When I was 18 we went out west (Utah) to visit my dad's family.  It was our first family trip back, after moving to Florida when I was 3 yrs old.  While we were there, we took turns eating at my dad's 5 siblings' houses for dinner.  I think every single one of them served us butternut squash!  I had never even heard of butternut squash before then.  It's a good thing we all really liked it!  I've been eating it ever since!    

picture provided by Google images

My favorite way to make butternut squash is cutting it up, drizzling it with olive oil, salt n pepper,  and roasting it in the oven!  Num, num, num!  Nothing better!    But today I'm going to share a recipe I got out of another issue of Woman's Day!  I've been dieing to try it!  It sounds delicious.  No, I haven't tried it yet. . . . but only because I'm a broke-ass-crow!  BUT I will be going grocery shopping this weekend and making it after I get paid!

picture provided by Google images

Butternut Squash Soup 

3 lbs (8 cups) butternut squash soup *peeled and cubed*

1 large onion *chopped*

2 large Gala apples *peeled, cored and chopped*

3 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 in. piece fresh ginger *grated or thinly sliced*

1 32 oz box chicken stock

1 cup apple cider or juice

1/2 tsp kosher salt *to taste*

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream

Gruyere Toasts

16 slices baguette *cut 1/2 in. thick*

2 oz Gruyere cheese *finely shredded*

 picture provided by Google images

Melt butter in a 5-qt pot over medium-high heat.  Stir in onion and apples; saute 5 minutes or until onion is translucent.

Add butternut squash, ginger, chicken broth, cider, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 to 25 minutes or until vegetables are very soft.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  

Process soup in very small batches in a blender or food processor until smooth.  OR use an immersion blender to puree.  Return soup to pot and add cream.  Season with salt to taste.  Warm over low heat, if necessary.

picture provided by Google images

Heat broiler for Gruyere Toasts.  Place baguette slices on foil-lined baking sheet.  Broil 2 - 3 minutes or until golden brown.  Take toasts out of the oven, turn over and sprinkle each slice with Gruyere cheese.  Broil 2 - 3 minutes until cheese is bubbly and melted.  Serve with soup!

Doesn't this sound AMAZING?  I cannot wait to try it out!  I'm so glad I signed up for a free subscription to Woman's Day.  Who knew it had such awesome recipes?  If you haven't already, you should get a subscription!  And head on over to the TANK and check out all the other "Squash It" recipes!

 

Hillbilly Hump Day (The beginning of the end?)

It's Hump Day Seekers!!  Time to get my hillbilly on!  Honest to goodness, I think "The Gods" must love my hillbilly posts!  I swear it must be so!  Just the other day my friend Janie left me a message on FB asking for a hillbilly update!  She's one of my faithful Hillbilly fans!  (If you're new to my blog, I used to write about my HILLBILLY neighbors every Wednesday).  Once I got the request from Janie, I started thinking, what have the hillbillies been up too?  It's been a minute since I wrote about them.  Then today it was as if "The Gods" opened up the heavens and said "here Buffee write about this. . . . . . ." 

In the beginning the hillbillies seemed to give me an endless supply of material to write about.  But lately they've been quiet.  Quiet?  Okay, maybe that's not the word I'm looking for?  How about this. . . . .they've been hiding out?  Ha!  Yep, that's more like it!  Apparently they're being investigated!  By who?  Well, let me just tell you. . . . 

So we have another hillbilly neighbor that lives across the street, we'll call him Anthony, (because that's his name)!  Recently Anthony spent some time in jail.  (Something about a fight with his wife, she called the police on him, and he ended up having an old warrant out for his arrest).  Anyfreakingway, Anthony was all sorts of chummy with the hillbillies BEFORE he went to jail, (they use the same drug dealer).  For whatever reason, once he was in jail, he decided to call DCF (The Department of Children and Families) on the hillbillies!  Oh.Yes.He.Did.  Why?  Who the heck knows? (If I had to guess I'd say it probably had something to do with the oldest billyboy trying to bang his wife while he was behind bars)?  Oh man, doesn't this stuff make for great story telling?  (Thanks Anthony).  I seriously couldn't make this shiz up any better if I tried.  This is "reality TV" type stuff at it's finest!  

I guess maybe since they're being investigated by DCF AND they were sited for their trash, they've decided to do some much needed spring fall cleaning.  They even threw out the old bathtub that's been sitting on the side of their house for the last 10 years.  At one point they had so many trash bags in the back yard it looked like a landfield.  I think they might be hoarders?  (See, reality TV people)!  They're the really nasty kind too, that hoard their trash.  They need several of those 1-800-Got-Junk trucks!  Maybe I should call the show and suggest them?  Eeeewwww, can you imagine? 

Anyway, to the really good stuff!  Hillbilly momma has left the building!  Uh huh!  At least she hasn't been staying their the last week or so.  This afternoon (see, I told you even "The Gods" want me to write about them today), the hillbilly momma came home with a trash overnight bag to collect some of her things.  Needless to say, hillbilly daddy was none too happy!  They got into a huge screaming match outside in the front yard!  Bad enough for the neighbors across the street to call the police!  The only thing I heard was, (because you know the MIL and I had to catch the show walk the dogs) . . . hillbilly daddy screaming "what the heck am I supposed to do while you're out partying it up and effing everything insight?"  Okay, maybe I didn't quote him exactly, but it wasn't pretty!  Then the police showed up.  At which point I went inside to eat dinner and ignore the hillbillies!  All the good stuff was over!

Good times people, good times!  Oh, the billygirl has decided to keep her baby.  I'm not so sure if that's a good thing or not?  I guess it's better then abortion, BUT it means ANOTHER hillbilly.  No updates on the old cat lady taking them to court over that dang billydog or not?  Oh, funny story though.  William and I were standing outside with Krickett (one of my Chis babies) late at night.  This was back when all of the cat killing was happening with the billydog pit.  Well Krickett decided he was going to take a nosedive right out of my hands and he landed on his back.  Luckily it only knocked the wind out of him.  Once he could breathe again he let out this extremely loud screeching yelp.  Our neighbor, Mike, (one we actually like), came running outside in his nunderwears with a golf club in his hands.  He was ready to get him some billydog fo'sho!  It was hilarious!  I can't even tell you how funny it was.  Now everytime I see Mike I giggle to myself, because I picture him running out of their house in just his boxer-briefs holding that golf club up ready to strike!  hehe

Oh man!  Thanks Janie!  I needed a good laugh!  So there you have it Seekers!  Happy Hillbilly Hump Day!  It's fall, go bake your neighbors some cookies and thank them (and "The Gods") for not being HILLBILLIES!!  

Stay tuned, you never know when another episode of Hillbilly Hump Day will be coming your way! 
  

Guest posting!

Sorry this is late. . . . . I honestly thought I was guest posting today, but it was yesterday!  (I'm ALWAYS late)!

Anyways, I'm talking pumpkin!  Chocolate chip pumpkin muffins that is with Steph at Problem Solvin Mom!

What are you still doing here?  Go, check it out! 


Mini Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins!  They're waiting for you!

Wordless Wednesday!

So everyone's heard about The People of Wal-Mart site.  How about The Cars of Wal-Mart?  Have you ever wondered what those crazy nutjobs are driving?  Ha!  Yes, I took these pictures myself, in the parking lot of Wally World. 

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs much?

Here's a little bit of trivia. . . .

Does anyone know the name of the

Cocoa Puffs Cuckoo bird???

It's Sonny!

(Yes, Imma nutjob too, just a different kind)!

Happy Hump Day Seekers!

Stick'Em Up Notes- NFL (Jaguar) Edition

 

OWL- TALENTS

My sister posted a challenge and I meant to take her up on it.  I just didn't know what I was going to say.  This might sound like I'm starting out negatively, but bare with me.  My whole life I've struggled with feeling dumb.  No, not dumb, unable to spell.  I let it hold me back.  I've always felt like there's a spelling monster that lives inside my head.  It jumbles everything up.  I know what I want to say, but taking what's in my head and putting it on paper (or a computer screen) has always been difficult for me.  I have to work twice as hard as the "average" person.  I've always treated it like a dirty little secret.  

So, I have a "learning handicap."  I guess since my dad and my brother both had one, I knew it wasn't my fault.  I knew it wasn't something I could control.  I knew that I was "smart" I just couldn't spell.  But I was still afraid to really apply myself.  I was afraid someone would find out and judge me.  I know, stupid right?  Either way, it's the truth.  But because of it I learned how to make the other parts of myself that "worked right" excel or shine.  I had to compensate for my lack of spelling.

My whole life, people have been drawn to me.  Always.  My husband calls it my charisma.  I guess that's what you could call it?  People have always wanted to hear what I had to say.  (Okay, maybe not on my blog, I'm much more personable in person).  But for what ever reason, people have always wanted to be around me.  I'm fun.  I've always been the life of the party!  Honestly I just wanted to be having fun.  So I was always "entertaining"!  It's what I do, it's what I love.  Making people laugh and smile.  It's honestly one of my greatest joys.  My friend once told me I was infectious, she meant it as a compliment.  She said I have a passion for life and it makes people want to be around me.

I have a way with the little people.  I always have.  I love children and they love me.  (I love everything other than their dirty little hands).  I love the way they think.  They're honest and funny.  They look at life through simple eyes.  They see the good in people.  They love without judgment.  For whatever reason I can relate to them.  I have patience with little people that I don't have with adults.  I should be working with them.

I'm a crocheting master.  Yes, that's like Jedi Master, but I work with yarn!  Ha!  I can crochet anything.  If there's a pattern, I can make it.  If there's not a pattern, I can figure out how to make my own.  When I was a long distance operator the older women would crochet while we worked.  I wanted to learn.  So one day I bought me some yarn and crochet needles, and asked the women to teach me what they were doing.  The rest as they say was history.  It's a talent I love sharing.  I make baby blankets, they are my passion.  

I was meant for public speaking, talking in general.  I love to speak in front of a crowd.  Weird I know, but I love the attention.  I'm good at it.  It goes back to entertaining people.  I'm not afraid to ask anyone anything.  My mom always told me, the worst thing someone can tell you is no, or HELL NO.  So I'm bold.  It's definitely a talent.  I've learned not everyone can do this.      

I'm also a bitch, a sarcastic one.  Ha!  Not everyone can call that a talent.  But I can.  

Is cleaning a talent?  If it is, I'm also a Master Jedi at this as well.  I actually love doing laundry.

I'm very creative.  I love making scrapbooks and posters.  Anything like that!

I wanted to do this posting, because I've honestly been doing a lot of growing lately.  I've been inspired to try and be the best Buffee I can be.  I'm still working on it.  Lord knows I fall short most of the time.  But I have a great heart and I mean well.  I'm learning each and everyday that my happiness is only about me.  I mean it's only about Buffee's successes and what I achieve in my life.  There's no reason to compare what I have or what I do, based on what someone else has or does.  I think that this is a "talent" I'm learning to cultivate.  Happiness.  It's a talent that not everyone has.  I think you truly have to want to be happy and decide for yourself to just do it.  Choose to be happy.  Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

So thanks sissy.  For making me take a look at myself and focus on the positives, again.  It's something I've been working on personally anyway, but this was a great way to reinforce it!    

PYHO- Happy Anniversary to my parents!

Today is my parents 40th wedding anniversary.  I decided to link up with Shell over a Things I Can't Say, so please be kind!  Growing up it didn't take me long to realize that my parents were different from most people.  That their marriage was different from most marriages.  They are truly in love and are the best of friends.  Most importantly, they don't fight.  Period.  Often people try to tell me that they just didn't fight infront of us kids.  My reply to that has always been you don't know my parents.  They.didn't.fight.  Sure they bickered.  But that was about it.  They made marriage look easy.  I couldn't wait to grow up and get married.   

They did everything together and with us kids.  Everything was about being a family and spending time together.  They did have friends and occasionally they went out with them.  But for the most part I remember it being just our family.  On the weekends we were either renting movies or going to the movies.  Movies have always been a favorite family pass time.  We didn't have very much money, so it was usually the dollar movies.  As a child I didn't think anything of it.  It didn't matter, we were going to the movies.  Mom always had her "mom bag" full of sodas and candy.  She LOVES popcorn, so that's the one real splurge we got to get at the movies.  To this day I love going to the movies, especially with my family.

I think one of  the most important lessons my parents taught me was their love of each other.  They taught me by example.  I learned from my mother how to be a wife.  I learned from my father how a man should treat a woman.  One thing I had to learn on my own was that my marriage was different from my parents.  It didn't make it any less special or important.  It just made it mine.  I had to find my own kind of happiness.  I think I've had to work harder at it, because I didn't know that marriage took such hard work.  Not to mention, I've had to learn that the world doesn't go according to what Buffee wants.  In the last year I've really made an honest effort to be a better person.  To try and put others before myself.  (I'm still struggling with this, but I've come a long way).  Luckily for me I have a husband that motivates me to be a better person.  I know that may sound strange to the people that know William.  He's a self admitted asshole, (he really is), but once you get past his tough exterior, he's a loyal, loving, hard working, and compassionate lover.  He would do anything for anyone, as long as you don't cross him.  In that sense, he's like me and my father!     

As an adult and having had many conversations with my mother over the years, I've realized that they had to work at it too.  My mom sat me down one day and was like look Buffee, if you don't learn to get past the small things, you'll never be happy.  I'm OCD, so this has been a HUGE problem for me.  I would obsess over the most retarded stuff.  Like the kitchen cabinets being left open.  Or his dirty socks being left all over the house.  Or my shampoo and conditioner facing in the wrong direction.  (Not.even.kidding).  All of our fights have been over stupid crap that in the grand scheme of things really don't even matter. 

Then one day I just told myself, be happy Buffee.  Your life is what YOU make of it.  Only Buffee can make Buffee happy.  Life happens.  Nothing goes according to plan.  It just happens and you have to make the most of it.  I think that's the real lesson my parents were trying to teach me from the very beginning.  I'm just slow to catch on sometimes.  We were poor, but we had each other, and we were a family.  And for the most part I remember being happy.  

I'd like to share a poem I wrote for my parents on their 35th wedding anniversary.  Once you read it, you'll understand what I mean when I say I'm not a writer.  I was just inspired by my parents, their marriage, and love for each other.  

Thirty-five of marital bliss, 

And still everyday begins with a kiss.

He was a mountain man, rugged and strong,

She was a southern girl, with a beautiful song.

They had a short courtship, just a few weeks,

And now the type of love that everyone seeks.

What began with a sacred temple marriage, 

Delivered them four to the baby carriage.

Garage selling is one of their favorite pass times,

They find all their treasures for nickels and dimes!

They always make time to go out on dates, 

Sweethearts and lovers, the best of mates!

With time and age, he's become a tender man, 

Everyone knows he's still Patti's #1 fan!

She hasn't been blessed with the greatest of health, 

A fairytale love story makes up for it in wealth.

Their growing family brings them happiness and joy,

With each new grandchild and every dog toy! 

Their love for each other is simple and kind, 

Always keeping their eternal goal in mind.

As the days turn into years, they grown more in love, 

Never forgetting to thank their Father above.

Truly an example of what marriage should be, 

We're thankful to be in the "Best" family tree! 

                                                            

                                                            ~Buffee Best Usina

            

So here's to my parents!  For being so amazing and teaching me the importance of family, marriage, love, and being the best person I can be! 

Blog Hop. . . . with Her Random Thoughts

Happy Monday Seekers!  I'm so excited about today's Blog Hopper!  I saved the best for last!  It's Sherri from Her Random Thoughts!  I "saved" her for last because she's exactly what our FYL's theme is all about!  She is one of my tweethearts!  Through tweeting we formed a friendship and from there we started following each others blogs.  She's one of the few blogging friends I've made all on my own!  Ha!  (She likes me for me and didn't start following me just because I'm the "tagalong")!           

She's awesome, especially since she did this for me at the last possible moment!  By that I mean I asked her weeks ago and she agreed, but I neglected to follow up with her until the day before I needed the post.  I am such a slacker!  (My sincere apologies Sherri and thank you from the bottom of my slacker heart)!  So please, show her some seriously bloggy blog love for me!  If you're not following her, you're missing out!  She's a doll!    

Sherri. . . .  

It's Friendship Month. 

Buffee http://thetruthaccordingtobuffee.blogspot.com/asked me if I'd do a guest post on friendships of the bloggy kind.  I was flattered that she asked and happy to write something.

I've made many new friends online since starting my blog several months ago.  

I had no idea about the blogging world when I started, not really.  

I didn't realize how interconnected and how caring people were in the blogosphere.  I thought that a blog was just where you could write about things that you liked or vent when you had a bad day. I've found that blogging is so much more than that. 

As women, we're emotional creatures.  We make friends with people that we feel a connection with, people we can relate to or with whom we share similar circumstances.  We do it in real life and we do it online. We're very social beings but we have the ability to get to know people without ever meeting them in person.  I've found this to be true since I've been blogging.

We write about things that we care about, and we find that there are other women out there that share our interests and that's how the friendships start.  We open our hearts and lives with our words. We share our happy times and our sad ones too.  We write funny stories about things and when we're troubled with problems or concerns, we write that too. We reach out with our words and there are people who care.

We find a blog and we read often and we start getting to know that person and what they're about and we start to care.  When our friends are going through something, we visit often to see how they're doing and leave comments and send emails to let them know that they're thought of.  I know this is true because I've been lucky enough to have gotten them myself.

If I had to mention the names of all the friends that I have met since I've been blogging, I would leave someone out, so I'm mentioning Buffee since she was my first twitter friend and asked me to do this post and also Jammie who got me started blogging. 

 I "met"  Buffee several months ago on Twitter.  I couldn't get on Facebook at work, but I could tweet. (yes former employer, I did Twitter at work).  I noticed that she would post a countdown many days, and it cracked me up because I did the same thing.  So, I tweeted to her and we started talking, then we were following each other's blogs and we discovered we were both redheads, and a friendship was born.  lol  I'm happy to have met her and to be doing this post too. 

I met Jammie (www.theneatthingsinlife.com) via Freecycle. She posted a game that I wanted  for my grandbabies. I met her to get the items.The next day, she sent emailed me saying that she had more games and would like to give them to the kids. I was very touched by her generosity. So, we met again and talked for a long time. (she probably couldn't wait to get away from me...LOL) She mentioned her blog and long story short, she helped  me get mine started. Trust me, this was  no easy feat cause I'm challenged in many ways.  lol.  When we first met, it seemed like we'd known each other all our lives. She's a very no non-sense person; what you see is what you get and I like that in a person.  We talk online daily and get together often when we're able.  So, now I have a great friend and I'm doing something that I love.

To all the friends that I've met, I look forward to getting to know you all better and I look forward to reading new blogs and making new friends.

Sherri


Thanks again Sherri!  If you haven't already, be sure to sign up for the FYL Twitter Gala!  There's are some amazing prizes and it's sure to be lots of fun!   

Please join us

Thursday, September 30

from 8:00 - 9:30 p.m. CST

for the

Friends You Love Twitter Gala

sponsored by

Eden Fantasys!

To participate follow

hosts

@That_One_Mom

and

@FriendsYouLove

as well as special guest

@kissmykitty

 

SaS- Chicken Pastys

Happy Thursday Seekers!  If I'm being honest, I was less than thrilled about today's chicken theme.  We eat so much chicken and I get tired of the same ol' same ol'.  But the more I thought about it, the more excited I got.  Because I can't wait to see what everyone else shares today.  So head on over to the tank and link up your chicken recipes with my sissy!

Today I'm sharing my MIL's pasty (pronounced /ˈpæsti) recipe. Pastys are a Cornish meat pie, (a pastry filled with meat and vegetables).  They are so yummy.  Apparently they're really big up North?  The MIL dated some guy from up there and he taught her how to make them.  (William loved them growing up, they were his favorite).  lt's a--- 'inside' family joke. . . the MIL says that about EVERYTHING.   Pastys have become a family favorite around here.  My MIL typically uses steak, but you can use CHICKEN, steak, or pork.  She also makes her dough from scratch.  O.M.G.  Amazing yumminess!  It's my favorite part.

Pastry Crust 

1/2 cup ice cold water

4 cups flour 

1 cup (butter flavored) Crisco 

2 tsp salt 

Pasty Filling 

1 1/2 cups small cubed chicken (any meat)

5 potatoes  (diced)

3 carrots (diced)

1 medium onion(diced)

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp pepper

In a large bowl combine flour and salt.  Add ~cut-in~ Crisco with a pastry cutter.  Add 'ice cold' water 1 tbsp at a time.  Mix with fingers until the dough just comes together.  Separate into 6 balls.  (I said balls).  Place in a bowl in the refrigerator to chill, approximately 30 minutes. 

(I asked the MIL if this could be done in a food processor, like my sissy does?  She looked at me like I was a total nut-burger).  If it were me, I'd say just buy the ready-made pie crust by Pillsbury and call it a day.  Ha! 

Mean while, cube your chicken and dice your vegetables.  Combine in a large bowl and add salt/pepper.  When the MIL makes her chicken pastys, she adds celery and 1/4 cup of chicken stock.  Your goal is to have 6 cups of filling total, (1 cup per pasty).  You could make these with whatever filling you want.  Traditionally pastys are made with rutabaga.  Um, yeah, no.  Over the weekend we had pork, butternut squash, apples, and onions.  Yum!  

Once the dough is cold (it takes about as long to chill the dough as it takes to dice up all those vegetables and meat) remove from fridge.  On a floured surface, roll each ball of dough out to a 10-inch circle (the size of a plate).  Add 1 cup of filling.  Top with 2 pats of butter.  Moisten edges and fold in half.  Pinch the edges together.  Place on a lightly buttered baking sheet.  Cut two slits in each crust (on top) to vent.  Brush with egg wash.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. 

        

      

The MIL serves hers with ketchup or brown gravy.  I like to top mine off with more butter instead.  DEFREAKINGLICIOUS!!  They're a lot of work, but they are absolutely worth it!  Lucky for me, the MIL makes mine for me!  HA!    

Have you voted for the World's Greatest BFF yet?  If not head on over to our FYL site and check out all the lovely ladies nominated by their BFF's and vote!  I hope you're all following twitter for our Scavenger Hunt clues too!  Seriously cool prizes up for grabs!  

  

Better late then never. . . . meet Shaebails!

So I actually followed the rules this week!  Ha!  When we (FYL) talked about having a blog hop, I knew I wanted to ask Melissa aka Shaebails to guest post.  She's a new to the blogging world and I adore her!  She's one of my favorite twittering buds.  That's actually how we met, on Twitter!  

Anyway, her posts are very open and honest, heartfelt and funny.  She makes me laugh and she has even made me cry.  When I asked her to guest post I left the door wide open.  I told her to write about anything she wanted.  So I hope you read her post and adore her as much as I do.  She's young and fun and her life is full of adventure.   Please welcome her and show her some bloggy blog love!

Shaebails. . . .

Where do I even begin? I feel like I'm in high school again, trying to prepare a story for my creative writing class. I know everything I want to say, I'm just not sure in what order I should put it. I guess I could start from the beginning, but where does this begin?
 
     *Siiiiiiiigh*. OK. I guess I'll just pick up where I left off. Here it goes.
 
     I believe I left off saying that I was not attracted to Adam, and I wanted to help Trista gain the confidence that she needed in herself so she can go on with her life and stop being so negative. Well, I was wrong. About the Adam part, I mean, and it only took Trista shoving me in his direction to figure it out.
 
     I straight up told Trista I was NOT going to go out with Adam, because, you know, SHE liked Adam and I'm living with her. Not only would me dating Adam make everything awkward, but she's my friend and I didn't want to do that to her. I repeatedly told her NO. And yet-
 
     "Melissa, he likes you. If you hang out with him, you'll like him too. Just go out with him. I know you want to. You're both attracted to each other and I'm used to my friends dating guys I like. Please just DO IT for me?"
 
     So, I did. That one night. And the night after that. And the next two nights that followed THAT. And you know what? Trista was right. I fell for him. It wasn't too long before we were sleeping with each other and one night he asked me if we could make it official. I said yes.
 
    This is where everything gets complicated. While Adam and I were doing our thing, in the meantime, Trista and I were doing ours. I went with her to her annual checkup at her doctor's office, and I suggested to the doctor that Trista's depression pills aren't working because she's NOT depressed. (I only went to college for half a semester, but I was studying to be a psychologist and I still use some of the things I learned when I need to) I firmly believe that she's bipolar. Her mother is bipolar and so is her brother, and Trista just didn't fit the mold of somebody who was depressed. At times, sure she was depressed, but there were moments of elation in the mix.
 
     So, the doctor switched her medication from Celexa to Pristique. Then I suggested to him that maybe the reason why Trista is so tired all the time and she can't lose weight was because she maybe has a problem with her thyroid. So he sent us to the lab to get some blood work done to see if she has a thyroid complication. Because that would explain alot. And you know what? If there's a problem with her thyroid, we might find that she is neither depressed nor bipolar but the problem has been her thyroid all along.
 
     That night, I did Trista's hair and makeup and she looked BEAUTIFUL. It was the first night in my life that I could actually admit that Trista looked better than ME. We decided to go out that night and have a girl's night with me, Trista, Jesseca, and Tina. My friend Amber even showed up with her sister Maria. We were having a great night. Then my friend Kevin showed up.
 
     Kevin and I have been friends for only a few weeks. I met him, actually, when Alex and I were seeing each other. Kevin has admitted to me dozens of times that he really likes me and wants to be more than friends. I have always thought Kevin was really good looking and he is SUCH a funny guy I honestly considered it for a while. I still do consider it even now, actually.
 
     Well, Amber has just broken up with my ex-hubs #2, and we heard he was going to be out at a certain bar that night. So we jumped in her car to go to that bar, because we knew that if he saw us together he would shit himself. Then, my brilliant dumbass self decided it would be even MORE fun if Kevin came with us as an extra bonus to fuck with his head. So we left the bar where we were and headed to where EH was. When we got to the bar, EH had already left, so we went back to bar #1.  Kevin and I were holding each other up as we walked in the door. That's when Trista texted me and said, "Adam's here. You better stop hanging all over Kevin."
 
     I saw Adam, I said hi, and went back to talking to Kevin. Honestly, Adam knew that Kevin and I were friends and he didn't think anything of it.  Then everybody started coming up to me saying, "Kevin is so much better looking than your boyfriend. You are so hot, what are you doing with THAT guy? You should date Kevin. Seriously." And then, I went outside with Kevin so he could smoke and we could talk. Adam came outside as well, and I, admittedly, ignored him and set all of my attention on Kevin. After Adam went back inside that bar, Kevin kissed me. HE KISSED ME.
 
     Honestly, if this had been three years ago and he would have done that, I wouldn't have cared. I would have kissed him back and probably would've went home with him after that. But that was who I was then. That's not who I am now.
 
    I was so shocked. I stood there for a while, then frantically looked around to see if Adam or anyone that knew me was outside to see that. They weren't, thank God. I was, to tell the truth, a little embarrassed, but I also felt sort of relieved, although I didn't know if that was the alcohol talking or if that was how I really felt.
 
     Anyway, by the time the bar closed, Adam was shitfaced, and I walked him the two blocks to his house. It took 45 minutes to walk the two blocks. He kept stumbling. Then when we got to his house, he says this:
 
     "Melissa, alot of people have said some shit to me about you. And I've been thinking...the sex is great, and I want to love you. But I don't want you to love me. I'm not that great of a guy. You don't know some of the things I've done."
 
    So, I called Kevin and asked him to take me home. Well, Trista's home, but still.
 
    After Kevin dropped me off, a few minutes later, Adam came to the house and told me that Trista spent all night telling him that Kevin and I left the bar together for a while and we probably fucked. She also said that Kevin and I had been fucking around for a while now and I wasn't even sure if I wanted to date Adam; I was just going along with him because I didn't want him to be mad at me.
 
     You see, when Trista got that "makeover", something inside her snapped. She became a totally different person. She was bitchier, she seemed more confident, more out there. She seemed like the person she wanted to be, only more evil. Because she yelled at me when I walked through the door for dating Adam when I knew how much she liked him. Uhh, the only reason I went out with him in the first place was because she PUSHED me into it!!
 
     Not only that, but my friend Jordan, whom everyone was trying to set me up with, declined and said he didn't want anything to do with me after Trista texted him from her phone pretending to be me telling him (daily) all the guys I was sleeping with and that I didn't really want to date him I just wanted to sleep with him. Trista was the one starting all the rumors about me at the bar.
 
     Honestly, if this was 3 years ago, she would have been absolutely right. But now? I have only slept with 2 people since I've been here, and one of them was my ex husband, whom I was MARRIED TO at the time.
 
     But anyway, I told Adam that I needed some space and I needed some time to decide what was going to happen. Because other than what I just posted, he said alot of other hurtful things to me and it hit me that night that I don't want to be with him anymore. He's a great friend, but I just want to get my own place, move out of Trista's, get away from Adam, and start all over again.
 
     With Kevin? We'll see.

May I have your attention please?

Will the real Mo' Betta please stand up! 

Congratulations Kim!

You're the winner of my first ever giveaway: 
Mama Cards ™!




Thank you so much to everyone who entered!  I honestly thought I might not have any entries!  I truly appreciate the support and hope everyone is enjoying all the FYL festivities! 

And a HUGE thank you to

for sponsoring my giveaway and Friends You Love!

Just because you didn't win my giveaway, doesn't mean you can't still win!  My sissy is also hosting a  Mama Cards ™ giveaway this week!  So head on over to the tank and enter for your chance to win!