Tag Your It...

Okay so I haven't quite kept up my promise of daily blogging but never fear today is your lucky day!! I will post 3 times just to catch up. See I always eventually keep my promise. So here is 1 of 3 posts. FYI: It did snow in Lufkin and I do have pictures to post and will do so when I get off work. First I am going to do a little tag. I took this off her blog and if you haven't already, you should check it out. It is the cutest blog and she is so funny.

So, to follow the rules....here are ten things you may not know about me!

1. I grew up Episcopalian but now go to the Methodist church.
2. I cannot wear socks to bed even if my feet are freezing. There is just something about it I can't stand.
3. I have 2 brothers. One is 28 and one is 10.
4. Todd and I will celebrate our 3 year anniversary in April. Wow I can't believe it is already going to be 3 years.
5. I love TV. I don't know what I would do without my television.
6. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love being around all my family. I am so blessed!!
7. My husband starts decorating for Christmas mid November and I let him. That way we have more time to enjoy our decorations.
8. I look at people. com and us weekly daily. I must keep up with my celebrity gossip.
9. I love winter weather, scarves and sweaters
10. My goal is to get to 100 shoes. I have about 83 so I am getting close. I am crazy huh.

5 Obsessions of mine!!
Ebay
Shopping
Wine and Winery's
Shoes
Blogging, Facebook, and Myspace

Okay so I tag: (You must copy and paste and write 10 things about yourself in your blog and then tag someone else) ENJOY!!
Callie
Sarah
Brooke
Agent 99

I will be back to post pictures of Black Tie Bingo and the snow!!

Snow.....Lukin.....What??

Well I think everyone agress on that I won't be wearing the outfit tomorrow night. I really like it but others don't and well thats the opinion that really counts not mine. haha. Tomorrow the high is suppose to be 39 degrees. BURRRRRR! I will probably be wearing pants with thermals underneath to the Black Tie Bingo. haha. I bought a jacket at Old Navy today that I might wear tomorrow night. Todd approves of it. : ) They also said on the radio it might snow tomorrow night. OMG!! I am so excited, I love the snow. Its a rare occasion for Lufkin to get snow so when it happens I rejoice. Lets just hope it sticks to the ground. Tonight we went and had our wednesday night tradition at Morales which worked for me because that meant I did not have to cook. Since we are going to Black Tie Bingo tomorrow Mark and Todd decided to move it up a day. Heaven forbid we go a week without Morales, we wouldn't know what to do. We are also taking our Christmas picture tomorrow for our Christmas card. I have to find something to wear. I might wear my new jacket...hmmm decisions decisions. Well this is going to be a short post because I don't have anything interesting to say and I really need to start wrapping presents. I have a whole closet full of gifts not even wrapped and I am on call the weekend before Christmas so I better get busy. Happy Tuesday!!

Daily December....Monday

I couldn't think of a title for this blog so this is what you get. I am keeping my promise thus far about my Daily December blogging. I will be blogging daily about the lives of the Stracener family and what goes on daily in our crazy world. Weekends are the exception though. I got off work early and headed to run a few errands. We are going to black tie bingo on Wednesday so I was trying to find an outfit to wear. I found this cute pink silky dress and black tights and paired it with a belt and heels. I think its cute but Todd is not so sure. Its a little on the eccentric side but I think very fashionable. What do you think??

A belt kind of like this one

The tights... These shoes

This evening I cooked Hamburger Pie. One of my Nana's favorite recipes. I love to cook casseroles. They are so easy and I always have leftovers to take for lunch the next day. Has anyone else ever had hamburger pie. Here is the recipe, try it sometime. Its very good on a cold winter night. I will try to start posting some more recipes and if you have any new recipes than please leave a comment and I will try them. I am always up for trying something new. I think I will try to post a new recipe every Monday so be watching out.

INGREDIENTS

6-8 Potatoes

1 med. onion

1-1 1/2 lb ground beef

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1-1 1/2 cups of cheese

Peal and slice potatoes and onion into rounds. Boil together in salted water until tender. Drain. Place beef in skillet, crumble and brown. Drain. Using a 9x12 dish, starting with potatoes and onions, make layers with all ingredients with beef second, soup next, and then cheese. (I usually do 2 layers) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cook 15 to 20 minutes before serving and ENJOY!!

Well I hope this Monday finds everyone in good spirits. I am off to work on wrapping presents for Christmas so we can gift under the tree. I am also starting a new book called The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck. I will let you know how it is. I encourage each one of you to blog Daily December. I think December is such a fun month and it will be so neat to look back and see what I wrote about the year before. So much happens and changes in one year I am trying to live in every moment. I also encourage each of you to start reading the bible daily even if its only for 20 or 30 minutes. My dad preached about that at church on Sunday. During this advent season, become even closer to God by reading his word. I will be back to post tomorrow.

Shopping and more...

I'm back from Dayton very tired and exhausted. My mom and I literally shopped 'till we dropped on Saturday. We woke up at 7 30 and left the house around 9 that morning and did not get back until 9 that night. We met up with her friend Susan and her daughter Lindsey and shopped all day. I think I got the most shopping done out of anybody. I am almost completely done except for my mom and a few little thing for Todd and my dad and brother. I am so glad I was able to get most of my shopping done. I left my camera at home so I don't have any pictures from the weekend. I am sorry, once again use your imagine. 4 women shopping, 2 cars, and trunks full of bags. We had a great time and ate at one of my favorite places...Panera Bread. Yumm..I had a turkey and artichoke sandwich. It was so delicious.

Friday night I met up with my good friend Lindsey and we had dinner at Benjy's. It was so good and very gourmet. I know Todd would have loved it. I had a crunchy garlic chicken and she had tuna that melted in your mouth. We had a great time catching up and I finally got to see her gorgeous engagement ring. She is getting married in May and I can't wait until the wedding.

While I was gone Todd finished putting up the rest of the Christmas decorations. He has done a great job, not that I expected anything less. He always does the Christmas decorations and does an AWESOME job. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband. I would love to post pictures but I want to wait until Boo Mamas house tour. That is next week so you will just have to wait until then. Sorry : ( Hope everyone else had a great weekend. Remember I am trying to post daily during the month of December so be sure to check back often.

Ribbon Cutting and more....

I have kind of slipped on the promise of daily blogs. Oops sorry guys. I know ya'll look so forward to reading my blog and are disappointed by the fact that I have not blogged daily this week. Haha. I make a vow to do better. I will say I'm excluding weekends. I will try to blog daily during the week. I'm going to call this My Daily December. What do you think?

Last night The Main Event had their ribbon cutting and official grand opening with the Chamber of Commerce. I was surprised by the amount of people that came out. It was a great turnout and a lot of different people than what were at the big Grand Opening. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and were really impressed with the place. We had appetizers, cheese, grapes, punch, and wine. Believe it or not all the food came from Sam's and it was all delicious. My mother in law and I have found a new addiction. There were some multi grain crackers that were so good that we almost ate the entire plate full of them. Sharon said she is reverting back to her Harvest Crisp days. She told me she used to eat a box of harvest crisp crackers a day. Ha- I was cracking up when she told me that. Too funny! I didn't have my camera so I didn't get any pictures from the event. Sorry, you will just have to deal with my writing and use your own imagination.

I also got my hair cut once again. I like to change my hair all the time and can never keep the same hairdo. My hair looks similar just a little shorter in the back and more razor cut. Its very rocker chic! I like it a lot, I just hope I can fix it as good as my hairdresser does. I watched everything she did so say a little prayer. : )

Well I am off to Dayton this weekend to hopefully start and finish my Christmas shopping. My mom and I and her friend Susan and her daughter are all going. Should be a good time. Tonight I'm meeting up with my good friends Lindsey, Lara and Carla for dinner. I haven't seen them since this summer so I am super excited to catch up. Lindsey and Carla have both gotten engaged since the last time I saw them. I can't wait to hear all about the wedding plans. Hopefully I can get out of work at a decent time so I don't have to drive in the dark. Hope everyone has a good weekend and I will be back to post on Sunday!

New Blog Title??

Ok ladies and gentlemen(although I don't think there are any gentlemen that read this blog) I need your help. The hubby has been after me for quite some time about the title of my blog. He hates it. I totally agree with him but I just started blogging on a whim and didn't really think I would keep it up. I have come to love the blogging world and decided that I will keep this blog as Todd and I journey into this thing we call life. I need a new title and header. Everyones blog is read is so cute and creative and thats just not me so I need some help. Any advice? After I decide on a new title then I will get one of those fancy headers. I dont know what ya'll think but Karahs Thoughts and not really me and not very catchy either. I want something that describes my life. Any ideas?? Please leave a comment and let me know what you think? Even if your a blog stalker and have never commented, now is the time to do so. I would like to know who actually reads my blog anyways besides a few close friends and family. I also will have lots to blog about this month, so ya'll just might get lucky and get a daily post. I have never done it yet, so we shall see how long it lasts.

On a side note, Todd and I went to the Christmas parade last night and I was quite impressed. It was actually very good and I did not expect it to be that good. The bands were great and some of the floats were so cute. Home Depot had the best float I believe. It was long too, it was about an hour long. Going to the parade brought me back to my childhood because growing up I was in the Christmas parade every year. I was in dance growing up so we performed every year and I loved it. It really got me in the Christmas spirit. Me, Todd, Mark Callie and Caroline all watched the parade from in front of The Main Event. We had a good time, then Todd and Mark went and got Chinese take out and we hung out at there house. I wish I would have had my camera to take a few pictures, but I left it at home and didn't know if Todd and I were for sure going to watch the parade or not. Anyone else make it out to the parade last night? What did you think?

Thanksgiving Weekend

My Aunts New House...isn't it BEAUTIFUL!!

We are very proud of our GOURMET secret recipe turkey that was oh so delicious.

Sweet Potatoes and Giblet Gravy

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a great time in Alabama. On the way their we had a guy car and girl car. My 2 brothers, Todd and my Dad rode in one car and listened to Bill O'Reilys audio book all the way there. My mom, me and my brothers girlfriend Kate rode in our Tahoe. We listened to Christmas music and gossiped. The trip on the way up there went by pretty fast and we had an easy drive, not to much traffic. The worst traffic was in Baton Rouge and it took us about an hour to get through the town. Wednesday night Kate and I learned how to cook Thanksgiving dinner with my aunts supervision of course. We made cornbread dressing and learned how to cook a turkey. Our dressing and turkey turned out to be delicious. My aunt said next year its all on us to cook Thanksgiving dinner. We had a blast cooking and then we stayed up late and sat on their back porch by the fire pit just talking and catching up. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family. Thursday we all got up and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. All the family arrived and we chowed down on all the yummy food. It was a great Thanksgiving. Later that evening my 2 brothers and me played a little football and I won. Woo hoo I was very excited. I beat 2 boys at football!! On Friday we all went and saw Four Christmases. If you haven't seen this movie it is a must that you go see it. It was so funny, I laughed through the entire movie. Great Christmas movie to get you in the Christmas spirit. It was hilarious!! On Saturday we made the long trip back to Lufkin and Todd and I were glad to be back home. I had so much fun in Alabama with my family but it is always nice to be back at home in my own bed. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Now its on to Christmas....lots to blog about.......can't wait : )

My crazy little brother Garrett

Kate and I learning how to make cornbread dressing

The dressing looked so good we wanted to eat it while making it.

Todd and Mama Kat(thats what he likes to call my mom)

My brother Zeke and cousin Chris

Me hard at work on the dressing.

A little snack my cousin Chris made for us, pepperoni's with cheese baked on.

Kate, me, my Aunt Alma(the cook)

Me and my favorite Uncle Fred

After rearranging the fridge several times we finally got all the food to fit.

Kate and Chris

Another snack we made that brought me back to my childhood. Sausage and velveeta baked onto small cubes of bread.

My Aunt Barb and Garrett, he never smiles for any pictures

One of my favorite cousins Lindsey

My other favorite cousin Kristen

Zeke and Kate taking a nap after eating all that turkey.

The family and Grandma taking pictures (she is the designated picture taker at family events)The family again visiting

**To think I did not get one picture of me and my hubby. Shame on me : (