Thanksgiving Tuesdays & Thursdays -

Thankful - Day 26 - What are you thankful for?- Thankful Poem

Thankful - Day 25- What are you thankful for?

Today I am thankful I know how to cook! Yes, cook. My family are very traditional. My grandmother cooked every meal, cleaned every room in the house, did every piece of laundry, etc. & my grandfather worked and took care of the majority of  the yard work. I always swore that I would NOT cook for a man, clean for a man, etc. I always said a man has two arms and two legs just the same as me he will do everything of his own too. Yeh, RIGHT! I am a wife and mother, I cook every meal, clean every room, do everything just as any other mother or wife. My husband is very helpful and will do whatever I ask him to, usually its to fold Laundry, but he is helpful so I am appreciative of that. However, I never learned to cook when I was younger, except when I would help bake cupcakes, cakes, cookies, and macaroni and cheese.
     Now that I am an adult and have been cooking for my family for 10 years now, I have to say I have become a pretty good cook. I will be cooking Thanksgiving Dinner for my whole family, which I am a little nervous about but I am confident in my cooking skills that it will all turn out great.
The reason I am so thankful for my cooking skills is not just that I am able to make a big Thanksgiving feast but that I am able to make dinner for my family every night and cook special treats for the kids and the kids classes. Food always makes people happy!
Just a random thing I am thankful for. I also want to say that these 30 days of thankfulness that are posted by many are not to just be thankful 30 days a year but to just announce and state what we are thankful for, all the little things, the different things that makes our lives fulfilling. Everyone should always be thankful ever day of the year, but during the month of November when were celebrating Thanksgiving this is something fun to do and everyone should be respectful of it and now say we are "rubbing it in your face" or "we aren't thankful all year", its just for the season and fun. Have a great rest of the week everyone! 

Thankful- Day 24- What are you thankful for?

   

  I am thankful for my two beautiful children. I am always thankful for them, but today I feel the need to write about it. My children are so much like me and my husband it's like they are spitting images of us and the way we were as children. My son and daughter both have characteristics of each of us and both do things the way my husaband and I do. We all like the same things and even if it's something that one of us is not into we still continue to participate. My children both get a little wild in there own ways and have to be reminded of how to behave ( as all kids do) but I wouldn't trade any of the hard times. My kids are perfect just the way they are. They have caring hearts and how to treat people and whats right and whats wrong. They don't mistreat people or act differently. I am so thankful that I was blessed with two beautiful children. Even if at a young age, my husband and I have always made our decsions based on what was right for them.

 I enjoyed today so much just getting to hang out and be at home with the kids. They are out for fall break so there is no agenda or no routine for today with it being Sunday. Just a laid back kind of day!

#bloglikecrazy- See Jane Eat- Lemon Cheesecake Pie

This is perfect for today, we are celebrating Thanksgiving Dinner with my mother today! We are doing a non traditional Thanksgiving Dinner since I will be cooking all the same stuff again just 4 days later. We decided to have steak and baked potatoes. I decided to make a dessert! I absolutely LOVE cheesecake, I could sit and eat that everyday for every meal, that's true love. I decided I wanted to make a Lemon Cheesecake Pie, and add a special fall touch to it.

Now you can do this two ways- You can do this completely homemade or you can do the quick and easy version. That's what I did here because it was a last minute decision but it turned out to taste
Ahh-maaaa-zinggg!

Here is what you will need:
-1 box of 9in Pie Crust
-1 Can of Lemon Pie Filling
-1 8oz box of Cream Cheese (allow to soften)
-1/2 cup of milk
- Leaf Cookie Cutters
- 4 tablespoon of butter
-4 Graham Crackers

1. Pre-heat oven, place one Pie Crust into pie plate for the bottom, and bake as directed on box.
2. While the pie is cooking, go ahead and mix the Can of Lemon Pie Filling, Cream Cheese. As mixing add milk to help mix. Blend until all is mixed well. You can use a mixer if you want but this may make it harder. I prefer to whisk the mixture. 
3. Once pie is baked, allow to cool completely. 
   
4. While the bottom crust is cooling, Roll out the other crust and began using the leaf Cookie Cutters to get the most out of the pie. Once you use the whole crust, roll extra pie crust back out, and continue to use cookie cutters.
5. Melt the butter and brush over the top of the pie leafs that you just cut out. Bake@ 450 for 6 mins until lightly golden brown. Repeat to finish the other leafs. 
6. Once Pie Crust is Cool, Pour Mixture in and even out to make the Pie Filling. Crush Graham Crackers sprinkle lightly over the top of the pie. Refrigerate for two hours. 
7. Once Leafs are finished baking Add around the pie in whatever design you would like. You can finish refrigerating if you need to, or you can do it as you pull the pie out. 

This is absolutely one of my FAVORITE recipes! It's very easy, and even though I suggest refrigerating you could easily eat it as soon as you get it all finished. Hope you all Enjoy! 

Thankful - Day 23- What are you thankful for?

                                             
     Today I am thankful for side jobs and random times when you win money. During the holidays money always gets a little tighter. You have holidays, bills, extra activities, presents, extra food for the family dinners, property tax and then you also off a lot, which effects the way you spend and save your money. Today my husband and his brother had a side job. It was just want we needed to put us a little on top of things. I appreciate all the hard work he does even after working 41 hours last week, he went and worked an extra 8 to help his brother and make a little money.

     We usually don't buy scratch off tickets. It's just not something that we take the chance on loosing on. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom and family tonight because she is going to Las Vegas on Thanksgiving for two weeks (Lucky Her :) ) so after dinner headed home, but husband decided to stop at one the stores on our way home and just grab a scratch off! Well, good thing he did it was a $100 winner! Luck is just that, Luck, and when you win you shouldn't get greedy for more, because then you could loose it all. We turned the ticket in, took the kids to pick a little something special and we went home to save the rest for the holidays.

     It was a great, unexpecting, day! God blesses us when we need it most, when he feels its needed, not when you need it.

Thankful - Day 22- What are you thankful for?

This is something everyone should watch! The Robertsons!

   

     Thanks to I am Second for this and The Robertsons for always being REAL! They are not ashamed of their life, their story, or the road they took to get where they are. People always forget where they come from, they never forget their roots or how hard the climb was, but they never do and they always stick together and LOVE one another through anything and EVERYTHING! This is a special family! Watch them tell their story here! Everyone has hard times but you can always change your life, its your decision. Always Trust God!

The Robertsons

Thanksgiving Tuesdays and Thursdays- Sides- Recipe Share

      Okay, we've got the Turkey & the Pies - the most important! Just Kidding. We also needs sides to go with your Thanksgiving dinner. I sometimes have too many sides and A LOT of leftovers but its always great to have extra! Any who... Sides are really easy for most to come up. We all have to have the general Thanksgiving sides:

Mashed Potatoes

Sweet Potato Casserole

Corn Casserole

Greens

Macaroni and cheese

Stuffing & Stuffing Muffins

Deviled Eggs

Rolls

 

Oh it all sounds so delicious, I want to eat now! I said earlier that Turkey & the Pies were the most important, however the sides are just as important even though I can never eat all this food we are having. What is your favorite Side Dish?

Here are the recipies for my favorites:

 

Mashed Potatoes- These mashed potatoes are my favorite and my sister in laws! She absolutely loves them. I have to make these and regular ones because my husband and kids want just butter, my picky eaters! The other ones have cream cheese in them and thats why they want just butter. They say they can "taste" the difference, maybe they can.

Whatcha need:

5lb bag of potatoes

1 8oz. Cream Cheese

1/2 cup of milk - maybe a little more to add if needed.

Salt to taste ( I prefer Cajun Seasoning)

Pepper to taste

2 Sticks of butter

1. Peel and Cut Potatoes into 4's, cut up and down and side to side. Boil for about 30-35 mins, until soft. Mash the Potatoes while hot.
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
3. Add 1 1/2 Stick of butter, Cream Cheese, tsp of Seasonings, and 1/2 cup of Milk
4. Mix with a mixer on low to get it really nice and creamy, add more milk if neccessary.
5. Place into a casserole dish, or something that can be baked in the oven.
6. Cut the remainder of the butter and place on top of the potatos bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes.

Corn Casserole - This recipe is from Jiffy! It is absolutely amazing and so easy! I could eat the whole thing all by myself! YUM!
 Heres all you need and all you gotta do is mix and bake!

JIFFY CORN CASSEROLE
1 can whole kernel yellow corn, undrained 1 can cream style yellow corn 1 (8 oz.) carton sour cream 2 eggs, beaten 1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix 1 stick butter, melted Mix all together and pour into large, lightly oiled casserole dish. Bake at 350°F for 55 to 60 minutes

You can even add a light topping of cheese on the top.

 
Yaya's  Baked Macaroni & Cheese-
Whatcha Need:
-1lb. Macaroni (any style)
- 6T. Butter
- 4T. Flour
- 1tsp Salt
- dash of pepper
- 4C. Milk
- 8oz. Velveeta, cubed or American cheese
- 8oz. sharp cheddar

Cook Macaroni as directed, set aside. Melt butter in a large saucepan, blend in flour, salt, and pepper. Add Milk; cook and stir until thinck and bubbly. Add all cheese, stir until melted. mix cheese sauce with macaroni, pour into 13 x 9 casserole dish.  Bake @ 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. If desired remove from the oven 5 minutes before finished and spinkle with additional shredded cheese to cover top' return to oven for melting and browning. The recipe can also go into 2 - 8 x 8 inch dishes and shared or freeze one. Add chopped ham or bacon for added treat.



Thankful - Day 21- What are you thankful for?

 

Today I am thankful for the ability to be able to buy our whole Thanksgiving Feast and still have the money to pay the bills. A lot of people take Thanksgiving for granted and don't really think about what all is put into the meal that they are eating. Food cost a lot more now then it use to, and many families won't be able to afford to buy Thanksgiving dinner to feed their families. I am very thankful that I was able to go shopping today and buy the groceries that are needed to cook a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. I hope all of you are just as blessed! It's the season of giving, if you know of someone who needs help with groceries for Thanksgiving, offer to help them or invite them over to join you and your family. Remember the reason for this season!

Thankful - Day 20- What are you thankful for?

 

Today I am thankful for the relationship that we have with my sister in law & brother in law and our nieces and nephew. My sister in law and I were pregnant at the same time with our first children. My son due in May and my niece due in October. We didn't get really close until after we had the kids and then we've been pretty close ever since. Of course there has been those family fights that caused us once to quit talking but that isn't going to happen anymore. I'm thankful that my husband and his brother can look past their differences and have grown to have an understanding with each other.

We do not have a relationship with any one else in my husbands family by choice - and that's another story for another day) as long as I have known my husband we have always been close with my brother in law and family and when we started all having kids we were at each others house every weekend and hanging out. It was nice that our kids were growing up together and also going to be around each other. There were a couple of years that there were misunderstandings and things had changed but I'm thankful today that things are back to normal and my sister in law asked if we wanted to have Thanksgiving together, our family and just them! I'm excited about we haven't celebrated Thanksgiving together in 3 years or more. -Sad to say that but happy that has changed!

 

Elf on the Shelf - Fred is back and he brought his sister!

  



      FRED our Elf on the Shelf is BACK, and he apparently brought his little sister!! This year when I seen the little girl Elf, I knew she had to be apart of our Christmas Tradition and join the family. We started the Elf on the Shelf tradition in 2011. My son was 7 and my daughter 4! My Daughter really didn't care to much the first year about Fred, and last year she was just as into it as my son was. My daughter has really gown up over the past two years and she has become her own little person with her own interests, likes, and dislikes. I knew it would be cute for the kids to each have a Elf to watch over them and because they had a boy and a girl now too, it was only fitting.

    The first day when the Elf comes back, Fred always brings his book for us to read that night and get ready for the holidays. This year he also brought a special letter explaining to the kids who he had brought with her. They really enjoyed the personalized letter, which I made on the computer for them.
     The chair that they were sitting in, sits to the right in our living room and not in their direct sight. It took them a little while to see Fred and his sister but when they did it was so awesome to see their little faces brighten up. As we went to the bus stop the kids thought of a name for Fred's sister. They decided that we should name her Charlotte. So now we have Fred and Charlotte the elves. I hope they don't cause too much mischief.

Have your Elves come back yet? What did your kids name your elves?
Watch for our elf on the shelf series that will show what Fred & Charlotte have been up to here at the Scott Home! Hopefully they are nice little elfs! 

Thirty One Party! Get your Christmas Shopping done!

     Hey Ya'll, So it is the Last Party of the year for me with thirty-one! I'm sure their will be many more to come as much as I LOVE their products! So I wanted to give all of you the opportunity to purchase from them as well!! On November 27,2013 Our Party will open up all the way to December 4, 2013 at 9:00p.m. where we will host a live Facebook party HERE and you can enter for your chance to win free products! Go ahead and take a look at the catalog now HERE  and get a little shopping in!
     If you would like to place your order get with me and let me know! You can either email me at raisedsouthern@raisedsouthern.com or you can contact me directly at 850-602-7707! You can also submit your order to Lena Sewell my amazing thirty one consultant:

   

  You can order ANY TIME online, starting November 27th, and you can message/email/call our consultant, Lena Sewell, with your questions any time.
coloradocontainers@gmail.com
480.785.6610

Words for Wednesday

ABC Family 25 days of Christmas Countdown!

      Only 10 days left till the 25 days of Christmas Countdown vegans! Celebrate with ABC and enjoys these 10 evenings worth of movies until then! We love this time of year and all sitting around together enjoying these awesome movies and snacks. We have family movie night every Tuesday but during the holidays we make more time to watch some of our favorites and holiday favorites! Set that DVR to record so you have them to watch over and over, or at least so your little one can! You can even receive updates letting you know what is coming on that day! Text  MISTLETOE to 462223 to receive reminders of what is coming is on that day. Of course remember standard text messaging rates apply if you have a limit to text messages.

                              

What is your favorite Holiday Movie being shown in the 25 days to Christmas Countdown?

#bloglikecrazy Tube Time

     Today's #bloglikecrazy topic is Tube Time- Do a Video Blog... ehhh I'm not sure I am ready for all that. I didn't fully read today's topic so here it is 8:05p.m. at night and I'm sitting here in my PJ's blogging and I start on this one and think well darn it!! If I did a video blog now it would just be scary! So this will be one I have to come back on! I will schedule it out for another time and let you know when I get it up! By the end of the week for sure! Oh this should be fun!

Techy Tuesday - Christmas Apps

     With the holidays inching closer and closer of course we are checking out everything! Even awesome apps! Here are some of my favorite lately that I love and the kids will love too I'm sure! Plus it's a little bit of holiday magic! All of these apps are free with extended features with purchase, I look at it as try it before you buy it and usually with holiday apps like this you get just want you need!

     1)

 Christmas Booth: Allows you to add cute stickers to your pictures! I made a Rudolph & Santa Claus on the beach! 

2)

 Santa Spy Cam:

     This is the cutest app I have seen in a long time. It allows you have "spy" cameras in your home and you caught the elves or if you purchase the app you can catch Santa. I think its cute for the kids to see. It even has "special security" on it so your kids can't just access the app. I'll do one to show them with the tree and decorations up but here is what the free ones look like for you. 

3)

     Elf Yourself is fun for the whole family! This is my Favorite This is an app you can buy extra scenes or you can just use the free one on the app. You do even have the option to go online to http://www.elfyourself.com/ and make some more! This is fun you can even do friends or co-workers!


     Hope you enjoyed the Techy Tuesday! I have several more websites and possible apps to help you share all the Christmas Magic possible with your kids and family! Stay Tuned!

Thanksgiving Tuesdays and Thursdays- Do you know how to cook a Turkey?

     How to cook a turkey? ha, good question! Just kidding- However most of the time we don't cook a full large turkey like we do at Thanksgiving. When Thanksgiving comes around though we always have the worry of are we going to cook it long enough, will it be done by dinner time, is it going to taste good? The first year I cooked Thanksgiving and made a whole turkey I was shocked to see the insides on the inside - I had no idea they were there, again I had NEVER cooked a whole turkey. So now every year my husband is responsible for getting that out of there. YUCK! - okay...

      There are many different recipes and ways for you too cook your turkey. Personally, I love fried turkey! It is the best! Here are some recipes to help you decide on the best way to cook your bird! 

1. Your Basic Turkey Recipe 
   http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/760975033/basic-thanksgiving-turkey-food-network/
2. Stuffed Turkeyhttp://homecooking.about.com/od/turkeyrecipes/r/blturkey4.htm
3. Honey & Spice Glazed 
    http://www.joyofkosher.com/recipes/honey-and-spice-glazed-turkey/
4. Fried Turkey 
    http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Thanksgiving-Top-Fried-Turkey-Carla-Hall?cid=pinterest_chew
5. Herb Rub Roasted 
   http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t--7347/savory-herb-rub-roasted-turkey.asp

Here are some great recipes to get you started on choosing how your going to cook your bird. I'm still undecided between two ways. I hope everyone is preparing for a wonderful Thanksgiving! I absolutely love the holidays! 

Here is how we recommend NOT cooking your turkey! 

Thankful- Day 19- What are you thankful for?

   

     Today I am thankful for normal nights at home. I have been sick the past few days and down with a toothache and everyone knows that when mommy's down, nothing gets done. I do have to admit that my husband is great at taking care of things that need to be done, he did the dishes, took care of the kids, etc. but ya know everything is not in its spot the way it is normally. Yesterday I was feeling better and got all my "work" caught up. I say "work" because my job really isn't a job as much as I enjoy it. Today, I cleaned and got everything done and back to its spot- I still have a few things left to cover but for the most part it's all taken care of. The kids came home from school and both had a great day, had a snack, did their home work and chores. My husband and I cooked Dinner, we all ate, had baths and family movie night which tonight's choice is The Never Ending Story 2, then it will be on to story time before bed (which is now our kids reading to us, or my son actually reads his own book for his AR. They grow up to fast) It has been a normal night and it's a much needed one. :) It truly is the little things!

#bloglikecrazy - Controversy

      The good thing about doing these pre-picked topic monthly blogathons is that I don't choose the topics and so some of them make me think and some of them puzzle me. I'm not really a controversial kind of person, I am just me and think my way and don't deal with drama or fakeness. I may be controversial to some but as far as controversial topics go I tend to not follow the negative that is in the news or in society. It makes people bitter and life is too short to focus on that or have it take up any unneeded space in my life. Like the whole health care thing. My children have health care that we pay for my husband and I have dental and Vision and we make it. We don't get sick often *knocking on wood* so we don't have health coverage on us because it is just to high, I know about Obama care and what is trying to  be forced and that right there is enough controversy to keep this blog going for days and days. However, I try not to focus on that, we will do what we have to, when we have to, whenever the gov. makes up their own minds.
     So onto a Controversial topic...  *My mind is mush and not coming up with much.* I can see both sides to a lot of topics and still have my own opinions on the topic. - I'm not sure why this is so hard. This may need to be one I will have to skip over.

Music Mondays- The music I grew up on-

   

      I am a music lover, with a musician for a father, it should only be expected. I have always loved music for the reasons of the beats, the way it made me feel, to dance to because I loved to dance but always for expressing feelings that I could not express or helping me to understand a situation based on the explanation of it through song. As I have grown my love for music has grown too. I absolutely loved listening to my dad sing and I can hear his voice and music without even having it playing or any music at all playing. My dad played at some of the local bars and when it was his weekend or especially during the summer I would go too. Now I'm sure your all thinking really a child, in a bar, but I was always safe sitting at what use to be the pizza place and eating pizza and drinking cherry coke listening to my daddy sing. I didn't understand the whole bar, drinking, drunks aspect of it. As I grew up I still loved going and spending the day out back on the beach, grabbing some friend pickles and french fries, and listening to some wonderful music. I got to know all the people my dad played with and his best friends. One of his best friends was Rusty Mchugh. A well known singer and songwriter! Rusty was the funniest man I had ever met. Rusty became sick and passed away in 2004, My dad and the rest of Rusty's friends carried on Rusty's legacy playing his music all over. My dad passed in 2009 and the Rusty Mchugh Tributes are still going on. Here are some of the wonderful songs by Rusty Mchugh and Some that were covered by my dad.




One of my Favorites


& My dad singing Rusty Mchugh's Road Tired Eyes. This is still a hard one for me to listen to.

Thankfulness- Day 18- What are you Thankful for?

                                       



     Today I am thankful for blogging. I am inspired by today's Blogger of the Month Post on Alabama Women Bloggers about her being thankful for blogging and how it has brought so much joy to her life as it does all of us who blog and for many of the same reasons. We all have so much in common just through that. It has also though brought us to meet so many friends even if just through the internet and that once a year retreat. It made me reflect on the past year and where I have brought my blog and my brand Raised Southern.

      As a child I loved to write and doodle and still have many of my childhood journals. However when I look back at them and see that half of it is repetitive or about the most useless things I think about all that I should have been writing and experiencing to write about. I started blogging here and there about recipes and stuffed we liked, when I had the time in 2009 as Southern Life Mom and Wife through to 2012 when I decided I wanted to make this into something more. I built a site, I had been making my daughters bows for years at this time and thought it would be great to start a blog and build a brand of my bows and Raised Southern  was born.
     I spent the first few months reading up on where to start what to do and then I realized this was going to be harder then I thought. When you have big ideas like I do and have to take baby steps firsts it tends to be a process. "If it were easy, everyone would do it" Once I had an Idea I spent the next few months blogging recipes we found, crafts we did, family outings and activities, and setting up my site RaisedSouthern.com Building a Site is a complicated thing when you have never been in a programming class and have to look a million things up,                 but it has been worth it and rewarding.
      I never really thought about what I do. I started receiving a lot of views and receiving emails from women about different thoughts, or their ideas or opinions on things and I joined a few sites myself. I have had a few featured posts and  I become correspondent with Alabama Women Bloggers for the blogger of the month series, and I am so excited about where this amazing group of ladies is headed with this site! Even through all of this I've never thought about the actual weirdness of it all. Chantal with Scattered Seashells wrote today in her thankful post for Blogger of the month,

     "You’re writing up posts sharing your life with complete strangers. Who are these people who care about your recipes? What you’re wearing? Where you went this weekend? About your family, husband, child? Why do they even care? And yet, we still keep coming back for more!"
    
      This is exactly what we do and it's also true we keep coming back for more. I have a long list of blogs I like to follow and actually could spend a whole day just blog hopping and reading as I'm sure we all could. When you look at it like this, the question really could be asked why do you blog then? just to put your personal life out there? But the answer for me and for many of women & some men that I know is that it is so much more then that and has now become away for us to not only write, express our views, opinions, share fantastic products with all our friends, and sometimes those not so fantastic products, but also to bring in an extra income. 
     

      So today I was just very inspired by Chantal's thankfulness for blogging and wanted to share my thankfulness as well! Blogging has not only been an escape for me and my own special little place but also a way to build my dream and bring in some extra income all while meeting and befriending some pretty amazing women!