Good Cheer, Family, and Friends

I can't believe Thanksgiving just passed, and here we are, last day of November!

This week was busy seeing family, eating...but not overdoing it!  I made two incredible pies for Thanksgiving..I love pumpkin and apple pies.  Something about them just scream comfort food!  My recipes are on my pinterest page if you are interested.  I have made the apple pie before.  I will never use another recipe.  This one is just too good!

Preggo Mego.  I can't wait to have this baby girl!

I spent Black Friday downtown with my girls at Berghoff and the Christkindlemarket in Daley Plaza.  If you live in Chicago, are visiting Chicago, etc-YOU MUST go to the market.  I got a little hot coco and some non alcoholic spiced wine.  So good!

BFFs for life:)  

Now I am just trying to finalize holiday shopping, gift wrapping/mailing, decorating, and getting our cards out.  All while trying to bake this baby.  She is 33 weeks, and I swear every day she gets more and more cramped.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Winterizing Your Home

So Chicago just had its first snow fall, and there are many things you must do to get ready for winter. The mind boggling thing is that many people just don't do any of it?!

via

1. Disconnect your garden hose outside and store it for the winter.  Leaving hoses connected to spigots may cause interior water lines to freeze and burst.

2. Store your patio furniture.  Why leave it out to get damaged?  Some folks are just lazy, others just have too much crap in their garage.  But why leave your nice items outside to get damaged by old man winter?  Don't even get me started on those folks with too much crap in their garage...

3. Maintain your furnace.  We have our heating/cooling company come by each year to maintain our furnace and a/c.  Is it a waste?  No. Preventative maintenance can identify issues before you have a furnace go kaput in the middle of winter.  This past time he found out a piece of our humidifier wasn't working properly and was recalled.  He replaced it for free.  Also, change your furnace filters!

4. Install storm windows/doors/weatherproofing plastic over windows.  We also have energy efficient drapes in two rooms of the house.  They are black out curtains that can also keep heat out/in.  Love them.

5. Call your local energy company (gas/electric/etc) and get an energy assessment.  We did this over the summer and had COMED (Chicago company) come and see where we could cut down costs.  We installed all new LED light fixtures, especially outside.  You don't have to change lightbulbs with an LED fixture.  Why is this cool?  In the winter, the temperature fluctuating can affect the life expectancy of these bulbs.  So why not just get a new fixture?  We did, spent about $20 per fixture, and they should last 10-15 years.  NO LIGHTBULB CHANGING!!!  

What are some of your tips and tricks for getting your home ready for winter?

Encouragement

Have you ever just been in such a rut that you just can't get out of it?  I am trying to stay motivated today catching up on life.  Sending out much needed mail.  Cleaning out the inbox.  Breathing.
I almost want to just fast forward through the holidays at this point.  Baby girl makes me more and more uncomfortable every day making it very tough to get anything accomplished.  I am used to moving a mile a minute and she just says "slow down momma!"  We'll be meeting her soon enough. Just breathe.

Recipe: Best Ever Apple Pie

So yes.  I said it.  I made the best ever apple pie.  I have made a few recipes over the years, but this one will stick.  It is going in the cookbook.  Into the annals of history.  Ok.  You get the point.

There is a nifty little video on this link that will show you how to make the crust.  It is simple.  Seriously minutes simple.  

Crust: 

Makes dough for one single crust pie. The recipe is easily doubled for a two crust pie.  I use regular butter here instead of unsalted, so I don't need to add any salt.  If all you have is unsalted butter on hand, be sure to add 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

• 1¾ cup flour  (about 9 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1½ sticks cold butter (12 tablespoons), cut into slices
• ¼ cup ice water (approximately)

Place flour and sugar in a food processor.  Pulse.  Add about half of the butter. Pulse.  Add the rest of the butter. Pulse until the mixture turns into coarse crumbs. Through the feed tube, slowly add most of the ice water and pulse until the dough gathers up into a ball.  If it doesn't after a few seconds, add a few more drops of ice water until it does.  Take the dough and flatten it into a disc and place it on a sheet of floured plastic wrap and wrap it up. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Pie Recipe is here

Finished Product!

Halloween!

Halloween this year in Chicago was so rainy!  I hate it when it is crappy out, which is 90% of the time.  I honestly can't remember a nice day for Halloween here.

Mike and I handed out candy to the kids after the rain stopped, and just enjoyed each other's company at home.  Had to get ready for Sunday Funday.  Too bad the Bears screwed up the last quarter of the game. :(

I didn't make anything spectacular for Halloween.  Just pizza and made some cider to just stay warm when I kept opening the door.

Here are some pics!

My costume!  Baby Bartz is almost 30 weeks along!!

Bella wore this a few years ago.  Had to break it out again.  She was a great landshark greeting trick or treaters!

How was your Halloween?