Drink Up: Kyle and Sarah's Black Flip

Ingredients (for one):

4oz Young's Double Chocolate Stout

3oz Malibu Black

1 egg

1.4 oz Maple Grove Farms pure maple syrup

nutmeg to garnish

Directions:

Remove carbonation from Stout. We used a shaker; it was a little messy (you can see in the pictures). 

Add other ingredients, except nutmeg, to shaker.

Shake shake shake!

Pour into glass and add nutmeg to garnish.

Drink and enjoy! 

Kyle found this on the internet, indirectly from here. We changed it up a little (as we do) and the result was pretty tasty.Try it if you like! Happy Holidays! 

 - From the desk of Mrs. M

Pinterest Project: Scarf Organization

The first thing I knew I wanted to "make" for the house was this simple scarf organizer I found on Pinterest. I am such a scarf lady, so this was much needed (my scarves were previously stored in a bag). Kyle thought it wouldn't work because they would just slide to one end, but I have proven him wrong.

I switched it over to a sturdy wooden hanger to avoid bending the plastic one too much. I'll be sure to share any other Pinspirational projects I take on around the house. The next one up might be this, making an ornament from the tree when it is time for it to go.





- From the desk of Mrs. M

Deck the Halls and Trim the Tree

Even before Kyle returned, I did a little bit of holiday decorating around the house, and the first day Kyle was back we went out to get a Christmas tree. We were thinking of maybe getting a potted version that we could plant in the backyard afterwards, but we didn't have any luck in finding that (we honestly didn't look too hard). After a quick internet search on my phone (oh what would we do without my iphone lately, I dare not imagine) we ended up at Silo Christmas Tree Farm where they had cut Fraser Firs from North Carolina and in the ground delicate Afghan pines to cut.

We ended up with a 6.5 foot fir; it even fit in the trunk of our little civic. I decorated the tree gradually over the next few days. We don't have any personalized or memorable ornaments like the ones I'm used to seeing on our Haviland family Christmas tree (digging out the Christmas decor at my house was always pretty fun and prompted many "oooh I remember this one!"s), but maybe we can add a new one every year and build up our own collection. With nothing else to top the tree with, I just tossed a Yuengling Santa hat on top that Kyle's mom sent down with gifts; it seems sort of fitting though nontraditional. Our refrigerator should arrive today; hopefully we can get groceries and come up with some sort of Christmas dinner (that may involve a chicken cooking on/over/about a bottle of beer (Kyle's idea). Stay tuned for that story! Have a happy Christmas Eve!

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Our House

Here's a peek at our house in its current state of unpacking! Our things arrived Wednesday evening, Time Warner Cable just set up our TV and internet, and our fridge is arriving tomorrow. We're missing a couple pieces of furniture (kitchen table and dresser) and the kittens, but things are really shaping up! 

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Kyle is Back!

The First 48 Hours

Kyle arrived early morning on the 18th. You can see a video of the unexpectedly short ceremony here if you like! We went to IHOP (as we do), and then back to the hotel where we decided not to sleep and just get on with the days activities. We visited our house, went fridge shopping, got a Christmas tree, sorted through Kyle's Army things, became super tired at various points of the day, got a few things for the house, got Kyle a beer with lunch, went to a different hotel in Killeen, and went to sleep around 7 or 8. Today we woke early and then took a nap. Once we were finally caught up on sleep, we went to have breakfast and headed to the base as Kyle had some Army things to do. This afternoon we drove to Austin to check out Kyle's motorcycle, only to find the shop was closed on Mondays. We did get to a motorcycle accessory shop, where Kyle found a helmet and leather jacket. He will be a super stylin' biker dude soon enough. Tomorrow Kyle has Army duties all day, and we've decided to leave the hotel and stay at our house, even though our things aren't due to arrive until Thursday, and our refrigerator next Monday (cable/internet this Friday, luckily). Looks like we'll be camping out on an air mattress for a couple days, and having Chinese on Christmas day! I couldn't be happier about it (well, only if the kittens were here too). 

- From the desk of Mrs. M