Fall Wreath

Super late, but when I took my fall wreath down I realized I never wrote about it!

So this terrible, horrible thing happened. When Coach and I were moving me out of my apartment we forgot to go get the rest of my stuff out of my storage unit. We'd already emptied the bulk of it way early on. All that was left.....my wreaths. All of them. Every last single one I had made. I almost cried when I realized it come September. Needless to say, I'm having to start all over with my collection.

Well this fall was super crazy busy. Ridiculously so. I still had a Halloween wreath in my bin of decorations, so that went up in September. Normally I would have done a late summer/early fall for September but no time so "Boo" went up early.  About a week after Halloween I was still crazy busy but Boo definitely needed to come down. I can't stand for a naked door so I quickly improvised. All those pine cone wreaths at the stores were cute but stupid expensive. So I grabbed a box of gold, glitter pine cones and a green floral ring from Hobby Lobby for about $12. I already had a ribbon.

I lined the edge of the ring with the ribbon then wedged and hot glued the pine cones into place. Another ribbon at the top for hanging and it was still missing something. So I went back and grabbed so random brown floral spray things and stuck those around the rim. From the distance it looked fine, to be honest I hoped no one would look at it closely. It got the job done though it's not one I'll be saving. I might make a more refined version next year but for $16 total, I'm ok with tossing this one after a one-time use.

Ignore the awkward angle and the reflection of me in my super comfy sweats. Just look at those beautiful gold pine cones. :)

B&Gs

This might shock some of you, but I never ate biscuits and gravy till high school. I was one of the managers for our wrestling team and there was a St Louis tournament we went to every year (Marquette for you St Louisians). They served biscuits and gravy at their concession stand and one year that was all they had left. Even the pizza was sold out. I was STARVING. So I could eat the hot biscuits and gravy or a cold sandwich and an apple out of our wrestling team's food stock. I went for the B&G.

Fast forward 8 years and I can still count on two hands how many times I'd had the dish. Here was the thing, most restaurants had gravy that was too watery or too pasty. And most people I know made the stuff from a bag. So I decided to go ahead and have my students (aka me) learn to make it from scratch. The result? The most delightfully easy and taste B&G recipe around. I keep a tube of sausage on hand at all times just in case we need a meal in a pinch. All the other ingredients are standard stuff you'll always have in the pantry- well at least I have it in mine.

First make the biscuits:

• Mix 1 cup of flour with 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.
• Then cut in a small teaspoon of butter (you can make this a tablespoon).
• Stir it up with 1/2 cup milk. Voila- a mushy gooey drop biscuit batter.
• Plop it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and pop into an oven at 450 degrees (I make as many blobs as people, so usually 2-4).
• Bake for 10-12 minutes till the bottoms are golden brown.

While the biscuits are baking, you make the gravy:

• Cook your sausage on medium heat (6) in a deep skillet. Don't get your sausage too brown, just cooked through. If you brown it, you've really burnt some fat and your gravy will be brown instead of creamy white.
• Add another tablespoon butter and melt with the sausage (don't drain that meat fat, that's the flavor for your gravy!).
• Stir in 3 tablespoons flour till everything's all absorbed. You've essentially made a roux with sausage in it now.
• Gently pour in 1 3/4 cups milk and 1/2 tsp pepper. Add a pinch of salt. Keep that stove on 6!!
• Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan to make sure nothings scorching. Eventually it will come to a simmer.
• Keep stirring and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes till it thickens up to where you like it. Remember it will thicken some more upon standing.

By this time you're biscuits should be coming out of the oven, your gravy should be ready, and you've got nothing to do but eat your hot biscuits and gravy! All in all it takes me about 15 minutes to make is hands down one of my favorite recipes. You'll never use gravy from a mix again! (Though I want judge if you use refrigerated biscuits for a large crowd).

Hermann 2014

Coach and I like to travel. Since we live on a limited budget, spending money on experiences usually ranks higher than spending money on stuff. To each their own.

Hermann, MO, is one of our favorite places to visit. It's a Missouri River town famous for it's wineries. For those that don't know, Missouri is basically the California of the Midwest. Something about our climate, they make pretty decent town in this state. There are wine trails all over and lots of little towns make their money off wine tourism. Hermann is one of the towns that has it mastered.

There are only bed and breakfasts or rental homes in Hermann. This year we stayed at a sweet house called Helming House. It's adorable and completely updated. We brought all our own food and snacks for the weekend and made good use of the kitchen. It's a 2 bedroom and since there were 6 of us, Coach and I volunteered to be on the air mattress in the living room.

It overlooks the Missouri River and we already have plans to return in the spring and enjoy the view from the rocking chairs on the front porch (it was a bit chilly for that our weekend).

We drove in on Friday and headed out to the wineries on Saturday morning. We walked downtown and visited Hermanhoff and the bratwurst-making place first. Then we hopped on the Hermann trolley to visit Adam Puchta then Stone Hill. The trolley is only $15 for unlimited rides all day and well worth it for the convenience and safety!

We finished the day back downtown at a local brewery then yummy Italian restaurant. By the time the sun set, it was actually snowing. I'm not going to lie, walking through downtown in the pretty, light snow is about the only time I've enjoyed walking through the snow. It was, you know, romantic.

Sunday morning we were on the road and all were home by noon. It was a great weekend!

Growing Pains

For 8 years I lived in apartments smaller than the size of my classroom (I have a large classroom). Now, courtesy of marriage to Coach, I live in a 3-bedroom, 2.5 bath home with a living room, basement family room, guest room, guest bath, mantel, the works! So now all of a sudden my 2 Rubbermaid tubs of decor is not enough.

I've slowly been aquirimg more for each season and creating a tub for each season but it's a slow process. I was dismayed to find that my Christmas decor barely decorated the tree. So I bought more, and managed to decorate the stairs. So I bought more, and managed to decorate a shelf. A. Shelf. 

So needless to say my dreams of themes and coordinating decor have gone out the window. I tried, but I don't know have enough stuff to make it come together. I'll highlight it all soon (I'm still tweaking things) but in the meantime this is my happy place. Comfy chair, cozy blanket, twinkling tree. (And Big Bang Theory on TV).