Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas catch up

I hope everyone had a great Christmas with there loved ones enjoying there time together... and great food! Christmas Eve was a lazy lazy day in the Longley household. We lounged around in our PJ's all day playing with the dogs. My mom sent the dogs this tennis ball toy that they are in love with. Well Molly is obsessed with it and doesn't want to share it with anyone, including Ellie.



 I took about 134 pictures and 2 videos of the dogs playing with our neighbors dog Ally. I decided I wanted to turn some of the pictures into a movie. This was my first time doing something like this, so it took me about 3 1/2 hours to figure it out. Frank saved the day at the end since I couldn't figure out how to get it loaded up to youtube. I was in such a hurry because I wanted to email this to my mom so my family that was there could enjoy a little of Molly and Ellie on Christmas Eve :].

Our Christmas Eve dinner wasn't a traditional one, but it was homemade and delicious. I made my grandma Margarets spaghetti sauce and was planning to pair it with homemade bread sticks from FOR THE LOVE OF COOKING but I was in such a rush that I messed it up from the start. So instead I went the easy route and put some crescent rolls in the oven. Frank didn't mind the spaghetti sauce, but I know he prefers the plain kind we normally make. I'd love to make this one again for a special occasion.

Grandma Margaret's Spaghetti Sauce
1 Pkg Onion Soup Mix
1 Pound Hamburger, browned (any kind would work, I used soy meat.)
1 Can (8 oz) Tomato Sauce
1 Can (7 oz) Tomato Paste
1 Can Stewed Tomatoes
1 Tbsp Parsley Flakes
1 Tsp Basil
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Tsp Oregano (I did a Tbsp of Basil and Oregano)
1 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 Cup Onion, chopped
Celery
Green & Red Peppers
Salt
Pepper
Mushrooms, Fresh
Wine

Brown burger; remove from grease onto paper towel. Dispose of grease in pot. Return burger to pot. Add all other ingredients together with burger. Simmer until done. Serve over Spaghetti noodles.

Christmas Day we headed up North of LA to visit with Erik, Haysel and the kids. We haven't seen Erik since before he left for school way back in March I believe? Not quite sure exactly, its been a long time. It was really good to hang out with them, we've missed the Santacruz bunch! Even though we spent 6 hours total driving, it was worth it. I just wish I would have remembered to bake something yummy for them. Next time for sure.

Some time last week I made a BLACK BEAN TORTILLA PIE from Tasteofhome.com. I didn't take a picture since the pie pretty much fell apart when I took it out of the pan. I told Nick I would post the recipe since it's a healthy one, and it is amazingly good! I've been slacking with the recipes this last week... I've made lost of new and tasty stuff, maybe one day I'll play catch up with recipes!?

Ever since we got Ellie Frank and I have been wanting to get an SUV (well Frank wants to get a truck, but the dogs would have a heart attack being in the bed of a truck). We already know it will be at least another year or so before we can actually look into purchasing a new vehicle. However, that doesn't stop us from looking! Frank had already gone and looked at a few cars but yesterday I decided to tag along and get a feel for what's out there. The first dealer ship we headed too was Chevrolet to check out the Equinox. The amount of miles that car gets to the gallon was are draw in, but I was a little disappointed with how small the trunk area was. I figured what the heck I'll check out the Traverse while we're here. OH MY GOD I FELL IN LOVE!!! It's everything I'm looking for in an SUV. We took it for a test drive and I loved it even more (it would have been nice if there wasn't a huge sticker covering the passenger side). Things got a little tense when Frank decided he wanted a truck rather than an SUV after looking at the new Silverado. We did come to an agreement that whenever we get an SUV we wont be trading in the car, we'll sell it ourselves and Frank can get a cheap project car. I've been making him wait on a project car since we don't have the money and I'd rather we had a garage for him to store it and work on it. The dealer at Chevy said Frank should sell his bike so we could afford the Traverse. Frank looked at him like he was crazy. :]

I did want to keep my options open so we headed over to Toyota to look at the Highlander since that was another option we both really liked. Sadly I was really upset to see it in person. We spent all of about 5 minutes at the most looking at it. To make Frank happy I went and looked at the FJ Cruiser since he's been pushing it, but we were both surprised to see the trunk area was much smaller than it looked in pictures. So onto another dealership we went...
This time our next stop was GMC. They didn't seem to have many options so we only really looked at the Terrain and the Acadia. The Terrain was too small for me, but the Acadia was nice. Just a little to pricey for us poor foke! Then it was off to Jeep. This is where I knew it would get interesting since I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Grand Cherokee. In the end it came down to the Traverse and the Grand Cherokee, but after driving the jeep and comparing the two I decided on the Traverse. I still am in love with jeeps though ha.
 awww... I'm in love♥


We also decided that since the dogs will have the truck space just for them, we don't mind buying used. And since we aren't planning on buying a new car till the end of 2010 at the earliest we can probably get a good deal on a 2009 Traverse. I'm excited! hehe

9 comments:

La Familia Workman said...

Wow, that sounds a lot like the homemade spaghetti sauce I make but I don't use all the veggies since Troy doesn't really care for them. I used to use wine but yesterday I used vodka and I have to say, it was pretty interesting. Not bad at all.
That's a cute SUV! Hopefully you'll be able to get it this year. We're hoping to get another SUV soon and then get bikes this year but that depends if Troy starts this job soon. Here's to wishful thinking!! : )

La Familia Workman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Emily said...

Bikes are fun, just remember how freakin EXPENSIVE they are! ha Two at one time.. I'd die from all the costs of gear, insurance, licensing, etc.. haha. Do you guys know what you want? Frank IS NOT allowed to get rid of this one for a very long time ha.

La Familia Workman said...

HAHA!! Troy wants a GXSR but I don't remember which one I wanted. Most likely, we'll start with pre-owned since we're not sure we won't damage it yet, lol. I've always wanted one so that's why I'm giving in easily on getting bikes. But it'll only happen if Troy gets this job.

Emily said...

Very smart with the waiting! And with going with pre-owned. Franks first bike was used, the first owner had laid but Frank never did in the 3 years he owned it. Within the first week of getting his second bike which was BRAND NEW he laid! He was going pretty slow at the time so he didn't do much damage to the bike (I guess the car that cut him off didn't even stop!) but he still has pains in his hands every once in a while. When he was looking into getting a new bike he was thinking about getting a GXSR, but I guess it wasn't big enough for him or something!? ha

Anonymous said...

Go Chevy! I heard those are really cool cars, but I haven't ever seen one. Was that spaghetti sauce what you said I "couldn't eat?" Ha. I'm trying out a spaghetti sauce recipe here this week or next, I'm kinda excited for it. Although it's much more basic than your version. :)

Emily said...

HAHA no Nick you would know what I'm talking about if you saw the recipe! You can eat this sauce. Do you like lots of stuff in your spaghetti or do you like it plain? This one is pretty dang good, but Frank doesn't care for it. Hopefully somebody at his shop appreciates it :]

Keeping up with the Harris's said...

I stole the recipe for the black bean tortilla pie!

Emily said...

Heather- Let me know what you think of it!