Thanksgiving According to Remington

Now that you all know how my Thanksgiving went, I suppose I should let you know what Remington was up to all those days.  Is it sad that I document almost every hour of his life via my IPhone... I swear I'll end up with more pictures of that dog than my own children :)

Remington enjoyed lots of play time in P-town.  This mostly involved chewing up tennis balls until I had to take them away from him. Nothing like holding a slobbery wet ball!

He spent a lot of time hanging out in his all time favorite place in the bathroom. Sadly, he fits perfectly here and has loved snoozing in this nook his whole life!

He spent a lot of time cuddling with his Mom... I of course soaked this time up since most of the time he does this with his Dad.

He did a lot of bed hogging!!!  Dan and I have a king size bed to accommodate for Remington's large size, but at my parents house we all three often times squeeze in a full size bed.  It's pretty comical... can you imagine it!

He spent a lot of time just lounging around in general...

And most importantly, he spent a lot of time missing his best buddy... Dad!

"Can we go home and see Dad yet Mom???"

If only we all could have had a Thanksgiving as enjoyable as this.

Catching up...

I've been missing in action for the past few days... so let me try to catch you up.

Dan had to work Thanksgiving... go figure... so Remington and I headed off to P-town!  WHAT WHAT!  Sometimes I feel like the holidays are ruined for us, because well... Dan and I almost always spend them apart.  This Thanksgiving was especially taxing on Dan since he worked practically 36 hours straight.  I felt really bad for him as he suffered through lack of sleep.  I think since his body was worn down, he then came down with a horrible cold :(  Poor guy.

Anyways, Remington and I spent 5 days in P-town with my parents.  It was a really relaxing trip... full of fun, family, and food!  We had Thanksgiving at my Aunt's where I got to meet two cute pups :)

 Sweet Lily!  My cousin's son's new puppy!  She was so sweet!

And Mr. Cooper.  This was my Aunt's friend's daughter's dog... hehe!  He was a medium Labradoodle!  Loved him!

Once the Thanksgiving festivities were over with, I spent the other days with my family.  We played lots of games...

I had to make up for lost game time with Aunt Boo since we didn't get to see each other! I know you were heartbroken Boo when you saw I was playing games without you...

And we did a lot of relaxing... I actually got to read books I wanted to! HEAVEN!

All together it was a nice vacation away from every day life. I now am dreading going back to work! Bring on CHRISTMAS BREAK!

Someone to love me...

Remington goes from person to person in our house and will rest his head on our hands looking for some love...

Can you honestly imagine this dog not getting the bulk of love in our household???

But he just craves more and more.

World's Best Lasagna

Dan requested lasagna for dinner... I wanted to make something different and not my usual stuff. So I found this recipe.  I wonder if it will live up to it's name???

World's Best Lasagna (www.allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions 

 

In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. 

  

Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. 

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. 

In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 

To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  

Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese. 

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Dan rated this a 9 after it was done.  But when we had it for leftovers the next day he rated it a 10! Why is it some times things taste better as left overs???  I'll admit, the lasagna was good, but took way to long to prepare. I probably wouldn't make it again.

Dan's Thanksgiving

Dan will be working all through Thanksgiving... yes... he works his life away!  So I thought I would fix him some food to enjoy this weekend and for leftovers this week since he won't be able to celebrate with our family. I'm such a good wife aren't I?

I made him pumpkin muffins.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bundt Cake.

And Lasagna (recipe to come).

I'm going to make sure I'm not the only one gaining weight over the holidays :)

Mileage Monday

Running stats for the week of November 14th - November 20th... it doesn't look like I'm going to make my running goal for November since so far I've only ran like 3 miles of my 40 miles.  Guess I should have taken some people's advice when they told me not to set myself up for failure (Heather).  I don't know what my deal is... I just can't get myself in gear right now.  I'm sure it has something to do with the weather and me just wanting to curl up under my covers when I get home.  Very disappointed... in myself.

I keep saying after Thanksgiving I'll step it up... I hope I take my own advice.

Heavy Heart...

Dan, Remington and I have had a heavy heart this week...

One of our very close friend's father passed away of a heart attack...

She was half way around the world when it all happened...

It was all I could stand to not be there with her as she traveled home...

So instead, I spent my time praying for her...

For her family...

For them to be comforted...

For their pain to be eased...

We've had a heavy heart this week...