A special surprise in the mail! Cooking for New Year's Eve

About 6 months ago I joined a crafting page on Facebook. Not because I'm crafty, I am NOT. I just wanted to see what other people make and maybe sell. I saw a beautiful hand painted flag that a woman and her 5 year old nephew made. I asked if they sold them and she said no they didn't. 

A little later she messages me and tell me she and Austin had a talk and decided to gift me with a new flag they were going to make. 

 Wednesday I got a message from her telling me to check my mail. It didn't come until later in the day but this was the sweetest surprise ever! I can't stop looking at it! I am just amazed that a woman and a little boy from Kentucky would do this for me. 💖💖 She is very proud American and proud of our Marine and Sailor too. Thank you, Thank you  Austin and Jen! We will find a special place for this masterpiece! 💗💗  I know this took hours and hours to do. She told me she and Austin had so much fun making it! 💙 

This beautiful hand made flag! Painted on two sides of two
pieces of burlap. Just gorgeous! 💙

The two artists, Jen and Austin 💙

I even got this sweet card from Austin 💙
I think I've got myself another pen pal! 
Got a nice card from Jen too! So blessed
to have these friends I've never met 💗

Later we went to  John and Karen's for Happy Hour. We spent the evening on the back porch under their propane heaters. Nice and toasty. 

Yesterday morning we were surprised with a light dusting of snow, by 1400 it was all gone! If the weather guessers are right it looks like New Years Eve will be a wet one, if not a white one. 

Last night we had a nice fire outside along with a happy hour or two with adult beverages. 

Gin, seltzer and lime YUM. Thank you Eric and Christina
for the Gin from Georgetown Distillery! 

Nice and toasty fire kept us warm 😊🍺🍸

Today was all about cooking. We're going to John and Karen's for New Years Eve. Tradition you know.  I made 7 layer dip, sausage cheese balls, 2 ingredient fudge and mexican wedding cookies along with our good for us banana bread. Glad to be done! Ken's making great northern beans /black eye peas with the ham hock left from Christmas. He'll cook that in the dutch oven tomorrow. 

Ken gifted himself with an Emeril 360 Air Fryer, Convection,Toaster Oven with french doors and rotisserie. He's getting to be quite the chef with his pit boss, griddle and now this new toy. Spare Ribs were excellent! 

Jacob's on the plane headed back to Italy today. Seth and Holly will be heading back to Oceanside this afternoon. It was awesome seeing them for the short time we were able! 💗

Have a great evening! Tomorrow we celebrate! LOL! 

Beer Margarita Recipe for Bonkers, Mother's Day cooking, A new baby in the family..Seth goes to prom..

Bonkers (I love that name) asked for the recipe for the Beer Margaritas we had last weekend. The recipe I got from a blogger friend Deb, and George provided a link to the recipe but I figured I'd just put it here so if you're computer illiterate like me you can see it :)

1 12 oz bottle of beer ( we used Corona)
1 12 oz frozen limeade
12 oz tequila 
Soda such as Sprite or 7 up (about 12 oz) I used about 8 oz. to get the taste we liked.  

Mix all in a pitcher..YUM! 

Some liked the salt, even though it was a little heavy..we don't
but they are a pretty and very tasty drink. We squeezed a little lime
in and it was so delicious! 

Hope you enjoy! Haven't met anyone who doesn't :))

Friday morning we got up about 0530.  Later than I like, but that's the way it goes sometime. Our usual morning routine, coffee, tea, blogging and a apple oat muffin.  We got ourselves going with a little exercise and breakfast. 

I got started cooking for Sunday.  Put the ham in the oven. I was pretty disappointed in this one when I took it out. This one had a big fat cap, where as the one I had a few weeks ago didn't. Oh well, cut it up and froze the bone for beans down the road. I made some spinach dip too. Made up some potato salad and later in the day Ken bar b q ued a few pieces of chicken to have at the motel on Saturday night. We're not big on going out for dinner and fast food doesn't appeal to us anymore. We like taking our dinner with us.  I hard boiled some eggs for Ken for breakfast at the hotel. I'll run down and get some toast to go with. I can usually find something for me at the lobby. 

Finally, I was done with the cooking and bagging (after a quick trip to Scolari's). Ken worked on a latch for the outhouse on the outside. With our massive winds the door has been blowing open so he devised a latch for the outside. 

The new/old latch..sure fits the outhouse

About 1630 I texted our neighbor, Karen to see if she wanted to come over for Happy Hour and dinner.  A little while later she came.  We visited on the front porch until it got too cold while Ken was at the bar b que. We continued inside and had a great dinner of chicken and potato salad along with pork and beans. Visited some more and said good night.  

Yes we had wind last night

I didn't set the alarm this am but was awake at 0540.  We visited and then got ourselves ready to head over the hill after a breakfast of yogurt and fruit. Somehow we didn't get out until after 1100. Seems to be the way it goes. It was around 50 degrees but we were headed for 84 in CA. We actually saw raindrops near Silver Springs which there hasn't been any in months. 

USA Parkway on the way to Reno

Lots of wild horses

Near Reno

Just so pretty with he clouds...

At Boomtown near the border we stopped and enjoyed the tuna sandwiches I made before we left. It was raining hard, so we ate in the car. Then we continued our trek over the hill. It was beautiful but stormy.  Once we got to the lower elevations it cleared and warmed up.  We got to the motel around 1600. 

Mountain snow

Our grandson, Seth is attending his JR Prom tonight. Christina had invited us to come out to take pictures in Lincoln but it just wasn't going to work timewise. She sent this pic to me. More to come, so you know i'll be posting. How these grandkids grow up! 

Seth and Jordan :)

Another pic of them :)

Tomorrow being Mother's Day we'll head to Winco to pick up chicken and then go to my sister Linda's house in Fair Oaks.  Time to visit with family and we're happy. We'll see Ken's mom too! 

Our neice, Samantha gave birth to her first child last night. Congratulations Samantha, Cody and Slater (they adopted him several months

ago)..Such a sweet little family! 

Slater meeting his baby sister...no name yet :)

My favorite pic :)

From left..Christina's Uncle Gary, Mason, Little Gary
Seth and our son Eric. :)

Mason, Uncle Gary, Christina, Little Gary and Seth

Champs once again..Our Grandson Aaron, 3 rd from the left in back..

Hoping you all had a wonderful day! We're here in CA to celebrate Mother's Day tomorrow. Hoping all you mothers enjoy your day!