Welcome to Hogwarts!

Along with lego Hagrid's Hut, I also acquired The Burrow (Weezley's house) and the Hogwarts School (in 2 parts).  They were both very excellent!  The detail that they put in is really incredible!!  I haven't decided yet if I'm going to get Diagon Alley, I really want it, but I'm just not sure yet.  Enjoy! :) I know I did, they were so fun to build!

 (the legs on the turkey come off!!!  haha!!)

 Dumbledore's office...Isn't Dumbledore cute!?! His beard is a separate piece too!!

The Burrow!

 

More pics of Hogwarts...with dementors in the background waiting...hehe! 

Filch, his cat, and Harry in his invisibility cloak..haha!

Voldemort, his snake and Lucious Malfoy as a death eater (you can turn his head around and put different hair on him to be a normal guy).

FANTASTIC!!!

Hagrid's Hut

This red knob on the left makes the light in the fireplace come on!

Inside Hagrid's Hut (thats right!!  It folds open.)

 

Aragog...

The lighting was poor, but here's harry and hagrid.

Ron, Hermione and Scabbers...(notice Hagrid's pink umbrella next to Hermione, and Norbert at the bottom left)

The Forbidden forest...

And something completely un-Lego related!
Here is my oh-so-beautiful not-rice rice-bag...I use it to warm up my feet at night.  Its not pretty, but it does a really really good job. 

The outside is made of denim material (an old pair of work pants I wasn't going to wear any more).  I picked denim because its more heat resistant than other fabric and should stand up well to oven temperatures.  I usually heat up my rice bags in the microwave, but we do not have one, so we have to cook everything in the oven and on the stove.  I also had to pick something that would stand up to the heat, I didn't figure rice or corn would last long, so I decided to use acquarium gravel.  I picked the kind that looked the most like natural rocks (no paint because I didn't want to cause an issue with the paint burning or something like that).  We have a gas stove/oven, so I set the temperature to 200 degrees F, put the rock bag in right on the middle rack while its preheating.  When it reaches the correct temperature I set my timer for 18-20 mins.  When its done, its very nice and hot.  It does a fantastic job at warming my feet!  Also, I've done up to 300 degrees, its a bit too hot, so is 275, but I'm still trying to find the perfect temperature. 

Christmas is here!

I am pleased to announce the arrival of my Christmas tree!  I am very excited!  We usually hate Christmas for various reasons, I love everything about the season but I hate Christmas!  Hubby has been especially grinchy this year, he has not allowed me to get a real tree.  But he approved the making of a construction paper tree yesterday.  And I made the tree today!  Observe... (P.S. Thank you Google images for the ornaments!)

Beautiful, isn't it?!?  Some ornaments of note include (see if you can find them!): Lego angel at the top, 3 super mario characters/items, lego Dobbie, female and male hippos, 3 robots, moose on a skateboard, gingerbread house, yoda, the Lego enchanted flying car, cupcakes of course, and the hogwarts express.  As you will also see...there are presents already under the tree! 

I would also like to mention one of our favorite low calorie beef dishes that we've had recently.  Very delicious and extremely simple!  Its like our travelling tacos, but different.  We do 4 ounces each of ground beef, so 8 ounces in a pan, warm it up.  Add a whole can of pork and beans and some taco seasoning.  Thats it!  Warm it all up for a few minutes and serve with some tostito rounds. Its very filling and quite good!  Overall its about 530 calories, which I guess isn't all that cheap, calorically speaking, but its really good!

Some random stuff

Well, in trying to figure out what to write about on this on a regular basis I thought I would add some random pictures of things that hubby and I like.  Also some features from our most recent vacation.  (Side note, we're super dorks and pretty redneck, which I enjoy).

This picture is from when we went down to Salt Lake City to support my brother in law. He put his truck in one of those dyno contest thingies and he got like 880 hp.  He did soooo good, it was very unexpected but we were thrilled for him!  Isn't that a beautiful cloud of smoke? (sorry nature people...)

This is from our most recent vacation, we like to go to Twin Falls, ID.  I know there's not really anything fun and exciting to do there, but I think that's why we like it.  Its quiet and we can just be away from everyone and enjoy doing nothing.  Anyway, on our vacation, we were able to meet with a guy out near Idaho Falls that has mini-cows.  Someday we hope to own some.  Here are a few facts about mini cows that make them make a little more sense to own.  You can do like 2.1 mini cows per 1 full size cow for the same amount of feed, you get more of the valuable and desirable meat, and for me, because I'm a hair over 5 feet tall, I should be able to handle them a little better than the larger ones, as they only grow to be about 3 1/2 feet tall.  And they're cute, and the calves should be freakin' adorable and so teeny!  I'm excited to own some and raise them from babies.  And pygmie goats, and maybe a pig or 2, and rabbits, and many many chickens...

Here is me standing next to some that are eating, they are so short, its awesome!

After we saw the mini cows, we drove through Blackfoot and checked out the Idaho Potato Museum.  It was pretty awesome!  We learned a lot about where potatoes came from and what sort of farm equipment was used back in the day, as well as many other things. 

This was also a feature at the museum, if I recall correctly, it was the world's largest potato crisp. Awesome!

And I guess I don't have a picture of Elda on my laptop or anything like that, so I'll have to grab the picture from my computer at work.

Beauregard

We think we might have a ghost in our apartment.  (Probably not, but its a better explanation for some weird noises).  We've named him Beauregard.  Beau for short.

Stay tuned for some pics of some mini cows that we went to see at our vacation in August as well as possibly a picture of Elda.  One of my favorite first batch chickens.  She was a white leghorn meat chicken, but she sure was a sweetie.