All I Want for Christmas Is...

Dear Santa,

This year, all I want for Christmas is a new butt.

Or a pair of jeans that fit the nonexistent one I seem to have.

I have never been very picky about the fit of jeans. I would just go to the store, search forever to find the right color of jeans, buy them based on color, and head home a happy girl. But over the past few years I have lost a bit of weight. I still have a ways to go, but I've lost 75% of the weight I want to lose. I'm wearing smaller sizes in everything, but I'm down 5 full sizes in pants. Which is great. The problem is that I have lost more from my butt than I have from my waist. So now, when I shop for jeans it's not just looking for the right color but for the right fit for a butt that isn't big enough for my waist, I guess.

Regular women's jeans in my new size all have the woefully unattractive saggy butt. I tried juniors, but hello, they are all ultra low rise these days which does nothing for an almost 32-year-old woman with a stomach that needs to catch up in the weight-loss race . I tried men's jeans, and while the butt fits great, the legs are way too wide.

So now I'm on the hunt for the perfect jeans. Or a new butt. Or a smaller waist that is proportionate to my butt.

Is that too much to ask, Santa?

Sincerely,

Me.

Chicken Enchiladas

Okay, Robyn. For your viewing pleasure (including photos for added assistance and a bit o' fun):

Kristin's FABULOUSLY CHEESY Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1 - 2 lbs chicken cut into bite-sized pieces

Sliced mushrooms

8 soft tortilla shells

2 cans enchilada sauce

1 small can chopped mild green chilies

1 small can sliced olives

2 cups shredded cheese

1 additional cup shredded cheese

Sour cream

Directions:

Cook chicken and fry mushrooms

Then prepare to get your hands dirty (thanks to Kristin for being willing to get hers a little dirty for the camera :))!

Lay a tortilla shell on a clean surface. Pour some enchilada sauce on the shell.

Spread the sauce around. Turn the tortilla shell over and cover that side with sauce.

Place chicken in the center of the tortilla shell.

Add mushrooms and green chilies.

Place olives.

Add sour cream.

Sprinkle cheese on top.

Fold the tortilla shell until it looks like...

This.

Place in baking dish. Repeat until all shells are filled with yummy goodness.

Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the finished enchiladas.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Add 1 cup of cheese to the top and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

That's it. Simple, fast, yummy. I apologize for the lack of photos of the finished product. By the time it was done I was starving and kind of forgot about taking a final photo of it :)

Happy Halloween!

This year was a pretty low-key Halloween for us. I went in to Kristin's classroom on Friday to help out with "pumpkin math" and brought the kids some cupcake treats...

Sunday we carved pumpkins which was a lot of fun. This was only my second year carving, so I stayed with a simple design. I used a stencil, but Kristin just dug in...

I thought the final products were awesome...

And of course we had to take the annual "Ellie with the pumpkins" photo (and yes, that is a rose still blooming on the rose bush!)...

Sunday night the doorbell started ringing around 5:30 and over the next 2 1/2 hours we got around 200 little ghouls and goblins. I love that this neighborhood has so many kids!

And now we head into November where we're sure to see our first snowfall and the fun of shoveling and bundling up begins!