Monday, November 26, 2012

Turkey...take THREE

MR and I were supposed to go to "the farm" for a third turkey day celebration, however, Papa S (who NEVER gets sick) came down with something awful, that had been passed (in no particular order) through R, Gigi, SIL, BIL and well, if there were more, they weren't telling!

Side note: last year for Christmas I came home with a bug that had me in bed for days!!! It was a gift that just kept giving (and not in such a holly jolly way...)

So needless to say, MR and I were a little gun shy and decided to stay home.

ONE problem... I was in charge of roasting a turkey for the family! I bought a 20 pound bird, and it was in the brine soaking up some flavor and I was not sure what to do with that much turkey!!!
Look at that purdy bird...

Well, I am lucky enough to be able to call in the troops, my parents, MawMaw, Cathy (plus 13 weeks of a little human), James and Kyla headed over to help us out. I hadn't planned to serve an entire meal, but we made it work with some asparagus, knishes, fresh baked bread and sweet potatoes.
I sent my Dad home with a turkey leg to boot!
 
 

Maw Maw and Kyla giving my boys some Turkey take THREE lovin'

Just kidding! After we "cleaned" the turkey, I wanted to take a pic that looked like the boys had gotten a hold of the bird, they didn't, and I am the only thing that looks funny in this picture!

We were sad not to make it to "the farm". I missed seeing everyone and getting some quality time with the kiddos! Looks like they were having a great time...
Cute R & C hangin' out at the farm.
 
So, Thanksgiving day has come and gone, but I am going to try to keep the spirit and continue to be thankful for all the blessings in my life, they are many and they are big!

Next up... birthday week, it's the dirty 30 + 5 this year... I am going to enjoy the last week of 34! 

 
 
keep in touch...

















Turkey... take TWO

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I don't know if it is Maw Maw's tasty turkey and dressing or the simplicity of the holiday spent with family, but it has, is and probably always will be my favorite!

Thursday we headed over to Maw Maw's for a feast! All the usual suspects were there and we had a wonderful day together! Best part was the game of charades. My Aunt Cathy and James were up first.  James (who is usually pretty quite around this rowdy crew) volunteered to go first. (this game is very loosy goosy, no rules, and most of the times we make it up as we go). So in written word, this is my best explanation of James' charade:

James: holds 3 fingers up
turkeys: 3 words
 
James: 1 finger up
turkeys: first word
 
James: pulls ear
turkeys: sound like
 
James: motions putting a hat on his head
turkeys: hat
 
James: pulls ear
turkeys: sounds like hat... cat
 
James: finger to nose
turkeys: nose, snot...
 
from the gaggle: finger on nose mean you guessed the right word
 
James: 3 fingers up
turkeys: third word
 
James: turns to side and rubs belly, then extends his hands to show big belly
turkeys: belly, pregnant
 
James: again with the touching nose
turkeys: again with the snot/nose response
 
turkeys: cat is pregnant??? what cat? huh?
Cathy: "and I am due in May"
 
turkeys: cat is pregnant, AHHHH CATHY IS PREGNANT!!!

yep folks, Cathy and James are adding another little gobbler to our family! AND as tradition would have it, my grandmother had Cathy at 40 and Cathy is going to have her bundle of beauty at 40!!! How awesome is that???

This gave us another thing to be so thankful for! AND I am super excited that I will get to hold that sweet baby next Thanksgiving!   P Daddy was super pumped too, Cathy is the first preggers lady he has met!

Best Thanksgiving a girl could ask for!

We all went home and fell deep into a turkey induced coma!

Keep in touch...

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

turkey... take ONE



We attended our first Turkey Day gathering. G Daddy's side of the family gathered to eat, drink, and laugh our way through a wonderful get together.

I totally forgot my phone/camera, so there are no pics, but here are some (not all) of the highlights...
 
There were a lot of these there, and one on the table...
 

total chaos- it is inevitable when you get all of us together!

inappropriate- always inappropriate...  have you seen a Griswold's Family movies?  it's like we remake that movie every time we are together...

fun- there was so much laughter, so many smiles. Young and old found giggles and cheer!

LOVE- even when cousins tell your secrets, children repeat things they might not should have, Grandmother's hear stories grandmother's are not meant to hear, father says something that makes new family member VERY uncomfortable... there is always love!

Grandma prepared a feast for all of us, she always outdoes herself, does your grandmother do that too?

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, we have two more "gatherings"! 


keep in touch!


Thursday, November 15, 2012

do you pray...



Do you pray? Do you take time to communicate with God?

I do, me and THE Big Dude, we chat! I literally speak to him like he is an old chum sitting shotgun in my car rocking out to the most recent pop hit playing on the radio. Weird? I don't know, it's just what I do

Well, this morning we had a long chat and it made me think about how I communicate with Him.

 I asked for prayers for friends, family, Zambia, people and animals who sleep in the cold, the little piggie that I know he created for me that my husband won't let me have, my sweet furry animals, patience for our crazy cat, and well, you know the normal stuff. Then I went in to a 20 minute "Thank you God" thing.  I Thank God in all my prayers, but today, I was just gushing about all this thanks that was inside and needed to be expressed. One thing lead to another, I missed my exit to work and the Thanks just kept going!

I must tell you, I felt like I had run a marathon with winged tennis shoes on, it was awesome! All the accomplishment of the finish line, and all I did was give thanks! I am thankful for some silly things (i.e. my cozy handmade winter sock/slipper thingys, my very cute new bracelet that I made, a tube of new lip therapy to make my kisser super soft for MR) and I am thankful for the obvious things (family, my awesome MR, my friends, LIFE, love, happiness, a brain) and then there are things I find very odd to be thankful for, but I am (loss, heartache, pain, perseverance).  He got the details, and in good AOR form, it took way longer than it should have b/c i have to explain everything (yes, even to God) and I ramble on and on and on and on...

I am going to try to have more "proper" convos with my Big Man Upstairs, but honestly, I think He will think I am crazy, which makes me think I am crazy b/c does God think any of us are crazy? Well, what I am trying to say is, say "Thank you" to God, to your neighbor, to your friend, to your family, to the lady who checks you out at the grocery, just say "thank you" with a smile, it will make you feel SO good!

I think this sums up what I am trying to say...


Source: etsy.com via Nicole on Pinterest


THANK YOU, and, keep in touch

footnote: I want to share this, b/c it is funny... today in my "chat" I asked God if I was dragging all this out a little too long and if he gets tired of listening to me, and I am sorry, I know you are busy, but I just gotta get all this out and if you want to send in someone to listen and give you the highlights later I will totally understand, but see blah blah blah...THEN I said this... God, you created me, you had to have seen this coming, RIGHT?

I love a God with a great sense of humor, how else could I have come to be if he did not...  xoxo



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

favorite things...

...brown paper packages tied of with string, these are a few of my favorite things...

got the jingle in your head? Let that brain worm wiggle for a few! (winkie face here)

For the second year I hosted a "favorite things" party. We had a pretty healthy group going into the big event, however, kids get sick, bosses don't care about a girls social life and well, sometimes life happens and things get in the way, so our group shrunk, but by no means does that mean there was  lack of a good time! Fun was had by all and the products were awesome this year!
Here are a few "favorites" (we had such a good time i forgot to take pics) ...

<===  and here are some of the lovelies that showed up for the fun...

Another one of my favorites is the Nutcracker Market, I met up with super sweet Sarah and we got our Nutcracken' on. I love the shopping, but I mostly love the ideas I get while cruising around, OH and for some reason, I always buy food...  this year it was soup. Oddly, I bought something called red bean gumbo, when I got home to tell MR, his response made me realize how silly that sounds, but I firmly tried to convince him that it would be good (just like last years Nutcracker food, which he informed me was not all that dandy...WHAT???). So, I will keep you posted on if the red bean gumbo ranks as a favorite...
Nutcracken' happened the day after the aforementioned "favorites" party, so I was a little tired and didn't get any pics of the cracken', sorry!

piggies...



are one of my favorite things, these little guys have been popping up everywhere and I want one, yep, IT is in fact going to be the first thing on my birthday and Christmas list, cute lil piggies!!!



This piggie, Pork Daddy, is going to become a regular around here. G Daddy (my father) found him for me and P Daddy has been showing up in the darndest places... here he is decked out in a party hat and tie with Mimi for her birthday!


These are not typically my favorite things, but yesterday, they were my friends.  Dear winter, we had a day of you, now please leave us to our hot Texas weather!


keep in touch!

Going back to Cali...

So...

I need to be better about posting to this blog! We have been busy little bees! I will start with our vacay.   MR and I went to Cali, it was beautiful, relaxing and just what the Dr ordererd (if there were a Dr and IF he were to order...)
 
 Found this little love in Harmony California, population: 18
 

MR treats me right! We ate tons of delicious food and stayed at some super awesome spots! Here are a few pics from our trip.


jumped a train from San Jose to San Fran...

dined on some yummy crab...

I made a new friend (I may be sitting in Pelican poo... grrrrrr!)
 

We biked the Golden Gate Bridge...
 

Drove Highway 1 to Monterey...
 

Hit up the Aquarium...

 
Oh My Pumpkin patch...

Big Sur, let's just call it a little bit of Heaven on Earth!
 

Morrow Bay, sand dollars everywhere, stroll on the beach with my MR
 
 

San Luis Obispo, Madonna Inn: HILARIOUS!!!

 
Wine tours...
 

 
 
 
MR and I are trying to figure out how we can move to Cali... right now we don't have a solid plan, but we can dream a sweet little dream can't we??

keep in touch.