A Day of Thanks

I was mostly thankful that I made most of the food for Thanksgiving the day before, and all I had to do was bake everything off. The actual day of Thanksgiving was very relaxing and I only spent 1/2 hour in the kitchen. We all had the day off, relaxed and played games and ate. Eric was on call at the hospital, but he didn't have to go in once during the day so that was nice too. It was Ray's first thanksgiving with me, so I made so much food because I didn't know what his favorites were. :P

We had: orange glazed ham, herb roasted hen, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, sage stuffing, hot rolls and chicken gravy. Dessert was: apple cozy, pecan pie and pumpkin pie all with fresh whipped cream. Oh! It was a FEAST!

What a happy Thanksgiving.....

cut by the pumpkin can lid..... the only Thanksgiving injury

apple cozy before baking

baked desserts (I ran out of pie dishes)

hot Thanksgiving feast food

MMMMMMmmmmmm roasted hen

Eric and Ray

All of us

The Thanksgiving table

Thou Shalt Not Predict.....

I'm pretty sure that's the eleventh commandment that Moses accidentally rubbed off the bottom of the tablets... but then that also might be sacrilege to say. This evening at seven forty-five I was finally taking my last break at work. I called my husband, as I usually do on break, to let him know that the day was almost over and I should have no issues leaving work on time and being home at 8:15 with dessert...

Bad bad bad idea to say. Maybe it was a jinx, if you believe in those things, or maybe God just had the idea to not have me predict anymore plans. At seven fifty-five one of my cashiers decided to, with much profanity, tell a customer where to go. Alas, there went me going home on time. I pulled said cashier off the register, promptly took her to the management office (kinda like going to the Principal's office) and proceeded to write her up. All said, this took about twenty minutes. After, I needed to let other management know what had happened, which took another five or so minutes. Then, I got stopped by someone who needed to know where electric blankets were... sigh.

At 8:40 I was at the drive-thru for McDonald's getting my dinner and dessert for my boys.... I walked through my door just shy of 9pm. So much for being on time...

my pick me up present

eric brought me home a new present.....   soooo much nicer! (and the soup was great)

Broken Blenders and Broccoli Soup

it was yet another day at work when i wanted to crawl under a table and suck my thumb. after work it started snowing and slushing outside on the road, so the cold wasn't helping my mood. i was an hour late picking up ray at school, so he was a little ray-cicle too. so, being me, and realizing that food solves everything, i decided to make broccoli cheese soup with home-made croutons to put on top.
a PERFECT winter cold meal that would take away the chills, headaches and tired feet of the day. at four thirty i began to make my soup... putting broccoli, all sorts of good herbs and spices and a little love into it. the croutons were baking, perfect! it smelled DELICIOUS... and tasted good too. ready to blend, i got out my trusty blender, put a tiny bit in to test that everything worked. AND IT DID! delicious home-made soup was just five minutes away.... i had such a migraine at that point too, i couldn't wait for family sit down time in the chilly weather. i put the soup in the blender....... and then it happened. BOOM! broccoli soup EVERYWHERE! i dropped everything stopped and burst into tears. eric came over, gave me a hug, put me on the couch, and discovered that the blender bottom had split in two.

 he cleaned up the kitchen, put the soup that hadn't exploded into the fridge, and promptly ordered chinese.

 so, i still got my soup (even though it was won ton), my headache went away and eric is buying a new blender for me today. we will see if the soup is still as good today....

A House in Mourning

Mom sent me an email saying that Dave Niehaus died yesterday. I honestly didn't think much of it as I scrolled through the article link, but as I read more I begin to think about almost every summer and fall having his voice throughout our house while I was growing up. My mom cheering loudly when he would yell "my oh my" and how it seemed that there wasn't a game missed. That made me tear up a bit... because we will never have that time again. Now a new announcer will be telling the play by plays and mom and dad will still probably be listening, but my sister and I won't be there, and it will forever be different. I didn't think I would care as much as I realize that I do. His death is not only sad for the team that I grew up listening to while my mom cooked, but for a family that, without realizing it, centered many memories together around his voice.

You will be missed Dave Niehaus, not only by the Mariners, but by a grown up girl in Kansas too...

New Hobby.... Cus I Have So Much Spare Time :)

I have been remiss in making time to create blogs, however in my defense.... I've been quite busy with work, Ray moving back home, planning for a move, and all the normal holiday stress.

So, to add to my already busy lifestyle, I have started a new hobby. I have been wanting to make my own beads and jewelry for quite some time, and finally Eric took me shopping for all the necessary starter materials. I spent this evening sitting in our living room with the coffee table as my work space. Once we move and get a bigger house I will get a craft area, but for now all my stuff is mobile. I included a few pics of all the jewelry I made today. Be ready to get "quaint, homemade and crafty" jewelry for all holidays/birthdays and the like.

This stuff is so fun! Make all sorts of designs, then bake for 15 min and they are set.

My mobile coffee table work station

Vegetable beads (clockwise from top: corn, tomato, carrot and peas)

Vegetable earrings (yes, I'm sporting them tomorrow at work)

Snowman earring - getting close to Christmas :)

Snowman on the left and Rudolph on the right... hard to see but very cute!