What will be on your dinner table?



What graces your dining room table on Thanksgiving? Are you a turkey buff or do you prefer a ham?

Our family has both. I am the only one who doesn't eat turkey. I have tried over the years and even though chicken is one of my favorite meats, I have never acquired a taste for turkey. But I do love the aroma on Thanksgiving. But I absolutely love ham so we have one of each. The kids and hubby eat both so it works out well.

Our side dishes include the normal of mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, corn and greenbeans. But we also add a summer flair by including baked beans, potato salad, macaroni salad and deviled eggs.

The dessert varies every year. But it always includes pumpkin pie and graham cracker pie. There is always a chocolate dessert for the kids, either cake, brownies or no bake cookies. Since my daughter-in-law's birthday is shortly before Thanksgiving, she gets to choose a dessert of her choice for her birthday cake.

I love the choices we have and I love the fact that we have leftovers. I usually shop the whole weekend hitting the various Black Friday bargains and any that carry over into Saturday and Sunday. So it is wonderful to come home happy but exhausted and find wonderful leftovers that I can piece together for whatever meal I want. It's a no cooking weekend and I keep lots of Solo plates and cups on hand for a not much clean-up weekend after the big day is over.

What will grace your table this year?

IT'S HERE!!



 

You have to understand that I am a true blue through and through country music fan. Tonight is one of my favorite nights of the year. I love the Country Music Association Awards show. I will be glued to the TV from 8:00 till 11:00. Popcorn, chocolate and Pepsi will be involved.

Here are the entertainers of the year. If you are a country music fan, who would you like to see win?

 

Brad Paisley

I really like Brad. He is down to earth. One of the good ol' boys. Even though I have liked just about every song he has ever sung, for some reason he has never been my "oh my gosh I hope he wins" type singer. However, when he does win, he is just so adorable with his speech...or should I say speechlessness and emotions that you just gotta love him.

Blake Shelton

I love, love, love Blake Shelton. From his first song Austin, I have adored him and have enjoyed anything he sings. And I was so thrilled when he married one of my other favorites, Miranda Lambert. I'm really excited about tonight. He is the one who did the remake song Footloose in the newest version of the movie. And tonight, he will share the stage with Kenny Loggins as they perform it together. If he wins entertainer of the year, I would think he deserves it.

Taylor Swift

Dear, sweet Taylor. She is a very talented young lady and I have been impressed with her from the beginning of her career when she was a teenager. She is always so humbled when she wins and you can tell she just loves to sing and perform. She wouldn't be my first pick as entertainer of the year, but I could live with it.

Keith Urban

If you have known me for any length of time, you would know that I was a die-hard Keith Urban fan for many years. I adored him. He would have gotten my vote many, many times in the past. But since he married Nicole (nothing against Nicole) he has changed his song styles a time or two and I seem to like only every other song he does. I'm just not as big a fan as I used to be. But if he wins, he will still deserve it.

Jason Aldean

Ooo, la, la. My oh my. Now THIS is MY man. He gets my vote. I simply adore every single thing he sings. I love watching him perform. He is southern, he is country and he has a little bit of redneck thrown in for good measure. If you don't think I'm a fan of his, you should ride in the car with me sometime. I have a 6 slot CD play and the first 3 slots are CD's by Jason. The fourth & fifth are various artist CD's that I have made that also have Jason on parts of them. So yes, I do love me some Jason Aldean. So if I were to be the one to pick the winner, it would be, without a doubt, hands down Jason Aldean.

And then we would celebrate by going for a ride on his big green tractor.

100 Years of Magic...but no Tinkerbell????

Growing up, Sunday night was for the Wonderful World of Disney. Baths were done, jammies were on and we would gather in the floor glued to that old black and white TV waiting for Tinkerbell to wave her magic wand and Jiminy Cricket to sing When You Wish Upon a Star. It was a magical moment week after week, month after month, year after year. So you can imagine my excitement when I found out we were going to go to Disney's on Ice 100 Years of Magic. Wow. I couldn't wait. Only three of the grandchildren went and they were mesmerized the whole time.

In true Disney fashion, Micky and Minnie skated out to kick off the event. I just love Mickey. Always have, always will.

Aladdin was next. Then Belle came out and things were going good until the scary music kicked in, smoke rolled and The Beast came out. That was it for Shelby. She scampered on my lap and spent most of the rest of the program on either my lap or her Mommy's. Any time some of the "evil" looking characters skated out, binky went in and blankie became a blindfold and she wouldn't watch.

They had the most beautiful Pocahontas I have ever seen and they did my favorite song "Can you paint with all the colors of the wind" ...(not sure of the correct title)

This part of the program was nothing short of brilliant. The toy army men from Toy Story were completely painted with a green paint that made them look plastic. There was nothing on them that wasn't green plastic looking. Even the blades on the skates, their faces, hands. Everything. And they marched and posed as if they were really toy army men.

I don't think Alexis moved the entire time. She was on the edge of her seat during the whole thing except intermission. I think she was truly envisioning a land far, far away.

They even had It's a Small World as part of one of the acts.

Caleb was having a ball. He really enjoyed the Toy Story portion of the program. Especially Woody and Alexis loved Jessi from Toy Story.

They had an awesome grand finale complete with fireworks, but the dude in front of us decided to stand up and stretch and gather his families things while I was trying to take pics so I didn't get the grand finale. People like that just kill me. If you are not going to stay for the whole thing, leave before it gets to the big moment so you don't block others.

When we got back to the car, we were putting coats in the back and getting the girls costumes off and Shelby must have decided she was done. Guess all the excitement was a little much for her and she was ready to get in the car.

As we were driving off, the kids were talking about their favorite parts and about the characters they expected that weren't there. I must say I was totally amazed that they would put on a Disney production entitled 100 Years of Magic and not have Tinkerbell make one single appearance. I was very disappointed and the more I thought about it, the more I thought Disney? 100 Years? No Tink? What in the world were they thinking?

An enjoyable mini-vacation...

I just took a four day weekend to enjoy some family time. What a wonderful four days it was.

Day 1 my sister and her husband came to town. We started off our day by visiting two of the local antique shops and spend a good deal of time browsing the stores looking for bargains we couldn't live without. As you know, I'm looking for vintage Pyrex bowls. I found a couple to add to my collection that I was thrilled to get.

This little bowl was a bargain at just $3.50. This is the perfect size for a casserole or baked beans.

And a price tag of $3.00 on this one lured me in. It is just right to mix up a small skillet of cornbread in.

I was looking for a set of green Pyrex bowls in the spring blossom crazy daisy pattern. When my sister saw what I was looking for, she realized a friend of hers had them for sale in her antique shop in Milton, WV. She called her and checked and the price for all three bowls.....$10.00 total!!! So now, I'll have those coming this way one day this week. I saw some of the exact same bowls in other antique stores for $35.00 for the set. I just love a good bargain.

But my favorite find of the day, was a new cup for my hot chocolate. I was very specific about what I was looking for. It had to hold 2 cups of hot chocolate and be oversize for the coffee house look. It had to look great and be something that shows a little of my personality. When I spotted this one I knew it was destiny. What better cup for me, the queen of chocolate, to drink her morning hot chocolate out of. It was $5.00 and that may be steep for a used coffee cup, but it was so "me" I just couldn't pass it up. 

I fixed my first cup of hot chocolate in it this morning. Once I had it made, I broke off a piece of candy cane and stirred it up in it to give it a peppermint flavoring. Then I topped it with marshmallow cream. I took a small grader and graded the rest of the broken candy cane on top of that and finished it off with a candy cane stuck in for decoration. It is delicious. This is a great idea for a quiet evening in front of the fire on cold winter evenings or for those cozy dinner parties with just a few friends. 

After shopping a couple of hours, we drove down to Parris Island, SC to spend the night. The next morning we attended our nephew's graduation from USMC. What an experience that was. Words could never convey how proud we were of him.

Friday, after graduation, we headed back home. Visit mine and Rachel's blog, Piggy and Wiggy's Place to see more about the graduation.

Saturday morning, I picked up my granddaughter Alexis and met up with my daughter and two more of my grandchildren, Shelby and Caleb, and we headed out to Disney on Ice 100 Years of Magic. But that's a blog for another day.

Then it was a late lunch and a little shopping with the kids. Alexis spent the night with me and we had a great time.

Sunday morning, Alexis and I picked up Caleb and Shelby and I took the three of them with me to Burger King for breakfast. Then we met my daughter and headed to Sunday School and Church.

 Then Alexis and I went out to eat after church at Pizza Hut's buffet bar. We did some window shopping at Belks, TJ Maxx and Walmart. She is quite the clothes guru. I know we spent almost an hour looking at clothes she liked so she could give some Christmas ideas. This was one of my favorites.

I got home from our shopping expedition around 4:15 and had to be back to church for choir practice. We are working on our Christmas program, The Name Jesus. It is going to be fabulous. There are some awesome solos in it.

Then it was home for a quick bite of supper, a bubble bath and then crashing for 9 hours of sleep. I needed every minute of that sleep, but all the activities of the past four days has been absolutely divine and I wouldn't have missed a minute of it for the world.

Swim For the Warriors



On November 11th former Marine, Cancer Survivor and adventure athlete Jay Platt will attempt to become the only person in history to swim across the Mississippi river while handcuffed, shackled, and blindfolded.

Jay performs his adventure athletic feats in the hope of showing people who have been wounded and injured in combat, those with a chronic illness, and anyone who has ever thought they couldn't do something, just what is possible.

You can follow his training, donate, and see what it really means to be unstoppable by heading to Swim For The Warriors today.

Jay is a very dear friend of mine who faced an illness that would have driven most of us to our beds and kept us there without hope, without faith and without life. But not Jay. He took control of his situation and developed an unstoppable attitude that has caused him to beat insurmountable odds.

Jay is the author of No Matter What! How to be Unstoppable, Despite the Obstacles, Starting Today. His story is very inspirational and lets us understand that, with the right attitude and a spirit of perseverance, you CAN overcome the obstacles in your life.

The Swim for the Warriors is just one of the many things Jay has done since his cancer caused such change in his life. You need to visit www.JayPlatt.com and learn more about this amazing individual. Please keep him in your prayers on November 11th as he undertakes his newest adventure.

Happy Sadie Hawkins Day

Compliments of www.Wikipedia.com

In Li'l Abner, Sadie Hawkins was the daughter of one of Dogpatch's earliest settlers, Hekzebiah Hawkins. The "homeliest gal in all them hills", she grew frantic waiting for suitors to come a-courtin'. When she reached the age of 35, still a spinster, her father was even more frantic—about Sadie living at home for the rest of his life. In desperation, he called together all the unmarried men of Dogpatch and declared it "Sadie Hawkins Day". Specifically, a foot race was decreed, with Sadie in hot pursuit of the town's eligible bachelors—and matrimony as the consequence.

"When ah fires [my gun], all o' yo' kin start a-runnin! When ah fires agin—after givin' yo' a fair start—Sadie starts a runnin'. Th' one she ketches'll be her husbin." The town spinsters decided that this was such a good idea, they made Sadie Hawkins Day a mandatory yearly event, much to the chagrin of Dogpatch bachelors. In the satirical spirit that drove the strip, many sequences revolved around the dreaded Sadie Hawkins Day race. If a woman caught a bachelor and dragged him, kicking and screaming, across the finish line before sundown—by law he had to marry her!

Today is Sadie Hawkins day. I have been a fan of the movie Lil' Abner since I was in my teens. I even own it on VHS even though my family prohibits me watching it in their presence. I just love the movie like I loved the comic strip. It takes you back to a simpler time and simpler ways.

Congratulations to our nephew Jacob "Jake" Garretson

Today, at 9:00 a.m., my nephew Jacob Garretson proudly joins the ranks of the United States Marine Corp. He will graduate after having completed his basic training and we are all so very proud of him.

Congratulations, Jake!