Thanksgiving 2022

Friday: I've spent part of this morning reading about Thanksgiving at other bloggers houses, so thought I'd add my two cents worth.

Ours was quiet for the most part. But we did FaceTime with our kids who were down in the hill country celebrating at our daughter's house. DH didn't want to drive on the roads during the holidays (and the weather was bad), so we decided to stay home.

But DH, grandson, and myself went out to a nice restaurant for dinner. And since it has been about 2 years since we've done this, we all really enjoyed it. We made reservations for 5 pm - thinking most will be there by 1 or 2:00, so maybe (just maybe) it wouldn't be terribly crowded. Well, we were right (and the bad weather helped - it was raining and cold so some may have cancelled) and although most tables were filled, it wasn't over crowded. 

It was served family style: first was the entree and we had the option of choosing 2 from turkey & stuffing, ham, or Tilapia, then a choice of 2 pastas from a selection of 4 (and 2 could be gluten free), then a choice of 2 sides from garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, creamed corn,  parmesan broccoli, and sausage stuffing, and finally a choice of 2 desserts - Tiramisu, caramel apple crostata, and pumpkin cheesecake. And the chef also brought out his special bruschetta before the entree. It looked great and the boys ate it... since it wasn't gluten-free, I didn't try it. We forgot to take pics of the food, but remembered for the desserts. 

Tiramisu and Caramel apple Crostata

Now this morning (Friday) DH and I went and picked up our Christmas tree.  It's not huge, but the one we found is probably 7-8 ft. We will bring it in tomorrow morning... and slowly decorate it between now and Christmas. Since I won't post this until tomorrow, I will take a pic when we get it in the house.

Saturday: Grandson helped DH get the tree into the house when he came home from work yesterday. So now it's inside and ready to begin the decorating process. First I have to 'find' the Christmas tree skirt... and where we've put all the decorations. You would think we'd put it all in one place... but of course we don't. And with our 'old age' memories, sometimes it takes a while. 

tree with lights, but no ornaments yet

We're getting there...

Hoping you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving... and wishing all the best for coming holidays. Stay warm, stay well, and stay safe!

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

Taking down Halloween...

 ... and going straight to Christmas! We don't do Thanksgiving decorations. Thanksgiving is more for food and family - and besides the fact that pumpkins can be used for Thanksgiving too (I like pumpkins!), turkeys are not that cute. 

So today I took down what was still up for Halloween (bats, pumpkins, and holiday elves), and started putting up Santas, reindeer, stockings, and other Christmasy items. 

We usually get our tree the day after Thanksgiving. We like the Douglas Fir or the Frasier Fir and used to get a 10ft live tree each year. Since we're retired and the kids aren't always around to help, we now get a 6ft one. We tried to go from a real tree to a an artificial one the first year of retirement, but it was a 'no go'... just didn't feel right (or smell right). 

Besides, the cats (who were always 'inside only' cats), LOVED the real tree. They would climb up it, lie under it, play with the ornaments, etc. It was a real treat for them. Sometimes a mess for us when they took a whole string of lights down... but that was OK. We didn't mind.

Ghost in Christmas tree

Not much else to say. Thanksgiving is this week, so food and family are on the agenda. Since I'm not cooking this year, we will buy some turkey to share with the ferals... and I will report more on Thanksgiving next week. But in the meantime, I do wish you all a

 Happy Healthy Safe Thanksgiving! 

(and safe travels if you're on the road or in the sky)

More pics of our porky little possum:

and more reading by the fire for me:

(You may have to click twice to get the video to come up... 

and also do a full screen to get the effect.)

I hope this video of our fireplace comes out OK. There is a sofa directly across from it where I lie down to read on cold dreary days. Luckily I have about 6 books left in my 'to read' pile... otherwise I'd be like the orange cat in the meme below.

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

(Oh, I meant to recommend a series on Netflix we recently watched. It's called "From Scratch".  It can be a little sad towards the end, but overall a really nice story... and it's only 8 episodes - although they may do a second season).

another try...

Started writing a post last Thursday... one of those that would continue for a few days. Well, last Saturday while I was writing on it, something happened and the whole post disappeared! Just gone! I tried to do the 'go back' thing - didn't work. Tried to find it in other ways that Blogger recommended - didn't work. Finally gave up and let it go. 

Today (a week later) I'm starting fresh. I know I mentioned in that post that I wasn't feeling great for a day or so... nothing bad... just headachy. But it was dreary, cold, and rainy and sometimes the weather does that to me (supposedly it's something to do with the barometric pressure).  Anyway, it eventually went away. 

There were other things going on that could have contributed. My dear friend was going into surgery for the recurrence of Breast Cancer Wednesday. I was very worried about her. 

And our oldest son and his wife are moving this month from Texarkana - so he was coming into town to pick up a few things and help celebrate his son's birthday (our grandson who lives with us).

I made rum birthday cake for grandson and 2 loaves for son to take home. 

And I think that I also mentioned in that lost post that DH and I visited the new HEB grocery that opened a little closer to us in Plano (one opened a few weeks ago in Frisco and we had checked out that one, but didn't really shop there). This time we shopped - thinking we would use it instead of our normal Central Market store (also owned by HEB). Nope! Won't be doing that. It's a beautiful store, but way too big. After about 45 minutes of walking through it, I was ready to get out. 

Central Market is more our style - a lot smaller, but kind of a cross between Whole Foods and Sprouts. And I like being able to get just a few tablespoons/cups of herbs (or chocolate, salt, flour, etc.) out of a bin, plus almost all of their products are hormone free, etc. 

Next on our agenda is youngest granddaughter's birthday. She will be 10 this month (really hard to believe). Since her birthday is so close to Christmas, I tend to go with clothes for the birthday and toys (or games, etc.) for Christmas. I don't believe that anyone in my family reads my blog, so I feel safe with posting a few things that I put in her birthday bag. This little dress looked like her, so I ordered it.

I also included some multicolored leggings (that could be worn with the dress or with included t-shirt - which looks like her dog, Cookie), cat slippers, and a jewelry kit for making her own jewelry... 

And I guess that's it. Oh, the little possum that comes by is getting fatter by the day. He's also taken to climbing into the cat tree and spending time there after he eats. DH feels like he's decided it's his 'special place'.

 

porky possum in cat tree

Ok, this is really last week's post rewritten, but nothing new to add, so I will close. This week is quiet... and that's good... with Thanksgiving and Christmas sneaking up on us, we can use the peace and quiet for a few days. Wishing you the same.

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

Sorry, but I had to post this...

(Sorry, but I had to post this. Most of you probably already saw it on Facebook.... but I couldn't stop laughing.)

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

Ironing... still a 'thing'?

'?

As I was ironing some shirts this morning for DH and myself, I began to wonder if ironing was still a 'thing'?  I really don't think my children iron. And many clothes that are said to be non-wrinkle - really aren't! 

Now, I don't iron much... that's true. But there are some things that really need it. I have several summer linen shirts that I love... linen is great for summer... but they wrinkle pretty easily. The good thing is that they iron easily too. 100% cotton is also an easy iron... if you have a good steam iron. 

My iron is old and if it ever died, I'd probably never buy another, but it works fine. It's a Rowenta and has served me well over the years.

And another thing - ironing is relaxing, or at least I think so - especially if you don't have much to do and lots of time.

Do you iron? Or is it a thing of the past?  

my ironing this morning

Oh, and before I close this, I have to show you what one of our neighbors did for Halloween:

He always does these extravagant things on his lawn. One year he had a huge sailing ship full of skeletons and zombies. And I think he's going to exchange out the skeleton crew for Snoopy and/or Santa for Christmas this year.  He can usually use his creations for both Holidays - which is economical (and fun for the neighborhood).

Well, that's my 2 cents for the week. Our little possum is still coming round daily. He's getting bigger... and fatter each day.

Tomorrow is Friday, so here's hoping all of you have a wonderful weekend ahead. I get my flu shot tomorrow, so we shall see how I do with that. Usually I just have maybe a day with a sore arm, but my friend got hers last week and felt like she had the flu for about 3 days. Hope that doesn't happen...

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

Rabbit! Rabbit! White Rabbit! November 1, 2022

 Rabbit! Rabbit! White Rabbit!

Hugs,

Rian