MORE MOON EFFECTS!

 A great morning to ye .... it's a lovely 43 degrees here in sunny California.  Every day they say it's going to be partly sunny ... and every day it's totally cloudy.  No problem though ... this face warms me up every morning.

And I smile every time I look out the windows.  This is the SECOND good neighbor, a lovely couple from India that I always meet on the road walking with their puppy.  I took this picture because I love their lights.  My phone picked up more blue than there actually is ... a beautiful blue glow around the roofline of their house.  

That took away the sting of yet ANOTHER traffic toll road fine.  I'm getting pretty tired of this guy not paying the piper as he races along the highways of San Francisco.  I'm sure it's much cheaper to buy the little window sticker and pay the $2.30 every time you go to work, rather than adding a $10.00 penalty to it.  Personally, I would find another way to get to work.

I called of course, and the kid was nice about it as I ranted and raved about their equipment not reading it correctly.  It reads a Q as an O.  What if they were looking for a murder suspect????  I mean really, that black square is a picture of the car.  Yup .. that's what I thought.  At any rate, he said he would flag my license number so I wouldn't not get any more toll notices.  Hey ... now I can drive in the fast lane in San Francisco and not get charged!!!!

Not much went on for the rest of the day.  I don't seem motivated to do much of anything.  I did rummage through a bunch of big fabric pieces I know I won't ever use, and stack them up to go to Ray and Cindy when I get to Yuma.  I just don't have the gift of color selection.  Cindy can put it to use making something gorgeous.

We talked about a place for sale in their RV park.  It's the right price and I think the perfect spot.  I really want to take a look ... but then I think ... do you really want another house?  Yes, it's actually a small house with a huge RV parking spot.  The good news is there's not much maintenance at all, but there IS an HOA fee.  And then there's that thing where you have to go there many times a year to make it worth it.  Decisions ... decisions!!  Mr. Cooper slept through it all.

Evening came around for me at 4:00.  I was off to the lodge for dinner and a meeting.  I have SO enjoyed playing hooky, and I wish I had on this night too.  The after effects of the full moon were shining right in the door.  

The Chairman of the dinner insisted on Rib Eye steaks.  They cost $16.00 a pound, and each person gets a one pound steak.  We charge $20.  Add in the rest of dinner and you know where we stood.  There was lots of arguing back and forth.  I clawed my way out of that, only to be drug back in.  That moon ... He's relentless!!

That was followed by a lot of yelling outside the building.   

I had purchased two pies ... I mean really, how could I turn down THESE ...  which were in the freezer.  I picked them up and snuck out the back door to my Jeep so I would not forget them.  The hollering caught my attention.  I don't know what it was about, but the folks were VERY loud and mad.  Okay, I do know, but I can't say.  I stood behind my car and listened like a school girl.

SURPRISE!!  Weren't they embarrassed when I finally walked by them and back in the building.  I admit, I laughed at their faces.  Gee ... aren't we ADULTS here??  The generational difference hit me right in the face.  It's HUGE!!

The meeting went fast and I was home by 9:00 with two of these beauties ready to bake.  I think I'll donate one to a neighbor.  No way could I ever eat two of these monster pies!

Tonight begins the party trail.  I know I should be more excited about this, but as you know, I'm a homebody that doesn't drink hardly at all.  The King and his wife have the Twelve Days of Christmas every year.  Twelve nights of parties which used to be held at different bars around town, are now held at someone's house.  

Every night has a special drink and lots of appetizers to celebrate Christmas.  This time it's countries we are celebrating.  Tonight is Sweden night with Swedish food and drink.  I'm thinking some stinky fish.  Tomorrow night is Scottish night, followed by England, All-American, Hawaiian, Portuguese ... and so on.  You get the picture.  

Thankfully I will be gone for most all of them, but I've been asked to attend tonight.  It's okay, I'll have a drink without the alcohol!!   Hopefully there are NO residual MOON effects!!

Recipe From A 13 Year Old

 Here we have the last super moon of the year.  It's known as the COLD moon.  No kidding .... it's freezing around here, mostly because of the fog.  I imagine it might be even colder were it NOT for the fog.  It's also called the Long Nights Moon by the Native Indians.  No surprise there ... it's dark here from 5:00 pm until 7:00 am.  

Did you ever notice that the spots on the moon are in the same location every time you take a picture?  It's just weird when you think about the earth floating around in space like this, with people walking on it.  Yeah, that's the full moon effect.  This isn't my picture ... I got it off the web.

Here in my location ... it looks like this.  Fuzzy because of the fog that never left.  There are lots of things that can keep me on the couch all day, and this is number one on the list.  It's cold, damp and dreary, sucking any and all life out of my body.  Unfortunately, that didn't keep me from doing accounting work for three hours instead of the 30 minutes I expected.

After spending a few hours on the couch with this guy ... I mean really, how could you not with that face staring at you ... I was off to balance account after account.  I've never been a big business kind of gal, so giving advice about major investments isn't my forte, though most of it seems to be just common sense.  

Everyone breezes right along until it gets close to tax time, when they begin to panic.  I try to explain, there are four kinds of accountants.  Those that give financial investment advice, those that give advice about how NOT to pay so much taxes, those that PREPARE your tax return, and the bookkeeper who provides all the necessary information for ALL of those.  I prefer to stay on the bottom rung of that ladder.  Three hours later I was back with my little kid.

Now that the turkey is gone, because most of it is in the freezer, I was looking for something different to eat.  It's hard when you are single.  You really don't want to cook up a batch of anything and then have to eat it for six days before throwing a bunch of it away.  Not to mention the lazy factor that creeps in because it's a lot of work to marinate and roast a pork loin or make chicken dijon.  

So when a far off relative by marriage who lives three states over posted that her daughter who is home schooled, had to take classes on cooking, I paid attention.  Seriously?  They are actually teaching REAL life skills?  WOW!!  She even has her own checking account.  She posted this recipe ... and so I'm passing it on.

1-2 pounds meatballs (I had some chicken meatballs in the freezer)

1 sweet onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red, or yellow pepper, chopped

1 can of pineapple chunks

1 12 oz bottle of BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)

Throw it all in a crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.  How simple could it be.  Though I definitely had my doubts, this sweet and sour meatballs was DELICIOUS.  Who knew???

I seriously couldn't believe how much I liked this.  The barbecue sauce has a completely different flavor when heated up.  I cooked up a bit of rice and ate a HUGE portion for dinner.  The leftovers were packed up for the upcoming trip.  Just heat and serve like any good TV dinner.

Though I had been staring at the ingredients for this next one, I didn't really think I had room in the freezer.  Funny how when it's a sweet treat, room just opens up.  Patty Chance will remember this one.  She showed me how to make Christmas Moose Crunch.  

Popcorn, pretzels, marshmallows, M&M's and white chocolate poured over the whole thing.  It's delicious, though I think with old age, your taste buds tend to get old too.  Maybe it was just that hot chocolate that burned my entire mouth yesterday.  At any rate, it made it into the freezer to snack on when the full moon overwhelms me, which of course is EVERY full moon because I'm a sweet-a-holic.

And thus ended another day.  Hopefully the moon effect wears off quickly, because there's a lodge meeting tonight.  I played hooky the last time, so I suppose I should go THIS time.  

Honestly, I've never been so tired of steak and green beans in my life!!  They tried chicken about a month ago and got carried out of town on a rail.  So steak it is!!!  I'll save it for Cooper!!!

The Full Moon Effect

 It's the morning after.  Drug out, terrible dinner, and not enough sleep OR armor!!  Yes, it was full enough to cause a little havoc.  The MOON does it every time!  It will be full tomorrow night.  That is WAY too close.

But first ... no, it's not raining here.  THAT is tule fog.  If you go out in it however, it FEELS like rain and you will get soaking wet.  There's nothing like riding a horse across the oh-so-wet pasture early in the morning to move a herd of cattle from one field to another.  

There were NO umbrellas, just a big cowboy hat.  When you returned to the corrals, you looked like a drowned rat.  The hat was immediately parked on the clothes rack over the floor heater (thankfully one you could actually STAND on) in order to dry out and not lose its shape too bad.  My hats (I had three) were my most expensive acquisition, so they were handled with care.  I still have two of the three.  Back then, things were built to last.

I was up extra early in order to get my act together for the alarm repairman.  SURPRISE!  He showed up right on time.  He walked into the garage, after I reminded him he would need a screwdriver, took the panel off and in less than two minutes, replaced the battery.  That will be $145.00, thank you very much.  It just feels like companies are ripping us off right and left.

Though he wanted to leave, I made him go to the panel and run it through its paces so he had to stay another five minutes.  I suppose it's worth it, since Fort Knox is now back in business.

It seems like it was just five minutes more that I was headed off to the lodge.  We discussed holes in the walls from the vendor fair and the lack of corn dogs.  It's a real dilemma picking between the little ones or the bad tasting ones, when both are in short supply.  

Then it was on to setting up the bingo machine and six televisions.  Here's the problem ... people come in for a meeting, and they change the TV's to their local baseball, wrestling or football channel.  These are all cheap SMART tv's and it takes a magician to get them set back to where we need them for bingo.  I am NOT a magician.  Figuring out how to get all SIX of them to the correct setting is a challenge, especially when they are all different brands with different controls.  

They look like this.  If you think you have bingo, you yell first, then one of our volunteers reads the number on the card.  Don't ask me how, but when that number is put into the machine, it knows whether it's good or not and shows a picture of it.  This is called a line with a four-pak.  This person won $250.00.

With everything set up, I went upstairs to sign checks and get blasted with more problems.  Truly, the solutions aren't rocket science.  Back downstairs ... let the spears and daggers fly!!

I ran from room to room gathering cash and taking it to the pull tab counter.  It's a rush to sell at least three games completely, before calling the first set of pull tab games.  We didn't have that many folks on this night, but they were FULL of cash.  Payday as it were.  Instead of our usual 8 games, we sold ten.  Never EVER sell eleven games because that means the callers will be working until 10:30.  That's a no-no!!  They volunteer too and won't be back if you go too long!

Of course there's always that ONE volunteer who seems to cause more trouble than everyone.  Someone yelled BINGO ... and on his way to read that persons number, someone ELSE yelled BINGO.  He told them to wait.  He forgot to go back to that person and they closed the game.  OOOWEEEEE you should have heard the ruckus!!

Spears, shovels, javelins, flaming torches and the sharpest of sharp knives came out in an instant.  Half the crowd said GIVE IT TO THEM and the other half said TOO BAD, YOU WERE LATE.  There was no making everyone happy on this night.  They paid it out, while the FIRE BREATHING PEASANTS screamed.  I hid in the back room.  No use getting my eyebrows burned off.

It went okay for most of the remaining night.  Here's a picture of our littlest pull tabs.  They cost $1.00 each.  There are two $500 cards in each box.  About half are not even worth the paper they are printed on.  The other 48% may be worth $1.00 each.  It's the $500 they are after.  

Here's what we DON'T tell them.  The $500 was won on the first day the box was dumped into this container.  If anyone finds out, the rest of the box will never sell!!  

Also full moon affected ... one game was won by four people.  If you win with the Hotball number, you also win that pot of $1199.  Sadly for them, that also had to be shared by four people.  Still a nice pot at $362.00 each, but that makes for a frantic cashier trying to come up with the correct amount to pay each person.  See?  It's always something in Bingoland.

In no time, my cashier had closed up.  I didn't even see her counting anything out.  That probably means I'll get a phone call this morning asking why she was $5.00 off.  Well because it was close enough to a full moon, of course!!

With very little sleep, I'll be off to do some accounting this morning.  Then I'll be hunting down Cooper's treats.  His MOM forgot to order them, and of course they are being delivered four days AFTER they said they would be delivered.  The barking has been epic.  And so another day begins .........

QUITE THE DIFFERENCE, YES?

 It's a cool and breezy 40 degrees this morning in not-so-sunny California.  That big round warm thing in the sky evades us like the plague.  Since I got all those marshmallows on my last candy trip to town, I thought maybe some hot cocoa might help.  

Not so much this time since I promptly burned my mouth getting too much cocoa and not enough marshmallows.   OUCH!!!  This is Swiss Miss with tiny little white things that disappear before it's even stirred.  If you going to have sugar, have a LOT of it!!

With nothing going on and work cancelled, I headed off to return two Amazon items.  My tried and true 10:30 arrival went south.  I've never seen this many cars in the too-small parking lot.  Luckily for me, I took the Jeep for easier parking.  

I'm a mirror gal.  I saw nothing and no one moving.  Suddenly there was a BEEP BEEP and I slammed on the brakes.  Some guy behind me tried to back into me.  I decided those beep beeps are a good thing because he missed me as I jammed it into drive.  New rule ... never go on Monday.

There was a quick stop at the Once-Mexican grocery store.  These new owners ... they do not believe in heat.  Quite the difference, yes?  The entire store is just as cold inside as outside.  Can you imagine working there?  I was freezing by the time I got checked out.  Oh ... and no bags ... AT ALL.  I stuffed everything into my purse and pockets.

It was a very dull afternoon.  The dreary skies always get to me about 2:00.  I watched Santa Clause 1 and 2 (which I've seen multiple times) until I had to get out of the house.  Once again, green grass and not so sunny skies.  Two miles later, I felt MUCH better.

Good enough in fact to whip up a batch of peanut butter cookies.  WITH peanut butter chips included.  It makes all the difference in these cookies.  These will all go to Arizona with me.  Okay, maybe all but FIVE.

And here's the biggest difference of the YEAR!  My family was never big on taking or saving pictures.  Neither was I.  I wanted to forget most of it, but that's another story.  Oh yes ... here I am at about 26 years old I think, looking like I'm 13.  The hairstyle?  Just like in the 1800's ... pulled back into a French twist.  Anyone remember those???

When I look in the mirror now, I don't see this person at all.  But JONATHAN ... HIM I definitely remember.  He is maybe 5 months old here.  You can tell he's a baby because there is very little yellow on his head, and his beak still has a black spot.  Don't laugh, but I think I even still have this shirt in the back of my closet.  It was my all time favorite.

Quite the difference, yes??  It's just hard to believe this guy is still around after all these years.  Like  his Mom, he's slowing down quite a bit.  Not near as much talking.  Unlike his Mom however, he is losing a little weight.  This guy has done almost as much traveling in an RV as Cooper has.  

Just a note ... that picture of me came from an ex-husband who passed away.  One of my friends acquaintances was his caretaker for the last few years, and she passed along the picture.  Cowgirl with a parrot ... no wonder we got divorced!!!  I should write a book.

Life goes on for Jonathan and I ... thank the Good Lord.  We are blessed to still be here.

I'll be on the run early.  Fort Knox gave me an alarm yesterday, so I called the Monitoring Company.  I'm sure it needs a new pricey battery.  I usually do all that myself, but I'm getting lazy in my old age.  

And so I'll be putting on my armor soon after.  It's BINGO TIME!!!

Going To The Dogs

 Well hello there!!!  It's another foggy cloudy day in sunny California.  The weather is going to the dogs quickly.  It's also been cold, which completely takes the fun out of a morning walk with Cooper.  I have to bundle up in three long sleeve shirts because my coat is already packed in the rig.  The grass is green and beautiful, just like my corrals, meaning it's time to call the Weed Man.

Though the weather guessers think it's been a little sunny every day, they would be wrong.  I haven't seen the sun in six days.  That makes things rather gloomy and doomy.  My git up and go just got up and went!!

I think the same happened with Jonathan.  He's old just like the rest of us in this house.  Therefore, he (she) sleeps most of the day.  In the afternoon, I fooled him into thinking we were going for a walk, whereupon I quickly snipped off two long claws before he bit a hole in my hand.  No kidding ... nothing hurts MORE than a parrot bite!!  Lots of ice, alcohol and a big bandaid later, I was good to go.

Mr. Cooper assumed his normal position on the couch after a quick cold walk outside.  He fell so sound asleep he didn't even know I went out to put one of two locks on the bike cover.  Truly I don't know how this helps keep it intact, because it can easily be removed.  Maybe it will just keep the honest people away.  

At any rate, these are the kind of lock you have to put a code into the roller bar.  One worked, one did not.  Of COURSE ... because they are made in China.  I will be SO happy when we start making our OWN stuff again.  Back to Amazon it goes.  

Lunch was upon us, so I air fried some of Cooper's favorite.  He gets one tiny piece.  Though fat is good for some dogs, it's a no-no for him.  I should have weighed this package to see just how much was there.  I have never in my life seen bacon this thin.  Surely they slice it while frozen.  I mean really, you can see through it!!

Lunch was a masterpiece.  Okay, not really, but it wasn't bad as some of mine are.  Mayo, dressing, turkey, cranberry, bacon and more mayo on toasted bread.  I should have had a roll, because after the first bite, it deconstructed all over my plate.  I'm pretty sure I have now gained 5 pounds over the last 5 days.  

That's because after lunch, I sat on the couch all day watching football.  Our not-so-good 49'rs won on this day, not that it matters because they are out of the running.  The Raiders, now from Las Vegas, are going to the dogs and lost like champs.  That's when somehow, my TV tried to go online and sign up for a PAY program.  It didn't like my answer to that question and took me deeper down the rabbit hole.  I finally shut it off.

Time to tackle the temperature monitoring device I got for the van.  It's too much of a worry having kids inside when I'm gone and not know if they are faring well or not.  Yes I have a generator that can be programed to turn on at a certain temperature, but I never really trusted them.  My Class A had one that worked every time, but that was when they built things to last.

All of my money is now going to the DOG.  And the parrot of course.  The good thing about this one is it comes with a two year monitoring subscription.  You set the temperature and humidity range before sticking this on the wall of your rig.  It works off any telephone tower you are near.  Probably won't work well in Alaska where towers are 150 miles apart in places, but it works really great here.  

I can check it on my phone any time, and if I forget, it will notify me by phone AND text message that it's out of the boundary I set.  No more worrying about whether Mr. Cooper is too hot.

It can also monitor water leaks if you want to purchase the accessories.  I passed.  

Though I was supposed to work today, the flu bug has hit the office.  I refuse to be exposed.  It's going to be another cold, damp, gloomy day.  Perfect for paying bills and making up lists of what to take on my upcoming trip.  

Hope your day is sunny and bright!!

The Lights of Christmas!!

 Good Morning foggy California.  Here we are again at the end of another month.  It's been a good one for me, ending with not one, not two, but THREE days off.  Oh how I have enjoyed spending time snuggling with this guy.  

This is EVERY morning around here.  He's quite the talker when it comes to his morning snacks.  Don't tell him that first one is just to brush his teeth!  Or that his food is now Old Man food, which surprisingly, he loves.  Yay for small favors.

I'm trying to get rid of all the leftovers in my fridge, like this cinnamon roll with no flavor.  I figured it out ... the smaller ones have half the dough, leaving more frosting to make them taste better.   I actually smothered this with pure maple syrup ... and it didn't help.  The last one still hanging out in the fridge, went into the trash.

Then I got ambitious.  Let's put the new bike cover on the bike.  Why they don't make a smaller, less heavy one for bicycles instead of big heavy ones for motorcycles, I don't know.  The description said bicycle.  At least this one came apart, but there were NO directions.  What there WAS, was clips and straps everywhere.  

I struggled for quite some time just getting it OVER the bike.  Mostly because this whole setup is rather high in the sky for me.  Uh oh ... I forgot to lock the bike to the rack first.  That was fun, sticking my head up under the cover, having no clue what I was doing.

I finally came across a video and discovered I did pretty good, except all the straps were clipped on the wrong way.  That silver circle at the bottom ... that's for a bike lock to go through ... one on each end.  I don't HAVE another bike lock.  Lucky for me, Black Friday is still going strong.  They should be delivered today.  No kidding, this was so much trouble, the bike may NEVER be taken off the rack!!

That's when I heard all the noise outside.  The Good Neighbors were putting up MORE Christmas lights.  I had decided not to put up my trees, even though they are easy as pie, because I won't be here to take them down.  I did however, get out my wreath for the door.

Next thing I know, there's a tree in my front yard.  Andre loves to put up decorations.  I told him that was great if he tied it to the real tree.  Last year it fell over.  Next thing I know, there are MORE trees by the house.   

Okay ... okay ... I'll put up MY trees!!  The good news is they are simple as pie to put together and take apart.  Take out the trunk and they fall into perfect piles and go right into the boxes.  This is ONLY because they promised to take them down for me.

And so after not one, but TWO plates of turkey and gravy while watching Jurassic Park Dominion and Jurassic Park Fallen Kingdom (perfect Christmas movies, yes?) I scrounged up two extension cords for this little tree, which the Amazon guy promptly drove over.  Does it hurt extension cords to do that?

They already ran power to the line of candy canes.  This was not an easy install since there's gravel down the entire side.  BEST NEIGHBOR EVER!

I'm guessing MY flagpole will look like this next year.  Look closely and you might see Big Foot.  Yeah, he's everywhere!

And so my house is once again lit up for Christmas.  I think I just might buy two more sets for next year ...  after Christmas when they are all on sale!!

And so another day begins ... as I had to order two more light controls because the one I have, though it worked last year, will only work if I leave the lights on 24-7.  I'm just doing my part to keep Black Friday, Saturday and Sunday in business.  

Goodbye November ...... it was nice knowing you!!

TURKEY TWO DAY!!

 If there's anything I absolutely LOVE about Thanksgiving, it's the turkey dinner.  I admit, it's become a challenge.  Last year I roasted that Bingo-donated bird for the allotted time on the tag, only to find it tough and almost inedible.  THIS year I was determined to have a turkey worth eating.  

Butterball is the name of the game.  The difference in flavor is surprising, to say the least.  I did have a little trouble with the oven, since I rarely ever use it any more.  I use my small Breville oven for practically everything.  After many ups and down, it finally settled on 345 degrees to actually make it 325 in the oven.  This time I added an extra half hour to the cooking time.   FOUR hours to wait!

The difference was night and day.  I outdid myself, which I'm very thankful for.  This year I will actually EAT the turkey.

OH MY GREAT AUNT LOU ... I really did have a great Aunt Lou.  This is the best turkey dinner EVER!  The gravy came out perfect ... the stuffing ... oh the stuffing!  I've never eaten better, if I do say so myself.  It's made with Honey Jiffy Cornbread Mix ... baked up ... dried on the kitchen counter ... and mixed with the usual celery and onions, plus lots of spices.  I could have eaten the entire bowl.

When I was through eating, I wished I hadn't eaten QUITE so much.  I was borderline miserable, but oh so happy to know I had at least four more meals in the fridge.

The caramel pecan pie was left uneaten.  Maybe pie for dinner.  As it turned out, I had NOTHING for dinner.  I was still too full.

Mr. Cooper and Kitters enjoyed the turkey as much as I did, so all three of us went for a walk.  Wasn't I shocked and surprised to see candy canes down the entire length of my driveway.  When my neighbor said could he put up something along the trees, I thought he meant the lighted tree he used last year.  But no ... there are a few dozen candy canes from one end to the other.  WOW!!  Best neighbors EVER!

One house over, this guy is competing with everyone.  I caught him taking down three dozen boxes from his garage attic.  The rooftop Santa will be added tomorrow.  I told him he was certainly making me look bad!!

What about the electric bill?  Because every one of these lights up ... and there are probably 20 extension cords running everywhere.  It's okay ... he works for P G & E, the electric company.

The dog .... he's the cutest ever.  It's just what I would put up.  Maybe next year I'll have to stay home and get in on the competition.

I would lose out though.  This is the neighbor that put up the candy canes.  Is this not fabulous?  I may just have to try something on MY flagpole.  He bought the right one ... it telescopes up, so he can put it down, attach the lights and put it back up.  Note the two black boxes on the house pillars.

I waddled out last night for a picture.  I say waddled because when that turkey dinner hit bottom, it was with a LOUD BANG!  OOF!!!!!

If only you could see this in person.  It's magical.  To make it even better, those little black boxes on the house are solar lights ... and they can change the colors to anything they want.  Green, red, blue, white ... it's VERY cool.  

And so Christmas has begun here in the Central Valley of California.  Let the lights shine brightly!!!

It's time for breakfast ... and I bet you know what we are having.  TURKEY, STUFFING AND POTATOES WITH GRAVY!!    WOOHOO!!!!!  I'm pretty sure I'll be on the couch watching football the rest of the day!!  

LET THE CHRISTMAS ADS BEGIN!!!!

I ATE TOO MUCH!!!

 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!  Mr. Cooper got the days mixed up.  He thought he was getting lots of turkey and a toy or three.  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  I hope your day was filled with lots of amazing food and good times.  

It was not the usual for me.  I hate to say it, but I love nothing more than to sit home with my critters in my jammies and watch football while the turkey roasts in the oven.  Instead, I accepted an invitation to a Bingo Thanksgiving.  Five of us workers were invited to Kathy's house for dinner.  

My plan was to take a new-to-me corn casserole, for which I had purchased all the ingredients.  When I related my plan, I was shot down like a turkey.  Someone else was bringing that.  I got fruit salad.  WHO wants fruit salad at Thanksgiving, not to mention I had NONE of those ingredients.  I scrounged through my cabinets to find pineapple, mandarin oranges, a banana and some pecans.  They of course wanted maraschino cherries, so I actually had to hit up the store.

I arrived to find jalapeño cranberry cream cheese, from three different venues.  They forgot the crackers, so we used bread.  We all agreed it's delicious, but buy it at TARGET of all places.  Costco and Walmart lost the bet.  That was followed up by deviled eggs and French Quarter Cheese Spread.  WOW ... if you like garlic, look up this recipe.  It's one of the best things I've ever had!!!  Cream cheese, garlic, brown sugar and roasted pecans.  It disappeared in a flash.

Here's the turkey.  Just kidding.  I didn't get a single picture, mostly because I was in the den watching the football game.  I didn't miss anything because two of the others smoke, and were outside freezing on the patio.  This is MY turkey, soon to be turned into a tender delicious bird.  I see a lot of turkey soup in my future.  

We had turkey, dressing (with chicken livers I found out after the fact), green beans, corn casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy and fruit salad.  It was WAY too much.  I took very small portions so as not to be bloated and miserable an hour later.  Sadly, they were not small enough.  I think it was all the appetizers we ate.

I had a very nice time talking illnesses over dinner.  Why do old people do that??  Luckily this hostess will not allow anyone to help clean up the table or the kitchen.  Believe me, I tried.  Not a problem though, I was soon out the door between football games.  It had been a long six hours and I knew Mr. Cooper was waiting.

This was almost the best part of the day.  It was absolutely quiet ... like a neighborhood should be.  Not even a light from the noisy rude neighbors next door.  They are GONE ... hopefully for a few weeks, but I imagine my hopes will be dashed.  By the way, I'm not the only one who is complaining.  There have been multiple posts on Facebook about their rudeness and noise.

After his dinner of Old Man dog food, recently purchased because the Vet wasn't happy with MY choice, and some pasta (which he loves), he crashed on the couch.  Thanksgiving dinner overload, puppy style!

And so this morning I will be hard at it preparing my stuffing, stuffing the turkey and whipping up a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us.  Make that three since Jonathan loves cornbread.  I'm even making my caramel pecan pie.  Most ALL of this will go in the freezer for my trip South.

And so I wish you and your family a multitude of blessings at Thanksgiving.  I'm so thankful to have all of you wonderful friends to talk to every morning.  It makes my day, my week and my year!!  I'm truly blessed!!!