Post Thanksgiving Wrap Up

I hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving, no matter how you celebrate!

We had a fantastic time with That Man's sister and the rest of the family! We went Wednesday to help get stuff ready, and laughed, cooked, and generally goofed off and were silly. Our air mattress deflated overnight, but that was okay - we were all in bed early and up early to get a turkey in the roaster and one in the smoker. The food was amazing and so was the company. We got home still stuffed and exhausted - and three of us had to work on Friday, all early. Needless to say we were in bed before nine! Ha!

Made it through my second Friday of the week! We were all sick of cooking, so pizza came to our door. We relaxed with a movie, and were, again, in bed insanely early. Which was fine. Our very good friends, who are/were also our neighbors and have been for around twenty years (and are traitors) are moving away. They bought a sweet house about a half-hour away, so we went out to help them get stuff done. The new house is super awesome and That Man has garage/pole barn envy. The guys built a floor in the garage attic and us ladies put together pain-in-the-butt stools for the kitchen. It was nice to hang with them! After that, home, dinner, blah blah blah...

Oh yes, I did write every night!

Today has been catch up... Bill paying, grocery shopping, dreaded laundry (last load in the dryer), and made leftover turkey with waffles and a weird gravy (that was actually pretty tasty) for dinner. Now I'm writing (already met my word count) and we're folding the laundry, relaxing, and getting ready for yet another early bedtime. Day job tomorrow... what can I say?

That's all I can report...
Behave!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve

I hope you have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving - no matter how you celebrate.

The loved ones you're missing are in your heart and always will be. Let their memories fill you with joy.

I hope your day is drama free, full of delicious food, and awesome company.

Behave!

Two Fridays!

I get two Fridays this week!

Today and actually Friday!

I took off tomorrow - spur of the moment decision, but rooted in real need. I have so much to do to get ready for Thursday - weird considering I'm not hosting Thanksgiving, but definitely needed! I'm not sure I actually have the time to take off, but I'll worry about that later. My boss told me to go for it and I did. It was approved, so there is that.

I'll be up late tonight. I have two pies in the oven and a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake waiting to go. I think the pies have at least twenty minutes in the oven and then the cheesecake has seventy-two minutes... Yeah, I could have baked tomorrow, but I have a million other things to do, so it's best this way. Plus, I can sleep in tomorrow before I have to make two kinds of fudge - wait - help K4 make two kinds of fudge, do laundry, gather things, shopping, writing, organize stuff, etc, etc.... (Did you see sleeping in? Yeah, that! Awesome!)

We had company for dinner. K1 and J came over. Mr. B helped me make the pumpkin pie filling. He wanted to help with the rest of the pumpkin pie and the cheesecake, but his daddy has to work early tomorrow. He was a little upset when they left because Nana wasn't ready to make the cheesecake yet (after he told me the pumpkin pies would be gross when I put the eggs in) - said he was "walking home" - which cracked us all up, but he did come around and give hugs. He's so funny and he always wants to help me in the kitchen. I don't mind at all, in fact, I love it - even when he puts three times as much pepper in something. When he stays over, we always make pancakes and "cookie" sausage. (round sausage - for some reason he calls it that). Cute. He's a joy and I'm so happy he's my boy.

***

Now it's later...

In the meantime - K3 came home after picking up one of his best friends from college and then going to see a movie he absolutely loved...
We spent some time looking at movie trailers and talking about everything. That was awesome and really nice!

The pumpkin pies are out (and look amazing) and the cheesecake is taking forever to bake... We're now twenty minutes longer than estimated, and it still shows no signs of being done! Yikes! But when I stick the knife in to test it and then taste what's on the knife, I am pleased... I love this cheesecake, but it forever thwarts me when I make it...

I have at least twenty minutes on my timer and it's already midnight! Yikes!

It's all good though... I do get to sleep in, and now that the majority of my baking is done, I should get to take it easier tomorrow. I do need the relaxed day - more than I can say or explain.

That is all for now!

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Ah... The end of the work week... Thank goodness!

This has been a crazy one, despite the day job not being as busy as usual... (Umm.. that's what they're saying, but I'm definitely not seeing it. Go figure!) Plus, the flu has visited within our walls. People are dropping like crazy - but we lost three today alone. Not cool, considering we're all touching the same things and working together on stuff... To say I'm a little worried would be an understatement. Plus, it's going around K4's school. She actually had it earlier in the week, though it was mild. When I called in to let them know she was puking, the receptionist said they were losing at least a half-dozen kids a day to the flu.

But... I'll keep my fingers crossed, though I'm definitely not feeling my best at the moment. I barely ate dinner, though I didn't really eat lunch either. That Man is feeling similarly...

Here's my feel good list:

1. Making it through... See above...

2. My bed. It was my friend all week, and will be my bestie when I get to stay in it for an extended amount of time tomorrow. Yay for sleeping in!

3. Weekend plans - light, but busy!

4. Getting closer to wrapping up the estate.

5. Thanksgiving plans. Yeah, I keep saying that.

6. Keeping the words on the page! Yay!

7. The possibility (?) of snow on Sunday! Yay for snow!

8. Getting "likes" on my author page!

9. The stuff I am cooking this weekend!

10. Uhhh...I think I need to go to that awesome bed I mentioned... My poor belly is not happy right now...

Behave!

Gearing Up...

It's that time of year again...
Thanksgiving is in a little less than two weeks.
Then we start the Christmas craziness.
I'm not sure how I feel about that.
December is going to start with a bang. I have two parties the first weekend, one that requires me to do a lot of preparations, in addition to prepping for the party during the day. Oy. Don't know why I did that to myself. Wait. Yes, I do. I had to fit it into everyone's schedule. The following weekend, we are hopefully hitting the road for our thirtieth anniversary, but that will depend on a few things we need to figure out first. Then it's my work Christmas party, which is always a blast.
Then the day.
It's going to fly by.
I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for all that needs to be accomplished and scheduled. Luckily, I  never put my Christmas dishes away last year. They are still in my hutch. (yeah, I know. Lame, but it is what it is. At least they were safe!) I did bring home some decorations from my folks, but I'm still sorely light on tree swag. I don't know how crazy I'll get with the rest of the decorating. We'll see. Time will play a huge factor in that.
Neither of my kids still at home want much. K4 said she didn't really have a list. That's scary and good at the same time. Of course, she'll be 17 on Christmas, so there's that.
I'm getting old, people.
I'll do Christmas Eve. I'd been asking Mom to let me take it on since it was becoming too much for her in the previous years. She wasn't ready to give it up because she loved it so, but now it's mine by default. I'm not sure if my brother is going to make our traditional soup or not - haven't talked to him about it yet. It's a few hours of utter chaos, but still good. Luckily, the holiday falls over the weekend this year, which should give me plenty of prep time. Not like last year when it was Friday and I had to work a full day.
Hmm... Now my head is full of holiday stuff.
I'm out. Going to Lady Jane's Salon to hear one of my cohorts read and I have an hour until my ride gets here and I need to shower and dress. I'm a little nervous about going since I've never been. I've been so out of the writing world loop for so long... I'm pushing back in though, and that has to count for something. Right?
Behave!

Here's Some Fluffy Nonsense...

We all need fluffy nonsense right now... We just do... Don't believe me?

Sign into Facebook and see all of the terrible ways people are talking to each other and the terrible things they're saying and doing (across the board - there is no target here. I don't care about your politics. I just care about you!). Hopefully things calm down shortly and we can go back to seeing what people are eating for dinner, cute puppies and kittens, otters, and way more videos of our military coming home to surprise their families (those always make me cry and make me feel good).

Here's the fluff!

Cute Horse!

Cute Cow

Cute Gnome!

Cute Dangerous T-Rex!

Not cute Alligators! Not cute!

Cute Puppy! Aww! He should have been mine!

My adorable puppy when she was a tiny baby! Aww!

Behave!

Did You Vote?

I don't care about your political affiliation. I don't care what you think about the candidates. Or the issues.
But, please, exercise your constitutional right and let your voice be heard.

We voted when I arrived home from the day job. I was a little sad that K3 went over to vote without me. It was his first time, and I was hoping to share that experience with him. He had a different agenda though and it is what it is.

So Facebook had this little check in thing about voting and I clicked it. And then my kid starting posting reactions to this show we were watching and it turned into a forty-five minute back and forth with over 100 comments. We were laughing so hard at each other's posts. I was stupid and I'm sure it annoyed people, but whatever.

Time to put the words on the page.

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up

Things are interesting and weird around here right now. 

Lots of stuff going on that I can't really talk about here. I'm not trying to be cryptic - just saying so you know that things aren't "normal". They haven't been for a while, but have gotten even worse and strange and it's not all one thing. Nothing in my house, but still greatly affecting us and our loved ones... And that's all I've got to say about that... 

So...

Since my last post...

Feel Good Friday was a trip to the grocery store, writing, and an early bed time. Awesome (except the grocery store). 

Saturday was my monthly writing group meeting. Always a Yay! We had our elections which means I'm officially off the board of directors for now (starting in January). I am, however, still in charge of our annual retreat, which I am very happy to be. (I want to keep it forever!) Our speaker was awesome and gave me much to think about. 

After that, we headed to my sister's for the Fall Birthday Bash. We got there super early and hung out. That was good and needed. I made the vegan chili and my sister made the "regular" chili, and everyone else brought food to share. A ton of people came - many I haven't seen in a long time, family, good friends, and many people I didn't know at all. We had a good time, but left early because we brought Mr. B home with us for the night. He had a blast playing with his friend and the dogs, and fell asleep not long after we left after telling us hysterical things in his exhaustion. 

Today was hanging with Mr. B, doing car stuff, house stuff, laundry, a little driving, talking to That Man's sister about Thanksgiving plans. Looking forward to that. We don't get to hang out with his sister and her husband often enough, but we have a great time with them every time we get together. We used to be with them all of the time, but life, kids, and jobs happened. 

Didn't have the writing day I'd planned as early as Thursday, but I will be getting words down here in a few, and spending time with Mr. B was very important. 

Off to Write! 

Behave! 

November...What?

So I've only posted 41 blogs this year - my lowest posting year yet (okay - so far - I might beat my other lowest year, but who knows?)
I do feel bad about that. Actually, I hate it. I love this blog and I hate not posting!

Halloween went well. Mr. B was adorable. We were pretty much out of candy, which is a first in a long time, but people were driving in for Trick or Treat... Hasn't happened in a long time. We had a house full, which was awesome. And we had a blast!

I am writing. I've missed very few days in the 50/50 challenge. New story is coming along nicely. I dig it. It's a little different, but it's good.

It's Wednesday. Almost through the week. Come on weekend. Writer's meeting. Fall Birthday Bash.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving, even though no turkey from the grocery store this year. How weird is that?

That's all for now...

Behave!