As you might be able to guess from the last couple of posts, I was really running out of steam on NaBloPoMo. As much as I like the idea of posting daily, I simply do not have enough to talk about to justify that much verbiage.
So this is it for November 2011 and I'm sure I'll do the 30 days in a row again in 2012, but for the time being I'm going to back off until I have something of reasonable substance to say.
Thanks for your patience!
Photo credit: Alban Gonzalez
Despite the fact that Dr. Jones was the most hostile of our cats when Toby arrived, the two of them have become good buddies. I've seen them snuggled together sleeping and they even run around and play together sometimes.
Yesterday Toby jumped up on the bed with Jones and was trying to get him to play. Jones cuffed him on the head several times, which either meant that he was playing along or he wasn't in the mood to play just then. I think Toby took it as play.
I'm glad that Toby has found a special pal among the cats.
There was frost on the grass this morning. I was not happy about that. Toby was even less happy about it.
I spent my whole day sitting at my desk wrapped in a thick blanket.
Have I mentioned I'm not a fan of winter?
It's cold and gloomy outside, so my plan is to remain in my pajamas and robe as late as possible today and hang out with the critters. I have Thanksgiving leftovers to sustain me, plenty to read, and I'll almost certainly take a nap later on because I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. after going out to see a Bon Jovi tribute band play last night.
I had thought about putting up the Christmas tree and other decorations but I've decided there's no hurry. I have another four-day weekend coming up the week after next, and it makes more sense to do it then.
Enjoy your Sunday!
For the first time in all the years I've been doing NaBloPoMo, I missed writing a post. Yesterday was just that kind of day.
The good news is that it was a very enjoyable day otherwise. I slept in, made soup, worked for my dad a bit, bought a few groceries, made dinner and a pumpkin pie, watched a movie and basically just enjoyed the heck out of the time I was awake.
Of course, this was probably the year when I was finally going to win something for my perfect NaBloPoMo participation. Nah, probably not.
Despite that little hiccup, I'm going to continue posting daily as much as I can in the foreseeable future. I like my blog better when it's this active and I feel that I managed to write two above-average posts this month already. (I'll let you figure out which ones I think those are.)
Anyone else still in the game?
I paced my day just perfectly so that I had time to go for a walk, clean up the house, cook everything that needed to be cooked and have dinner on the table by 4:00 p.m.
By 6:30 p.m. I was exhausted and it felt like midnight to me.
There were eight of us for dinner and I still have plenty of leftovers. Turkey pot pie is on tomorrow night's menu for sure.
I've since digested some of the excess food and rallied a bit so I wanted to stop by and write today's post while I have my second wind. I still have a few pots and pans to wash as well, so this will be brief.
One of the highlights of my day was receiving this from my sister:
You may recall the time I camped out in my back yard with my nephew. That was in 2009 when he was four. He'll turn seven in February and he apparently still remembers it so well that he decided to retell the story for a school assignment. How cute is that?
If you can't read it, it says "My Aunt Slest camps awt side. Ian." (Translation: My Aunt Celeste camps outside.")
We don't have to tell him that I haven't done any camping since then. However, it's a good sign that we're due for a canoe trip next year.
My sister and her family spend Thanksgiving in Oklahoma, so I hosted a collection of other relatives and friends. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
I'm looking forward to having three more days free. I don't have much planned, but I'd like to spend at least one of those days lying around the house a lot.
How was your day?
I don't put up Christmas lights on the house anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love the way they look. I just don't want to put in the work, accept the risk of bodily harm while climbing a ladder, or spend the money on lights and electricity.
Every year, the neighbors' houses light up one by one while mine sits there in the dark with only a yellow-tinted CFL on the porch for illumination. Sometimes I have a momentary impulse to go into the garage and pull out my collection of lights, but it passes quickly when I remember how many of them were already dead the last time I took them down.
If I could afford to have someone else deal with them, I might change my Scrooge-like attitude. For now, I'll have to just let it go until the economy recovers or the lottery fairy stops by (which is incredibly unlikely considering that I never buy lottery tickets).
On the other hand, I'm considering putting up our tree this year. I haven't done it for several years and I am absolutely positive that Dr. Jones will lay waste to it with a quickness, but I'm in the mood to see twinkling lights somewhere. I think I'll forego breakable ornaments and hope for the best. If he hasn't knocked over the tree or destroyed any ornaments or garlands in the first week, I'll think about adding more decorations.
I am in a festive mood this year, but I'm also kind of lazy. It's a balance.
Photo source: Teri Land via Facebook
Two young singers. Similar relationship scenarios. Vastly different emotional reactions.
(Click through to video - embedding disabled.)
On today's agenda is a big grocery shopping trip to get all of the ingredients I need to make Thanksgiving dinner. I've already gone through the sales circulars and figured out which stores have the best deals. Better still, my company gave each partner a $25 gift card to the store where I'll be buying the turkey and most of the produce, so that will definitely help.
I'm planning on making most of the classics from my Thanksgiving recipe booklet: roast turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and fresh cranberry sauce. By popular demand, I'll also be purchasing a small can of cranberry sauce for those who choose nostalgia over flavor.
My aunt is bringing a corn casserole and a pumpkin pie. I'll be making a pumpkin cake roll. Rather than make dinner rolls from scratch, I think I'm going to buy some Hawaiian rolls instead. They taste almost exactly the same and it'll save me three hours of prep time. Also, bread is not exactly a big focus when you have a meal like this.
As an appetizer for any early birds, I'm baking a small wheel of brie with brown sugar and pecans on top and serving it with water crackers. If I'm feeling really ambitious, I might make Pomegranate Salsa.
I don't know exactly how many attendees I'll have at this point, but I'm still keeping the invitation open for anyone in the area who'd like to join us. There will be plenty of food no matter how many guests we have.
When I see all of the angst-ridden articles about people's fears of preparing Thanksgiving dinner, it always puzzles me a bit. It's really a pretty straightforward meal, albeit one with lots of components. As long as your oven and stove burners are all operational, you should be fine.
My biggest problem is finding somewhere for everyone to sit. I assume we'll have a minimum of seven diners, so I'm hoping I can get by with the big, plastic utility table I generally use for folding laundry. I'll have to bring it up from the basement, clean off the cobwebs and cover it with some kind of tablecloth. Seating will be a mishmash of folding chairs and wooden chairs from a cheap old dining set that also resides in the basement these days.
So that's my plan. What are you doing for Thanksgiving this year?
