New York, New York.

Jared was invited to sing on the Huckabee show this weekend (with Matt and their little band).  They treated us to a free hotel room right around the corner from Time Square. 

1.  After two minutes in a city I am ready to get back to the country (except maybe DC because the buildings are shorter and it seems cleaner AND the museums are FREE!!).  Okay, now I will make positive comments.  :)

2.  We walked from our hotel (Stay), through Central Park, to the Met museum of art (only $20 admission), to the Guggenheim museum (picture below - it cost $79 to view the art inside - WHAT?!?!  We just walked around the gift shop), and all the way back (6.5 miles according to google maps).  I would like to stop and say here, that I really am glad that Jared likes to do free things with me.  :)  Yay, for just walking around and looking at things.  It rained (and thundered - yes, mom, I was walking through the trees while it was storming, but there were talk buildings all around), but I like summer rain.  It makes me happy.  I only had one blister one my little toe after all that walking.  Yay.

3.  Mike Huckabee is super nice.

4. My favorite part of NYC is Central Park.  I don't think anything compares. 

5.  Dinner at B. Smith (go look at the menu) was incredible!  I had the fried Chicken.  Yum yum yum.  It was delicious.  The bread pudding was the most amazing bread pudding Jared and I had ever heard.  Jared really enjoyed his catfish too.   The broccoli was undercooked and had garlic butter drizzled on it that combined with my sweet potatoes for a very strange combination.  The sweet potatoes had too much seasoning in them (I think it was all spice... all I could taste of the seasonings and not the potatoes).   They also forgot Jared's corn bread and our server was a little scatterbrained.  Otherwise, we had a great experience. 

Happy Father's day, Dad!  I'm headed home now to wash clothes and clean my shoes.

Thanks to Sarah and Mom and Dad for all the blueberries!!!  What a great birthday present. :)

A favorite igrace song!

1. Poor sinner, dejected with fear,

Unbosom thy mind to the Lamb;

No wrath on His brow He does wear,

Nor will He poor mourners condemn;

His arm of omnipotent grace

Is able and willing to save;

A sweet and a permanent peace

He’ll freely and faithfully give.



2. Come just as thou art, with thy woe,

Fall down at the feet of the Lamb;

He will not, He cannot say, “Go”,

But surely will take out thy stain

A fountain is opened for sin,

And thousands its virtues have proved

He’ll take thee, and plunge thee therein,

And wash thee from filth in His blood.



3. The soul that on Jesus relies,

He’ll never, no never deceive;

He freely and faithfully gives

More blessings than we can conceive;

Yea, down to old age He will keep,

Nor will He forsake us at last;

He knows and is known by His sheep;

They’re His, and He will hold them fast.



*** I am hoping to get Jared to sing this with me someday... :)
It has been so encouraging to me over the pass year or so.  It is funny how hymns mean more to you at certain times in your life.  I love a bunch of hymns (probably hundreds - seriously). This is just one that I have been listening to often (I love the igrace version of this song).  Anyone want to play the accordian for me?!?  The music for this song is gorgeous too.  Praise God for his steadfast love and grace.

What my weeks have looked like recently...

Sunday - Church, lunch somewhere (lunch at parents or VBS planning), Evening church

Monday - Work, Gym, Grocery shopping, other odd errands

Tuesday - Work, gym, cooking for the week, cleaning kitchen

Wednesday - Work, dinner, VBS decorating

Thursday - Work, a few more errands and groceries

Friday - Work, gym, somewhere (not home)

Saturday - gym, finish up a few things for work, clean the house, a wedding, wedding shower, or VBS planning

 

*Work has been crazy.  I love it.  I have 6 people working for me right now.  So, I do a lot of planning what other people are going to do, answering emails and phone calls, teleconference meetings, and presenting to management on our progress and the support that we need.  I am also helping 7 other people with projects (that I am sort of in charge of, but they are supposed to be doing the leg work).  My office is more of a workshop then an office most days.  Today there are half made signs all over the place (organized of course, by color and size), four plywood boards with pictures of tools pasted to them (waiting on said signs to be attached to the top and then to be taken over and hung up), paper cutout of tools strewn across the intern's table and John's desk (mixed in with 1100 pages of data that they are entering in to the computer for one of my projects), boxes that were just delivered today that need to be organized and put away on the shelves, 1 bag of twizlers, 2 information towers (waiting on posters to e attached to them - so, they have information on them), and 3 energy drinks (interns love them - bleh).

 

I am really looking forward to August 14th.  I am planning a vacation as soon as it becomes less hot.  I have all my vacation days still.  :)  Hopefully, I can take most of those in the fall.  I love the fall. 

Yes, I am super busy between work and planning VBS.  I will blog again when I have time.  :)  I have been reading some interesting books (The Shallows (really interesting), Harry Truman (still...)) and listening to NPR (I look forward to listening to Fresh Air each day on my lunch break).  

Pi Day!

Happy Pi day!! 

 

Should I go home and make shepherd's pie or deep dish pizza? 

&

This looks so simple to make.   I saw it while browsing Etsy today (Etsy is highly inspirational). I think I might try my hand at making it.  I love ampersands!!  Also, I think I should try to make one out of Jared's sheet metal scraps. 

"I'm gonna move on up a little higher..."

 

- Thank you, Jared for making this be stuck in my head for the last two weeks.  I'm not complaining, but it is really weird how this song has kept all other songs out of my head. 

 

I requested a lot of books from the library this last week (isn't reading lovely?), but they still didn't have four of the books that I wanted.  Boo.  Also, "As Time Goes By" was checked out of the library.  What?!?  Who else is out there watching it? 

FrWWWWWWWWWeeee Chick-fil-A!!!

Just a quick blog post for all my Chick-fil-A loving people.  If you click this link below (and I will copy the link in the bottom of the blog in case the link doesn't work), you can reserve your free chick-fil-a biscuit for this weekend.   Jared and I are going after the gym on Saturday.  FYI: each request has to be at a different email address.  I had the spicy biscuit once before (because it was the free calendar item - thanks parents!!).  It is okay.  Jared liked it; I thought it was predictable (I felt like I could have ordered it anywhere).   It was good, but not Chick-fil-A good.  But free is free to me.  :)   Sign up and get your free biscuit today and let me know how you feel about it.  Do you enjoy it or is the regular so much better?  :) 

 

CFA

 

http://www.getspicychicken.com/?source=email

Merry Christmas!!

I helped decorate my parents house last night (until 10:30) and went home and made three trays of mini cinnamon buns (about 80 - 90... I didn't count), and then came to work this morning.  We decided that the few of us that were here would all bring in Christmasy foods today since we had to be here all morning (and no one else is here).  The other cinnamon buns went to Jared to take to his company Christmas breakfast. 

 

I was just informed, by text message, that I bought Jared three ties for Christmas.  Really?  I bet I have good taste and have picked out ties that are perfect for Jared.  ha ha. 

 

I am pretty sure that after Christmas I am not going to want to bake anything or see sweet things for a long time.  I am really craving some fresh veggies and fruits!!  Come on summer!!  My favorite season comes after Summer.  YAY, Autumn! 

 

Oh, Jared bought me an early Christmas present.  He bought me a little 3 foot tree for my kitchen table.  I have really been wanting one.  It is so adorable.  I was going to decorate it all cute and pretty with little ornaments, but Jared got to it first and has decked it out with all sorts of random ornaments that aren't good enough for our real tree.  hmmm.  It is ugly cute.  Anyhow, it adds cheer to my kitchen and that is what I wanted (not that trays and trays of christmas cookies and chocolate covered pretzels don't add any cheer). 

 

Merry Christmas!! 

I'm dreaming...

... of a white Christmas!! 

snow

It is snowing.  That makes me happy. 

I will see Michelle tomorrow.  That makes me happy too. 

It is almost Christmastime!!  This also makes me happy.

 

*insert picture of snow*

Please, use your imagination.  :)

 

Oh, and my darling husband put the turkey in the oven for me yesterday and so it was finished by the time I came home from work.  I picked the whole turkey clean and taught Jared how to make gravy.  He is really a big help in the kitchen.  Then we had open face turkey sandwiches for dinner.  yum yum yum.  Guess what I am having for lunch today? 

I finished one of my quilting projects last night!!  Yay!!  While Jared was at the library and choir I quilted the whole thing, trimmed it, and started the binding.  I finished about half the binding last night.  I will finish it tonight right after I go grocery shopping.  We are out of milk.  This is the largest amount of fabric that I have ever quilted before.  It was a beast to quilt, especially in the middle.  I never think of the sewing machine as being little until I try to quilt; when I quilt there is never enough room, even for small jobs.  There was only one minor flaw that I had to seam rip out (twice).  This one area on the back wanted to keep scrunching up even though I pinned it many times. Seam ripping in a quilt takes forever because of the amount of stitches that are laid down.  I hope to take a picture soon and post it, but I have said that before and failed.  It is so hard to upload photos when your labtop is broken.   I don't think SU wants me loading pictures on to their computers... Whenever I have kids I am going to need to purchase a laptop (or desktop) simply for photos. 

 

Last night I made pizza again.  Tonight we are having Turkey (thanks to Harvard/Labinal/Safron/Labinal Salisbury).  I am trying to decide on the sides... sweet potatoes and green beans and maybe biscuits and/or stuffing too.  I really want to have open face hot turkey sandwiches.  YUM!!  Those remind me of my Dad.  He and I would eat them together with the leftovers.  I don't think the others in my house like them.  I need to make some bread.

 

Do you have any ideas what I should bring to my office Christmas party?  I have been asked to bring chili again by some people, but I really want to make something else.  What else is one pot and easy to keep warm?   I was really thinking of making rolls or cookies this year.  But if you have any suggestions... I might change my mind. 

This weekend I opened up one of my birthday presents that I have been hoarding since June.  It was just as delicious and incredible as I dreamed it would be.  Anna gave me two jars of Grotto's pasta/pizza sauce and I have not wanted to open them (because then they would be gone).  I finally convinced myself to open a jar telling myself that I still would have one jar left to look forward to.  The sauce was supposed to make it on to the pizza, which it did, but I was also eating the sauce out of the jar with a spoon last night while I waited for Jared to come home from the library. Is that bad? Even though Grotto Pizza doesn't use mozzarella cheese, I was dunking chunks of that into the sauce as well.  I love that everything on the ingredient list is something that I recognize.  I love the flavor.  It is wonderful.  I just need to figure out their pizza crust flavor and I will be set for life (well, maybe a pizza oven and a few other things would be helpful...). 

 

I am planning on making spaghetti with the extra sauce this weekend (if I don't eat it all with a spoon before then). We are having pizza again tonight.  :)   Yay! 

 

I might try to make my deep dish pizza again soon because it turned out incredible last time.  I loved the crunchy, crispy edges. 

 

Today during lunch I ran/drove over to Hancock Fabric (were the grumpy people work) and bought needles for my sewing machine.  After fighting with it for a long time last night, I read the instruction manual because I had tried everything I could think of and my machine was still skipping stitches. This was taking place at 10:30 last night.  It reminded me of life.  For the most part I try to solve problems on my own, but if I just look at the instructions it would be so much easier.  :)  God knows how to solve every problem and has blessed us with his word to read.  I just have to do it.   In the end, I think I figured out the problem (thank you frequently asked questions).  I read the whole instructions book last night.  I have never done that before.  I learned a lot.  Tonight my sewing machine will be taken care of in ways that it has not been ever taken care of.  It is going to be oiled, shined, and cleaned out.  I do clean it out, but tonight I am going to really clean it out.   How am I expecting it to keep working if I don't take good care of it?  Again, just like life, I need to take care of my relationship to God or life doesn't go as smoothly.  My thread will keep skipping spots.  :)   In case you are curious, I was using the wrong size needle for quilting (hopefully).  I will find out tonight when I give it another go.

 

Do you ever learn lessons from little things like a sewing machine? 

I signed up for all my new health benefits today.  I am pretty excited because I will be visiting my eye doctor this year.  :)  YAY!  You don't understand how happy this makes me, yes, I have perfect vision right now (thanks to my parents paying for lasik), but my eye doctor is the sweetest person on the planet.  I am also hoping she can write me a prescription for glasses to wear some of the day while I stare at this dumb computer.  It has been giving me dull headaches recently.  Grr.  I have frames that I really like.  I bought them two years ago when all I could wear was glasses (because my eyes reacted to contacts). 

 

This weekend I am hoping to do a lot of resting.  I feel like I have been running a marathon for the last two weeks.  It will be so nice to relax.  Jared and I made chocolate covered pretzels last night (for the second time this year).  I made checkerboard cookies Tuesday night (as a trial run for this Saturday for the Christmas shop) and took them to work.  They were amazing!! Last weekend I made over 400 gingerbread cookies and 7 dozen gingersnaps.  Also, Anna came over and cooked for us last Friday and we watched a Christmas movie!!  YAY!! 

 

I really want to make a jelly roll.  That is one my list of next things to make from my 1930s cookbook.  I love that cookbook.  I spend most of Wednesday night while Jared was at school reading through it cover to cover yet again!!  There are some really great recipes in there for basic things (I mean, there are over 1400 pages to the book -- how can there not be some goodness in there?).  There are also some really disgusting things, such as, squirrel and possum, and a sandwich loaf smothered in cream cheese (made to look like a cake, I am assured that it looks extremely elegant).  Egg salad, bread, chicken salad, all pressed together and spread over by cream cheese does not sound good!!

 

P.S. Spell check is wonderful.

 

Do you have any exciting plans this weekend?  I hope to head over to my parents house this weekend for some good food. Otherwise, it is all about resting this weekend. 

Did you grow up in the country?

Today I was wandering around my job helping people out in manufacturing.  I was correcting sheets with my red pen and stamping them with my approval.  While helping this one group of women they asked me, "did you grow up in the country?"

To which I replied, "Do you mean the United States?"

"No," they replied, "we mean like the country or the city."

"I grew up in Salisbury. Does that count as city or country?"

They said they would call that the city.

"Well, then I grew up in the city."

"Well, we were discussing you and we think you have a 'country feel' about you.  You are cheerful."

"ummm... thanks."

P.S.  I did not have my hair in braids today.  Come to think of it, I haven't worn my hair in braids for over two weeks... hmm.

 

This reminds me of Jared's Target co-workers that told him that I reminded them of a Hippie.  Apparently wearing no make-up and my hair in braids occasionally means that I am an uncivilized bumpkin.  ha ha.  I should tell them that I can my own veggies and fruits, bake my own bread, and sew quilts. 

 

This was going to be a post about how great Jared is (because he washes the dead turkey and chickens off for me and puts them in the pan), but I found this story rather amusing.   I have a turkey sitting in brine at home waiting to be cooked tomorrow.  It is going to be pretty incredible (hopefully)!!  It is in there will all sorts of yummy spices, apples juice, and orange peels.  Also, it is spiced cidar time and that makes me super happy.  I have had a mug or two each night for four days now.  I keep using my silver travel mug that Hayley gave me many years ago.  It is my favorite because it keeps it warm for so long.  Jared is using our Christmas/snowmen dishes to drink his. 

 

Has anyone told you something about yourself that you stop and think, "hmmm?? I wonder what they mean by that", about?  Ha ha. 

 

And a bonus question, Does your husband do anything for you because he knows you hate it? 

Jared rinses my raw whole chickens off for me and he cleans the bathroom!!  YAY!  I love him.

 

thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving is only a day away!!

 

Question of the day/week: What are you thankful for?

 

1. For the saving grace and mercy of God, which accomplished and keeps my salvation without depending on any contribution from me.

2. Jared (We have the most rediculous amount of fun. I never thought I would spend so many hours of married life laughing and being silly.  He brightens every day.  He is my best friend, my comic relief, my greatest helper, and the sweetest husband.  He unloads the dishwasher some mornings for me or loads it while I am in the shower (as a surprise).  He helps me fold my clothes and irons his clothes.  He prays and reads the Bible and Surgeon with me each morning.  He reads to me for hours and hours and hours while I cook and sew.  Each moment spent with him is absolutely delightful.  I never dreamed that marriage would be so much fun.  I had this idea that it was going to be all work and no fun.  Boy, I sure am glad that I was wrong.  Marriage is wonderful.  It is the most satisfying job in the entire world to make Jared laugh after a long day at work when he is tired and discouraged.  I love cooking for him and taking care of him.  It is the best! )  I LOVE you, Jared.  You are amazing. 

 

3. My family.  I can't talk about each of these in detail.  But I have the best family in the world.  :)   You will just have to take my word for it. 

 

4. My husband's family.  I love Jared's parents like I never thought I could love any other set of parents.  Mrs. Shelton shares so much of her fabric with me and is such an encouragement. 

 

5. My job.  I am glad to have a place that pays me so that I can pay my bills. 

 

6. My church. I am thankful that they faithfully preach the Word of God each week.

 

7.  Cooler weather!  I love the fall.

 

8. My sewing machine (thanks, Mrs. Bailey).  I love to create on it.

 

9.  igrace music.   I love listening to the words of old hymns.  It makes me days brighter.

 

10.  G.T. and the Halo Express.  It also makes my days brighter. 

 

11. NPR.  A Prairie Home Companion.  Car Talk.  Fresh Air.  BBC World News.  Etc... It is nice to listen to radio that makes me think and expands my knowledge.  I have heard several book reviews and musical reviews and gone out and read or listened to them afterwards and loved them.  :) 

 

12. My second job at SU.  I LOVE teaching!! 

 

13. For Jared and my health.  YAY!! 

 

14.  For camping trips and a husband who is a trooper to spend the entire first night of camping in a downpour that dropped 5" of rain.  Thank you, Jared.  And thanks to my father for lending us all the useful camping things.  Warm oatmeal on the stove each morning was so nice. 

 

15. Bike riding which I don't do enough of.

 

16.  For Books. 

 

17. For learning.

 

18. For the Grandi Howards at 9501. 

 

19.  For homemade bread and rolls and cinnamon buns... Yum yum yum!!!

 

20. For all the Delicious foods I make and eat. 

 

21.  For lots of counter space in my kitchen.  It makes life so much easier.  I am so thankful for counter space.

 

22.  For my kitchenaid mixer (thanks Sheltons), my electric tea kettle, and my non-stick frying pans (thanks Anna).  Also, for my BIG cutting board (Hope).  I used it last night and it make life so much easier.

 

23. For colors and the way each season has its own sets of colors and smells.

 

24. For fall smelling candles (apple pie and pumpkin spice I am thinking about you!!).

 

25. For beautiful fabrics and a nice little stash of MODA fabrics.  I love you, fabrics. 

 

26.  For a mother-in-law who gives me all sorts of sewing knick knacks and fabrics and threads and inspiration! 

 

27. London.  West End. The Globe. Trains.  Oxford.

 

28. Germany.  I would love to go back to beautiful, wonderful, delicious Germany. 

 

29. The Sperows who let us stay with them and toted us all around Germany to places they had probably been tons of times.  Thank you. 

 

30.  cream, chocolate, butter, eggs, milk, flour, and all things that can be cooked into special treats.

 

31. the YMCA.

 

32. Two cars that are still running.

 

33. For our house not being broken into yet even though a lot of neighbors have been.

 

34. lasik!!  I love being able to see.  Thanks Dad and Mom!!

 

35.  My college degrees.  I am glad I was able to learn about so many interesting things. 

 

36.  my pr!vo (clark) shoes and my bass clogs.  Thank you for making my feet comfortable at work.

 

37. Jared's voice. Is it weird to be thankful for this?  I love listening to him sing. 

 

38.  My house.  I like its littleness.  I don't have to clean as much.

 

39.  A husband who cleans the bathrooms.  :)

 

40.  Betty Crocker, my southern cookbook, my German cookbook, the frugal girl's bread recipes, southern living cookbook, and especially my three ring binder cookbook from everyone at my bridal shower.  Love love love love love it!!  I use it all the time.  It is the greatest idea for a wedding shower gift ever!!  I love all of you creative people. 

 

41. Indoor plumbing. 

 

42. My HUGE oven and a setting to turn on whenever I tell it too...

 

43. Comfy sweatshirts to hang around the house in during the winter. 

 

44. clearance sales

 

45. flannel sheets

 

46. Sherlock Holmes.

 

47. Michelle Sohl who comes to visit me all the time and does all the driving.

 

48. My Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Bill.

 

49. Everyone that helped with my wedding and made it the most perfect day ever.

 

50. For a family to laugh.  :) 

 

I am going home tonight to make stuffing, rolls, and a sweet potato pie.  I made the cornbread and biscuits last night to add to the stuffing.  YAY!! 

This weekend I am going to finish a Christmas present that I have been working on (it has turned out better than I thought and it is a good thing that it started out as a Christmas present from the start or I would consider keeping it), start sewing another Christmas present or two or three that I need to make, visit my niece and nephews and make gingerbread cookies with them (and mama Cindy), celebrate my father and sister's birthday (happy birthday to you...), maybe do some more Christmas shopping, go to the gym with Jared, and cook a few things. I am especially looking forward to visiting my niece and nephews!! They are a lot of fun and I miss babysitting them.

What am I eating for lunch today? This chicken, rice, Mexican recipe... I made a cross between two recipes that I have been meaning to try and added a few things of my own to it. ha. That is what cooking is all about anyhow. The original recipe came from Mrs. Bailey (for a Mexican chicken pot pie of sorts, I made it minus the crust). Yesterday at work I was looking at a similar recipe (that called for yogurt instead of sour cream) which inspired me to go home and cook it for dinner. The ingredients are listed below. I mixed various amounts of them together until I liked the taste. While I mixed everything together and preheated the oven I cooked the rice. I try to always have shredded chicken in my freezer so that can whip up dinners pretty fast. Then I sprinkled cheese on top of it and bake in for 25 minutes at 350 degrees F and on broil for a while until the top became a little crunchy. I served it over spinach with some corn chips crunched up on top. Pretty tasty. I'll make this again.
* brown rice (cooked for 35 minutes)
* shredded chicken (for freezer)
* yogurt
* a little sour cream (I ran out of yogurt)
* green peppers (I had some already chopped up that needed to be used)
* a can of green chilies
* garlic (recipe didn't call for any seasonings, but it was bland without it)
* cumin (added)
* oregano (added)
* salsa (doubled or tripled what the recipe called for)
* can of black beans (could use more... I am a big bean fan)
* corn (I added extra corn too)
* carrots (I had some cut up that I needed to use up... they are still crunchy... I wish I hadn't added them).

Happy birthday to the little babies of the family.
I love you both. See you this weekend!

Question: Do you have any exciting weekend plans?

A sweet potato recipe for my Mother (and a zoo report).
I made this last night. It is so simple, but delicious!!

Directions: Peel as many sweet potatoes as you are going to cook. Rinse. Cut them up in cubes (I sliced them into 0.5 - 0.75 inch rounds and then cut into 6 or 8 pieces). Place the cubes on a cookie sheet (one with a rim is better). Sprinkle with salt and a little olive oil. Toss them around until they are lightly coated. Put under a broiler until they turn a little brown on a couple sides.

I cooked mine on low for about 30 minutes, but you could definitely cut down on this time by putting in on high a couple times. Make sure to stir a few times during the cooking. I was sewing so I would set the timer for 10 minutes and let them sit under the low heat, stir, and go back to sewing.

I am eating them room temperature for a snack today. I can't resist. They taste so sweet you would think they had sugar on them. Yum!!

Oh, and the fat little prairie dogs were out at the zoo yesterday eating their lunch. I am going to visit them and my cotton topped monkey friends today again at lunch.

Last night I came home from work and straightened the house.  I threw a ton of paper away. It is amazing how quickly it piles up (and we don't have a working printer or computer).  It was mostly mail.  Amazing.  Before I started straightening I threw a pot of southwest tortilla soup (tomatoes, onions, chili powder, beans, chicken broth, corn... etc) on the stove and some cornbread in the oven.  I love cornbread.  They were both finished by the time Jared came home from the dentist and perfect for a cold night at home.  Jared helped me put away the clothes and make the bed.  I seem to fail at making beds look neat.  My side of the bed comes up-tucked and is never as smooth as Jared's side.  My flannel sheets were amazing last night.  I didn't wake up once.  It was so cozy.  Winter is my favorite season for sleeping. 

 

Today I brought my soup in a mason jar just because I could.  :)  Actually, my containers were all in the dishwasher.  It worked out pretty well.  A wide mouth jar would have done the trick a little better.  Oh course I brought some corn bread for lunch too.  Yum yum yum.  There is just something about corn bread that is so good.  Do you know what is also really good?!?  I have this stuffing recipe (I think it is from my Christmas taste of home cookbook - Thanks Hannah) that is make from cornbread and biscuits.  It is the most amazing stuffing I have ever had.  Although, the pork, apple, and raisin stuffing that my German cookbook has in it, does rival it... You can't really compare the two.  I eat them both out of the pan and usually burn my mouth. 

 

Thanksgiving is coming soon!!!  It is just two weeks from today.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Food and family can't really be wrong.  I wonder what Mom wants me to make for thanksgiving.  She should text me and let me know.  :) 

 

Question: Where are you spending thanksgiving?  What is your favorite dish to make or eat?

We are spending thanksgiving with my parents, but we might run over and visit Jared's parents as well (my niece and nephews will be there and I want to see them).  This year I am really looking forward to pecan pie and pumpkin (or sweet potato) pie.  Mom, don't feel pressured to make either of those, if you weren't planning on it.   Do you want me to make a sweet potato pie?  I am game for that.  They should put sweet potatoes on sale soon at walmart.  I have been waiting for those and celery to go on sale.  They were super marked down last year the day before thanksgiving.  I didn't have a job last year so I guess that is why I was wandering around walmart on the day before thanksgiving.  I bought so many sweet potatoes last year and canned them and froze them.  I would like to do that again this year.  A kitchen tip before I run: Buy lots of celery and cut it all up at once and freeze it.  When a recipe calls for chopped celery just take the bag out and dump out the amount you need and put the rest back in the freezer.  It doesn't spoil on you and you save time and work.  I need a chest freezer, which requires room for a chest freezer.  It would save so much time and I could freeze so many more blueberries.  Jared is steady going through my blueberries in his oatmeal.  I wish I had picked more. 

 

Happy two weeks to thanksgiving!!!

Just a question today: Do you have any favorite articles of clothing that make you look forward to pulling out in the winter? 
Scarves!!  Scarves!!  Scarves!! I have two cashmere scarves that Jared bought me in blue and purple plaids.  They are lovely and soft.  I worked in a different part of the office last winter (where it was colder because it was near the server) and wore them all day long.  Now I work in a small area crammed full of 12 people, 12 desks, 12 computers, and a copier.  The heat is a little oppressive at times.  I am wearing a short sleeved polo and dressy jeans today and it is warm.  I drink a lot of cold water most days.  My scarves last for the first two hours of the day around my neck, but then I have to take them off.   I also love my light blue pea coat and my wool dress pants.  Winter clothes are so much cozier than summer clothes for me.  I look forward to bundling up in the winters!!  I love love love it. 
 
And speaking of clothing/shoes, I bought a pair of Privo (Clark Brand) shoes to walk around work in because my feet were hurting just wearing flats.  They are incredible!  My feet haven't hurt since I started wearing them; I adore them.  I wear them 3 or 4 days a week and my old lady clogs the other 2 days.  My feet are happy; I am happy.  Thank you to the Clark outlet for selling shoes at half price for the little people.  These shoes make me want to throw away all my other shoes and invest in well made expensive shoes.  My plan is to slowly build up a good rotation of comfortable shoes to wear over the years.  I also practically stole a brown pair of Clark clogs for $15 on the discount rack.  If they had had these Privos any cheaper I would have bought several pairs.  ha.  I am really waiting for their Unstructured shoes to go on sale and to the outlets.  Those are my favorite shoes that I tried on at VP. 
 
Okay, another Question:  Do you use flannel sheets?
My alarm went off this morning and I immediately realized that I way touching one of my quilt and not my sheets (we have three quilts on our bed right now -- so cozy).  I looked over and Jared was all twisted up in the sheet.  It was all untucked and unkempt.  It was a good think though because it reminded me that I have been wanting to put on my flannel sheets.  YAY!!  So tonight I am going to go home (after the gym and dinner and before a little quilting and putting away clothes) and make my bed with flannel sheets.  While Jared is off studying at the library (if that is what he is doing tonight) I am going to curl up in my newly made bed and read a good book.  Books are golden.  I also "use" flannel sheets that I buy on sale after the holidays for quilting.  :)