Thanksgiving Eve

 The pumpkin pie just came out of the oven, and the sausage stuffing is made.   The house smells amazing!  Is it wrong that I'm cooking up the little bit of stuffing that wouldn't fit in the baking dish for dinner tonight?  I'm going to watch "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" (which we had to dvr because I was cooking) and eat stuffing.  Sounds just about perfect to me.

When I make things like stuffing, or dressing if you prefer, I always think of my Mom.  We only had her home made dressing (her word choice) once a year, at Thanksgiving.  Every Thanksgiving Eve, after the dishes were washed and the children were otherwise occupied, Mom would head back to the kitchen, in her housecoat, and begin the dressing prep.  Pretty soon the smell of celery and onion would come wafting into the other room.  If you were sneaky enough (me) you could grab a piece of dried out, torn up white bread that was sitting on the kitchen table in her big brown bowl and dip it into the buttery, celery, onion, goodness........and burn your tongue for you efforts.  Mom would be too busy cleaning out the turkey to notice.

By the time she finished there were usually two, if not three or four sets of eyes watching as she mixed the dressing and stuffed the turkey with it.  I don't do that, it's supposed to be dangerous.  However, for 20 plus years none of us ever got sick.........  Then she wrapped him up and popped him back in the fridge til morning.

My stuffing recipe is very different from my Mom's.  The only part of hers that I liked was the actual bread/onion/celery.  The apples and giblets would be picked out and set aside.  Mine has sausage and mushrooms, and it is da bomb!  It is also done, so I have to go now!

My holiday memories are so precious to me, but I always look forward to making new ones.  Times change, people come and go, old traditions are put aside, in favor of new ones.  It's all good.  It's life. As my mother used to say, "Life is what you make it." and with our holiday traditions she made ours very memorable.

Because I love this story, and it's my ultimate favorite Thanksgiving tale, and because he's coming to my house for the first time tomorrow for dinner (I wont give him stemware.) here is a holiday bonus blog:  http://queenie930.blogspot.com/2011/11/goblet-incident-of-76.html

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Grandma's Applesauce

My Mom's Mom, whom we called  Grandma Lenihan, or Grandma Leni, lived with my family on the weekends, during my entire childhood.  Mom picked her up on Saturday morning, and brought her back home on Monday afternoons.  When I think of her it is usually when I am cleaning something fresh picked from the garden, or preparing applesauce.  First of all, it's her recipe, secondly that's where you would find my Grandma, every Saturday afternoon.  Sitting at our kitchen table, cleaning and preparing the bounty my Dad was dragging in from the garden, or peeling apples from our tree.  In the off season she would be peeling store bought apples, because we almost always had fresh applesauce in the fridge.

I have watched my Grandma cook a lot of things, but I never saw her measure anything, or follow a recipe.  That must be where I get it from.  My Mom did take the time to write out the recipe for Grandma's Applesauce, but I never use it.  Cut and peel every apple I have, dump in a bunch of sugar, a clump o' cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg.  I made a batch two weeks ago, and it wasn't nearly enough sugar, or cinnamon.  This time I got it just right.  I don't think getting it on the second try is too bad, I haven't made applesauce in a good eight years.

Lucky for me a generous patient brought me in several pounds of apples from her tree.  Some had seen better days, but they were perfect for sauce.  MMMMmmmmm almost burned my mouth taste testing.  Just like when Grandma made it.  When she wasn't looking I would sneak a finger into it, and pay dearly.  We are talking about planting some apple trees next spring, time will tell.  It sure would be nice.

So today on day 10 of being thankful, I am thankful that Cheryl was so generous, and I am thankful for Grandma Lenihan.  She was an amazing woman, and I was so lucky to have her close by.  She taught me a great many things, but I think the most important was this:

 Grandma's hands were always busy.  Working, reading, cuddling, comforting, cooking, or praying the rosary.  If she wasn't busy, she was snoozing in the chair.  She never cared to be idle, there was always something she could be doing, or someone she could be helping.  Unless it was Saturday night, and Love Boat was on.   Grandma never snoozed through that one.  ♥
  

Karma for Christmas

First of all, I mean the good kind of Karma, that moment when the universe opens up and does something unexpectedly kind for you.  I have had plenty of the other kind, sometimes deserved, and sometimes I look at the sky and ask "REALLY?".

Today I went birthday shopping at Target.  I had a thirty dollar gift card to spend on something just for me.  I don't shop at Target often, they think clothes are made for one size, and it isn't mine.  Pants are too slim, bra's are too small, shoes are too narrow. (and I have small feet)  After I picked up a new toy for Jake, a toilet brush, and a travel mug, Kate and I wandered over to the Christmas section.  She couldn't believe that's what I was going to buy with my card, but I told her we would check and see if they had added a Christmas village to their decorations, and if they hadn't  we would go over to books, because I will always add more books to my collection.

Target still doesn't carry a village, so I was skunked there, just like everywhere else I had been in the store.  Heading off to the book section we passed the Christmas trees.  We were having a little argument about trees at our house.  He thinks the Charlie brown and ceramic table trees are enough.  I do not agree.  I do have a four footer that has seen better days, but I want a big tree.  (Can't do real, allergic.)

I was taunting him in the tree section at Menard's just this past Saturday.  It was a little song, that went something like this:  ♫ Jingle bells, jingle bells, I am getting a tree.  No matter what you have to say, you aren't going to stop MeeeE.  Jingle bells, jingle bells, lots of pretty lights.  I am getting a Christmas tree, I don't care if it starts a fight.♫

Looking at the trees, and the prices, of course the one I like is $200.  That's always the case.  So I keep going around the square they have set up, and I see a seven foot, unlit tree with a sign on it that says $30.  I thought it was probably a mistake, the actual price was $70.  I looked for the right box, but couldn't find it.  Went back to the tree and checked it's number, which was 17.  Looked for the box again, and found ONE left.  Snagged it up, and figured we could hash it out at the register.  I looked one more time to make sure I had the right tree, and I did.

At the register, of course, it rang up for $70.  I politely said to the gal, there was a sign on this tree that said $30.  She didn't even question me.  She said, "Ok, we'll change it."  I told her I didn't mind waiting while someone checked it out, and she told me that they could figure it out later.  She seemed like maybe she wasn't having a "I love working for Target" kind of day.  I thanked her, and used my $30 gift card, bringing my total price for my new tree to zero dollars!

When I was loading it into my car I said to Kate,  "This is my karma tree!"  She looked at me funny, and I said, "It's a little payback from the universe for all the good karma I have put out there."

I chose to confess that there is a tree somewhere in this house, because he'll read this and the jig would be up anyway.  I don't think we're having a fight......... but I don't care 'cause ♫ I just got my treeeeE.♫

Seasons

Well, it's time for 30 days of thankful again, and for today's entry you get a whole blog!

Day 2:  I am thankful for my home.  By home I mean the actual structure/property/area.

I moved out to the country one year ago today.  My stuff kept joining me throughout the month of November, but the last day I slept at the apartment was November first.

Last winter being the toughest on record, I had no idea what I was in for.  Death drives in the dark at least twice a week, the snow piling up, blizzards, the intense cold, the furnace going out, the fuel running out (because the dude put the gauge in backwards).

Winter

When spring finally arrived in late May, it arrived with lots of water.  That in turn brought the mud.  Outside, inside, on the dog, on us, everywhere.  I started keeping a pair of shoes in the car, because I had to wear my red water/mud boots everywhere around here.

Spring

Summer finally arrived, but with it came the mosquitos.  I can't tell you how many times we were forced back into the house.  Neither one of us care for bug spray, and with it on you were even eaten up outside.  The skeeters literally didn't end until mid October, it was crazy.

Summer

Fall is here now, and I must say, it has been the easiest of the seasons.  It's bittersweet because most of our time has been spent battening the hatches because winter is right around the corner.

Fall

Living out in the country has been challenging to say the least, but (minus the winter driving) I love it!  The positives in each season have way outnumbered the aforementioned negatives.  When I was a child I spent every moment in the woods that I could.  While I love the convenience of living in town, my heart is definitely in the country.  The quiet and the space bring a peace to my soul that nothing else ever could.