It already seems like Thanksgiving was a month ago. The food was delicious. Bill cooked the entire meal and it was the best we’ve every had. He was so organized, not running around frantically like it seems we’ve done in years past. The turkey was done a little earlier than anticipated (but that’s okay, plenty of time for it to rest). And good thing it was out of the oven because our grill ran out of gas and we had to finish the roast in the oven. Things just worked out perfectly.

My dad was in town for a visit. He even helped with the meal (peeled potatoes) and helped clean up. And without complaint, and I seem to recall a lot of discussion about the “helping” last year. On Friday we didn’t much shopping. Bill did run to Target early in the AM (not doors opening early, but still early). It was insane and of course they didn’t have what he was looking for. We took it easy in the AM and then went to Philly to see Penn play in a tournament. We stopped at Pat’s first and got to the game early and saw a very exciting Navy - Seton Hall basketball game. The Penn game was fun. They lost to Virginia and it was sloppy, but we enjoyed ourselves. We didn’t get on the road until nearly midnight and it was a rough drive home. I managed to stay awake talking to Bill the entire trip but it was hard at the end. Thankfully traffic cooperated and the trip to the minimum amount of time. Saturday we did venture out and brave some stores. My dad - shopping! Almost never happens. And technically we called it “running errands”. We ended our day with ribs at Barley and Hops in Frederick. I had been craving some ribs. So delicious. And they brew their own beer. Also delicious. Then there was Sunday. I decided to clean up under the sink and found a leak. Great. But that’s the fabulous things about Dads. They KNOW things. So while Bill and I are thinking Call A Plumber, Dad is thinking No Problem. And amazingly enough, it was no problem. Dad and Bill fixed it in a pretty short amount of time. We did some other clean-up around the house but also got to relax and watch some football. The Bears game was exciting! Very exciting! And then Monday it was back to work.

Dad made it home safely and Bill and I are getting back to our normal schedule. I’m excited about Christmas but am still not believing that it is a month away. I am working on gifts and have been shopping, but it still hasn’t hit me yet. Maybe once I get the decorations up. That’s the plan for this weekend.

Tags: none

Hi! I hope you’re all enjoying your holiday. I am sitting on the couch waiting in anticipation of the fabulous meal my husband has cooked. (Have I mentioned how spoiled I am?) The weather was beautiful hear in the mid-Atlantic region so my dad and I went for a walk.

I did have one contribution to the meal and that’s the stuffing. My stuffing recipe is actually from my mom’s father. It’s the stuffing that I’ve had growing up. I even toast my own bread. Actually, Bill helped and I only set off the smoke detector once which I believe is a record. I mix up the stuffing on Tuesdays and bake it on turkey day. We also make creamed spinach, broccoli rice casserole, a turkey and a roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry relish and I think that’s it. We always heat up croissants to and I don’t know why because they always get overlooked with all the other goodness. Oh, and have I mentioned all this food is for 3 people? We do love leftovers!

On this wonderful day I am thankful for my family, those present and not, and especially my hubby, for my health, and for my happiness.

I hope you all have plenty to be thankful for and that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tags: none

This is the loving nickname my dad has for my cat, Cheli (named after Chris “Cheli” Chelios, my favorite hockey player). Anyway, doesn’t he look all cute and peaceful? I was cleaning up my room yesterday and I put a bunch of fabric scraps in a bag. But my Cheli loves his wool and he tried to get into the bag. He was literally wrestling with me over it. I did finally get the bag away from him, tied it closed, and then continued to pick up. A little while later I noticed Cheli sleeping on the bag. So cute. Well, when I came home from work today, I noticed this mess. Cheli managed to get the bag open and play with some of the scraps. The playing is a bonus, really he just likes to rub up against the wool. Funny litte guy. I cleaned up his mess; we’ll see if he tries again.

Tags: cats

I was referring to the weekend, but it made me think of one of my favorite movie quotes: “We went like this, he went like that. I said to Hollywood, where’d he go. Hollywood said, ‘where’d whoooooo gooooooooo.” Any idea what movie it came from?

What a wonderful weekend. After a long week of work, I was ready to relax at home on Friday night. Plus, I had an IDEA that I wanted to work on. I got home and put on my jammies and sat in front of the sewing machine (and the tv). Oh the fun I had. I got up relatively early on Saturday and tinkered with my IDEA for a few minutes, but then I got ready and ran out of the house to run a couple of errands and meet friends for lunch. It was nice to catch up and we were totally girly, shopping for make-up. I had to make it an early afternoon so that I could run up to the Bead Shop in Frederick. Then I went home and got back to work. I had some pouches to make and an IDEA to finish.

I certainly enjoyed my extra hour this weekend. I actually spent it awake. All that awake time paid off as I perfected my new IDEA. It’s a coffee cozy. Bill and I were talking about Christmas presents for our administrative help at work. I am going to make my secretaries some quilted coasters from Last Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts. (Thankfully I am planning ahead and the hope is that these will not be last minute.) Bill said he was just going to get them Starbucks gift cards. And it hit me, a handmade coffee cozy. I thought it would be a great present (along with a gift card to the local coffee establishment) for a baby sitter or pet sitter, administrative assistant, coffee lover, etc.

I’ve posted 3 of them in my etsy shop. Now that I have the design and the right thickness, I can make some more. And some that would be male appropriate. I’m really happy with the design, especially how the two ends come together. Bill thinks it looks like a mistake, but I think it adds some interest. I am waiting for my mom to take a look and let me know her opinion.

Believe it or not, I actually had some time to sit down and relax with my knitting and time to clean up my craft room which look like it was in the path of Noel. So that’s how I spent my weekend. Hope you enjoyed your 49 hours too!

Tags: holidays, projects

Isn’t there a song from the 70s that starts like that? Well that’s how I’m feeling. I can’t believe it’s November 1. I’m starting to think about Christmas which is both good and bad. Good that I am planning ahead, bad that there is so much to do! Then, I have an additional stress (both good and bad) in my etsy store. I’m glad I have it and I do enjoy making the jewelry and other goodies, but it’s another thing to balance. Work is insane in a bad way and I can’t talk about it but it’s also starting to get crazy busy. My desk, while messy, isn’t that bad and I don’t have piles on the floor, yet. Now it’s NaNoWriMo and a normal person would say I’m not going to do it this year because I can’t do everything but I’m not that normal person. Plus I’m behind on my emails. And I have some personal craft projects that I want to finish and why I even started a new one is beyond me. Ahhhh…Freakout!

Deep breath. The first thing I will do is make a list. I’ve go so many things, ideas, to dos, swirling around in my head. I have to write them down. Second I will have to rethink what I can do. I really can’t do it all. Third, I will have fun. Work will be work, but the rest of the stuff, while a lot to do, is fun and I get enjoyment out of it. Okay, I’m already starting to feel better. Thank you.

On a separate note, I took the dog out for a walk on Tuesday (first time in ages). She was so happy. I enjoyed it too. It was a beautiful day. We live in a very busy, suburban area but not too far away is farm country. There’s a shopping center across the street but we have a lot of nature around us too. Now the trees and bushes are turning gold and orange and red. Anyway, CJ and I had a nice relaxing stroll. And I saw a fox! I’ve seen a fox before which is to say a reddish blur disappearing into a bush. This time, I SAW it. It was sitting half in some tall grass, half out. And I saw it’s face, it looked right at me. It was kinda sitting like a cat in the grass. Ms. Foxy decided it wanted no part of us and got up and disappeared into the tall grass. Buh-bye.

I hope you all had a wonderful halloween. We had some kids come by. None of the little ones that I was waiting for, but they were all cute. And they really liked us because we were the cool house giving away full-sized candy bars. Bill and I watched Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (a movie from 1955) in between trick-or-treaters. I worked on my sock. I actually ripped out my sock and started from scratch. I was knitting so tight that it was hard to work with. It’s better now.

Everything is better now.

Tags: life