How was your Thanksgiving?

Hoping your holiday was great!
We've been kinda stretching ours out a bit. After both of us had made several trips to the grocery store for all the extra stuff I seem to think I must have on hand for the holiday (like why are there 3 cans of water chestnuts?), we finished up our work week on Wednesday, really quite late. We'd decided to take M and A to the Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving breakfast, which turned out to be more like lunch, as we were slow getting on the road. It was wonderful, naturally. I'm hoping their pumpkin strudel pie is available the next time we're there- it looked beautiful! We didn't have any, but imagine it's as scrumptious as it looks. That's such a cute place to eat (and shop). Anyway, we never did make it back home in time to get everything done for dinner, so just made the dressing and stuffed the bird, got a few things ready and called it a day. We'd gotten new furniture delivered and SGTex spent some time getting that taken care of.

So, today was more suited to making it more like Thanksgiving, and we did have a lovely dinner after a short Black Friday shopping spree, which included a new set of pots and pans and a new microwave, plus some gift items.

All in all, it's been the best Thanksgiving ever. The turkey was perfect, everything came out even. We used the best dishes, a gift from a beloved uncle. The wine and conversation was so nice, and I am deeply grateful.

Cheers!
Shawn & SGTex

Surely you've seen the 'Recipe for the Perfect Turkey'....

1 - 15 lb. turkey
1 cup melted butter
1 cup stuffing (Pepperidge Farm is good.)
1 cup uncooked popcorn (Orville Redenbacher's low fat)
Salt/pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush turkey well with melted butter, salt, and pepper. Fill cavity with stuffing and popcorn.
Place in baking pan with the neck end toward the
back of the oven.

Listen for the popping sounds.
When the turkey's ass blows the oven door open and the bird flies across the room, it's done.

Gobble, gobble...
Shawn & SGTex
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Serendipitous Sundae...I mean Saturday....

Serendipity. That thing that happens when you're searching for one thing and get surprised by finding something else. It's usually a good thing.

I'm not sure why it came to mind, but I've always liked that word. As SGTex was heading out the door to run a couple of errands (a couple of hours ago, now...just where the heck did he get too!? But I digress), he mentioned that we should really find a name for the car, so I've been thinking about words and stuff. (Oh, here he is now...and he got DONUTS!!! All's forgiven, LOL xoxoxoxo)

Anyway, where was I? Oh, it seems that I had some time on my hands and started thinking about stuff- which is almost *never* a good thing. So, I googled "serendipity" and here I am. Images brought up this cool picture, Lordsaveme, of a serendiptous sundae. Forgive me, but I'm not even going to try and find out how they came up with it. Must just leave well enough alone.

So, where I'm kinda going with this is, on another board a bunch of us were talking about politics and had a healthy debate going. I posted something and kinda got off the track, mentioning what I considered to be a blessing (finding my wedding veil that's more what we wanted but cost even less, that sorta thing).

*Which caused someone else to ask about our plans, and I answered in some detail. *Which caused someone else to come along and, by asking a question, attempted to put me down.
*Which caused several someone elses to come along and, in defense of my Man and I, show kindness and friendship to us in a Big Way.
*Which caused us to be even more blessed, and we are so grateful.

In other words, sometimes I set about looking for one thing and end up finding something else altogether. Even better.

I like that. Very much.

Shawn
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photo borrowed from reneeashleybaker@wordpress.com, Reuters

Where there's room in the heart, there's room in the home....

That's what my Grandma Mac used to say. I've seen that (or a version of it)done up in tea towels and embroidered on pillows, so I doubt that sentiment originated with her, but it applies. Or it should.

I don't know what actually got me thinking about it. Maybe it's pre-election jitters causing me to think about the security of hearth and home. Could be it was a phone conversation with Carol, looking forward to her upcoming visit to Texas. Or maybe it's about wedding planning. Or SGTex building shelves and organizing the storage room and me washing the good china to stow safely away until we order the china cupboard for the dining room (that comes after the wall is painted and a couple more bills get paid). I guess it could be any of those, or a little bit of all of them.

Anyway, the important thing is that our hearts are in the right place, attempting to keep our home free of all those stresses and worries that seem to come knockin' at the door these days. That's easier said than done, but we're managing, I think. We're both having some job stress (his is good stress, mine is wacky stress, lol). Days are filled with the usual stuff of working long hours, trying to keep ahead of the bills, the cat fed (she's turned into a little con artist and has figured out how to get 2 breakfasts in the morning....), the fruit bowl filled, and the garbage emptied, gas in the car (under 2 bucks/gal,now). Seems pretty normal to me.

Life is good.

Shawn
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