Saturday, November 28, 2015

Random stuff and our visit with the grands...

Feels good to post so soon after posting!
Thanksgiving was great! The turkey turned out delicious although the rub was a bit spicy. I have a different rub I'll use next year since 90% of our guests are over the age of 80.

Looks a bit spicy huh? But it was so yummy!!
My cranberry salad turned out amazing!


I wanted to get a picture of everyone at the table but it was too difficult since I didn't have everything set up and old people are impatient big time!

Paul and I went to visit the grands two weekends ago. Just a visit. I took them their Minion hats I made. They LOVED them!


Playing a game of Life. Notice the concentration and the fact that it takes 3 guys to make a move!
One of the greatest pleasures I've experienced lately is Emmy wanted to learn how to knit! Jessie asked if I'd like to go see a knitting store they have just down the street. That was really nice of her to think of me knowing how much I love to knit. So, Jessie, Emmy and I went. Emmy fell in love with some yarn and really wanted to learn how to knit. She was so enthusiastic and such a quick learner!!








Notice the hat?
Ta-Da!! Emmy knitted this all by herself! I'm so proud of her!
We all went to a park and found a couple of geocaches. It was a lot of fun. Winston and Lucy were with us and Winston was surprisingly sprite. Didn't have to carry him at all. He did really good.





Emmy taught me how to play Mancala. Very interesting.
We had a great time. So sad to leave except this time we know we'll be seeing them for Sue's party in December! Yay!

As always...

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I can't believe I haven't posted since before Halloween!! My life gets in the way and sometimes I have my priorities screwed up. But we have been busy. Went to visit the kiddo's in VA and had a wonderful time. I WILL post about our trip this weekend for sure.

So yesterday was a fun filled day. I went to Jenn's and we went bridal dress shopping. We had Dan's mom Linda, his sister Lauren, Jenn's maid of honor Jess White (we have always called her that with her last name included), and one of her bridesmaids Amanda. It was great! And best of all, Jenn found her dress!

Jess White, Amanda, Linda, Lauren and me!
But today is all about the turkey, family and being so ever thankful for all the people I have in my life and how my life has turned out. I truly am blessed! So when I got home yesterday afternoon, Paul and I got to work on pre-Thanksgiving baking. First we got Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake done. Years ago I was watching Rachael Ray, and Paula Deen was on there making this. Ever since, that's what we have instead of pumpkin pie...

Put a dollop of Cool Whip on your piece and it's a little bit of Heaven!
Next we made the Pecan Pie, which Ree Drummond calls "The Pie That Will Make You Cry". I finally found the perfect pecan pie recipe. Since it's always been Jenn's favorite, she gets 2 of these on her birthday in February.


I'm a little bummed I didn't use the Pet Ritz pie crust and I opted for the Pillsbury Ready Crusts, but I noted it on my recipe for next year...no worries.

And finally I made the Cranberry Jello salad. It's also filled with goodies like whole cranberries, crushed pineapple, cream cheese and powdered sugar!


This morning after Paul's run and my workout, we got the 20lb turkey in the oven. Another recipe I found is a spice rub we put under and over the skin...WOW! You wouldn't believe how amazing this tastes!!



Wait til you see the turkey done!! I could have sworn I took pics last year but do you think I could find them? I looked under the date and then under Holidays and Celebrations and still couldn't find any. So, I will post pics later tonight or tomorrow of the turkey and some of the desserts. Yummm.

I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving and if you feel half as blessed as I do, you're gonna have a wonderful day!!

As always...