Day 30: NaBloPoMo complete!

I broke from my normal town office/farm routine today for an appointment and a lunch date with my girls and these two cutie pies. Ivy was behind me and didn’t make it into the photo. But she was definitely there! 

We stopped by Aldi for a few things. I love that store. I’m not a shopper, unless it’s one of my favorite grocery stores, that being Aldi and Trader Joe’s. 

I can always find something seasonal and unique at those places. 

Today I picked up a little tub of sugar cookie flavored dessert hummus. That was interesting. Yes, it tasted like sugar cookies, but it also tasted like blended chick peas. 

Sugar cookie in a fiber filled spread. 

Yum. 

Ho-hum

I’ll eat it though. I think it will be good with pretzels. 

Aldi sometimes has household goods I like. 

Today I found a print that I liked for cheap. And it’s reversible with another print on the back! 

I grabbed that and added it to my mantle when I got home, along with some greenery from Chelsea’s shrub trimmings , lol. 

I plan to add some nandina berries and pine cones too.

Doesn’t look too bad for starters, does it. 

Today is the last day of November and therefore the last day of my 30 day blogging challenge. 

I posted a little something every day except one. Nothing of much consequence, but a little something, something. 

Making myself write every day feels very much like a writing exercise at times. In the sense that exercise is sometimes difficult. It feels hard to start. There’s always a million reasons why we don’t have the time or energy. 

I have found that inspiration rarely if ever “strikes” before I write. 

It’s just one of those things ya have to sit down and do, then the creative juices flow. Maybe. 

I’ve written little snippets about my rather boring life, but they’ll be fun to look back on one of these days, just to see what we were up to, if nothing else. 

Thanks for reading! 

Until next time… 

 

Day 29: A little snowy scene

 Maybe I should have brought this snowy little scene home with me from the office and used that in place of my Christmas tree. 

Because my big tree is still not decorated. 

I’ve barely been home since we put it up. It will get done eventually, I guess! 

My aunt once had a tree in her basement decorated with lots of clear lights and a single red cardinal perched on a branch. I thought it was simple and chic…I wonder if I could get away with that? 

***

At dinner tonight, my husband informed me that today is the day Thanksgiving leftovers should get thrown out. I think we have pretty much cleaned up the leftovers from Thanksgiving day, but we are still working on round two’s leftovers. 

So tonight I made turkey salad with some of the leftover turkey. I added diced celery, onion, dried cranberries and a dab ‘a mayo. 

Yum, yum! It’ll be good tomorrow… just before the expiration date, lol. 

Joy and bliss

One of my girls took this last week and shared it with me. I thought it was just the most precious photo. The boys’ goofy grins express pure joy, reflected, no doubt, in the loving smiles of their mommas and in the warm bright sun beaming down on them from a blue sky. 

Pure innocent bliss and plain stinking cute! 

That’s about all I have for tonight. I had a late meeting and my brain is “tard.” I’m tard. 

But this little pic was a quick pick-me-up; maybe it’ll do the same for you. 

Another Thanksgiving dinner…

 We enjoyed another big turkey dinner with all the trimmings this afternoon. 

As usual, the kids keep things interesting. 

Ivy was obsessed with the kittens and trying to catch them, but they were elusive, always slipping away when she got near. 

And Finn got introduced to the mooing cookie jar. 

Granny G has had that thing since my kids were little, I think. 

Whenever she lifts the lid on the cookie jar—the lid being its head—it bellows a loud moo, which tends to startle the little ones.  Even so, they keep coming back for more. 

Mwoooah!!

Finn’s eyes were big as quarters. 

Granny G. has always enjoyed seeing the kids reaction to the cookie jar. She giggles like a kid herself. 

It’s funny the random things you associate with certain people. 

The things they’ll go down in family history for. 

The things we will forever have fond memories of. 

Like mooing cookie jars. 

Or chalk horses. 

When we were kids, my aunt Myrl had a scary looking chalk horse on a kitchen cabinet. 

We would eye that thing warily as we walked past it to get a drink of water from the water bucket on her enamel farmhouse sink. 

(The water was drawn from a well behind the house and always seemed to taste so good.)

It looked to me like the horse was eyeing us back as we sneaked by it. It had big black circles painted around its eyes! 

Creepy! 

Makes me wonder what quirky and random thing my grandkids will associate with me after they grow up? 

Still decking the halls

 Decorating is a big job when you’re as unorganized as I am—and when you have kept nearly every piece of garland, every ornament, ever ratty-looking stocking you ever did own in all the 40 years you’ve been housekeeping. 

Who would do such a thing? 

But, I’ve been real busy and got a lot done the past coupla days. I’m still debating whether or not to put up the last two trees…

If I do, I’ll just have to take them back down in January. I’m not sure it’s worth the effort. 

I will eventually finish decorating this one, I hope. 

But for now, I’ll just enjoy it with the lights on! 

Transitioning into another season

 

Now that Thanksgiving is past, I’ve launched straight into Christmas prep. 

I’ve been messing around and decorating all day. 

For lunch I made myself the tastiest sandwich. I grilled a big ol slice of sourdough in a cast iron skillet with a little olive oil. 

I piled on some turkey, lettuces, a slice of sweet onion, some Mayo, some cranberry sauce and a spoonful of leftover cornbread dressing. 

Yumm! It was soooo good. 

Better than the original meal, I think. 

I’d been simmering the turkey carcass for several hours, and I had 5 quarts of rich bone broth to pour off! 

I put four in the freezer to add to soups, and I kept one in the fridge to heat up later to drink. 

Bone broth is very nourishing and a good alternative broth for cooking ramen noodles. 

Yummm. I need some ramen noodles now.  A sprinkle of green onions and a bit of fresh ginger would make them especially nice! 

Good gravy, what a day

 I had the turkeys baked, the dressing made, and the pies made, so all I really had to do this morning was make gravy for today's dinner at my sister’s house then we could pack up and head up there.  

Gosh, I struggled with that gravy. I made one batch without much trouble, but it didn’t yield very much so I started another. 

The second batch was so lumpy! I stirred and whisked and scraped ad sweated over the stove. Despite my best efforts, the lumps refused to dissolve. 

I think Mom would have laughed if she could have seen me  trying to beat out those lumps. 

After what seemed like hours, I gave up and poured the gravy through a strainer. 

It tasted decent, most of it got eaten, and no one complained. 

I’m still scratching my head though; why does turkey gravy cause me such problems while my breakfast gravy is never lumpy?!

Another of life’s great mysteries, 

Anyway, it turned out to be a lovely day, and we spent a lot of it outside. 

This picture of dad with some of his grandkids and great grandkids was a challenge to take. 

Well, it wasn’t hard to take, but it was hard to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time! 

Bunch ‘a turkeys! 

I love them tho.