UG, Holidays

Well I'm sitting here the day before Thanksgiving really wishing it was just an ordinary Thursday. I have a turkey in the fridge thawing but that is as far as I've gotten with meal planning or prep. Hubby says cook a turkey and do the rest simple, I wish it was. I just can't say "Here's the turkey" without at least some cranberry sauce and deviled eggs, and pumpkin pie. Which that there makes it a huge meal with just two adults and two kids. We decided not to travel for Thanksgiving which is good since a storm is supposed to blow in right through where the majority of our driving would be.

So Thanksgiving will be simple. Hubby had planned with his friend to smoke a couple of turkeys on the big smoker on Friday (we would just do the meal on Sat) however with the huge temperature drop the last few days he has decided against that saying he'll never get the smoker hot enough when it's only 20 degrees outside. So with two days to go Hubby has not called friend who is probably thawing his turkey as we speak. I don't exactly know the plans since the whole idea was for the couple to come over and play cards and hang out while the birds cooked. I don't mind if they still come over of course but it would be nice to have an idea of what kind of groceries to go get, clean the house and the like.

All is well however, I can't complain except about piddling stuff. In an effort to improve my mood and since it is Thanksgiving some things I'm thankful for in random order.

My kids - though they drive me to the brink a lot of days
My Home - not that mold filled, tiny little rent house we lived in last Thanksgiving
My Husband - He's a good guy
Family - who can be counted on in a pinch - though I wish were a little closer to babysit occasionally
Too much to eat
The fact the tornado quiet literally skipped over our town on Monday


I do want to say a goodbye to our neighbor Mr. Elmer. He passed away on Monday morning. Two weeks ago he was out blowing leaves and fell hitting his head hard on the driveway. A neighbor found him upright and talking clinging to the steps. Mr. Elmer's family was called and he was taken to the hospital where he was life flighted into a bigger hospital in Milwaukee with bleeding on the brain. He got better for a few days but then started getting fluid on the brain again. Knowing Mr. Elmer short of dropping dead immediately I'm sure he was happy to go. He was getting on in years, wasn't getting around so good (probably had no business blowing his leaves) and had told us as much. He was a good neighbor and will be missed on our little block.

Nothing.

I'm just writing something out of pure meaness. Life in Winnie's immediate litter has been blessedly busy and quiet. Sonny Boy is quite involved with Cub Scouts and got his "bobcat" badge tonight along with Hiking belt loop and pin. Due to Hubby's crazy work I was trapped in a teacher conference and didn't get to see the honors bestowed. Sonny Boy's teacher had nothing but praise for him. Mrs. D said he's reading several levels above where he is expected to be and is a "model student". Great news and nice to hear. If you'd asked me a few years ago how I thought Sonny Boy would do in school I'd have told you that he'd be in the principal's office at least once a week!

Igor is trucking along being his normal self. Not much gets him out of kilter except being tired. Unfortunately that's every afternoon since he's in the too-big-to-take-a-nap-but-still-kind-of-needs-one stage. I'll be glad when that's grown out of, it makes doing anything after 5:00 a crap shoot of attitude from the little guy. He did pull the funniest stunt last week. Igor and I were grocery shopping and we ran into his pre-school teacher. He wouldn't even look at Mrs. V much less speak to her and then acted like a little toot the rest of the way through the store which is SO not like him - he loves the grocery store. Even when he's being a toot he's still not bad (nothing on Sonny Boy) so it's easy to ignore and other people just see a pouty lip and hear toddler-ese mumbling.

I took the boys to have pictures taken today. Cripes I've raised some hams. Some of them were quite funny, too bad they were so expensive or I'd have purchased them.

The winter around the corner funk is creeping in. I really do dread all the Christmas preparations. I'd love to come home and find that elves came in and put the tree up and decorated. I know that ain't gonna happen though, I can barely get hubby to drag the boxes up from the basement and I'm pretty sure in the 15 years I've known him he's hung exactly two ornaments on the tree. This year I'm inclined to agree to the humbug. I hope it leaves by Thanksgiving.

Well that's my writing to mean update.

NYC was nice

But I wouldn't want to live there. I honestly don't get big city living like that, but it was fun and one of the few places I would really like to go back to and explore some more. Two days was not nearly enough time to cram in all the "must see it's" and I walked so much my bum knee is still awful two days later. Gonna have to get something done soon about that I'm afraid.


Here's Hubby in Times Square, the cliche tourist photograph I suppose. There is one of me as well but basically the same with me and different signs. Times Square was cool but so jammed packed full of people. I didn't really see the big draw to it other than it was central to most of the the transit.

Hubby at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That is King Henry VIII armour from when he got old and fat. Henry was a pretty big man as you can tell that probably would have fit Hubby who would have towered over most men of that era. I thought the armour was cool as I've been reading lots of Henry and his wives books lately. In fact had brought one along for plane reading. The Met is HUGE, I thought we could dart in for a couple of hours and run through it quickly, you know not read all the cards, just take in the big stuff. Not hardly. Three hours later we may have ran (almost literally) through only about half. The stuff I really wanted to see - the costume gallery wasn't on display and was closed. That was a bummer.

A rare picture of me. I couldn't resist reclining on a Swarvoski studded couch with a crystal curtain behind it. Just a little glam. Truth was my feet hurt something terrible. We ended up walking NYC in our dressier clothes on Friday as that was our theatre night and we wouldn't be able to change. We went to see Wicked. It was fun and we both enjoyed the show. I will say the tickets were a little pricey but no more than I really expected. I wish we'd had better seats as we were like two rows from the ceiling but the good seats were over $200 each. If your not into trends - I'm not but I tell you the entire female population of NYC wears a scarf. The fashion must have. Not such a trend here in the midwest. Maybe it's because we are forced to wear a scarf to keep from getting frostbite on our neck six months of the year?

I'll definitely go back to NYC sometime. So many things I'd like to explore more, we didn't get into SOHO, or Greenwich village really, or the fancy shops on Madison Ave (like I could buy something there!) I'd love to see more of The Met as it was neat and the Museum of Natural History sounds intriguing. I will say I never felt intimidated in NYC. I was worried the world of subways, buses, taxis and large crowds would be a little scary to a girl that grew up in a town without a stoplight. It wasn't. It was easy to move around, all I needed was a map and the gumption to get on the subway (while a little dirty not that scary) and I could land just about anywhere.

The boys had fun with Grandma. She took them to every activity I had given her info for. That wasn't really my intention, I just thought she might want something to do with them that was local instead of staring at the walls and watching them bounce around.

Since being home I've been exhausted. I cleaned up the yard from the windstorm last week and blew leaves. I've ripped the zipper out of Sonny Boy's winter coat and intend to replace it today. Went to Sam's Club and stocked up on some stuff, and of course all the other baloney of life. I'm tired. I'm gonna run, have an appointment with PT in 13 min and the roofers should be here soon to start on the porch roof.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Happy Halloween!

Oh my what a busy weekend. The kids Grandma and Great Grandma came and handled Halloween festivities. I flew to NYC to be with Hubby and tour around. Today my knee is sore, I'd REALLY like a nice long nap and the yard is knee deep in leaves. Fun was had by all and we have WAY too much candy around the house now.

I'll write more about the NYC trip soon. I'm thinking I might try sneak a doze on the couch while Igor watches PBS kids.