Gratitude

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family! Everyone was able to make it. There was plenty of amazing food, lots of talking, laughing, and game playing.

I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of such an awesome family (check out the photo of the bunch over at my sister's blog!). And on top of that, I'm thankful for a husband that loves them too!

It's been a challenging year, but I was reminded of God's many, many blessings as we shared our "thanksgivings" with one another last Thursday. I wish I could change my attitude so I'd always remember the awesome God I serve. That would do much for my ingratitude. But alas, I am human. Therefore, I'm thankful for the moments that I am reminded to stop and ponder the blessings, provisions, and faithfulness of my God.

Heading Home

Thanksgiving is perhaps my favorite holiday. I love Christmas as well. But there is just something wonderful about Thanksgiving. Perhaps it has something to do with the spirit of gratefulness. And all that food! You can't go wrong with food. :)

Yesterday I was having tea with a friend and she asked what Jeremy and I were doing for Thanksgiving. I told her we were heading back home to spend time with family (only 6 hours until we're there!). Her husband was in the room and he said, "I suspected that." I laughed and said, "You suspected we were going? Why?" And he replied, "Well you guys have really great food." Now, no one in my family has even met these friends. So, they've never eaten any of our food, well except mine when they come for supper. I said, "How do you know?" And he said, "We must have talked about it this time last year and I just remember that it sounded like you all make a particularly good Thanksgiving meal." Well, in my opinion, we do. I just never thought we'd get a compliment from someone who's never enjoyed our sumptuous feast.

Wednesday is lunch and time with Jeremy's brother, sister-in-law and niece. Thursday is my family celebration (18 people). And in between times we have a few errands to run and favorite stores that we don't have around here.

I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving holiday!

A Serendipitous Moment

When I registered for my wedding at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I chose dishes that I thought were casually elegant. They are a red stoneware with squared plates from Noritake Colorwave. Much to my chagrin, shortly before my wedding, I discovered that the dishes were sold-out.

My grandma bought me one 4 place setting, which I was extremely happy about. And I planned to buy another one with gift money. After digging around, I found out B, B, & B was discontinuing carrying this particular color. Of course, because it's the one I chose!

Somehow my mom scrounged up another set that was given to us for Christmas and I was happy with my 8 place settings.

Fast forward to now. Jeremy loves to eat cereal. There aren't many kinds that he can eat, but Chex we keep around in abundance. Out of all the dishes in our cabinet, bowls are in the highest demand. I came home from work Saturday to discover that in the process of unloading the dishwasher, J accidentally broke three bowls (two from the lovely red dishes). I was not livid, I really wasn't. I just sighed to myself and thought, "Why the bowls?

Every couple of weeks my college friend Kim and I get together. This week we ventured out to B, B, & B so she could buy a couple gifts. And what do I find? Another set of my dishes in my color marked down from $120 to $60! Plus, I have a 20% off coupon. So, I snatched up that box of my dishes that shouldn't have been there and $51.35 later I have another 4 place setting, bringing my total to 12 (only 10 bowls, of course). And no, the store isn't carrying them. I believe someone must of returned them from an online purchase. I don't know and I really don't care. I was just so pleased to find such an awesome deal!

Sunday afternoon

Yesterday Jeremy and I were able to spend the afternoon visiting my grandparents. We had a great time talking, eating, and of course playing cards. Liz and Luke came after lunch and we all sat down to 6-handed euchre. Grandpa says, "You want to play men against women?" The men agree. And the women proceed to win 3 out of 4 rounds! :) The cards weren't falling too lucky yesterday for anyone, but we passed a pleasant couple of hours engaged in them anyway.
I looked around me at that table and I felt blessed!

Herbs

I love using fresh herbs and this summer I tried my hand at growing a few on my deck. Despite the November cold, my parsley is thriving (but you know, of all the herbs to thrive, parsley ranks low on the list). However, I've given some thought to indoor herb gardening this winter. Have any of you done that before? Would a sunny window work?
I briefly had a jade plant in the house but it got infested with buggies. Have you had troubles with bugs (I'm assuming aphids)? Currently my only houseplant is a splendid bamboo plant that sits in my kitchen.
Any tips, suggestions, cautions would be appreciate concerning indoor herbs. Thanks!

TV

For several years I've not watched much TV. I watch it, yes, I've just not been hooked on shows that I just can't miss. Mostly Jeremy and I just catch the shows once they come out on DVD (The Office being the top one there!)

This summer I once again remembered why I love the show So You Think You Can Dance and happily watched it each week. A new season started up this fall and this week I finally caught an episode and I think I'm addicted again. I love dance shows. However, the real must-see show for me this fall is Glee. Perhaps some of you are cheering at this and some of you groaning. But man, it's a fun show. The girls in my small group (okay, we're really women, but girls sounds better) decided to start a weekly gathering to watch Glee. Tonight was the first time and it was quite fun to watch the silliness with other girls. If you haven't watched the show, you might consider checking out an episode on hulu.com or fox.com. Let me know what you think.

What are your must-see shows this fall?

Follow-up

Mr. Frenchy visited the library again last Thursday, but the feather-bearing son wasn't with him.

I found both the gingerbread latte and the pumpkin spice latte from this crockpot blog. I thought both of the recipes were okay, but could definitely use a little tweaking.

Dinner with J

Yesterday before I left for work, I put pork tenderloin in the crock-pot. I found a recipe for honey mustard pork tenderloin that sounded good, and as I was being gone until nearly dinner-time, the crock-pot sounded like a fantastic idea. The meat came out perfectly fork-tender, but the flavor was just okay (which greatly disappointed me!).
Anyway, the real part of this story is that I decided to make mashed potatoes to accompany the meat. Jeremy loves mashed potatoes and I only make them occasionally. To boost their healthfulness, I sometimes add carrots and mash it all together. It's delicious. For real, you should try it.
When Jeremy got home from work he asked, "Are you making mashed potatoes?"
I told him I was.
When I set the plates of food on the table he said, "What is this?"
I smiled and said, "Potatoes."
"Is it sweet potatoes?"
"No, it's mashed potatoes." By this time I'm sort of giggling because of his reaction. I've made them before and he really liked them.
"What's in them?" he's very concerned.
"I put carrot in them. I've done it before and you like it."
"So it's not mashed potatoes, it's carrot potatoes."
"Jeremy, I put two carrots in with five potatoes. So it's potatoes with carrot." (I'm a big fan of leftovers for J's lunches so always make enough for another meal or two, lest you think we ate five potatoes and two carrots for supper all ourselves!)
So, Jeremy eats the potatoes and loves them. But then he dubs them Judas Potatoes. And today he suggested I make Angel Potatoes soon (in case you can't guess, those are regular mashed potatoes with a halo of butter melted on top).