Post-Turkey Post

We're back from a wonderful holiday weekend at my parent's home.  Too much food, just enough drink, a little shopping, LOTS of Words With Friends, some fishing (and swimming *wink*) and the perfect amount of relaxing.   Here are a few photos -

My two children....

Sorry, couldn't resist.  So typical of him.

The five cousins....

And the two dogs....our Jasmine (with the bows) and my brother's Daisy.  They chased and chased, played and played all weekend.  Such good dogs.

On the home front....Meg's science fair project was turned in this morning.   (yay!)  She's now hard at work on a big book report.  

I'm hoping for time in my scrap room tomorrow to make my holiday cards.  I have the components all ready to go, just need to sit down and assemble them. Thursday will start my Dec. Daily album.  I've created a holiday mini album the last three out of four years.  They're very manageable and a great way to record our little snippets of everyday life around the holiday season.   I'll post the pages as I go.

Thanks again for checking in!!!

  

Happy Thanksgiving!

here's hoping you all are fortunate enough to spend the day/weekend with your loved ones...

eat lots of turkey, relax and reflect on all of the good things in your life...

and for those of you brave enough to shop Black Friday...good luck! You won't see me out anywhere.  :)

Random Stuff

It was a very busy weekend and start to this week.  My girlfriend's annual RAK Soiree (Random Act of Kindness) was this past weekend. She and her husband both love to throw parties and decided five years ago to create one with meaning.  They came up with the idea of RAK which raises money for a local charity/family in need.  What began with a guest list of 20 in 2007 has grown into 125 ... held in their home, I might add.  With that many in attendance it has become a weekend event for her closest friends with Friday setup, the Saturday event, and of course the Sunday aftermath, but it's one we all look forward to it every fall.

How it works....every year she takes recipient nominations in advance, requests a $15 donation/person from those in attendance, and votes are cast as the guests arrive.  At the end of the night the DJ pulls a name out of the jar and that family/charity receives all of the money collected.  This year we raised $1900 which, given our hard hit economy, is quite remarkable.  The donation is done anonymously and how she has managed to keep it all a secret in our little community for five years now is simply nothing short of amazing.  This year the recipients are a local family whose four year old son, currently enrolled in the same preschool that Meg attended, was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. So very, very heartbreaking.

On a much lighter note....

Here's a photo I shot of Meg on 11-11-11 at 11:11 AM.

And while I was busy with pre-RAK stuff, Randy was busy in his garden..  So far he's planted strawberries and tomatoes.

He and Meg are still planning what to plant in the rest of the space.

With any luck we'll have some home-grown goodies this winter.

Tortellini Soup....continued

More on my tortellini soup...

While no one in my family would try the soup, Meg kept commenting that first night about how good it smelled.  Unfortunately I was unable to coax her into trying it.  Instead she insisted on a bowl of Cheerios for dinner. Yesterday I had a late lunch and had heated myself up some soup while Meg was starting her homework.  Once again she kept commenting on how good it smelled.  I offered her $1 to try a tortellini.  She said that wasn't near enough so we ended up settling on $5.  (I know Mom and Dad are shaking their heads right now but I do what I have to do.) She finally tried the pasta...no broth, tomatoes or spinach...and smiled.   For another $5 she ate a small bowl (no spinach) and agreed that she would eat it for dinner next time I fixed it.  Bribing a child to eat might not be "your thing" but in my house, it's money well spent.

Now a little bit about Randy's latest project.  He has been very hard at work in our backyard.

He's always grown winter tomatoes but this year he has great expectations of a full vegetable garden.   I'll keep you posted as to his progress. 

PS - My sis got the inspiration to the title of this post correct.  It was a line from Steve Martin in the Jerk, as you already know, one of my all time favorite movies.  

  

Quick Dinner Post

I made this very easy, delicious and healthy soup last night for dinner.  The latter is probably the reason no one in my family even tried it but me.  *sigh* Their loss.

To make it....

Sautee about a half an onion and a clove of garlic in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add a teaspoon of dried oregano, salt and pepper as desired.  To this add two cans of diced tomatoes (I used one regular and one Italian seasoned), a 32 oz box of chicken stock and 1-2 cups of water.  Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes. Add a bag of frozen cheese tortellini and cook according to directions. (2-3 minutes for my bag.)  Right before serving add fresh spinach and stir. Sprinkle with a bit of fresh Parmesan cheese and enjoy.

I can attest to the fact that it's just as good (if not better) the next day and I'm looking forward to some yummy lunches this week. Let them eat cereal.

Step Right Up and Win Some Crap!

This past weekend was our little town's 24th Annual Pineapple Festival held in celebration of the fact that 100 years ago our community was once the site of a large pineapple plantation.  Today our town "boasts" a population of 11,000 but hosts almost 35,000 in the three day weekend event.  We have attended every year since Meg's been two.

Because Randy was working this weekend Meg and I attended the festival yesterday with Aimee, her daughter and two other of their friends.  There was a light rain off and on all afternoon but we weren't deterred.  The girls all had wristbands for unlimited rides and they took full advantage of them.  I know of two rides in particular that Meg herself rode at least four and five times each while we moms stood by and chatted the afternoon away.

In addition to the rides there were music concerts, food concessions, game booths, as well as local advertising and craft booths.  Of course the girls wanted to see, do and buy one of the everything there.  Aimee and I managed to hold off any and all purchases until close to the end of the day.  Thank goodness, because by the end of the afternoon she and I became "The Collectors of All Things Crap."  Between the two of us we had five balloon animals, four foam Metro PCS cowboy hats (free), two huge bags of kettle corn (Aimee's), silly freebies from Sonic, free coolies, frisbees and bags from a local slip and fall attorney, lemonades, water, two jars of awesome pickled pepper relish, an owl necklace (Meg), a Hello Kitty watch (Meg's friend) and four big inflatables won by each girl at the hammer/bell booth. We definitely did our part to boost the local economy.  :)

We all had a really fun time but were exhausted and ready to come home.

I'm posting another photo for Chris.  These are the pineapples we grow in our yard.  Very, very easy...all you do is cut the top off a fresh pineapple and then pop it in the dirt.  Mother Nature does the rest.  We've discovered that it takes about 3 years to get your first fruit but they come about twice a year after that.  This particular plant (we have about a dozen spread out all over our property) has given us two pineapples at once.

They tend to be on the smaller side but they are absolutely delicious!!!

PS...anybody know what movie I'm referencing in my blog title?

Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits

Last night, right before bed, Meg comes to us saying she heard some weird noises outside the kitchen window.  Randy assures her that it's just Sparky but she wasn't convinced.  Knowing that she was about to play the "can I sleep with you?" card, he went out to investigate.  A few minutes later he walked in with this in his hands, rescued straight out of the jaws of Sparky (that hissy cat you see in my banner heading.)  It was a youngster and thankfully appeared to be uninjured.  Of course Meg immediately asked if we could keep him but we both simultaneously chimed in "NO!"  Randy did however want to keep him inside for the night so the poor thing could recover.

They got a box, set him inside, and Meg made sure he (she?) was quite comfortable.  When I asked if it could escape, Randy laughed and reassured me that there was no way.  He set the box on top of the toy bench in the kitchen and loosely closed the lid.

At 4:00 I heard a weird noise.  I listened for a few seconds, heard another one and then I woke Randy up to investigate.  I just knew that rabbit was on the loose.  Sure enough, when Randy didn't return, I poked my head out the door to find him on his hands and knees with a flashlight.  Grrrrreat.

We spent about 30 minutes looking for it with no luck.  It could have squeezed in anywhere.  (He had initially put it in Jasmine's kennel but it squeezed through the bars.)  I headed back to bed lying there thinking about rabbit droppings and bunny decomp.  Thankfully Randy popped in about 15 minutes later with the little thing cupped in his hands.  He had let Sparky in and sure enough, that darned cat found it within 60 seconds!  Randy had to pry the poor thing out of his mouth all over again.  (So much for trying to de-traumatize the poor thing.)

Knowing Meg would be upset if she didn't get to say good-by it went back into the box until 6:00, this time with the lid weighted down.  With Sparky safely contained on the patio, Randy let him go in the woodsy area at the back part of our property.  I sure hope the poor thing did a "Run, Forest, Run!" to safety.

Halloween Photos

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween!  Meggie and I made our annual Trick or Treating rounds with my friend Aimee and her daughter Grace last night.  I think this is the fifth year we've gone out together and it's always a good time.

Thirty minutes before leaving we had a costume emergency as in...Meg's was nowhere to be found.  She wore it to a school function and then again to a Halloween birthday party but last night it seemed to have disappeared. We tore apart her room, the laundry, called her friend.  Nothing. Thankfully she rolled with it without any arguments and donned a costume from two years ago.  So rather than Trick or Treat as the beautiful Greek goddess Athena, she went out as the beautiful Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. Of course, Randy called me as soon as he got home to tell me that he'd put her Athena gown away in the spare bedroom closet.  *sigh*  Maybe I can talk her into wearing it next year.

Randy and I were invited to a Halloween costume party last Saturday.  In the end, he decided to play Daddy Nanny to Meg and one of her girlfriends so I attended solo.  We had a really great time and everyone's costumes were fabulous.

If you don't subscribe to ShowTime you probably will have no idea who I am (many at the party had no clue) but I had so much fun assembling my costume. Sorry, it's a horrible photo.  It was taken after dark and the girls (my little 10 year old photographers) informed me I wasn't allowed to smile.

Did you guess?  I'm Dexter, the Miami homicide blood splatter analyst/vigilante serial killer.  LOVE that show!

The next few weeks are busy with Meg's science fair project.  She hates science almost as much as she hates reading so it's not been as fun as it should be.  I mean, c'mon....science is fun!!!!  Sometimes I question whether she's truly my child.