Monday, December 01, 2014

After Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving came and went without a hitch. The family showed up and ate lots, but we still had lots of leftovers. In fact, I'm getting rid of the dressing and mashed potatoes today (just say NO to carbs). I think this is the first time we have had leftover potatoes. Maybe my family was off their feed a bit, because they usually chow down on the mashed potatoes.

My sister and I made lots of pies including a Texas whiskey pecan pie. Actually it was the Tennessee whiskey pecan pie recipe from Southern Living, but we used Texas whiskey - Rebecca Creek Whiskey - Texas in a glass. In this case, it was whiskey in a pie. Pretty darn good. We also made a pear pie. My sister wanted to jack it up by putting cranberries in it. I knew that Toby would not go for that. Pink pears are too strange. So, my sister put cranberries in her Brussels sprouts, and yes, they did turn pink.

After the big meal, several people took naps and watched football. It was a fine day to be outside. The big boys went out to shoot guns. The little ones rode the 4-wheeler and played in the woods. GBN1 was big enough and old enough and responsible enough to drive the younger kids around - yay! Some people sat outside on the patio in the sunshine. Others lounged around visiting in the big room. Everyone stayed until dark - food was left for everyone to munch on through the day and on to supper. I think everyone had a good time. If we could judge the fun by how tired Toby and I were at the end of the day, it was a super good time.

Later when discussing how much work Thanksgiving had been - from the completing of the new old room to the cooking and cleaning of the meal - Toby and I decided it was way too much work. It made me think of all the times we came home for Thanksgiving and my parents had everything done. I always helped - baking pies, pealing potatoes, whipping cream, etc. but the majority of the work was done by my parents. Now I am the parent doing the Thanksgiving. I guess it was all worth it. Maybe next year we will do something different - like let someone else take over or meet in neutral vacation home and everyone pitch in.

I've been meaning to show how my new old part of the house turned out.
  Here is the den area where we watch TV and I do my art classes. Yes, there is already art stuff out on the table. Here is our the guest bedroom.
Here is Jesse's room. She chose the blue, which turned out pretty nice although it shocked me at first. I need to put up the window blinds. Of course, there are still little things to be done. You will notice that we don't have many paintings on the walls. It is not as though we don't have paintings; it is more like we have too many and need to make decisions on which to put up. Here is my bathroom.I'm particularly proud of the way it turned out - kind of funky.

Now I need to get busy and get the house cleaned and get back into the normal swing of things - whatever normal is.

7 comments:

Okie from OK said...

Wow, the rooms are very nice. I built a walk-in shower in my shop, but I wimped-out on the tile. So, there it sits, still undone, two years later. I know if I can get the base straight and done, the rest will be easy, but every time I look at the saw, I go find something easier to play with. No door though, just walk in, no glass cleaning was the goal.

Okie from OK said...

The one thing I dreaded every year was taking Ma to go get the turkey and ham. She always pressed the buzzer to get the meat man to come out. He knew her well, and out came his "special" ham cart, where she spent 20 minutes finding just the right ham, at the right price (he didn't surrender easily, but by God he surrendered eventually). Then to another three stores to find the same high dollar turkey at the lowest price (plus all her coupons). After arriving home I had to go out in the woods and scream. Pa always asked "now wasn't that fun!" He's in purgatory still, I bet...

Bag Blog said...

We had Thanksgiving here so that it put pressure on us to finish the bathroom. I had to get a massage after working down in the bottom of the shower.

Since my mom's memory is not so good, I only gave her one job at Thanksgiving and that was to order and get the ham from the usual place in WF. It is expensive, but wonderful ham. She got $42.00 worth of ham, which was barely enough to feed ten people much less 30. So I bought a ham at Sam's to add to the ham category.

Okie from OK said...

I haven't seen a real ham in many years. The stuff they sell in food stores I call imitation ham. They probably use a 10 ton press to squeeze all the scraps of meat together. Spiral cut my [deleted]. The reason Ma always wanted a bone-in ham, was that bone was the start of a baked beans recipe on Christmas, after all the ham was consumed.

Bag Blog said...

We had ham on Sunday, then sandwiches, then beans. Next Sunday we would have roast, then sandwiches, then soup. Mom did not fry chicken very often. If Dad cooked, we had SOS.

Jo Castillo said...

I am sooooo far behind, sorry. I think of you everytime I go out of my studio, the Equador house is on that wall and I can see it from my computer desk. :)

Oh, I just love your new part of the house. Excellent. Your studio area is very cool and you will get many hours of comfort out of that whole room.

We had Thanksgiving in Kentucky so I didn't have to work. Nice. We made tortilla soup with the leftover turkey. Your dinner sounds excellent!!

Jo Castillo said...

I forgot to say that I just love Jesse's room!!