Thanksgiving Family Reunion

We had a great week of Thanksgiving with Bryon's family coming together for the first time ever for some of the cousins and at least 4 years for his mother and grandmother to be together. There were 19 people staying with us from Tuesday night until noon today. Everyone had a great time and being together was a real blessing. Bryon was sweating it, fearing it might not happen but half of his family came from Nebraska and the other half from Tennessee and we were all truly grateful for the opportunity to be together.

Everyone played games, jumped on the trampoline, rode the four wheeler, played paintball , searched for Big Foot in the woods and some of them ventured into town on Black Friday to do a little combat shopping.

It was a great weekend and everyone is already almost home now since they left at 3 am this morning except for his niece and her family. It may be a long time before we can all be together again, but it sure was nice while it lasted.

Anything for a puppy.

Grace really wants a dog. What kid doesn't. I admit I miss having a dog quite a bit but the thought of keeping one more thing alive right now is tiresome. Between the chickens, pigs, bunnies, duck, cat, Grace and the husband...I think I'm pretty lucky nothing has gone toes up yet. (Okay so three chickens and a duck died but certainly not due to my neglect, bobcats and chicken hawks are beyond my control really).

This is the longest I've ever gone without a dog (20 months). Here's what I don't miss: all my stuff getting chewed up, dog hair, dog poop, holes in the yard, buying giant bags of dog food twice a month, slimy dog chew toys, worrying about them, fleas, flea medicine, $300 vet bills when they get tick fever, spending enough time with them so they don't need dog therapy later, whining, barking, barking, barking.

Here's what I do miss: puppy kisses, puppy breath, wiggle butts, soft little ears, fetch.

Every so often Grace will sigh longingly as we drive by our empty dog kennel and say "Poor puppies. My puppies died." (two were 12 years old and she never knew one of them, the other one we gave away because she was chasing Bryon's deer off). "When can I have another puppy?"

We have explained to her that dogs and chickens generally don't get along so well. The dogs would likely eat the chickens since they are free range all day. We'd have to put one of them up and let the others out. It would be a big pain.

The other night she and I were sitting on the couch watching tv while Daddy Google Earthed his hunting spots and a commercial came on with some cute little puppies. Grace says, "Why are puppies so cute. I wish I could have a puppy."

I said, "I know Grace someday you'll have a puppy."

Grace said,"Hey, wait a minute, I have a good idea. How about if we eat the chickens and then we can have a puppy. That's a good idea."

"Well, that is an idea," I said. "Go tell Daddy your idea."

She did. We still have chickens and we still do NOT have a puppy.

The girl is thinkin' though.

No Grace, You Can't Pray to Santa Claus

Last night was my night to put Grace to bed, Bryon and I take turns. We had gotten some our Christmas decorations out (yes I know it's way too early but we are having a party Saturday night and Bryon's family is coming for Thanksgiving so there you go). Grace was excited to put her little tree in her room and redecorate it. I had left all the decorations on it from last year so she asked for help taking them off so she could put them all back on again.

Christmas was heavy on her mind and after we finished reading her books and were rocking for a few minutes she said she wanted to pray.

I said, "Okay, say your prayers."
Grace said, "No you."
I said, "Okay, now I lay me..."
"No, to Santa Claus" she said.
"What?"
"I want to pray to Santa Claus" she said.
"No Grace, you can't pray to Santa Claus."
"Why not?" she asked?
"Because Jesus gets very angry if we pray to Santa Claus. We can pray about Santa Claus or for Santa Claus, that he stays healthy and happy and safe. But we can not pray to Santa Claus"
"Okay, okay." she said.

I put her into bed and tucked her in and as I was leaving the room she said,
"I'm just going to think about Santa Claus, Mama."
"That would be swell Grace. Goodnight".
"Goodnight," she said "don't let the bed bugs bite."

Amen sister.

Quiche!

I had been wanting to try making a quiche ever since the chickens started laying eggs but for some reason hadn't gotten around to it. I thought it was going to be hard I guess. I got home a little early tonight and Bryon was at a work party so tonight was the night. It's too hard to make on weeknights because it takes an hour to bake but Grace helped and we made it tonight. I cut the mushrooms up into tiny, tiny pieces so she wouldn't really recognize them and she ate it up! We both did. It was delicious. I opened up a can of organic tomato soup and added a little of the 1/2 and 1/2 to it and some croutons on top for each of us and we had a nice little gourmet feast tonight! I think it's going to have to become a regular meal :)

Here it is if you want to try it. I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com and substituted sausage for bacon and added mushrooms. I just used one of the finely shredded mixed cheddar cheese bags.

YUUUUMMMMMYYYYYY! It will probably be breakfast in the morning too!

YUMMY QUICHE

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

8 ounces bacon ( I used about 3/4 pound of sausage instead)
1 (4 oz) can mushrooms, finely diced and drained
2 (9 inch) unbaked 9 inch pie crust
2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup diced onion (I didn't use the onions)
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers, drained


DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place bacon and or sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

Place crust in a 9 inch glass pie plate (I used the kind with an aluminum pan). Sprinkle bacon/sausage inside of crust. In a small bowl, combine Cheddar cheese, Monterey jack cheese, mushrooms and flour. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, cream, onion and green chiles. Add cheese mixture; stir well. Pour mixture into pie crusts evenly.

Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes (I covered it with foil the last 10 minutes so the crust wouldn't burn), until set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

This was supposed to make one quiche but I used more than 8 oz of sausage so it made two perfectly yummy ones!

Now What? A Brave New World?

Well my guy and girl didn't win last night. I wasn't really surprised but I was dissappointed.  Somehow, someway I really didn't think the country would vote Obama into power. They did. My friends did, some of my family did and many, many others did.

I was more interested and aware of this campaign and the potential consequences than any other past election. I don't know if that is because I'm older now and have a family or if I was just caught up in all the hullabaloo but I felt compelled and patriotic leading up to this election.

I am proud that the country has hopefully finally put to rest any future racial discrimination with this choice. I just don't know that Obama the man himself was the best man to do it. Time will tell.

I hope to maintain my enthusiasm for this country and to find a way to stay involved, informed and active in the months and years to come and further crystalize my opinions, values and beliefs so in four years I'll be ready to fight the good fight again, whichever side best supports our family and country.

Fall Girl

Last week Grace had a throw down fit because I wouldn't go outside and rack the twelve leaves that had fallen so she could jump into them. Tonight we got home early enough that I let her go outside to play for a while. There were A LOT more leaves so I told her she could go get the little rake we use in in the chicken house and rake some leaves up to jump in while I worked inside.

She worked hard raking little leaf piles up and had a great time jumping and rolling in them.