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.

A No Gift Christmas? Well, Almost...

Christmas 2007

This year our family is going to implement a "no gift giving Christmas". We are not giving gifts to our friends. We are not giving gifts to our friend's kids. We are not giving gifts to our parents, spouses, co-workers or mailmen. The only one getting gifts this year in our family is Grace. Okay and probably one cousin, we just can't get EVERYONE on board.

Of course this is a crazy experiment and one that Mom (I know you are reading this) wasn't the most excited about but seriously, we are 40 years old now, we buy what we want and need already and it's time to stop trading money :) Every year it gets harder and harder because we all have more and more. Sure occasionally one of us will come up with a perfectly clever and personal gift but really we just need to spend more time together. Sooooo....this is the year to do it.



It won't be as easy as it sounds because I've already thought of some things I could MAKE for a few people from materials I already have, but that would defeat the purpose really because then they would feel the need to reciprocate and it would just never, ever end.



I Googled "no gift giving Christmas" and found one link on the history of the tradition of gift giving that was sort of interesting http://www.essortment.com/all/christmaschrist_rijq.htm



We are not exactly planning to skip Christmas, just the crazy and expensive shopping trips for various novelty gewgaws no one really wants or needs.



We spent almost $2,000 on Christmas last year for family and friends. We just have to stop the madness! Sorry, Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy, you'll just have to struggle along without us this year.



Last year, by Christmas morning we had to beg Grace to open the rest of her presents. She didn't want to do it anymore. It was nuts.



So PAAAAALLLLLEEEEEAAAAAASSSSSEEEE don't get me a gift, because then I'll have to go into my whole tirade (see above) about why we are not giving gifts this year.



This year we'll be eating, going to church, playing games and watching movies for Christmas with my family.



Ho, ho, ho.

She's poison Garrett!

We had a great birthday party for Grace on Saturday. She had six friends from her preschool and four other kid friends plus family. She was so excited to have her friends at her house. They played outside on the swingset, jumped on the trampoline, admired the pigs and chased chickens. It was a good day.

Grace got some cute clothes, several Barbies and lots of other funs stuff. She's really been enjoying her toys.

I didn't get to see it but Gary, Richard and Bryon got to see a glimpse of things to come. Garrett drug the bean bag out of the playroom and into to the game area upstairs to watch air hockey and was all sprawled out on it when Grace decided to jump on him. Garrett put his arm around Grace and cuddled up while little brother Boone was bouncing Tigger style over the two of them. Garrett was holding Grace's face really close to his with both of his hands and Cale hollers out,

"Don't do it Garrett, she's poison!"

I think Bryon, Richard and Gary about died laughing.

We are in so much trouble...

Sarah Palin Rally

As I was leaving the parking lot last Thursday morning after dropping off Grace at daycare and heading to Lawrence County for the day, I heard on the radio that there was going to be a rally for Sarah Palin on Friday. I've never really been all that interested in politics until this year and I decided to cruise by the Republican Headquarters in Springfield to see what it was all about. There was a line of about 300 people already but it wasn't really too daunting so I joined the fray. It was cold. I didn't have a coat. I'm not even a really a Republican. What was I doing there?

As I was looking around I saw my Uncle, five or six folks from the front of the line. He'd been there since 4:15 am. I arrived at 8:20 am for the tickets that were to be given away at 9. They were only giving away a limited number of tickets and I had no idea how many but there I stood on a cold October morning waiting for mine.

I've voted Democrat every election since I turned 18 until the last election when I voted for Bush Jr. because I felt like he needed to finish the war in Iraq and not change horses midstream. I was the lone Democrat at many Thanksgiving dinners with my family. They tolerated me. I was young. I used to feel like the Democrats were for the little guy (i.e. me) but these days I don't think that is necessarily the case anymore.

This year I'll be voting for McCain and Palin. I think he has a crummy view on immigration but otherwise seems the most in line with the way our family rolls at this point in our lives. It should be an interesting next four years.

I finally got my 4 tickets, called my friend Dawn to go with me and gave the other two to my boss because Bryon didn't want to take off work to go. I already had the day off to prepare for Grace's birthday party.

After changing the time AND location, the rally was finally held at Bass Pro Shops parking lot on a cold, cold, cloudy Friday. I stood in that parking lot for 4 hours in the cold wondering the entire time why the heck I was there. Dawn skipped out after about an hour and a half but I was determined to see it through. I might never get another chance to see a Vice President in person again. THEY say there were somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 people there. I have no idea. I just know it was crazy crowded but everyone dispersed quickly when it was over.

She looked great, was just a regular girl and was inspiring really. I was feeling supremely patriotic on the drive home as my fingers and toes finally unthawed.

If nothing else now I can say I've been there and done that...I just didn't buy the t-shirt.

The Big 4!

Today is Grace's 4th Birthday! She has been VERY excited to be 4. Her two best girlfriends at school turned four earlier this month and now she is 4 too! Last night we made Pinkalicious cupcakes for her to take to school to share today. Pinkalicious is one of her favorite books and she has it memorized. She's taken it to school once to read to her class herself and today she took it again WITH pink cupcakes. She helped ice them last night and about every 10 seconds I had to remind her NOT to lick the icing knife. It was a struggle but we we made it through with no Grace slobber on the cupcakes (at least I'm pretty sure there wasn't).  I let her lick both knives when we were done.

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off to make her Cow Cake and clean the house before the big party on Saturday afternoon. There is a lot to do but I think this will be her best birthday ever because she REALLY knows what it's all about now! All her school and friend friends are coming and the family and we are ALL excited.

Bryon and I went in this morning with a candle lit cupcake and her gifts to wake her up. We got her a REAL pink guitar and a Barbie at her request. She like them both. She got to eat a pink cupcake for breakfast and for the first morning ever couldn't wait for me to get ready to take her to school so she could tell her friends and teachers she is 4!

It's good to be a kid...especially on your birthday.