Yesterday....

I was up at 4:30 am to get to the store with Jess and my mom. We weren't gone too long, and when I came home, I noticed how still and peaceful it was that early in the morning. I usually never get up before 8:00, and decided to spend some time in my backyard and enjoy the quietness and the beautiful landscape.

Thanksgiving

First off, I know everyone is dying to know how my Tofurkey meal was...lol. Well, it was sooooo yummy! I was a bit scared at first, reading mixed reviews, but it smelled so good cooking in the oven, I was hoping it was going to taste as good as it smelled, and yum, it did.

I have now come to realize, that the family has gotten HUGE! Super sized! It's awesome to see so many children running around (ecspecially when you can spoil them to pieces), and having the whole family together again. We always have such good times, I really don't know why we save it only for holidays.

It was as usual hotter than....let's see what's one of my moms sayings I could insert here, oh....hotter than mollasses in July (uh, whatever that means, I think it means super hot). We usually always come prepared in layers though, so it's all good. It smelled sooooo wonderful, and there was a lot of family chatter and picture taking.

It was great, because this year Jen put a project together, we all answered some questions, and she took some quotes from our answers and we had to guess who said it. I sucked, but my hubby won. She then put together a little booklet that had everyones answers it. Thanks so much for that Jen, you put a lot of work into that, and it turned out great! It was a wonderful read, learning things I never knew. I laughed a lot, some people are very creative, and descriptive. My favorite by far was Adrianas answer...."when I grow up I want to be....a pony. If I could do anything for an entire day...I would build a pony and turn into a pony". It's so sweet how kids believe they can really do ANYTHING. I wish we would never lose the idea of believing we could do something so big.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Before everyone stuffed themselves full of food.....

Playing in the 'wood' room. Man, can you imagine how magical this place must look to the kids....

John and Jeremy trading Star Wars minis......

Jacks traditional after meal nap....I didn't capture any sound with this, but trust me, there was sound!

Heather doing grandmas dishes, you know what, this is a first!

Brother and sister having tons of back deck slip slidin fun!

Lookin at ads, filling out Jens quote sheet, coloring and talkin.

Checking the food list to make sure all the food was out.....

Mini Vacation

Well, my mini vacation has officially almost started! Only 2 hours and 15 minutes to go. I am soooo ready. Last night I made my vegan pumpkin pie, I will taste it later today, because I don't want to share something that tastes dreadful! I'm looking forward to it, and hope it's as delish as I think it's going be.

I still have to pick up some sage, and salad fixings today, I'm making a green salad to take with me tomorrow. I thawed out my Tofurkey feast last night in the fridge and will cook it tomorrow before we go.

The plan for today is: go to Fred Meyer to pick up grocery stuff, go to my house to check the oil in Jessicas Jeep, and head up to Washington. I was kind of gloomy about the trip at first, but that was dumb, cause Jess is my chatting buddy, and I will be at home most of the week and John will be at work, so it will be nice to get in some last chatting time....lol. Maybe we can even listen to some Christmas toons (oops tunes, too used to playing WoW) on the way up.

I will be taking a lot of pictures tomorrow, so be prepared for a Thanksgiving blog in pictures!

Not my fault

Ok, I get to the office this morning, open up Windows Media Player, and what do my ears suddenly hear, before clicking on anything.....Christmas music.....Diana Krall Christmas music! So, needless to say, today I'm listening to Christmas music, yep, it's done!!

This Weeks Randoms....

1. Diana Krall, Diana Krall and more Diana Krall...I have refrained from listening to Christmas music although it has been a bit hard...lol.
2. My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn
3. Vegan pumpkin pie without tofu for Thanksgiving
4. Tofurkey meal - I've heard both good and bad reviews of this feast, but I will experience it myself
5. Driving to Washington with Jessica to pick up the kids
   
6. Hoping that the Biggest Loser will air and they won't have a dumb basketball game on instead
   
7. Walking the dog
8. Playing some WoW
   
9. Walking the baby
10. Reading
11. Holiday shopping for the kids on Friday at 5 AM.....am I nuts!!
12. Spending time with family
    
    

My Saturday

Well, yesterday was filled with a lot of stuff and entertainment. Jess and Nick went to see Twilight, and I watched the Babe. I just can't believe how big she's getting. She likes to carry around dolls now, and pat them like they are good babies...hee, hee. Heather came over for a bit while I was watching Korissa, and Korissa wanted to play with Heather's friend CP like mad. We have named Heathers cell phone CP, because it is ALWAYS with her, and she's ALWAYS texting. It's like having someone else in the room with you, that you have to compete with for holding Heathers attention. Anyways, the Babe also wanted to play with CP.

Jess and I went to Sallys Beauty Supply when they got back to get some hair cutting shears for my hair. I've decided (again) to quit coloring my hair, and I had her cut my hair to my shoulders. I would go all the way down, so I don't have the dang gray/colored look, but hubby wouldn't be too pleased about that...lol. So, Jess cut my hair to my shoulders, and she did a GREAT job. It felt weird when I washed it!

After the haircut, we made soft tacos, ate, watched Korissa stick rice all over her face and then we watched Love Actually. Yes, I know, I have watched that movie 3 times now in the past month, but Jess had never seen it. I just love that movie.

After the movie, it was Beatles Monopoly time. It started out well, most of the property was bought, I did some trading, and built my houses. Jessica usually ALWAYS wins at Monopoly, but not this time. I didn't win either, Nick did. I was the first out, and Jess was next losing by like 8 or 11 dollars, something like that. It was fun though, but I was tired and ready for bed after that!

Holiday Music

Well, I can't believe that next week is Thanksgiving already. I don't allow myself to listen to holiday music until AFTER Thanksgiving, but I have been seeing lights up and am getting super excited to listen to my holiday tunes! So, last night I pulled out my music, just to look at it, I didn't play it, so I won't ground myself....hee, hee!

My favorites are:

1. Jewl - I love her version of Ave Maria
2. Jars of Clay Dummer Boy
3. Jessica Simpson (of course)
4. Sarah McLachlan - LOVE THIS CD
5. Diana Krall - LOVE THIS CD
6. Harry Connick, Jr.
   

Scrappin, Carrie, David Cook and stuff

I've had quite a lot of fun these past few days. Saturday I went to Borderlands and scrapped for about 4 hours. I hadn't scrapped for a few months, and was getting behind. I have a sort of Spiritual/Nature scrapbook that I started in July. I couldn't believe all I got done.

Sunday I did my usual house cleaning, laundry, and raked what leaves would fit into the yard carts. Dang, my arm got tired. Ran across a lot of dog doo from neighbors animals, and thats gross, kind of ruins the yummy earth smell ya know!

Monday wasn't Babe Monday, Nick stayed home because of his foot, so I got caught up on my Dragonlance reading, slept in and gamed a while....anticipating going to Carrie Underwood concert.....

Jess arrived at my house, and after showing her the Creative Memories catalog and my updated scrapbook, my mom picked us up. We hit major traffic leaving Salem, it took us a half hour to get to I-5. Alas though, we were Carrie bound! It's always freaky finding your way in Portland, but we made it. The first thing we did was get the souvenirs. I got a shirt, my mom got a shirt, and Jess got a key chain. Jess brought her camera, so I snagged a couple of her pictures (see her blog for more pics and maybe a video?). Little Big Town opened, they were great. I saw them with Martina McBride a few years ago, so I wore my Little Big Town tshirt to the concert. Jess fell in love with one of the guys in the band...lol. They sang 'Life in a Northern Town' (which I loved in the 80's, they redid it with Sugarland). After Little Big Town, while waiting for Carrie to come out, Jess and I pulled out the binoculars that came with each seat, and began the fun activity of people watching. She said "50 points for a nose picker", well, we didn't see one, but saw: boring couple, shiny shirt girl, and found who we think is Carrie Underwoods stalker. That was pretty fun!

So, they put a 5 minute countdown timer up on the screens, and the time finally arrives. She came up out of the stage singing "Flat on the Floor". We had Carrie's biggest fan in front of us (see Jessicas blog for picture of the back of Carrie's biggest fan) and that was fun too! He shouted at one point "Carrie, I love you"! I'm guessing he was about 14 or 15. She sang Guns N' Roses 'Paradise City' for the encore, and did an excellent job. I hope she records that one! Her final song was 'Before He Cheats', and they shot like tons of sparkling confetti out into the audience. I had a lot of fun, but next time will spend a little more money on seats on the ground floor, that's where all the active people are. We had duds around us, besides Carries Biggest Fan, everyone just sat there. Umm....why go to a concert and just sit there, makes no sense to me. Afterwards, outside were people from Vegan Outreach handing out vegetarian material, which was pretty cool (Carrie Underwood is a vegetarian).

So, we drove home, and hit a lot of fog, but no traffic. We got home around midnight, I finished watching Desperate Housewives and decided to go to bed, anticipating the next day, because DAVID COOK's cd was coming out. OK, I voted for him throughout American Idol, never swayed from wanting him to win, and so first thing this morning I got my new CD. I made sure to save some money from the concert last night, so I could get it. And let me tell you, it doesn't dissapoint.

Today Jessica and I went to Golden Tent for lunch, I had my usual tofu, veggies, noodles with tons of soy sauce and crunchies....yummy! Tonight I'm going to play a game of Warhammer with Amy. I set the game up a few weeks ago, not thinking it happened the day after the concert, so now I'm kind of not looking forward to it now, but we can leave early. I know once I get there it will all be good, but I'm kind of tired from last night still....lol. So, been a fairly eventful last few days!

I made some gift tags at the scrap day....

One of my scrap pages...of course I'd take the pic of the one with my feet....hee, hee......

My concert ticket.....

The encore....

Me in my new Carrie shirt, Jessica made me say "Carrie", yes, I said it, can't you tell?

My front yard after raking most of the leaves, I should have taken a before picture...

Noah looking at me while taking the front yard picture, isn't he cute!!

Ahhh....my David Cook CD
Me and my mom in the office today doing the 'aren't we cute in our new carrie shirts, can't see double chin' pose!

Park Day

I decided to grab my camera and head to the park this morning before work. The sky was blue, the sun was out, and I needed to be outside. I wore my flops, like I do every day, it was a bit chilly walking near the water, and the trail in a few spots was pretty muddy, I almost slipped a couple of times. A couple of ladies walked by me, and one said "oh dear, you're in sandals". I said , "yep, it was a spure of the moment decision". I always wear my flops, but didn't want to get into a big discussion of how it's bad for me and all....lol. So, she says "oh dear, living life is better than crying over a man." I thought, huh, well, that was weird. So I continue on my journey, and about 10 minutes later, as I'm taking a picture, the two ladies come walking back, and she comes up to me and says "I hope you don't think I'm nuts, I told you not to fret over a man, and my friend told me you had a camera". I said, "oh, no, I don't think youre nuts". It was funny.

There weren't a lot of people about, so I didn't go too far, as there are some weirdos that lurk about, unfortunetly. I had a great time though, I was gone for a couple of hours. When I got home, I fed the squirrels and decided to take some more pictures, we have leaves everywhere, and ended up stepping in dog doo. Well, that was the end of that, but I had an awesome morning! Below are a few of my favorite pictures that I took.

I LOVE water droplets....

I thought this mushroom was the cutest little thing, a nice spot for faery to rest......

Oh the beauty of nature.....


I love the petals.....

November Books

My November reads....

A Witch's Guide to Life: It's got a little bit of everything in it. It's a good reference guide. Between Earth and Sky: I just started reading this last night. I only read the intro, but it was so good.

Animal Liberation: I heard good things about this book on my Vegan Live Journal forum, and thought I would read it.

John Lennon: Ummm...no more info needed on this one. The title says it all.

War of the Twins: My Dragonlance read for the next couple of weeks.

Borders run and the Beatles

Jess and I did a Borders run today, so I could use my 40% off CD's coupon. We ended up getting my mom a couple things too, telling her how lucky we were to be working with her at the office. I mean, where I else could you work that would even let you do a Borders run?

I ended up with some extras, other than CD's. I got John Hellboy 2, which was on sale as well. We searched for a book that Jeanne recommended called Between Earth and Sky. I say search, because we actually sat on the floor at one point because we couldn't find the thing, yet it said 'likely in store'. I did not want to give up on the search, because, well, I wanted the darn book. After going through the same books over and over (unfortunetly, sometimes the books get out of order at Borders because people decide they don't want them and just stick them anywhere), I finally spotted it tucked away between two biggie books.

They have so many cute holiday books for kids, and cards and just all kinds of holiday fun, so we browsed a bit. We then went by the games and found no Beatles Monopoly game. I have been eyeing it for some time, and new I should have gotten it when I had the chance. But, as fate would have it, it wasn't meant to be (remember I just watched Serendiptiy, so this week I will notice a lot of fate stuff, and since watching Love Actually, I will actually probably overuse the word actually). We head up to the check out, and what do you know, fate does tempt me, there, right at the front is.....one Beatles Monopoly game. Uh, SAWEET! So, Jess and I have a Monopoly game to play this Wknd. She doesn't know anything about the Beatles, except that Paul is my favorite, but hey, Monopoly has now become a Beatles lesson. Oh, I did end up getting the CD 'And Winter Came..' by Enya.

Feeling Better

I'm feeling so much better today. Actually, yesterday I felt pretty good too. I tried all my cold cures I mentioned in my previous post, and I think it really helped a lot. I also watched Love Actually, (I now have a revisted crush on Hugh Grant), The Holiday and two of the Lord of the Rings movies.....I think that was very helpful too....hee, hee.
Yep, that's how I got better!

So yesterday, John and I went to Jessica and Nicks house for a yummy brunch. Oh man, just thinking of those fried tatos makes me want some more. When we got home, I did laundry, picked up a few things, did grocery shopping (along with everyone else, there were a lot of people out yesterday), and gamed a bit. Today I'm watching the full of energy Babe. She has already wiped out the living room (think of the Godzilla vs. Tokyo reference several posts ago), and shared my breakfast with me. Mondays are usually the dreaded day, but I love spending my day with the Babe, it's the best!

Sicky

Well, I caught the cold that everyone else has been so nicely giving away this week. I'm a horrible sick person, really, ask anyone around me. I called Jess this afternoon just to give her a heads up that I was dying! I didn't sleep very well at all last night, tossed and turned until 5 this morning, then I discovered it was easier to sleep on my back. I don't sleep well when I have a cold, because I sleep on my tummy and breathe through my nose, so my body, well, my brain I suppose, goes nuts when I don't sleep how I usually do. I did manage to get a few hours of restful sleep. I woke up, did the blowing and feeling sorry for myself routine, then cuddled on the couch with a blanket and watched Serendipity. I had to come into work this afternoon, but since it's only half day, I hope it goes by quickly, so I can curl back up on the couch and watch Love Actually. I read garlic is a great immune supporter, so I'm going to have some veggie broth with garlic for dinner, and continue drinking my Yogi 'Cold Season' tea, my Echinacea Plus tea, steaming and using the neti pot. Hopefully I can boost my system for a speedier recovery....fingers are crossed!

Randoms...

• Got my vegan gum I ordered online today....yummy goodness!!
• Body is sick today, going to take it easy
• Obama....SAWEET!!!
• Squirrels are eating their food up like there's no tomorrow
• Holiday hours are coming up at work, ahhh, mini vacations
• Looking forward to brunch at Jessicas this Sunday
• I LOVE potatoes from my mom and pop inlaws garden
• Lovin Simon Collins song 'Eco'

Election Day

Well, today is Election Day, and it's just NUTS outside! I'm glad I mailed my ballot in last week, so I don't have to deal with it much, but it's still crazy out there! Jess and I went on lunch to drop off her ballot, but they moved the drive up drop downtown. We had to hunt for parking to go inside, but I'm so glad that she voted!!

Another Baby Monday

Wow, where did this Wknd go? It seems like I just answered the door to tricker treaters. We had a lot of kids this year, more so I think than any other year. So, today I am watching the cute Babe. She has a runny nose, but it isn't getting her down. Nope! Only been here for oh about a half hour, and her energy level is up there pretty high. Oh, the things I could do with that energy! So today, we will hopefully go for a walk, if the rain lets up, playtime, readtime, and some Will and Grace watching time (that's my break time...hee, hee). Well, I'm off to catch that cute baby......more like she will catch me!