It is a fact Thanksgiving will be here in fifteen days. The autumn has seemed to have flown like the leaves. The trees lost their leaves quickly to the winds that came through on several occasions in the past two weeks. Except for a few clinging or caught up in brittle branches all are gone leaving naked dormant trees until the breath of spring sparks them into action once again.
I do wonder who will sit at our Thanksgiving table this year. It is always a different scenario.
My son has said he is coming. He was not here last year as he was ill. My grandson Tyson is always with us however this year he is scheduled to work the whole weekend of Thanksgiving. So unless that changes he will not be here so of course no Lindsey or Olivia either. Ty is still holding out hope that the schedule will change at his work place. I invited my daughter and her man Doug but it will not work for them this year. So it may be just my son and hubby sharing a meal. This has been the scene before so it is nothing new. We love having Mike he is such a big presence it seems there are more people here. Truly though he loves my Thanksgiving dinners and looks so forward to a day of eating of good food. I love that he appreciates it so much.
My husband may actually be working half a day on turkey day. He is working that week on a floor and it needs to be completed at the weekends end.
My menu this year will be the same as always. I may change up the dessert a bit. But otherwise the same fare.
It is a dreary day in Eugene today. The sun did pop out though briefly and is now hiding once again.
I made a run to the meat market for sale specials today. Two packages of pork loin chops for the price of one, a beautiful pork shoulder roast @$1.99 a pound. Picked up my favorite burger on sale and I also purchased large white shrimp to butterfly this evening and fry crispy in fish fry with homemade cocktail sauce. I will add to the meal a small coleslaw with pineapple and shoestring fries.
Back home I divided all the meat products and wrapped them in portion sizes and put in ziplock freezer bags. My meat supplies were running low.
Tomorrow I will finish my grocery shopping at Freddie's and Walmart. I certainly would like to have a Safeway store nearby. But it is not worth the hassle of driving out of way on grocery shopping day.
I am now off to clean up our little lunch mess in the kitchen. This afternoon after a walk we may play some games to keep ourselves entertained.
Have a nice hump day!
These are very moist corn muffins. I cheat making these corn muffins as they are jiffy muffin mix, I add the one egg but instead of a 1/3 cup of milk I add sour cream in it's place with a small amount of shredded cheese(your choice) and then a splash of milk so moisten the dough to the right consistency. Doing this method makes for a very moist, soft tender muffin instead of a dried out tasteless one.
Our chili last evening was so wonderful with the roasted tomato sauce which also included peppers of several varieties and garlic and onions. All roasted together then put in the food processor to make sauce. I am so happy I took the time the end of summer to make all of the red yummy sauce in different varieties as we are enjoying the bounty now.
Our house is amazingly clean now. I methodically followed behind my hubby yesterday as he went room to room vacuuming everything in sight. I waxed all our furniture, cleaned glass and then cleaned the floors with Bona product floor cleaner. This morning walking on the floors barefooted was such a treat. Every wood floor so clean and fresh under my feet.
When we finished I was worn out from applying the cleaner as I pressed hard on the applicator to rid the floors of spots and soil. I flopped into my chair put my feet up on the ottoman and crashed. I picked up my book and did not move for an hour.
I then went to the kitchen as I had cookies to make. I made three dozen as I cut the recipe in half. I made the cookies a little smaller in size this time. After the cookies were made I then started on the chili. While I was doing this and enjoying my clean kitchen hubby was taking a soak in the hot tub. We could see each other through the kitchen window. It was a fun little flirt time. We get rather silly at times but that is what makes relationships fun.
Today it is wet out. It rained out last night when we woke to black windows I could hear it still pattering softly against them.
The leaves my hubby raked to the street the other day are now plastered like wallpaper to the pavement. It is a nasty looking time of year with debris littered about the streets, sidewalks and yards.
I must take my shower now and get presentable as the day is moving along. I do not have much planned but there are things that I want to accomplish.
Have a nice Tuesday whatever it is you are doing today.
Ciao.
It is a day of house cleaning for hubby and I. As I write he is vacuuming the living walls and floors. He has already cleaned the vaulted ceilings of dust bunnies and cobwebs with a long feather attachment. He will proceed the same in every room of the house. As he finishes each room I will then clean and wax the furniture, vacuum the upholstered pieces and mop the floors with Bona cleaner a great product for wood floors.
The cleaning job will take up most of our day. But it is so needed. As I have said before dust collects everywhere as we do not have carpeting in the house. So when the forced air furnace blows dust accumulates on the walls, ceilings, fans, baseboards,ledges and floors.
When the cleaning is done today I will set about making a batch of my chocolate chip, oatmeal, dried cherry, nut cookies. They last well, stay soft and as I mentioned before fill you like a nutrition bar. Hubby is seeing his Mother tomorrow after an appointment so I will send a dozen for her to enjoy.
We are having chili tonight with the rest of our roast. I have a jar of frozen home made roasted tomato sauce with added peppers and spices to make a batch of chili. To the side I am making corn muffins with sour cream and cheese in the mix. Very moist and yummy.
Last nights dinner or roast beef, gravy and mashed potatoes and corn was total comfort food. Though we never ate big portions we were soon snoozing on the sofa's while the telly droned on in oblivion.
It sounds as if hubby has finished his part in the living room so I will go now and do mine. It will be so nice when we are finished with this chore and the house looks all clean and no dust!
Later.
I was nervous about this game several days before it played out last night.
Maybe I had good intuition. My hubby just seemed so complacent, seems everyone did.
Stanford stopped us last year and I had no reason to feel they may not do the same this season.
My feelings last night watching the first half of the game ranged from angry to sadness. I was probably not alone in those emotions. Actually I went to the hot tub right after the second half started as not to ruin the rest of the game for my hubby as I was so discouraged at that point and my attitude was not good. Taking a hot soak mellowed me out and actually my husband came and joined me shutting off the game. So we did not know the results of the game until this morning. It appears we rallied but to late.
We read in the paper this morning. That Mariota broke down when he met up with parents after the game. He was leaving the locker room in shorts with is his knee iced. The story is he had a problem involving his knee before the game, had it wrapped but was not comfortable playing his normal running game. He was in some pain and did not want to further damage his knee. The coach did not want the news released before the game as if we lost it would look like a excuse for their bad playing. Well Stanford battered us and held us and proved they are a very worthy team. No excuses!
So where are the DUCKS now. Rose Bowl possibly if USC takes Stanford out which I seriously doubt. Also we would have to win the rest of our games. So I suppose anything is possible but probably the best scenario is the Tostada bowl.
Anyhow it is only college football right? I am not the only one coming to terms today with the results of last nights game.
It is quit quiet at our house today. My husband was on the computer this morning while I did my house chores. He is gone now on a bid to Springfield. I was going to read but felt it was a good time to post on my blog as we only have one computer, no laptops and so we sometimes compete for the use of it.
We are going to have a repeat of french dips this evening as we each had only one half of sandwich last night. We were too involved in the game. So at best we nibbled at a few fries and almost choked on our sandwiches while grumbling about the game.
Tonight I will make a healthy green salad with creamy Italian dressing to go with our french dips. So I really have no dinner to make this evening which I sometimes like.
We are going to play games this afternoon. Hubby's idea and of course I am always up for games. So we will more than likely sip on a few drinks, I will make pop corn and we shall cozy up indoors for fun and games.
Actually the day is not a bad one. The clouds break open and the sun winks at us once in a while. There is no wind and no rain at this point.
I know I am getting a little hungry so I must go rustle something up. I am sipping on a 7-up at the moment. I rarely have a soda but it is really refreshing, I must be a little dehydrated from the hot tub last night.
So the weekend is upon us. You know what we are doing with it?
We will be ridding our house of dust. Floors, walls, furniture etc. Hubby will get his big commercial vac out and take care of the floors and high walls ridding them of cobwebs. I will vacuum area rugs and wax furniture. May not sound like a fun time but it is a sorely needed.
Later.
One more just cannot help myself. That little turned up nose is so cute, he mommy and daddy both have the same nose.
Such a happy little baby she is smiling big already! There is much to smile about as she is totally loved and adored.
The leaves keep falling and the sidewalks and streets are ankle deep. Hubby was out for a while earlier and raked our sidewalks clean and now I look out and they are covered once again.
As I walked today I avoided the leaves as I do not any surprise fouling my shoe if you get my drift. Luckily my husband checked his shoes before entering the house and good thing too as there was doggy poo. Not our fave.
The crows are working the nut trees diligently on Beacon Rd as they always do this time of year. They were cawing and flapping those black glossy wings as they dropped nuts to the pavement hoping to crack them. I talk to them when I go by in my crow talk. No one can hear me as I am in the country but still, who talks to crows?
My husband just left on a bid west into the country. I surely hope he gets this job. It is a referral so he more than likely will.
We are looking forward to another RV trip before to long, Lincoln City will be our destination if we have four days in a row without work. We need to spend at least three nights as it is more of a drive for us than Florence.
Much on the agenda as far as TV viewing. Tonight is the CMA Awards. If you are not into country music it will not matter to you. We of course are into new country. My husband was never a country fan EVER! But something has changed in him and it is at this point one of his favorite genre's. I am thankful for that as we are music folks and I like all kinds of music, well almost all. That show will be three hours long tonight. It starts at eight so we will eat first. After having steak taco's and refried beans last night I decided a easy dinner to make tonight is veggie tostado's as I have everything to make them and we still have half a pot of refried beans left. There is no problem having that fare as far as hubby is concerned, his favorite food as you know.
Tomorrow night is the OREGON/STANFORD game. I am biting my nails already in preparation. We not only need to win we need to look good according to the analysts. It does make me nervous as STANFORD will be our toughest competitor to date this year. Hopefully the ducks will not get off to a sloppy start. It should be quite a game. Please DUCKS win!!!!
For game fare I putting a rub on a beautiful boneless beef roast, browning in the black iron skillet and tucking it into the slow cooker. After it is all tender I will slice it thin for French dips. I bought some soft small buns to warm and will make au jus sauce from the drippings and horseradish dunk. Homemade shoestring fries to the side and we are set. We can eat on the sammies all evening long.
I have accomplished much today. My day started early, a toasted muffin with my blackberry jam and two cups of java and out the door to grocery shop. Completed that in short order and back home to put all away and clean house. I just put my third load of laundry in the washer, have taken my water fountain apart and cleaned it and brought the bedding in from the trailer to store in the house. I went for a long walk well a little longer than usual. It is very warm out today 60 degree's and I over dressed for my walk.
My hubby is home today and he has also been busy all day doing chores outdoors. The air outside smells of chimney smoke and wet leaves. I like that.
I must go now and finish what little I have left to do and then I am going to call my brother and then if time allows read some more of my current book COLD MOUNTAIN. It is a in depth book and if you do not care for prose you would not like it. On and on it goes very slowly but so moving in it's descriptiveness. This type of writing really slows me down and mellows me out. I sometimes nod off.
Later.
So here is Olivia the smallest on the right hand side of the photo with her mommy Lindsey with her aunties McKenzie in the center and Courtney on the left. And they are each holding their babies, Olivia's cousins, Roman and Berkley. Berkley Courtney's little boy just turned one the other day and Olivia one month. Roman is going on four months. Just look how close they are going to be. What a life they will have growing up together. The babes are dressed in Halloween costumes, including little Olivia who appears to be a pea pod.
The tiny dress has arrived for Olivia and I really am thinking it is to small even though a 6-9 months size. Oh it is so small. It is totally impractical also. But oh well, what can I say I wanted to buy her the prettiest well made dress I could afford. But why did I not buy a size that perhaps would have fit her this summer after all it is sleeveless. If I need to send it back I will get a larger size two sizes larger at least.
I am packing today for my weekend trip to my daughters. I will leave early tomorrow and come home Monday.
I have been very busy since returning from our little coast trip. But now this afternoon I can relax somewhat.
There is a good game tonight. USC and OREGON STATE. The game is in Corvallis. It should be a good game and OREGON state needs to win.
I still have a couple things to do so best get to it!
I will write after my trip to see my family.
Ciao.
It is a fact Thanksgiving will be here in fifteen days. The autumn has seemed to have flown like the leaves. The trees lost their leaves quickly to the winds that came through on several occasions in the past two weeks. Except for a few clinging or caught up in brittle branches all are gone leaving naked dormant trees until the breath of spring sparks them into action once again.
