Hello from Lortab Land

Yes, I had to trade in my Ultram for Lortab. Knees hurt quite a lot more than ankles or fingers do when they get operated on.

I felt like Ambulance Driver's golum..."It NEEDS the vicodin. It NEEDS the morphine. It is in PAIN!!!" And I truly was in tears when I had to get up and shuffle down the hall to the bathroom on the walker.

But that was yesterday, today I was able to sleep 3 hours in the afternoon. I expect to be able to sleep 7 hours straight through tonight.

Thanks to those who have called or send email greetings for speedy recovery. I'll try to post again by Saturday, but it's still a challenge to sit up for too long.

After Action Report

A Wonderful Time was had by All!


Oh, I guess that's a little skimpy on the details, huh?
I was running late, so when my Angel Baby Girl {it's a niggly little detail that she's 26} called around 10:30 and asked if I needed any help, I desperately cried, "YES!" She and her Sweetie showed up soon after. The Son, who had arrived about 6 am after he got off work at 3 am, was taking a nap. He got up, so Sweetie and Son got to work putting the big dining table together in the living room to seat 10 people. First, though, they had to move the little table into the kitchen.
We used the little table as a work surface aand then as a serving platform after all the food was ready. And the FOOD! OMG! My Bro and his wife brought so much more than I had expected. They were supposed to bring the turkey and garlic cheese biscuits. They brought those. But they also brought a HUGE bowl of dressing, HOMEMADE cranberry sauce that was perfectly divine, and some flatbread that I can't wait to get back into today! It was rich and crunchy and had parmesan and mayo and I don't know what else, but I want some more and I'm gonna tie my SiL down, if I have to, to get the recipe. They also brought Ice and soft drinks and DosEquuis.
The ABG and Sweetie brought ice, potatoes for mashing and all the stuff that makes them GOOD, and Shiner bock.
Son brought the stuff for green bean casserole and the pan I gave him last Christmas to cook it in.
My two neices from Houston, Pie and Puddin', brought ice, Champagne, OJ, and Cool Whip. Puddin helped with the clean-up as ABG, son and I cooked.
I made the Oreo Pie after I got the 4.5 dozen yeast rolls in the pans to rise. Then while ABG and Son made the filling for the 2 Pecan pies, I made the crusts. Then ABG made the dough for the crusts of the 2 Pumpkin pies. I rolled them out while she and Son made the filling.
I had made the 2 kinds of sweet potatoes Wednesday night, and gottne the dressing mostly ready, as well. So Thursday I added the veggies to the dressing and then the liquids and seasonings. Then I could make the glaze for the Jalapeno sweet potatoes.
I had also gottne a ham at a local BarBQ joint. So the dearly beloved was in the kitchen slicing up the ham and turkey.

I think the hardest part of the day was trying to figure out what to put in the oven, when. But it all got put on the table in a timely manner and it was all either warm or hot, except for the ham, and I'd planned for it to be served cold.

Oh, I had another neice here, too! My neices from Houston are gifts from my Older Bro, who wasn't here, cause he's a Poopy head, and was more interested in goin' hunting, than coming up here. My Bro who was here is my middle Step-bro, and the third neice attending is his youngest daughter. She brought a young man with her! WhooHoo!

This was a very special holiday on so many levels. Let's see if I can remember all of them. It was the first time I have had any of my neices in my home for Thanksgiving, and I was blessed with neices from BOTH sides of my family {family of origin and Step-family}.
It was filled with laughter and love and joy from the time the first person walked in the door until the last one left 12 hours later. My chirrens jumped in and did everything I asked them to do and a good many things that needed to be done that they just took it upon themselves to do, like real grownups, without being asked!!! MY GAWD, they are such a blessing.
Everyone forgave me when I got stressed and bitchy and started snapping. I got a really cool door hanging from my Bro and SiL. It has holly leaves on it and it has the wish "Happy Holly Days". Since the only thing I collect are things "holly" it is the perfect gift!
After months of accidents and family illness and loss we are finally on the mend, so we have a lot for which to be thankful.
My Houston neices are supposed to come back over today after my ABG leaves to go to work on BLACK FRIDAY. She's a department head for a "major home improvement store chain", so her appearance at work today is mandatory, Poor Baby. Once she finishes school and starts teaching {like her cousin}, she'll be able to shop on Black Friday, in stead of work, just another reason to stay in school.
Son also had to work today. He doesn't work retail. He works wholesale. So he had to make sure that retail is supplied on whatever the Saturday and Sunday after Black Friday are.
The neice from my Step Bro, her nickname is Snooky, { I never use my Fam's real names here, in case y'all haven't noticed. Just a privacy thang.} had flown up from Fla. She works for NASA. There for a while we thought her Daddy had changed her middle name to "who works for NASA". Actually, we're all very proud of her. She's known since she was about 8 that she wanted to work with computers. She is currently going through a yearlong series of training programs so that she will be prepared to step into her position as, drum-roll, please, the second youngest Assistant department head at her branch of NASA. She will be 26 when she assumes the job as IT security AD. Nah, we're not a proud fam, not much.
She needed an assistant a while back. Someone who had really good "people skills". Snooky tends to be a bit on the "exacting" side, and her boss thought if she had an assistant to soothe ruffled feathers, things would run a lot smoother. Well, just so happens her oldest Sister has the best people skills of anyone in the family. She could charm the birds from the trees, then sell them a new set of feathers. Snooky wrote a job description that only Sister could fill and hired her. Now Sister works for NASA a semester and goes to school on NASA's dime a semester. She will have her BBA in 2 years. That's another girl we're all very proud of.

I wish my Stepsons could have been here longer. One dropped by on his way to work. He got the stuff for a couple of ham sandwiches and made plans for a movie on Sunday. The SNSS, already mentioned in this blog many times, had prior commitments, but came by on his way home. He and my teacher neice talked education while he had pie and coffee. She grilled him about schools and good neighboorhoods for a woman of her age and inclinations. I think they were both well entertained with one another.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, despite running late and some back pain, for 12 hours. I hope y'all had at least 1/2 as much fun as I did. I'm off to have some flat bread and pecan pie. Then I'm gonna start working on some photo albums!
If you've got shopping on your schedule today, you have my sincere wishes for a great parking place. Ask for the intercession of a fellow named Mr Cramer. He will help you get a good one. Remember, anything with "holly" on it is always appreciated here.

Takin' A Break

for Thanksgiving. I'll be finishing up my cleaning today and start my cooking tomorrow. Today will be my last blog 'til Friday. But I want to wish all of y'all a very Happy Thanksgiving. And leave you with some of my thoughts before I take my break.

First, as I've said before, I am not a good housekeeper. Today I must destroy all the "Dust Sculptures" around the light fixtures and picture frames. Other people call them cobwebs, but that's just because they have no imagination or too much time on their hands. These are people who clean regularly and never allow these collections of dust and spider silk to accumulate into an avant-garde art form. I do have some truly remarkable ones. In the kitchen, around the central light fixture, there is a beautiful one, all lacy and very intricate. I'll truly miss it. There is an arch that separates the living room from the hallway. I have some "holly" stained glass, a dragon chime and a mermaid chime haning from the arch. They all are decorated with dust scuptures, too. At least the chimes ringing when I clean them will make a pretty noise and generate some positive feng shui!

Second, WTF, with If I Did It ? I sincerely hope every penny from that book goes to the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Simpson. Any Lawyers want to weigh in with how long that civil judgement they got is in effect? How terrible it must be for those poor children, to know their Daddy killed their Mother!!! Is he actually raising them? And I don't think I've ever heard more self-serving bushwa than that spewed forth by his publisher. The last time something that sickening came out of a woman's mouth, Linda Blair's head was spinning around!

Third, is anyone else a pleased as I am that Nancy Pelosi lost her first "power play" in the House? WHAT was she thinking backing a slimeball like Murtha? If this is the kind of leadership we can expect from her, we are in big trouble.

Fourth, the Dearly Beloved was playin' with the Ben-dog the other night and landed a truly amazing shot. Michael Jordan couldn't have done a better job. Ben has a cantalope sized ball that is called the "holey" ball. I took an old sock and tied it through a couple of the holes so that is has a tail. This way we can play tug, or throw it and he'll run down the hall and bring it back, and then we play tug and fetch and growl and he just loves it! Slings his head side-to-side and everybody has a good time. So, DB had the ball by the tail and is gonna throw it down the hall, but when he lofts it over Ben's head, it hits one of the blades of the ceiling fan. The fan wasn't turing at the time, luckily. But the tail wraps around the blade securing the ball to the top of the blade. DB said he couldn't do that again if he threw it a thousand times.

Fifth,The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life. -- Teddy Roosevelt I first said it here back in May, but it bears repeating. TR is fast becoming my favorite president. Go back and check out my 5/19/06 blog on immigration.

Sixth, speaking of blogs...how many of y'all went and checked out Roswell,TX at Big Head Press? How are you liking it? I've got another site for you to check out. If you have a friend or family member who is serving or has served in the "Sandbox", you might find "Sanctuary" interesting. It's at www.ejectejecteject.com The SNSS told the Dearly Beloved about it, then he told me about it. It will take a while to read the whole thing, so settle in with comfy clothes and a big beverage of your choice. But it is well worth the read, IMHO.

Remember my Hallmark addiction? Well, in all this cleaning I've been doing, I've come across three different stashes of cards I'd forgotten I'd hidden away. And Pictures. OMG, the pictures! After all the fam has gone back to their respective homes this holiday I'm gonna sit down and do some albuming. I LOVE looking at old pictures. It just takes me back to when I was there. Looking at fam or friends I haven't seen in years and remembering when the pic was taken. What we were doing when the pic was taken, what it smelled like, what the food tasted like, how happy we were, how tired we were, how FULL we were. It's just marvelous. Putting them in albums is a project I've been putting off waaayyy too long.

Did you know you can use dental floss to un-stick a pic that has been glued in an old photo album? Yeppers, I've tried it. You have to do it slowly, and use waxed dental floss, but it CAN be done. Oh, now I'm excited. SO that's what I'll be doin' Friday and Saturday. Making up photo albums and planting my spring bulbs.

I've got this really cool template of yellow crocus in the shape of the "Yellow Ribbon". I'll have to prep the ground this weekend with some newspaper to kill off the weeds and section it off with some bricks, but that's OK, I got plenty of bricks and plenty of newspaper. The newspaper will just enrich the soil, as long as you just use the black and white stuff, no slick or colored print. Which is fine, I save the funnies for gift wrap for my Granddaughters. It gives them something to read while the wait to open the present.

I've run out of stuff to "say". May y'all have a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving.

Planning Ahead

I know I'm a terrible housekeeper by some people's standards. But - my dishes are clean, our clothes are clean, there's no mold growing in the refrigerator, the kitchen doesn't smell, the bathtubs and toilets are clean, and there's no dog hair in the food I serve, what more do you want on a daily basis?

However, next Thursday is Thanksgiving and that means a houseful of company. All family, but still, I want the house to look niceer than it usually does. And since my back is feeling better, naturally I have to start cleaning up the clutter and doing extra loads in the dishwasher to get all the serving pieces clean so I don't have the disaster I had last year.

Last year I started cleaning on Tuesday, stayed up all night Wednesday night and was exhausted by Thursday morning and still had to cook! Not my best holiday. So this year I'm starting early. My kitchen cabinet doors already sparkle as does the vent-a-hood. The silver, champagne flutes and wine glasses will all be nice and shiny by tomorrow and back in their storage places by tomorrow, or Friday at the latest. The kitchen floor will be clened on Tuesday, and if it gets dirty after that, well, that's too bad, I WILL NOT STRESS!
And I've parceled out more of the cooking, too. I'm blessed with a family of great cooks, men and women, so I have decided to take advantage of them. I mean, they offered, and I accepted their kind offers! My Bro makes a MEAN turkey and his sweet wife bakes garlic cheese biscuits as good as anything Red Lobster ever set before you!
My Mother is making up a huge pot of Pinto beans. My Angel Baby Girl loves smashed potatoes, and she mashes them by hand. I gave my XY offspring a dish last Christmas that had the recipe for Green Bean casserole printed on it, so that's his assignment.
Me? Well, I'm gonna make some deviled eggs to snack on while we get ready to eat, and a tray of black and green olives {I just hope the ABG doesn't put the black ones on her fingers like she did when she was 2 and wave at everybody} and cheeses and crackers; and get a small ham from Rudy's, and make some yeast rolls from the freezer case, for 12 people I guess 4 dozen ought to be enough.
Oh, what am I actually going to MAKE? Well why didn't you ask that! Dressing, of course; giblet gravy; Candied Sweet Potatoes; Sweet Potatoes w/Orange juice and jalapeno glaze {don't go yuck, it's very good!}; maybe a corn pudding; and some corn bread to go w/ Mother's beans; pie crust from scratch for 2 pumpkin pies, 2 pecan pies, and then a new oreo pie, but I'm gonnna cheat with a store bought crust for that one.
We'll have tea, of course, and every Coke product.
Between dinner and pie, though, we have a tradition at my table that I started when my kids were little. I fill the glasses with Champagne for the drinkers, Sparkling Cider for the non-Drinkers and I start off and we go around the table and share what we are thankful for this year. Sometime it's funny, sometimes it's serious, sometimes it's touching, sometimes there's a smarta$$ at the table, heck in my fam there's usually a samarta$$ at the table. I started it as a way to set an example for my children, to teach them about being thankful in a concrete way, and it worked.
Last year my cousin, Gracie, was with us. She was a joy to have at the table. When my granddaughters showed up late in the day, she taught the younger one how to feed the dogs yeast rolls off her bottom lip! When my SNSS found out, he was horrified. I just shrugged, hey it wasn't me. Gracie did it. No accounting for what those crazy teenagers will do! They must have used up 1/2 dozen rolls feeding them to the dogsone bite at a time. Oh Well, it was the batch that got burned on the bottom anyway.

Well, I gotta get back to cleaning now.