Feeling Thankful

 I have to say that we had a wonderful time at Thanksgiving.  This year it was spent in Omaha, NE with my cousin Brenda and her family.  And we had the added bonus of seeing Uncle Al and Aunt Judy.  Both were recovering from some health issues which prevented them from traveling as they had planned, so we felt very fortunate to get to see them.  

Here we are with Uncle Al and Aunt Judy.......

And here is the whole group......

Hannah and Mackenzie are in high school (senior and junior). We had lots of fun playing cards with them.

It was knurtz for the girls and when the guys played, we switched to hand and foot. Of course, since the guys wouldn't play knurtz with us, they got stuck on kitchen duty! 

Jeff smoked the turkey and it was delicious!

The meal was so good, that I forgot to take any pictures, but here are the empty plates to prove just how good it was!

Uncle Al.........

Sarah with Aunt Judy......

No explanation for this photo..........

And then, the turkey coma...........

Even Daisy was exhausted!

We took a little drive to Uncle Al and Aunt Judy's to see the animals..........Sarah was trying to persuade the donkey to let her pet him.

And the girls with Aunt Judy's puppies........Minnie and Hattie!  They are angling for another puppy for Christmas.  (We're placing bets here in Missouri to see whether Jeff caves on his "no more pets" stance.)

I was having Willow withdrawals, so Daisy snuggled with me.

It truly was so much fun!  I don't even know where to begin to try to explain this photo.

Much laughter was shared by all!

Hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Christi

Holiday Happenings

 Well, my magazine spread is complete!  Thanks to Albuquerque the Turkey!  He turned out so cute.  I saw this pattern and drafted it myself.  It was originally supposed to be a pillow, but I already had 2 pillows, so a matching wall hanging was needed.  Albuquerque is musically inspired........

(Sing to the tune of Clementine..........)

Albuquerque, he's my turkey and he's feathered and he's fine, and he wobbles and he gobbles and I'm awfully glad he's mine.

Albuquerque, he's my turkey and he's comfortable in bed, so we're having for Thanksgiving, we're having Pizza Hut instead!  

(substitute the restaurant of choice in the blank)

I can still remember when Sarah came home from kindergarten singing this song.  It became an instant family classic.  We also have a couple of favorite Thanksgiving books that we like to read......Turk and Runt, and The Night Before Thanksgiving.  Chances are good that we will still dig them out and read them when she is home next week.

I did spend a couple of days sewing last week, besides quilting a turkey.  And we butchered a pig.  We were almost out of sausage, pig broke his leg, so.......  Unfortunately, we were also low on the special sausage seasoning that David likes.  We get it from an Amish store and they hadn't had any that last few times we stopped............supply chain issues?  We did pick up a package of smoked sausage seasoning.  So I got online and googled 3 different sausage seasoning recipes and made up enough of each for about 2lbs. of sausage.  Everyone took some of each kind home to try.  So far, we have tried the smoked sausage.  I liked it, but my picky hubby (he did pick me, so I can't complain too much) said it was ok but not really a breakfast sausage.  I used the rest of the package on pizza and it was delicious.  Tonight we browned recipe #1 and used it in an omelette.  It was excellent (before it made it into the omelette even!).  Picky hubby even said that maybe we didn't need to worry about getting his special breakfast sausage seasoning if we (me) could just mix this up from what was in the spice cabinet.  Of course, we still have recipe #2 and recipe #3 to try.  I'll keep you posted and the share the winner!  I know sausage seasoning is as important in your home as it is in ours.

On Friday evening, we snuck Willow into the hospital bazaar at the Martin Center where I work.  They had a wonderful photo place set up and we took some Christmas pictures (which will be revealed later).  David had given her a bath that morning, so she looked and felt wonderful.  She then spent the evening crashed on the couch.  She came in the house again first thing in the morning and joined us on the bed.  I left her and David there when I went to shower and when I came out, this is what I found.

The rule here is "Last one up makes the bed!"  She was very content there.  She did move a couple of hours later.........

I'm assuming she's in her "teenage" dog years because she finally surfaced just before noon.  Apparently have a photo shoot the evening before can really take it out of you.  You may think that being such a sweet puppy and having a bath and getting her picture taken would have given some hope to making Santa's nice list.  NOT!  She managed to shred the one remaining dog bed Saturday evening.  

I also want to share a couple of new additions to my south kitchen window area.........

This little plant is growing from cuttings from one of the hanging baskets I had on the deck this summer.  The cute kitty planter is actually pretty old.  It was given to me when I was in the hospital in the eighth grade and had my tonsils removed.  Truly an antique!

And quilt friend Becky brought me this beautiful African Violet.  I love the dark leaves on this one.  I'm hoping I can keep it alive.  If I can keep it going for a month or so, I will try repotting it into something bigger.  I even bought plant food for it.  The little plant hiding behind it is trying not to be shown as it is also from my plant cuttings and is just not doing as well.  Maybe Violet will inspire him.

Thanksgiving plans are in the works.  We are traveling to Omaha to visit my cousin's family.  I've made one batch of noodles and will do some more this weekend if not before.  I also made a big batch of peanut clusters for my in-laws.  Willow and I took the Stampede out to deliver them this evening when I got home from work.

If I don't blog before then, I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!  

Christi

Another catch up blog

I can't believe how long it's been since I blogged.  Yes, a lot has happened, some good and some bad.  Let's just focus on the good (mostly).

Good - 

We had lunch at D. Rowe's in Columbia at the end of October to celebrate David's parents 70th Wedding Anniversary.  Yes, that's right!  70 Years!  As we were leaving, someone noticed Rosie with the balloon that had 70 on it and commented on how good she looked for being 70 years old.  Her sons corrected the onlooker and informed them that it was for 70 years of being married and that Lloyd was 93 and Rosie 87.  

Sarah drove in from St. Louis to meet us for the event.  Afterward, she and her dad spent a little time catching up on the patio since he had only seen her for 15 minutes the last time she was in Marshall (he was in the field then).  

Good - 

It's turkey time!  I got this table runner quilted - Custom Quilting by little ole me!

It is pretty large and takes up most of the table.  The pattern is called "The Sky is Falling!"

I also finished my pumpkin quilt and a couple of pumpkin pillows which look great on my church pew.  One piano mom told me it looked like something from a magazine!  I'm really hoping to get a little turkey wall hanging done from matching fabric to hang above it.  I loaded it on the longarm last night, so we'll see how it goes!

Good - We went to St. Louis this weekend to see Sarah!

She took us to the zoo.  She really wanted us to see the new primate canopy trail.  We did see it, there just weren't any animals out that morning because it was cold.  My two engineers still spent quite a bit of time marveling at the structure.

Our favorite animal was the red panda!  He/she was very active that morning.

And what's not to love about a penguin or two or more!

And a couple of cats sleeping in the sun.

And hot cocoa!

Then we went to St. Charles to see the historic district.  This has been on my list ever since Sarah moved to St. Louis and I finally got my way and we went.  It was a beautiful day.  We had a delicious lunch.  I had a chicken, apple, bacon quesadilla (it also had monterey jack cheese) with a honey lime sour cream.  It was fabulous.  I didn't take a picture, but I was trying to memorize every bite so that I could recreate it at home.

We spent the rest of the afternoon looking in all the fun shops.  There were so many that we didn't even go into!  We all agreed that another trip there was a must.  I'm hoping Sarah might even go there again without us sometime.

I loved this sign outside one of the shops.........it's like those two jack-o-lanterns are laughing at all of us who aren't even close to being ready for Christmas ...........in less than 49 days now!

And now the BAD!

Bad- at least for the stuffed reindeer!

Bad - dirty puppy!

Really, really BAD!

Apparently Willow was very upset with us for being gone for 2 nights.  So, now neither dog has a dog bed.  If Willow can change her behavior, maybe Santa will bring beds for Christmas, but she's got less than 49 days to mend her wicked ways............I'm thinking it may be a lump of coal!

Christi