Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving holiday come and gone. This one was wonderful as well. We had a feast of course, and enjoyed the company of our friends Todd and Barbara as well as my brother Damian.

We also took advantage of the long weekend by doing some fun things together like bowling on Friday then hanging out with friends Jim and Kathy Friday night. Yesterday/Saturday we enjoyed a pancake breakfast, leftovers for lunch and then went to see The Blind Side. Afterwards we enjoyed a spectacular dinner at The Keg. We’ve also played lots of games – Farkle, Loaded Questions, and Wii tennis-bowling-boxing. Today we’ll probably just kick back and relax, watch NFL football and later I drive Damian to the airport.

One thing i did NOT do is go shopping on Black Friday. I guess there were some really good deals out there, but honestly not worth the crowds and standing in a long line. I did accomplish a bit of Christmas shopping online, including getting a great deal on a nice present for Justin. Of course I can’t mention what it is since we want it to be a surprise :)

The coming week will be super busy, with my Mom and Dave coming in on Wednesday night. We also have Justin’s football season party on Tuesday evening and that pretty much only leaves Monday to do cleaning, chores and packing for our trip next week. I’m so excited that next Sunday we will be waking up in Hawaii!

Great day – and Friday to boot!

Great day today. For one, I got a lot done at work. Then as I was on my way to an event, I drove by the construction site for the newest Phoenix Culver’s – only about 1/2 mile from the office! Actually this is both good and bad – good for the tastebuds, terrible for the waistline!

The event I went to was the National Speakers Association’s Fall Conference. One of my associates from Meeting Professionals International asked me to be on a panel of meeting planners, and I was very flattered. The session was fun to do – not the first time I’ve been on a panel, but our moderator was exceptional which made the 90 minute session literally fly by. After the session, one of the attendees – a very well-known and esteemed meeting planning colleague – sought me out to compliment me on my speaking voice. That comment literally made my day!

Today Terry stayed home to drain the pool – something we desperately needed to do. I guess when the water is “old” it’s more difficult to balance, and according to the pool store who analyzed our water sample, it hasn’t been done for a long, long time. At any rate, right now we have an empty pool – which is kind of weird. Tomorrow it will be full again, and hopefully easier to maintain as well.

Of course I can’t believe it’s nearly Thanksgiving. This year we will not have a huge group but there will be 7 of us. My brother Damian is coming for a short visit, and I’m really excited about spending some time with him. I haven’t seen him in about 3 years, most of which he spent in Japan (he’s in the Navy). Also coming to dinner will be our friends Todd and Barbara, who of course are like family to us.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I really need to work on organizing the menu and my shopping list – tomorrow I will be joining the masses of home cooks and stocking up for the big day next week. Woo-hoo!

Halloween festivities

We enjoyed Halloween weekend with a Friday night party (I won the costume contest and $100 cash for dressing as a 50’s housewife!) and a Saturday evening neighborhood gathering/pot luck/trick or treat. Justin went to a surprise birthday/Halloween party for his friend and decided to dress up as “emo”. Not having any daughters, I never thought I’d be putting eyeliner, lipstick and earrings on one of my children! He looks good though – and pretty convincing.

Above – Barbara as a cop and my winning costume. Honestly nothing outlandish but I was thrilled to beat out about a dozen trampy costumes. Nice to know you don’t have to be a tart to win something like that!

For the block party, the dish I brought to pass was the ever-popular Chicken Wing Dip. Also got a new recipe, someone brought an awesome fruit dip:

Caramel Apple Dip

1 tub Caramel sauce ; (used for apples – 16 oz.)
1 package Cream cheese ; softened
1/2 cup Chopped peanuts ; unsalted
4 Granny Smith apples ; sliced

In medium mixing bowl, combine caramel and cream cheese using a hand mixer. Transfer to a glass pie plate and spread with a spatula to smooth and even surface. Sprinkle chopped peanuts on top and use the back of a clean spoon to push them into the sauce just lightly enough to make them stay put.

To serve, place the pie plate on a tray or larger plate, and surround with sliced apples.

NOTE: To keep apples from browning, toss them in a bit of lemon juice just after slicing.

Trick or treat!

Airport ponderings

I love airports. Yes, you heard me right – love them. I know, I’m an oddity. But tell me, where else but the airport could you spot a grown woman wearing bright pink galoshes, a little old man eating out of a homemade lunch pail, a platinum blonde diva with 4-inch heels, an entire family adorned with Mickey Mouse memorabilia and countless retired couples in matching attire? Where else would you find a businessman in a $2000 suit standing in line next to a vacationer in worn out flip flops, cutoff jean shorts and a Laguna Beach t-shirt? Airports are a stop within an itinerary that is not our norm. An interruption in our regular schedule, but a potentially welcome one.

Sure the airport has its share of annoyances. I’m actually at the Charlotte airport right now and already this morning have witnessed the usual ones. The guy on his Blackberry talking too loudly to notice hordes of travelers rushing by him. The intolerably long lines at the coffee/pizza/burger stand (or bathroom). My biggest pet peeve is the casual traveler who is oblivious to others around him/her – walking slowly, gazing around, then suddenly coming to a stop smack dab in the middle of the walkway to dig through his/her luggage for something (presumably his/her boarding pass?).

But there is something else about an airport that’s particularly exciting. Airports are our “holding area” – the place where we wait to be taken to somewhere else. Somewhere hot and sunny or somewhere cold where a warm fireplace awaits us. Somewhere new and adventurous or somewhere comfortable and familiar. Somewhere we’ll get to meet new people or somewhere that reunites us with those we love. And on the return trip, the airport is where we wait to be taken to the place we belong – home.

So as I wait for my flight (to somewhere many would call paradise) I will just sit back and people-watch. Wonder where these people are going, who they are going to see, and what circumstances are bringing them there. And that’s one of my favorite things to do.

Mystery mutt

Our beloved Duke is a mutt – or as someone once corrected me – a “hybrid.” Because we got him from the Friends for Life shelter, and they themselves found him living on the streets, we don’t really know what breeds of dog he is.

Nose to the ground, brown and black coloring, wiry hair – all these traits tell us he has bloodhound in him. But there’s definitely something else – his face does not at all resemble a bloodhound, nor does his body shape. After doing some searches on the Internet, I realized how much his head and face looks like a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

A couple weeks ago I met a lady at the dog park who has one, and after analyzing his head, hip/back leg area, stride and observing him with the other dogs, she agreed that yes, he probably was one. We even noticed that both our dogs had black spots on their tongues!

Here’s an episode of “Breed All About It” that talks about the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and even better, shows them in action. Sorry – video embedding was disabled by Animal Planet so just click on the link to watch it on YouTube.

So what do you think? Could Duke be part Ridgeback?

Free Taste of Home cookbook downloads

OK so recently I had somewhat of a catastrophe – my recipe software decided to reinstall itself, essentially deleting ALL my stored cookbooks and digital recipes. No, I’m not able to recover them, no I don’t have them anywhere with the exception of the ones I’ve shared on my blog (thank you Terry for reminding me of this).

At any rate, in my search for a new program (because there’s no way I’m going to use that one anymore) I came across something pretty awesome. If any of you are fans of the Taste of Home magazines, they have 27 digital cookbooks available for a free download! Simply click the link below and you’ll see them, all available in PDF format for download.

• Link: Taste of Home Digital Cookbooks

So… can anyone recommend a reliable recipe organizer software for Vista?

Blessed be dog forever

View more photos by clicking here

Justin and I took Duke to church today for the Blessing of the Pets – a tradition some Catholic churches observe in conjunction with the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. I think this might have been the first time St. Anne’s had it, but years back we took Lady to our old church’s ceremony.

We’ve seen lots of dogs, cats, mice, lizards, birds, guinea pigs, snakes, tarantulas and all sorts of creatures in the past. This year someone brought a sheep, which got spooked by some dogs (just doing what they find to be natural) then broke its leash and ran away! Fortunately a couple dozen people were able to help round it up before it got out into traffic.

Duke made a lot of new friends, but I think he kind of expected it to be like the dog park where he can run, jump and play. It was hard to keep him restrained but overall he was a good boy. He even laid down a couple of times, surprisingly enough.

It was a beautiful morning, and a lovely ceremony.

A prayer for our pets

O God, you have redeemed all creation
through the incarnation of your eternal Word;
Protect our pets, your creatures,
who provide us with joy
and nonjudgmental companionship;
Give us respect
for all of your Word-redeemed creation,
that we may care for creation
as just and humble stewards;
We pray this in the name of the same Word, Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
~David Bennett