Thanksgiving highlights

We had a great Thanksgiving meal and visit with the family.  Spouse made his famous dressing (with Granny Smith apples, Craisins, pecans, celery and onion) which was off the chain delicious.  We've somehow lost the origin of this much-loved recipe.  I believe I suggested the ingredients to Spouse for our 1st Thanksgiving together, but he says he'd been making this dressing before he met me.  I don't think either of us would bet our paychecks on it, but our ongoing claims make for a funny conversation every year.

Corn casserole in the oven

This year he also made a cannoli cheesecake which was also very good.  I made corn casserole which is also a family favorite.  I've taken it to work for our office Thanksgiving meal several times and everyone loves it so I'm not allowed to bring anything else.

When we arrived at Spouse's sister's house she explained that we'd be having an unexpected visitor for Thanksgiving this year; the cashier from CVS.  Spouse's sister frequents this store because its close to her home so she's familiar with many of the employees.  As she was checking out she'd engaged in a little casual small talk and asked the young woman if she was having Thanksgiving with family or friends.  She explained that her family is from Bangladesh and her parents have not adopted American holidays like Thanksgiving.  She further shared that her older sister (a physician) had a baby recently so their parents were fully consumed with their 1st grandchild.  She said she'd just go home when her shift ended at 6:00.  She's in college but her roommates were all away, spending Thanksgiving with their families.

Spouse's sister suggested that she stop over after her shift and pick up a plate to go, since we would have already finished our meal by 6pm.  The young woman was very appreciative and they exchanged phone numbers.  A few hours later the young woman called to say there'd been a schedule mix-up and her shift was ending at 2pm, not 6pm, and asked if she could come over then.  So, the invitation for a plate to go turned into another seat at the table!  

My plate

But it worked out fine.  The young woman was very nice.  She loved all of the food, but needed explanations as to the ingredients since she'd never eaten some of these dishes/combinations.  

I could see the wheels turning in her head as she struggled to figure out how these diverse people were related, so Spouse's sister introduced us all and explained the connections.  "This is my brother and this is his husband Mark, and this is Mark's aunt Mary, and this is my daughter Anna and this is her husband Randy and their daughter Gabby..."  Anna is white/Italian, Randy is African American, and their daughter is biracial.  Honestly I felt a little proud of our diverse family and everyone's willingness to have a stranger join us for Thanksgiving dinner.  

Later, after we'd all had desert and were relaxing and talking, our nephew Eric was talked into playing his guitar and singing.  Baby Gabby quickly joined in by blowing on a recorder, creating a clash of chords and chaos.  It was a very nice day!

We left on Fri around noon and got home about 2:30.  I put away the pots/pans we'd taken with us, ran the dishwasher, and then began decorating for Christmas.  First the wreaths were placed on the doors, then I removed all the photos from the mantel and put up the candles, garland, dried flowers and fruit.

Later that evening Spouse & I joined Steven & Thad for carol singing and the lighting of the Rehoboth Beach Christmas tree.  

Thad opted not to be in the selfie

It was really cold that night but the turn-out was big and we had fun.  Despite having lived here for nearly 12 years and having visited here prior, we'd never attended this tree lighting and carol singing event.  Then we had dinner at a nearby spot. 

Resolution

Last night Spouse spoke with his sister Mary again.  As it turns out, she had not effectively communicated some important details last week regarding the flea issue at Spouse's mom's house.

From last week's conversation we understood the flea problem to be very recent, but upon further conversation it appears the initial infestation occurred a month ago.  

Kind of an important piece of information to omit!!  The house and yard were treated back then, and again 2 weeks later as a precaution.  No fleas have been observed since then.

So all of the talking, investigating of alternatives, and negotiating with Spouse I went through for the last several days was all for nothing!

Spouse is making the stuffing and I'm making corn casserole tonight, then we'll head out tomorrow morning with Marvin & Walter, arriving at Spouse's mom's house before noon.  I'll pick up my aunt Mary at 1:30 and we are scheduled to have Thanksgiving dinner at Mary & Eric's house at 2:00.  We'll likely leave the boys at Spouse's mom's house while we eat since that will be their usual nap time.  After dinner we'll probably bring the boys to Mary's house so the family can meet Walter.

We'll stay overnight at Spouse's mom's house as usual, and probably head home around noon or possibly after lunch on Fri.  I'm sure we'll have a nice time but I am also sure it will not be without drama.

Family arrival

As usual, we are hosting Thanksgiving at our house again this year.  We are expecting Spouse's sister and her husband and their 3 kids (ages 15, 17, and 21) late tonight.  Then on Thurs we are expecting Spouse's mom, brother and sister-in-law.  So that means 5 people tonight and Wed night, and 8 people Thurs night, plus Spouse & me.  Thank goodness we have 4 full bathrooms and a powder room!

Oddly Spouse did not take off work tomorrow.  I think he was concerned there would be no one in his office/dept if he took off too.  I am also working tomorrow.  So I'm not sure what his family will do tomorrow with both of us at work.  They've been here plenty of times so they know how to get to the grocery store and outlet malls, but its supposed to rain and be quite rainy so I'm not sure that will be an appealing idea.

Now that the "kids" are older I actually enjoy having them visit even more.  All 3 of them are very smart, keep up with current events, and have a good sense of humor so we are sure to have a good time, as we always do.

Spouse and his sister will do the majority of the cooking (turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, mac-n-cheese) and I will make my usual sweet potato shuffle and corn casserole.  Spouse's sister-in-law will bring the pies on Thurs.

Here's hoping that your Thanksgiving and holiday travel go smoothly and are enjoyable for you.

Thanksgiving preparations

Today our office closed at 1pm in preparation for Thanksgiving. I had a property showing appt at 12:30 (just 1 house) so that worked out well for me.

Then I ran home to meet the guy from the gas company who had come to take a look at our gas fireplace. It hasn't worked since last winter. I suspected the pilot light had blown out. Spouse & I had tried to figure out how to restart it but weren't successful, and I surely wasn't going to try and light it with a match! The fireplace guy showed up, flipped the switch, and the flame came on. I couldn't believe it. He turned it off and on several times and it worked just fine. Fortunately he was a nice guy and said he wouldn't charge me for the service visit since he was already in my neighborhood. Sweet!

Next I began cleaning the house. I'd already washed all the sheets and towels and made up the guest room beds, so today was all about vacuuming, dusting, and straightening up.

I realized that Spouse had forgotten a few key ingredients when he was at the grocery store, so I went to the store to pick up the items I needed for tomorrow's big meal. I'm making Paula Deen's corn casserole and sweet potato shuffle, both guaranteed crowd pleasers that are a staple for all of our holiday meals.

Later tonight 1/2 of the family will arrive. Spouse's sister and her husband and their 2 sons are expected between 10:30-11pm tonight. Then tomorrow Spouse's mother, brother, his other brother and sister-in-law, and his neice will arrive before noon. In case you've lost count that's 9 people coming AND STAYING WITH US for 3 days. They're all leaving on Sat.

Lord help us...

I get along great with Spouse's family, but its hard to have 9 people staying in your home for 3 days/nights. There's people sleeping in every room but the kitchen and its never quiet unless everyone's asleep. Then there's 3 meals and multiple snacks per day for everyone. But considering the lack of relationship I have with my parents/siblings, I should be happy to have Spouse's family here.

Here's wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving!

Memorial Day

Its been a great Memorial Day weekend: the official start of the summer season here at the beach. As I mentioned on Fri, this is the 1st Memorial Day weekend in years that we have not had company, but it has been a great long weekend none-the-less.

Sat morning after having our coffee and walking the dog, Spouse & I pulled all of the porch furniture (4 rockers, 2 love seats, 2 side tables, and a bistro table and chairs) into the yard and scrubbed them all down. Then we used the leaf blower to blow all the dust, dirt, leaves, cobwebs, and other assorted bug stuff off the porch. We discovered an easy way to clean dusty cushions: with a scrub brush.
Ours came from the Dollar store. It worked great and brought those cushions back to life. The weather was absolutely spectacular (warm but not hot, clear skies, no humidity, nice breeze) so it was a good day for doing this. When the furniture was dry, we put it all back on the porch and sat and rested for a few minutes.

Then it was on to the back/screened porch. We removed the furniture, used the leaf blower to blow the debris out, scrubbed the cushions, and wiped down the posts. Its a much smaller porch with less furniture so it went much quicker. It felt really good to get our porches and porch furniture cleaned up and ready for the summer season.

Then we put together our new convertible bench/picnic table. We saw it on one of those home shopping channels and couldn't resist it. Its a bench that converts into a picnic table in seconds! Here's an unflattering photo of me sitting on the bench:
Then, in mere seconds, with a simple lift, I convert it...

...into a picnic table for 4 adults or 6 children.

Pretty nifty, eh?

Later that evening we took the convertible car to an indoor/outdoor dinner party at our new friends' Kathy & Jill's. It was a gorgeous evening so we enjoyed assorted olives, cheese and crackers, and cocktails (Cosmos for me) outside on their deck and screened porch. Kathy & Jill are terrific hostesses and served a fabulous dinner of flank steak, salmon, grilled veggies, bow tie pasta with gorgonzola, and green salad with goat cheese. Everything was so tasty! We met lots of great/fun people too.

Sun morning after breakfast and walking the dog, I made 2 pans of Paula Deen's corn casserole to take to George & Steve's cook-out.

The weather was warm again but more humid, but we still drove to the cook-out with the top down. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone, and the corn casserole was a real crowd pleaser as usual. Despite the fact that the invitation read "come at 2:00 and we'll eat at 3:00", they didn't get the burgers, hot dogs and chicken off the grill until 4:30, which meant we had to forfeit the cocktail party we were supposed to attend later that evening. But we had a lot of fun.

Today the weather was quite changeable. We had sunshine, humidity, sprinkles, clouds, rain, thunder and lightening, all within the last 8 hours. Spouse & I decided to do some much needed housecleaning before showering and heading out the door. We made a stop at Home Depot to look at some tile samples, then tried out a new place for lunch we heard about yesterday at the cook-out. Over lunch we discussed some of the details of our upcoming trip to NYC. It seems as if just overnight our roses started blooming, so before it started raining today I took these photos. (Click to enlarge.)

Here are some other cute things (the names of which I can't remember) we have blooming right now.

I hope all of these will survive when they are transplanted, in preparation for the addition. Spouse & I aren't 'good gays' in the sense that we don't love gardening and don't know much about caring for plants. But fortunately we have the internet and friends who know.

I find it curious that my 3-day Memorial Day weekend had nothing to do with remembering fallen soldiers.

I really do appreciate the sacrifice made by those brave men and women, but for some reason it seems to have nothing to do with my thoughts and behaviors during Memorial Day weekend.

Here's hoping that all of you had terrific Memorial Day long weekends!

Crush du Jour: Michael Churchill

Friday fragments

Retro drag
Recently I ran into one of my "mature" (read: retired) friends who appeared to be attempting to bring back a 'club look' from the 90s: denim shorts, yellow construction worker boots, and white socks. Remember this retro drag?
The site of him in this get-up made me involuntarily snicker, so to avoid hurting my friend's feelings, I covered my smiling face with my hand and pretended to cough. It really was amusing!

American Idol

I was rather surprised that Adam didn't win American Idol. I mean, come on! Whether you liked his guyliner and black polished nails or not, you have to admit that he was notably a better singer than Kris. With every genre of music they performed each week, Adam changed his appearance, singing style, and character to match. Kris just seemed to struggle with a few of the musical genres and never changed his appearance. Kris just doesn't have the 'star quality' that Adam has. But the people voted, supposedly. I was the least invested in this season of AI than any other.

Street update
There was more street work on Tues & Wed. Several dump trucks of gravel were delivered, spread, and smoothed. Wed afternoon my neighbor told us he had it on good authority that our street would be paved on Thurs! But Thurs came and no one showed up. Apparently there was some sort of 'paving emergency' and the crew was reassigned. (WTF?) This morning we received word that the paving of our street has been scheduled for next Tues, the 26th. I am keeping all appendages crossed for luck!

Susan Boyle
A friend sent me this which resulted in an involuntary eruption of laughter. One of these is Susan Boyle and the other is Matt Lucas (of Little Britain) imitating Susan Boyle. Can you figure out which is which?

Peekaboo
This week as I glanced out the window at the street reconstruction I saw a construction worker unbuckle his belt, unzip his pants, slip them down an inch or two, reach in and rearrange his 'junk', then pull his pants back up, zip up, and rebuckle his belt, on a public street. Unfortunately he was NOT hot. He looked like a retired member of ZZ Top.

Our neighbor on Oprah

I do not watch TV during the day because I'm working, but last Wed I made an exception. At 4:00 I turned on the Oprah show because I knew my neighbor was going to be on Oprah's "Heroes in Hard Times" episode. My friend and neighbor, Dale Dunning, is known as 'The Soup Lady' because she started Jusst Sooup Ministries 4 years ago, which serves delicious, homemade soup to those in need. From homeless people to those in transition, to those who just don't have anything to feed their families until payday, Dale serves them all. She is truly a beautiful person who works hard yet receives no pay. Her ministry is supported strictly by donations. Check out her site here and consider making a donation which you can feel confident 100% will be spent to help others.

Eruption
A friend sent me this, which also resulted in an eruption of laughter! (Click to enlarge.)

Looks like that elephant may be having an 'eruption' of his own!

Memorial Day weekend
This weekend will be our 1st Memorial Day weekend in years where we will not have company. But we aren't too broken up about it, as this will allow us to attend several local events that we would normally miss if we had company. Fri evening we have dinner with 'the usual suspects' and will celebrate Scott's birthday, Sat evening we're going to a potluck, Sun afternoon we're going to a barbecue, and Sun evening we're going to a cocktail party. These are all things we'd miss if we had company this weekend. We're expecting fairly decent weather so Spouse & I are planning to go to the beach on Sat & Mon.

Hair do
My company has announced early dismissal today in honor of the impending holiday weekend, so I scheduled myself a hair cut appointment at 4:00. Gotta get my hair did before our trip to NYC next week!

Here's wishing everyone a FUN and SAFE Memorial Day weekend!

Crush du Jour: Geronimo Frias

Wonderful weekend highlights

Friday night 'date'
Fri evening Spouse & I went to a screening of the GLBT indy film "Watercolors", which we liked a lot. Synopsis: Circumstances cause the unlikely pairing of a gifted art student with the star of the swim team. Both deal with their blossoming friendship/romance differently, causing tension and hurt feelings. I recommend you add it to your Netflix queue. Afterward we had a late snack at a cozy Italian place we'd never tried before. It felt like a date, with the movie/dinner combo and the cozy atmosphere. It was a lovely night.

Saturday
Spouse & I ran a few errands which included using a $3. off coupon to get our convertible vacuumed and washed. Its amazing how doing so can make your car look newer. Then we looked at tile for the new bathroom at Home Depot, Lowes, and Tile Market. Bad news: we can't get more of the existing tile in the original bathroom. Good news: we found gorgeous tile we both like a lot that is under our tile budget.

Saturday night
I made Paula Deen's corn casserole for the potluck dinner we went to Sat evening at Deb & Greer's. It is always a crowd pleaser, and this was no exception. (Do yourself a favor and double the recipe when you make it.) Everyone brought delicious dishes, and we had a great time visiting with friends and meeting new ones. It was a gorgeous evening so we spent some of it on their deck until the bugs drove us inside.

After the potluck we stopped in at our neighbors Michael & George's party. They were celebrating their 16th anniversary and Michael's 44th birthday. We didn't know anyone except Michael & George, but everyone was friendly and we had a great time talking and getting to know their friends. Many are artists and I got into a fun conversation with a woman named Mary about the shapes typically found in 1950s decor.

Sunday
We slept in until 10:00, thanks to the relaxing sound of rain. It surprised me that I didn't even mind that it was raining. We had a very lazy, relaxing Sun which included drinking coffee, watching TV, talking, and spending time on the computer. It felt great to allow ourselves this day where nothing 'had' to be done. We didn't shower until 5:00.

Sunday evening
Shortly after 6:00 we went to our friend/realtor's house for Thai food. Lee Ann hosts foreign exchange students every year and hosts a party with food from their country. Fortunately for us, this year her students were from Thailand and we were invited to the party. Lee Ann, her daughter, and the 2 students cooked for days and treated us to a terrific Thai feast. Also at the party were several folks we knew casually, and many we'd never met before.

After the party it was still light and Spouse didn't want to go home just yet so drove over to the ocean for a short bit, then stopped for dessert on the way home. I tried to catch up on my blog reading a bit while we watched TV, and then we went to bed.

As I read over this it occurred to me that we had free food and booze on Fri night, twice on Sat night, and again on Sun evening! That's hard to beat!

Crush du Jour: Chris Pine