Monday, Nov. 21, 2016

[4kidsmom]

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving Week!

[4kidsmom]

Good morning!

I had a great weekend--I spent it at an event called Time Out for Women.  It's like a religious retreat--a weekend of wonderful speakers and music.  I really enjoyed it!

Church yesterday was good also.  I'm ready for this week!

It's a rainy day out there but that's good.  Our water year starts Oct. 1 and we've only had the one snowstorm so I'm very grateful for the rain.  Supposed to be stormy all week which is a great thing.

Today will be busy!  We usually celebrate Thanksgiving with family so when I can, I like to make a "mini" Thanksgiving dinner for my family.  And today's the day!  This morning I will make the pies then get the turkey in the oven (it's a 9 pounder so doesn't need to go in for awhile), then do the rest of the food.  I've also got laundry to do so I'll get as much of that done as i can.  That will pretty much be my day!

Today I am grateful for rain!

And a fun Thanksgiving question:  what's your favorite Thanksgiving side dish?  Mine is stuffing!

Merilee

[Alice]

Happy Monday, as well!

It will be a short work week for which I am thankful. We're not doing a big Thanksgiving bash this year. There is so much illness on my side of the family that we're letting it slide. If things look better by Christmas, then we'll think about something bigger.

But we are going to MIL's house (this is my hubby's side of the family) for Thanksgiving dinner, a small dinner for a group of 7 (four of them are my family). I'll cook the turkey and have it cut up and everyone will bring something to pass around. We're going to friends' house on Friday and we will help them eat their leftovers from Thursday and probably play a few games.

My college kids (two) will be home and my third child who is teaching in Honduras will not come home. We won't be doing any black Friday shopping this year so it might be a quiet Friday morning. The college kids are getting close to finals so they will be studying and putting the final touches on term papers and such.

I was going to move furniture around over the weekend but I didn't have the helpers I needed so that will be done maybe on Tues. or Wed. when my son is home to help. He is a strong young man and I know he would be willing to help. It will take him no time at all to move things for me.

We had a hodge podge lunch yesterday. I had some sweet potato mash and mashed potatoes to use up, then I realized the lettuce needed to be eaten, then I saw a frozen dinner my MIL gave us from Aldi--lemongrass, kale, chicken and rice, and some leftover lasagna. Not enough of anything but enough for a little buffet. I decided to cook some pork steak in my new Instant Pot and it was so good and tender. I made some gravy out of the dripping and it was so good. Everyone took what sounded good to them and we still have leftovers! The lasagna was popular and the lemongrass, kale, rice, chicken was also popular. So was the tender pork and gravy. I guess everyone's tastes were filled with so many options!

I will say that the Instant Pot has really earned a spot in my kitchen and I was so apprehensive about buying it! MIL was equally impressed as she commented on how tender the pork was. Delicious!

Alice

[pamgonzo]

Good Morning Ladies!

Glad to see you Merilee and Alice! Sounds like you both had nice weekends! Mine was equally as nice. We went to see Wicked again, and had a nice time with our friends. We grabbed dinner with them, and it was so nice to have a relaxing evening and just enjoy the moments.  I hadn't realized how long it had been since we didn't have to be "on" and just enjoy. It was just do needed.

Yesterday we went to a movie. (The Inferno, with Tom Hanks - it was ok, but a little intense for me). It was just a really chill weekend together.

Last night I started a crockpot of oatmeal for hubby. I'm not an oatmeal girl, so this recipe will get him through the week.

This morning I got my Black Friday shopping done on line at Kohl's. Got quite a few gifts taken care of. That feels like such a relief. I spent just under $400, and saved more than $750 plus got $105 in Kohl's cash, so I can finish up my shopping with that hopefully. Even though I spent a lot, I feel like it was good deals. There are a few things that have mail in rebates, so I need to figure out how that works. That will $48 back for that, and also I used E-bates, so at some point I will get a check back for $29.-ish.

I started the last load of laundry, so I will need to get that into the dryer and fold and put away.

Hubby has an event to attend this early evening, so he will be home slightly after dinner. He said to go ahead and eat on my own, but I will kind of lag on that and make sure I make enough for both of us just in case he gets home hungry.
And, what will that dinner be?? Good question! Maybe some pasta. Hmmm, something to think about.

Not too much else happening here. Hope everyone has a great day!

Enjoy your storms Merilee!
Pam

[Alice]

Pam, you reminded me of Saturday morning that I forgot to mention.

It was so windy on Friday and we had warm weather (67 to low 70s). I worked all day and was looking forward to going home to finish a bit of raking but then we had a thunderstorm and a lot of rain about 5 minutes before I left work. It was raining too hard to do any yard work so I did other inside stuff.

I woke up Saturday morning and looked outside to see the front and back yard FULL OF LEAVES. We have worked for WEEKS cleaning up leaves and I was so dismayed at the amount of work that had blown into our yard that I was close to tears. By this time it had dropped 40 degrees and it was snowing, sleeting. Hubby said before it got any more wet we needed to go out and clean up the leaves. Mind you, this is about 7:30 in the morning. So we gobbled our breakfast and headed out in the wet snow and sleet and raked and blew leaves. We worked for about an hour and got a long ways but it was really snowing and sleeting so we had to stop. We were dressed warmly and got much of it done but that was not what I was intending to do on my Sat. morning!

Alice

[pamgonzo]

OH Alice!
I'm so sorry your Saturday morning wasn't what you had planned. That snow and it's accompanying weather was not welcome at all!

It seems like no matter whether the first snow and cold comes in September or in November, I am never ready for it! And, again, I am not ready for it! 

Hopefully all the leaves are finished for the season this year!
Pam

[Rooney]

Good afternoon ladies!

Sounds like you all had good weekends!  Well aside from the leaf dilemma, Alice, so sorry about that.  I miss having trees up close to the house in the summer, but I guess it is not much to miss in the fall.

We had a usual weekend around here.  Lately that seems to be spending Saturday afternoon running errands.  Went to pick up the recumbent bike that finally came in to the sporting goods store.  It took way longer than it was supposed to, then they were supposed to deliver it and that didn't happen.  On the plus side because we waited so long, we got like 20% extra off.  Ran by Lowe's to get some home maintenance stuff for some projects we are working on.  Then went by Walmart and the grocery for a few things.  By then the afternoon was gone and just came home and made a quick and easy dinner.  Got the bike put together on Sunday.  Or I guess I should say my 10 year old did, almost by himself!!  He loves following instructions and is really amazing at this kind of thing.

Around 10:30 last night the electricity decided to go off.  Why....no clue.  No storm or anything.  So hubby got the smaller generator out, he still has a part on order for the bigger one.  The smaller one didn't cut it.  We could keep the fridges on and a few lights.  Of course, once he got that settled, the electricity was running again by midnight.  In the process though, it did something to one of the fridges and we had to unload everything into another.  Hubby did a little trick he learned from a repairman and was finally able to "reset" the fridge and it is now working again.  So I guess today, while it is empty, I should wipe it out before reloading it.

Got another delivery this weekend and you might remember the one I got the other day being damaged.  Well this one shows up and the box was empty.  Hubby showed me how to solve the problem via chat option with the company and they fixed it right then.  Easy.  Just weird to open an empty package.

Kids just finished lunch and I just finished my protein bar and fruit smoothie.  We are going to get back to school here in a few.  Looking forward to having a 4 day weekend with my sweetie off work and home with me!

Merilee, this isn't a side dish, but my mom always makes a dessert called Tea Time Tassies (kinda like mini pecan pies, but yummier).  Guess that would be my favorite Thanksgiving special food.

Pam, I will check out the Kohl's site today as well and see what I can find.  Sounds like you did very well!  Would love to hear what all you got and what kind of deals they were!

Have a good day!

Lindsay

[pamgonzo]

I do feel like I got a good start on shopping Lindsay.

I picked up a couple of King sized plush throws for $8.99 each (regular 39.99)
A mens button down shirt reg. 36. for 9.99
A couple other men's shirts regular 44. for 14.99 each
A ladies quilted vest reg. 44. for 14.99
ladies flannel shirt reg. 36. for 9.99
ladies v-neck sweater reg. 40. for $9.99
Ladies v-neck tee reg. 18. for 4.99
Ladies turtleneck sweater reg. 36. for 12.99
Men Nike running shoes reg. 60. for 29.99
Mens dress pants reg. 48. for 14.99
3 piece hard sided luggage set reg. 349.99 for 99.99
Quesadilla maker reg. 29.99 for 21.99 with 12. mail in rebate
Electric can opener reg. 24.99 for 21.99 with 12 m.i.r.
Hand Blender reg. 24.99 for 21.99 with 12. m.i.r.
Panini Maker reg. 39.99 for 21.99 with 12 m.i.r.
3 pair of mens flannel pajama bottoms 2 @ reg. 24. for 9.99 1 @ reg. 30 for 12.99
suspenders reg. 14. for 11.90
womens long sleeve tee reg. 18 for 4.99
womens workout tee reg. 20 for 7.99
mens novelty tee reg. 14 for 4.99

They have an additional 15% off code that is automatically applied. Really great deals!
Mostly gifts, but a couple of things for myself that I needed as well.

I am especially happy with the luggage. One piece will be for my son and the other two for my husband, so gifts for two people in one!
Did anybody else pop in and check out their sale?

Pam

[Rooney]

Wow Pam, you snagged some good deals!  The luggage deal you got was amazing!

I looked around on the site last night, but my day was just too full yesterday to put enough thought into it.  Hoping it lasts more than just yesterday.