“Respect the Turkey”

My husband came home and shared a funny little story with me.  There is a couple who attend our church who have taught their kids to yell, “Respect the Turkey!”  everytime they see a place where Christmas has exploded before Thanksgiving has even come.  Gave me a good chuckle…plus it’s fun to yell out the window driving by the decorated houses or store fronts!  Try it!

Thanksgiving is definitely right around the corner.  I’m excited.  Thanksgiving is a time for family, food, fellowship, fun, and more.  Somehow I always get deemed “the organizer” of Turkey Day.  This year I was late getting my email out to the list of possible participants (family and friends like family) and the menu options.  We’re a mixed group of family and friends and people we find out about who don’t have family and need a place to celebrate.  In terms of the menu, we’re kind of split down the middle on who likes what, but we generally go the Turkey and Tacos route.  Some like the traditional turkey-ness fixins, gizzards and all, others prefer a little south of the border chicken taco action.

Here’s a list of some of my must haves:

• Randy Carter’s corn casserole and green bean casserole – my mouth is watering just thinking about it!
• Kathy Fodness’ Minnesota Fruit Salad
• My mom’s cranberry salad, pumpkin and chocolate pies
• My mom’s mashed potatoes, only this year she’s passing the baton to me to be the Queen Potato Masher…yikes, the pressure!
• My apple pies – not trying to brag, but I really do love my apple pies.  I love the process of carting out my apple peeler/slicer/corer thingy out of it’s box, getting it all set up and then letting the juices fly! 

There’s more each year of delectible delights in the food category and I’m always anxious to add to my list of favorites.

We gather together, eat until we’re stuffed, talk, laugh, cry, remember, play games, eat some more, talk, laugh, cry, play games…and sometimes wrap it all up with a trip to the movies. 

Thanksgiving – a time to reflect on God’s blessings in our lives.  A time for family to remember how important it is to remember family!  A time to watch new little generations of kids start to bond together as cousins and friends.  A time to see how time has passed as the “used to be the youngest” generations look around and start to see a few grey hairs and how gravity happens to everyone.  A time to make new memories.  A time to honor those who are no longer with us.  Yes, thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday and I’m really looking forward to it!

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!  My this year provide you with many opportunities to reflect and count your blessings.

Note:  What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving traditions?

…and on the lighter side

Eggnog Lattes and Holiday Cups! Woo hoo!

My day started with a phone call from Elise (who currently works at Starbucks)

“Mom, I just thought you would like to know, Egg Nog Lattes are back and so are the Holiday cups!”

Hooray for the little things in life.  I got myself ready in record time and buzzed on up to her store to get an EggNog Latte in a red holiday cup on my way to work this morning.  Yum! 

And, my brother sent me an email with the picture below…so, here’s a holiday idea for you:

Happy day and it’s only 51 days and counting until Christmas! 

 

It’s official…

…Rob and I are “empty nesters”.  It’s definitely a life transition, but not in a bad way, just in a “wow, this is different, now what?” kind of way.

In the spring of this past year, our house grew fuller, Robbin moved home to save money.  It was the first time in several years that all five of us were under one roof.  Interesting times.  Somehow having 4 bathrooms in the house wasn’t enough again.  “Hey, who borrowed my tanktop?”  “Have you seen my (insert many items here)?”  “Mom, I put my keys on the table, where did you move them to?” and other various phrases like these become common place once again.

Daily screening of what was being DVR-ed occured and big discussions over what could be deleted and what shows were most important happened often.  Rob pretty much had to finagle through mass quantities of movies and shows to carve out any teensie bit of space to record his sporting events.

Over the summer things were even more intense as we moved into full boat wedding-ness.  Evenings were spent pouring over to-do lists with Robbin and managing to keep some semblance of order with all the comings and goings and eatings of the family.

Then August came, Robbin and Jake got married, Elise moved into her own apartment.  Bethany began preparing to move to her place as well.  Last week, Bethany moved out into her place.  (At least the majority of her stuff is out, her room still has plenty of remnants of Bethany left.)

So, we went from a house filled with consistent commotion to quiet serenity all within the span of about six months. Here’s a sloppy attempt at poetry to share a bit of my thoughts today with you.

Empty nesters are what we are, it’s that time that used to be so far.

How can it have happened this fast, why do all I think about is the memories of the past?

Many people have walked this road, why does it feel like such a heavy load?

There are a ton of fun things to do, lots of hobbies to investigate, both old and new.

My girls are all launching into lives of their own, it’s awesome to see how much they’ve grown.

The blessings I count are too numerous to tell, I’m extremely grateful my marriage is swell!!!

It takes a lot longer for the house to be a mess, laundry-cooking-cleaning for two is not a big deal, I guess.

I have a secret weapon – homemade cooking, or Costco shopping, I let them know and they come looking!

Yes, life is looking quite different for us, and it requires an extra dose of trust.

I pray daily for me crew – Jake, Robbin, Bethany and Elise too!

The quiet is welcome sometimes for sure, but this phase of life really has no cure.

It will continue to change, it’s true, but I’m determined to be joyful and to avoid being blue.

Rob and I are beginning the “someday when…projects now”, imagine, we could actually be organized – wow!

So to all the future empty nesters out there, really there’s nothing to prepare.

You just have to walk thru it, and somehow you just do it.

I’m not a poet, that much you can tell, but this expresses a bit of what I’m thinking well!

To all the empty nesters out there – it’s a brand new adventure!  Embrace it!

Trying to keep it all together!

Work has been crazy busy lately.  Trying to keep my head above water.  My friend Zhanna sent this to me in an email.  It made me chuckle as that’s pretty much how it’s been going lately!    It can only get better, right?! 

Whatever! (A happy Thursday chuckle)

Americans find the following words or phrases the most annoying read more.

And for a bonus laugh or two, read the comments to the article.

My personal annoying habit (that I can’t break myself of no matter how hard I try) is using “was like” in my daily diatribes, as I regale the happenings in my life in verbal form.   I tell myself, “Drop the use of  ‘was like’, seriously!”  and before I know it I’m in full boat usage of the words…”and then, Rob was like, Carol Ann, what did you do to my computer…and I was like, why is always my fault…”  you get the picture. 

What is one to do to break these annoying habits one has?

Ideas, anyone?