just like the

little things can get me really worked up, it can take little things to put me in a happy place.  I like running my dryer when it's chilly out so I can see the smoke/whatever coming out of the vent.  No, there's nothing great about that but it's what it means.  I spent a lot of years working for the county.  Each of those days I wished I didn't have to be there.  In the mornings when I'd drop Eric off at school, I'd see the other mothers who weren't wearing dresses and pantyhose (we were required to wear pantyhose at one point, and some Fridays we couldn't dress casual if there was a chance we'd end up in court that day).  Anyway, back to the other mothers, the mothers who would drop their kids off and even volunteer at the school.  I'd see them and wish I could wear jeans and not have to work.  I made a promise when I was watching them doing their non-working thing that if I could ever not have to work, I would volunteer in some way.  Here we are now and I'm outside staring at my dryer vent.  The dryer vent means that I'm home and not sitting at a desk on the county's time.  See?  It's the little things that make me happy.

Speaking of work, I used to work at JC Penney.  On long days I'd come home for lunch and take a nap.  On days I went in later, I'd try to get a nap in the afternoon.  One thing that always helped me sleep was soap operas.  They were so boring they became my midday napping material.  I always ended up on one, Days of Our Lives.  I don't know why but for some reason it always ended up on NBC.  It's really similar to now.  My morning station is NBC (unless I need some kind of motivation and then it's HGTV or Food Network).  While Eric was in school it helped me keep up with time.  Now I think it's just out of habit or comfort.  The other day I walked in the room and Days of Our Lives was on.  I didn't know what was going on but I knew I needed to pause it for a picture of the ridiculous characters.  What the heck?

And this is daytime drama?

Another perk of staying home, besides watching quality television, is being able to bake at anytime.  Yesterday morning I made banana bread.  We've almost finished one loaf and I'm keeping another for us.  I called a friend to stop by this morning so I could give her some and I'll probably run the last loaf to West Columbia today.  Again, it's the little things that can make me happy.

 Tomorrow's topic: how easily little things get me worked up and make me flip out.

and just like

that, Thanksgiving came and went.  We did things a little differently this year.  We had company, in-laws and a brother-in-law.  I made plenty of food and even forgot to put one of the sides out (corn casserole).  I made my first turkey and it was very moist.  I pulled the neck out and was looking for the giblets but couldn't find any.  I went ahead and stuffed the bird with plenty of vegetables and seasoned it and stuck it in the oven.  Approximately 3.5 hours later, we had a juicy turkey. 

Here are the desserts.  I made pecan pie bars and baked frozen apple and pumpkin pies.  I hate pumpkin pie but Cosme eats it so there it was.  Guess which pie wasn't touched and got thrown away this morning?  If you said pumpkin, you are correct.

As everything was coming together and being pulled out of the oven, Strat waited patiently.

He was watching everything going on.

I think I was taking too long but he wasn't about to give up his seat.

Everything went well and Strat eventually gave up his seat.  When I was putting everything away and getting the last of the meat scraped off and put in a container, I found the giblets.  Uh oh.  They were neatly packed in a little plastic bag, wedged in a crevice somewhere.  Oh well, nobody knew and nobody complained.

Last night I ordered Chili's and went to pick it up.  I saw this sign and thought it needed to be shared.  I guess they got tired of being courteous, along with getting an order right.

Now I'm off to get busy on my Christmas lists.

i made two sides

yesterday, leaving me with three sides and one dessert to prep today.  That's what I'm in the middle of right now.  I baked pecan pie bars earlier this morning, I just pulled a sweet potato casserole out of the oven and I have potatoes coming to a boil as I type.  I do not like sweet potatoes.  Everybody goes on about sweet potato fries and to me, it's still a sweet potato and I don't like them.  I eat sweet potatoes one way.  Sweet potato casserole... and especially hold the marshmallows...YUCK.  My sweet potatoes have to be topped with a crumbly streusel mix.  So this morning I was mixing the topping.  It looked different than normal.  It was really wet, really, really wet.  I double checked the recipe.  Instead of adding 3/4 of a STICK of butter, I added 3/4 of a CUP of butter.  (That's 1 1/2 sticks versus 3/4 of a stick... double.) 

See the difference?  The bowl on the right is correct.

I hurried and mixed the proper topping to get it in the oven.  Then I started thinking.  What would happen if I put my mistake on a sheet and baked it.  I did.  Can we say "happy accident"?

I had a few bites.

the tree is

up, garland is on the mantle, a turkey is in the refrigerator and I'm ready to finish getting ready for the holidays.  I've never made a turkey and this will be my first time.  I've done some researching and I think I know what I'm going to do.  Today I'll probably make a side or two to pop in the refrigerator.  I've got 34 sticks of butter.  Tomorrow I'll probably make pecan pie squares and another couple of sides.  I'll probably pull out a few more decorations today, along with doing some dusting and floor cleaning.  I really need to get a lot done today which after a great sleep, should be fairly easy.  My one complaint is the trash pickup.  I hate that our trash day is on Monday and Thursday.  This means I won't have trash pickup again until Monday.  So I'm trying to put everything I can in recycling bags which gets picked up tomorrow.  I'm pretty sure I'll have to buy a new can by Saturday.  I don't have any related pictures to share so I'll just share these:

I don't know what the green spots are on the first two pictures.  Maybe they're green orbs.  Or maybe they're reflecting off something.  I've seen blue orbs float across the room here at home but I don't know what green would be.  I'm not even going to get started on this because I'm home alone.  If there were going to be orbs though, I'm surprised there wouldn't be any in the following picture.  I was between a church and a cemetery.

I've been wanting to get out and play with night/lights like this and with it getting dark at 6:00, it's easier on me with my 8:30 bedtime.

i'm taking a break

for lunch.  Speaking of food, I sent a message to a cousin on Facebook.  I found out she has the cookbooks of my dad's grandmother and she's sending me more recipes for the recipe blog.  This will be cool.  Speaking of grandmothers, I used one of my grandmother's recipes for a photography thing the other day (see pie recipe picture).  I thought I'd stick with the same theme for the still life assignment.

Speaking of photography, my mother crossed over to the dark side.  She got a Nikon.  We might not be able to share lenses but I'll have a new partner for a photo walk and guess what.  She's the one that suggested we go on a photography outing.  I told her I'd think of places.  I started thinking of all the wildlife areas around here and suddenly the zoo popped in my head.  That might be a good one.  Speaking of animals, it sounds like one of the cats is trying to eat my Christmas tree (yes, it's up).  I better go stop a possible situation.

not only did i deserve

a trip to Moeller's Bakery after my trip to the dentist, but I figured I needed a pie too.  Not really.  Like I said, I'm trying to work my way through my grandmothers' recipes.  I found a chocolate pie recipe and wanted needed to make it.  (Face it, the recipe blog really needs pictures.)

As for the pie filling, I thought it was really good and I whipped up some cream for the top.  Let's talk about that crust though.  blgh.  The next time I need a pie crust I will probably not turn to the frozen section at the grocery store.  I've NEVER had a problem with store bought pie crusts but this one had a weird taste to it.  When I'm having to actually cook the pie filling and not pour it from a can, I should take the time to make a good crust.  Next time I'll try one of the crust recipes on the following pages.  I think I'm done with store bought crusts.  This one just wasn't good.  Maybe there's a better brand, I don't know.  yuck.  There has to be a better brand.  Want to see how the pie turned out?  Click on the link to the recipe blog.  Since I couldn't stand it and had to cut a slice before it was completely set, it's not the prettiest slice of pie.  Actually, it's technically not even a slice.  It's a blob of pie but it was a tasty blob.

before i totally drop

the topic of my tooth, I figured I needed to share what I used for my temporary filling.  I already told Mom and Lauren about it so I'm just going to put the info out there for the world to use, I mean since the dentist went on about how well it held up.  It's less than $6 at Walgreens.

Now, moving on to other matters.  Remember the photo challenge I was doing for a few months?  I'm still doing it I just haven't been posting it here.  Sometimes the pics make it to Facebook and sometimes they just end up on Instagram.  Either way, I've created an Instagram tab up above that links directly to any and all photos I've posted to Instagram.

Next up on today's agenda, after the usual chores of course, I bought a new memory card for my camera and I can't get it to work with my card reader.  When I had my last HP, I couldn't connect my camera directly to the laptop to get my images.  I had to change up my system, get a card reader and come up with new steps to accessing my images.  Now that system is messed up so I'm having to come up with a new system.  I hate that.  I liked the way I was doing it but I have to find something convenient and easy.

Today I'd also like to post a recipe or two to the recipe blog.  I'd be super stoked if I came across my grandmother's lemon cake recipe so I could not only post it but bake it too.  I'm not getting my hopes up.

i'm stopping in for a

little update.  Remember that magical unicorn I mentioned?  I think he was eaten by the fire-breathing dragon.  So I didn't get an appointment with the dentist yesterday but I did get a haircut.  (Woohoo!)  This morning was my appointment with the dentist.  I was really hoping that a filling replacement would work, but I had doubts.  I sat down and the tech did a couple of x-rays... "you probably need a root canal".  He didn't know for sure but sent the dentist in to check.  (By the way, the dentist kept going on at how well I did with the temporary filler from Walgreens.  I said I guess I missed my calling... yeah, like I'd EVER dig around in someone's mouth.)  Yep, it was confirmed, kind of.  It looked like I needed a root canal UNLESS... they got down in there and saw that the roots/nerves/whatever were okay.  So basically, worst case scenario I was leaving with a root canal but definitely no less than a temporary crown.  After all the bad news and headache I've endured over the last day or two, guess what.  My roots/nerves/whatever looked fine.  They want me to make sure that in the next few weeks, while I'm waiting for my permanent crown, that I have no heat sensitivity in that area.  So my prayers are being said, my fingers are crossed and my lucky charms are working at full speed to avoid a root canal.  I was so happy after leaving Dr. Schleicher's office, I stopped at Moeller's Bakery for petite fours.  Not only do I deserve them but hey, somebody has to help him stay in business.  In the meantime, I'm accumulating so many crowns, I'm starting to think I'll be mistaken for a pageant queen.

i'd like to say that

yesterday ended on a stress free note but I'd be lying if I did.  Everything was fine.  We were exhausted, went out for dinner and we were going to come home and pass out.  I was going to wake up this morning, clean while I catch up on dvr and then go for a haircut.  It all changed when we got home and I went to floss my teeth.  A filling fell out.  I don't like going to the dentist.  The people are friendly and it doesn't hurt but it seems like it always turns into something major for me.  Toothache?  Ah, I need a root canal (and let's face it, I did bust into a fit of laughter during the jackhammer portion of that root canal).  I want to floss?  Ah, a filling falls out.  I realize there are far worse things I could be facing but the dentist is just one of those things I dread.  I wait for bad news.  I stress over it.  I make myself sick.  You know those times when you stop and think "wow, everything's great right now" and then you all of a sudden remember it's not?  I had a dream the dentist looked at my tooth and said "oh, I don't see anything wrong.  It was just an old filling and you don't even need it anymore."  Then I woke up and had that moment.  Anyway, the office opens at 7:30 so my plan is to be dressed and ready to go by then.  I'll call and they'll tell me to come on in.  I'll stop for gas, giving me just enough time to miss traffic.  I'll get there, they'll look at it and say "Ah, an easy fix!  And you know what, Melanie?  It's about time.  You deserve it."  Then I'll ride off on my magical unicorn...

Speaking of unicorns and happy endings, here's a picture from yesterday.  It looks like I had a nasty lens or sensor but it was rain drops.

Now it's off to start my day by doing the litter box.  It can only go uphill from here, right?

last night was a

lot of fun and I even have my voice today.  (Last time I couldn't talk for several days after.)  Anyway, it was so much fun.  It's great when we make the people scream.  The preteen boys aren't as much fun because they try to be all cool and talk to us when they pass.  For the most part, we got them.  Girls are the best, girls of all ages.  One group was great because I scared them and they ran then the next girl scared them and got in front of them.  They couldn't go anywhere because they didn't realize I had followed them (standing right behind them and in a not so friendly voice, hissing/commanding for them to go) and they were sandwiched in and screaming.  It was great.  It was times like that where it was so hard to keep from laughing but once they left, we broke down.  We posted that it was for ages 10 and up but some parents insisted on bringing their little kids through.  For people like me, it was easier because I could see better and knew when to tone it down a little...I said a little, but other people who where hidden had no idea what was coming.  We warned the parents when the kids looked too young that it might not be best for them but some insisted.  A few only made it part of the way while others might have gone home a little traumatized.  I still think the best scream I ever heard was from a few years ago when a girl was half through and screamed, "I THOUGHT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CHURCH!!!"  That, was good.

Here are a few pictures

Me, on the way to church.  The glasses kind of kill the whole look but I had to see to get there.

Me, set up in my spot, warning everyone that "EVIL AWAITS YOU".  Speaking of my spot, I brought an old rocking chair that belonged to my grandmother.  It was great because it has an eerie creak to it.  And no, I didn't always look like Alice Cooper, just this shot.

This is the jar of brain and rats I put together.

And here's the graveyard after we added the music but before the moss, fog and werewolf were added.

I have a few funny stories but I'll probably share those later.  This post is getting a little lengthy and I need to get some breakfast.