today is

Thanksgiving and I was really worried about how it'd turn out.  Everything ended up fine but I was SERIOUSLY doubting it all.  You know that whole "if something can go wrong, it will"?  Here's the rundown of each dish... yes, EACH dish, in the order of their prep and the story behind it.

Broccoli and rice casserole.  I started this Tuesday night.  I had my broccoli in the microwave while my rice was cooking.  I noticed the broccoli was brown so I diagnosed it as freezer burn and threw it out (into the garbage that was picked up earlier that afternoon and won't be picked up again until Monday since today's a holiday).  I couldn't run to the store since the rice was cooking so I figured I'd go ahead and saute my onion, celery and mushrooms.  oops, I forgot mushrooms.  The rice finally finished.  Did I mention I cooked it wrong and it was a little tough in spots?  Oh well, the casserole still had to bake so I figured that'd do it.  I made it to the store for more broccoli and mushrooms.  The casserole finally finished, but the rice was still questionable.

Wednesday morning I started on the rest, after I ran my errands and helped count money at the church.

Sweet potato casserole.  Everything was fine with it until I realized I forgot half of the melted butter in the crumble top.  I scooped as much crumble as I could off and drizzled a little melted butter over what was left while finishing off the removed crumble with the forgotten butter.  It was taking a while to cook but when it was finally done, the edges looked a little overcooked while the crumble looked like less of a crumble and more of a... I don't know, moist crumble?  Whatever.  It was done and I wasn't going back to the store.

Corn casserole.  Total flop.  It went straight to the garbage.

I scrambled and found a recipe for a potato casserole made with hash browns.  I think it might have been my favorite.

Pecan pie.  I followed the recipe but wondered if maybe I should have added more pecans.  It wasn't the prettiest but I can't stay away from it.

Apple pie.  Easy enough.  It was frozen and all I had to do was bake and add the crumble topping.

Turkey.  Turned out pretty good, I guess.  I didn't eat any.  I just eat the ham.  But, I did get sidetracked when I put it in the oven because 1) I was operating on three hours of sleep and 2) I was excited about a Black Friday deal I was in the middle of getting and... I left the refrigerator door open and realized it three hours later.  But the turkey was fine and already in the oven, along with the plastic package of innards I left in last time.  WHY DON'T THEY PUT IT WHERE I CAN FIND IT???

Ham.  It was fine, except the part where the juices leaked out into the oven and started burning.

Green bean casserole.  I didn't have french style and had to use cut.  No biggie.

Gravy.  I just use a jar of Heinz.  I know I bought two jars of it a few weeks ago but they were nowhere to be found.  I had one can... that expired November of 2013.  I had to run to Walmart for gravy.  There wasn't any turkey gravy so I had to buy two things of chicken gravy.  I got home and realized I had a thing of chicken and a thing of beef.  They got combined and all the gravy eaters ate it.

Stuffing.  It was Stove Top and couldn't have been easier and none of the stuffing eaters complained.

Cranberry sauce.  It slid out of the can SO easily.

Rolls.  Straight from the freezer and done in 10 minutes.

Wine.  Went down pretty quickly after all of that.

I wasn't tired when I started typing this but reliving it all has hit me hard.  I think I might be ready for bed now.

i was without

my car for a couple of weeks.  My fuel pump went out... in the Kroger parking lot.  That was awesome.  Long story short, it's fixed and that makes me happy.

In other news, I can't wait for this week to be over.  Did I just think that?  Not only is there a funeral this week, there will be people I don't care to see this week.  On the other hand, when this week is over, that means it will be the week of Thanksgiving and I don't really know if I'm ready for that.  Okay, instead of skipping ahead, can we back up?  Can we back up a week or two?  Let's make that one week because Eric was sick the week before that.  But last week... yeah.  Last week was awesome.  I was getting my stuff taken care of and it was about me.  It sucks not having a vehicle to be able to jump and go but it's also awesome.  I stayed home and TCB.  Like I said, it was all about me.  So last week made me realize something.  I need more time that's all about me.  I know people won't get it.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  When someone doesn't work, everyone assumes they have nothing to do and are sitting waiting for something to do.  Wrong.  I was so on top of my stuff last week.  You know why?  I was stranded and couldn't take on anything else.  (Not that I'm wishing to be without my car again... let's get that jinx out of the way real quick.)

So, other than being back to functioning normally, here are a few things that have been going on:
 - my Christmas tree is up and there are a few presents under it
 - I threw my tree skirt in the garbage this morning because Lucille threw up on it, missing any presents 
 - the cats are driving me nuts
 - I ordered and received film for the Polaroid camera, a roll of color and a roll of black and white
 - I need to order more film for the Polaroid camera (and btw, that stuff costs a lot more than it did in the 80's)
 - I'm probably making banana bread today or tomorrow
 - I'm probably eating several loaves of banana bread today or tomorrow

That's about it.  Here are a couple of Polaroids of the cats.  I know they're not good but you try using a Canon digital for years and then using a Polaroid after not using one for 20+ years.

last weekend

I went on a Capture Crawl (aka photo walk) with a Houston group I'm a member of.  This was my first actual outing with them and I had a fun time.  We went to a Day of the Dead Festival.  Basically, there's a group of people with cameras, walking around taking pictures of stuff.  A couple of days ago I joined the fb group for the people who go on the crawls.  So it's a place to talk and post pictures.  I haven't worked up the nerve to post anything yet.  Since I'm so scared, I thought I'd start small and "privately".  Here are a few I took.  (Some of these might eventually make it to the page and some more than likely won't.)

I'm not totally impressed with my images but it did get me pumped up about wanting to do more.  I'm really going to try and make it out to Brazos Bend this weekend or maybe somewhere else, I don't know.  In related news, I've ordered two packs of film for the old Polaroid.  I can't wait for them to get here.  On the downside, those packs are 8 pictures each and about $25 a pack so messing up would really suck.  On the upside, I know where to get film now and I have a lot of ideas.

we had a lot

of fun on Halloween but I'll talk about that later.  For now, I have to talk about Maggie's favorite thing to do.  Chase dragonflies.

A dragonfly has been spotted.

(Archer's in the picture too.  He's the black dog in the shade.)  And how do you like my unburied wire fence?  I have my reasons for not wanting it buried.

Get it!

I really wish I would've gotten these with my camera instead of my phone.  Maybe next time... there WILL be a next time.  I think I enjoy watching as much as she enjoys trying to get them. 

Every once in a while Archer will help out but Maggie's a little more obsessed with it.  To honor her obsession, I made a meme for her.

We also will let the dogs sleep in their cage inside at night, to keep them from barking.  Here's a picture we got of them the other day.  If Archer doesn't look comfortable, I don't know what does.