I made the dressing for

Thanksgiving and everybody ate it so I'm calling it a success.

I had Cosme try it before I put the egg in and he liked it.  He mentioned that it was sweet but it was good.  I told him I remember Cindy telling me way back that Myra said something about it being good to add sugar to stuff.  That's probably why she eliminated all those biscuits and toast and went with cornbread packets, for the sweetness.  Of course I had to go and post my updates and notes on the recipe site so that I'll remember what I'm supposed to do next year.  Maybe I should also make a note somewhere that the turkey needs about an ounce of injection per pound and needs to fry 4 minutes per pound.  Done.  Now we shouldn't have to look it up next year and can just look here.  I guess I still need to make a note somewhere that it's here and we don't have to search...

I was scheduled to do portraits over the weekend and was thinking of places to do them.  On Thursday after our food settled and while the Cowboys were doing whatever that was, Cosme came with me to check out one of the parks but it's still closed from the flooding.  We still had light so we did a quick loop through East Columbia and found this building next to the Carrie Nation historical marker.

I knew we needed to go there for the portraits but I also needed permission.  A few phone calls (and hours) later, the owners were located and permission was granted.  It's really a cool building.  Peggy said it was an old post office.  I got there a few minutes early so I walked around the building to check it out.  I was surprised when I saw how pretty the back of the building was.

I wasn't going to share this pic since I'm probably using it as my photo challenge pic in a few days.

The house is also across the street from the paddling trail.  I'm guessing this is the entrance or exit?  It's cool looking and I really appreciate and like to admire nature and all but I really don't like for it to touch me... especially when I'm by myself.

I think too many run-ins as a kid with banana spiders and their webs had me a little on edge.

After Cosme and I started talking about ghosts out there, I sent Dad a text about East Columbia and Samsung expected something more exotic.

I'm sure Africa and Jerusalem have nothing on East Columbia and its ghost stories.  Please.

Oh, speaking of probably being scarred from banana spiders as a kid, I was cleaning the bathroom the other day.  Not thinking about the shirt with long tassels that I left hanging on the side of the tub (that had clearly fallen into the tub), I was a little alarmed terrified when I saw this.

I jumped and yelled.  That got my heart rate going.  If all you see is a tassel, then don't look directly at it.  Tell me you don't see a big spider.  I know I'm starting to sound sissier than I already am but let me get this out there.  Spiders don't bother me - normal house spiders don't bother me.  You show me a roach and I'll scream and run.  Spiders?  No... unless they're big.  I don't mess around with big spiders.  My definition of big spiders is anything bigger than... let's say... a banana spider.  That tassel is way bigger and fatter than a banana spider.

That's enough for today.  One of the things I need to do this morning is get out the garland to go around the front door.  I'm already going to be scared about what bugs might come out.  This post isn't helping me in any way at all.  Time to think happier, less creepy thoughts.  Oh, I'll also try to stay away from the area ghost stories that I've already started looking up.  Wow.  I really know how to start off a day.  Shouldn't the sun be up by now?

i was looking through the

Christmas candy at Walmart the other day.  I probably should have picked up a few of these.

I think I'll need the sugar rush in a couple of hours... or minutes.  I've started prepping the sides for tomorrow.  Broccoli and rice casserole is in the refrigerator, sweet potato casserole is in the oven now and I've got plenty more to do.  I think I might do the pecan pie next but sheesh, it's going to be hard to keep my hands off of it.  In the past I've done pecan pie squares.  The good thing about the squares is that by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, nobody can tell that I've been eating them for a couple of days.  I'm just in the mood for the crusty goodness of an actual pie though and it'd be embarrassing to have everyone show up and only have half a pecan pie left.  I could do the dressing next.  That'll be easy for me to stay away from.  The Honey Baked Ham that's sitting in the refrigerator is another story.  I almost starting eating it as soon as I got it home.  As soon as I walked into the shop that smell got me.  I instantly saw myself picking off and munching on the sugary crust on the drive home.  YUM.  I didn't do that but I did have a brief conversation with myself about taking off and sampling a few slices.  Would anyone notice?  Maybe not but then maybe they would.  I decided to wait.  Oh my gosh.  The sweet potato casserole is smelling awesome.

I'm ready for lunch tomorrow.

it's time for online

shopping.  I wanted a new desk for Eric's room.  I didn't want anything fancy or expensive because I don't know how long we plan on keeping it there.  Honestly, it's just a desk for the iMac and all of Cosme's flight simulator gadgets.  I basically just needed a flat surface with no drawers or frills.  That's what I got and I also got a great deal on it.

I saved $0.99. Beat that.  I love sales.

I was looking up Christmas present options on Amazon.  This one probably won't make it in time.

I also had to pick our new insurance plan yesterday.  I got to the vision section and was comparing two different plans.  I can't decide which one is better.

Should I pick the one that's 20% off?  Or the one where I only pay 80%?

They both seem like decent deals...

And so I won't leave anyone hanging, I think I picked another one and I don't even know what the percent off was referring to.  I think it was lens stuff.

I probably won't get any online shopping done today.  I've already started making cornbread for dressing.  This will be my first time to do homemade.  I mentioned Twomama's recipe to Cosme the other day and that I'd try to do it.  I pulled out the recipe and was totally confused.  It calls for 1 quart of biscuits (or 20), 1 quart of toasted white bread (8 slices) and 1 quart of corn bread mix (3 packages of yellow Martha White).  That's sounded crazy.  I was pretty sure Cindy makes it every year and I really couldn't see her baking all those biscuits.  I asked her about the recipe and she has basically the same recipe but Myra told her to just use 6 packets of Martha White white cornbread mix the day before making the dressing.  I couldn't find Martha White white packets but I did find Gladiola From the makers of Martha White.  Instead of 6 packets though, I'm making 3.  Well, 4 just to be safe.  So yeah, that's what's happening this morning.  I'm prepping Cindy's take on Myra's version of Twomama's dressing.  It might sound a little confusing but not near as confusing as a "quart of biscuits"... or, as a vision plan might word it, use either 4 cups or 1 quart.

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.