Happy Thanksgiving!

Here it is, 9:36 pm and all is quiet.  It was a lovely lovely day.  Exhausting, though.  

Here are some of the photos:

The creation of the vegetarian stuffing - note the receipe taped to the microwave.

Mike joined in to assist.

Maddie, Mike, Caroline and Amy

Maddie, Caroline and Maren.

Jim feeding meatballs to the dog pack and I love it because it reminds me of my grandmother, Sissy below.

Sissy feeding the original pack in Davidsonville.

Naptime.

We did miss Drew, Nancy and Zoe ~ but I have to say, we shared the cooking ~ Jim and Lori made their first turkey ever!  And green bean casserole, mac and cheese, and Lori made Nancy's famous gingercheese cake.

I made ambrosia, cranberry relish, carrot cake and purchased 12 pounds of smoked turkey, which I thought was a smoked turkey, but it was 12 pounds of smoked turkey - not bones. We have ALOT of smoked turkey!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And, the vegetarian stuffing was delicious.  We watched alot of football and thought of our family and friends.  

It was different, but was good.

I hope everyone had a wonderful, blessed day.

Love, Leslie

Thanksgiving ~ The Preamble

This is the first Thanksgiving I have participated in the preparations.  I was somewhat blase' about it.  I had the receipes and an idea of how I wanted it to be.

Totally incorrect.

First of all, it takes longer than I thought.  And grocery stores are INSANE!!!!! And where do you put the stuff if your refridgerator is small and you don't have alot of storage?

Hmmmmmm.

So yesterday I decided to start the process - not the grocery shopping, I did that on Sunday. I decided to make the cranberry relish, ambrosia and carrot cake.

Making the carrot cake.  And hand grating 3 cups of carrots.  The cake better be worth it.

A small sampling of the dishes.  OMG!!!

So, got everything made.  And of course, the cake won't fit under the cake dome.  Oh well. Everything else looks great.  

The house is ready, just doing some wash (the quilts on the sofas and the new tablecloths for the tables).  

Ultimately, everyone will have a great time and the mess just won't matter.

You are all my blessings.
~Love, Leslie

2015 Christmas Wooden Shoe

In the Scandinavian cultures, it is common to put out their wooden shoes for St. Nicholas. He fills them with oranges and chocolates and nuts.

In 2015, Amy has the newest in footware and when she puts it out for St. Nicholas, he can REALLY fill it up!

It is not the muddy steel toed boot she wears to the barn, it is the Storm Trooper - like boot in the back.  She got it today ~ a little history here:  as you may remember, she tore her ACL and all ligaments in her RIGHT leg and after surgery she has been very good about going to her Physical Therapy.

However, in PT, she did "something" to her LEFT leg.  After seeing the orthapedic, she was given the lovely boot to wear for 2 to 6 weeks, while they figure out if it is a sprain or a tear!

Happy Holidays!!!!!
Love, 
Leslie

BEWARE!!!!!!

Ok, sisters mine......I am giving you fair warning.  Mom has had quite a temper tantrum and has made a couple of decisions:

1. she wants to move back to Maryland
2. if Scott were still alive, he would be taking care of her
3. and I am hateful

Ok, don't freak out.  She is NOT moving. (That is not an option for her).  She just likes to spout off.  Amy is going to refinance the house and give her back her $100,000.00 ~ she wants it, because she keeps throwing that up at Amy.

I am going to find a psychologist that she can talk to - and maybe adjust her meds.

And, to make her "happier", I am going to clean out her closet.  Ok, I know that is just revenge on my part, but it is sweet.

And please don't panic, Mom is what she is.  Amy and I don't torture her (maybe the closet is torture), and we give her everything she wants, except her ability to drive and cook.

She just likes to be cranky about some stuff.  And I do know that her inabilities are tough on her.  And she likes to alienate those closest to her - which is me and Amy.

So, basically nothing is different.

Much love,

Leslie

Homestead Gardens ~ I Miss Them!!!

I miss Homestead Gardens!  It was always the place to go to get in the spirit of Spring, or of Fall ~ if I needed a pick-me-up, Homestead Gardens was the place to go.  And to get in the spirit of Christmas...Wow!

Because of how people shop, Homestead Gardens has the opening night of the Christmas Shop literally on Halloween.  I would always take Mom the night before ~ no one would be there and we could wander all around, no crowds.  And we always found something special to use for decorations.  It was great.

My friend Holly evidently went there the other day and sent pictures!  I am so jealous!!!!!

I have got to find a place like this in North Carolina.

I have purchased two small Christmas trees and Yes, a gift ~ and I have already sent out the e-mail to my sisters to get their lists up and ready.  I know, I am pushing the season.

I am eyeballing the house to see where I am going to put the decorations ~ and it is 73 degrees here.  This is when I should put up the outside lights, so I don't freeze my fingers off.

On the mom front, (I know....to go from the glorious holidays to mom) I took her to the doctor.  She had a list:  get the flu shot, get a dermatology consult, tell him that she is having trouble with her breathing (gets out of breath getting dressed, can't walk 20 feet).

The nurse did her pulse ox test, it was 99.  Very good.  Took her blood pressure, 100/70.  Also pretty good.  The doctor checked her ekg results from Maryland.  What could be the problem?  Well, I interjected and said that she wasn't doing any exercise, at all.

I evidently am the scurge of Mom's life.  And then the doctor told Mom "no more salt and no more potato chips."  Whoa!

And on that note.....Love to all!
~Leslie

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We have been busy getting ready....and I am sure I don't have enough candy.  Since this is the first time in the neighborhood, and there are a bunch of little kids, and we have sidewalks...I expect we will have alot of kids!

The neighbors have a pot luck in the cul-de-sac before Trick or Treat and we are bringing boneless chicken wings and then we have to dash home and get dressed (we want to surprise the kids). And boy did we!!!!!!

Carole sent the first picture of dress up and it came with a caption:

"Who said there weren't any unsexy costumes for women?"

And I made the Mummy Hotdogs:

AND they were delicious!  I am making mini mummies tomorrow.

We tested out the front decorations last night:

We have scary music and Darth Vader in an upstairs window with a strobe light.  It will be FUN!

We had a blast - Amy and I sat on our driveway, and some people thought we were mannequins, one little guy kept saying "don't worry, it's not real"  ~ you could see the kids slowly walk up to us ~ FUN!

Amy's ruby slippers

And the Davidsonville contingent dressed up:

Tigger

Check out those eyes! This is not Zoe, as I had thought, but Dani, a friend.

And, yes, I had enough candy.  In fact, I have ALOT of candy!!!!!!!!!

Here are some of my decorations in the house:

A murder of crows on the mantle.

I had spiders hanging from the chandelier and you can't really see the black roses with the tea service.

Love,
Leslie