Saturday, November 28, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

Things are winding down from a happy Thanksgiving. Opa is playing solitaire on the other computer, Micah is watching football downstairs, and I am here updating the blog. Tomorrow we are going to Clint Shellaberger's birthday party in the afternoon, and then back to real life on Monday, but with Christmas music playing in the background.

Thanksgiving was fun. I had wanted to brine the turkey, and so I bought a brine mix when I picked up the turkey. But when I opened it up to prepare it, I took a whiff of the open bag and realized it had sage in it. Opa does not do sage. Fortunately Micah came home about then, and immediately got to work concocting his own custom mix. Then it was into the brine for Mr. Turkey, to spend the night. The brining bags are a huge improvement over trying to do it in a 5 gallon bucket, by the way. Below you see Mr. Turkey surrounded by herbs and ice cubes, ready for the fridge.

Anna and Jim came early Wednesday evening, while Opa and I were at church. Shortly after we got home Clark's delivered our Thanksgiving Eve pizza. Soon after we finished the pizza Joshua arrived. We watched TV and talked, and I finished up a few cooking chores for Thursday. Everyone wandered off to bed around 11:30.


Everyone pitched in to help with the cooking Thursday morning. As you can see from the picture at the right, Anna is starting to definitely look a little maternal.


Andrew and Amie arrived with the kids later in the morning. Grant and Jordan were all dressed up in spiffy new clothes to go over the river and through the woods to grandma's house. But grandkids would be cute if they were dressed in Kroger bags.

Below you see the feast. I don't know if Andrew and Amie ever got to put any food in their own mouths. They were always feeding the little birds beside them. Andrew manfully washed one pot after dinner (I had taken pity and used disposable table ware.) I felt so bad, since I wasn't sure he had ever even got to eat, that I told him to vamoose and leave the pots to me. I didn't have to tell him twice. Joshua, the other baby-gender loser, had vanished long before the Palmolive appeared.
It has taken all my available brain cells to get these pictures added in, so I think it is time for Oma to head for bed. But before I go, Matthew and Melissa came Friday afternoon (with a big pot of coffee, some pumpkin spice creamer and some really yummy Amish bread.) We had a nice evening chatting with them, and then Saturday morning we fixed ham, sweet potatoes, biscuits and cranberries for lunch. They had to head back to Circleville soon after we ate, because Matthew had his first basketball game this evening. He said this may be one of those character building years for his team. Go Lady Vikings!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Still experimenting........






I thought I would try this blog site to see which is more compatible with my particular brain waves. Adding the picture of Sydney was easy. Getting her to sit still for a picture was another issure altogether. It took bribery - she'd sell her mother for a bite of Hershey's.
Opa got most of the corn done today, thanks to the help of Louie Reindel, the pastor of the Nazarene Church in Bradford. Louie left a big farm in northern Ohio when he was called to the ministry. I'm sure our operation is about like gardening to him, but he offered to run wagons for Opa today, as a chance to get away from his desk for a while. He and his family are really nice people, and we've been very glad to get to know them. At any rate, thanks to Louie's help, Dennis will be able to get done in good time tomorrow.
With my usual blaze of whirlwind excitement, I did the ironing today. That will be good news to anyone sleeping in the guest bedroom this weekend, since the ironing was all lumped up on the bed in there.
Tomorrow I will pick up the turkey and a few last minute fixin's for Thursday. Right now, the menu is looking like this:

turkey
dressing (Oyster & plain)
cranberries ala Davis
greenbean casserole ala Anna
mashed potatoes (personally herbed by Micah)
gravy
deviled eggs
rolls
baby pickles
applesauce (for Baby J, Grant, and Anna, who are fans)
Pumpkin pie
sweet potato pie
cherry pie
a pie to be named later (I'm open to suggestion)
Rose's cheeseball & crackers
If I have left out anyone's favorite thing, you'll have to let me know.
Anna and Jim are arriving Wednesday evening. Micah, of course, is already here. Don't know for sure if Joshua is coming Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. Matthew and Melissa will be getting here sometime on Friday (I have to work all day. Bummer. But my boss is working for me Saturday.) Daddy will be here.
Well, enough of that. Now I am going to try to add a picture, to see how that goes with this particular blog ware. Let's see, what shall I select........
How about the cutest grandchildren in all the world?
Well, it's time for a hot cup of tea, a warm bed and a good book. 'night, all.