too quiet...

 This fine morning, Paul went out hunting, then the girls went to brunch at a friend's house. I was going to go with them, drop them off, and get some Christmas shopping done, but...the day before Thanksgiving?  Would it be just mobbed? I was hemming and hawing, then they said two of their friends were coming here to park and ride with them...I didn't want to squish in, so that decided it for me...and I'm glad I stayed home.   I swept, vacuumed, mopped, did two loads of laundry, washed dishes, cleaned up the counters, put up two strings of solar lights outside for Christmas...with Suri as company.  It sounds easy, just string up those lights, but I got hopelessly tangled up, the strings had 200 lights, and some I wrapped around the bannisters, oh dear.  No one was here to "grab the other end", and Suri just put her head on her paws and went to sleep.  

I made an apple pie.  I made the pie crusts yesterday, so I just had to cut the apples, mix in the sugar/brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, ect., and put it together.

(the girls said this little one tasted like McDonalds apple pie...)

There were apples left over, so I rolled the top crust out thin and used some of  it to make a small, crust for the leftover apples...mmm.

I also made a lemon meringue, Camille squeezed the lemons and made the meringue while I made the filling and pre baked the crust I made yesterday...

Yesterday, Sonja let Rhys drive!  not really.

Christmas cactus from Aldi...

Sunny saw a reflection and was going to go get it!

Yeah, so I got a lot done today, but it was so quiet!  I am not a t.v. person, I'd rather listen to the dryer run than have that blaring in the background. I read my news online, don't like t.v. news at all.  I don't turn on music either, because quiet is rare here, gives me a chance to think.  Today, I found myself thinking that if I lived all alone, I'd be pretty lonely. I admit talking to the dogs.  :)

The kids are going to a meeting tonight, so Paul and I will be here all alone...oh, poor us!  I'm kind of excited, as yesterday I picked up a two pack of strip steaks, marked down to $9-something.  Kids leave, we eat steak, you see how it is.  

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, in no particular order:

1.  My comfy chair

2.  That my kids are my friends

3. Coffee

4.  God's mercy over me, that I can live peacefully with friends and family.

5.  That when my feelings are hurt, I don't have to just stay in that feel sorry for myself spirit.

6. My hips have been doing better.

7.  All the appliances work right now!

8.  Target.  Love going to Target.

9.  The internet, my blog friends, and that  I'm a reformed skeptic, used to totally diss online friends.

10.Paul...he's such a good guy.  He has been really enjoying going out hunting, getting up at 4:30 so he can be in the woods when the sun comes up...

There are so many things to be thankful for, but I've found that when something gets in my craw, the thought to be thankful comes, and it's not always easy.  I've been working on really holding my tongue, waiting for better thoughts instead of just reacting and saying things that aren't always the best things to say.  The truth is, I can be a real piss-pot, as my mother used to say.  A brat.  I'm very quick to think of a snarky response, to be witchy with a capital B.  I don't want to fight or to argue, or even to be right. Not in theory, but when life happens, if I'm not awake, if I'm not careful, oh dear!  And that's NOT good!  

So I'm thankful for that...that God works with me, teaches me, and there is hope for me.  Things don't always go how I would like them to go, but there is always so much to learn in our days!

We had a fantastic dinner tonight.   It has taken me half the day to write this post...life happens, I close the laptop, and forget all about it.  Anyway, those strip steaks, why did I even buy them?  I'll tell you the problem: they were too good.  I dredged them in coarse pepper, a dash of rosemary, a smidgen of garlic, some salt....and let them reach room temperature...then I pan fried them, really scorched them up, made a nice crust, flipped...Paul's came out first, he likes it rare...mine, more medium-to-more, but not actually well done.  Medium-well.  I shared with the girls because they hadn't left yet....it was SO GOOD.  I also had shredded cabbage with olive oil and lime juice, yes, I'm weird. 

Ah well....Paul's gone to bed, as he's hunting tomorrow...the girls aren't home yet...so it's quiet again...hmmm.