Pumpkin Pie

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  Ours was quiet but nice.  We were fortunate to celebrate it with George and Lisa and shared a great dinner if I do say so myself.  Our turkey was a little small, I thought I had picked up a turkey breast, we prefer white meat over dark meat, but in the turkey breast section at Walmart someone had placed a small turkey in with the breasts.  Well Loomis Luck struck again and I picked up the small turkey instead of all the turkey breasts I was looking at.  Oh well, it was still good we just don't have any left over turkey.  At least I have the carcass to make turkey soup.  I made my traditional Thanksgiving dinner with Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, green beans, honey glazed carrots and rolls.  For dessert, my homemade pumpkin pies.  Pumpkin pies is my one signature dish that no matter where we have Thanksgiving I am requested to make the pumpkin pies.  The recipe I use I got from my boss of 30 years ago.  Jim said he had a great and easy recipe that he rarely shared but he did with me.  I am grateful to Jim every time I make pumpkin pies. For years, when my girls were growing up, after we had our tradional cinnamon rolls for breakfast we would then make the pumpkin pies before putting the turkey in the oven.  All while watching another tradition, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Carrie and Jenny did not like pumpkin pie when there were growing up but they did like helping  make the pies.  This year I was on my own making them but even so it brings back all the memories of years past.  Tim loves pumpkin pie, it is one of his favorites, so the pies I made yesterday will not go to waste.  Thank you George and Lisa for joining us for Thanksgiving dinner.  Tim and I are truly blessed to have you as friends.  We are also blessed with a wonderful family, our girls Carrie and Jenny and our beautiful Rory, and all our great friends.  We were blessed to have traveled for these past few years but are even more blessed now to be living here at the farm.  Thanksgiving is a day to be thankful and we are!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, may you all have a good one.  We are very blessed this year with Rory, our granddaughter and that we have a place to stay on when we are not traveling, thanks to George and Lisa. We have so many things to be thankful for so on this day I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Enjoy your famliy and friends, good food and a day to reflect on how blessed you are and I will be doing the same!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Creating Paths

Tim and George spent some time creating new paths from the RV to the new house.  We now have a path/driveway from our storage shed down to the main path at the farm.  A few loads of gravel were brought in to create our new path and George and Lisa's new driveway.  George used his new Big toy, the front loader aka bulldozer to me, and Tim used George's Steiner tractor.  Together they have created walkways/driveways so that we are able to stay on the paths/driveway where it will be easier to walk and drive and maybe stay out of the mud.  This will be great after rain or snow as it is pretty tough to deal with the mud/clay when the ground is wet.  In some cases it gets so mucky you could lose a shoe in the stuff.  Our path/driveway will be nice for me once the golf cart is working so at night I can use that to get to and from the RV and Crafty Cottage and not walk around in the dark and believe me,  it is dark!
Today we will be busy getting the house ready so George and Lisa can move into this week end.  The house is looking really good and with each passing day more is getting finished up and ready to be lived in.  Lisa and I will be busy cleaning up all the construction dust and getting the bedroom and bathroom ready to paint.  George and Tim have errands to run and then more work getting the house ready. By Friday,  George and Lisa expect to move in!  This is so exciting and we are so happy for them.  Their  home is beautiful inside and out!
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and we are lucky to be able to have two Thanksgivings this year.  I am cooking our traditional dinner on Thanksgiving and Lisa will be cooking her traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday while their kids are visiting.  We have a lot to be thankful for!

Wow, There Was A Lot Going On At The Farm

So while I was gone for almost three weeks from the farm a lot happened in my absence.  George got a new toy, a bulldozer.  George and Lisa's house is really coming along and they may be moving into it by Thanksgiving.  The tile is all done in the bathroom, the appliances came and are all installed and ready for use.  The stone work around the fireplace was completed today and the ceilings in the bedroom/bathroom area will be completed tomorrow.  There is still more to do but a big chunk has been completed.  Our shed is completely done.  It is insulated with the washer and dryer all hooked up and are working great.  Tim worked hard on the shed; thanks Tim! He also got the farm truck working so we are ready to tackle any job that comes along.  I did peek into my crafty cottage but I did not do anything in there.  I have tons of dead ladybugs in the cottage that I have to get cleaned up.  So, what's next?  Cooking Thanksgiving dinner, working on the golf cart, decorating for Christmas and Christmas Shopping.  So, it will be busy and that is okay!

I Am Back Home In Tennessee

I spent most of yesterday flying home to Tennessee.  I left Carlsbad around 8:30 am Pacific time and got home 12:30 am Eastern time.  Long day of flying but the flights were good and even the three hour layover in Minneapolis was not bad.  Yes, I flew from San Diego to Minneapolis to Knoxville to get home.  I think I flew over the Grand Canyon on the way to Minneapolis but since I was over the wing it was hard to tell.  I will post a picture and you can tell me what you think.  Tim was there at the airport where he picked me up in our brand new car and let me just say it is nice.  I want to take this opportunity to thank Pam and Brian for all they did.  They treated me to a wonderful three week vacation in California where I got to spend a lot of time with them, my mom, brother  and sister in law.  I also got to see and spend time with so many of my California friends.  To top that off Pam got great seats for "Wicked".  THANK YOU SO MUCH Pam and Brian!  I had a great time.
Today I have lots to do beside unpacking I have to go grocery shopping, check out all the things that happened on the farm since I left, clean up the RV and check out my Crafty Cottage and storage shed.  Check back tomorrow to see all I discovered.

We Saw Wicked!

Pam and I went to see the Musical "Wicked".  We both have seen it before but it was in town while I was in San Diego so Pam got great tickets, 12th row center.  It was amazing and once again I was so totally wowed.  The actresses who played Glinda and Alphaba were fantastic and the rest of the cast was too.  Kim Zimmer, formally of Guilding Light and Tim Kazinski from Sat. night Live played Madame and the Wizard.  It was a fantastic show!  After the show we went to dinner at Buca de Beppo as a farewell dinner with Pam and Brian and the Humberstones.  It was a nice way to spend my last evening in California.  Thank you All!
I fly home today back to Knoxville then drive to Parrottsville.  I can't believe how fast these past three weeks went and I sure had a great time.  It was good to spend time with my sister Pam and Brian.  I got to see a lot of my mom, my brother Craig and Karyn and all my California friends.  Thanks to all for making my time here fun and thank you Pam and Brian for everything!

Girls Night Out With My Cali BFFs

Last night was so much fun!  I have several wonderful friends here in California that I have known now for several years and every time I come to visit we get together and just have a great time.  We have been calling eachother BFFs for a long time and I know some of you may think that is a little juvenile but it describes us perfectly.  I am very honored to have these ladies as my friends.  Last night Evie hosted our get together at her house and it was fun to be together again with Evie, Kendra, Gail, Susan and Pam.  There was good food, drink and lots of talking.  We also decided to work on a craft; we made candy cane wreaths.  I had made one for Pam's SAS last week end and since they all liked them we decided to make some together.  It was candy cane mayhem!  Kendra had purchase several boxes of candy canes and so we heated up the glue guns and got started.  It was interesting that a bunch of candy canes could have such a different outcome with each wreath.  Some wreaths turned out perfectly and some had to be manipulated due to the candy cane's shape.  You would be surprised how one candy cane being just a slightly different size, we are talking millimeters, could throw off the entire wreath. It made each wreath unique in it's own way but all were beautiful.  Now what also makes our get togethers even more fun is the array of food being served and the highlight for me was the lumpia, yummy!  Our choice of drink last night was A & W Rootbeer, do we know how to party or what?  So thank you Pam, Evie, Kendra, Gail and Susan for our evening of fun!  You are all so wonderful!  My California BFFs are the best!