Being the audacious and forward kind of gal that I am, I (a Californian, Oregonian, Texan [Calgoniexan?]) am starting this month's chat thread in the Jersey forum. Ballsy? Maybe so. Get over it. :]

Good Morning Happy Bandsters!! How the heck is everybody? I hope there weren't any tragic chocolate overdoses last night.

Betty - Gracious!! Candy for 300 wasn't enough? That's one heck of a party!

Eileenie - how is the MIL? It's really hard for me right now - because it seems like only yesterday my Parents were - well, my Parents.... authority figures, larger than life. Now, in the last few years I have started to notice that they are old people. It's a hard mental transition, I tell you. Suddenly, the people who could always be counted on in times of need have needs of their own. I guess it's only fair - but it sucks, all the same.

Anyway, I hope that your doc can help you out with the coughing. What, did it never go away?? Or is this a new cold? Oh, and if you WERE feeling restriction with Water, I would be scared for you! You aren't supposed to have any restriction with water... :]

Lisa - you are a better woman than I if you can RELAX in the middle of a 500 acre girl scout camp surrounded by 13 little girls... Yikes!! That just doesn't sound like as much fun as it probably was - at least, not to me.

Ira - Was Zach all pumped up about the Fire Dept demo? Did he have a good time at the parade? What's up with you? How were the Halloween festivities?

JaLynn - Howdy!! Hope you are feeling better. There is not much worse than being sick in a house full of sick people that need you. ((hugs))

Pat - Fun with furniture... Is it comfy? I loved buying new furniture when we moved into our new house in Texas. It was the coolest thing ever. We avoided the Leather, though. It get's so hot here for so much of the year that we decided nice cloth upholstery was the way for us. I hope you enjoy it! Hope your mouth is all healed up and you are feeling energetic.

Cindy - Those little girls grow up sooooo fast. My Granddaughter just turned 11 and it seems like only a minute ago she was a todler.

Well - I have to get back to that thing we lovingly call "work". A little slow today, now that the month-end blitz is over, so I will have time to call and harass the insurance company. Yes, they have 30 days from October 12th to respond to my appeal. I have scheduled my first appt. with the doc for the 8th - ahead of the curve. I just need to get it all together so that I can have my surgery before T-Day. That is my goal... Of course, if the *&^(& don't approve me, I will be back to square one - but I am thinking good thoughts.

Everybody have a great day!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is also my anniversary! We were supposed to go to my DB today, but yesterday my niece had to be taken in for emergency surgery and they found a cyst on her overy had bursted, and her apendix also had to be taken out. So, we have postponed it till tomorrow. So, the meal I was going to fix tomorrow I am making today! Are you totally confused yet? My turkey is in the oven as we speak, and I have been preparing stuff to take to DB the last few days, so it won't be too bad.

Eileen - Love your NSV! Don't work too hard cleaning up today, you did enough work yesterday! Snow, just the sound of that makes me cold! I love Jim Reeves too!

Beanie - Hey that big turkey just gives you lots of leftovers to snack on. I love turkey sandwiches!

Ira - Maybe you could post some of those Indian recipes! They sure sound yummy!

Zan - How is your day going?

Cindy - How is you G'ma doing today?

Patty - Hope your time with your Mom is great! I miss mine so much, especially at holidays.

Pat - Great weight loss! And you were so worried about that little band

It would be good to see what your doctor has to say about the bands. Keep us posted.

I too am happy I found all you guys/gals. I feel like I know some of you that I haven't even met. I loved meeting the gals I got to meet. Thank each of you for being a part of my life. I hope we continue to keep in touch forever.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cindy Happy Birthday

Betty Happy Anniversary

Awww, thanks!

Cindy have a great one! Do something special for yourself!

Just wanted to stop by and say

"Happy Thanksgiving to all of you"

Hope everyone enjoys their day, with the ones you love!

First, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Of course, I did gobble less than last year!

Next, to Betty: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! How many years?

Eileen, that is one heck of a beautiful cake you made for us! Thank you so much! You made the day extra special!

It's been a good day, all things considered. There has been no change in g'ma...maybe she didn't want to leave on my birthday? Still waiting....

Apparently, lots and lots of people eat out on Thanksgiving...I would never have known that if I hadn't done that this year. I still missed getting up early and putting the turkey in the oven, etc., like Beanie describes. We'll do it next year!

The darn Cowboys lost in overtime to Denver....still, a good game, though.

I'm jealous of you snowbirds up there in NJ...it just sounds great!

I am thankful for all of you, by band buddies and friends...I agree we should hang out together through the years!

Cindy

Good Morning

How is everyone today, still stuffed?

I did rather good, a heck of alot less than last year of course but I still ate to much.

I had sweet & mashed taters, cauliflower, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, no turkey lol, pumpkin pie, and a bite of apple pie and cheesecake. That was at 1 pm, then around 5 I had 3 left over ravioli's and another sliver of pumpkin pie

Today, back on the diet lol.

How did you all do?

Today we're putting up the rest of the chrismas decorations we started doing yesterday...yeah, I know I know.

Any nuts going out for black friday? lol

Good Morning!

Back to cooking this morning, however, not as much as I did yesterday!

I have a few things to cook up to take to DB house today. We postponed it from yesterday to today because my Niece had to have emergency surgery. She is fine now thank goodness. So, yesterday I cooked an entire meal for here! Just call me crazy! DH just loves to have all that food during the holiday so he can snack all the time.

I didn't do too bad yesterday, but did feel a little uncomfortable last night from all the extra food. We had turkey, mashed taters, gravy, green bean casserole, dressing, candied sweet taters, scalloped corn, baked beans, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato pie. I always fix chicken and noodles, but I am fixing that to take today, along with a new batch of dressing, baked beans, and fruit salad. I don't even want another dinner today, and with all they fix, it turns out to be twice as much as I had yesterday, and even lots and lots of desserts! Good ones too! I had to laugh, last year I made a sweetpotato pie and my DH new it was a sweetpotato one and said he didn't much care for it. Well, this year he wasn't here when I made it and when he took a piece of it he just raved about it. He told me this morning he got back into it again last night and told me it was such a good pumpkin pie! I'll never tell!

Then tomorrow we have a Harley deal going on (if it doesn't rain) and then in the evening it is back with the family again for a cookout! Woe is me!

Cindy - We have been married 15 years, however, we have been together for 22 years.

Eileen - Nope, I am not going near any stores today! Let them fight all by themselves. I went the first year we were here, and I was going after one thing, this cd/radio player. Well, I think everyone there was after the same thing. The lady behind me tried to grab it form over my back and take it out of my arms. I fought her back and won though! It is really bad here in the metro-plex because of the large crowds. When I lived up north, I use to go every year.

Well, time for me to get started on my cooking. I am still tired from yesterday! At least after today I won't have to cook for a couple of days anyway!

Everyone have a great day!

Morning all! Woe is me.... we have no leftovers, we went to a resturant. Mom & I left the house in search of the only dept store open on Thanksgiving.... KMART. Total madhouse. Mom wanted to buy lounge pants for the boys and she let me pick out a blouse for next weeks b-day party. We stood in line over 40 minutes and when we got to the checkstand the terminal went down! Just our luck! They rebooted the thing and we waited. FINALLY, with treasures in hand we headed back to the car. Mom, didn't really want to eat at Knotts because of the crowds so I offered up a resturant directly across the street because I still wanted to walk the craft fair(gotta shop). We pulled up to a very DARK establishment... yep, it was closed! It was 1:45 and we were starving...then I noticed an IHOP on the corner and we made tracks for a hot meal. Roasted chicken, mashed potatos, salad and lots of laughs, we had a great time. After lunch we went to Knotts. As we entered the park, they were seating for a stunt show, so we went in. It was one of the better stunt shows that I have ever seen and we laughed until our sides ached. After the show we looked at all the crafts, Mom bought a scarf and trinkets for Lewis. We ate funnel cake during an indian dance show and waited until dark to see all the lights. It was a GOOD day and my heart was full. The boys were brought back to me at 10pm and today we have plans to cook up an English tea party. Yes, my boys like tea parties(it started with the movie "Princess Diaries)so, I'm off to the store for sandwich fix'ns and sugar cubes. I think I'll make tiny grilled cheese sandwiches and brownies/pasteries for the sweet. Ahhh, I wanted girls but have discovered that the boys are just as endearing. Hey, I've got them trained and one day their girlfriends will thank me! Be a great day! Hugs,

OK, finally the prerun cookie bake, maybe I should say "dry" run, what an ordeal and a mess and the cookies were worse than disgusting.

I started adding the ingredients, as they were listed on the page, then it dawned on me that I was suppose to mix this and that, then put it together, it was sooo funny, that chit kept getting thicker and thicker, then I realized I was suppose to add the liquidy stuff, eggs, sugar, vanilla, etc into the flour mixture, not the other way around, I'm still getting dough off the cabinets and the walls.

Then when it talked about cookie press, I thought it mean my pampered chef thing that I use for deviled eggs, NOT happening, all i could do was squeeze out a log of dough, then slice it off. Then I didn't know if the cookies were going to rise of what, so I quartered them, I baked them for 12 minutes and the things were the same itty bitty size they were when I put them, disaster. Talk about dry and hard, my DH thought I was making brickscits, as he calls my homemade biscuits. This is the diaster of my kitchen,

Note, every counter is dirty, there's a picture with the dough all over the floor, guess a hand mixer isn't the ticket here.

Patty sounds like a wonderful time with your mom. I'm so happy for you. Cherish every moment you can. I'm glad you found a place to eat

Betty, I'm glad your neice is okay, gee that sucks, right b/4 a holiday. I bet your wiped from cooking. I am not even going near the kitchen today to cook. Its left overs or nothing lol. Enjoy your Harley thingy tomorrow

Pat !!!!!!!! cookie dough IS thick ROFL !!!! Sorry you had such a hard time. Maybe next batch will come out okay. Do you have a big counter mixer (not the hand one). The counter top mixers are much better for thick cookie dough (like a kitchen aid). And yes, wet ingred first then add the dry slowly LOL !!! I wish you lived closer I'd make a batch of cookies for you or we could bake together, that would be fun.

Well our little tree is up and my inside of the house is decorated as much as its gonna be decorated. This week the weather is supposed to warm up so I'll put up the lights outside then. Its to freakin cold today to do lights. But I did manage to get the outside thanksgiving stuff down

TTYL

Good evening to all,

I got the news this morning that my sweet grandma passed away at 4 AM. I'll never be able to prove it, but I think she somehow waited until my birthday was over. We have made all our plans, and my father and I will go up Sunday morning; my husband and daughter on Monday. Visitation is Mon. night, and the service is Tuesday morning. Then, we will come back home Tuesday night. Grandma grew up in Kiowa, and everyone in the town will be there, or nearly so. It is hard, coming just months after losing Mom, but I know how lucky I am to have had her in my life as long as I did. Thanks to all for your prayers.

Pat, those pictures are worth a thousand words! Like Eileen said, wish we lived closer and could all bake together! That would be so much fun!

Betty, you are STILL cooking?! I am with you on the shopping...that can wait until later. It sometimes sounds like it might be fun, and who knows? Maybe I will do it someday. Thenk I hear about these people fighting over some electronic thing, and I think, "You know, I think I will just pay the $10 bucks extra...." LOL!

We had dinner tonight at Master Grill, which is a Brazilian meat place...I asked (for the first time) if I could pay the childs price, and they agreed, right off the bat. No problemo. So, I enjoyed what I ate, knowing I wasn't paying $30 for it, only $10. It was great!

Well, I'll be checking in tomorrow sometime, then I will be out of touch until Wednesday.

Good night, Cindy

OHHHH, Cindy..... I'm so sorry about your Grandma. These next few days are going to be hectic for you, I will put you on the top of my prayer list. Take it one day at a time and remember to get some rest, stress will sneak up on you and we all need you to be well. Lots of hugs from the Humphreys.... me and the boys all love ya!

Good Morning,

Cindy I'm sorry to hear about G'ma.....sigh. It sounded like she lived a very good long life and thats really wonderful. Now she gets to go home and be with the Lord and her children. Imagine how happy she must be being reunited with her loved ones, and the beauty of God is that He promised we will all see each other again. God is Good !!! Rejoyce in your Grandma's new life, a life of peace with Jesus, how awesome.

Hugs and kisses to you.

Its a cloudy day here in jersey, but thats okay. Lots of things to do inside.

Whats everyone doing today?

Cindy, I'm so sorry about your grandma, but I know you're right. My gma was 94 when she died and she was in perfect health, mentally, she was sharp as a tack, but she had Osteoporosis, a couple of years prior she had broken a hip and she suffered so much with the physical therapy, she told me then she'd never go through this again. She was leaving a restaurant, standing at the door and her hip just snapped, she died within 24 hours, she was not going to go through that again, she was done! She didn't have the will to live through that pain.

Sooo, ladies, be sure to stay on top of having your bone density test done when you reach the age of 40-50 (Cindy) and take your calcium every day, it's so important. Of course, I haven't taken my Fosamax in over a month, bad me.

I wish we all lived close too just so we could meet and share stories, that cooking stuff's for the birds, I'd rather clean up the mess.

Got to go start putting my Santa's on display, the tree lady comes tomorrow and I want to have all the other stuff done.

Eileen, my housekeeper, who is the best cook I've ever met, was putting my Pampered Chef decorating kit away and wanted to know what I'd used it for. When I told her I thought it was a cookie press, I thought she was gonna wet her pants laughing so hard. Then I showed her the cookies, then she started laughing all over again, good thing she's a dear friend, or I would have had to pull a Trump on her and said, "You're fired", LOL. Then I showed her my beautiful deviled eggs and told her I used my decorator to squirt the filling, she was impressed, and she said they tasted good.

Betty, we're almost out of left overs, what ya got?

Ok, get the camera out, I want to see those decorations when you get them all done, Zan, Patty, Ira, Beanie, the rest of ya, lets see them.

Good Morning!

It is supposed to rain here this morning, we sure do need it, but it will probably mess up our Harley thing today.

Cindy - I's sorry about your G'ma (Hugs). I am sure you are right, she didn't want to leave on your B-day. My thoughts and prayers will be with you. Please have a safe trip.

Eileen - You have just got it all together! Christmas tree up and all! I don't even want to think about it yet! lol

Pat - I have tons of stuff left over, and DB tried to send more home with me! I flatly refused. Hey I have some Turkey, potatoes/gravy, dressing, baked beans, green bean casserole, chicken and noodles, scalloped corn, sweet potato pie, fruit salad, candied yams, cranberries,and probably a lot more that I am forgetting. We haven't even made a dent in it yet! My DH is in his glory though! I laughed my a$$ off when I read your post on your cookies! It's time for me to get started on mine too! That would certainly be fun to meet y'all!

I feel like all I have done for a week is eat! Another party tonight! I think we are doing a cookout tonight though, around a big campfire. That sounds nice!

Well, gotta run and find out what the deal is with the plans today. Everyone have a great one!