A Good Thanksgiving, but it's not over yet!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Hubby's family on Thursday. We had a great time. Hubby has 4 siblings and they all have about 3 kids each, so it's a wild and wooly good time when we get together. My job was making the pies, so I made the crusts the day before and then Thursday morning I just had to get up and fill them. Pumpkin pies are like the easiest things to do.

We spent the entire afternoon there and I did have a headache when I got home. I think just being sedentary and visiting for hours kind of does me in. Of course I wasn't thrilled about the kids watching videos all afternoon. You can see how mesmerized they are. Anything that mesmerizes my children makes me a little nervous. But, what are you gonna do when someone else brings the videos?

They did have fun outside, for a while, though. I was glad it didn't rain!

Overall, it was a great Thanksgiving, and tonight we're going to my mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner with that side of the family.

I'm back, finally...

Wow, this month has been busy. I've been a little stressed out over the past few weeks. Our Children's Director at church has been out sick for much longer than expected, so I've pretty much taken over (not by choice, but by default) the Christmas Pageant. She'd already picked the script and we'd started rehearsing before she went out, but then I had this brilliant (not) idea to have not only the nativity characters dressed up, but all the kids dress up - boys as shepherds and girls as angels. I asked around and was told, why yes, the church has costumes. So, we were good to go. Well, I received the boxes of "costumes" and found a bunch of old wigs, some various scraps of fabric, a huge piece of purple poplin with a hole cut out of the middle and a cheerleading outfit. So, I've been sewing costumes. And sewing costumes. And sewing costumes. I do have some help, but in a way, it's easier for me to just sew them, as opposed to getting fabric prepared, writing directions, getting another pattern, etc. etc. for someone else. I'm almost done, really. I just need to decorate the Wisemen's gifts and crowns. Which is good, because dress rehearsal is next Sunday.

California dreamin'

I must admit that if we didn't have family here in the Golden State - as in our whole family, both Hubby's and mine, we'd probably be out of this state in a flash. I have no idea where we'd go, but we're just a little tired of the taxes, the politics, and the bad air.

However, with that said, and having just heard of the blizzard conditions in South Dakota and Wyoming, I think I need to say one thing I love about living here is the beautiful weather most of of the year. Specifically, this past week. My garden is thriving, my roses are still blooming and my impatiens... well, they're just spectacular. Even this dinky ol' cherry tomato plant that was a volunteer in the middle of summer and I just let it grow, is still providing me with enough fresh tomatoes for a salad every evening. It's a pretty scraggly looking shrub right now and I'll probably take it out soon, but not while it's still producing.

So, California, with all your faults, you still have the best autumn weather around.

I am so proud of myself

What do you think of my new wallpaper? Or whatever you call it? I found the link on your blog, Linda, and I just followed the instructions. Woohoo! And it worked. I must admit that I'm not terribly technologically savvy, so this is a big deal.

What is it about McDonald's?

Every time I go to McDonald's with the kids Duh-duh seems to have some kind of issues. Today, we had one of our crazy Fresno days, so I treated them to a McDonald's lunch. I probably could have made it home in time to make lunch, but this was so much easier. Plus, I like to feel I'm doing my part to stimulate the economy. (And we also have McDonald's stock) But I digress. So, he's having to go pee-pee, just as we had sat down and I was divvying up the food. When there's two adults, it's easy, one stays with the kids and the other has potty duty. But today it was just me, and he's holding himself and jumping around so I'm thinkin', this kid can't wait. So, I wrote a little note on the napkin, telling whoever comes by not to throw our food away, and we run to the restroom. It's full, so we wait a minute and then a stall becomes available. He takes one look in there and starts crying and digging in his heels. "I'M NOT GOING IN THERE!" Now, I'm not a huge fan of public restrooms myself, but sometimes you just have to use them. So, he's crying and I just drag him in there. What was I going to do? I used the potty to show him it was ok and then I just pulled his pants down and dangled him over the toilet. He's crying and carrying on, but he's also peeing and peeing and peeing. Poor kid had a very full bladder. We finish up, wash and walk out and I'm hoping all his fussing hadn't carried out into the lobby there. But, he did have a smile on his face and I felt better. I knew he'd pee his pants otherwise and I didn't have any extra clothes.

Aaaaah, November

October has just been a rough month. It's been busy with our little Hume vacation, the Women's Retreat at church, last Saturday we had an all day foster care training, and then this week.... Oh my. This week was just out of control. I think I actually cooked one night - Monday night. The funeral and all the activity surrounding that took some time, then Wednesday night our church had a block party and I was in charge of food. Now that day was surreal. My grandma's funeral was in the morning, then I went home, rested for a half hour and then had to switch gears really fast and do the block party thing. I kept thinking to myself, "Is today the still the same day?" It was very very surreal. And then Thursday night we were at my parents' house again for more family stuff and then last night was Halloween. I told Hubby as I sank gratefully into the couch after getting the kids in bed last night, "It's over! It's all over!" And we watched "Numbers" and didn't have a care in the world. It feels good to look at a calendar for a new month and have absolutely nothing written on it. Oh, there's a few birthdays scattered about to remind me to send a card, but no events, nothing I'm in charge of, nothing. It's a very nice feeling.