Turkey FAIL!!!

I host Thanksgiving every few years, and while it can be a bit stressful, I actually enjoy hosting. I've been married almost 30 years and have never had a problem...until this year!

My son, daughter and her fiance' all work retail so the day after Thanksgiving is not a day off for them. Traveling around doesn't work as they need sleep and to be at their jobs quite early, or late, or mid-day...all three this year! Brady had to be at work before 3 a.m., Ashleigh started around 9 a.m., and while Tyler didn't work til later, he did have to work until 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. So, Brian and I stayed put this year and hosted Thanksgiving at our house. We invited Brady's mom and sister to join us.

I did a lot of work before hand, and even had most of the house decorated for Christmas. Things were clean and put away...really only had to heat things in the oven and cook the turkey. I like to use those big, electric roaster ovens to do my turkey in, which frees up the regular oven for everything else. They cook things really nicely and in a little less time than the conventional oven.

 

I have two of these roasters and LOVE them...except for this time!

Just before our guests arrived, I noticed that the little red display was no longer showing! Turkey was pretty much raw! What's a girl to do????? Laugh, and laugh some more...we were making memories after all, so they may as well be substantial, right?

Brian ran to the store (thank goodness they were open!) and picked up some of these...

a roasted chicken and a roasted turkey breast! I carved them up and put them on a platter, made gravy from a package and called it good! There were lots of other delightful delectables to round out the table, so all was right with the world!

We had a great time with Brady's family and now we'll be able to say, at future Thanksgiving's, "remember the year the turkey didn't cook?!

 On to Christmas...think I'll do a ham in the oven!

A Trip to Camas

It was my birthday last week and since I had to work all day, I decided to take a little road trip the next day. I've been reading a lot of blogs that talk about Camas Antiques and thought I'd check it out. I live in the very NW corner of WA, just a few miles from the Canadian border, and Camas is located right along the Oregon border....quite the drive, but well worth it!!  It was a gorgeous day, almost 90 degrees, and smooth sailing on the roads! The town itself is adorable! My favorite part was this cute, old theater...only $3.50 per movie!

I headed straight for the antique mall and was not disappointed! This place is so pretty, great vendors and everything was displayed so beautifully!

Theses are a few of my favorite booths.....

I really wanted to bring home these lockers...if I'd had a truck.....

I loved all the white!

I got some fun things here: a gigantic, industrial muffin tin; some old, metal first aid kits; some vintage school supplies...forgot to take pictures though!!!

I went to a few other shops, including a quilt shop and really enjoyed myself there. I'll definitely go back!!

I got back in the car and decided I had enough time to head back to Seattle and hit University Village. Went to all my favorite stores, including Pottery Barn Kids. I just love all of their ideas and this was one of my favorites of all time! Seems like everyone focuses on Halloween and then heads straight to Christmas. Thanksgiving seems to get overlooked in the process.

 

Not at PBK!!! 

This table was so adorable! I want to have a children's table at my house this year! I'd have to find some children, but..... I think I will have to be considering this for the future Thanksgivings at "grammy's" house!

I had such a fun day!! And home by 11:30!!!!

It was going to be:

It was going to be titled, "The Best Thanksgiving EVER!", but now it should be more aptly named, "computers drive me CRAZY!"

I can't load any pictures and frankly, what is a post without pictures?? I mean, you can wax poetic all you want, but if you don't have at least one picture I'm not really that interested. Just stating the facts.

Who wants to read about someone else's hectic life, unless there is a picture of a frazzled mess?? Not me!!! I want to see your Christmas decor, Aunt Dorothy sleeping after dinner, kids baking cookies and making a mess!

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving, complete with 6 inches of snow. You'll have to take my word for it, because, yes, there is no picture. We had 17 wonderful people, although I miscounted and only had seating for 15 when we sat down. It was a little like musical chairs, with two people left standing. Now I know why I have two card tables!! All the kids, ages 12-21, went outside and had a snowball fight! I loved that!!! And I have some great pictures!!! They just won't load! Oh yea, you know that by now!

We finished Ashleigh's room and it's beautiful...maybe you'll see it sometime.

We watched the Apple Cup on Saturday and it was such a good game!!! The Cougs lost, but since the Husky QB, Jake Locker, is a local boy, I didn't feel too badly and hopefully they'll get a bowl invite. Went to the Seahawks game yesterday. Had a nice cozy suite, but I can't show it to you because, well, you know. Went to University Village after the game to look at all the pretty stores. I even took pictures. It sure was pretty!!

I've been decorating my house for a week. Way too much stuff. 7 fully decorated trees, plus 4 more with lights and such. I can't wait to get rid of some (a lot) of it in January. Feeling the need do simplify in so many ways. I have a sit-down dinner for 12 on Thursday, a party for 40 0n Friday and I have to work every day this week.

My daughter's car died. She has no money. The car's in our name. Guess who gets to deal??

My son has been sick for 5 weeks. 2nd round of antibiotics and not better. Chest x-ray negative. Mono negative too. Poor kid. Poor mom!!

Since I couldn't post my pictures and keep you enthralled, I did change my play list to some lovely Christmas music so hopefully you're enjoying that!!!!

Have a wonderful week and may all your pictures upload!!

Pour yourself some cider...it's a long one!!

Last weekend we went up to Whistler with Fred, Tami and Max where we were blessed to enjoy Jeff and Kathi's condo. What a treat!!
It was snowing when we arrived and never really let up. The village was so beautiful, all sparkly and shiny!

We tried to get some Christmas card shots. Ashleigh doesn't like to be in our photo anymore so we asked this snow lady to step in. What do you think?

I think this one is good for Fred and Tami. They needed two substitute sons...snow Danny and snow Sam.

We thought maybe we could try one with the Olympic sled. Do we look competitive?

Very exciting to have the games so close. I pity those poor people who think getting there will be easy! We'll be watching from home!!

Tami looks so cute! I look like I've been stuffing my hat!

Tyler, Max and Brian had plans to snowboard and ski on opening day. People camped out all night to be the first one up the mountain. The boys didn't like the long lines, especially with only a few runs open, and decided to bag it. Instead they built up a jump and had fun playing around with that. Brian took a lot of great pictures of them, but Tyler loaded them on the comp. and I don't know how to get them over here!!!

They had a lot of fun...until Max fell and broke his wrist! What a bummer! The R's spent about 3 hours in the emergency room. I'll let Tami tell you about socialized medicine!!

Tami holding the official coca cola torch!

A beautiful trip!! I'm so glad we had the chance to go! Brian hiked up to the top of Blackcomb and saw the sledding tracks. He got quite a few pictures before security asked him to leave! They are on my other camera which I can't get to load on my computer:(

We had lots of great food, wonderful walks, coffee in the snow, scrap booking and stitching!

Thursday night was the Lynden downtown Christmas shopping night. I love to go and see all the stores and decor. I wish it was better attended, but I didn't see that many people. Please get out and support your local stores!!

This is the Kitchen Konnection, where I work. It looked so pretty and bright and Lori was serving up some awesome samples!! She had a lot of traffic and lots of sales!!

There were carolers wandering the streets ...

This is Surroundings, above Dutch Mothers. Got some nice goodies with my purchase!!
Love the colors on this tree!

Tami, http://theladyinthestonehouse.blogspot.com/ , runs the gift shop at the Lynden Pioneer Museum, my first stop!! She had some fun antiques for me and of course the new Christmas Gooseberry Patch book!!!

She and Frosty make a pretty cute couple! Wish you could see her sparkly, red shoes!!

Friday was the 2nd annual autumn pie party at Lynda's. This is such a fun tradition that she started and I'm afraid she has to do it forever now!!!!

Using the timer on the camera...not the best...but here we are!! Karen, Lynda, Terry and me!

Aprons are required and everyone brings a pie. Lynda serves up a lovely lunch and provides us with a stitchery to work on. Missed taking pictures of both of those!!

My BFF, Betty, aka Lynda...I'm so blessed to call her friend!

Lynda liked my shoes and took a picture. My legs looked so skinny (which they aren't) that I had to add them to the post!!! To put it in perspective, that is my apron, not the tablecloth!!
Just focus on the legs please!!

A festive autumn table with adorable chalkboard name tags.

I'm the only one who got a decoration on her tag...I felt very special!!!

There was a game with about 30 possible correct answers. I won! I got 4 right!!! (It was a very difficult game!!!) Got to take home all the tags!!! Sorry girls!

What a feast!

Karen's blackberry pie...

Lynda's caramel apple cheesecake pie...

My apricot pie...

And Terry's peach pie...which I forgot to take a picture of...sorry Terry!!


We had such a wonderful time together! Thank you so much Lynda!!! Life would be so empty without you ladies!

The pictures just keep coming!!!

Please feel free to pause and nap at any time!

Got the carpet in last week, the couches arrived and we've started putting things in the room! Not much in the decor department as I don't want to take it all down when I add Christmas.

The computer got moved into the sitting area. It's tucked in a little corner. Love being able to play my Christmas music and Aunt Ruthie's music too!!http://sugarpiefarmhouse.com/. Plus I'm able to blog and watch the finals of Dancing with the Stars!!! I'm rooting for Donny as he was going to be my husband at one time. I wore the purple velvet skirt, had the Donny lunch box and all his records. Plus I practiced writing Holly Osmond over and over!!!

this used to be our dining room and we've made it into a sitting, game, computer room. I really like the coziness of it, and the openness to the other room.

We got our new couches! Chocolate brown! I must admit that they were much comfier in the store, so I've been jumping on them to loosen them up a bit!!! Tyler worked on them tonight!!

I need to get some blinds on the window, but I hate to cover them up!! Will make it a little cozier in here though and we won't be on display to the neighbors!!

The fireplace is used every day! It's wonderful!! On a remote and has an adjustable flame, which is really nice! Tyler's been taking lots of naps in front of this thing!!
I'll start decorating for Christmas this week. It takes me FOREVER!!! I'm sure it will take even longer as I figure out where everything should go now! Can't wait to see how it looks!

We'll be heading to Bainbridge Island for Thanksgiving and look forward to spending time with family.

We're so blessed and thankful to live in this great country, in this amazingly beautiful part of the world. To have family nearby and dear friends who bring us such joy. We're healthy, have a warm home to live in, abundant food, and more than we could ever possibly imagine. God is so faithful and I am so thankful for His provisions. So many people are hurting and alone, and feel as if they have no hope. May they feel God's presence this Thanksgiving and may His blessings be upon each and every one of you!