Exceedingly Mundane

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Archive for November, 2012

Nov
27
Posted by Stace

Thanksgiving & Christmas decorating

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone, and another day filled with family and food 🙂

Wednesday was busy. I got my hair cut and highlighted in the morning, and also went to Kroger to pick up a few last things. We smoked a turkey this year, since Tim got his smoker last year for Christmas. We also put some sweet potatoes in there, but didn’t end up eating them, since Gail and Elizabeth brought sweet potato casserole. We also had appetizers (pickles, olives, cheese and crackers), bread with chive butter, green bean bundles, broccoli casserole, dressing and cranberry sauce. Gail made an apple cranberry crumble and I made a frozen apple cheesecake pie, but both Elizabeth and David commented that next year they wanted pumpkin pie! So the regular food went over better than dessert 🙂

Daddy came, just for the day. Everyone else stayed till late. Tim and I, along with Gail, David and Elizabeth all went to the first ever early Thanksgiving Black Friday sale at Walmart on Thursday night, starting at 8 PM. I wanted the Harry Potter movies on either DVD or Blu-Ray, and Elizabeth wanted the three Potter movies she didn’t have. We got the movies and got back home in about an hour, so a really good experience!

Gail and Don stayed both Thursday and Friday night, and we had a great time hanging out with them. Friday, we all went to see SkyFall, the new James Bond movie (which was really good!), and also went to Lowe’s and Walmart. We ate out twice, lunch at Corner Bakery and supper at Majestic Burger. All delicious 🙂

Saturday, Don and Gail left after lunch, and Tim and I started getting out Christmas decorations. Tim put out my garland, both front and back, and also the lighted trees out front. I put out my Snow Village, and Tim got out the tree and plugged it in, only to find that a whole bunch of the pre-lit sections were not lighting up. So, I wanted to just put lights on it and keep going, but Tim wanted a new tree, so off to Lowe’s we go. He picked out a new tree, and when we got it home, I realized it was smaller than our previous one. It’s just not very wide and full, it’s sort of pencil shaped, which I did not want. But I didn’t want to pack it back up and take it back, so it’s staying up. I’m slowly getting used to the smaller size, so I think it will be ok in the long run! 🙂

Monday, we both had our doctor’s appointments. Mine was a normal visit, but this was Tim’s first time to see a regular doctor since we’ve been married. All of his numbers were good, except his blood pressure was a bit high. So, we’re going to work on diet and try to exercise more and hope to get it under control without medication.

Nov
18
Posted by Stace

Random & Assorted

My best intentions about blogging more regularly appear to be sliding yet again!

So, a few thoughts about what we’ve been doing and a few other things.

Weekends continue to be busy, while the weekdays are filled with the same ole-same ole, and yet fly by equally fast. Last weekend, we watched some movies (two I got at the library: The Debt and One for the Money), and also watched some football and stuff on the DVR. We ate out at a new-to-us place, Kent’s Cajun Kitchen. It was delicious, a bit overpriced, but good food. Tim played golf, so the weekend flew by.

This weekend is more of the same. Tim won’t be playing golf because he hurt his back again (this time helping me, he was getting the Christmas dishes out of the attic for me, in time to use for Thanksgiving). We had plans for the weekend, but they got tabled due to his back. So, we’re hanging out at home and watching more movies, football, tv, etc. I’ve been making regular trips to the library (2 more movies: Cowboys & Aliens and Joyful Noise) and I also checked out some “real” books. I read two of them (Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber and The Hidden Flame by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke). I have one more book, but Tim wanted to read it (The Rook by Stephen James), so I’m happily back reading on my Kindle. I much prefer my electronic devices to read on.

OK, a few bullets!

    * Football season is flying by. Sigh. The Eagles are 0-10 (worst record in college football), and it’s time for our new coach to leave. The Saints are doing better, 4-5, and hopefully on a upswing. I hate to see football season closer to the end than the beginning.
    * Thanksgiving is this week. Lots to do! We’re going to do the turkey in Tim’s new smoker. Lots of the other regular sides (dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, broccoli casserole, bread, etc)
    * Yesterday would have been my mom’s 88th birthday. I still miss her every day.
    * Tim’s birthday is coming up, and once again, I don’t have a clue as to what to get him!
    * We both go to the doctor soon. Ugh. At least Tim is going, for the first time since we’ve been married. So glad he’s going to go get things checked on, and find out about his blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.
    * Madison opened up a Christmas on Ice yesterday, through the first week of January. Looking forward to going soon! I won’t get on the ice rink, but will enjoy the music and the Scripture trail.
    * My new favorite snack: Chobani Vanilla Chocolate Chunk. Bummed that I can’t find it at Kroger and have to trek to the Walmart to get it. But trek I do, that stuff is sooo good!
    * I used up a bunch of my Swagbucks and Amazon gift cards and ordered myself a Cuisinart griddler, and also got the waffle plates. I’ve been having fun using it, I’ve done paninis, grilled salmon and made waffles. So far I love it 🙂
    * I’m in denial, as usual, as to how close Christmas really is. I have no idea of what to get anyone. It seems to get harder and harder each year. Everyone just seems to have anything they might want or need.
    * The nights are getting cold, and we actually had to start turning on the heat for a bit in the mornings, last week. When it gets down in the 30’s the house cools off enough to need it in the AM. Also, I’m back to enjoying hot tea and some decaf coffee in the mornings. Extra calories, but oh so good!
Nov
06
Posted by Stace

Election Day

Today is election day in our country, incumbent Barack Obama against Republican governor Mitt Romney. We got out and voted this morning, and it only took a few minutes. There are reports that there are long lines, a few here in our state and a lot more across the country. Hoping for a good outcome!

David was here all last week, hanging out and visiting friends in Jackson. He stayed with us from Monday-Saturday. Wednesday night was Halloween and we had a great time this year! Kathryn and Jeremy came and brought Katelyn and Sam. Katelyn was a witch this year, and Sam was Captain America! Tony and Stephanie brought the twins, Leila and Rylan, and also Ramsey, and Jackie came too. Jackie stayed here and gave our candy for us while we went out, in two shifts (the older kids got here earlier and headed out first). Leila was a mouse and Rylan was a dragon. They’re just two, but got the hang of saying thank you and bye quickly, and Rylan starting having too much fun ringing doorbells! I made witches brew and vampire juice (both punch drinks), mummy dogs, witches brooms and taco soup for the adults. Tim and I had a great time, and we hope everyone else did too!

We went out and ran errands Friday night, and then picked up Chick-Fil-A on the way home. Such is date night sometimes around here, aren’t we exciting?! 🙂 Saturday, we ended up vegging. Stayed home and watched movies, popped popcorn, ordered pizza and caught up on stuff on the DVR. Sunday was church, and we dropped off our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. They have some missions speakers for the next couple of weeks, so no new series at church.

Sunday the time changed, so we got that extra hour back. It was awesome, probably my favorite day of the year, hahaha! Sunday afternoon, I went grocery shopping, and Tim stayed home to watch football. I was shocked, Saturday and Sunday, daylight, no rain, and he didn’t even venture towards the golf course 🙂 He’ll slack off until early spring and then go back hot and heavy, I’m sure!

Sunday night, I made steak sandwiches and Monday I made a new soup, sausage and kale with white beans. Today we’re making a practice run for Thanksgiving, trying our first turkey in the new smoker that I gave Tim for Christmas last year. We’ve tried chickens, ribs and pork tenderloins in it this year, and they’ve all come out delicious. I’m hoping the turkeys will too. We could buy a larger container for our propane thing and he could deep fry them, but I’m thinking the smoke flavor will be great, so I’m hoping it comes out. We’ll be able to do turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas to take to family get-togethers. We’ll need to try a ham soon 🙂

Monday morning we got up and walked, back to our normal morning schedule, now that it’s light in the AM and not pitch black dark. I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to walk in the AM. It’s been in the 40’s, and later this week, it’s supposed to be in the 30’s overnight. I don’t want to get sick, so we usually walk during Tim’s lunch break when it’s really cold in the AM. Tim got on the treadmill Monday afternoon, he says he’s going to do that again this winter. He tried to guilt me into getting on, but I fought that with all I had 😀

Today is election day. We’ll probably watch some of the results come in tonight, as well as some stuff on the DVR. Just another blessed day around here!