vacation is over and i have to drive to buckwood today, tomorrow and wednesday for a training class. bleh. year-end rush to satisfy the corporate development plan so it will be all checked off upon my review. bleh again.

at least i won’t be tied to the computer and phone. at least.

so, over the thanksgiving break we made MANY trips to i-killya, and R put together all the packages to make my home office a nicer place to spend time in (since i spend a fair amount of time in here). it may be pressboard, but it is a sight better than it has been for the past 5 years.

before

after

the fabulous R, my i-killya champ

it may be swedish meatballs, but i am so glad for it. like the kooky 70s looking art? i did. it reminded me of charlie rich 8-tracks and stereo equipment built-in cabinets as big as coffins.

so a combination of i-killya and suspension push-ups have caused a back spasm of some sort. those of you who remember this time last year my back did some spasm thing resulting in a 1/2 numb right thigh and the ensuing physical therapy that became regular gym-base strength training.

i am on the edge hoping this isn’t round 2 of some kind….

the big change would be that now i am in my forties i get muscle relaxers from buddies so i can bend over when preparing to brine the turkey for thanksgiving; whereas, twenty years ago i was getting a much more recreational sort of thing from my buddies to help with my mellow while navigating family politics during the holiday.

ah, those were the days. halcyon even – if i may be so bold…..

so tonight we rushed over to the ikea to pick-up my new office desk so the whole pre-thanksgiving offices redo can get kicked off.  see, R is moving into the other bedroom to make his office so i can have my own since i telecommute 100% of the time.  thanks R…

can i stop and say right now to anyone who knows and all those that don’t – the minute i step in the place i start to FREAK OUT because it is HUGE and stuff is EVERYWHERE and the children RUN WILD and the adults WADDLE through the seemingly endless maze of MORE STUFF….then once i get up in there and really lost i start to FREAK OUT even MORE!

ok so anyway. we finally find out how to work it and find the boxes we need in the last few minutes the store is open. we get it all in my honda and get home only to discover we left the main frame support in the self-serve check out lane…after paying for it.

i swear it is the i-killya to me……

sent from a friend yesterday and i (with my dark sense of humor and all) fell outa my chair and spewed hot tea through my nose laughing.

http://www.babelgum.com/4012129/kids-reenact-the-first-thanksgiving.html

bravo!

hay-all no! that dang sunshine wuz sa dang brite.

tomorrow i will make a pork loin in the slow cooker with shallots, mushrooms and hungarian paprika. we will have it with mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy and sweet white corn on the cob.

it is nearing holiday cooking time and i am starting to get excited about it. especially since i made my first lemon curd from scratch in saint paul back in september.

so now, the fsmas dinner desert – a gingerbread trifle with blackberry sauce and lemon curd – will be 100% from scratch for the first time. usually i buy the curd in an imported jar from england.  this time i will just have to stand at the stove whisking egg yolks until i thnk my arm will fall off.

omg.

i found a picture from the summer of 1985.

i was just turned 17 and had more bangs than i have hair now at 41.

HA!

note the earring – because not only did i have my boogie shoes from the super ’70s, but i was also a star child of the glam bam ’80s.

HA – AGAIN!

______________________________

photo credit: ‘god’s ruler’.

and i like it when the bearish guys cover it…..

after all the rain we have been having. usual fall pattern. i have an old bay bird in the slow cooker and red bean turkey chili in the dutch oven.

R is outa town, again. M didn’t go this time so she is terminally depressed because she knows R is frolicking outside somewhere all weekend without her.  all she can think is what a good girl she has been to get ditched.

i have that earth movie with james earl jones narrating in queue on the push button dvr thing and think i will go crawl under a soft blanket on the couch – console M while we both are very smelling of the good things in the kitchen.