Twas the Day before Thanksgiving...

And all thru the house...all the creatures are stirring but please, NO MOUSE.

The kids are home from school and we had what I consider a pretty good day. We got up leisurely and had breakfast and the kids played while i grabbed a bath. Dale went to the gym and the imps and i headed up to Publix to pick up a few last minute items. We came home and made Turkey Treats (see picture below) I found the idea in some kiddie cookbook i picked up at the Reader's Digest warehouse sale. I was amazed at how much fun the kids had doing it. I thought they'd grow bored quickly but they really stayed focused on it.



Then we had lunch and teamed up with Christine, AJ and Nana to take all the kids to see ENCHANTED. (an adorable movie in my humble opinion) Came home...kids played outside for a bit and then we did dinner and now John is in the bathtub and Josh & Ebeth are watching THE GOONIES on the couch (A film I liked a lot when i was a young teen.)

Tomorrow afternoon will be busier than a one armed paperhanger, but should still be fun. I have to admit I'm bribing the imps into good behavior. Not a good thing, but I'm soooo tired of threatening with punishments if they MISBEHAVE. And the day is usually so long and boring to them with no other cousins to play with. Cross your fingers for us.

Thanksgiving Preparation

Today is Tuesday...big push to get things done today because tomorrow the imps will be home from school. Hard to go shopping when they're with me. Plus the grocery stores are always so crowded on Wednesdays. My big thing I'm in charge of this year is Macaroni & Cheeses. Finally an excuse to use my Paula Deene Celebrations cookbook that Christine & Jeff gave me last year for Christmas. (autographed no less!) One for Thanksgiving at Grandmother Siler's. One for Thanksgiving w/Dale's family. For the King Thanksgiving dinner which will be all seafood (we figure that's more of what the 1st Thanksgiving was like) I'm supposed to bring some sort of Seafood salad. Thinking I may cheat on this one and buy it at the grocery store and put it in a pretty bowl. Bad Gina. Need to pick up some of those heavy duty compartmentalized paper plates. That's for the Simpson party. See, if i were hosting it...in my imaginary huge dining room, I'd get out my nice china and crystal. Alas...it's Solo & Chinnette for us.

Here's hoping everything goes smooth for your family.

13 Things I want my new home to have

My husband Dale and i are hoping to buy a new home relatively soon. We currently live in a small 3BR/2Ba home in Auburn...Who knows where we'll live next, but of this I'm certain..it MUST have the following 13 features.

13. GARDEN TUB. Actually, I should have put this as number one on my list...but it came to mind first. I'm a soaker. I love nothing more than kicking back in the bathtub with candles lit and a good book. Oblivious to the rest of the world. That's living I say!

12. 4 Bedrooms and room for an office. That office can be another bedroom or it can be a living room...whatever. We have just got to get our office out of our immediate bedroom. Dale works from home and it's just too much to have him in here.

11. Dale a closet. Poor man is using the coat closet in miniscule hallway that we currently have. The man needs space in his own bedroom to get dressed.

10. A Master Shower. In our current bedroom, we have a garden tub...but it's still the world's smallest master bath! There's no room for a shower in there and we must use the kids bathroom and then traipse across the house to get dressed.

9. A large backyard..preferably fenced so that we can get a pooch. And so the kids can play ball etc. I dont want a postage stamp back yard.

8. A Pantry. I'm so tired of having to use my cabinets for food when i have so much other STUFF that could go in there.

7. A LARGE linen closet. We will have 3-4 beds...with 2-3 sets of sheets each....Then add towels for the 5-6 of us. I need SPACE.

6. At least 1800sf. I want it large enough that anyone can have some quiet time. I want space to turn around in without bumping into someone.

5. I want it to have a good school district that is NOT Title 1. Call me a snob. I dont care. When it comes to the kids schooling, I just feel they would get better educations at a school that has more money.

4. A room for laundry...not just a closet. Room to put the baskets down and still be able to shut the door to company.

3. Either a front porch or a back deck. Or Both. Currently I really dont have either. We sorta have a front porch, but it's hardly big enough for a bench. I want a place to relax and watch the kids.

2. A Rhompus Room. Did i spell that right? i dont know. But you know what i mean. A kid's play room where they can have the majority of their toys and shelves of their own and tv and bean bags chairs and I'll decorate it with framed game boards.

1. Room for all of us..for the kids to each have their own room and at least one extra room for company/friends/foster kids.

Am I asking for too much?

I Quit

I quit my job today...granted it was just a part time position, but I quit it none the less. I was working as a photographer's assistant and we went all over the Atlanta area to daycare centers taking pictures of the imps. We had them dressing up in nostalgic outfits in front of a really cool background. That part I enjoyed...but i hated the driving all over god and creation. I'd be in Union City or Canton or Rex or Alpharetta...none of these are even remotely close to where I live. It was just to wearing on my car and I hated being gone that much. So, I gave notice today. I told her I'd work today in Dawsonville but she said not to bother...but not in a bad way. My boss Kelly wrote me a very nice goodbye letter, so all was good with the world.

What a load it took off my shoulders though! I was spending a minimum of an hour to an hour and a half each way in the car. This is of course time you dont get paid for. They did pay you for gas...a whopping .18c a mile...but this just barely did cover gas. Nothing for my time or wear and tear on the car. We'll talk more about me going back to school after the holidays.

I'm going tomorrow to do one of those Marketing research studies where they actually PAY you for your opinions. This one pays $75 for 90 minutes. Not bad.

halloween pictures

Had to post them since in my opinion they look so cute. The pumpkin one was taken at a pumpkin farm in Watkinsville.

13 Things that fascinate/Intrigue me

13 The sinking of the Titanic. I'm fascinated with studying this beyond words. I have always been a big history buff and this sad story always has intrigued me. When the exhibit was in Tampa, i went down there to see it and the tragedy of it really hit home for me. I was on pins and needles waiting for the movie to come out back in Dec of 97...and was so disappointed that she broke her promise (She DIDNT hang on!!)

12. Lizzie Borden. Again..the tragedy of it. What would drive a person to do that to her family? Did Lizzie do it as everyone assumes? or was she truly innocent as she was found by the Massachusetts jury? We shall never know.

11. Concentration Camps. No, I'm not Jewish...but the atrocities that race have faced have captured my interest since I was a little girl and first read The Diary of Anne Frank. Then came The Hiding Place...then when i was in my late 20s a semi-boyfriend of mine took me on a train trip to Washington DC.While there, we visited the Holocaust Mueseum and it made me see things in such a more personal level.

10. Westerns...beit Western books like Louis L'amours...or Little House on the Prairie...or Butch Cassidy or John Wayne movies. Billy the Kid...Tombstone & Doc Holiday and the Earp Brothers.

9. The 20's & 30s. I love reading about the roaring twenties! I even did a 7th Grade social science project about the fads and fashions of the 20s. Love reading about the Lindberg baby kidnapping...or the St. Valentine's day Massacre. Morbid i know. Then the stock market crash and it's effect on everyone..the resulting "great depression" and our entry into World War Two.

8. David in the Bible. I love reading the Bible for it's literary value. I think David is the most fascinating character in it. So much of his life is simply unbelievable. I think I've read everything about him or written BY him. Much more interesting in his mistakes and triumphs. I mean this man messed up time and time again and yet he always returned remained in the favor of God. What a rolemodel for reality. Unlike Paul (my LEAST favorite character! that woman hater! LOL)

7. The Weather. Yes, it's true..i love to watch the weather. I love it when it may snow, or storm, or dip down to historic lows (or highs) i love giant storms and the power within them. I love watching clouds roll by or seeing the results of high winds.

6. Photography. Oh i'm not very good at it, but i love pictures. I love looking thru old pictures that arn't even mine. I love snapping shots and preserving a history thru them. I almost always have my camera with me and I'm really not even a very good photographer...but I manage to capture a lot that hopefully my kids will appreciate one day. I love making gifts out of them...of reminding people how important they are to me thru them.

5. Oral History. I love hearing old stories about the good old days. About how things were done "back then" about who's related to whom and how? I sooo need to get my grandmothers on tape telling some old stories or passing down some of their old recipes. Then I can weave them into some DVDs to give people in the future.

4. Life after Death. Ghosts...Spirits...Mediums. Too many episodes of Medium, Ghost Whisperer and Crossing Over. But golly it fascinates me. And it makes me feel so much more assured about the promises we read of in the Bible. It makes sense to me somehow.

3. Cemeteries. It all started when I first visited the main cemetery in Savannah before starting college down near there. I wandered from tombstone to tombstone reading the inscriptions and feeling the pain of the loved one who had it inscribed. Then I had a class in statistics where I had to visit the cemeteries and figure out statistics on what month most people died or were born. I love the history that the cemeteries preserve even if i do feel it's a waste of space in many growing communities.

2. Musical Lyrics. I love em!! I determine how much I like a song based on what the song is saying! First thing i do when I buy a CD is to pull out the jacket and read along as the song plays. I so envy songwriters and their amazing talent. Of taking our emotions and writing them out to song.

1. Weight Loss Success stories. I could read them over and over again. Stories of how people overcome adversity to lose multitudes of pounds. What I can learn from them. How I dream of one day losing my weight and inspiring others.