Hello! How was your weekend? Ours was great!
1. Last week I ran out of time to "talk" about a couple things, so I'm going to catch up here. First, #1 was inducted into National Honor Society. Most kids apply for it their junior year but she was just swamped last year and didn't have the time to apply. I was really impressed that she took the time to apply this year!I knew nothing about it, she just asked me if I wanted to come to her induction. Uh, yes! It was really well done and I was impressed with the time everyone took to make it a special night for the kids.
2. My friend, Christi, and I stopped at Lulu's Thai Noodle Shop after we went thrift shopping last Sunday. It was FANTASTIC! If you are ever down in the Crossroads Arts District, I highly recommend it. Delish!
3. I managed to read two books on our trip to Hawaii and really liked them both. Both were perfect beach reads. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan was so fun and it kept me entertained the whole way through. Plus, now I want to see the movie. I also picked up a book at the airport - literally the ONLY book they had in the entire store. One Day in December by Josie Silver. I literally finished it in less than 8 hours so it's a really easy read. But it, too, kept me entertained which was great because I had 7 hours to go from San Francisco to KC due to our extended layover.
4. I downloaded a sleep cycle app and it's so much fun! #1 had to download it for her psych class and was telling me about it so I decided to try it. While it isn't changing any of my habits, it's really fun to look at my sleep cycle every morning when I wake up. Ideally, it is supposed to wake you within 30 minutes of your alarm. It might wake you up early if you are coming out of a Deep Sleep so you don't have time to fall back into another deep sleep. But let's be real - there is no way I want to be woken up at 4:40am just because that would be ideal. Uh-uh, no way! I do not want to be woken up a minute before 5:10am so I don't take advantage of that feature.
Anyway, here are two of my charts, side by side:
You can see the chart on the left is typical of me. I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. I'm talking if I lay there more than 5 minutes, I wonder what's wrong. The chart on the right is what happens when the hubby goes to bed at the same time. He tosses and turns FOREVER before he falls asleep. And the app can't really tell what is going on, so it charts his tossing and turning as if it were me. I think once he's asleep, it does a better job of charting my sleep pattern vs. his. Still, I get a kick out of this because he always says I fall asleep fast. I thought he was exaggerating before and now I know he's not!
5. So tonight I tested 3 new recipes for Thanksgiving. The major bummer? I have a cold and couldn't taste ANYTHING!! I had to rely on my family because I had no clue if these recipes were winners or not. Well, they tested 2 of the 3 and all agreed they were winners. The third one was for brussels sprouts and they all refused to try them. I am making an executive decision and making them.
Also, the hubby is hell bent on deep frying a turkey this year. Mind you, we have never deep fried even so much as a drumstick but he thinks he can do an entire turkey. So, he wants to test it out on all of us. While I'm not thrilled (what if he messes it up? a very likely chance given his kitchen skillz), I told him to go for it. IF he can find a deep fryer because I refuse to buy one for one day a year. Wish us luck!
Meanwhile, the sides will be epic! We're going with these buttery herbed mashed potatoes and these flaky pull-apart dinner rolls from Half Baked Harvest. Both were winners tonight. Of course we'll have chestnut apple stuffing (a combination of a few different recipes I have on hand), roasted sweet potatoes, roasted beets with goat cheese, and these parmesan baked brussels sprouts from A Beautiful Mess. Of course, I have no idea how to do gravy without turkey drippings, so I will have to wing that part. Oh well. It will all work itself out. In the end, we could probably skip the dinner and go straight to the desserts anyway!
All that to say, I'm excited to spend a day or two in the kitchen in less than two weeks. Also, we'll be able to start decorating for Christmas in less than two weeks, too!
6. Remember last week when I said I took the big girls and friends downtown for more senior pictures? Well, I was helping #1 pick out a few pictures of herself from that session because pictures are due for the yearbook this week. While we were culling through images, I saw this one. I love it!
Well, that's all I've got tonight. I need to wrap a few presents and finish folding some laundry before I can hit the hay. Have a great week!
P.S. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I know today is Veterans Day. As the daughter of an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, my thanks go out to all who have served, past and present and especially to those families who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. Thank you.
Kerry T told me the best turkey she ever had was when Scott deep fried one. Have a great Thanksgiving!
Posted by: Marge Dubbelde | 11/12/2018 at 08:30 AM