Heaven and hell........

 

 

 

Youngest grandson
 

Son #1

My beautiful daughter-in-law
 

 We drove to Texas and enjoyed Thanksgiving with the family, and it was great!  What was not great?  Well, they adopted a dog 4 days before we came, and surprisingly Demitri hated that dog.  The kids we always loud.  Especially the 4 year old and 7 year old.  Holy cow, I was wishing for ear plugs. Does that make me sound like an old codger?  I suppose it does, and I suppose I am!  Haha

We had a nice hotel, Tru by Hilton.  They don't put storage in these new hotels though.  They supposedly had storage under the bed, but we couldn't get it to open.  So all our crap was stacked around the room like some kind of Jackson Pollock painting.  It was cold too, windy and with some sprinkles on Thanksgiving.  The next day was pretty nice, so we went for a hike with the younger son...

 

                                                                          Son #2

 

All of this part was Heaven, to be with family during my favorite holiday!  

Unfortunately, there is the hell part.  We had a long travel day to Joplin on Sunday, and we were really worried that going through Dallas would be awful, but it wasn't too bad at all.  I hate driving through Dallas.....it's a lot easier with gps instead of a paper map though!  

I always thought Demitri enjoyed car rides, but the longer rides made him so anxious.  He panted and whined and couldn't figure out that if he would just sleep it would be better.  He wandered and tried to jump in the front, but couldn't because he was leashed into the back seat.  Thankfully!  It drove me nuts.

The next day we drove for 12 hours.  Oh, wait I drove 12 hours.  Romeo prefers I drive because sometimes I will get car sick.  But I can't do 12 hours like I did 5 years ago.  My entire body ached.  My back, my neck, even my hands from gripping the steering wheel.  I sort of screwed up that leg of the trip.  

Making matters worse, Demitri had become a bit constipated ~ gee so it's not just people, lol ~ and he took a crap on the dog bed we had in the back seat (and smeared it around a bit, like frosting).  That got tossed.  I cleaned up as well as I could with baby wipes, and we went on.  The next day was the beginning of the 12 hour drive, and I insisted we put Demitri in the crate, which was much better.  We picked up Zòi and began the long 10 hour drive to Amarillo.  Poor things, I think she was a little car sick and threw up two or three times.  

So, the scent of dog poop, the scent of dog vomit, and everything else.  Ugh.  

We did get home from Amarillo about 10:30 am, and Romeo did unpack and washed his clothes.  I just took care of the dog and took some ibuprophen and hoped my back would feel better soon.  I slept like the dead.  But my back is still a little sore.  And I have  UTI on top of everything else.  

It was great to pick up the puppy though!  Of course, like all puppies, she is so cute.  

Well, I better go see what she"s doing now!

Love, 365

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!.....

Bad time to be a tasty bird, indeed  :-)

I am posting this a little early, as we will be having Thanksgiving with quite a bit of family...we are excited to all be together.  It has been many years since we've all gathered for this ~ my favorite holiday, mostly because it's about eating together and games played.  Dominoes and cards and yahtzee and scrabble.  The football game will be going on for those that don't like games, and Demitri will be in heaven with all the scents and treats.

Of course, lots to do in preparation.  Luckily I only need to do bread, and the rest have divided up the bird and the sides.  

This is the time of year I really miss my Mom, she loved Thanksgiving...although she would have probably enjoyed more help in the kitchen, haha.

Our Priest's wife came over this morning for a lesson in sourdough baking.  She is a really wonderful person.  A wee bit frazzled over having to manage 5 kids in the morning though ~ and no wonder.  The youngest are twin girls, and I think that's where most of the drama comes from :-)  We went through all the steps of making the dough, and since I had dough in the fridge ready to bake, she took home a loaf of still very warm sourdough.  Luckily, we had great oven spring and esthetics (which I was quick to point out is not the end all and be all, since in the end will be eaten anyway, haha).  It was fun.  

We've had lovely weather, in the 60s and sunny.  Although I would like something more around the low 70s, it's still nice outside.  I wish I still had my garden going, but my herbs are still going ok except for the basil.  Basil just doesn't like cooler weather.

I have been experimenting with water bath canning which I find pleasurable.   So far I've made the basil jelly, spiced jelly (with strawberries and cranberries), the prickly pear jelly and the newest was roasted pear-garlic preserves.  It can be an addicting hobby.  But I'm no end of the world prepper.  If the world comes apart (which it seems to be on it's way) I'll just quietly die with most everyone else.  People are mean.  If they know you have a huge stash of something, I have no doubt they would happily kill to have it.  I know The Walking Dead was just a tv series, but I think humans would act very much like they did on that show.  

 

Roasted pear-garlic preserves...

Spiced Christmas jelly.......

Basil jelly, which is what started it all.  I had a huge amount of basil and I didn't want to make a lot of pesto, so I made the jelly too.

It's time to do some laundry, I still have a lot to do!  I hope you find plenty of things to feel thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Love, 365

Why can't we talk to people anymore?....

 

3 years ago, we switched from Verizon to Xfinity for our cell service.  It was so great, we were paying about $25-30 a month.  My last bill was $86 ~ they recently changed the way the service works.  In the meantime, Verizon offers an unlimited plan for $25 per month.  So, I still need to figure out if I want to switch, which is such a pain.  

I called Xfinity, and the automated service sent me a link to the chat.  Normally I don't mind the chat, but with them the wait is long, and sometimes ~ as with this particular time ~ the first person I was chatting with dropped and I had to wait again for someone else to pick up the ball.  I even posted "can't I just talk to someone?" and that was ignored.  We could have actually spoken to each other and resolved this issue in minutes.  Instead I had to put up with texting each other.  

Remember when you could actually speak to someone?  I guess that's no longer an option.  AI is going to take over all this soon.  I might enjoy that better than being ignored.

After we go to Texas to have Thanksgiving with our boys and grandkids (yay!) we're going to the same breeder we got Demitri from to pick up this cute little girl.  We're naming her Zói (pronounced Zoey).  I never thought Romeo would agree to another dog, but he's as excited as I am.  At least I have a clear picture of puppy hood, because I recall every minute of last year!  I know it's crazy.  But I can't wait.  Demitri will enjoy having a buddy, although he might be a bit confused at first.  We've almost always had two dogs, but with Sioux's heath issues, it just wasn't a good time.  

So get ready for more puppy antics and adorable puppy pictures.

Love, 365