Being Thankful

What am I Thankful for this Thanksgiving?

*a home that keeps me warm and dry. There is a homeless man that I talk to occasionally, he hangs out at the library, and on cold, wet days like this I worry about him. I had some extra sleeping bags that I was going to get rid of and decided to throw them in the back of my car and see if he could use them. I haven't seen him in the last few days and I hope he is okay.

*more food than I could ever want. Just came home from one last, I hope, trip to the grocery and my pantry and refrigerator are full! 

*college son will be home in about two hours for the holiday. He is almost finished with his first semester of college and is doing well.

*teen daughter is making Thanksgiving for her french host family tomorrow! Even though we miss her being here, she is having the most wonderful experience and I am so thankful for that!

*husband called and he is leaving work early today. He is such a good man and takes such good care of us! But, he does work too much! ;)

*for the friends I have made through the blogging world! I haven't met too many in person, but feel like I know you all so well!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! 

Our Weekend

We had a great weekend! 

I found a new television for the cabin at a great price at our local Kmart. So I ran over to buy it, unfortunately it was an online price only, so I had to go back home order it online and pick it up at the store. An hour later I was back at the store to pick up the same tv I had just looked at but paid $180 less! Yea for me! Unfortunately, we couldn't fit it in the truck we were taking so we had to leave it behind!

We delivered the new moped to college son. Just one more thing to worry about!

Saturday we headed to the game. A really nice man GAVE us two tickets on the 50 yard line 35 rows up, NICE! And of course Clemson destroyed the Citadel. 

 Since it had been an early game, husband and I went to see the new hunger games movie that night. I did not read the books, nor did I see the first movie, but I really enjoyed it! I'm thinking I need to go back and read the books before the next movie comes out.

We came home late afternoon yesterday. And this morning woke up to a very cold lowcountry! I think it was about 29 degrees outside! 

Can you tell our little kitty was cold?

 You can't see it but she is laying on top of the heat vent!

College son is coming home on Wednesday and I have lots to do to get ready for Thanksgiving!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thoughts On Thursday

• Spent the night at the lakehouse last night. Did a little Christmas decorating while I was there since we won't be back up for a few weeks.
• Husband's parents are coming for Thanksgiving Dinner. I think I have all my grocery shopping done!
• I got some wrapping of Christmas gifts done today, still have more to do, but love knowing that about a third is wrapped!
• Heading to the cabin tomorrow. Clemson's last home game is this weekend. 
• I brought home the artificial tree from the lake house and will take it to the cabin to decorate for Christmas, since we will be up there the days leading up to Christmas Eve.
• Soup is simmering on the stove for dinner tonight!
• Found out that college son can ride home with next door neighbor's son from school next week, so I don't have to make the drive again after being there this weekend! I thought about driving separate from husband and just staying, but the cabin is still too scary by yourself!

Have a great weekend!

Someone's Got a New Set of Wheels!

We bit the bullet and bought college son a moped to scoot around and get to campus to eat or to class if he misses the shuttle! We ended up buying it here near us and have to take it to him this weekend when we go up for the Clemson/Citadel game. Of course husband had to take it for a run last night in the neighborhood! I couldn't stop laughing at the sight of him on it! I can't be the only one who laughs when they see someone riding a moped/scooter?

A Quick Change

This wall used to have two pictures on it. 

I grew bored with it and decided to gather all the old and some not so old family photos and make a photo wall. It may or may not be done.

 

The First of the Season

When I ran into Target to look for a couple things, i got my first Skinny Peppermint Mocha. It was so good! 

I was looking for the book, A Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty, and they had it but it was in hardcover and I don't want to spend that much on it! I need it for book club next month and I am on the wait list at the library, I think I am request #124 for 45 copies! Don't think I am going to get it in time! Does anyone have a copy I could borrow?
No big plans for the weekend, a quick work tomorrow late afternoon and then working Sunday afternoon. 
Happy Weekend!

Here's a Recipe

I made this Pumpkin Crunch Cake the other day and it is really good! So, I thought I would share the recipe:

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

1 can pumpkin

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. ginger

pinch of cloves

1 t. salt

3/4 box of yellow cake mix

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment and spray with cooking spray.

Beat pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar and spices. Pour into prepared dish.

Sprinkle top with dry cake mix. Sprinkle on nuts. Pour melted butter over the nuts and cake mix. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until golden brown on top and pumpkin is set.

Store in fridge.

Husband has been eating this with a little dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top.

Two years ago we replaced all the flooring in our bathrooms. We didn't do the counter tops at that time, but oh lordy are the ones we have looking pretty crappy! So, I went to the granite place on Tuesday picked out some remnants (we are talking saving around 15-20 a sq.ft) and have set the date to have them replaced. I will have to post before and afters. I think they will look amazing when they are done. And this is coming from someone who doesn't like granite! :)

Now, if I can just get husband to bite the bullet and get my built in bookcases done!

I Need a Smart Phone

It's pretty sad that we went to the cabin for the weekend and the only photo I took was of the inside of the fridge! (I did this so I could remember what was in there for next time).
I had my big camera, but it is so big and bulky, that I end up not carrying it with me unless I am specifically going somewhere to take photos. I think if I had a smart phone I would be more likely to whip it out and take a photo of what is happening.
We went to the Clemson soccer game on Friday night. We met my sister and her husband there. It was so cold that sister and I ended up leaving before it was over and heading across the street to Mellow Mushroom. It was so much warmer inside! And, no, I took no photos! 
Saturday husband was on a mission to find college son a moped/scooter. It would be convenient for him to ride to campus to eat and ride over to class if he should miss the shuttle.  He found some, but son wasn't impressed. So I guess the search goes on.
Saturday afternoon we headed to my parent's house to gather before the whole family met to celebrate my mom's 71st birthday. We ate at a place called Bleu Voodoo. It was pretty good. And again, no photos!
Sunday husband and son went to play golf and I stayed behind to clean and pack up. After, we stopped in Clemson to eat lunch before dropping off son and heading back to the lowcountry.
It was a fun, though undocumented, weekend! ;)
Today I am catching up on laundry and have a pumpkin crunch baking in the oven which is making the house smell divine! It's the first time I've tried this recipe, if it's good I'll share!

A Dangerous Purchase! ;)

Someone needs to come to my house and take these away! Like, immediately! I was so mad because I could never find the pumpkin spice ones at Halloween, found these today and they are DANGEROUS! Do Not Buy Them! I repeat, Do Not Buy Them! :)

Weekend Wrap-Up

Saturday I worked in the afternoon. It was a gorgeous day, after raining throughout the night on Friday. 

As has become our 'thing', we went out for dinner after I got home from work. We went downtown and ate at Sermet's Downtown.

 It was delicious! I had the eggplant and husband had the scallops. I had one glass of wine and it was a really good Merlot. I am going to have to see if I can find out the name because I would like to get some for at home. After we finished eating husband suggested we go somewhere else for dessert. He loves to eat dinner at one restaurant and go somewhere else for dessert. We have even gone for drinks and an appetizer at one place, left for another for dinner and then finished off the night with dessert at a third place! We decided to walk over to Charleston Place and go to The Charleston Grill for dessert.

We sat in the bar area and had to-die-for desserts! I ordered the pineapple upside down cake and husband had a ginger honey cake. I wanted to lick the plate when I was done, it was that good!

 As we were walking into Charleston Place there was a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk and he asked if we could help him out. Well, I am a sucker for the homeless, so I reached in my wallet and I knew I had only a five dollar bill so I grabbed it, without looking,  and gave it to him. As I walked away I looked a little better into my wallet and there I saw a five dollar bill! I could have sworn I had only one, but I remembered that I had a hundred dollar bill that I had been carrying around for a while, and for about 2 minutes, while I scrambled through that wallet, I thought I had handed the homeless man $100! In my panic I looked at husband and said "I think I just gave that guy $100". If you could have seen the look on husband's face! And then I found the $100 and saw that I had actually had two 5 dollar bills. I figured that would be the excitement for the night. But oh no! As I go to get out my debit card to pay for dessert, I realize that I don't have it! While I am panicking about that, husband figures I must have left it at Sermet's! So, I find the receipt from there and step outside to call them and sure enough after asking around the hostess finds it! So we make a detour back to pick it up before heading to the car. Husband says it's those things that should tell me I shouldn't drink! I told him that I could handle a glass of wine but that he had been distracting me when I was signing the bill. His response? "In a good way or a bad way?" 

Compared to our Saturday night, Sunday was pretty uneventful!

How was your weekend?

The Day After

The party on the cul-de-sac was fun. The cheesy onion dip I made was a hit! 

I bought only a family size bag of candy to hand out and it was gone by the end of the night. And I think it was gone not because of the number of trick-or-treaters  we had, but because all of us at the get together just put our bowls of candy out on a table at the end of the driveway for the kids to help themselves! I bet we didn't have 25 kids total come down the street! I enjoyed catching up with the neighbors and was home by 8:30! I came in the house, kept all the lights off and sat in the dark reading blogs on the laptop!

I saw some photos from daughter's Halloween in France:

I thought they looked amazing!

 

Can't believe it's the first of November! I am ready to start planning my Thanksgiving menu and need to finalize the guest list. 

Have a great weekend!