Thanksgiving

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We left Wednesday morning to go to the Florida panhandle to visit with my daddy's sister and her family. As soon as we got there we started eating and ate the whole time! My aunt is a phenomenal cook and her cooking is just like my granny's was. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and sausages Wednesday night, and we got into some of our Thanksgiving desserts a little early. When we got to my aunt's house, her daughter and her grandson were cooking together, and it was so sweet! They had made magic cookie bars which I loved when I was a little girl, and they are still fantastic! We spent the night at my cousin's house because another aunt and her family were coming in and they were going to sleep at my aunt's house. When I got up Thursday morning my aunt already had her stove full of Thanksgiving goodies. You can not imagine how much food we had. We filled the dining table with the real food, and filled the kitchen counters with the desserts. You couldn't put another plate down anywhere! And it was so good, I mean, SO GOOD. We ate and visited, and ate and visited, and ate and visited some more! We had at least 30 people there, and it felt so good to be with family. Friday we went to visit my daddy's best friend. They seemed so happy to see us. He was sitting in his recliner watching tv when we got there and he reminded me so much of my daddy. We had just eaten breakfast when we went over there, and they insisted we eat some dessert with them. When we got back to my aunts we ate bbq and leftovers. (I told you we ate the whole weekend!) Saturday morning we left after breakfast to go to Callaway to spend time with Frank's best friend. I hated to leave my family because I enjoyed being with them so much. They want us to come back for Christmas, but we think we are going to wait until the day after Christmas to go back and spend the week between Christmas and New Year's with them. We went to see the lights at Callaway, and visited in the hotel room with Heath and Andrea. And yes, we ate a bunch with them too. We took a long, lazy route home and enjoyed some fall foliage and lots of old houses along the way. Since we got home, Frank has been writing a paper, and I've been catching up on laundry. Tomorrow it is back to work...but only for 3 weeks!

Super Saturday

So, I survived the shopping! Yay! I actually had a good time. Sharon and I left about 9 and went straight to Kohl's. The sale wasn't as good as I was hoping, but I did find Paige a lil something and Frank some things. Then we dropped into the Goodwill store to waste a few minutes until Taki opened. We had some fabulous sushi at Taki, then we headed across town to Ulta. I love Ulta. There I bought the only thing I bought for myself today...some make up primer. I can't survive without primer and am always looking for the ultimate one. This time I'm trying the Olay kind. Yea, I am that old. Then we went to Bass Pro because Frank needed some wood chips for the turkey he is smoking and apparently was unable to drive across the street to Walmart by himself. Men! But the joke's on him because we had the best time at the Bass Pro! Sharon did not know that they have women's clothes at Bass Pro and she bought as much there as she did at Kohl's, lol. And I may or may not have gotten a few Christmas presents there myself. After all the excitement of Bass Pro, we were pretty whipped, and headed back to Milledgeville. I am attempting a 12 layer chocolate cake for tomorrow night's Thanksgiving dinner. Please pray for me. I baked 4 layers tonight using two cake mixes and a yummy recipe from the cake mix dr. I am a firm believe in the cake mix dr. This recipe is a white cake mix, 1 cup of whole milk, 3 eggs, 1 stick of melted butter, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. The batter whips up really thick. I baked the layers tonight and will split them tomorrow using my handy dandy Wilton's cake leveler. It is awesome! I plan to make 3 layers from each layer and I am going to ice them with homemade chocolate pan frosting...my favorite! If this turns out well, I will look like quite the baker. If it doesn't, I will be picking up some Paula Deen caramel pecan pies from the Wally World!

Shop til I Drop?

Tomorrow I am doing something I never, EVER do. I am going shopping with a friend, without Paige, for Christmas gifts in a real store . I always do most of my Christmas shopping online. And if I do go real shopping, I take Paige with me. It gets even weirder though...I have no idea what I'm shopping for. I always have an idea of what I'm looking for when I do actually venture into a real store. I make lists, lots of lists, of what to get everyone on my Christmas list. And the reason I make multiple lists is because I usually lose the lists. But tomorrow is a new day for me. I'm going to go to Macon, to real stores, with no real ideas, and just look around and see if I can actually purchase Christmas gifts. I may not make a lot of progress on my Christmas shopping, but I know I will enjoy some girl-friend time, and I am hoping to get a good lunch out of it. I just hope Paige isn't forever scarred by me going without her. And vice versa.

Thursday Date Night

Tonight was date night. We went to Down South and I had grilled shrimp and grits. YUM! Some wonderful friends of ours happened to end up there tonight too, so we got to visit with them. BONUS!

I am happy report that I have made it through the week. There were times I didn't think I would. But tomorrow is Pajama Day, and I bought popcorn for my class. I'm hoping we can treat the day like a big ole pajama party. (After finishing all of our work, of course.)

We are having Thanksgiving dinner at church Sunday night, and I am so looking forward to it! I love my church home and family, and I am excited about joining this tradition. We had an old fashioned Sunday a couple of weeks ago where we had dinner outside and an old tyme worship service complete with an Amen Corner. It was so much fun, so I know that our Thanksgiving dinner will be another wonderful time. We have Wed night suppers every week, and all this church eating is not good for getting these last few pounds off...but it sure is fun!

Well, that's a recap of my week pretty much so far. Hope yours is going great!

Fantastic Friday Night

A couple of weeks ago I came to the realization that Jacob never picks out his own clothes to buy. I do all of his shopping, and if it meets his approval he will wear it. And if it doesn't, he shoves it in the back of a drawer and just keeps wearing the same things over and over. I figured that now that he is 14, and seems to finally be taking more care in his appearance (he takes a shower without being forced to now) I should offer to take him to buy a few outfits. Uh, except guys don't wear "outfits". They just wear clothes. At least that is what I was told. So Frank made a whirlwind trip to Ohio with Rickey Wedgeworth this weekend, and I decided this was a good a time as any to take Jacob shopping...for clothes, not an outfit. Jacob is not much of a shopper. We only went to one store. Target. I had to make him actually go into the clothing department...he was much more interested in showing me the video game stuff he wants for Christmas. We finally made it to the men's department. And it was quite pitiful. I offered to go somewhere, anywhere, else, but he refused. What other store was gonna have the video game stuff too? So, we perservered and he found 2 pairs of jeans and 2 shirts. He couldn't believe I made him try them on. And he refused to come out of the dressing room to show me, so I really am not sure he did actually try them on. But we got two outfits, I mean, two sets of clothing, and he was completely over the whole clothes shopping thing. Paige only stuck her lip out once because I refused to buy her a Coca Cola shirt that looked completely worn out. So all in all, it was a very successful night. The best part of the evening was the ride home. Jake's ear phones are messed up so he had to have a conversation with me. It was great! He even joined in when Paige and I were belting out "My Redeemer Lives" in true Frank Meighan fashion. What a fantastic way to spend a Friday night.

Six Months

In 6 short months, my baby boy will be getting his learner's permit. Wow. Time sure has flown by. In a way it will be cool to have him driving...I will never have to go to the grocery store again (I hope). But then again, I sure don't think we are ready for this!

He has really grown up in the last six months. He has become a lot more comfortable with himself, gained a whole lot more confidence, and is an over all happier kid. I know in six more months he will be totally ready to take on the world from behind the wheel. But will we be ready for that?