Meeting Brad!

Wednesday, Nov. 22

Addie, Brad, and I left at 6am to drive home to Jacksonville.  Gas was $2.79 in Pensacola - we filled up before we left. Yay!

 We stopped at Bojangles for food.  It was a good day for driving but very busy on the road with people traveling for the holidays.  When we got to our neighborhood, we stopped at Speedway to fill up Brad's tank and then got home around 1:45pm.

We played Oregon Trail and Dutch Blitz and talked.  I made tacos for dinner and we ate.  He left around 7pm for home which is Winston-Salem, NC.

I really enjoyed getting to meet Brad, talk with him, and hear his story.  It was a great time with our family and hope we can do it again soon. :)

I was too tired to prep anything except boil eggs and feed my starter, and Autumn made the pickle rolls.

Goodbye November!

Where did November go!  Here we are in full swing in the holiday season.  I hope your month of November 2023 holds special memories!

Recipe: Turkey Wild Rice Soup

Turkey Wild Rice Soup

Our friend, Brandie, made this soup for us for Sunday lunch.  It is a tasty way to use up your leftover holiday turkey. 

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cubed

2 carrots, finely chopped

2 celery ribs, finely chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup flour

4 cups chicken or turkey broth

2 cups cooked wild rice

2 cups cooked turkey (bite-size pieces)

2 cups half & half

1 tsp diced parsley

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

*I would add garlic and more seasonings to this recipe.

(Boil carcass to debone turkey and make turkey broth.)

Melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add carrots, celery, and onions - cook until tender.  Stir in flour until blended, and cook until bubbly.  Add turkey broth gradually, whisk, and bring to a boil stirring constantly.

Cook and stir for 1-2 minutes until thickened.  Stir in the remaining ingredients and return to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally.  Stir in rice at the last.

Holiday Grocery Shopping and Traveling to Pensacola

Monday, November 20

Thankfully, our gas is going down and by our house, it is back under $3!

School - Day 65.  I needed to go for my weekly grocery shopping trip early since Autumn had to be at work by 11am.  It was very foggy Monday morning.

I always love this meme every year.  Ha!

Mondays are hard for Jackson.  Ha!

I was really glad to get this shopping trip out of the way.  Since it includes Thanksgiving dinner and the holiday weekend, I hope I didn't forget anything.  Are you ready for your Thanksgiving meal?  This year, we are having the meal just our little family.  We are a little sad that we don't have family in our area now to share holidays with like we did all the other years.  In Reno, we had my father-in-law. In Ohio, my parents.  In Oregon, my sister and family.  Here in Florida, no family close.  We are excited to have Addie here though!

My Thanksgiving Dinner

Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey

Mashed Potatoes with Noodle Gravy

Green Bean Casserole

Cream Cheese Corn

Deviled Eggs

Pickle Rolls

Homemade Sourdough Dinner Rolls with Apple Butter

Punch Pop

Pumpkin Pie with Cool Whip

After grocery shopping, I did some organizing in the pantry.  Did all the dishes.  Swept, vacuumed, and then mopped the downstairs.  Emptied all the garbage.  Caught up on all the dirty laundry and washed my bedding.  Talked to my sister for an hour.  I feel ready to leave for Pensacola, I think!

Tuesday, November 21

Today, I am leaving at 10am and driving to Pensacola.  I will spend the afternoon/evening there and then will be driving back with Addie for Thanksgiving break.  Her boyfriend, Brad, will be following us in his car.  He is going to spend the afternoon and dinner with us to meet the family and then head to his house for Thanksgiving break.

Sunshine Again!

Saturday, November 18th

Eric has been gone since Sunday morning.  He will be gone all day today and will fly in and arrive at midnight tonight.

Autumn is helping with her employer's birthday party for their son today.  So she will be gone for part of the day.  While she is gone, I'm going to work on school - grading and catching up on any quizzes or tests that need to be completed.  The day is starting off overcast but I think we may FINALLY break the clouds later on today and see some sunshine again!  I am hoping that also lowers the humidity.  Right now at 7:30am, it is 92% humidity with all these clouds.  

This morning, I am catching up on my blog posts and have a loaf of sourdough bread in the oven baking to enjoy with the homemade apple butter I made.

This evening, we will have vegetable beef soup and sourdough bread for dinner which is one of my fall favorite soups.  

Sunshine!

My apple butter on sourdough.

Finally sunshine coming into the living room in the morning!

Had to stay up to go to the airport to pick up Eric at midnight.  Enjoying this book and some Aldi extra toasty Cheezits.

Sunday, November 19

Well, it is now Thanksgiving week!  A short work week.

I let Sierra drive her and Summer for the first time by herself to church Sunday morning.  Ah!  We live in a pretty busy traffic area so that is why I waited a little bit to do this.  Sunday morning is less traffic so I felt better to allow it.

I told her to text me when she got to the church building and had WiFi.  This is what she texted.  Crazy kids.

A few of my Aldi finds. :)

After church, the girls and I stopped at the mall to get in on the hand soap sale at Bath and Body Works.  I love their hand soaps - they last so long and smell so good!

I made Mexican Garden Salad for lunch.  I also had some snacks to enjoy.  A homemade French Onion dip with chips.  Garlic cheese curds and green olives.

I made a batch of warm brownies and topped them with Moose Tracks ice cream.

Homemade Apple Butter and Living Room Change

Thursday, Nov. 16th

Jackson usually sleeps with me when Eric is traveling. :)

Thankfully, gas is going down.  $3.01 with my Speedway discount on Nov. 16, 2023.

Today is one month since Max died.  This came up on my FB memories.  I miss you so much, buddy.  You left a big hole in our home.

Memory of Belle back in our Reno life.  She was my spirit animal.  She always wanted to be in that spot of sunshine.  I miss her too.

A memory of the ridiculousness of our former Oregon governor, Dictator Kate.  She told people to call the police on their neighbors if they had gatherings at their homes for Thanksgiving.  What a scam they created.

I gave my sister, Rachel, a call.  We haven't talked for over a week.  Got to have a long talk with my husband who is traveling this week.

I did some errands.  I picked up a garbage can for my office desk at Dollar Tree.  You truly can't beat $1.25 for a small garbage can!  I don't buy them anywhere else.

I stopped at Home Depot and got a toilet paper holder to replace the one in the girls' bathroom.

I stopped at Auto Zone and got a new bulb for my headlight for my SUV.

I dropped off a couple books at the library.

I went to Valvoline and got the oil changed in my SUV.  I was pleased with the experience.

I bought a turkey at Winn-Dixie for $.49/lb.  Then I bought a turkey at Publix for $.69/lb.

It was nice to get all those little errands done.

Summer made rice and bean bowls with corn and avocado crema for our dinner.  It is a favorite dinner of Autumn's.

That evening, I peeled, cored, and sliced apples for apple butter.  I wanted it to cook overnight while we slept.  Of course, I watched a Hallmark Christmas movie while I did it. :)  This is the recipe I use: Slow Cooker Apple Butter.

Friday, Nov. 17th

School - Day 64.  My apples cooked down all night long.  In the morning, I pureed them and now have a couple jars of homemade apple butter.  Yum!  I also mixed up a loaf of sourdough to rise to bake on Saturday morning.

Autumn really wanted to do something different in the living room.  So we spent several hours changing things around and cleaning.  It took a lot of my day but it was nice to do and get done.  It is always nice to have a change in your home - freshens it up and gives it an enjoyable change.  Here are photos of the change. :)

My apple butter.  I purchased pint-freezer-safe containers and divided them up.  Four pints to freeze and one to eat now.  Yay!

Mixed up another batch of dough for a loaf of sourdough.

Roasted my pumpkin seeds but forgot about them and they got a little too toasty.

Still overcast skies.

The girls and I went down to Wendy's for a small peppermint frosty.  Autumn and I both got a free one with the app.  They are so good!  That first bite tasted like Christmas.  :)

The changes we made. :)

We had frozen pot pies for dinner.  Then we watched a Hallmark Christmas movie - A Heidelberg Holiday.  Then finished up with the last two episodes of The Santa Clauses of the second season from last year.  The new season has begun but we are waiting until Addie is here to watch it.

The weekend is here!