Hope Continually -- Psalm 71:14

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.

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

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.

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 Dev

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! Ha

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 p