Prepping

22 lbs of meat is defrosting in my refrigerator. I gave my potatoes a trial run last night for the hubs and I...new recipe that actually will NOT make it to the table Thursday. Sticking to what I know, which are good ol' fashioned mashed potatoes with tons of butter, sour cream, garlic, and salt, which are clearly low fat. When you are cooking to impress my normal consciousness of nutritional value goes out the door. I'm all kinds of Paula Dean up in here.

And I have to be, you know why? Because ALL of my grandparents are coming. The matriarchs of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners will be there, including my own mother. My dad's mom, God love her (or something), is always one for a comment. You know, the subtle dig with the high pitched voice and smile to tag along just to let you know it was okay, but not quite right. My mom's dad who I absolutely love, we call him Captain Rick, who will drink straight vodka with lime the moment he arrives only to either continue to comment about how good the food is or say nothing at all. Which again will signify success or failure. Then my Nana (mom's mom) is coming who is essentially Betty Crocker. No seriously, she is. And her house is always spotless, bushes trimmed to perfection, everything with her outfit coordinates, mother f'in pressure is on. Then as mentioned my parents who are both damn good cooks, and of course my brothers. I'm not worried about those two, the fact that they are not going through the drive thru to eat that day nor spending their own money is considered an all around win for them. Plus, I'll have beer and wine - for free. Another win.

Please pray, light a candle, something for my turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, deviled eggs, cornbread, and rolls. The cranberry is coming straight out the can so if that screws up the store brand distributors can suck it.

Okay so in all seriousness, I am thankful. Very thankful to have family close enough to pay a visit, thankful for my brothers coming into town, my parents, my husband, my daughter, my friends...my list goes on but the point is BE thankful. Take your moment wherever you are and reflect on what you have. Time here is precious and no matter what bullshit or hardship circulates in our lives there is always time to stop and give thanks. We put our Christmas decorations up early this year so that our house would be all the more cozy when everyone is over. We just started putting the tree up and I caught this:

and NOTHING makes me more thankful.

Email FWD:

This came to me from my mother this morning, and she said 'You better not show Dom!' Ah, parental humor, gotta love it.

HOW PUMPKIN PIE IS MADE:

My husband loves pumpkin pie.

Face plant.

You should see the other kid...

Okay, okay. So technically Brooklyn got in a fight with the pavement, not another kiddo. She was pushing something at school that decided to take off without her and the first thing to hit the ground was that poor little nose of hers. Ouch!

"I was country, when country wasn't cool..."

I heard that song last night while watching the CMA's and I can't stop singing it.

I was born in Texas. We have a ranch that has been in our family for years, we grew up hunting, fishing, bailing hay, watching big Texas thunderstorms roll in from the front porch. I've helped my dad run cattle through pens, fed a calf with a bottle, caught my first striper (that's a fish, not a misspelled word!) when I was 8, eaten lots of deer meat, dove, etc...

I'm country.
Or Southern.
Or something.

Let's say Southern, for some reason there is a necessary level of sophistication to go along with that. Again, Or something. It might be worth mentioning before I freak some of you out that I AM college educated, have traveled quite a bit (see Greece pic below, with camo pants I might add), love stiletto's, wine, fine dining, etc...but can also load a shotgun or shoot a crossbow. Mkay? Moving on...

My parents were hippies too though, loved themselves some classic rock and roll, smoked cigarettes on the curb at school, long hair, dad with the sideburns, you know "age of aquarius" type of stuff.So, growing up I got it all. Country, southern rock, even a little blues now and then. It's all stuck with me and I'm grateful for the exposure but nothing brings me closer to home than some good ol' country music.

The first song I learned to sing along to was Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - "Islands in the Stream." Hell yeah - you know what I"m talking about.....(cricket sounds)...uh...right? I know just about every George Jones, Conway Twitty, Roseanne Cash, Charlie Daniels, Willie Nelson, Alabama, Restless Heart, George Strait, The Judds, Reba song out there. From the 80's, 90's, and on into today I know country music. It's part of me and I love it.

Being married to an Italian guy from New York poses quite the combination of musical interests as mentioned in my last post. When we got together he NEVER listened to country. He had that stereotypical twang "my dog ran away, my wife left, shoot my gun, where's my whiskey" idea of what country music was. Since then, well, he's changed a lot. It relaxes him, he says. And, well, he's been around my family now long enough to know he better like it. I'm talking Willie Nelson CD's play on Christmas Eve while my brothers where their camo coveralls around.

Living in a live music capital there is such a variety of music, a lot of alternatives, and haters of country music. At one point in my life I think I would even play down how much I loved it, trying to do the whole 'fit-in' as a freshman nightmare. OMG how exhausting. Moved long past that and last night while watching the CMA's it truly dawned on me that I was country, when country wasn't cool.

Yes, that is a budweiser hat and a coors light in my hand.

Mood

Today I find myself in a mood. A certain mood that I love when I get in, it's neither bad nor extremely good, it's somewhere in between. When I get like this I typically keep to myself more than normal and I listen to music. I used to always turn to music when I needed to reflect, feel, just be. I would use lyrics to describe where I was, what I was feeling, relate, gain a sense of comfort knowing someone else captured my exact moment and put it into words better than I could.

When my husband and I first started dating we would stay up for HOURS drinking wine and listening to a million different songs, old and new, and telling stories as to why they were so important. Me more than him but it was a way of getting to know one another beyond what we had already discovered.

I feel a sense of peace, contentment, just being. I think so many things, LIFE, happen so fast all around when you get a moment to just literally 'be' you should cherish it. My mind and my body seem to hardly allow for that anymore...so today, I take advantage of my mood.

My background music for the day seems to indicate I'm getting into that holiday spirit, and all the love and warmth that comes with.


What's yours?

I'd post the pictures from the zoo....

...except I don't have any. Because I flew solo and apparently am not skilled enough to do it ALL. The hubs was out of down last week, Thursday - Sunday, but that's no excuse to slow me and the little one down from being social now is it? Saturday morning I decided to pack it up and meet one of my very best friends at the zoo in San Antonio. She lives in Htown but was down visiting her SUPER PREGO sister and her two gorgeous girls. My girlfriend, Perri, has two kids of her own, and it's worth mentioning her parents and grandparents were there also. Quite the partaaay!

I left my house at 8:30 Saturday morning which in and of itself is borderline miraculous. Not that we don't do this on any given weekday, but moving that fast on Saturday too, yeah I know, pat on the back to me. Diaper bag packed, sippy cups, snacks, toys for the drive, the stroller, basics covered. Grabbed the camera too because I'm a good mom like that. Ya know, capturing the moments.

I made it on time and we got the crazy train going. Brooklyn was in the stroller, had the camera out ready and waiting and off we went. This was her 3rd trip to a zoo - the Austin zoo was just hot and lame, and she was too little to care when we took her to the Central Park zoo. First stop was the monkeys, which she absolutely loved since every animal sound we ask her to make is a monkey. We ventured into the aquarium section next and all she kept saying loudly over and over was "WHOA!" On to the a cave like structure to see the hippo's and alligators, and that's when it all started to fall apart. A mobile 14 month old with so much stimulation surrounding is OVER the stroller. Especially when she's the youngest of the 5 kiddos and everyone else is walking around. So, I made the mistake of letting her get down and that's when it was all over. One arm pushing the stroller, chasing her, picking her back up, pulling her off of things to climb, whoops there goes the sippy cup, "Brooklyn stop!", damn, I forgot the stroller!, shit my iPhone is sitting out in the cup holder!, etc...

I would entice her with crackers and LIFE cereal to get back in the stroller only to realize the next few exhibits she couldn't see unless I got her out and held her up to see the big animals. Damnit. But, that part was totally worth it as she yet again kept saying 'WHOA!' and then did her version of a roar when we saw the lions. She whispers it, have no idea where she got that from.

Needless to say by the time we left the zoo my hair was pulled up, I was sweating, the stroller was covered with crumbs, and I had a tired pup on my hands. Was so fun and so worth it, but: NOT ONE SINGLE FREAKIN PICTURE. Because yeah, like I said, I apparently am not talented enough to figure out how in the hell to manage that. I've said this before but again, hats off to single parents.

Anyone good at photoshop? ;)

Cheesy McCheester, and then some.

Yes I did change my blog background for Halloween, and yes I did it again for November, and oh I cannot wait for the Christmas holiday. It just might sing and light up - Griswold is in the house.

Raise your hand if you like cheesy!

Anywho - I felt like I was on a roll with posting, a couple posts a week is 'on a roll' in my world. Then bam, fell off a cliff, hit a wall, thinking I am lame and have nothing fun to say. That always bring me back to why I started this here blog in the first place, to keep my grandma (Nana) updated with pictures and stories of Brooklyn. So, as the new saying goes, "when you hit a wall, post for grandma." (More cheese!)

We had a great Halloween, although it came and went as quick as it started. Brooklyn was a pumpkin but wasn't interested. We took her to a pumpkin parking lot patch but she wasn't too interested in that either. The bean bag toss, however, ding ding ding - we have a winner.

Sunday of this last weekend we took her a new park just build near our house and I learned that my child literally has NO FEAR. I knew this already I think but it was 100% confirmed. With no help from her us she flew down the slide. There I was too, ready and waiting to help and be the hero/safety net. Who are you? GET OUT MY WAY!

I should clarify something. She has no fear but she is aware of crazy. And how to stay away from it. Demonstrated in the below pictures, she is all to aware of the weirdo behind the big dog head. "Hmmm, he's not Mickey or any of his friends, Pooh, a Disney Princess...STRANGER DANGER!" That's my girl.

Okay Nana, hope you enjoyed the update. I'll be back soon, mwah!