Wednesday, but no church tonight, and Bob is home

Bob took a vacation day today to get ahead on his Sunday School lesson, and to use up days before the end of the year. It does not feel like a Wednesday, but the garbage did get picked up, so it must be. James is driving home. ETA 8pm at Amber's and then he will be home for a good night's sleep before tomorrow's festivities. For tomorrow is Thanksgiving. As Christians, we try to be thankful every day, but once a year, we shop like crazy, try new recipes, and stuff ourselves. And we listen to the MSM drag the Pilgrims and Puritans through the mud.

Let me say, I have never had to remove the feathers from a fowl. I have never had to cut the head off a fowl. I found a smoked turkey in the frozen food section of Walmart and brought it home, and took the plastic off it, and stuck that frozen smoked turkey into the crock pot to see how long it would take to heat it through. Since it is just Bob and me, we are still working on that smoked turkey. It tastes mighty salty to me, so I chopped some and put it in a stuffing cassarole dish with sauted celery, onion, and a whole clove of garlic. I baked my own cornbread for this endeavor, and used a box of regular stuffing and some Mrs. Dash, and some sage. And three cans of low sodium broth---I should have used four. It is a little dry. And we have plenty left for tomorrow.

I made up a batch of fresh cranberry relish---in the blender with orange juice to puree the whole oranges, and washed cranberries and washed pecans. Sometimes you can get a bag of pecans and they do not taste of that bitter pecan shell dust, but this bag needed a bath. Yum--orange juice, cranberries, whole cutie oranges, pecans and a little sugar to taste. It is good morning, noon and night.

Pumpkin pies are smoking up the house!!! I bought the fancy pie shells that come in a curled up long box. They unroll okay, but I needed bigger pie pans. I stood the sides up, but they fell down during baking, and a pie is lying on the burner giving the house that nice, burnt pie crust smell. Ambiance' Thankfully, we have the windows open as it is seventy degrees outside.

Fun-fun. I have run the dishwasher twice today already. Who thought of this "holiday"? Oh, yeah. We eat turkey for Thanksgiving in November, and at Christmas, and are so burnt out on turkey, that we do not bother the rest of the year---except sliced at Schlosky's. Tom Thumb (grocery store) was crowded this morning, but they had Promised Land egg nog---a treat our boys love. And I found some nice Pink Lady apples.

We are so blessed. Even though Bob is coming down with a cold---it gives him a sexy, deep voice. And he has time to get his Sunday School lesson done. And time to figure out why his laptop is not working. And time to water the grass. And spread that last bag of seed. And maybe fix the kitchen light. Always something with a house.

My pumpkin pie has brown sugar, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. And I made three little bowls of pumpkin pie without the crust. Helps with the overabundance of batter, and a taste tester sample. They cook quicker than the big pies. Most years I just make pumpkin pie in the square glass dishes and forgo pie crust all together, but Bob likes pie crust.

My Day...so far (Love you, James!)

I woke up this morning and noticed that Bob had gone for a run. I could be wrong but it seems like he left about 4:30am, and he was not back by 6am, so I got dressed and stood outside for a while looking for him. I started planning his funeral in my head, and wondering what route I should drive looking for him, when he came around the corner jogging. He said he could not see me as I was wearing dark clothes, but he could see the reflectors in my running shoes.

What is the definition of a precept?? What are precepts? Is it a Bible word? Our assignment from Effie yesterday was to look for all the occurrances of the word in Psalm 119. Each paragraph has one. Precept: a rule or pinciple prescribing a particular course of action or conduct. Law. An authorized direction or order. Writ. It only occurs 27 times in 27 verses, and most are in Psalm 119. I noticed that the word does not stand alone in Psalm 119. It is always, "Your precepts". As in belonging to God---God sets the standard, God designs the laws to keep us safe, and bring order. In this time of rampant relativity, I like to keep in mind that the precepts belong to God. God invented law, rules, order, ways, commandments, ordinances. God is not a god of chaos.

I ventured out to Walmart and purchased $176 worth of groceries for the next week. We have never had a smoked turkey. So, I put a smoked turkey breast in the crock pot to test it out. Expensive test. But, why wait? It may be just Bob and me on Thanksgiving Day. Why not be thankful today?? I am all for being thankful every day. I don't purchase celery and onions and garlic every day, but they sounded good sauted in stuffing. Stuffing can be frozen for fancy meals later, too. Frozen pilsbury rolls are in the freezer which will make fancy any meal--and surely, make Bob smile. The small red and thin-skinned small potatoes come in cute little plastic "steamer" bags now. I don't think they will need to be added to the crock pot until 2 or 3pm. Man, is Bob gonna be surprised at supper tonight. Kinda like a dress rehearsal. Dole has fancy frozen blueberries--sure were good for a late breakfast. And blueberries are good for the bladder just like cranberries.

Still on a quest for cranberries, and those little oranges called "cuties". But, I am ready for any pecan recipe. Walmart was pretty crowded for a Monday morning---that economic crisis, ya know. I was reluctant to purchase a "fresh" turkey which felt pretty frozen. And the spiral cut hams had expiration dates all over the place.

What a country. I can motor over to Walmart, purchase fresh, canned and fozen goodies fit for a king, bring them home, fill my frig, and start cooking. What a country. Thank You, Lord. Thank You for good quality food and water, and luxuries. And Thank You, Lord for Walmart. Please protect them from the libs.

Sallycat is tracking the sunspots on the carpet. Beautiful day. Turned off the furnace, and opened the windows.

9pm report: The dressing turned out nice and moist, but the smoked turkey breast cooked in the crock pot was overdone, hence, dry. I cooked it too long. Even from frozen, it does not need but three hours on high. Low would be better---if you can stand the smell all day. Smelled like a smoked ham. Had to keep telling myself it was a turkey. I slipped in the small red potatoes at 2pm, and they turned out fine. Too much food, but this was a practice run. I won't have to cook tomorrow..or Wednesday...when Bob is home.

The low sodium dressing is good, but I am leaning more towards a cornbread dressing, so I may just make up a pan of cornbread and season it myself. That would be an easier way to control the salt. Or wait and do a cornbread cassarole to use up the smoked turkey someday. Surely, the smoked turkey will freeze okay for cassaroles.

We were too stuffed to eat the blackberry cobbler. Oh well. Bob did not complain (or see) the garlic cloves in the stuffing. I love garlic. And celery stewed is more easily chewed. But, purple onions turn brown in stuffing. Might as well buy the cheaper yellow ones next time.

Bob beat me 403 to 383. He bingo-ed at least twice. I started the game with a long word which helps open the board. But, Bob knows his seven letter words for an extra fifty points.