sudoku and the feast

last night i realized where my dot got his snoring. his dad was sleeping in the room next to us, just outside our door and my dot was on the other side of me in the bed. i was essentially right between the two of them. and they snored.

i could kick my dot. but..

..so i endured it. i was very tired when i got up this morning. i heard some voices and thought i'd better get in the bathroom before it starts filling with people wanting to shower.

after i got out of the bathroom i saw that the only ones up were my dot's parents. they chatted with me a bit, offered me some coffee, and that was that. i was out of bed for good. i had some pumpkin bread with my coffee and pretty soon my dot joined us.

it wasn't really long after that when his mom got to work on cooking for lunch. all that preparation!!! and she says it's worth it. she says she usually cries after everyone leaves each year, because she enjoys having everyone over just that much. and enjoys all the work it takes to put together the feast. hmh. hard to wrap my brain around.

i helped out where i could and tried to keep out of the way when i couldn't help.

finally kriss declared it ready, uncle vann prayed over the meal, and the feasting began. not counting the meat (because i hardly looked at what there was) we had:

broccoli & cheese casserole
green beans
corn
brussel sprouts
peanut butter filled or cheese filled celery
cranberry sauce
shrimp (made special for me)
rolls
dressing
deviled eggs
pickles
olives
sweet potatoes
mashed potatoes
gravy

lunch was very very good. i stuffed myself. just like a turkey. heh.

shortly thereafter a few naps commenced, some of which lasted until well into early evening. but about 6 of us sat down and played a game of phase 10, which also lasted until well into early evening.

then we brought out the tangoes again and played with that for a little while. now a bunch of us are on our laptops and all of the kids are around the pc. i've been playing sudoku.

and i plan on turning in soon. i'm yawning a lot.

all in all - a very enjoyable thanksgiving holiday with my new family, and my dot's and my first thanksgiving together as husband and wife!!

he is at the top of my list of things i am thankful for. i surprisingly don't make "thankful" lists at thanksgiving. as much as i love lists, you'd think it would be natural for me, but i just don't do it. so this year, in light of all the new things in my life, i will for the first time, put together my top ten things i am thankful for:

i am thankful for orange
i am thankful for the world's heaviest blanket and sleeping at my warmest
i am thankful for sweaters with hoods
i am thankful for cheese - all kinds, shapes, colors, consistencies and reasons to eat it
i am thankful for music - the well-put-together kind where the lyrics and energy and crescendos and mix all lend itself to the feel and sound
i am thankful for laughter. the kind that takes you over, seduces others into it, the kind that makes you feel like you've just had a massage and gone on a roller-coaster all at the same time
i am thankful for being able to do what i am passionate about. and get paid for it
i am thankful for the many many people in my life whom i love, my family and friends, my co-workers, my church family
i am thankful for my dot
i am thankful that i am a citizen of heaven

tangoes

at the in-laws for tgiving. we drove up here this evening, stopped at burger king and used our 2 $5 gift cards to pickup a little dinner (yay-veggie burger!), and met the family at my dot's parent's house. we'll be staying here for two nights.

there are two kids here, i think they are my dot's cousins once removed, and i brought out my tangoes for us to play together. my mom-in-law said i make a good babysitter, but the truth is i just make a good peer.

i met some of my dot's family that either i hadn't met before or just didn't remember. and niecy is here (my best friend.. since high school. she's now my sister-in-law. we did, after all, want to be sisters!) and she spent most of the evening in the kitchen making stuff for tomorrow. me? i just brought some broccoli/cheese casserole and a couple of bags of chips. the chips were requested, the casserole was a bonus bring.

i figured since it's been a tradition in my family, i could bring it to my dot's. plus it will give me an entree to eat in the midst of all the animal protein.

it's quiet now.. most everyone has either left or gone to bed. it's been a good day, a good time getting to know everyone and get to be part of the family.

halloween is coming

there is a cemetery in my front yard.

this is our 4th annual haunted garage and halloween party, hosted by yours truly. (well, ours truly, now. i love you, my dot.)

the first year we put black tarp up on my garage walls so it would be pitch dark for the haunted house. the thought of putting up and taking down each year was more than i could bear. so we painted the walls the next year. lazy? no. creative!

we also built small wall frames and covered them with cardboard and then black tarp (leftover from first year's walls) that come apart and store in pieces. again, creative.

we have a huge black coffin with red innerds and lots of headstones with (you guessed it: creative) sayings on them that get scattered around my lawn. this year i told my dot we need to put the coffin up on something like bricks so i don't end up with coffin shaped dead grass.

the maze part goes up fairly quickly now. but the theme!.. the theme takes time to develop.

we rely on rody for the groundwork. he usually has the year after next planned before this year is over. and he's the genius behind the scares. he's also the artist.

my dot is our builder. he can build a coffin, for goodness' sake. (when i see the word sake, i think of japanese spirits.)

and kelly? he's kind of our resident drinker. heehee.

this year is well underway. i still need to find one, big prop that is integral to our whole theme. i'm hoping i can get to garage sales this weekend and then that they have what i'm looking for. as you can see i will discuss no details so as not to give anything away.

all this evasiveness makes me feel like an undercover agent.

i could tell you, but then..