I'm thankful...

...that the cooking is OVER! This is the first time I've cooked Thanksgiving in, oh, about 6 years. (So, the first time I've cooked it for L'il Sis.) I wasn't sure if I remembered what to do or when. I started baking yesterday. That lasted all afternoon: pumpkin bread, pecan pie, pecan tassies, beer bread. I thought I'd get around to making some Semper Fi cookies, too, but that will have to wait for another day.

I managed to get up, prep the bird and get it in the oven at a decent time. (Even more impressive was the fact that it was actually quite good, if I do say so myself.) We were shooting for eating at lunchtime. With a little help from Stretch, I managed to time it so everything was ready at the same time (relatively). The girls were a little confused as to why we were eating dinner if it was lunchtime.

We also pulled out the good china and flatware. Threw an actual tablecloth down on the table and used cloth napkins. I know, our kids didn't know what to make of that! I even managed to corral everyone into sitting for a family picture for our Christmas cards (almost overcooked the potatoes doing that).

Now, back to planning my shopping strategy for tomorrow...

On L'il Indians and haircuts....

Both girls had their Thanksgiving celebrations at school today. At L'il Sis' preschool, the "little" kids dressed as Pilgrims while the "big" kids dressed up as Indians. When did my baby become one of the "big" kids?! At any rate, she looked very cute and wanted to pretend to live in a "tiki" (because she just can't seem to manage pronouncing "teepee"). Or maybe it's related to her fascination with lava, volcanoes and Hawaii.

As for haircuts... well what do you suppose happens when an 8 year-old has hair-style change remorse and spends a night crying because her hair isn't long anymore? Never mind that it looks ten times better now, it just won't cover her pillow when she tries to spread it out at night. *sigh* So, I agreed to get mine cut to make her feel better. In fairness, I was thinking about getting a fresh cut anyway but I'm not sure I would've done it so soon or gone so short otherwise. But, as I told Big Sis, it's only hair and it'll grow back if I decide I don't like it down the road. Right now, I still like it but that could change tomorrow!

haircuts

I took the girls in to get their bangs trimmed today. Big Sis spent the ride their complaining that she didn't need a haircut, didn't want one and wasn't going to get one. L'il Sis, meanwhile, kept offering to go first because she knew there would be a lollipop at the end of the haircut.

When we arrived at the salon, L'il Sis decided that she wanted her hair cut short like her cousin who has a stacked bob. Once we got inside the door, Big Sis suddenly decided that if she liked the way her sister's hair turned out, she'd get the same haircut. (I've been trying to convince her for months that she needs to cut her hair with no result.) Well, she liked it so now both girls are sporting bobs.

Since I wasn't expecting such drastic haircuts (just bang trimming!), I don't have a before picture, just the after:

'Tis the season...

Around here, the Christmas decorations started going up before Halloween. It was all the more ironic considering we were still wearing shorts and sweating just walking to the car.

Another sign of the impending Holidays, one I actually enjoy seeing, is the collection boxes for Toys for Tots. Sometimes, you'll even get to see a Marine in his blues standing near the boxes to encourage donations. (And I think we can all agree that a Marine in dress blues is just nice to look at!) Did you know that Toys for Tots was started in 1947 by a Marine Corps Reservist (with a bit of prodding by his wife, of course)? Or that Walt Disney designed the logo? You can read up on its history here.


We all know that things are tight all over. In our region alone, Toys for Tots expects to provide toys for 100,000 kids this year. This is up significantly from last year. So, if you're able, consider donating to Toys for Tots.

You can see other Toys for Tots ads here, but this one has to be my favorite:

Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day. As we took L'il Sis to preschool, we passed a tiny parade making it's way to our town's Veteran's Memorial which is located on the corner of 2 busy streets. Canopies and chairs were in place and presumably some speeches would be made. The only other indication that it might be Veteran's Day around here were the scruffy looking young men in pseudo-cammies that I saw on a busy street corner collecting money for a Veteran's group. Unfortunately, I don't know how legitimate they were. They might be perfectly legit, but they sure didn't look it.

This Veteran's Day, I'm really missing being around a military community (which usually has a strong retiree population as well). On the other hand, I did meet a man at the Birthday Ball the other night who served as a Corpsman on Iwo Jima.

To all those who serve and have served: Thank you!

Happy Belated 233rd Birthday, Marines!

Better late than never! We celebrated the Marine Corps' 233rd birthday Sunday night. (The actual birthday was Monday, November 10.) One of the beautiful things of moving so much is that I get to recycle dresses because I'm the only one who knows how old it is or how many times I may have worn it!


The program for the evening had a page with quotations about Marines. Last year, I didn't attend a ball but provided a few of my favorite quotes. I have a new one to add to the list:


They told (us) to open up the Embassy, or "we'll blow you away." And then they looked up and saw the Marines on the roof with these really big guns, and they said in Somali, "Igaralli ahow," which means "Excuse me, I didn't mean it, my mistake."
--Karen Aquilar, in the U.S. Embassy; Mogadishu, Somalia, 1991

woot!

It's November and Stretch finally got home yesterday... in one piece, so no need to find any of his insurance policies. My days of single-parenthood are over... for now, anyway!

So, those gremlins can just go somewhere else!