Results for the Great Turkey Roasting Experiment of 2008

I'm very pleased to report that the twenty three pound gobbler that I recently prepared turned out very nicely. I doubt, however, that I will again purchase such a large bird. I felt quite unlady-like squatting and straddling a corner of the open door to hoist that thing in and out of the oven when it came time to baste it. (No, there are no pictures.) Thanks to all of you who gave advice and encouragement.

Below, you see our yearly family picture taken at Thanksgiving by Jeff's dad. Below that, you see last year's photo. Aren't the changes in the kids amazing?

2008

2007



By the way, this is the last day of our email service with our old internet server, so I might not be able to alter this blog after midnight tonight...only time will tell. (See my last post.)

Is This Goodbye???

Hmmm...

Yesterday, we had fiber optics installed and in the process changed internet providers and our email address. Just as I feared, the delicate balance of our online existence was rocked and I lost access to adding to and altering this blog. It appeared as if I would have to kiss it goodbye and start anew elsewhere.

I went as far as to create a new blog over at www.aswewendourway.blogspot.com, so if I continue to have troubles with this one (www.amongthemany.blogspot.com) then that is where I'll be.

Last night, something compelled me to try one more time to sign in at this blog and it actually worked (even though I used the same user name and password as I had the all other times).

So...if after a while it appears that this blog has cyber spiderwebs and dust all over it, then try over at the aforementioned new blog address.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Internetless

Fiber optics are coming to our neighborhood, so I made an appointment to have the box installed. We are also changing internet providers. I planned it that we would have an overlap of coverage of about 5 days so that we wouldn't be without the Net for even a day.

Well, apparently someone at DSL Extreme took it personally that we were canceling with them because they dumped us ten days early! I called yesterday and the guy couldn't give me an explanation as to why that happened (not even a lame one).

So here I sit at the library on a hard wooden chair announcing to you all that if you need to get a hold of us over the next week, it would be best to call us. Also, our old email address is likely to be defunct, so I'll send out the new one when I know what it is.

It's Been an Odd Day

It didn't start out strangely.

The weirdness didn't hit until about 1:00 pm. I was at the grocery store when I came within three feet of...

...the hairiest man I've ever seen.

He was right in front of me in the check out line. (He looked quite normal from the neck up.)

He was shirtless, apparently unaware of the many social blunders that his partial nudity was tempting me to commit:
I wanted to giggle. I wanted to stare. I wanted to take a DNA sample.

Seriously...there was no differentiation between the hair on his back and the hair on his front. It all just flowed together like a strange pelt of poor quality.

The most astonishing thing of all was that there were little bits of dried grass stuck in his back fur like Bruiser has after rolling around on the lawn. No joke!

Delaney was with me. I'm glad since she can therefore lend credence to my tale. It's best to have a partner in moments of incredulity.

When we got into the car, she made me laugh out loud by asking, "I wonder what his armpits look like!"

Okay, so swallow the little bit of dinner you just hurled up and read about the rest of my day...

Last week, some friends blessed us with a couch and chair that they were getting rid of. Due to limited space, we needed to get rid of the futon (which someone else blessed us with years and years ago), so I called the Greensheet and placed an ad in the "Free" section.

Yesterday, we got four phone calls. The second caller drove an hour to get here, strapped the full sized futon onto the roof of his sedan and drove off. (I wondered all night if he made it home.)

Well, apparently, most people got the Greensheet today because as of 8:44 pm we have received 45 phone calls! No, not 4 or 5, but forty-five! Our phone has never rung like this.

Once told that the futon was gone, one lady asked me, "Do you know anybody who is selling a couch?" I assured her that I did not. (Jeff told me later that I should have said, "Yeah...Ikea.")

Another guy called to ask what a futon was. He took the time to tell me, "I looked it up in the dictionary and I couldn't find it." Boy, I bet he's a fun date.

By dinnertime, I had grown weary of interacting with all of these strangers on a human level, so if I didn't recognize the number on my caller ID, I'd try my best to sound like an automated message when answering and say things like, "Hello, if you are calling in regards to the free futon, we are sorry, but it is no longer available. Thank you. Goodbye."

It is now 9:00 and the phone hasn't rung for about 20 minutes. Perhaps the onslaught is at an end.

I did it!!! (We'll see if I regret it.)

I bought a turkey today with plans to actually cook the thing.

Rolls, I can do...

Pies, I can do (if I buy the pre-made crusts)...

Neither mashed potatoes nor stuffing strike fear in my heart...

...but there's something about a solid, mammoth sized, roundish-so-it-can-easily-slip-through-your-arms-and-break-all-the-bones-in-both-of-your-feet-at-once, $23.00 bird (are we sure it's actually a bird and not a medium sized mammal?) that makes tofu seem like a tasty alternative for Thanksgiving's main dish (at lease if I'm cooking).

Today at the grocery store, I was absent-mindedly strolling along when I was blind-sided by an offer I couldn't refuse: "Buy $25.00 worth of groceries and get a turkey for 60% off!"

Hmmm...no wonder a crowd was gathering at the floor to ceiling fridge. When it was finally my turn to open the huge glass door, I wrestled an unyielding, plastic covered carcass into my shopping cart, onto the check stand's conveyor belt, back into my cart, onto the floor of my little sedan (I think it left a dent) and finally into the yawning abyss of our big freezer in the garage, remembering the whole time to lift with my legs, not my back.

There lies the cryogenic beast, awaiting it's journey to the fridge (where it will probably crack through a couple of shelves, oh, and where is all the other food supposed to go for those three days of thawing?) and then into the oven where it may possibly dry out and resemble astronaut food due to my lack of massive-poultry-cooking skills.

No matter what happens, I know there's one member of the family who will be pleased with the end result of The Great Turkey Roasting Experiment of 2008:


Can you sense his excitement?

Hey Y'all!

I just returned from one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Although I've been preparing for it for a couple of months now, I didn't mention it here because it was a surprise for a few key people--people who actually read this blog. :)

Some women from my church fellowship and I hopped on a plane and put on a women's retreat for a group of our beloved friends in Kentucky. Although they knew a retreat was going to take place, they didn't know who would be a part of it, so I had to stay silent.

It was so wonderful. I had the honor of leading about 25 women (including a handful of fabulous little girls) in worship. It was beautiful to see all of these women working together, using their gifts and abilities to serve each other and God. Our skills complemented each others' so that everything was accomplished effectively and honorably.

Imagine being with a large group of women for five days and not hearing even the tiniest bit of gossip. That's how wonderful these women are!

God was glorified in the love and concern that everyone showed for each other. His Spirit taught us through the two teachers, Katrina and Joan, helping us to focus on what is truly important in life and to maintain a proper perspective.

Thanks Micky and Brian for hosting me; thank you Charlene for organizing things at your end and carting us around town; thank you Jen and Donna for attending the retreat and hanging out with us; thank you Krista, Sarah and Regina for attending the retreat even though you knew you'd be surrounded by a bunch of women you didn't even know.

On Sunday, we were able to attend a church service at Emmaus Christian Fellowship. I loved seeing that God is working there, blessing the efforts of the people who planted ECF just a year or so ago.

It really was a beautiful time for which I am very thankful.

God is good.

Whether You're Pleased With The Outcome Or Not...

...you have to appreciate the fact that American society has come a long way. Who would have thought even 30 years ago that the American people would elect an African American as president? Our racial bias is at an all-time low and that, my friends, is cool.

Arrrgh...(followed by discontented, indistinguishable muttering)

Because I am tired of wearing the clunky tennis shoes and the starting-to-fall-apart flip flops that I own, I decided to go shoe shopping.

If any of you are squealing delightedly, then you must not understand. You see...I wear a size 9 wide.

You would think that a person of my somewhat miniature stature would be blessed with dainty little feet, but that is not the case.

With fierce resolve, I parked my car in front of a very large warehouse-type shoe store, thinking, "Surely I'll be able to find something in there." (The place was five times the size of my entire house.)

Inside I trod with something close to a spring in my step.

It was wall to wall shoes with cute samples on display. (I've noticed that the display shoes are usually about a size 6. Unfortunately, even the most delightful looking size sixes look considerably less charming once they are blown up into a size nine.)

Under the samples were boxes and boxes of the available shoes. (I don't need to explain this; you've all been inside a shoe store.)

With hope, I began to scan all the boxes looking for that vital "W" next to the size. I soon realized that very few shoe companies even offer "wide" shoes because there were virtually no "W"s anywhere. I wondered why that would be the case as my frustration grew.

Suddenly, it dawned on me...they don't want me to wear their shoes! They don't want their shoes to be associated with a wide-footed gal such as myself! (You know how "Limited" and "Hurley" clothes only go up to about a size 11 or 13 so that only the trimmer sectors of the high school girls will be wearing them? Well, it's just like that, but with feet. I really think I'm on to something with this...)

Finally, after looking on nearly all the aisles for illusive "W"s, I spotted the closest thing I could find which was a "M/W" which I interpreted as being a "wide" that doesn't really want to admit that it's a "wide" so it implies that it's practically a "medium".

I grabbed a couple of "M/W" marked boxes and a pair of peds and settled onto the little chair provided, preparing myself for disappointment...which came rather quickly.

After returning the shoes to their boxes and stuffing the used peds into my purse (I'm assuming that they didn't want them back), I left with my flops on my feet, trying to focus on the fact that I had just saved upwards of $60.

That night, I related my sorrowful tale to my loving family. Jeff offered to simply make me some shoes by outlining my feet on some tractor tire tread. Thanks, Babe.

He then did something that actually was rather helpful. He went on line and googled "Wide Footed Women's Shoes" and bookmarked one site in particular so that I could peruse their selection at my leisure.

I thought that was rather sweet of him until I realized that I am now a woman who has a "Wide Shoe" site bookmarked on her computer!