It was a lovely Early Thanksgiving

I had the best time yesterday, which would only have been better if the WHOLE Souza clan were here! The locals are heading to a lovely vacation while the Schnickle visits his other grandparents with his dad this coming week and so I was grateful to be able to do The Meal with all of the trimmings, in a relaxed and fun manner. Rod made his Famous Mashed Potatoes (actually whipped in the Kitchen-Aid) that he was been doing since he was a kid and they were to die for. He and Lauren got busy channeling Baba Souza with the best gravy yet and so the little guy at the end of the table was just stuffing food down his gullet like a champ. He came with the announcement that he was going to eat 10 turkeys and 3 cakes. He did have two helpings of turkey, mashed potatoes and his special bowl of raspberries. Somehow he had room for a cornflake cookie and a big piece of cake. Holy COW! His belly felt like a ripe watermelon by the end of the day. It is a good thing that the exciting Oregon/Arizona football game had him jumping for joy with his Mama, who is a Duck Alum. He worked off a LITTLE of the feast.

I mentioned the cookies. My grandmother found the recipe in a magazine or on a cornflake box when I was a little girl in the 50's and used to make them for me every time that we drove up to Roseville from Oakland. I haven't made them in YEARS but dusted off my memory and had to wing the time and temp because I could not find the official recipe. It is as follows, for those of you who would like to try it. (If you do not have Pam, I suggest that you buy it for easy cookie removal) You can thank me later. :o)

Ingredients:

6 cups of cornflakes

1 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk (I used the non-fat this time)

1 package of really good chocolate chips (my favorites are Guittard)

Oven at 350. Spray the cookie sheets. Mix the ingredients until the milk coats everything. Make cookie sized mounds on the sheets, making sure to corral any runaway flakes or chips. Bake for about 6 minutes or until the edges get a nice brown and the cookies hold together. The timing on removal from the cookie sheet is actually the key. Not too early and not too cool so that they are pliable but not falling apart. Cool them on a rack. You will swear that there are more ingredients but that is it.

We got to talk to Erik for awhile for our unofficial holiday and Lauren got to hear about the special honor that he and Vicki are going to receive. I am over-the-moon proud of my Connecticut family because they have worked SO hard in their first year of officially being a business. Victoria Souza Photography has been chosen as one of the top 5 wedding photographers in their region by the folks at The Knot.com. Kudos!  So much hard work but the professionalism and talent came together in a great package. Hip Hop Hooray! We got to see their set-up, when we visited Connecticut for Stitches East and now, after their last wedding, the day after the official Thanksgiving, they can look forward to a little time off before it all starts again. Sounds familiar... Anyway, they are coming west for some R&R over the Christmas Holiday time. Having met the extended Savarese family on our visit, I know that THEIR Thanksgiving will be a far cry from our little one. I envy the big family hoopla but Tank decided to make me think that I had the hooptidoo of a house full of kids running around, simply by barking his brain out all day, wishing that he could be in the midst of it all. Got to love families, whether human or canine. :o)

Oh, we added a new family member, thanks to Rod. He decided that my dream of a robot to clean my house was do-able and so we copied our friends, Sheila & Michael and got our very own Roomba. Oh my. I LOVE this little thing and "he" was so very entertaining for the Schnickle last night. That little guy followed the little vacuuming robot all around the house as he went under the furniture and searched for any crumbs. I have not yet let "him" loose on the dog side of the house and will continue to run the Anaconda (this place has that 9 mile hose that plugs into the wall) to pick up dog hair but perhaps, the Roomba will just get to go do his thing over there as well. Tank mashes himself up against Sasha, there on the other side of the dog gate, watching as the little disk tries to get some of their dragged in dirt from this side of the gate. Perhaps he will get used to it enough to just get out of the way. Any bets?

It is hard to believe that Rod and I will be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary next month. We did not have a big wedding, back in the day. My mom was not going to have any part of it and so we got to borrow a friend's fancy car and head down to Monterey with our best friends to get married by a judge and then go have lunch in Carmel before driving back up to Oakland. Rod's mother was kind enough to give us a little bitty wedding cake and a glass of champagne before we headed off to the airport for our kid honeymoon in Disneyland. The ironic thing is that my friend/witness Martha's sister had gotten married the day before and was also honeymooning in Orange County! Kids. They said that it would never last but both couples are still hanging in there.

For the last two 5 year increments, we have taken trips to celebrate but this time, things just got away from us. It has been such a difficult year and with the business, well it just did not get planned. I thought that it was funny that our horoscope (both Libra) said that we still need to take some time off...hah, when you Live Above The Store and in this economy, that won't really be happening. :o) Our last trip was to New Zealand. We got to visit the Poad's at Majacraft and some friends who lived in Auckland at the time but have since relocated to the Hawke's Bay area. We visited with another one of Rod's internet friends on the South Island and were treated to a fabulous day of sight seeing, as well as a private tour of a big wool mill. Until we moved here, I would have said that if there was anywhere in the world that I would like to move to, it was New Zealand. I felt so at home and at peace there. I just wish that it was not at the end of a horrifyingly long plane ride but perhaps that is what makes that country so unspoiled.

I am now a Majacraft dealer and since our visit, the younger Poad's have married and brought their brides into the family business, allowing mom & dad to travel as ambassadors for the company that they have turned into a world class business. Once again, the entrepreneurial spirit continues. Perhaps if Lexi Boeger and I can get ourselves together and figure out some sort of fiber hooptidoo around here, The Poad's can visit both of us within a 10 minute drive. It would be perfect since we both have a strong affiliation with the Majacraft wheels and those lovely folks.

Time to see how cold it really is outside. I think that it would be good to venture out to the Waffle Shop. I want another gander at all of the beautiful Christmas Trees put up by individuals along Placerville's main stretch of Highway 50. This is the first year that we are experiencing it since we moved here (the highway construction project made it impossible) and it is SO wonderful to see. Each tree is unique and uniquely decorated and they will all be lit on Friday evening when we have the Festival of Lights downtown. I'll be there with my silly light-up hat!

Comments

[Dianne]

The photographs are BEAUTIFUL. I would so used them if I ever got crazy and got married again :)

[Laurie]

Great way to do the holiday...relaxed and with those you love, no matter what the calendar says. Happy anniversary, a touch early. It is such a wonderful achievement, says great good things about you and the Mister.

[Lisa S]

Thanks Dianne, I am so glad that you got to see them. Now that they are close to their vacation, I will have to get them to cough up the booth shots from Hartford! :o)
Thanks Laurie, Partners in Crime, I guess. We got married and had kids before we knew better, which is a great thing. :o) Now we have wonderful adults, who were once children and the chance to love up another generation, with time to spare.

[AlisonH]

Happy Thanksgivingness always, Lisa and Rod and family.