Thanksgiving Blessings...

Last night while the hubby and I were watching our favorite show, Parenthood, I couldn't help but get all choked up over the holidays of the past.  We were that family; the one that got together for the holidays and made a big deal over just being together.  

Parenthood- I love this show!

 We used to gather at my Grama's house and she'd have to get out this giant piece of plywood to put over her table just to fit all of us.  I always remember that there was a nice, clean, crisp white sheet that she would cover the table with; never a tablecloth.  That sheet would be a mess by the end of the meal.  We always started at 1 p.m.  Just enough time for the guys to watch football and fit in at least a few pieces of pie before everyone left for their own homes.  I remember there being a lot of family members with horrible mustaches loosening their pants.  Those were the good old days.

There would be wine, or was it Crown Royal, and I'm pretty sure that my brother and I helped do the dishes most of the time.  We were pretty much Grama's little servants.  We always did the dishes the best.  At least that's what she told us.  I think that's when I learned to stack dishes as high as I can.

I never wanted the holidays to end.  I loved being with my cousins.  I loved watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Now, I sleep through it.  Thanksgiving Eve is the biggest bar night of the year; so a 9 a.m. parade doesn't seem as enjoyable as it used to.

My favorite thing to eat at Thanksgiving is stuffing.  I'm the biggest stuffing buff around.  Which is probably why my waistline gets bigger by the end of Thanksgiving night.  How much bread can you possibly have? At least I never eat the rolls; that balances it out right?  I think it's funny how stuffing is my favorite because my Grama used to make it with the giblets from the turkey when we were kids.  It never failed that you would get a really hard piece that would just turn you off from the stuffing; at least for a second.  It was just disgusting!  Then you'd realize you could just use your napkin to get rid of that one little nasty piece in order to enjoy the rest. 

It's funny to me that I remember my Grama being a good cook.  My mother recalls a completely different story.  Apparently, Grama never learned to cook until she was older.  Maybe that's why my brother and I would get random pieces of eggshell in our scrambled eggs in the morning; she always claimed it was pepper, even though we never tasted it.

I miss my Grama's food.  Even the nasty little giblets she put in the stuffing that made us all smile at each other and laugh.  

I'm thankful for the time she was here with us.  I'm thankful that she helped raise us into the people we are today.  

I'm thankful for the years of Thanksgivings that we had as that family.  

This year I'll be going to my sister-in-laws house in the afternoon and then to my parents house at night.  Unfortunately, my hubby has to work; the downfalls of having a night job.  Thankfully, the restaurant closes on Thanksgiving.  I wish my brothers were closer so my mom could get excited over the holidays, but until then I'll just have to try to get her in the holiday spirit on my own.  It might take a little bit of convincing though.  But I'm going to enjoy the memories of those great holidays; I hope I can make those memories happen again someday.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Tuesday Tea Quote...

"It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do"

—Jerome K. Jerome

Kitchen. Done...

I cannot even explain to you about how happy I am to finally post this:

Our Kitchen, is finished!

Ever since we bought our house in July of 2008, we noticed something about the kitchen that we hated: the sink.  It was a double, stainless steel sink that was all bent around the edges; it looked crappy.

We decided that we weren't always going to be able to handle its crappiness and we would have to change it.  That time finally came around the last week of August of this year; we bought a sink from Lowes and decided to have it installed by them.  After they came to measure and said everything was a go, we set up the date.  The date came and the installer magically came to the conclusion that it wouldn't work.  Our last sink was rigged into a hole that was cut too large into our crappy laminate countertop.

  

Great.  So our little weekend project turned into what I like to refer to as 

The Weekend Project from Hell!

So our choices came down to these:

1) We buy new cabinets for under the sink

2) We buy new countertops

WHAT!?

Either way, our little weekend project that we thought was going to cost us a few hundred dollars, turned into a project that would cost us a thousand or more.

We decided that we would no longer work with Lowes and would go through my Uncle's business, Neversink Lumber.

The hubby and I never planned on living in this home forever, so we didn't think that the Corian or granite options were good ones for us.  For our tiny kitchen it would cost us over $3000 for either option; it just wouldn't be worth the investment.

Thankfully, I saw a great high end laminate version at my cousin's house and thought that it would be the perfect solution.  I'm pretty sure that I'll take a $700 option versus a $3000 one any day.

After months of this garbage, the laminate people called Wednesday at one in the afternoon to let us know that they would come the next day, Thursday, to install the countertop.  Problem is, we'd have to have our old sink and countertop uninstalled before they came.  

Ridiculous!  Talk about great timing!

Thankfully, my brother-in-law, who was sick as a dog, came on Wednesday to take the old out; my mom came over to help.  I wasn't sure they could handle it without the help of my massive muscles, so I escaped from work for 30 minutes in order to help.

I'm not going to lie: when the new countertop was installed, I was disappointed.

It didn't look like what I ordered.  But then again, I guess when you look at a little tiny square, there's pretty much no way to see how it would look when it's on a large scale.

Now that it's installed with the sink and new faucet, I think it looks fabulous!

Does that make me crazy?

I'm pretty sure that I'm happy with the choices we made.  Unfortunately, I had to paint the edges where the old countertop was; I'm still not a big fan of painting.

But, I love it.

Unfortunately, we still haven't paid for it.

I'm just so thankful that our kitchen is finally done.

Tuesday Tea Quote...

"All Love that has Not Friendship for its base is like a Mansion Built Upon the Sand."


—Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Have You Ever...

Have you ever had something so set in your mind that when it doesn't happen you just feel so deflated?  So deflated that nothing else seems to matter?

Now, I'm not using this whole, "No, I'm not pregnant yet" thing as an excuse, but man does it drag on your mind...

I have a lot of people who tell me not to think about it, then I have others who tell me to have sex everyday with the hubby, then I have ones who tell me to use ovulation tests, and then others who say to go see a doctor...

It's hard not to think about something when your life has become almost centered around it; I'm planning to have a baby, so I'm not drinking, I'm eating right, and I'm taking prenatal vitamins— it's hard not to think about it.  The sex everyday thing is just not practical, although it may be... stimulating.  The ovulation tests, I think they'd be a last resort; the hubby and I really want to try to just enjoy ourselves and not just have sex to have a baby.  I definitely don't think we're at the point of needing to see a doctor. 

So, if we're not dead set on having sex to have a baby, then why am I bitching and complaining you ask?  I don't know, is the answer.  I guess it's just because I thought it would just happen.  Like I'd be one of those lucky women who just becomes pregnant on the first try.  Or at least the second.  I guess I just never really thought we'd have to try.  I thought, OK, we'll have sex and boom, baby.  I guess it's just not that simple.  And now that I can't get it out of my mind, it weighs on me every month.

Around July I was ready, get set, go on this baby thing.  I was taking prenatal vitamins for six months.  I graduated from college.  I was ready.  But maybe God knows better or has a bigger plan.  Maybe he knows I'm not?

Then why do I feel this emptiness every month?

After the first pregnancy test was negative I started to get a little depressed.  Depression for me equals weight gain.  I don't want to get off the couch, I stop exercising, and I don't eat as well.  So no baby, but baby weight?  That just doesn't seem right.

Finally, in the past few weeks I've got it out of my head that this no baby thing is what my life should be focused on.  I started walking again.  I started my workouts again.  And I've stopped eating processed crap and started eating real food.  All the stuff I should be doing and know that I should do.  It's strange how most dieters could write the book on how to be healthy and lose weight, but when it comes down to doing it, we struggle the most.  

I try to talk to the hubby about it and he tries to be supportive.  He is supportive.  But sometimes when you get depressed and someone wants to talk to you about how to improve your faults, you can't help but get defensive.  He knows what he's talking about, but is it a copout when I say that he doesn't understand because he's never struggled with food or that he's never been a woman?  I think it's all our crazy woman hormones that make this depression/weight thing more of a struggle.  Copout?  Maybe.

I'm thankful that I'm finally getting my head together.  But I'm not going to lie and say that it's not always going to be in the back of my mind.  But I need to start focusing on ME again and not on the possibility of a baby.  So here I am, waving the white flag and basically saying screw it!  If it's going to happen, it's going to happen— I'm done talking about it and I'm done thinking that something is wrong with me if I'm not a mother.  I want to be a mom, but I'm not going to make it the focus of my life unless I actually become one.  

I've tried to let go of the idea before, hopefully this time, it will stick.

My Family Time...

I know I've mentioned it time and time again, but I love family time.  I was so excited to have my brother come and visit a few weeks back.  We made a plan to make it into Manhattan to see a show with my mom and his buddy, but I have to say, I wasn't exactly thrilled to see Avenue Q .  But that's exactly what we were heading down to see.  To my surprise, I actually really enjoyed it.  It was edgy and completely not politically correct and I loved every minute of it.

We also walked around through Macy's and through midtown.  I've never been a big fan of midtown, but we still had a great time.  The crazy part is, Macy's was already decorated for Christmas, even before Halloween hit.  Retailers are going overboard with the holidays!  I love Christmas just as much as the next person, but October?  

Have to say, it was still pretty to look at.

Selfishly, I also needed some help hanging some pictures and he has always had a knack for that sort of thing; he enjoys it, so it's not like I just used him for it.  The hubby and I have lived in our house since July 2008 and we really haven't been on top of hanging pictures or getting things on the walls.  We've been doing it slowly, but our stairway has always been left bare.  Until now...  

Our New Linen Cabinet

I love the way that it came out; everything is mismatched and I love the style of it.  I just can't believe that we finally have photos up on the walls!  It feels great and makes the space feel more homey.  Two and a half years later, things are finally falling into place when it comes to decorating.  And I'm definitely loving the fact that we have our own photos on the walls.  I love Kodak.com for all our printing!  They can make a canvas picture out of your own photos!  I love it.  I love our little home.  Thanks to my brother for helping make it feel more like home.  We both couldn't believe that we were decorating my home; how weird is that?  When did we get this old?!  Man, how time just keeps flying by...

Tuesday Tea Quote...

"A rich man is either a scoundrel or an heir to a scoundrel"


— Salada Tea Random Sayings