The End.

No, not of the blog silly. Do you think I can keep my mouth shut? Uh, no! Nope, the end of NaBloPoMo. Phew.

I enjoyed it. I found myself saying things I normally would have kept inside, because, well, I had to have something to say! Yes, I did cheat a few times (3 surveys and a whole picture post) but for the most part I spent every day talking with you all.

Now my goal for next month is to be a better commenter. So I need to ask you all a favor. I have a google reader account that I keep all my blogs listed on. If you are reading me, please post your blog in my comments so that I can make sure I have you listed on my blogroll. I’ve noticed here and there comments from people that I have never “met”, and I want to make sure that I am faithfully following your blogs, as you are mine.

So…all you lurkers, show yourselves!! I want to thank you for taking this journey with me, and I want to follow yours.

(PS, my dear Anon CV fan…maybe you want to come out of the closet too??)

Hmmmmm

It is November 29th and I have to say that honestly for the first time since NaBloPoMo started, I’m at a loss of what to write. Yes, sometimes it has only been a survey, but at least I had the survey in my back pocket in case of writers block.

Today, nuffin.

So…I’ve decided to share with you a few pictures of my favorite place on earth.














A recap of our day after Wednesday

I tell you what, for the most part, my friends are wonderful. I only got a couple of texts wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving. Most of the texts or calls I got were to wish me a Happy Thursday or Happy Day after Wednesday!

My boss spent 20 minutes yelling at me that I would not come join his family for Thanksgiving. Nope.
Why.
Not thankful enough.
Just come eat free food then.
Nope.
Why.
I’m boycotting all related items today.
Fine, then I am feeling a little grr at you right now.
Okay.

So I left work and went home to pick Jenn up and we headed to……

Ruby Tuesdays!!!

Mmmmmm salad… (Kim, please note the addition of sunflower seeds just for you)

And…because we felt like it and because they tasted darn good…
mmmmm Margaritas!!!

The three flavors are Strawberry, Regular and oh so appropriately Blue!!

After dinner we headed to KMart to look at their selection of Christmas lawn decor. I really wanted to add a hannahunt (you might know that as an elephant…my cousin Kevin used to call them hannahunts and that has stuck in my head), and holy crap, they had one! But…it was $79.00 and I’d much rather wait until after Christmas and get it on super sale!! So…there will be a bare spot on our lawn until 12/26.

We did however find lots of other good deals…a great gift for Avery that was half off….and um, can’t think of what else we bought?? Hmm, I blame the margaritas!

Then we headed to the gas station to get gas, and SLUSHIES!!! And headed home for a Dr. Mario tournament…which I won.

All in all we had an absolutley wonderful day after Wednesday. I hope all of yours were wonderful, or as good as they could have been, or how ever you wanted them to be!!

love and hugs!

What I am thankful for.

For those of you who don’t have the pleasure of getting snapped at when you ask me how I am spending my Thanksgiving, I’ll tell you here. Today is Thursday. We are not celebrating any holiday. It will be a day of working for me, and dinner at Ruby Tuesday for the two of us. We just aren’t feeling very thankful.

To be honest, there was a vote in our house. I voted against any holiday celebrations. Jenn vetoed me. Well, I let her win. I get no Thanksgiving, and together we will have Christmas. It will suck, and I will change the channel on my radio every time Elvis starts belting out Blue Christmas. No, that is a lie. I will sing along changing the words to suit us better. I’ll have a blah Christmas, without Blue…. (I wrote this before Mrs. Spit commented on yesterday’s post…Mrs. Spit made me smile!)

I am thankful. There is lots to be thankful for. So…I’m listing some. No, not everything I am thankful for is on this list. If you find that I have missed something huge, please let me know, and I will add it. (the first two are in a particular order, after that, it was just how things fell into my head)

  • Jenn
  • Blue. Even though he isn’t in my arms, he is in my heart. And his teddy bear holds my hand every night.
  • All the other angels in heaven looking down on us, not only the ones I have sent, but the ones we have all sent.
  • Minnesota (my dog, not the state)
  • Michigan (my cat, not the state)
  • Mom, Dad, Marshall
  • Lyz, Chris, Avery, Tadpole
  • Joni and Dennis
  • That Joni found Dennis
  • Elissa, Jim, Skyler, Austin and Annabelle
  • Brandi and Kristen
  • All of my blog friends, without whom I have no idea how I would have made it through these past few months.
  • A wonderful job where I am treated like part of the family.
  • A roof over my head. (I can’t say it keeps me warm, as I don’t use the heat, but it does protect me from the elements)
  • That friends read my blog and email me when I chide them for never calling me to get my phone number since their phone fell in the toilet.
  • All of my extended family.
  • That Jenn was able to find a job, that she loves, in this horrible economy.

Okay, I’m stopping here. Yes there is plenty more that I have to be thankful for, but these are the things that I am most thankful for.

Enjoy your turkeys, or tofurkies as the case may be. I’ll be enjoying my salad bar with yummy periwinkle (or you may call them pumpernickel) croutons. Wishing you all tons of things to be thankful for. May we have many more next year.

Sad little snowman, sad little tree, sad little me.

A tradition started on our little “strip” of tourist trap last year. All the businesses received a cute 8 foot tall snowman cutout to decorate and display on the road. Jenn and I spent hours last year planning him. And he was cute. Not as cute as some of the others on the strip, but cute.

Every year at the hotel they put up a big beautiful REAL Christmas tree. Every year in the past I have been in charge of decorations.

This year…the snowman was due up November 10th. He is still in storage. He is still my responsibility and I just can’t seem to muster up the energy to care about him. I know what I plan on doing to him (Dressing him in a Hawaiian shirt and sticking a few flamingos in the ground around him), I just haven’t done it.

Our Christmas tree arrived yesterday at the hotel, and it is one sad little tree. Usually it is so tall and full and beautiful that people are convinced it is fake. This one, compared to last year, looks like Charlie Brown picked it out. And again, I can’t find it within myself to care that people decorated it with crappy gold garland from three years ago, and balls that have chipped paint on them.

My boss asked if I liked it, or if I would like some money to go get new stuff to spruce (ha ha pun) it up. No, it’s fine the way it is I replied.

What the hell is wrong with me? Christmas is my holiday!!?? All the baking and decorating and the ability to go crazy-ass-tacky with everything? And I don’t seem to care. I want to care, my eyes lit up when I first saw the tree this morning. Then I looked closer and saw how sad it looked all missing branches and 5 feet shorter than last years, and my eyes filled with tears.

So…I called my doctor and made an appointment to be seen regarding depression. I hate the fact that I feel 10 times worse now than I did 10.5 months ago. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that so few people remember. So few people understand why I am sad. They even admit it…I don’t understand why you are still so upset? I want to shake them, show them their child and say “How the hell would you feel if he/she was in heaven right now?”

I’m trying. I cleaned the kitchen up after dinner last night instead of letting everything fester (or flipping out on Jenn when she tried to clean it). Tonight we are heading out to buy enough supplies to make 17 batches of the cookies for the contest. I have a lot of baking ahead of me…and a lot of getting better to do.

Sad little snowman, sad little tree, sad little me.

A tradition started on our little “strip” of tourist trap last year. All the businesses received a cute 8 foot tall snowman cutout to decorate and display on the road. Jenn and I spent hours last year planning him. And he was cute. Not as cute as some of the others on the strip, but cute.

Every year at the hotel they put up a big beautiful REAL Christmas tree. Every year in the past I have been in charge of decorations.

This year…the snowman was due up November 10th. He is still in storage. He is still my responsibility and I just can’t seem to muster up the energy to care about him. I know what I plan on doing to him (Dressing him in a Hawaiian shirt and sticking a few flamingos in the ground around him), I just haven’t done it.

Our Christmas tree arrived yesterday at the hotel, and it is one sad little tree. Usually it is so tall and full and beautiful that people are convinced it is fake. This one, compared to last year, looks like Charlie Brown picked it out. And again, I can’t find it within myself to care that people decorated it with crappy gold garland from three years ago, and balls that have chipped paint on them.

My boss asked if I liked it, or if I would like some money to go get new stuff to spruce (ha ha pun) it up. No, it’s fine the way it is I replied.

What the hell is wrong with me? Christmas is my holiday!!?? All the baking and decorating and the ability to go crazy-ass-tacky with everything? And I don’t seem to care. I want to care, my eyes lit up when I first saw the tree this morning. Then I looked closer and saw how sad it looked all missing branches and 5 feet shorter than last years, and my eyes filled with tears.

So…I called my doctor and made an appointment to be seen regarding depression. I hate the fact that I feel 10 times worse now than I did 10.5 months ago. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that so few people remember. So few people understand why I am sad. They even admit it…I don’t understand why you are still so upset? I want to shake them, show them their child and say “How the hell would you feel if he/she was in heaven right now?”

I’m trying. I cleaned the kitchen up after dinner last night instead of letting everything fester (or flipping out on Jenn when she tried to clean it). Tonight we are heading out to buy enough supplies to make 17 batches of the cookies for the contest. I have a lot of baking ahead of me…and a lot of getting better to do.

So….the cookie contest.

I woke up yesterday morning and kept staring at my phone. I wondered if they would call. I wondered if they were going to call, when would they do it???

Then I sat down and played Dr. Mario and forgot all about it.

Imagine my surprise when my phone rang, I looked at the caller id and just knew it was the newspaper.

May I speak to Heidi _____ please?
(she mispronounced my last name)
This is she.
Hi! This is Stephanie with Local Newspaper…you are a finalist in our Holiday Cookie Contest!
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mystery Cookies (tomato soup) have made it into the finals. On Wednesday, December 3 I go to our local baseball stadium with two dozen of my cookies to be judged.

The next few days will be spent practicing, since I haven’t made these cookies in ages. Of course they pick the cookies I haven’t made in ages.

I’m scared to death. I may have mentioned here a few million times that I am super duper shy. Am I going to have to speak in front of people? What am I going to wear? Will I get to take my support system with me? Ekkee!!

I will be bringing my Grandma’s picture with me so she can inspire me (and the judges?) during this competition.
Scared to death, but oh so excited!!

Mingo Monday

For today’s episode of Mingo Monday I present to you Minne’s very own collection of Flamingos!!


Now I swear she owns more than four flamingos. I just couldn’t seem to find them all. She must have hidden them somewhere upstairs.

Minne has an obsession with destuffing things. You will notice that the flamingo in the lower left has a hole in its stomach where Minne was so kind as to relieve her from her bloat.

What can I say, I have a problem. Whenever we are at the pet store and I see a flamingo I get all excited and Minne gets a new present.

At least she likes them too!

Cookies

**Warning…I just drank a cup of tea and haven’t had caffeine in ages. My mind was allll over the place in the typing of this entry. Please forgive my jumpiness, but know that in real life, this is how I talk. It also doesn’t help that I was writing this at work during a busy Sunday morning checkout!**

**In fact, this post got so out of control that I’m gonna be nice and give you cliff notes so you don’t have to read the whole thing-I entered a cookie contest. And “they” are going to call the finalists tomorrow. I’ve placed a lot of eggs in this basket and am really hoping “they” call.**

Recently on my friend Estee’s blog, I saw a recipe for Rolo cookies. Like my friend, as in I actually know Estee in real life. I grew up with her. Our momma’s are best friends. I used to babysit Estee and her siblings. Yes, I haven’t seen Estee since I left for college (or maybe the summer after), but I still consider her a friend.

I’ll even show you a picture:

Me, Jennifer (not to be mistaken for my wife Jenn), and Estee. This picture must have been taken one of the last days before I left for Idaho. I believe we are in a bowling alley, I do not believe this is the same bowling alley day that I accidental stole bowling shoes though. This Jennifer and I were inseparable my senior year of high school and the summer after, and she even drove to see me in Idaho, and we spent that Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas with my Aunt Kari and then when we both came home from school we both moved in with my Aunt Kari. Stop rambling Heidi. Someday I will compose an entire entry about how much I love her and miss her and why won’t she call me?????????? (see, I know she has the link to my blog….and maybe that guilt tripped her into calling me??)

Why am I rambling on about knowing Estee in real life? Because I’m shy. I have never met any of the bloggers I have “met” online. I almost met Kim and M but had no internet access and lost their phone number because I am a dork like that. There are tons and tons and tons of bloggers that I would love to meet…but I will never make the first move. I’m just so terribly shy. I found out that someone I met in blogland loves the same beach in Florida that Jenn and I frequent. I’m hoping that maybe someday we will get to meet up there…and that our mutual blog friends will come too. We’ll be there in February…just so you know. Everyone is invited. Come sit with Jenn and I in our happy place!!

Oh, cookies. Yep, that is what I am supposed to be writing about. But, you need a little more back story first. I love to cook. I love cookbooks. I collect cookbooks. (One of the 47,000 things I collect) When Jenn went back to work I was excited to get back into the kitchen again. The first night I made Chicken Enchiladas (don’t get too excited, we aren’t talking fancy ones, we are talking ones that involve cream of chicken soup). Burned them to a crisp. I partially blame Dr. Mario as I was wrapped up in a thrilling game of it and forgot all about our yummy dinner in the oven. I flipped out. I bawled and cried and threw things and screamed and yelled and carried on like a big old baby. I felt like a failure. Now Jenn still ate it. She peeled off the top burned layer and ate the middle layer. She said it was delicious. I ate an apple. I love her for eating my food even when it is crappy.

The next day I got home from work as was starving as work lunch was crappy I chose not to eat it. I decided to whip myself up a grilled cheese sandwich. Guess what? I burned that too. But I redeemed myself by making a big old pot of chicken and dumplings on Thursday, and pierogies (I’m not in the mood to look up how to spell that right) and onions on Friday. Both of which were the best I’ve ever made.

Back in August I wrote about blaming the fact that I have never entered the local Fair’s cookie contest is what makes me infertile. Yes, i still know that isn’t true, but it has bothered me ever since. Do you think that meant that I entered the cookie contest this year? Nope.

Okay, now picture me sitting on the couch at Lyz and Chris’s house one Monday afternoon reading their newspaper (which isn’t something I normally do. 1-I never read the newspaper, I find it rather depressing, 2-I never read someone elses newspaper before they have. It just isn’t nice) I turned the page and there in the bottom right hand corner was an invitation to enter in the newspapers holiday cookie contest. I thought to myself, I can do this. I can submit three recipes and hope that I get chosen.

And I followed through. I submitted my three favorite holiday cookie recipes. YumYums, Stained Glass Windows, and my Grandma’s tomato soup cookies. The deadline to submit was Friday, and they are going to call the finalists tomorrow. I’m nervous. I really hope they call me. If they do then on December 3rd I take 2 dozen of my cookies to the local baseball stadium and they will be judged. That is a Wednesday and I sure hope that if I am a finalist they do it at night. If Jenn can’t go I will cry. Jenn made me promise to continue to follow through. If I am a finalist, and it is during the daytime, then I will go. (Lyz….whatcha doing December 3rd?)

Oh, and none of those recipes is the Rolo cookies so what do Estee and her Rolo cookies have to do with it???

When we went to Chocolate World a few weeks ago I bought a case of Rolos. I was potty trained with the Rolo Method, and still love them to this day. I saw the case of Rolos and was so excited that I could bake the cookies!!

But, I haven’t been in the cookie baking mood. Friday night at 9:30 I turned to Jenn and said “If it wasn’t so late right now, I would totally go bake Rolo cookies.” So we made plans to bake them together when I got home from work yesterday.

Jenn isn’t feeling good so while she went to lay down I thought I would get the cookies going. Except I didn’t have all the ingredients. I don’t have any cocoa powder. Boo Hiss. Too lazy to go the store, and with Jenn not feeling good my cookies have been put off to another day.

Yep. Telling you that I didn’t bake cookies yesterday just took me 1,174 words.

We could be from seperate planets

1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks.

Heidi-Creek

Jenn-Crik

2. What’s the thing you push around the grocery store called.

Heidi-Shopping Cart

Jenn-Grocery Cart

3. A container to carry a meal in.

Heidi-Lunchbox

Jenn-Lunchbox

4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in.

Heidi-A Pan?

Jenn-A frying pan

5. The piece of furniture that seats three people.

Heidi-Couch (Although the first thought in my head was davenport)

Jenn-Sofa or Couch

6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof.

Heidi-Gutters

Jenn-Gutters

7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening.

Heidi-Porch

Jenn-Porch

8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages.

Heidi-Pop (although I am forced to say soda where I live)

Jenn-Soda

9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup.

Heidi-Pancakes!! (Can we have them for dinner soon?)

Jenn-Pancakes

Annabelle-Pan-e-cakes

10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself.

Heidi-Hogie or Submarine

Jenn-Sub (so in Michigan did you have Hogieways instead of Subways?)

11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach.

Heidi-Trunks

Jenn-Trunks

12. Shoes worn for sports.

Heidi-Tennis Shoes

Jenn-Sneakers

13. Putting a room in order.

Heidi-Clean up

Jenn-Ret Up (Heidi HATES this term and “are you ret to go?”)

14. A flying insect that glows in the dark.

Heidi-firefly

Jenn-Lightening Bug

15. Little insects that curls up into a ball.

Heidi-Pill Bug

Jenn-Rollie Pollies

16. The children’s playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down.

Heidi-Teeter Totter (Have I ever shown you my teeter-totter scar?)

Jenn-SeeSaw

17. How do you eat your pizza?

Heidi-um, bite by bite

Jenn-Folded in half

18. What’s it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff?

Heidi-Garage or Yard Sale

Jenn-Garage Sale

19. What’s the evening meal?

Heidi-Dinner

Jenn-If it is before 6pm it is Supper, if it is after 6pm it is dinner.

20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are?

Heidi-Basement

Jenn-Basement

21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places?

Heidi-Drinking Fountain

Jenn-Water Fountain

22. What do you call the meal that Manwich makes?

Heidi-SLOPPY JOES

Jenn-Barbecue

23. What is Chicken Pot Pie

Heidi-A yummy chicken and gravy dish with vegetables served in a pie shell.

Jenn-A stew with noodles.

(I added those last two myself. People who grew up here in Pennsylvania Dutch land are odd.)