Are we There Yet?
Are we There Yet?
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving;
I know Cody and I did!
The drive there was nice, dad bought me a new cd player for my car so this was really the first time I could listen to a mix cd on a long trip. I think Cody was perturbed though because I sang the whole way! He hates it when I sing, normally he will bark at me until I stop but in the car he just kept poking me in the ear with his whiskery wet nose from the back seat. Trying to tickle me to death I think. He loves trips in the car, so I think the ride there and the ride back were the highlights of his trip.
Mom and I were baking from almost the minute I got there but it was nice to get to talk to her while we prepared for the big day. I got there on Tuesday so we made the pies that day and cooked the breads for the stuffing mix. Mom had this whole meal envisioned in her head from a Martha Stewart magazine she read so the magazine was sort of our instruction manual this year. Instead of making the usual pecan pie, we made a Nut Torte with chocolate morsels and nuts soaked in brandy. And instead of using pre-made piecrusts, we made them from scratch! It was quite fun actually. I made a cinnamon crust for the apple pie that turned out incredibly. I will have to get the recipes next year.
Dad bought mom and I some Cointreau so that we could make ourselves our “drinkies”, we love to drink Cosmopolitans and pretend to be Carrie Bradshaw you know. I made a double batch in a pitcher and by the time we each had one, we were pretty relaxed! Cosmos have become our signature get together drink these days.
The next day dad took me and Gramps out to the lake to see the new house that his sisters (my aunts) will be moving into soon. I have since named it “Casa de las Tias” which translates to The house of the Aunts. It will be nice when it is finished; they basically built the house around their two little dogs. There is even a permanent doggy door built into the back of the house, you have to see the picture. They are both in their mid 60’s and have both recently retired so this will be their dream house I think. Aunt Janie has her workshop, and Aunt Pat has her plants and her art pantry. They will be happy there.
On the drive back Gramps was a bit chatty and told us one of his Gramps stories; we passed a cotton field and he remembered that his father and his uncle were given a bale of cotton every year for Christmas by their father (Gramps’s grandfather). They would then sell the bale for $500.00 and back in that day that was a lot of money! He remembered his uncle would love to go into the city and spend some money on a tailored suit. I thought that was interesting. He has some neat stories sometimes, and other times he just wants to talk about football. Dad was getting worn thin by the time I got there because Gramps had been there already for a few days. Gramps requested we go to the Collin Street Bakery downtown, and I think dad expected Gramps had a major reason; when we got there all he wanted was a couple of cookies. And for anyone who knows about the bakery, you know that this time of year is extremely busy, so to go there for just a couple of cookies on Thanksgiving week is an event you don’t want to try. Ces’t la vie, it was an adventure anyway and Gramps got his sweet tooth satisfied; even though dad wasn’t happy.
Thanksgiving day started early, even after mom and I were up late preparing casseroles, sauces, and cranberry sauce. Mom used the blue and white china that was my grandmothers once, and it looked almost just like the cover of our Martha Stewart manual. We used my grandmothers silver flatware as well, who knows how old that stuff was; but the table was beautiful. This year mom draped the turkey in cheesecloth soaked in butter and white wine to keep it juicy while it cooked, I think she needed a bigger oven though because the cloth burned on the top of the oven and smoked up the house for a bit, but in the end the turkey came out wonderfully. The family began to arrive that morning, but soon disappeared out into the back of the property to help my dad with a project he decided to start that morning for some odd reason. He disappeared right after breakfast, and we soon discovered he was pulling the cover off the old greenhouse in the backyard. What he thought would be a partial day project by himself turned out to be a two day project even with the help of his sisters and brother! So much for everyone helping us in the kitchen! Mom and I pulled it off without a hitch (except for the turkey taking a bit longer to cook) Everyone was stuffed, and went home with leftovers.
Gramps and I mostly watched football the entire time I was there. I figured out that if you want to have a conversation with him, it had better be about football or the conversation will be one sided. We watched the Texas game; which was very disappointing, the Colorado game and on Saturday watched the Florida game. He and I were rooting for opposing teams and my team was winning, I got up to visit the bathroom and when I got back the channel had changed. That’s one reason why dad gets so mad when Gramps comes to visit- he takes over the remote. Anyway, I think my team won, but I didn’t get to see the end of the game!
On Friday the Tias came over and brought my cousins and all us girls went out to the Galaxy drive in theater to see Happy Feet! That’s one good thing about Texas; there are still some of the old-fashioned drive ins left. It has changed a bit, they don’t charge by the carload anymore so no one had to hide in the trunk, and you can listen on an FM radio station instead of hanging the speaker in your window. It was another adventure let me tell you. Mom couldn’t figure out how to turn off her lights which were timed to shut off after she turns the keys off. However, she wanted to roll her window up right after the movie started- blam! her lights went on…people were not happy with us. She pulled out the keys and I called dad because she was afraid to put the keys in again- he explained how to shut off the lights and turn the radio on. It was so embarrassing! People were actually yelling at us from other parts of the parking lot! But by the end of the movie, everyone had forgotten how annoying we were with our lights. However, we couldn’t figure out how to get the interior lights to come on when we left so we were driving blind, not knowing how fast we were going. We also lost my aunt on the highway, and missed our exit- having to call my dad once again to rescue us from the evils of the outside world. Sigh, it was an adventure.
Yesterday I drove back to Austin with Gramps. That was interesting. He didn’t speak for almost the entire three hour trip! I thought I would make him more comfortable and turn the radio to a light rock slash oldies station and turned it way down so he could still hear me talk, but still- I got nothing out of him. I tried to talk football at one point, but he didn’t respond; I don’t think he could hear me anyway. Cody was good on the way back, he just laid down most of the time, but when we made stops at lights, he jumped up thinking we were there. Just like a kid, I swear. Mommy are we there yet?
Well, that’s all the stories I have from Thanksgiving! Hope you all had a great one and would love to hear your stories as well. Is anyone else decorating for Christmas yet? (I think I’m going to put up the tree tonight! YAYYYYY! I love Christmas!)
-Jenni
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving;
I know Cody and I did!
The drive there was nice, dad bought me a new cd player for my car so this was really the first time I could listen to a mix cd on a long trip. I think Cody was perturbed though because I sang the whole way! He hates it when I sing, normally he will bark at me until I stop but in the car he just kept poking me in the ear with his whiskery wet nose from the back seat. Trying to tickle me to death I think. He loves trips in the car, so I think the ride there and the ride back were the highlights of his trip.
Mom and I were baking from almost the minute I got there but it was nice to get to talk to her while we prepared for the big day. I got there on Tuesday so we made the pies that day and cooked the breads for the stuffing mix. Mom had this whole meal envisioned in her head from a Martha Stewart magazine she read so the magazine was sort of our instruction manual this year. Instead of making the usual pecan pie, we made a Nut Torte with chocolate morsels and nuts soaked in brandy. And instead of using pre-made piecrusts, we made them from scratch! It was quite fun actually. I made a cinnamon crust for the apple pie that turned out incredibly. I will have to get the recipes next year.
Dad bought mom and I some Cointreau so that we could make ourselves our “drinkies”, we love to drink Cosmopolitans and pretend to be Carrie Bradshaw you know. I made a double batch in a pitcher and by the time we each had one, we were pretty relaxed! Cosmos have become our signature get together drink these days.
The next day dad took me and Gramps out to the lake to see the new house that his sisters (my aunts) will be moving into soon. I have since named it “Casa de las Tias” which translates to The house of the Aunts. It will be nice when it is finished; they basically built the house around their two little dogs. There is even a permanent doggy door built into the back of the house, you have to see the picture. They are both in their mid 60’s and have both recently retired so this will be their dream house I think. Aunt Janie has her workshop, and Aunt Pat has her plants and her art pantry. They will be happy there.
On the drive back Gramps was a bit chatty and told us one of his Gramps stories; we passed a cotton field and he remembered that his father and his uncle were given a bale of cotton every year for Christmas by their father (Gramps’s grandfather). They would then sell the bale for $500.00 and back in that day that was a lot of money! He remembered his uncle would love to go into the city and spend some money on a tailored suit. I thought that was interesting. He has some neat stories sometimes, and other times he just wants to talk about football. Dad was getting worn thin by the time I got there because Gramps had been there already for a few days. Gramps requested we go to the Collin Street Bakery downtown, and I think dad expected Gramps had a major reason; when we got there all he wanted was a couple of cookies. And for anyone who knows about the bakery, you know that this time of year is extremely busy, so to go there for just a couple of cookies on Thanksgiving week is an event you don’t want to try. Ces’t la vie, it was an adventure anyway and Gramps got his sweet tooth satisfied; even though dad wasn’t happy.
Thanksgiving day started early, even after mom and I were up late preparing casseroles, sauces, and cranberry sauce. Mom used the blue and white china that was my grandmothers once, and it looked almost just like the cover of our Martha Stewart manual. We used my grandmothers silver flatware as well, who knows how old that stuff was; but the table was beautiful. This year mom draped the turkey in cheesecloth soaked in butter and white wine to keep it juicy while it cooked, I think she needed a bigger oven though because the cloth burned on the top of the oven and smoked up the house for a bit, but in the end the turkey came out wonderfully. The family began to arrive that morning, but soon disappeared out into the back of the property to help my dad with a project he decided to start that morning for some odd reason. He disappeared right after breakfast, and we soon discovered he was pulling the cover off the old greenhouse in the backyard. What he thought would be a partial day project by himself turned out to be a two day project even with the help of his sisters and brother! So much for everyone helping us in the kitchen! Mom and I pulled it off without a hitch (except for the turkey taking a bit longer to cook) Everyone was stuffed, and went home with leftovers.
Gramps and I mostly watched football the entire time I was there. I figured out that if you want to have a conversation with him, it had better be about football or the conversation will be one sided. We watched the Texas game; which was very disappointing, the Colorado game and on Saturday watched the Florida game. He and I were rooting for opposing teams and my team was winning, I got up to visit the bathroom and when I got back the channel had changed. That’s one reason why dad gets so mad when Gramps comes to visit- he takes over the remote. Anyway, I think my team won, but I didn’t get to see the end of the game!
On Friday the Tias came over and brought my cousins and all us girls went out to the Galaxy drive in theater to see Happy Feet! That’s one good thing about Texas; there are still some of the old-fashioned drive ins left. It has changed a bit, they don’t charge by the carload anymore so no one had to hide in the trunk, and you can listen on an FM radio station instead of hanging the speaker in your window. It was another adventure let me tell you. Mom couldn’t figure out how to turn off her lights which were timed to shut off after she turns the keys off. However, she wanted to roll her window up right after the movie started- blam! her lights went on…people were not happy with us. She pulled out the keys and I called dad because she was afraid to put the keys in again- he explained how to shut off the lights and turn the radio on. It was so embarrassing! People were actually yelling at us from other parts of the parking lot! But by the end of the movie, everyone had forgotten how annoying we were with our lights. However, we couldn’t figure out how to get the interior lights to come on when we left so we were driving blind, not knowing how fast we were going. We also lost my aunt on the highway, and missed our exit- having to call my dad once again to rescue us from the evils of the outside world. Sigh, it was an adventure.
Yesterday I drove back to Austin with Gramps. That was interesting. He didn’t speak for almost the entire three hour trip! I thought I would make him more comfortable and turn the radio to a light rock slash oldies station and turned it way down so he could still hear me talk, but still- I got nothing out of him. I tried to talk football at one point, but he didn’t respond; I don’t think he could hear me anyway. Cody was good on the way back, he just laid down most of the time, but when we made stops at lights, he jumped up thinking we were there. Just like a kid, I swear. Mommy are we there yet?
Well, that’s all the stories I have from Thanksgiving! Hope you all had a great one and would love to hear your stories as well. Is anyone else decorating for Christmas yet? (I think I’m going to put up the tree tonight! YAYYYYY! I love Christmas!)
-Jenni
posted by Jenni at
5:40 PM
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