Kicking off my favorite time of year!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

It was a quiet day here, we are a thousand miles from family again this year, but we didn't let that stop us from doing the "dinner" thing.  We may take some flak for this, but I made a HAM instead of turkey this year.  Although I do love turkey, I don't like the smell of it cooking all day, and the only thing I detest more on that day than cleaning a bird carcass is the thought of wasting the bird carcass LOL, so I decided to avoid it all and do the ham :)  Tomorrow I will use the leftovers for a ham and bean soup that I can pressure can also if I have enough.

The night before the big dinner day we decided to forgo cooking and head to our favorite salad bar place for dinner.  When we got there it was sunny out, but when we left they had just done the illumination of Town Center, so that put me in a bit of a holiday mood, even though hubby was wearing shorts!  Yes, it was in the 70's again, yuck!

Lots of things to be thankful for this year, but I'm especially thankful for a child that will actually wear the sweater out to play that mom knit :)

I decided to try Cake Pops for the first time...

Not too bad for the first attempt!

I will admit to shopping ON Thanksgiving Day!!!!  I can see you cringing right now, but hey - it was a craft store so does that make it any better?  I didn't think so.  80% off an item I had been coveting for 6 months made it okay for me :)

One thing I found interesting was possibly a sign of the current economic times - I passed Target which opened in the evening and the parking lot was almost empty, but when I pulled into Michael's at 6 pm there were lots of cars and several more pulling in behind me.  I'd like to think that means more people are instead spending money on their crafts, hobbies, their own home and making gifts than in years before.  I know I don't have the cash for new tv's, gaming systems and the like, but I sure can find a few dollars for some yarn for a knitted gift :)  Funny thing too, everyone in there was pleasant and chatting with strangers instead of pushing and shoving!

Then it was time to dig out the Christmas Gear...

And decorate the tree!  It's never too early for military families to decorate.  Last year many of us military spouses had our Christmas stuff out after Halloween LOL, I think that may have had something to do with the fact that our spouses were on deployment and due to return just a couple of days before Christmas, we were just a bit excited :)  Remember last year here?  Hubby had to climb in the car and drive 1250 miles just hours after stepping foot on dry land!

Oh yeah... WHAT could have possibly had me out shopping on Thanksgiving night?  That white carousel below - reg price $40 - with the sale and coupons, I snatched it up for under $10!  I can't wait to stock it up with crafting nonsense :)

Today's agenda:  sending the kids outside to play with daddy, hot chocolate and pattern cutting for me!

Tina over at Our Rustic Roots asked the other day about crafty/sewing spaces, so I'm going to do a post later on about my space.  I meant to do a post about my sewing/crafting space saving setup last year but never got around to it, although I did do one on my yarn storage "hallway".  I even had the photos grouped on my old Mac's desktop but we all know what happened to that thing.  Maybe if everyone has time in the next few days they could post a few pics of their setup for whatever the wintertime hobby may be - large rooms, tiny rooms, kitchen table sewing, whatever space you have, show us how you set it up!  I know this time last year I was a freak show with my newfound obsession with my search for a sewing machine and learning how to sew, and creating a place for it all naturally became entwined with all that.  Besides looking at peoples' pantries, is there anything better than snooping at crafty spaces?  I think not.

Holiday Exhaustion!

Thanksgiving weekend happenings...

Unlike Mama Pea, who didn't want to be rude and photograph the inside of her cake while at a friend's house, I had no trouble shoving people out of the way... "I gotta get a picture before you hog it all!"

While my version of Mama Pea's Almond Cranberry Cake didn't look quite as good on top as hers, it was a hit and the entire thing was gone by the end of the night!  I will definitely be making this again.  Everyone had trouble describing it - most seemed to agree it was in between a coffee cake and a very moist rum cake - (no rum in there, but I bet it would be good!)

Below:  the kid crew

And can you believe this?  It was so nice that afternoon, the kid's table was outside!

Below:  I started these artichoke seedlings last spring and gave my friend one...

mine died and hers looks spectacular...

One of the best parts of Thanksgiving, the after dinner fire

Another shot of someone getting a little carried away while feeding it

After dinner, I was happy to receive this on my phone - Here's hubby getting his advancement/promotion certificate and 3rd chevron (stripe) for his uniform this past week.  He looks as if he needs FOOD... he said he's lost about 20 lbs, unintentionally... he was already slim!  We need to feed this man over Christmas.

I don't do early morning Freaky Friday shoving matches, but sometimes I do like to get out and just enjoy the madness a bit.  We went out in the afternoon to check out Bass Pro... mostly because it makes us feel close to hubby (he loves it) and there is so much to look at the kids have fun even if we don't spend money.

Posted this on Facebook while we were there to trick hubby into thinking we bought him a quad for Christmas... he didn't fall for it :)

Today was "Small Business Saturday" and my local yarn store was having a sale.  I went to check it out since I needed some more alpaca and NEED sale prices on that!

The little shop was packed!  Usually there's 2 people in there knitting and that's about it.  Good for them and I hope they really bring in some money this weekend.  I can't imagine not having a store that offers quality fiber around... 

Below, the kids were mesmerized by the ball winder while I shopped.  Personally, I think they like having the other women fawn over them and tell them how good they are and offer them candy from their basket on the counter!

This is where you can always find me... natural, undyed Alpaca... In case of the apocalypse or squirrel attack, I will probably be found hiding next to this bin doing my survivalist thing...

I have so many things to do now it is almost overwhelming, but it's all in preparation for hubby's homecoming and Christmas vacation, so I wouldn't have it any other way.  All in all, what a great Thanksgiving with friends and my kids, wrapped up by my parents giving us an early Christmas gift that enables me to get my new tires on this week- my parents are the best!  Of course I'm secondary I think to the boys... they had to make sure their grandkids were coming!  If someone would have told me when I was younger how giddy new tires for the car would make me I would have thought it ridiculous, but here I am doing my happy dance!  My head is filled with housecleaning, knitted gifts, tires, haircuts, cleaning the car, cleaning the dogs, fall gardening, dr appts, new prescription for eyeglasses... it goes on and on and I hope I don't forget to pick hubby up LOL!

Loved everyone's updates on their holiday this year, and thanks for sharing your days!

The days are flying by now and my head is spinning and I think I need to collapse now...

If you don't hear from me in 3 days... send the knitting EMS crew...

Happy Thanksgiving - artwork for you!

What do I do with all this stuff that comes home?

Share it with you, that's what!

Have safe travels today, enjoy the company of your family and friends!

Happy Thanksgiving also to my brother in Afghanistan as well as hubby and crew & airwing of the USS Truman, it won't be long now!

Over the edge...

I need an intervention...

  

 What do you think?

  

Yep, that's exactly what it looks like - a wine cozy...help!

Below, more fun with stash wool...

I really needed a break from socks!

Finn is modeling hubby's new hat, this is the first hat I've ever done in the round!  But still afraid of circulars, I did it on double pointed needles which I'm comfortable with.

Today I attempted to make Mama Pea's Almond Cranberry Cake!  This will be going to Thanksgiving Dinner at a friend's house tomorrow.  Mine doesn't look nearly as beautiful as Mama Pea's, go check hers out and you will want to make it too!  Not sure what happened other than I'm a great cook but a horrible baker... I felt like I needed a degree in rocket science to get it out of the pan!  I will try it again, though, since I'm sure it will taste good (I snuck a chunk out of the bottom LOL) - I just need to work on aesthetics!

On to the BEST thing that has happened since we had the kids....

Hubby was promoted!

He has aced the test for this promotion twice a year, for the last several years, BUT... out of all the sailors eligible for promotion, only 1.9% were being advanced each year.  This is no doubt due to the economy, many servicemembers are no longer getting "out" as usual, preferring to all stay in for the full 20 years!  The pipeline thus has been clogged up with personnel that are normally lost through attrition.  I found out late Sunday night that the results had been released, and a very tense 4 hours or so went by until I found out if he made it...he did!  This had been the source of much stress because a couple of more years and he would have had to get out due to high year tenure.  Now that he made it, he will no longer be in danger of this, and will now receive a retirement paycheck after he finishes serving 20 years... I can't tell you how much weight has been lifted off our shoulders with this one!

I am so happy for him, he works so hard and really deserves this!

This is truly a Thanksgiving we will remember even though we are all apart...and  Homecoming + Christmas with family  + this advancement?  The will be the best Christmas EVER for our little family!

One more little Thanksgiving post set to go for tomorrow, but if you don't log on, have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

We're off!

My last post for awhile... we are leaving in about an hour to head home to MN! The kids are so excited. I just got done packing the car and it is looks like it is going to explode. 2 parents, 2 kids, 2 dogs, luggage, hats & mittens, a big ol' roaster oven, extra car seat we are bringing to my brother, a keg and case of bottled homebrew, and a partridge in a pear tree. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and are able to share it with family. I know we are very thankful this year to be able to be home for the holiday, it's something we used to take for granted until the military became our life! Time to get this circus on the road...