Thanksgiving 2009

I love Thanksgiving...I love friends...and family...and all the wonderful smells and raucous laughter and FOOTBALL!!!

Jason took the kids with him to volunteer at the Homeless Shelter this year, giving me ample time in the morning to get all ready for the big day. Especially since we were going to a friends house for dinner and I was only in charge of stuffing, rolls, and apple pie. Yum.

When they got home, Jason camped out in front of ESPN. GO LIONS!!! (sorry...I know they suck...but I CANNOT cheer Green Bay because I am a Bears fan...so its against my religion).


Around 3 we headed over to our friends, the Andersons. Our other friends, the Allens, also came...so it was a FULL HOUSE. Just the way we like it...lots of kids, lots of laughing, lots of FUN.

This is Angel Anderson whipping up a last minute chocolate pie, while the kids attack the appetizers. Don't bother, Angel...I brought apple. YUM, YUM, YUM!!!

(Have you guessed my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner yet?)

The Allen girls!! Madeline, mom Laura, Lisle, Gwyneth, and Gretchen!!! They are SO MUCH FUN!!!

This is Chelsea Anderson and big brother Ron...chilling their bellies after insanely stuffing them with...well...STUFFING!!!

Ahhhh....and her is Casey Anderson and Kaitlyn...who talked clothes and boys most of the afternoon...and also share my weakness for apple pie. Aren't they beautiful?

After the Andersons, we headed to the Fabianos for dessert. I was so full...that my brain had stopped working and I forgot my camera in the car. Sorry.

But we had a great time chatting and laughing at great stories...I LOVE the Fabianos. They are some of my favorite people.

Anyway...Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Stunning Sunrise

Last night, I pulled an all-nighter with my Girl Scouts at Movie Mania, a lock-in at a movie theater. We watched movies and ate junk food from 10pm until 5am.

There were 913 Girl Scouts at Movie Mania...it was loud, crowded, and crazy. And exhausting. My beautiful co-leader Karen and I barely made it the hour and a half drive home.

But when I got home, all my sleepiness was swept away by the absolutely GORGEOUS display put on by Mother Nature. There was a STUNNING sunrise, and the way it reflected off my lake literally took my breath away.

Now, there is no replacement for natures majesty as visioned in the flesh...but I hope these pictures give you a slight taste of how splendidly my morning began...

This last is my favorite...a close-up of the sunrise's reflection in my lake...

Good morning, world!!

Iron Chef Miami: November 2009

Welcome to Novembers Iron Chef competition...secret ingredient = pumpkin. We had some GREAT entries this month...Ann made some really yummy pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting...

Heidi whipped up these fabulous pumpkin and cream cheese muffins with a crumble top...

Melodee tickled our taste buds with this delicious pumpkin dip served with cinnamon-sugared apples...

Tina made TWO entries...delicious pumpkin bread...

AND scrumptious pumpkin curry-chicken...it was so good that it made my mouth water even though I was SHOVING IT IN AS FAST AS I COULD!!!!

And then there was my entry, Gingersnap Crumble Pumpkin Parfaits!! And guess what? I won!!

Don't they look yummy?

But since I was hostess, I deferred my prize to 2nd place...who was Melodee!!! Hurray!!

All in all...we had a great time, and I can't wait for next month, and IT'S secret ingredient...CHOCOLATE!!!

all recipes can be found on The Jungle Food Chain

Ida is late...

After an extremely quiet hurricane season...we are FINALLY going to see some (albeit weak) action. Tropical Storm Ida, forecasted to be Hurricane Ida in several hours, is moving up to the Gulf Coast. Which is the opposite coast I am on...so there is no REAL worry. Not only that, but shes projected to be a weak hurricane...and drop quickly back to a tropical storm.

Tropical storms STILL give lots of wind and rain...they have windspeeds up to 73 miles per hour and dump LOTS of water...as well as spin off tornados...which scare me a hella' lot more than hurricanes.

Here is Idas 3-day cone...


Looking at the above picture, you'd think that all the hoopla over storms in Florida is silly. After all...the cone shows that the projected path of the hurricane never even GETS CLOSE to South Florida....

In the below picture, you can see the wind speed projections. (I always love these colorful pictures...). In it, you can see that Florida WILL INDEED see some wind effects from Ida, should her course stay true. But it STILL looks like my little pocket of paradise...waaayyyy over on the most Southeast corner, still remains unaffected. So you're still thinking..."Whats the big deal?"

I like THIS picture best...it is a satellite image of the actual storm. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...hurricanes are not dots in a cone. The are MASSIVE weather systems, and even small ones can be hundreds of miles big and affect areas WAY out of their direct path...

You can see that even though Ida has barely cleared the Venezuelan coast, she is already affecting weather here in MY corner of South Florida. For two days, we've had a fabulous breeze. I've enjoyed it immensely.

Well see how that breeze works out over the next few days, shall we?

This is Halloween!!!

This is Halloween, This is Halloween!

Pumpkins scream in the dead of night!!

Aren't you scared?

Well that's just fine!!

Say it once, Say it twice

Take a chance and roll the dice

Ride with the moon in the dead of night...

We didn't need the Pumpkin King's help with our pumpkins, though...although we listened to him sing the whole while we carved. We couldn't make jack-o-lanterns until the actual day of Halloween because they would rot in the heat...so it was a great time-killer before the trick-or-treat night...

The girls carved a sweet little pumpkin face on their squash...

The boys wanted to go for SCARY...but were too busy bickering over what scary looked like...so I drew a scary face for them. It was a good excuse to get in on the action!!

After pumpkins and a WHOLESOME dinner, we went out and hit the neighborhood. A lot of people weren't home (were they out and about since All Hallows Eve fell on a Saturday this year?)...so we went to the Fabianos and trick-or-treated there as well.

And although I gave away HANDFULS of candy...by time the kids emptied their sacks, I STILL had more than I started with!!!!

Jason better get all the extras to his staff soon...I'm tired of the kids being strung out on sugar and trying to avoid sabotaging my training!!!!