Thanksgiving

We headed to South Carolina for Thanksgiving.  We were able to see Mr. A's extended family and had a wonderful time being with that side of the clan.  We ate dinner at Gigi's house on Thursday and enjoyed being with all 23 of the people there.  My camera stayed in my purse the entire weekend so there is no photographic evidence of the fun had.  The boys are definitely grateful for their cousins, 'Pencer and Lucas, and love them very much.  

We drove home Friday night.  Mr. A insisting on watching the Iron Bowl before we left-wow, way to go Auburn-WAR EAGLE!!- so we didn't leave until it was over and got in very late.  Saturday we got up early and went to Coco and Papa's house where we ate lots of food despite not being hungry at all.  It was the epitome of being a glutton-being full from a late breakfast but getting a plate of food at lunch then repeating that cycle a few hours later when the gathering moved to Grandma and Bill's house.  I am still full.  

I'm now sitting on the couch while the boys are piled up on Mr. A in a chair.  They're all giggling and laughing and saying nonsense words and being happy.  I'm so very, very thankful for my family-my boys, all 3 of them, mean the world to me.  

And so I can look back at this and remember all that I have:

-I'm thankful Mr. A's family has accepted me as one of their own in spite of my inability to filter the things that leave my mouth.  

-I'm thankful my boys have close cousins and that we get to see them fairly often.   

-I'm thankful my parents live close by.

-I'm thankful for my dad who can do literally anything and cooks breakfast for us even though we were late and the kitchen had already been cleaned from the previous breakfast. 

-I'm thankful for my mom who loves her grandkids and literally drives all over tarnation to make sure they are taken care of.  I'm especially grateful for how much she helps me with my kids and jumps in to take over whenever there is a Tater-related medical event.  And for her gardening knowledge.  

-I'm thankful for my sweet nieces and nephews-although one of those nephews is now 15, is no longer baby-sweet but is becoming a man and it blows my mind how fast he has grown up. 

-I'm thankful for my sisters and brother, Mr. A's sisters, all of their spouses and how well we all get along even though we are all so different.  

-I'm thankful for Memaw, Grandma Burns and Grandpa Bill-I'm so lucky to have my grandparents.  

-I'm thankful for Tater's nurse, Pat, who just became a grandmother but loves my kids like they were her first grandchildren.  

-I'm thankful I am able to complain about being full and still have food to consume.  

-I'm thankful for being tired from a family-filled weekend.  

-I'm thankful for my kids.  Kisses from those 2 stinky boys are the most wonderful thing in the world.  

-I'm thankful for my most awesome husband.  He is the best father and he is my best friend.  

Renovations and a Recipe

We are in the midst of some renovations around here.  Hallelujah.  When we bought this house 6 years ago, the first thing we were going to do was paint the exterior.  Mountain homes should not be Colonial Blue, in my humble opinion, and we are not blue house people, anyways.  But then we got a few quotes for someone painting the house and it didn't seem so important anymore.  I have always hated the blue paint but I have enjoyed eating and amenities such as heat and air conditioning more.

Y'all!  My house is no longer blue.  It is Tea Leaf (or olivey-browney-green).  Of course it started raining before the painters could finish the trim and such but the important part is my house is a shade that is found in nature and doesn't scream, "Look AT ME!!"  And because it's raining and the painter is giving us such a good deal on the labor (it helps that he does a lot of work for my dad), we're having him paint the walls in our house that have had flat, white paint on them.  Flat, white paint and 2 little boys do not mix so now we have walls that look nice.  ALSO!  Our roof is one wind storm away from utter destruction so the nice people we pay lots of money to for house insurance are now giving us a little bit of that money back for a new roof.  AND!! Mr. A, who has a coronary even thinking about spending money, has agreed that if we're in for a penny, we're in for a pound.   So I think we're going to get hardwoods downstairs and replace our nasty carpet upstairs.

Y'all, I didn't know all this would make me so happy.  I've always loved this house-now it's going to feel more like me.  And I think we've been kind of dragging our feet on home improvements because we just didn't know what was going to happen in Tater world.  In my crazy mind, home improvements=Tater doing well!  I'm just giddy about the whole deal.  I'll share before and after pics when it's all done but here is a before until then.  It's lovely in blue, it's just not me:

And what better way to celebrate going broke than to share a recipe involving heavy cream and wine?  We just had this for dinner and I had to get up from the table to find bread so I could sop up the sauce.  Mr. A and I were purring, it's so good.  It's by Shirley O. Corriher (a real cook, not one of those skinny twits who doesn't eat their own food) and there should be a pair of elastic-waist pants named after her.  I doubled the sauce and made some egg noodles to put the chicken on.  It is heaven:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130596892

Classic French Chicken

Makes 2 servings.

2 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and white pepper

2 tablespoons canola oil or very mild olive oil

1/2 cup chicken stock or chicken stock and dry white wine

4 or 5 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1/3 cup heavy cream

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Place each breast between two pieces of plastic wrap or waxed paper and lightly pound the thick end to make breast more equal in thickness.

Over medium-high heat, heat a 10-inch skillet until the upper edge of the pan feels hot to a quick touch. Remove from the heat; pour in the oil and tilt to run oil over the pan. Return to the heat and immediately place the breasts into the pan with the rib side up. The breasts will sizzle and they will be stuck.

This is a Zen moment. Think happy thoughts. Be at peace with the world. Twiddle your thumbs. Do anything but don't touch the chicken. After about 90 seconds which will seem like an eternity, the breasts will lightly brown and release all by themselves. Turn each over. Again, they will be stuck. Wait again until they brown and release, and then remove them to a platter.

Pour the stock into the hot pan. Scrape the pan to loosen any stuck-on particles. Add the thyme, and bay leaf. Boil on high heat and reduce until a only few tablespoons remain. Stir in the heavy cream and continue to reduce until the sauce thickens. Remove the bay leaf. Slice each fillet at an angle into 3 pieces. Spoon the sauce over the fillets and serve immediately.

You Knew This One Was Coming...

I just couldn't help it.  I wrote a letter to the editor of our local newspaper.  Hearing political candidate after candidate say they would work to repeal the current Health Care Bill was too much for me.  Tater is on Medicaid.  Our family relies on a social program most people don't know about.  I felt like I needed to say something.  And then was mortified when it was published.   Because then people who don't know me read what I wrote and the editor had to edit my wordiness heavily.  He didn't change the tone or message at all, but man oh man I need to revisit English 101.  Then a mom from Kindergarten emailed me to say she read the letter so now I'm wondering who else in my daily life read it and what they think about it.  oy.  ack.  hide.

I know.  I KNOW.  I have a blog.  People read what I write.  But I can pretend only my friends and family read it.  I'm used to embarrassing myself in front of them.  It's what I do-make others feel great about themselves by showing them what real embarrassment is.  It's my gift to the world.  Now, I've shared my gift with the greater metro area and those damn politicians probably won't ever see it.

Oh well.  In my illogical mind, the best way to combat embarrassment is to open myself up for more.  Following is THE LETTER, published in the Huntsville Times on November 4th:

It has been disconcerting to me to hear several candidates state some version of promising to help repeal the "socialist" health care plan if elected.  Not everyone who benefits from the "socialist programs" is poor, lazy, or unwilling to pay for the benefits they receive.

My son was born with a rare medical condition that will exhaust his portion of the insurance benefits we receive through an employer-based health care plan before he becomes a teenager. Because of his condition, he receives Medicaid through the Alabama Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program as secondary insurance to our primary insurance. We are a middle class family living in a nice community, paying taxes, relying on the health care programs so many candidates want to get rid of. We're not millionaires so we are unable to pay the costs associated with our child's medical care.

Sadly, we are not alone of being in the middle class and having to rely on social health care programs. Many of us work hard to live the American Dream but face the American Nightmare of being caught up in a political game of who is worthy and who is not. As taxpayers, our families are worthy. As voters, our voices are worthy.

Caty B. Stokes

Huntsville

Convalesence

Hello.  What are you up to today?  Me?  I'm trying to get a 3 year-old to stay on the couch so he doesn't rip open the stitches from surgery on Friday.  Said stitches are in an, um, delicate place and while he's aware of them, he no longer feels bad enough to lay around.  We've cut back on the pain meds because he doesn't seem to need them and they make him loopy -but at least he was too drunk to get up when he was on them.  (He looked at Mr. A yesterday and asked "Daddy, why I spinnin'?" Heh!)  I think we may have to pull out some movies Santa was planning to give him for Christmas because the Sunny Side Up Show is no longer cutting it.

Tater has wracked up in the sympathy gift department and is currently playing with: Buzz Lightyear from Wissa, Bumblebee (the Transformer) from LaLa, Iron Man figure from Coco and trucks from us.  He never really remembers much from before or right after surgeries so other than the pain, I'm sure he thinks surgery is kinda like Christmas.

Toser decided that getting fever-vomitting sick 12 hours before Tater's surgery would be great timing.  Last time Tater had surgery, Toser got sick so this seems to be par for the course.  Of course, Coco came through for us again.  She was planning on spending the night at our house Thursday night so she could take Toser to school Friday morning.  When she got here, Toser had already been sick and it was apparent he would not be attending Kindergarten.  She asked if he wanted to stay at home or go to her house; Toser slowly got up from the couch, got his jacket and took his puke bucket out to her car.  I guess even in his sick state, he knew he was much better off at the grandparents'.  Papa had the couch set up for him when he got there and all reports point to him feeling much better and getting his fill of Angry Birds Halloween.

I'm about to head out to my Godson's baptism.  I've never been a godmother before and I have no clue what is expected of me.  I think all I have to do is spoil him and be nicer to him than I am to my own children. Sounds good to me.  Especially since he's so darn cute and I think his parents are pretty cool.

So Much For That

I checked Toser out of school today so he could go vote with me.  Our voting precinct is at the fire station next to his school so he was gone all of 10 minutes.  I sat down with him to show him the ballot and show him how we vote for each candidate.  He started glossing over and soon asked how much longer I was going to be because he didn't want to miss PE.  Thus ended our Civics lesson for today.  I know 5 is young to care about stuff like this but I really thought he would like it.  Heh.  Joke's on me.  (And I'm going to torture him for the next 15 years, embarrassing him by checking him out to vote with me.  Fair is fair.)