Lucy, What a special message today. You are such a caring and loving person Lucy. And what a wonderful idea to name a new brug Arrant's Star. Bob, you will be in my thoughts today as well and hope that Peggy has a good diagnosis from the vet today. Mike my prayers are with you today. (((Hugs)))

Pretty Hibiscus Lucy!!! I'm still up---too excited to go to sleep with all this snow on the ground---and on all my plants!!!! :0 Oh well...time to change out the tropical inventory next spring! I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the larger tropicals---but I'm sure things like the bananas will turn to mush! The snow came so fast and early in the evening that we didn't have a chance to move those huge pots with palms, bouganvillas, hibiscus, & such-oh well. They'll be back from the roots (I hope...) come spring! But my brug cuttings, plumies, bromeliads, and a pineapple are safely tucked away in the heated 'manspace'--except my three under the covered patio: Snowbank, Sweetheart, and a pink NOID that I have had for a few years. It is still blooming with fallen snow decorating the tree branches behind it--a gorgeous sight!!! A Kodak moment in my mind!! Nice. Thanks Lucy. Good Night!! ~MJ

Hey folks, nice to read your experiences (even though some of them make me cringe!). Beef broth for Thanksgiving gravy!!! :-( Ours turned out fantastic! DW and DD said it was the BEST Thanksgiving dinner they've ever had! The only bummers were our friend's pumpkin-ginger cheesecake and the green bean casserole. The cheesecake turned out a little underdone and too bitter. Maybe it needs a cup of sugar or something! It was from "Cooking Lite" so perhaps adjusting it to be sweeter would have helped. And the greenbean casserole was undercooked. DW put it back in the oven for a while, but when it was allegedly done, no one wanted to try again (we were getting very full). I baked the bird according to that recipe I linked above, and it was simply delectable. Everyone commented on how moist it was, which I think is largely the result of not overcooking. We took it out when the temp deep in the breast hit 160, which was before the little "built-in" thermometer thing popped. That's the temp recommended in the recipe, and it's worked well for us, always producing a moist turkey. The recipe includes a wonderful gravy made from the turkey drippings with some chicken broth and whipping cream. It has great flavor from all the turkey seasonings (which include juniper berries, thyme, rosemary, garlic, marjoram, and anise seed). DD said the gravy was her favorite part. DW made some of those great skin-on mashed potatoes, which were perfect with the gravy. My apple pie and blackberry cobbler were very good (if I do say so myself!). DW's chocolate/vanilla swirl cheesecake was awesome, too. Oh yeah, I also made my locally famous crescent rolls which once got me in trouble with a SIL whom I do like, but her son exclaimed after eating one, "WOW! I've NEVER had a roll this good before!" This while his mom's rolls were in a basket right next to mine (and she had bragged about how good they were when she brought them). As for Bonnie's question about roles in the kitchen -- it works out really well for my wife and me. She is a stay at home mom, too, but she really likes it when I take on a challenging dish. She says she doesn't have the patience for complicated recipes, so she's happy to eat them after I make them. I like the challenge of something difficult to cook. I'm mostly into baking (usually desserts, but also the dinner rolls and turkey roasting). Well, barbecuing is my thing in the family, too. We get along fine in the kitchen, although sometimes she rolls her eyes at me because I'm too particular about something (like not putting two sheets of rolls in to bake at the same time, because the heat needs to be able to circulate around and two sheets fills up the space and blocks the circulation). Sometimes she's all about efficiency when I want to be all about quality. But cooking is actually one of the few areas where she has learned to trust my judgment on some of these quirky theories! :-)

And if you're not a Mom, I sent my wishes on to your family for a happy day nonetheless. Yes, I came down from the ladder - DH took me to Forbidden Kingdom yesterday. Relaxing. Today I paint the living room ceiling, finish the white base coat on my last wall (this is taking forever moving furniture around) and Monday start the colour. Going to take a piece of the fabric I'm making the curtains with to the paint store to match the wall paint tone - heck I've come this far might as well get the colour right. Stopped in at the Lazyboy store yesterday - we ordered a new couch (recliners on either end) and a new oversized giant recliner for Dave (6'3"). It has a great feature of extended leg rest you can push out with your foot so your feet don't over hang. These are do in a couple of weeks which hopefully works out for all of my old furniture around here that is spoken for and due to leave about the same time - otherwise the stuff can get introduced to the back garden shed. No love lost there! Finally getting our first living room furniture that's not hand-me-down. Only took 15 years but that's okay. At least it's cash and not on credit. Wonderful to see everyone is enjoying their families this weekend! Today is clean the fridge day, grocery shopping later. So I am thinking of what can I get myself for this week. Need to also start digging in the freezer to see what we have in there for meal planning. I keep forgetting. With food prices rising, I'm getting more and more fussy on portion sizes (less waste), quality and buying what we really eat and not stuff we might eat. I don't know how folk manage raising families these days. So expensive. Also have to think of packing lunches this week since I start my seasonal job of planting business/hotel garden beds. Need to pack lots of water. If ya hear me moaning next weekend about muscles I forgot I own this will be the reason behind it...I should dig out my bubble bath stuff too for this week! Enjoy your day today. Think ahead. I see apples in the fridge that need cooking (mmmmmmm), carrots and sugar free jello for later this week. Good week to get my single serving containers out to make my treats. Gotta get working on a new mini weight goal! Cheers, Peggy