I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. We traveled down to the Stephenville, TX, area for Turkey Day, where our extended family had the largest Thanksgiving gathering we'd had in several years, including 3 new babies born into the family since last Thanksgiving. It was fun and since the weather was so gorgeous, the older children got to run around and play outside all afternoon. The only downside to having Thanksgiving at someone else's house is that you don't have leftovers. I'm thinking about cooking a turkey and dressing tomorrow because I do like it, and don't mind having turkey leftovers for a few days. Larry, It is my most favorite holiday too. We had only Texans and Okies at our gathering though, so not nearly as diverse of a group as yours. I remember looking around the living room/dining room at one point and thinking just how grateful I was that we all are still here and were together for the holiday. I avoided all the Black Friday shopping nonsense too, which is one more thing for which to be grateful! Dawn

I'm not eating until tomorrow, the girls had dinner at their Dad's today, at my house tomorrow. I made Fatlester's Espresso Brownie Chunk ice cream along with a batch of plain vanilla to go with the blueberry crisp and I finished the cranberry jezebel. Sol's Honey Rolls are baked and the turkey is still in a cooler in the garage, but the sweet potatoes are cooked and ready to get "marshmallowed" tomorrow. The fruit salad is in the refrigerator, the green bean casserole is ready to assemble and the chocolate cupcakes have become turkeys for the kids. Tomorrow I'll roast the turkey, make the mashed potatoes and gravy, construct the salad, bake the blueberry crisp and be thankful. After that trip to the store for the marshmallows that I forgot. I think I have a mental block about those..... Annie

Josh, they are similar sauces I suppose, I make the burnt caramel by starting with just white sugar in a heavy bottom wide pan and letting it melt, swirl/tilt pan (don't stir!) until it smokes for a half minute or so, it's really a read the color type thing after you've made it a few times. Then carefully whisk in heavy cream and then butter. I often add a split vanilla bean, and on occasion bourbon. Always have an ice water bowl within reach, it's very dangerous at around 350F!!! I knew someone that accidentally dipped his fingers in making a croquembouche. I enjoy deviled eggs too, they sound amazing with your homemade smoked paprika! Ohh you add lemon juice, brilliant! I'm going to try that sometime this week, I have plenty of eggs on hand (cheesecakes take a lot!) and newly opened jar of mayonnaise. Besides setting a timer for hard boiled eggs, I use one of those silicon color changing egg thermometer gadgets, love it. That's awesome you found someone, you sound very happy :) She's a lucky gal, as it's great when the guy can cook well and grow their own veggies!! ___ Bob, fantastic holiday decor. I love that massive store fireplace! Wow! That's my cup of tea, I would live in a stone castle, medieval style or Victorian style home over all this cookie cutter crap that they build nowadays. Ohh and great looking steak n' shrimp! This weekend I had that but much smaller at a Vietnamese restaurant in a bowl of Bún (rice vermicelli with homemade fish sauce). ____ Mike, it's so dark out! Think I may cave and buy 1 or 2 lights for the racks. Yep, Xmas will be here too soon, I keep it pretty simple and minimalist. How much stuff do people that already have stuff really need? I got my dad two used CD's from Savers, a Jackson Browne and Johnny Cash. That reminds me, I should make sure they play with out skipping. I got myself an old Celine Dion album too. I don't want to put up and decorate the Xmas tree. I can just see my crazy little kitty climbing through it with all those wires and then knocking it over. Really it is just more stress for me. ____ Jenny, I will look for your thread later, the red lime is intriguing and tempting! I figured see how I do with getting my four citrus through the winter before spending big bucks for that one. -Nancy

sandyslopes most of the cause of the down time was lack of a vehicle. My DD was rear ended at high speed and the car was written off. Thank goodness she was not hurt! That left us with one vehicle for her to get to work. Then it took a few days for the techs to transfer my files once the new tower came in. Of course the old lap top had to conk out too lol. I think you will prefer Windows 10 once you get used to it. I already had that version on the old one, at least I don't have to adjust there. What did tick me off was that Houzz would not let me sign back in with Gardenweb. I tried and tried (clearing cookies, changing the URL) but a page kept coming up that Houzz had redirected too many times. My lack of tech skills will come into play when I try install an email program and migrate the files!!