A new camera

 Santa Dwight bought me a new camera so today has been a day to try and learn as much as I can about it and I'm learning... in the meantime, these are a few shots

Memories

Xanderisms

I wish I could remember all the funny things Xander says, but maybe this will give you an example of why I laughed this weekend.

Scene 1: Dwight, Xander, Oscar, and Dixie were in the basement putting wood in the furnace. Dwight turns around and there's a puddle on the floor.

Dwight asks "Did the dogs do that?"

Xander (smiling) "No, that was me"

Not wanting a repeat performance of Scene 1, I take Xander to the bathroom a couple of hours later. I put him in front of the toilet and all things look like they are a "go"

Xander says "Sorry, it's empty"

Later, I'm fixing dinner and Xander says" I have a problem"

Me"Ok, what's the problem?"

Xander "I can't find the ball"

I find the ball and crisis is avoided.

Fifteen minutes later

Xander "I have another problem"

me "Ok, what's up buttercup?"

Xander "My cup is empty"

Juice in the sippy cup and all is well again

Ten minutes later

Xander " I have a big problem"

Me (trying not to laugh, how big can a three year old's problem possibly be?) "What is it?"

Xander " There's poop in the hallway"

Sure enough, someone had an accident-probably had the crap scared out of them by airplanes and multiple balls being thrown. Cleaned up. All was good for a while.

The next morning started around 3 am (no friggin' joke)

Xander is flying his airplane and the little man falls out.

Xander just looks at the fallen man and exclaims "Poor little fellar"

Mean while, I'm choking down some coffee and preparing chocolate gravy-the only thing I am capable of making at three am.

Xander eats about half his bowl and gets down and tells me

"Chocolate gravy makes me run fast"

Me "Let's see"

so he runs to the end of the all way and back and makes a couple loops around the kitchen table.

Then another bite

"See I told you"

and he continues this Indy 500 race lap until the gravy is gone and I'm trying very hard not to laugh as he falls back asleep by 6 am.

The Green Monster

Every one knows jealousy is an ugly green monster, but some times you can tame that green monster into something manageable.
The green monster reared it's head when I was watching my father-in-law and my grandson play with air planes in my living room. They made different air plane noises and laughed and played and they went outside for a walk. I love to watch them hold hands.
I never me either of my great -grandfathers. They were gone before I arrived. The same for my father's father. I knew one grandfather. I don't remember us every playing airplanes or holding hands. I know he drank his coffee black, but I couldn't tell you his favorite kind of ice cream or if he even liked ice cream. He didn't know of any of my tickle spots. I don't ever remember hearing him laugh or seeing him play. He must have, he was a boy once.
My grandson and his great grandfather took a walk to the air plane hanger. Xander had his first plane ride with his great grandfather aka Poppa Ralph. I was so surprised that Xander was so brave. He loved every minute of it and I'm glad my husband got their landing on video.
My grandpa flew a plane too, but I never saw it. I don't know if it was sold before I arrived or if it was just too dangerous for children and that's ok with me-I'm just excited that Poppa Ralph and Xander can share their love of planes.
After the adventure on the plane, Xander decided he needed some action on the ground and told his Poppy that it was time to ride the lawn mower. Of course, the John Deere came out of the basement and it was used unit it was lunch time.
There there was time to ride the four wheeler, eat ice cream, and play fetch with the weeny dogs.
I remembering talking to my grandpa and maybe walking around his house.
I hope one day that Xander realizes how truly lucky he is to know his grandpa and great grandpa. I hope he treasures memories with each one. Not everyone can remember back to being three years old, but there are photos and videos to help him remember.

Rainy days

So when it's rainy out I feel like Dixie and I don't want to get out of bed. We both hate the alarm clock with a passion.

Christmas Wishes

As long as I can remember, I have asked my kids to give me a Christmas with at least five things on the list. They should expect only three and I would do my best. When they were toddlers, I did this to make Christmas a little less of an overload of toys-their aunts, uncles, and grandparents all bought for them and it was a LOT. Later, I did it to make things easier on me-I wasn't trying to run down 20 things for each kid and remember where I stashed them. Add to that my hatred of wrapping-and you got it-three things for each kid. Wrapping less than 10 things, This I could handle. Then, Beth got married, I got two step sons, an added daughter,  and a grand child. Still I can handle wrapping for 7 kids. But, things have changed for me. It's not about getting them what they want, it's about seeing them happy. Truly happy. This isn't something I can find in a store or wrap in a box. Honestly, it's not even up to me. The only person that can make you truly happy is yourself. So, I'll pray that they find this happiness. That they love themselves as much as I do and that they realize how uniquely gifted and special that they are.

No deer today

Well once again Bambi is safe. I saw three does and managed to get a random shot off as they ran past my stand.
But, it was an interesting day to go hunting. The moon was not full but very bright. Bright enough to cast shadows. I walked to my stand solo. Half of the trip I tread very quietly through the leaves gripping my loaded gun. I was being so quiet until the coyote let out a howl. I don't know how close he was, but I made it up my stand in record time. Never mind that the ladder had frost on it and was very slippery-I bounded up all thirteen rungs. Then I watched the stars twinkle for a little bit and the dawn break. I really miss having a good camera when I see something like that-it was a pink, purple sunrise. About thirty or forty minutes after sunrise, a fog rolled in. The fog looked really pretty if you didn't pay attention to the lovely temperature. You would think that the sun's arrival would raise the temperature a degree or two. Nope, a balmy twenty-eight degrees all morning. I think the doe were running to stay warm.
Better luck tomorrow.

Last chance week end

If you don't drive a four wheel drive or tote a gun, you probably don't realize that this week end is the last week end to kill deer with a modern gun. I have not shot one this year-shot at one and missed but nothing in the freezer was killed with one of my bullets which really sucks because I've found a new recipe for deer meat and it's wonderful-really I've made it and watched it disappear faster than a buck evading my bullets.
Here's the recipe. Wish me luck in the woods.

Korean Beef Bowl

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Yield 4 servings

Cheater korean beef bowl - tastes just like Korean BBQ and is on your dinner table in just 15 minutes!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes, or more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• Cooked rice, for serving

Instructions

• In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and ginger.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat. Stir in soy sauce mixture and green onions until well combined, allowing to simmer until heated through, about 2 minutes.
• Serve immediately with rice.

Thanksgiving leftovers

Since I'm still eating turkey sandwiches, I feel it's totally appropriate to share the Thanksgiving Notes written on my Thanksgiving table cloth. If you didn't get the memo, you were supposed to write something that you were thankful for on the table with the red marker. There were 20 people there Thanksgiving Day and only 18 notes so I'll omit the names.
1. "I am thankful for the Indians trusting Americans to create this great holiday-I am sure the Indians regretted that."
2. "I an doubly blessed-two wonderful families."
3. "I am thankful for Mom"
4. "I am thankful for turkey"
5. "I am thankful for my wonderful family"
6. "I am thankful for family and love"
7. "I am thankful for my boys...& wine"
8. "I'm thankful to always be surrounded by people I love no matter where I am"
9. "I am thankful for the supportiveness of my wife as I pursue my ambitions"
10. "I'm thankful that I get to be with Family this Thanksgiving"
11. "I'm thankful for this team and this family and Robyn and Connor"
12. "I'm thankful for second chances"
13. "I am thankful for beer & pizza...oh, and my family"
14. "I am thankful for guns & buns (my honey bun)
15. "I am thankful for you all"
16. "I am thankful for mopar, my girl friend and wonderful family and my third grade teacher"
17. "Thanksliving-living each and every day being grateful for you all!I love my family"
18. "I am thankful to be here with people that I love"

All in all, I love the table cloth and will treasure it for years. I had a great time and have lots of happy memories.

it's on The December Challenge

I marveled at Lee's commitment to doing one full month of blogging. She works full time, volunteers in her community, and has two active boys. So what's to keep me from trying the same thing?
Well, I'm unorganized as hell. The dauchunds might hit the delete button-they've been know to do that,  and it's Christmas season-the busiest time of the year for companies like the one that I work for.
On the other hand, putting things down might help me get a little bit more organized and motivate me.
So let's start with some celebrating.
I have my Christmas cards done-not addressed or in the mail, but printed out (much thanks to Lee).
I found eleven cents on the ground today-beats gum or dog turds on the bottom of my shoe.
I remembered to make Dwight's dinner and bring mine to work.
My dogs have not eaten my salt dough ornaments.
I wore some new jeans today-and they fit which is really amazing since I bought them a size smaller than I normally wear (but they were so cute and I really, really liked that pattern on the pocket). So they fit-my butt is happy. This size smaller is less than a week from Thanksgiving mind you.
About the jeans, if you contribute twenty dollars to the Angel Tree at work you can wear jeans the entire month of December. I see a lot of denim in my future.
So there you have it-the start to a month of blogging and maybe my celebrations might get a little wilder.