Thanksgiving 2009 – Black Friday.

Today I am thankful …

that I didn’t go out into the madness!  I am also thankful that we have had two nice days in a row of visiting family.

 

Yesterday, we had dinner with dh’s father and stepmother.  Smom and I each made complete meals.  She cooked the turkey, made sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes (dairy filled), rolls (glutenous), corn, and pecan pie (glutenous and eggy).  I roasted a pork loin, dh made mashed potatoes (dairy free), the Little Guy helped me make Mexican Bean Salsa Salad (free of gluten, birds and their byproducts, milk, soy, and canola and rapeseed oils), and GFCFEFSF pumpkin pie (for the flour, I used extra virgin olive oil instead of light olive oil – not sure what the difference is, sorghum flour instead of buckwheat flour , and Thai Kitchen’s full fatted coconut milk instead of hemp milk, which I had never heard of until this recipe).

 

The pork turned out okay, the mashed potatoes not so good, the MBSS turned out nice except that I forgot to buy cilantro , which was sorely missed, and the pumpkin pie was great!

 

If you followed the link, you probably saw that the pie was made without a crust.  It was easy to get out of the pie plate and tasted very good considering it is full of substitutes to make it pumpkin pie like.  It actually tasted like pumpkin, wasn’t sludgy, and didn’t look like something I probably didn’t want to eat.  I will add more spices to it next time – and there will be a next time – because it seemed like maybe it could’ve used a little something more, flavor wise, but not much.

 

I’ve recently made a discovery that makes me feel a little sad.  It seems that my husband is losing or has lost the ability to taste simple things.    I’ve been doing a lot of cooking over the past couple of weeks, and have not been able to please him without really dumping in the salt and spices. The boys and I have have really liked a few of the things, but he doesn’t and asks if I have considered adding some salt or pepper or other spices.   WITW???  The Little Guy, Mr. Somewhat Picky, was raving over a bowl of steaming hot vegetable beef soup, while The Mister thought it tasted like veggies, beef and water, which I can assure you it was not, and yet how sad that he doesn’t seem to be able to taste the natural flavors of the vegetables!

 

My stomach has been really bothering me for the last few days, and I think it’s because I have added so much extra pepper and other spices so that he can taste something.  In the future, I will make a separate concoction for him so the rest of us don’t have to suffer from burnt innards.  In the meantime, I’ve got to search for answers about taste bud health.  8-|

 

Today, we had dinner with my sister’s family, but this time, we weren’t the only people dealing with food sensitivities.  My Mom has discovered that she is at least gluten intolerant, so we worked out the menu so that it would be as everybody friendly as possible.  Still, certain staples were required which some of us simply had to avoid.  There was turkey, pork, fresh veggies and dip, pickles, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, fruit salad, MBSS, two kinds of pumpkin pie (one GFCFEFSF), one me-friendly blueberry pie, one pecan pie, and one spectacular fruit crisp dessert that I wung which turned out, well, spectacular!  I’ll have to make it again and write down what I did, but the two main flavors are pumpkin and apple, and it was delicious!

 

We did not lack for food, and I am thankful to God for providing so much variety in nature so that those of us with a lengthy “Stuff to Avoid” list can enjoy tasty food, too! 

I am also thankful to have had the opportunity to spend time with my family.  I haven’t seen my in-laws or my side of the family much at all lately, so it was nice to slow down and have some time with them.  You know, as much as God has shown himself faithful lately, I still worried about a couple of things and cast a shadow over some of the festivities.  I feel bad that I didn’t let the things go and spend more time concentrating on how I could be a blessing to them.  Both sides of our family are having their own difficulties. We had a good time both days, really, we did, but I could cry over one of the things I wish I could’ve done, but God knows about that situation, and thinking it over, I know that He would’ve impressed a thing upon my heart if He had wanted me to do something about it.  I guess I can take comfort in that.  I shall take comfort in that.

 

I don’t mean to end on a downer.  Difficult things happen, but God is still faithful, and I don’t mean to whine away every bit of thanks I’ve expressed. It has been a pleasant week, and I am thankful for it and all that it brought our way.  And I am especially thankful that I did not join in the shopping madness! 

 

I Corinthians 15:56,57

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ownership

We had a great sermon today.  It was about tithing.  God doesn’t ~need~ our money, but since it already belongs to Him …

Psalm 50:5-15

⁵ “Gather to me my consecrated ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

⁶ And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for God himself is judge.
Selah

⁷ “Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you:
I am God, your God.

⁸ I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices
or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.

⁹ I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,

¹⁰ for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹ I know every bird in the mountains,
and the creatures of the field are mine.

¹² If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴ Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
fulfill your vows to the Most High,

¹⁵ and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

Not that this has a whole lot to do with the above passage, but for the first few days after Heidi the Dog died, it made me sick to come here.  It still brings to mind the loss of my little pup, but it is a comfort to know that  she belonged to God and that He cared about her.

See you around, Jaeger!

Jaeg’s girl and her boyfriend just left.  I was concerned that they wouldn’t be able to come.  The weather is turning bad again and I really didn’t want them to get killed in a car accident for a dog, but the roads weren’t bad yet on their way over, so they stayed the course and got here a little before 5.

Heidi and Conrad came to the door to greet them.  Jaeger was off hiding.  He has been weirded out by the changes in our house.  We’ve totally moved everything around in the living room, taken down the kennel, and filled their former “spot” with a chair and containers from the Christmas tree and the decorations.  Basically their usual safe spot is gone.

Funny, the girl seemed turned off by a skittish, nervous dog, and I assured her that Jaeger isn’t a skittish, nervous dog, but when they got here, he was skittish and nervous!

After a couple of minutes of Jaeger avoiding his new family-elect, I sat down on the floor and had Gabe let Heidi and Conrad out of the kitchen.  They had become a distraction so they were bannished from the living room.  I knew, however, that Jaeg did what they did, and I knew that they would walk right up to our guests.  They did, and he did.  After about 10 minutes, I sent Heidi and Conrad to the basement with Dub so that Jaeg could get used to the idea of being around the new people.

I’m very glad that the family-elect was not in a big hurry. I got to see a video of their dog spending time outside and was relieved that he wasn’t rabid.  They both told me about their dog, who is a rottweiler and is too old to go on hikes with them anymore.  They said that he does well with other dogs, unless the dogs are small and smashable, and then they run into a little trouble.  The boyfriend also told me about their other pets -fish ( some  are convicts, which Mr. N* also has),  a trantula, and some other things.

When they were here about 15 minutes, they both decided that they liked Jaeger.  (What’s not to like?)

I pray that we are able to get the registration papers squared away for both dogs.   I told them that I have been corresponding with the breeder about the paperwork, but wondered if the registration was a deal breaker for them.  They said no, they didn’t think they’d want to give him back, which was good.   That is the one thing that has really weighed on me.  I don’t lose important papers and then post ads stating that I have said important papers.  It’s just not something I do, but I did it, and I have been afraid someone would sue me for false advertising ever since I realized what happened.

The atmosphere is kind of sad around here at the moment.  Decreasing the number of pets in the house is an emotional thing for us, even if it is for the best.  I’m hoping the atmosphere around here will be sad again this Thursday evening, when someone is coming to meet Conrad.

What in the world is this???

Homer brought Conrad over to me, held up Conrad’s front legs and said, “Notice a difference?” His elbow has a giant cyst on it!  Looking at it from behind, it’s about twice as wide as his lower leg.

You’d really have to see his normal other arm to appreciate the size:

Poor Cornball!  I hate to see him hurting!    He’s no Noah, so I’m not rushing him to the vet tonight, but I hope it’s the same temporary though scary looking swelling that he had in his eyelids a couple of months ago.

Okay, it’s not as wide as I thought, but it’s still awful looking:

Hopefully it’s nothing.    I’m telling myself that as I head to bed in a minute.

Hulk bests Puppy

It’s Gabe’s birthday today, and he borrowed my camera for a video he has been working on *in honor of the day.  I thought this was cute.

*Not all kids get to have fun in the middle of the day on their birthdays.  Poor saps!