This year is the first year I get to do Thanksgiving at my own home!  We usually go to one in-law or the other, but this year, my grown and moved out daughters requested I do Thanksgiving, so THEY could go home for Thanksgiving!  Wasn’t that just the sweetest???  I have the best kids in the world!!!

So, I wanted to not just share that, but also the menu I have planned, and some recipes!  And because I am in love with them, I am making this post part of a Blog Hop/Linky Party.  :-)  Click the link (button) below to go to the main site of the Hop, and see what other people have shared for Thanksgiving this year.  And please feel free to add your own post to the linky!

Ok, here we go!

Thanksgiving Menu

Turkey

Dressing

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Hot Rolls

Cranberry Sauce

Vegetable Pizza

Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin Pudding/Molasses Cookie Trifle

And that’s just what I’m making.  My girls are making dishes to bring, also!  So, we should all be good and stuffed!  LOL  Below, you’ll find a couple of the recipes I’ll be using.  Please feel free to share recipes or menus in the comments!

Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!!!

Rosemary Roasted Turkey Recipe

Bread and Celery Stuffing

Vegetable Pizza

Pumpkin Roll

Oh, and what holiday would be right without a Charlie Brown Special???  I love these shows, even now!  LOL  If you don’t already have them, you can click below and get them on Amazon!  :-)

I would like to share a new blog that I recently discovered.  Well, it’s not new, but it’s new to me!  LOL  It’s called Paisley Passions (click the button above), and it’s chock full of crafts, home decorating ideas, mommy stuff, fellowship with other bloggers, and more!  I think you’d be hard pressed not to find something that interests you.

I just love that she hosts weekly Linky Parties and Blog Hops!  If you don’t know what these are, the best I can say is they are a fun way for bloggers to have fellowship.  Sometimes they are themed, and sometimes not.  But one person hosts it, and others leave a link to their own blog post.  Then that person can copy some code to their own post and Voila! they have the growing list on their post, too!  If you’ve never seen one, it may sound a little confusing, but it’s quite simple, and lots of fun!

Now, Paisley Passions has their own idea of what each one is.  That didn’t sound right.  LOL  It’s not that she has some crazy idea of what they mean, it’s just that she is very clear about which is which, and how they are separate.  :-)  The Linky Parties are craft and creation related, and the Blog Hops seem to be about everything else.  Or rather, anything that’s not craft/creation themed.  She has a page dedicated to each one, so you can visit them, and get a better idea!  So, go pay her a visit, and have fun perusing!

I sometimes do Linkies or Blog Hops here on my site, too, so if that interests you, check back from time to time or watch on Facebook or Twitter for updates!

Today is Crazy Hair Day at Sammy’s school!  I think she looks like a Who!  So, I called her Sammy Lou Who!  I made little, twisted buns, added pipe cleaner “flowers”, then sprayed and glittered!  Isn’t she adorable??!!!

Please join me at Wordless Wednesday!

Or if you’re a McLinky fan, join in on the Blog Hop!

It’s not very often that I just HAVE to have something.  Even though, my husband will tell you I’m spoiled.  LOL  But as I was shopping around online for canisters, I came across these.  If you know me at all, you know I have a thing for mushrooms, so I instantly fell in love with them!  They were on Ebay.  Originally, they were from Sears and Roebuck in 1978, so I guess they are antique.  They are in mint condition, too!  I don’t really remember having these around when I was little, but they just have that homey, comforting feeling to them.    So I was very excited to win them!  And I just had to share them with you!  There are four canisters and a salt and pepper shaker. 

Domestic abuse is a big problem in this country.

It has been a problem in my life, since I was a little girl.

My father was abusive towards my mom when I was little.  I remember being scared a lot, and having tummy aches often.  I remember my father drinking and my mom, older sister, and I running to a neighbor’s house when he got a gun out.  But I really don’t remember a whole lot from my childhood, because I must have blacked out a lot of bad memories.  I’ve just realized as an adult that I was probably suicidal as a child.  I remember being afraid that I would open the car door and jump out, while it was moving.  I didn’t WANT to do it, but I was afraid I would.  I didn’t.

I married the first guy that paid much attention to me.  Little did I know that he was abusive, like my father.  Looking back, I see a sad person, with low self esteem.  But I thought I married a 6’1″ guy with a  lot of charisma.  What I really did was marry a guy who was a pro at manipulating people.  Around most other people, he was a great guy.  Fun to be around.  With me, he lost his charm.  He egged me on until I couldn’t take it anymore, and when I tried to make him stop, he’d start hitting me.

The worst time was probably when I was about 2 or 3 months pregnant with my second child.  He beat me really bad, including kicking me in the head and stomach.  That was the time I almost killed him in his sleep.  He was drunk, as usual, and fell asleep, so I thought it was my chance.   I stood over him with a wrought iron skillet over his head, but I didn’t hit him, because I was afraid I wouldn’t do it hard enough, and he’d come after me and kill me.  So, I left, and called the police.  To make a long story short, his mom bailed him out of jail, just like she’d done all his life, and I ended up in a women’s shelter.

But, as many women do, I took him back.  I believed his lies of not doing it again.  He was sorry.  Oh yes.  He was ALWAYS sorry.  He was sorry when he beat K.M., the girl he dated before me, and H., the girl he dated after me.  I don’t know how many women he has been with, but I’d bet he’s been sorry to about 80% of them.  Even though, IT WASN’T HIS FAULT.

Yeah, that’s the problem with most abusers.  It’s never their fault.  Apparently, there is some supernatural force that takes control over their body and forces them to beat up women.  It’s a sad state of affairs, I tell you.  These poor, unsuspecting men meet women who know exactly which buttons to push, and they have no choice but to bash their faces in.  Someone really should stop these evil women.

Yeah.  Right.

But, you see, it’s not just the wives and girlfriends that bare the brunt of the problem.  In most cases, children are born during these unions, and they also suffer at the hands of their fathers.  Sometimes they actually see their father beating on their mother, which is damaging enough, but a lot of the time, the father ends up being a DEAD BEAT DAD.

Yes, you heard me right.  DEAD BEAT DAD.

Can you imagine a man who fathers a child (children), then after a separation, completely neglects to join in on the care of that child?  Can you imagine a man who NEVER willingly pays one red cent towards his child’s support???  I know such a man.  If you can call him that.  Personally, I don’t consider him a man at all.  The only time he’s paid his child support is when the state took it out of his paycheck, which was several years after he should have started paying.  He also never made any effort to see his children.  No birthday cards.  No Christmas presents.  NOTHING.

That’s exactly what he is to me now.  Nothing.  As my present husband would say, he’s not worth the  power of lead to blow him up.

But you know what good has come out of all this???  I SURVIVED!!!

I never thought of myself as a strong person.  And I still have trouble telling myself that I have the strength to get through some things.  But I got through my ex-husband.  And if I can get through that, I can get through anything.

I am a survivor.

If you are being abused, and need help, call the domestic abuse hotline… 1-800-799-SAFE (1-800-799-7233).

http://www.thehotline.org/

I was a bad boy today, and Mommy got mad at me. Now, I’m too sad to even play with my favorite toy.

(He actually only stayed like this a few seconds, and started playing with it. Usually, it wouldn’t stay on his nose for 2 seconds. LOL)

My family is sooooo poor, I gotta sleep on this here rock.

Please join my Link Party!

Fun in the Sun!

[blenza_autolink ww]

I just wanted to pop in and show you what I’m working on today!

What are you working on?  Leave your WIP link below!

Hummingbirds in flight

I found this on my home news site, wtap.com.  I don’t know who this person is.  I just wanted to share it with you!  Pretty neat, huh?

[blenza_autolink ww]

To me this is what a peach cobbler should look like.

My daughter and I were having a conversation over her failed attempt to make a peach cobbler.  I’m not sure what her problem was, but we’re trying to figure that out.  It brought up the topic, though, of the difference between a cobbler and a crumble, or crisp, or several other similar creations.  Just what are the differences???

I’ve done some research, and would like to share my findings with you!

Peach cobbler and apple crisp are just two of the many great fruit desserts that are similar to each other in that they are basically fruit baked with dough either under or on top of them. Many of these desserts were named for how they look after being baked.   They are made with fruits, such as apples, peaches, blueberries, raspberries, black berries, nectarines, and plums.

A cobbler is a type of deep-dish fruit dessert with a thick biscuit or pie dough crust that is prepared and then served warmed to guests. It is very similar to a pie except that the crust is thicker and it is traditionally placed only on top. However, over the years, ingredients and preparation methods have been created that bake the cobbler crust on the top for some recipes and on the bottom for others.  The consensus is that the dish got its name because the lumps of cooked dough resembled cobblestones.
In the United States a cobbler is typically made with fruit or berries but in the United Kingdom it is typically a meat dish. In the United States, peach, blueberry and cherry cobblers are among the most popular varieties.

A crumble is a dessert with a crumb topping made from flour, sugar, and butter combined into a mixture that is sprinkled on top  and baked. The topping is made up of basically the same ingredients as a pastry except it doesn’t contain any liquid. When the crumble bakes the butter melts and mixes with the flour and sugar to create a crunchy, crumbly topping. A crumble is very similar to a crisp except that the topping for a crisp generally contains oats and often nuts, giving it a coarser texture that the crumbles toppings.

The traditional crumble topping contains flour, sugar, and butter but there are many variations, which some include ingredients such as oats, nuts, and spices. As more of these ingredients are added, the crumble becomes even more similar to a crisp. A crumble also resembles a cobbler, which has a fruit filling with a top crust and no bottom crust. The difference being that top crust of the cobbler contains a leavening agent such as baking powder with gives it more of a smooth bread type texture rather than crumbly. One of the most common crumble desserts is “apple crumble”, but it is also common to use blueberries, strawberries, peaches, rhubarb, and plums.

Peach Cobbler Recipe

See Peach Cobbler on Key Ingredient.

Apple Crumble Recipe

See Apple Crumble on Key Ingredient.

Greg and Max taking a break from gardening on a hot summer evening.

[blenza_autolink ww]

Wordless Wednesday – The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

[blenza_autolink ww]

My morels are now on Etsy!!!  Come on over to my shop and check out all my shrooms!

I’ve been working on some more mushrooms to put on Etsy.  Morels this time!  Gonna have them posted shortly!

Welcome to another week of Fairly Frightening Friday blog hop (meme)!  I’m so happy to have you here!  Please  add your post to the linky below!  Whether it’s cutesy or really scary, all is good, as long as it’s rated PG.  :-)

Today, I’d like to share a show I discovered recently.  It’s called Dexter, and can be found on Showtime, and past episodes can be viewed on Netflix.  It’s about a guy who does forensics with the police, but also kills people.  Yes, he’s a serial killer, but he does have ethics.  He only kills people who kill other people.  Neat twist huh?  Now, I do have to warn you, there is nudity, sex, and language, so the show is NOT for the under 18 crowd.  At least, not in my house.  I usually don’t watch things that have such things, but I really like the show otherwise.

Have you seen the show?  What is YOUR Fairly Frightening Friday post about?  Don’t forget to leave a link to your FFF, and leave a comment, too!

This is my baby, who will be 12 next month.  And the mural I was painting for her, before I got put on bed rest.

[blenza_autolink ww]

I am famous around these parts (clear from one end of my house to the other) for making what I like to call Food with No Name.  LOL  It’s what happens when I make up my own recipe out of my head.  Over the years, there have been many versions of Food with No Name, but tonight’s was especially tasty,  so I thought I’d share it with you!  I’m calling this recipe…

Creamy Italian Sausage Casserole

Ingredients:

1 lb italian sausage links

1 can peas

1 large can cream of mushroom soup

1 box macaroni and cheese (the powder kind)

Directions:

Brown the sausage links until cooked through, then cut into bite size pieces.  Add soup, peas, and cheese packet and stir.  Let simmer while you cook the macaroni.  After draining the macaroni, add it to the meat mixture, and stir to combine.

Don’t forget to let me know how you like it!

Well hello folks!  I hope you’re doing well on this beautiful day that God made!  Are you ready for today’s blog hop?  Today’s Fairly Frightening Friday meme is about Vincent Price!  I adore Vincent!  He is one actor I really wish I’d had the chance to meet!

1911 – 1993

Actor, writer, and gourmet, Vincent Price was born in St Louis, Missouri. He traveled through Europe, studied at Yale and became an actor. He made his screen debut in 1938, and after many minor roles, he began to perform in low-budget horror movies such as House of Wax (1953), achieving his first major success with House of Usher (1960). Known for his distinctive, low-pitched, creaky, atmospheric voice and his quizzical, mock-serious facial expressions, he went on to star in a series of acclaimed Gothic horror movies, such as Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971).

He abandoned films in the mid-1970s, going on to present cooking programs for television – he wrote “A Treasury of Great Recipes” (1965) with his second wife, Mary Grant – but had two final roles in The Whales of August (1987) and Edward Scissorhands (1990). He also recorded many Gothic horror short stories for the spoken-word label Caedmon Records.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Lester A Dinerstein

House of  Wax is my favorite Vincent Price movie (and in my top 10 favorites all around), and my second fav of his is House on Haunted Hill. 

Vincent Price recites The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

***If you’d like to participate in this Blog Hop, create your frightening, scary, horror, Halloween, etc. post, and list it in the Linky below! Then grab the code to put into your own post, and then you will have the list too! All I ask is that you keep it at a PG rating, please! I can’t wait to see how many of you join in!***

[blenza_autolink ww]
Wordless Wednesday!

I have not been good about keeping up with my Fairly Frightening Friday Blog Hop/meme, but I have the perfect thing today!  A wonderfully goofy Vincent Price movie!

If you’d like to participate in this Blog Hop, create your frightening, scary, horror, Halloween, etc. post, and list it in the Linky below!   Then grab the code to put into your own post, and then you will have the list too!  All I ask is that you keep it at a PG rating, please!  I can’t wait to see how many of you join in!

I’m working on some clay morels, and watching one of Vincent Price’s movies, The Raven.  I just love the comedic horror that he was so good at!  And, not a single curse word.  If you’d like to watch it, I’ve embedded it below.