Gobble Gobble

It's the time of the year that I give thanks for all the wonderful things in my life, so in no particular order here are a few.

First off, I am so very thankful for my family. They are truly one of a kind. My baby sis, who you know as the Gray Lining, never fails to astound me with random phone calls revealing her next huge money making idea. I'm come to respond with nothing more than "I don't really see any way that could fail" no matter the complexity, insanity, or improbability of success that surrounds it. If any one of these ideas comes to fruition, I'll be right behind her. Though sometimes standing behind her means I might have to move to Indiana and become a Head Cheese Developer. Upside: how awesome would that business card be. Downside: It's Indiana, but that story is for another day.

Turkey, oh how I love thee. Plus it wouldn't be a true I'm thankful list unless I mentioned food. For the first time this year I believe that I will wake up Thanksgiving morning and my turkey will actually be fully thawed. Not one Thanksgiving has passed that I have not spent the better part of Thanksgiving morning trying to pry the neck from its icy grave. In the past I have almost resorted to tossing the turkey in the dryer on a nice little permanent press cycle to defrost it, yet have resisted. However, this year, no more insane "I wish I possessed a much larger microwave thoughts", because I'm feeling completely prepared.

I am thankful for friends that have become my family. I'm blessed in this way, being so far from my family family. Throughout this past year I have needed to lean very hard, and they have truly been there to keep me from tumbling over.

I am also thankful for raspberries when nothing else seems sweet, and kitties who fill my house with both fur and love. I'm truly blessed. Happy Turkey Day :)

The luckiest little girl god ever made...

Seems another Thanksgiving has come and gone and although I took a week off of work to spend the holiday with The Gray Lining and Patty Cakes, it seemed only a few moments had passed between the time their plane touched down in the dirty south and took back off to the blistery north. It's not surprising, as time with my baby sister seems to always pass by so very quickly.

This year we were again -1, as Dirty Sierra Nevada Hoodie spent his holiday in SF. I did however have a good look around the garage for his lone flip flop so we could get toasty and chuck it into the ocean that way at least his spirit would be with us. Alas, the flip flop was MIA. Probably best it wasn't located as polluting the ocean that I adore so much is not really something anyone should do, especially considering that if the flip flop was anything like DSNH himself or his clothing it was probably a bit 'un-washed'.

Aside from the lack of DSNH it was Thanksgiving business as usual, meaning multiple trips to the beach, multiple trips to the bars, enough food to make me gain more than a few lbs over the course of the week, and as a direct result of number two on that list another thanksgiving day morning spent panicking because we woke up entirely too late. This year also included a trip to the "shake-shake", or for those of you from around these parts, "pantyfleas" (which apparently is pretty common on the night before thanksgiving as several of my friends reported similar Thanksgiving Eve stories), The Gray Lining falling asleep from either too much beers or too much foods multiple times (seems with age not only comes wisdom but also earlier bed times), and what Patty Cakes was referring to as "Mustache Thanksgiving" (or what I like to call "facial hair that makes parents pull their children close to them").

Per the thanksgiving tradition, thanks were given by those in attendance and per blog tradition I will say what my little heart is thankful for this year.

1. Always topping the list- My Momma. She's never afraid to speak her mind, and always the first to provide a compliment about the most obscure features on someone (thanks to her I am confident that both my and The Gray Lining's foreheads are in fact gorgeous). She loves unconditionally, takes such joy in the simple things in life, and genuinely enjoys spending time with her kids, and grand kittens. She see's people for the person they are, not the labels others put on them because that is just "how momma rolls". I'm truly thankful for you everyday.
2. The dessert concoction created by Imperial on Thanksgiving. Here's the thing, I love pumpkin, and I have yet to find something flavored like pumpkin that I don't adore. This brilliant man took Pumpkin Spice Egg Nog, Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream, and Rum, mixed them all together. It was legen.......i hope you're not lactose intolerant because you will never be able to enjoy this phenomenally delicious treat....dary.
3. The Gray Lining and Patty Cakes. I'm thankful that every year I get to spend my one of my favorite holidays with my family. While I do make it to Chicago several times a year it has been quite some time since I've been "home" to the ville and it means the world too me that they take the time off work to fly south (granted I partially think its because I have a beach house).
4. Friends that are really family. You make my heart smile every day. Always there to support me, tell me when I'm being an idiot, and sometimes encourage me to be an idiot because you know the end result will make me happy.
5. My babies, Tuxedo Sassy Pantalones and Flavor Flav. I don't know how I made it without you. Tuxedo I am especially thankful that you have taken a likening and welcomed Flav into our home. I know it must have been hard on you but you are a wonderful big sister now and you have a tiny fuzzy toy to play with now! Flav you are my snuggler and a fantastic one at that. I'm happy we survived thanksgiving without you ending up in Patty Cakes luggage cause I don't know what I would do without you to wake me up with a toe bite every morning.

Ok, this is obviously nowhere near an exhaustive list, but I think I hit the big ones. Also, I don't know how I end up talking about the most important things in my life every year and somehow a type of food makes it into the mix. Eh, whatever, its my life don't judge.

Oh, the weather outside is weather...

Its beginning to look, or at least feel, a lot like Christmas and a lot like my vaca is coming to an end...but what a wonderful vacation it was. This year's turkey day was spend with The Gray Lining and Patty Cakes, being that I actually live where we choose to spent the Thanksgiving holiday The Gray Lining and Patty Cakes agreed to make my vacation feel more like a vacation by spending 2 days down in Key West.

The Duo arrived in FMB at about 11:30pm last Saturday night and Dramamine in hand it was off to jump the boat to Key West at 7 Sunday morning. The ride down was fairly uneventful but as always KW was home to the making of memories and the scene of stories meant to share.

Lucky for The Gray Lining and I, Patty Cakes did not learn until day two of the trip that there are no open container laws in KW, but that didn't stop us from partaking in a multitude of adult beverages beginning about a half hour after we stepped foot off the boat. The libations began at the Schooner Wharf Bar where Michael McCloud was playing which always makes for a nice afternoon. Begin fresh off the boat and not able to check into our hotel room Patty Cakes found it necessary to visit the bathroom at the bar...wherein he found a nice little surprise awaiting him on the toilet seat. This would not have been a problem except that this trip to the bathroom was a necessity. What to do, was the topic of conversation for most of our afternoon. The Gray Lining said the obvious answer was the let the wait staff know, Patty Cakes didn't want to ruin our waiters afternoon so that option got vetoed. My solution- take one the plastic forks provided for our meal, get my sharpie out of my bag, write "Turd Fork" and "Turd Removal Device- Patent Pending" on it, and give it to Patty Cakes to 'nudge" the turd off the toilet. I apologize if anyone is or was eating as they read this, but if you know me, then you know that poo is not ever an inappropriate topic of conversation. I can't help but giggle when I think of the person who cleans the bathroom finding a fork, with poo on it sitting next to the plunger that reads "Turd Fork". Priceless.

Of course time was spent at Tiny Bar and we hit up the normal touristy destinations such as the Southernmost point, according to Key West, we did not get to visit what Patty Cakes actually thinks is the Southernmost point, a big metal tower that he believed was further south. In the blink of an eye the trip was over and it was back on the boat home to fmb for Turkey Day. The boat provided for some entertainment in the form of people watching. We played a game we called "Drunk or Boat?", it basically consists of watching people try to walk and deciding whether their poor balance was brought on by the boat or by the booze. Additionally Patty Cakes came back from the bathroom at one point with tp hanging out the back of his pants which was awesomely hilarious and spurred this little gem---A: "Don't worry Patty Cakes, it happens to the best of us." The Gray Lining: "Really?" A: "Well it happens to the best of us that it happens to."

Turkey dinner was fantastic, and The Gary Lining and Patty Cakes are sadly back off to the blistery north. All and all, it was a great vacation and I will patiently await Thanksgiving dinner deliciousness and a visit from my family next year.

Winner, Winner, Turkey Dinner

I am about 36 hours away from the arrival of The Gray Lining and Patty Cakes for the Thanksgiving Holiday, and if this year’s visit turns out anything like last year’s visit then anything I might possibly post on the interweb would probably be incoherent. So…I figured I would go ahead and give a pre-emptive Thanksgiving post.

Giving Thanks for Power Hour

Dirty-Sierra-Nevada-Hoodie giving thanks for beer pong and A giving thanks that Dirty SNH is light.

This is the 2nd Thanksgiving that I will be spending with The Gray Lining and Patty Cakes, at least the 2nd one as “adults”. We had a fantastic beach holiday last year and decided to make this a tradition of sorts. I know this tradition will probably fade over time, or at least change to some degree when The Gray Lining and Patty Cakes have a gaggle of cupcakes (cupcakes is what The Gray Lining has decided to call their future children, consequently I almost had a heart attack when talking to The Gray Lining on the phone the other day after she told me that she and Patty Cakes just got done making cupcakes…. I recovered after I realized she was talking about those of the baking variety). But until tiny versions of The Gray Lining and Patty Cakes come along for me spoil, I will cherish the small tradition that we have.

The Feast was Glorious! (above: damn yankees don't know that the kind of coconuts that grow on our tree are the ones you don't eat)

I will say that this holiday will be spent without the 4th member of our little tradition, Dirty SNH. However, he will be fed-exing us “one (1) sandal to complete the pair that was left in A's garage and one (1) bungee cord that is not currently mangled in a bike chain.” to complete our holiday. I suppose a back story on that would be helpful---Last year the sea was angry one night…or perhaps Dirty SNH was angry at the sea, nonetheless at about 2 am after a day and night full of drinking he decided to throw his flip flop into the ocean. The other flip flops remains, to this day, in my garage without it’s fellow. Moreover, a bungee cord was severely mangled by a bicycle chain on a late night trip to waffle house. When told this story was quite fuzzy, but it involved a box cutter and no hash browns.

Dirty-Sierra-Nevada-Hoodie proudly displaying his favorite attire.

Part of our tradition includes going around the table before dinner and sharing what you’re thankful for…so, here is (not an exhaustive) list of what I am thankful for this fine Thanksgiving.

• My momma~ She rarely wears FUBU anymore but she’s still the most rockin’ 60 year old I have ever met. I’m lucky to have a momma that cares about me so damn much and one that I can stand enough to let her live with me for months on end. I’m thankful for her every day.
  
• Tux Sassy Pantalones~ She is my baby and my fuzzy alarm clock. I always find it amazing that I can so quickly love a kitten. It takes me years to trust and love another person but something about a fuzzball just turns me to mush.
  
• My ‘family’~ This year I got the brother I had always wanted in Patty Cakes ;) and next year I will be adding a sister to my family by way of the Flewis nuptials. My family seems to get just a little bit bigger every year. I guess, I’m just one of the one’s lucky enough to have friends I can call family.
  
• Thanksgiving dinner ~ I am thankful for you and all your deliciousness. I love you deeply and let’s not forget your sides, oh and your desserts, I adore them as well.

As I said, this list is no where close to exhaustive but I've been very busy and important trying to get everything ready workwise so our tradition can continue this year...back with more tall tales in about a week. Until then, its off to try to drink ever beer in Key West and FMB for A, The Gray Lining, and Patty Cakes.