Red Pencil Diaries

Well, we made it through Turkey day ok. Dave brined the turkey this year and it tasted very yummy. My dressing turned out really good too. I was quite pleased with this year's feast. I think everyone else was too.

Zack learned something new yesterday... He can now pull out the dining room chairs, climb up into them, and then climb up onto the dining room table. So we're having to really watch him close now. As if I haven't watched him closely anyway. He's into so much now. We finally had to put those lock things on our kitchen cabinets. He was dragging out all of our pots, pans, and bowls all over the house. He came into the bedroom yesterday and woke Daddy up with his lovely cymbals (lids to two pans). He LOVES noise. Maybe someday he will be a drummer. Or a rock star.

The storms passed through yesterday and we're still here and ok. I felt kind of worried about them at first, glued to the TV weather channel watching every motion and report of a funnel cloud. I didn't sleep well last night. But I am not sure why. Maybe all the worry just got me agitated enough to not sleep.

Today I'm kind of tired, but I'll live. I'm hoping to go back to the Y tonight. I hope Dave is up for it.

I did make that tomato sauce the other day. It turned out pretty good. It's not as tomatoey as I had hoped. You can taste a lot of the other vegetables in it. But it's still a good flavor. I think on pizza or in lasagna, you won't notice the other flavors as much. But we ate it over pasta with meatballs. Yummy.

I can't believe Thanksgiving will be here in just about a week. I need to go buy a big turkey and start getting my house in order. I don't have that much to do to get ready. But there's always extra cleaning in order when we're having people over.

Zack is napping at the moment. I've already started laundry for the day. I haven't even had a shower yet. *sigh* I need to get myself in gear.

We made out a list of who we need to buy gifts for this holiday. I think we're cutting back quite a bit. With me not working and all the stuff we are doing with the house, we just need to stick to a budget. So I have my list and I'm sticking to it. In my family this year, we're drawing names among the adults, which will save us quite a bit. We won't get as many gifts, but I think I can live with that. Even Dave and I have cut back on our spending on each other. But it will all work out ok. Just getting to be with family and friends is enough. I think I might try to make some treats for people. hmm... good idea. I love cooking anyway. But I hate keeping too many treats around the house.

On Friday night, Dave and I asked Chili watch Zack while we went out. We really appreciated him giving up his evening for us. My mom had been set to watch him, but she got sick. It was the first time someone besides my mom and dad had watched him. I started out feeling nervous--not that I didn't trust Chili, but more that I hoped Zack didn't cry and scream and throw a fit the entire time we were gone. But Zack was good. He played. He had a bottle. He eventually went to bed. Oh, and Dave and I had fun out with our friends at Caesar's. We didn't win anything, but we did have a wonderful dinner and a few drinks. It was so great to get out. Thanks again, Chili.

On Sunday we went back down to the country for Dave's dad's birthday. It was a nice day. There are some pics of Zack and other things on our site from this weekend. I feel exhausted even though we didn't do anything too strenuous this weekend. I feel like I need a nap. I'm going to try to make a new recipe today. I found it on the Jamie Oliver web site . I hope that link works. For some reason, the link button on the blog posting page always screws up. Anyway, Jamie Oliver (the Naked Chef) came up with some recipes to help "sneak" vegetables into kids dinners without them realizing it. So this sauce has quite a few vegetables in it other than tomatoes. So I want to see how well it turns out. I might use it later to make some lasagna. Yum.

After spending a couple of weeks preparing for it, Zack's birthday weekend is over. The total devestation of my living room proves it. On Saturday, we had my family and a few friends with kids over for Zack's birthday. It was like a day care center had taken over my house. Kids were everywhere. There were 15 kids between the ages of 12 and 6 months. Most of the older kids made their way outside and played. The younger ones enjoyed the toys Zack got (he got so many toys that I now dread Christmas). There are pics from the whole weekend in the photo booth area of this site. Friday night, our close friends came by to have pizza and hang out with the little dude. He had Elmo cupcakes and made a big mess for them. And on Sunday morning, we got up early and drove down to the country to celebrate with Dave's dad, granny, papaw, brother, brother's girlfriend, and their daughter. By the time we got home yesterday evening, I was about to drop. I still feel that way today. But it was all worth it. Zack had a great weekend! He's officially 1 year old. Where oh where has my baby gone?

Until Zack officially turns 1. Wow. This year has flown by. It's incredible. He's incredible.

I just posted pics from trick or treating last night. We went to our friends' neighborhood in Crestwood. Zack didn't last too long before he started really fussing. I think he was kinda cold and tired at the same time. Of course, once we got back, a sucker fixed all that. He was sugar buzzing for a couple of hours after that. But he slept the entire way home and went right to bed when we got here.

In the pics, you can see the cute little fairies that he got to trick or treat with, Hannah and Lydia. And one of their neighbor's daughters is dressed as barbie rapunzel. Overall, it was a really fun evening. And I want to thank our hosts for a wonderful time.