Thanksgiving 2010

I love spending holiday's with family but who doesn't?  We packed up our bags this year, full of long underwear and sweatshirts and headed to South Dakota.  Brrrrrrr.  Thankfully the snow stayed away until the day we headed home.  The cold weather, on the other hand, was there to stay.

Mom and Maury live out in the middle of no where.  This is my kind of vacation.  Sleeping in, playing games, chatting the day away and LOTS of home cooked meals by Mom.  This trip was a little different when it comes to food though.  We had goose stew, pheasant tacos, deer steak and more.  The only thing I did not care for was the deer liver and heart.  Thankfully that was not the entree of the night.

James found a new hobby....hunting.  I cannot even describe how much he enjoyed this testosterone-filled activity.  Even more exciting is that he shot a deer and a couple of pheasant.  Not too shabby for his first week giving the sport a go.  Oh and I had the pleasure of helping clean this stuff.

The down side of the trip is there was a stomach bug circulating.  Just about everyone in the house got a touch of it or the full on thing.  Somehow Mom, Sheridan and I seemed to stay clear.  Shew!

Here's a few pictures.  Unfortunately I did a terrible job keeping my camera out, and the pictures I did take weren't too great.  Oh well.  Something is better than nothing.

Uncle James 

BB from a pheasant 

Getting ready to clean the pheasant 

James pheasant's --- he's recovering from the stomach bug so he doesn't look so hot.  Mick, Maury's hunting dog wouldn't smile for the picture.  He deserves lots of credit for the phesant hunting!

James first deer :)

Sigh of Relief

Today the court approved the final accounting and distribution of my dad's estate.

And a new chapter begins.  When we are children, we think the world is going to crumble if our parents don’t let us have ice cream after dinner. The obstacles continue as we get older – and then become progressively more difficult. Moving to Ohio as a teenager and struggling to pay bills – therefore finding comfort in a piece of plastic and then climbing our way out of debt. Learning to function as a military spouse – the lonliness of deployments and pressures from a boss that will have his way no matter your justification for what is more logical. I could keep going. But the past two years have been, by far, the most difficult. My Father died. I could be selfish and say that I wish he had fallen ill so I had the chance to say goodbye and so he would have had the opportunity to get his assets in order. Though I got to say goodbye. Just not in a sad or mourning way. Instead I got to walk a few miles with him every morning, cook dinner while constantly avoiding chicken – it wasn’t his favorite – so we ate steak at least twice a week, operate his business together – hand in hand, him teaching me to be a better wife – taking my hubby cheese, crackers and a beer before dinner, sharing stories about his experiences as an engineer and my favorite, baking all sorts of yummy things – pies, cookies, banana pudding.  My Dad made me feel like a saint when it comes to making dessert. (Someday I’ll attempt his famous cheesecake.)  Quickly after my Dad passed away all hell broke loose. I could moan and groan about the last 23 months. I could explain the chain of events. I could explain the spite of an individual who is biologically a relation to me.  Instead I have decided to thank my AMAZING husband, sister-in-law, mother, brother and each and every friend. You have been the ears to listen. You have been the backbone when I wanted to waver. You have been the shoulder or the ear on the other end of the phone line when I am crumbling. Thank you. Thank you for your strength. I promise to be there when you need me. Because I’ve used more than my share of emotional and physical support over the past year. Thank you. Mike and Kristi are strangers to me. As I am a stranger to them. Based on the past 23 months, we’ll never know one another. My only explanation to their actions, Mike in particular, is his desire to punish our Father by expressing hatred towards me. I’ve approached everything as fairly, morally and ethically strong as I possibly could. I hope that Mike and Kristi have found the peace in their hearts to put their relationship with our Father behind them. I am incredibly lucky to be able to place my relationship with my Dad in front of me and know that I have made him proud and I will continue to make him proud.  It’s time for my energy to be on the future. Today marks the end of the Estate. A new chapter begins.

One year ago today

I started blogging.  Jeebers how time flies.  Now I just need to blog more!

Susie Homemaker

I ventured into the land of canning!  Ha ha ha.  For a longggg time, I have had great intentions of making homemade jam.  But I was intimidated.  When it was strawberry season, I kept up with my intentions of starting on this project but I didn't quite reach the "point" where I was ready to take on this project.  Recently, my mom has been doing lots of canning - mainly vegetables.  This inspired me to get going, along with some other motivation, so I picked up some blueberries and got to work.  Now, this is not the time of year to look for canning jars.  It seemed as though all the stores were out of cans.  My third stop, I was successful.

Some sugar, pectin, a little lemon juice and LOTS of blueberries later, I have jam!  I'm sorry to report that I don't have pictures.  A jar of dark "stuff" just doesn't look pretty.  Though I was satisfied with the end result.  I still have some adjustments to make but this was a great start.

A few more days and I'll be headed to South Dakota to see what the critics think!