On Thanksgiving Day, All Over America, Families Sit Down To Dinner At The Same Moment - Halftime.

I love Thanksgiving. Not just the food, but everything. It's like Christmas with lower stress levels. Granted there are no gifts, but there is also no church. That sounds bad, I realize, but church is just one of those things that you have to work into your schedule. Stress. People come home for Thanksgiving too, which is nice. And when you're in school you get this nice break. Maybe I enjoy it because I haven't had one in 4 years. Last year, I was in Hell, or Florida for those not in the know, so I was working. It was the worst. At least when I worked in Austin, the 2 previous years, I could grab a bite of turkey, then head to work. In Florida, I was stuck, alone, in a place that doesn't respect tradition. Gross. I was also harassed via text messages. Nice little reminders that I wasn't sprawled on a couch watching The Game.

But all that is behind me now. This year, dinner is at our house, so more cooking falls to me. Generally I make one dish, but this year, I'm making one dish, then assisting with all the other ones. I have also been taken off green beans and given the dressing. The dressing is much more time consuming, so my busy aunt took the easier recipe. Only one problem. When I make the green beans, which I've been doing for years, I don't follow the recipe exactly. I had a couple of different secret ingredients. I also add some not so secret ingredients. Double the fried onions. Sounds simple, but it makes all the difference. Also, it sounds fat, but I'm telling you that the amount that is called for is way too little. So maybe not double, but extra.

Football should be good this year too. Last year I sat in an empty hotel room and watched the victory, but it was not the same being alone. Nathan will be at the game this year, so I will not be able to taunt him, so the Momma will be receiving most of it. Lucky her. I'm predicting a nap at one point, or at least a comatose state on the couch. Yup, that's the plan. To you and yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Day Approaches

Missing Kitty, Or Not

Now, I realize that many of you are not what you would call, "cat lovers". So, with that in mind, this post is not technically about a cat, it is more about the ridiculousness that is Timber Cove.

Earlier this morning, I received an email regarding a missing cat. A family down the street just got a new kitten, to replace their recently deceased one, and of course, the cat ran away. Now, I have never had an animal that ran away. Darcy, for instance, always stayed in or around the yard. She occasionally refused to come inside, but she had the smarts to realize where her food was. I digress. The first email came at 9:35a.m. Then, 3 minutes later, the exact same email was forwarded to me. Apparently, the first one went to one list serve, so the head of the Garden Club decided to forward it to her list serve. Nice to know that in case of an emergency, they will be able to reach me by many methods. Anyways, people were alerted.

1:23. This email contained the last known sighting of the feline. Interestingly enough, it was sent by a woman, who lives nowhere near the owner's house (relatively speaking, for Timber Cove standards), but she herself did not see the cat. She was just reporting, to the whole neighborhood, that a woman named Denise had seen the cat "last night in a driveway 3 houses towards Shorewood". Huh. Well, since the owners live on Shorewood, how could it be 3 houses towards Shorewood. Obviously she means on another street. What street? Who knows. Nice tip ladies.

At 2:22 this afternoon, I received an email, from the Garden Club announcing the safety of "The Fugitive". He had in fact, not run away, but had been in the house the whole time. Genius, right under the noses! So, I of course breathe a sigh of relief, no more need to get a group together for the night watch.(I would like to point out that Denise's helpful tip was once again null and void, due to the fact that the cat was in the house, quite some disinformation circling about. )

Oh Wait. At 4:15, I was alerted yet one more time that the cat, previously thought to be lost, then found, had in fact actually gotten out. Who loses a cat they know is trying to escape. You'd think the cat would have to lull them into a sense of security, "No, I'm not going anywhere, you don't have to watch me". No, apparently, that would be unnecessary.

4:18. Last and hopefully final email. The previous email must have had a delay, because between it and the last one, signs had been posted, emails sent, phone calls placed, kitty found. That's right! No more worries from TLV. No need to alert the Mayor, oh wait, I'm sure she received all the same emails I did. 

Let me summarize. I have received 6 emails throughout the course of the day. Now, if it had been my pet that was lost, I would appreciate all the helpfulness, so I would like to congratulate, and thank, the Cove for the promptness in assisting a neighbor in need. On the other hand, when I left for work this morning, the kitty was in the house. When I get back from work this evening, the kitty will be in the house. No change. So really, it's like it never even happened. But don't worry, I have the documentation to prove that it did. Huh.

Lonesome Dove

I know I talk about Lonesome Dove more than necessary, but if I can convince just one person how great it is, it'll be worth it. For those who are more into reading, the book is great, obviously. It's slow in the beginning, but necessary to form the characters. So if you ever attempt, just try and get through the beginning. The mini series is so well down however, that it substitutes for the book if need be. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones are fan freaking tastic. I mean really, couldn't have been better cast. I was going to fill this page with quotes, but they just aren't the same out of context, or for those who don't really know the plot. I think I'm gonna watch it again this week or next, probably both since its 6 hours long. Summary: watch it or read it.

My Top People

As you can tell, I have figured Html out somewhat, due to the addition of a third column. I am not a fan of lopsided things, and this layout had a huge black blank section. Must be fixed. But then I was left with what to fill said blank spot with. Beautiful people. Immediately I knew. I have created a list, of what I believe are my top 10 lists. Now, the list is 20 people long, which fills the left side completely, so you will find that I continued it in the right hand column. They appear in order, ladies first, of course.

HTML, I Hate You

As you can tell from my blog, I'm not trying to get too fancy or complicated. I have started switching up the font color, big deal, I know. I would love to find some cute template, but no. The ones I like are so convoluted, there is no inserting them. I need a black background, I just like it better with the color scheme I chose. All of them suck. So what do I do, I go and try and find a difficult one. Place it on my blog. The whole thing goes to hell. So now, I have to revert my blog to its original form. Which of course means all the crap I added is gone. AAARGH. I just wish their was an easier way. Because of my frustration, I was absent from the blogging world for a couple of days, so I apologize. I just needed some time to regroup. All in all, the blog is now different, not sure if that is better, but It's all I can do for now. Whew.

To Drink Or Not To Drink, At Lunch

Everyday, my boss takes the office out to lunch. It's a nice way to talk to my coworkers, about real estate, or the day to day, since we all sit at our separate desks, and have no idea what is going on around the building. Every once in a while however, I have conflicting lunch plans. Yesterday for example, was Kay Ann's birthday lunch. For those of you who don't know, we drink at birthday lunches. This was lunch at a house, so we didn't get the usual mango margaritas, but we did have an assortment of wine.

I started this post before I went to lunch, but got busy and couldn't finish it. I was going to throw out the question of drinking during lunch. See what people thought, but seeing as how the lunch already occurred, and I'm sure you all know what conclusion I came to on my own, this survey is moot. None the less, happy birthday Kay Ann, I had fun.

Jennifer Aniston

I'm just saying...

Football, A Glass Case of Emotion

I love the fall for many reasons, but football has to be one of the big ones. For 5 months, you never have to wonder what you'll be doing that weekend. Saturdays, great. Sundays, even better. College football, speaks to my heart. I love it, love it. I can wake up on Saturday, and besides the drive time between bars, and not stopping watching for hours on end. Granted, part of this has to do with the Longhorns being back on top. Those in between years were hard, no doubt, but we never lost hope. It also helps that for the last 4 seasons, I have been eligible to drink in public. Being 21 never gets old. Like turning 16, it changed your life, for the better, and you never take it for granted.

Then there are Sundays, hangovers and all. I generally find myself glued to the couch on Sundays, water in one hand, Aleve in the other. It is frustrating however, to have to wait for the noon game. I manage to always wake up hours before, and sit and watch highlights from yesterday. Which is fairly pointless, because I watched it all in real time. This is generally when I catch up on golf, I don't know why, but I have watched more golf this year. I actually know a little bit now. Weird.

All in all it was a good weekend for football. Granted, the Texans lost, and that was upsetting. K Brown and his clutch kicks, not so much this week. Poor Guy. Cowboys win, which affects me in no way. I used to think that Cowboy's wins were a detriment because I had to listen to the fans all week whoop and holler about the greatness that is "that team from up North", but now, I'm not so sure. When they lose, they cry more than anyone. But not only do they cry, they bitch about their team. Makes my insults a little less affective. So basically, its a lose lose, so well done. Horned frogs comin' up, which I would generally say is a good thing, minus the fact that previous supporters of UT or hoping for a defeat. But again, I am not worried. We will prevail.

Hook 'Em Horns!!!

Cause I Like To Party.

So this was a short weekend for me. Or a long one, depending on how you look at it. I got back from Chicago on Saturday. It was cold as balls there, got home and it was beautiful. Perfect trick or treating weather. Granted, I don' do that anymore, but I would imagine it was nice for those who did.

Made it into town for game watching festivities. Nothing like watching UT stomp someone, but the fact that it was our "toughest" opponent, def made it sweeter. We went and got into costume. My ability to make Nascar suits is actually pretty impressive if I do say so myself. At this point, I was ready to be drunk, just not quite there yet. Made it to the bar, and proceeded to forget large chunks of the night. I know there was Vodka, and I know that I stayed out until 3:00, thank you day light savings. Got back to the cousins, I'm assuming, because I woke up about 10 hours later in the extra bed.

Phone died. Sweet deal. Noticed that I was now number one in the college football league, way to go me. Started to mentally prep for Sunday football. Got Linden, made it to the bar. It was around this point that I realized I was still drunk, so that's good. Couple of buckets of beer, and I was on my way to another black out night. Smart for me, I stopped around 3:00, when I reached an appropriate buzz.

They conned me into watching a scary movie, anxiety levels were high to say the least. And at some point after 9:00, I made the trek home. It was one of those weekends that was more about who you're with than what you're doing or where. Great time all around, no drama, just drunk drunk drunk.