Stretching a Meal

I don't cook turkey very often. The last time was the last time I hosted Thanksgiving. We had a turkey in the freezer so I didn't think about buying one this year.
Mike took it out of the freezer and into the basement frig on Monday.
Thanksgiving morning I got up to stuff the turkey. I cut the plastic off and the turkey looked sick. I looked at the sale date and it said May 2004. (I told you I don't cook turkey very often) I wasn't going to take any chances on making my family sick so I woke Mike up and sent him to the store in search of a Thanksgiving turkey. My only request was not a big one.
They had a 22lb and a 25lb, but he found a 12 lber. Sweet! The only thing was it was an Organic, corn feed and I'm sure spring water fed for $31.64. Who pays that much for a 12 lb turkey?
OUR THANKSGIVING TURKEY COST $31.64!
I had a really good laugh and said it better taste good too.
Mike cooked it on the grill and Yes it was really good.
I decided that this turkey better feed us for a few more meals so I took the bones and made some really good soup.
So with the Thanksgiving dinner, leftovers, and the soup I think we got our moneys worth.
The thing I was thankful for this year was that we could afford that turkey. (even though chicken would of been OK by me too)

Game Playing

Thanksgiving is over and I will admit I missed being with ALL my family and the soon to be new edition to the family. Mary went to St Louis.
We had the kids and grandkids over and I cooked the turkey and Stacy stepped up to the plate and made 2 vege dishes (both of them do overs, very yummy). I was boohooing cause the vege's is what I thought that I would miss the most from the lasts Thanksgivings. Not true! Turns out I missed the Euchre playing the most. I love to play cards and I never get the chance to.
I was poo pooing after dinner and decided to run over to Meijers and get a game to play. I was thinking about Scene-it.

Stacy and I and Bryan (he came too to make sure we didn't get a soap opera edition or something) with Kaylyn in tow headed on over to the Meijers. It wasn't very crowded which surprised me. We got the 2nd edition of the movies version.

Before Bryan got us Netflix last year I maybe saw 3 movies a year, but I was up for the challenge.

We had to keep separate Bryan and Brian or they would of swept everybody so we broke the teams down by size. Bryan is taller than Brian - (girls)Karen is taller than Stacy and the last 2 Kory is taller than Mike.

Team tall won - Bryan, Kory, Me - but it came down to the last question. Close.

Then we decided to just play the speed rounds and shout out the answers that we knew.
Final Scores.
Brian - 16
Bryan - 13
KAREN - 11 (I scored most of my points with the Spellbinder - think Wheel of Fortune with movie titles) I Rocked, and I was sure glad Sharen wasn't there she probably would of beat me.
Mike - 9
Stacy - 7
Kory 4

Maybe I need to have a Saturday night Euchre party at my house real soon.

She Said YES!

Last Christmas when Bryan and I were having one of our Mother/Son heart to heart talks that I love so much he talked about his future and Mary's name kept coming up. (Secretly I was thrilled). SO, I dug out the heirloom/keepsake diamond that has been in the Flory family for close to 100 years and gave it to Bryan and said "No pressure, just in case you may need it down the road." The Mary that I know would love the idea of a engagement ring with a history.
Since then whenever Bryan would call here is how our conversations would go.
Bryan - Hey ma, Guess What?
Me - She said Yes?
Bryan - No,(Bryan's voice with a sigh) I got a promotion
or I got 2 parking tickets in the last 3 weeks (I think by now he would know the parking situation around his apartment)
or I finally got a raise
or I'm going to a Cards game
or I hit a pothole and had to replace my tire
blah, blah, blah
Finally a couple of week before Labor day he called and said that Mary's parents will be up and he was going to ask Lloyd and MaryEllen for their blessing. He was soooo nervous, but he said everything went well.

The next step was looking for a setting to high lite that diamond. I suggested to him to put emeralds (Mary's birthstone) with it so IT was the only diamond on the ring. He liked the idea. While Mary was in St. Louis and on my birthday we went ring shopping. I had the most wonderful time and was very proud and honored to be helping him. We stopped in 6 or 7 stores with Mike in tow before Bryan was comfortable with asking for just what he wanted.
Bryan did an awesome job with the design and the ring looks perfect on Mary's hand. Now instead of just talking about their future they can plan it together.

Our last phone conversation:
Bryan - Hey ma - I asked her.
Me - And she said YES!

Old is New Again

When we were cleaning out Dar's house Mike and Kathy asked me if there was anything that I wanted. There was really only one thing that I could think of and that was Dar's china. It's beautiful and I don't have any.
Mike thought we should take her china cabinet to store them in too. I'm thinking No, but I can't tell Mike that his Mother's old cabinet is ugly so I agree to take that too.
I did finally tell Mike that the thing is old and ugly and to my surprise he did agree with me and told me that it was OK with him if I painted it.

After spending an afternoon of sanding I decided on white to match my kitchen cabinets.

I painted 1 coat of primer and 2 more coats of flat white, changed out the hardware to something a little more modern, and I love the end result.
Mike does too and I'm sure even Dar would love what I did to it.

And now I also have somewhere to show off my Mom's Fostoria glasswares that my sister Mary gave to me before they moved.

WHERE'S MY DINNER?

No, that's not coming out of Mike's mouth he knows better. That is what the Shady Lane deer are saying or what their body language is saying.

Our neighbor had started feeding the deer before they left for their winter home in FL and asked me to continue to feed them (once you start feeding them you have to continue). She gave me a 50 lb bag of wildlife feed which I store in the garage.

When the kids were over on Saturday we filled a pitcher and dumped it around the same spot that Lou was using. For the last 2 nights around sundown (4:30ish) I would look out the window and there would be 3 deers staring across the street at Lou's house waiting for their dinner. OK - it looked that way to me anyway. I since have been dumping a 1/2 pitcher of corn for the deer and the must find it cause every morning it's gone.

Homework

We had the kids over on Saturday while Stacy and Kory went to a wedding. Logan brought along his homework so Grandma could help him. Secretly I was very excited to help and then I found out he had to decorate a turkey and I thought Woo Hoo!!!
He had to cut out a turkey out of brown construction paper and then decorate it with anything but crayons or paint.
I had a great idea to head out into the woods behind the house to find some cool leaves and maybe some bird feathers. We hiked around the ponds and picked some awesome things to use. Dylan found some feathers that he gave to Logan to use.
We got back with our treasures and I helped Logan press some leaves between wax paper to flatten them. He was very careful with my iron.

Here we are putting the finishing touches on the turkey - It's tail.


And here is Logan with his finished product.


I made their favorite Mas-ta-choool-lee for dinner. Kaylyn had three helpings. Dylan and Logan thought that since I wasn't working that I could open up a restaurant. We would call it Grandma's Kitchen. I am the BEST cook and they would bring all their friends.
They had me at the first YUM!

Drives

Last weekend during the Bears game they had a toy drive for the Walter & Connie Payton Foundation. I head on over to the super Target to get toys.
I thought what would a little boy (Bryan's toy) and a little girl (my toy) would like. I spent too much time worried about getting the perfect toy.
I remember when Bryan was little and he would stuff match box cars into his pockets whenever we went somewhere so he would have something to play with. I picture some small homeless boy with these match box cars stuffed into his pockets so I buy some. Good Choice.
Now what better toy for a little girl than Playdough? Something creative. You get the dough with molds (I choose the food) all stored into a bucket container. Something for a little homeless girl to carry around like a purse.

When we got on the El I commented to Bryan how none of the fans in Bear gear had toys with them. Ok - Maybe they didn't know about the toy drive.
We head over to the game with hundreds and hundreds of fans still no toys in hand. Come ON people toys for kids!!!
With all they paid for a price of their tickets you would think that they could afford a little toy.

When I went to the grocery store today they were having a food drive and you bet that I bought something for the box and I will continue to buy things every time I see a drive. Even though we are on a fixed income and neither one of us is working I can't help but give something.

Vets Eat Free

Mike and I don't eat out much, but when we do, our favorite place to go is Applebees. Yesterday they were offering free dinner to all Veterans. Since Mike is a Marine we decide to take them up on their offer. They also passed out $5 off coupons for our next visit. Sweet!

They had a special Veteran's menu, but it had a wide selection of choices. Mike settled on the burger.
You had to bring some sort of proof that you served so Mike brought his discharge papers. When the waitress asked an older Veteran at a table behind us if he had some sort of identification he said no and then rolled up his sleeve to show her his USMC tattoo and asked her if that was good enough.
She smiled and said Yes Sir.

I was Wrong

In my last post...
You can have fun and still lose.
Bryan bought his buddies tickets to the Bears game on Sunday. If the weather was nice I would go and if it was crappy out Mike was gonna go. As you all know the weather was perfect on Sunday so I went to the game with my son.
We had a awesome time. I drove in to Bryan's and we took the El downtown and walked over to the stadium. The tickets were in the north end zone with a view of the lake. So while the fans at home were watching commercials - we were looking at sailboats on Lake Michigan.
We stayed to the very last second on the clock like good fans do and then got back on the El. Mary picked us up at Diversey and we headed on over to the Purple Otter and had some food and cocktails. They have the cutest bartender there. :)

Bryan 1991 - Bears vs Washington









Bryan 2009 Bears vs Arizona

It's more Fun when You Win

Friday night I suggested to Sharen that her and Dup join us for a last minute fish fry at the Moose. They have catfish (for Dup) and draft beer.
During dinner a lady comes by and sells me some 50/50 raffle tickets. They have the drawing AFTER the lightning games. Opps - looks like we stay for the 5 games of Lightning. The Dups were OK with this since they like to gamble. Only trouble is they can't buy tickets cause it's for Moose member only.

Used Lightning Cards

I buy 4 cards for the first game and Mike goes and gets another pitcher of beer. We were Not even close. The second game was cover the numbers down the right column. Mike gets one right away. I get nothing so I trade tickets with him. Sharen is not getting any numbers so she is switching with Dup. He starts calling some of our numbers and cards are being switched around the table. I end up with the WINNING card and yell Lighting. Woo Hoo - we win $40.00 (we had to split the pot).
On each game if you win you get to draw a number off a big board and if you guess the right number you win $5,000.
We had a discussion on what number we would pick if we won a game, Mike wouldn't budge off of 11. Turns out he let the lady that won with him pick the number and she choose 33. Loser!
3rd game nothing - The fourth game was the first cover all and Sharen and I knew we were going to win. (OK maybe it was the 5th pitcher of beer). The cards were circling the table and it came down to us needing 2 numbers. 55 & 57. I take the cards and start rubbing it over the table chanting 57, Olin Kruetz, 57, Olin Kruetz and sure enough 57. Sharen grabs the card and spits on it (it worked once before) and the very next number 55. Holy Crap we win again! We had to split the pot again.
This time I went up and Sharen and I decide on 55 the winning number and Mike birth year. I told the lady I wanted to go with 55 since we won on it. Loser!
We did cash in $46 that time and we drank another pitcher of beer or ma bye 2. Who cares? We came out ahead for the night, including dinner.
Yes! It is much more fun when you win!!!!!

RAH! RAH!

Coach Kribs - always keeping an eye on her girls

Hampshire Middle School was looking for a coach for their PonPom squad and Stacy was looking for some Christmas money for the kids so she volunteered.
Mike and I went out to watch her girls preform at halftime of the seventh graders basketball game.


The girls didn't want to look like the cheerleaders so Stacy decided on the long black pants instead of skirts. It's kinda hard to get 20 girls moving in one direction, but they tried and they all looked really cute with the ribbons in their hairs. I have to admit I did not recognize the music, but the girls got their groove on and perform really well.
The boys were playing Harvard and the score at halftime was 30-8 good guys.
All the boys had on the baggie, can't see my knees shorts. Am I the only one that HATES that?
Reminded me of when Bryan's six grade basketball team went to the big Middle school, Abbott, to play. That was the only year Bryan played - luckily I have it on tape. :)

Remembering Payton

The newspapers today all had stories about Walter Payton. I have one too.
When the Bears had their spring training in Platville we took a camping trip up there with the kids. It was Bryan's birthday and we camped in Galena a short trip by car to training camp.

The camp was wide open and we had the run of the place. This was before they put up chained link fences and the only thing that kept us off the fields was just a rope and your own judgment.

We spent the morning watching Walter Payton doing tires and then the ropes. We had taken our new camcorder (it was one of those huge ones that you rested on your shoulder till your arm fell asleep). It was really hot out and I had this great idea that at one point everyone would be thirsty so after taping some of Walter do his stuff on the tires and ropes and some scrimmage plays that the defense was running we settled ourselves near the drinking fountain (which was in the shade too).

Walter and Jim McMahon came over to get a drink and I shouted to them. They were maybe 15 ft away, but I wanted to get their attention for the camera. McMahon took a big drink and spit it out right at the camera and Walter gave a wave and a big wink.
They finished their drink and then Walter ran by us and high fived the kids. Yes, Bryan stood there with his mouth open and I'm sure that made his birthday.
We went back to the camper, had some cake, and spent the rest of the day by the swimming pool talking about the Bears.