Turkey Day: The Old, the New and the Different

This year I went to Georgia, where my mom and most of her family lives, for Thanksgiving. I really had a great time there!

My family all owns shared land on the Chattahoochee River. The land has a little pond on it and we have a basic one room building with picnic tables to enjoy Thanksgiving.

And the newest edition, a professionally plumbed outhouse. I don't feel it should even be called that, once you walk in you feel like you are just inside a normal bathroom inside a house. A brand new house at that.

It's weird that a place that seems so close, like Georgia, has such different food. Maybe it's just my family, but the food is just off from the norm. They have some of the classics, but some other really "out of place" things in my opinion.

Sure there's the turkey and cranberry sauce. That you can't not have and still try to call it Thanksgiving. And new this year (which no one could seem to figure out who brought, I think it was some sort-of miracle sent by the Thanksgiving fairy) was sweet potatoes. But that's where the similarities between my family's and most other Thanksgivings end.

(And I feel that I should say that when we were growing up my mom did cook the traditional Thanksgiving meal. She obviously picked that up from other people.)

Georgia's Thanksgiving has no gravy, no mashed potatoes, no green bean casserole, no pumpkin pie.

New this year, no pecan pie (maybe the Thanksgiving fairy substituted it with sweet potatoes?).

And instead of stuffing they have dressing. They all swear it tastes better, but my tastes buds don't agree. I like the stuffing.

If you don't know what dressing is, the only way I know how to describe it is more bread, less flavor and packed into a casserole dish. It comes out in squares like cornbread. No fluffiness to it.

But in lue of the normal food, rather, we got these great dishes:

1) Lima beans (everyone loves to eat something half of all people probably hate.)

2) Rice (I'm not even going to pretend I know why that seemed fitting on Thanksgiving.)

3) Congealed Tomato Aspic (Tomatoes, good. Celery, good. Onions, good. Vinegar, good. Cayenne pepper, good. Gelatin, good. What's not to like?)

(Seriously, this reminds me of Friends. Only, the pages didn't get stuck together on this recipe. Here's the actual recipe that you can enjoy if you click here. Someone send Georgia the memo that gelatin can NOT be added to anything, and should probably be reserved to only sweet foods.)

4) liver & egg whites (I accidentally scooped this out, realized what it was and then didn't want to have to hurt someones feelings by unscooping. Literally every piece of food it touched was tainted with that gross taste. We really didn't need to go there on Thanksgiving.)

But I am feeling a little guilty now. I do LOVE most of the food that is there. But I like to make the point that there are differences. Some to my liking, some not.

The tradition that lies in Georgia that I also LOVE is after the big meal a group of us always go for a long walk. Not only do you get to enjoy nature at its best, but you get to enjoy the feeling of walking off that food!

But this time we did something a little different at the end of the walk. My aunt said something about the the farmers (we rent out parts our land to peanut farmers) tilling the land (is maybe what she said they did, I really don't know anything about farming) and bringing up Native American pottery.

This was news to me that our land had Native American pottery just lying around. But we walked that field and I did find pottery! It is so cool too, you can see the patterns in the pieces and the rims of others. I am not going to try to pretend that I know when the pottery dates back to. But I will tell you that my Aunt Rachel found an arrowhead in that field and we matched it on a poster that dated it back to 5000 B.C.!!!

It's been about 20 years though since one of my cousins found a complete piece of pottery, a cup. Native American stuff is pretty prevalent in that area. Just a couple of miles from my mom's house are Mounds built by the Native Americans. And I am talking some REALLY big mounds that I would guess are about three stories high!

After the pottery search came to it's conclusion, we hung out by the pond where we watched the alligator swim around. This thing terrifies me. Especially since the one they have there now has been there for a while and has now reached what they think is probably 10 feet long! When even the guys won't get on the pond with a boat, I know that the alligator is getting to be a serious size. He stared me down at one point in the middle of the pond, I am telling you, I nearly peed my pants. Here he is sun-bathing on the island.

On Saturday my mom, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Claude and myself went back to the land on the Chattahoochee. My aunt and I searched for more Native American pottery for awhile. Then we cooked out just outside of their camper. They have a new Airstream and it is so nice! Such a swanky camper!

(And I swear we had more than just steak, there were some sides. I just didn't take a picture after that happened!)

I had a great time in Georgia! Love it there, it is so relaxing and stress-free. Could really use more of that place in my life!

Amazing Aggies

Wow, what a game! I love that I have a team I am rooting for that is consistently winning, so much fun!

Here's a video I came across before the game, it's geared toward the Nebraska game, but it is still great to watch:



For the game, my ex Ryan and I decided to get together at Pluckers to watch the game. But what we didn't factor in (and I can't believe I still don't remember this, it is my fifth football season to live in Austin) was the fact that the tu game ended about an hour before the aggie game started. So not only did I have to sit in traffic to get to North Austin, but I also walked into the restaurant to find a sea of burnt orange. Seriously, it was ridiculous how every other single person seemed to have burnt orange on. And I thought it was hilarious when Ryan said, "I am SOOOO tired of looking at these Walmart jerseys all around town everywhere I go."

They played the Aggie game on the big screen and even had the sound going. But of course, the tu fans couldn't keep their mouths shut (even though they are terrible this year) and had to dog on any bad play the Aggies made. The one thing we all did agree on was the fact that Nebraska's coach was a grouch (to put it in nice words). But at halftime we had our fill of the tu crowd and went to Ryan's place to finish watching the game.

And I am glad I was there where I could actually hear and really enjoy the game, because it was amazing! I got chills when everyone was on the field at the end, towels were flying everywhere and they sang our fight song. Really cool!

So looking ahead at the next game against tu. Since that's all I can hear about here, they have made the point that last year this game determined if Texas would go to the national championship. This year, this game determines whether Texas goes to a bowl period. Haha, I really hope we keep them from going to a bowl!

Strange thing happened though, at Ryan's I noticed I was missing an earring. I wasn't sure where I lost it and I didn't really care because they are fake cheap earrings. But Ryan found it on the ground and brought it to me. I am not sure how he missed seeing this, but I immediately looked at it and said, "where's the diamond?"

We never found that diamond. And to be honest, I think it's more fitting that way. I mean, I find one last weekend and lose one this weekend. It's just a great way of summing up a lot of things in my life, they come around and go around. But all-in-all everything seems to even out.

I just hope the diamond landed in someones running path and they spend an entire Saturday debating whether or not it's real. Because that's entertainment you just can't purchase.

Diamonds are Forever

Which is a good fact to remember. Especially when you go running and find one just laying on the ground.

A gorgeous large princess cut diamond.

I will say that it provided a lot of entertainment for us on Saturday (which is when I found it).

Between Emily, Travis and I; we pondered and debated on the subject of whether it was real for several hours of the day.

We ceased for the time the Aggies played (Go Aggies!), but just afterward, we continued on.

Until Travis hammered the diamond and nothing happened.

Then Emily bit the diamond (she swears she can tell when something is plastic in her mouth), and she said it definitely wasn't plastic.

At this point I was ecstatic, I had found a real diamond!!!

But I just couldn't fight that doubt, so I finally got the wise idea to wrap the diamond in a towel and then hammer it as hard as I could on the concrete ground.

Yeah, it shattered into a million little pieces.

Just like my dreams, the ones of what I would do with the money from selling the diamond.

But that's cool. Cause now I have a new hobby. Look for diamonds while I run, which is more motivating than anything else.

And hey, if you are looking to entertain people for a while, I know something you could pull out that would start some conversation.

Fun Fun Fun Fest

It's the festival so fun they named it three times!

That joke never gets old to me. (Which derives from some movie I can't place my finger on, but they say that couscous is the food so good they named it twice.)

But this past weekend several people I know from Austin, and myself, went to this festival. I really only knew two of the bands and had heard of maybe two more. But I am in festival withdrawals since Lollapalooza, so that's the biggest thing I wanted.

It was so nice to actually listen to music and not be thinking every second, man, I think I might be on the edge of passing out.

The only thing was the slightly different music. One stage was punk rock, which I only got close to because it was on the way to another stage and the bathroom. But even then, it made my head hurt from shear loud noise.

Then there was the stage where the only five seconds I listened to anything coming off the stage the lady was SCREAMING how we should live in a world without police and tear down the walls of prisons.

So I stayed away from those two stages.

But the other two stages, they were good. One was for comedy stuff, which was different for a music festival. And it is a bit hard to laugh in the bright blazing sunlight, but I love and appreciate the idea. The forth stage was the winner. So we plopped our blanket down right there in front of that stage, and that is where we remained most of the day.

As the second to last band played, we decided we should actual stand and listen. So we got up on the side that the last band, MGMT, was going to be playing (the stages were directly next to each other). And to all of our surprises, we got a lot closer to the stage than thought. Like a lot closer.

So the comfort of being close made Emily C. and I think we could leave and come back to such comfort.

But apparently not. We came back with bladders empty and beers full only to find a crowd to fight through.

And they were not happy.

Especially the ones directly behind us.

So this girl right behind me basically decided to lean on me and say all kinds of rude things directly in my ear (because we are packed tight). But something happened to me at Lollapalooza, and I let all those stress increasing things go and not let crowds get me. So I loudly stated all my stress free feelings since Lolla to both Emily's (on either side of me). And before I knew it, she stopped leaning on me and actually acted as if we were BFF's when someone else was being ridiculous around us.

But MGMT was great and worth the fight of the crowd. Of course I took video, here they are playing "Time to Pretend."

And the crowd favorite, "Kids."

The festival was great. The dirt was not. After a while of being out there we realized it seemed like a lot of dirt. Before we left we were already coughing and blowing our nose of dirt. The rest of that night and the rest of the next day I was coughing and blowing out dirt. The cars outside of the festival were covered in a layer of dirt that people actually wrote messages in. It was seriously that bad. But here I am between the two Emily's.

Don't get me wrong, I had fun and loved the festival. But considering the bands and the crowds, I don't think they would loose any interest if they renamed it from "Fun Fun Fun" fest to "Dirt Dirt Dirt" fest.

I'm just saying.

Kids and Halloween

I really didn't know what I was getting into as I went into this past weekend.

Seriously.

I was asked some time ago by my brother and sister-in-law if I could babysit their girls because they had a wedding to go to that my brother was in. I said sure, love those girls!

I guess they really make the whole thing look easy. Because I showed up Friday night, my mom was in town and watched them solo until I got there. But since I have been around them more during bedtime routine, that was my area to take over.

I teach sixth graders. That's as young as I really know.

So when it was time to put on pajama's and Elle, the eldest at three, gave me these so-called "pajama's," I believed her. I mean, surely a three year old knows the difference between pajama's and summer sitting-in-the-sun clothes, right?

Well apparently they don't.

(And apparently I don't either.)

And everyone got a big laugh when mom and dad got home and realized I had put on their summer clothes.

But then they made the statement, "well at least you did the other important stuff like brush their teeth and give them a bath."

Ummm....yeah. About that. I thought they were still on a every-other-night schedule for the whole bath thing. And ohhhh....brushing teeth.....don't those fall out anyways? Cause I kinda forgot about that.

But I did manage to read them the entire book "Bambi," which deserves some sort-of medal if ever there was one for reading a children's book. Because I am pretty sure they didn't cut a second out from the movie script.

Ohhh....and I gave the eldest a nice cold sippy cup of water before she went to bed.

But then I didn't screw the cap on tight and when they went to check on her later ALL of the water had seeped out and she was soaking wet with ice cold water.

Which basically left me with, well your children are still alive and breathing (and will never hunt deer), as my accomplishment for the evening.

But for some reason they still felt confident in my childcare to leave me for the next evening (well with my mom, but I am the one really in charge, or so they make me believe). And this evening they actually left us at 3 and for an overnight stay.

I do have to say that my getting-to-bed routine greatly improved the second night. I mean, the kids had baths, they brushed their teeth, they learned the real story of the Little Mermaid (or what seemed like it could have been), they got actual pajama's put on them and, most importantly, I closed the cap on that sippy cup properly.

Now the next morning, that left something to be desired. I have never had to be on that end of the child-care. Kids don't mess around with waking up. 7:30 am sharp the youngest, Grey, woke up. My idea of taking care of that was go and get her and let her watch cartoons until my body decided to wake up too.

But that doesn't cut it with kids. Because about 5 minutes later Elle came in and the thing about kids is, they don't give up. They really had other plans than just watching cartoons. Apparently, at that time they want to be productive and not lay around.

And apparently they want to eat.

But I had other things on my mind that I wanted to do, like sleep.

I was so glad when through my half-glazed over eyes I saw my mom. I pleaded, "please will you feed them?"

Which held them off for about 15 minutes.

But it was fifteen minutes I really needed.

After that it was a strech until mom and dad got home. I mean, there is only so many, "that was mine," "no it was mine," arguments that I can referee before I start asking, "so when are your mom and dad supposed to be home anyways?"

But they are so cute it is hard to let that effect you for too long.

Especially once they put their Halloween costumes on. I mean, how could you ever get tired of arguments when they are from these two:

Grey was Jessie, Woodie from Toy Story's girlfriend.

And Elle was Princess Presto from Super Why. Which may as well be a foreign country's television show because I would know the same amount about it.

But the surprising moment of the evening came from my ex-boyfriend and new wife's newest addition, their baby Ryder. I really hadn't thought much about what it would be like to meet their baby. But what I had thought about it, I thought I would want nothing to do with him and would want to keep as far away as possible.

But actually, that was not the case. Because maybe it is God's funny way of making things mold smoothly, but their kid is the cutest thing I thing I have ever seen, in the "I have never seen a kid as fat as that," kind of way.

And I am not trying to be mean by that. I really think he is the cutest little fat thing (dressed up as Yoda)!

He is four months old, and was twice the size as the eight month old also there! His mom said he is in the 100 percentile of his age. This is my sister-in-law holding him.

I really couldn't help myself in telling them that their kid was cute (or fat, seriously, but in a nice way). He honestly is. But they really had to part the sides of the bumbo to get him to even fit in it.

But the best comment about him was from my brother, who said, "he really does looks like Ryan." To which my sister-in-law and myself just nodded our heads in agreement and then he said, "I mean, in a 'someone ate Ryan' sort-of way."

Which is so true, I couldn't even put my hands on it, but that is exactly what it looks like!

And here is Ryder in what looks like what kills my niece from his over-weight. He does look like he must weigh just as much as she does!

So here's to cute babies eating ex-boyfriends, and to cuter nieces digging into the fruits of their Halloween labors!