Thanksgiving Menu 2010

It is that time again when I am busy looking through my recipes, looking up new dishes to try, and pulling together my menu for the annual Thanksgiving Day Dinner. After I have complied my food list to buy Glenn and I go out for our annual buying trip to a few different grocery stores. We have done this since the 1st Thanksgiving Day we spent together as a couple in 1998. We have gone after mid night the night before due to heavy work schedule at Sears to a casual Sunday afternoon one week before. That is what we do now:). I always look forward to this shopping trip I really can't tell you why but we always seem to have so much fun buying a ton of ingredients for one great meal. So to say the least I am very thankful I have Glenn to help me with the Thanksgiving Day shopping. Can't wait till Saturday for that annual "date" of ours.

2010 Thanksgiving Day Menu

Turkey/Sourdough Stuffing w/Juniper Berry's

Mascarpone Chive Mashed Potatoes/Bourbon Gravy

Pomegranate mixed green salad

Green Bean Casserole

Sweet Potato Wedges

Cranberry Relish

Mandarin Orange Salad

appetizers

Herbed Shrimp Dip/Crackers

dessert

Cranberry and Apple-Cider Sorbet

Ting A Lings

Thanksgiving Day Punch

Champagne

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EACH OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILY,

AND A SPECIAL HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY TO OUR GROWN CHILDREN THAT COULDN'T BE AT THE HOUSE TODAY, YOU ARE IN OUR THOUGHTS AND WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Mother Knows Best!

Question for Marie:

"Mom, I have a plant that has been sitting on the patio all summer that I need to bring into the house for the winter. The plant has brown dirt spots on the leaves, is there something I can clean the leaves with that won't harm the plant"? The plant is called Cataractarum Palm.

Answer from Marie:

"Oh yes, all you need to do is take a paper towel with a little dab of mayonnaise on it and rub the leaves with the paper towel. This provides a food source for the plant and cleans up the leaves and makes the leaves shine like a brand new penny".

Of course it works, try it you will be amazed. Betty

For the love of "Mom"!

Aging parents. Now there is a very powerful sentence! It is hard to come to grips with all the emotions you go through as you watch your parents age..... I often have thoughts of how I really miss the mom of 10 years ago. So then my next thoughts are of her excellent health she has carried into her golden years and this makes me realize how fortunate mom is to have her health be so good. Short term memory has been the one thing that has robbed her in her aging process. Bless her heart she takes each day in great strides and has a wonderful attitude about her memory. I don't live close to my mother so to curb my loneliness for her, I call her Friday's on my way to work. I stay consistent with this just so she will see a repeat pattern and know the day I call is Friday:)

I have found if I call her with a question or two about something she knows a lot about helps make our conversation productive. It always amazes me how mom will know just the right answer and all the knowledge she stores in her 81 year old mind. So I have decided to pass along her answers to the questions I ask that might be interesting to my "blog readers".  Watch for the Blog Title of; Mom Knows Best. I guarantee you will learn something new each time you read it. I know I do!

Elma Marie and Betty Jo

Japanese Gardens to Voodoo Doughnuts

It is funny when your children are older and on their own you always know as their Mother when it is time to have one on one time with them. So that is when I either travel to Portland to stay with Casey and his wife Holly or call Kadie and have dinner out and then shop or leave Central Oregon for the day and visit the big city with her.

So a few weekends ago I traveled to Portland and had a wonderful time with Casey and his wife Holly. It so happened to be a beautiful weekend in the city so we adventured out to the Japanese Gardens. If you are ever in Portland this is a wonderful place to go, it really takes you to another place and the beauty of it all can overwhelm you if you are not careful:)!
http://japanesegarden.com/

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Voodoo Doughnuts
Whatever you do don't forget to stop here and enjoy their fresh made doughnuts the experience is one you will need to experience yourself.

http://www.voodoodoughnut.com/locations.php

I always enjoy my time in Portland, it is especially nice when I get to spend time with family or just hang out with Glenn in down town Portland, something we haven't done in a really long time. Just a hint!

I will never forget Wendy "the dog"!

It is 7am and I am out on my walking program (part of the loosing 10#'s before I am 50), I have just started down the canal road when this large dog barks, growls and then jumps the fence and proceeds to run to me while still barking and growling. My mind does not take over at this point because in the next few minutes my actions are everything they shouldn't be when it comes to strange dogs. I freak out, I am standing there screaming and crying and this guy comes out of his house trying to tell me that the dog is not going to hurt me. My screaming stops, but the crying doesn't, I ask him in a scared to death tone "is this your dog", "if so get it away from me"!  I find out it isn't their dog but their neighbors. The dog is now going into the canal, I take off walking really fast still crying, while all the time my ipod is playing a few of my favorite songs so I try to sing along to calm down when all the sudden I see a shadow beside me I look back and see I am being followed. I decide to turn around and go back to the fence he jump over, I told him to get back in his yard when we got there when all the sudden his "partner" might I add a little bigger dog then the one I am dealing with runs out barking. I tell the both of them I am out of here and leave me alone! I am pretty sure I am sounding like a child on the playground at this point:)! But needless to say I DID NOT get my point across.

With my new found friend in tow I proceed around the canal path to the road - destination the green house where this dog lives. I am listening to my ipod so I don't have to talk or look at the dog when all the sudden I see another shadow behind me this time in human form and a stroller. To my surprise when I turn around I come in contact with a very upset man with a baby on his back and toddler in a stroller and a young kid trying to keep up with his Dad's pace. This guy is on the phone talking and yelling at me at the same time, saying something like "no collar, no license and no leash"!! I won't bore you with my reactions but I was out of control. In the middle of my yelling and might I add I am back to crying he hears me say this isn't my dog. At this point he tells me he is talking to the Police, turning me in for the mentioned above. I am pissed!

I notice I have 3 cute kids staring at me, I bend down to their level and tell them it has been a rough morning I am really a very nice person and good mother and I was even a grandmother. I then looked up at their dad and told him, he as out of line and a "creep"! I don't think anything I said mattered to him but I felt a little better.

Back to "the dog" as I decided to call it. I am waking everybody up on this block if I have to, but somebody is going to take this dog. All of the sudden my day just got better,  a guy comes out with a leash and yells "Wendy get over here"! Wendy comes running and sits by my legs I look up at the guy, with this pretty sure crazy look and said.,"please can you help me and take this dog so I can just finish my walk I just started and forget this whole thing even  happened". He did, and he thanked me for helping with "Wendy" and he would let his neighbor know that I helped and was also really upset. So I calmed down and went on my way.

I am at the 2.5 mile mark still in the golf neighborhood that is usually quite and a good place to walk, I am heading towards the 2nd stretch of the canal road when this mini van pulls up beside me with the guy who had the 3 kids and says,"I just wanted to let you know that my kids and I were attacked awhile back by a stray dog and when "that dog" came running towards us barking I sort of overreacted". He also then said thanks for helping in finding her a safe place to stay. I looked at him and said "I am told the dogs name is Wendy, have a great day"! I start my fast pace walking put my ipod in my ears, press play and the song Zombie by The Cranberries starts to play, I thought to myself perfect timing don't you think Betty?

3 things I learned about this morning;

1. Try walking in the cemetery down the road instead of the golfing neighborhood. It should be much quieter!

2. Don't tease Glenn anymore about the Zombie songs on his ipod.

3. And I really would like to live out in the middle of no-where!


Just the journey to loose 10 lbs that is all I want to do!

Journey to lose 10 lbs before my 50th birthday!

t's not that early in the morning, something I like about where I live is the sun is always there to say Good Morning.

I cross over the canal bridge on my way to the morning power walk that is going to help me achieve my goal.  

Since there is cinder on the path instead of dirt it is like walking in really rough sand, that should help me legs, right?!

Along the canal is always so pretty in the morning don't you think?

I like to think these sunflowers are here from my back yard. Bless their little hearts:)

This is my 1/2 way  mark the fountain is the entrance into The Greens Golf Course that backs up to the other side of the canal.

Great sights know matter where you look that is for sure.

The ducks and geese are always so busy this early in the morning, someday I will have my camera with me and get a really good landing of one of the ducks.

Cute little guy, don't you think.

I always laugh out loud when I walk by her, I just know that someday when I walk by her she is going to say "good morning Betty" :)

Now this didn't make me very happy, because I am on the other side of the canal and this is my wildflower garden in our back yard. There is anything I can do but zoom in as close as the camera will go and snap a photo.

So as I have just shown you a early morning power walk can be very exciting. I just hope this small step I am taking will help me with my goal of losing 10lbs before my 50th birthday. I have a little over a month so lets get going!!

Only in Betty & Glenn's backyard!

As you can see I got a really good deal on metal cookie cutters, I saw this awhile back in a photo and told my husband I wanted to do that to a warn out gate that I don't have the heart to ask Glenn to take down. Not because I don't want to ask him but just because it is old and sort of outdated, which in turn makes the gate "cool"!

We have a new area we have been working on in the backyard, the entrance from the front actually. I have wanted to have tumbled glass so this is where it ended up. I used metal rings from a broken wine barrel to keep the glass in one area. It ended up being a great circle effect and I also put weed cloth under the glass so the pieces didn't make their way into the dirt, as I was told they will do that. 

Just a closer look at stuff that seems to show up "only in Betty & Glenn's backyard.