CHAPTER 3: Gone To The Dogs....

November 24, 2012

CHAPTER 3

GONETOTHEDOGS

A day of trying to get the neighborhood dogs to behave, sit right, 

and take their annual Christmas pictures.....

.....And after 34 pictures and many treats, here's the final picture

(after a bit of photoshopping.....oh, who am I kidding.....a LOT of photoshopping)

.....and here's the annual family Thanksgiving picture.....

I just don't have enough photoshopping skills to fix this.

CHAPTER 2: A Day In Uncertain

November 27, 2012

CHAPTER 2

A Day in Uncertain

While most of you were camping out in your pup tents, waiting in lines at Best Buy and fighting for parking spaces, I spent my Black Friday with my good bud Stephen headed to Uncertain......

Uncertain, Texas that is!

Cameras in hand, we hopped in the Jeep and headed a couple hours east to the Caddo Lake area.  

It's been years since I've been to creepy Caddo Lake.....swampy, alligators, Big Foot sightings....

and amazing....AMAZING out-of-this-world scenery.

And the icing-on-the-cake on the day??  

A cool slightly-abandoned, ancient family cemetary to explore and photograph.

A PERFECT Black Friday!!

CHAPTER 1: Things I Am Thankful For

November 26, 2012

CHAPTER 1:  

"THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR"

NOT THIS!

I really thought the neighborhood snakes were in the holed-up, dormant, hibernating mode at this point in the season.....W-R-O-N-G!!

CHARLIE....

Cause he adds so much "dimension" to my life.  For instance, Thanksgiving morning, we're relaxing, just having a cup of coffee and I say, "You know, it's such a shame there has to be an actual holiday every year to remind people to be thankful."  At which point, he chuckles and then says, "Well, when would you like to have this?"  I give him one of those silent "Liz Looks" that says "what planet did you just fall off of"...... followed by a "Well how about TODAY!"  He then chuckles again and says, "Ya right.....there's no way you could put that together today."  Enter another "Liz Look" followed by a "Huh??" with an exaggerated eye roll.  At which point he says, "Didn't you just tell me you wanted to have another wedding reception?"

Welcome to the Etheridge Home, folks.

FRIENDS

Chuck and I have been blessed beyond words for friends like Georgia and Hal and their son Jeff; Troy and Becky; Lisa and Cheryl......cause they keep us fed, watered and centered.  We are are thankful, grateful and tickled pink to have these kindred spirits in our lives.....

REST

And finally, as Thanksgiving Day came to a very full close and we tiredly crawled into bed; Chuck, Murphy, Molly, Kruger the 1-Claw cat and myself all snuggled into our queen sized bed for a peaceful nights rest when suddenly...BAMM.......Chuck's side of the bed broke......and he rolled out onto the floor.....and then Murphy.....and then Molly.....and then Kruger the 1-claw cat......

As I clung to my side of the bed to keep from rolling out too, I hear Chuck's voice on the floor say, "I guess I shouldn't have gone back for seconds."

Vegetating-After-3-Thanksgiving-Dinners....

Vegetating-After-3-Thanksgiving-Dinners

 November 25, 2012

Made a dent in those leftovers yet??

Our refrigerator "usually" only has the following items in it:  chocolate milk, ketchup, Miracle Whip, couple of vintage eggs, butter that expired last year and whip cream that has some lovely green fuzzy dry rot growing on it.

But not today!!  Nope.....we have two sets of green bean casserole surplus, real turkey remnants, fake turkey remnants (from the vegetarian side of the family) and lots of unwanted pumpkin pie.  Our fridge actually looks like regular people live here.

So, as this Thanksgiving weekend comes to a belching close, I thought I'd share my Thanksgiving weekend with you in chapters......yes; it was that good......So, for a hint of what Chapter 1 looks like tomorrow, I will just say "Chuck ate too much".......

Happy-End-of-Thanksgiving-Weekend

Happy Day-Before-Thanksgiving

November 21, 2012

Happy Day-Before-Thanksgiving!!

As most of you know, I will NOT be busy in the kitchen today preparing for tomorrow's feast.....nope.....this is simply not my blessing.  Fortunately, I have friends and family who are blessed with this ability which keeps us from going hungry!

What I WILL be doing today, though, is practicing Eucharisteo (giving Thanks to God) for the magnificant beauty of Fall.....and this little slice of Heaven that I live in.

Please accept this little 5 minute video as my "Thanksgiving" card to you......cause YOU have blessed me in ways you will never know....

Happy Thanksgiving, My Friend

Learn From Me.....Don't Do This......

November 19, 2012

As we enter into this blessed week of Thanksgiving, here's a reminder to all of you out there who just returned from Sam's or Costco with a gargantuan case of Coca-Cola......

Don't do the following:

+

=

Otherwise, you will spend a day like I did today, 

doing this....

Is NOT Your Friend!!

My Veterans......

Monday, November 12, 2012

HAPPYVETERANSDAY!!

Why don't I remember my elementary school ever honoring Veterans Day?  I went to private school my entire life and, either I slept through the celebration or they never had one.  My guess is the latter.

That's why I'm so incredibly proud of our granddaughters' elementary school, Boon Elementary, who not only teaches the kiddos about the sacrifice our veterans made, but honors those veteran relatives of the students with a parade, program and introduction.  WOW!  

The beautiful sunrise in my rear-view mirror.....

Chuck and I hit the road at 5:30 am Friday, headed to Allen, Texas for this amazing honor.  Our oldest granddaughter, Bella, was selected to read a speech she had written in front of the school.....and an amazing speech it was.  She was as cool and confident as Dian Sawyer standing in front of the school talking about her grandfathers who were veterans.  I'm pretty sure I saw tears in Chuck's eyes......

And our youngest granddaughter, Freckles......and her Brownie troupe marched in the American and Texas flags for the Pledge of Allegiance.  We pledged allegiance not only to the American flag, but also to the Texas flag, which goes something like this:

"Honor the Texas flag; 

I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, 

one state under God, one and indivisible."

I'm sad to say, I didn't know we had a pledge of allegiance to the Texas flag! 

And the parade......awwww......the parade was incredible.  All 600 kids from the entire school lined the hallways with flags waving as the veterans walked through.  They were hi-fiving the veterans....shaking their hands......hooting and hollaring......it was a proud moment.  I think these kids actually "get" it.........

I'm so incredibly proud of our veterans who risked and continue to risk their lives to protect us here......

My Husband - Air Force

My Dad - Army

My Nephew - Marines

My Brother-in-Laws - Navy

Proud......yep...that's what I am!!!

Come To Canton, Ladies....NOW!!

Guess whose running the Cotton Shed No. 11 TODAY??

Yep, my girlfriend Becky and I are selling GREAT stuff today in Canton at the Cotton Shed No. 11!!

You know you want to see us......and shop at this fabulous store!!

GET IN THE CAR NOW!!!! (Don't forget your checkbook!!)