Checking in, and catching up

Hey friends, it's been a while, and I've missed you all! How are you?

I'm going to spend some time this afternoon catching up with everyone's blogs. I've been super busy but thankfully all the stuff consuming my time and attention is done and dusted. This week is Thanksgiving break, and last year the district started giving us the entire week off. How nice is that? 

The diaper cake was apparently a big hit at the baby shower. My friends said that several people asked if I make them to sell, and said that if I don't, I should. (Maybe I should consider a small side hustle in designing diaper cakes? Some extra cash would be nice). The most important thing, though, is that the parents really liked it and appreciated the effort. 

Last Wednesday night I hosted my book club. That was another thing I had on my plate, cleaning the house and planning food and drinks for that. Since I usually only have to host once a year, I like to make it extra nice, and it stresses me out more than it should. This year wasn't too bad, though. Since Gregg retired he does 75% of the housework anyway, and he went to a lot of extra trouble doing things like dusting blinds and ceiling fans, mopping hardwood floors, and generally making everything as easy for me as possible. I love that man!

For food, I made toasted King's Hawaiian ham and Swiss cheese sliders, hot spinach artichoke dip with assorted chips and crackers, deviled eggs, crockpot grape jelly meatballs (don't laugh, they're good!), and cranberry pineapple relish. To finish I bought three ready-made desserts from Sam's: apple pie, pumpkin cream cheese roll, and a big box of assorted baklava. There were three kinds of red wine and two white, as well as iced tea, bottled water, and sodas to drink. My guests inhaled the food and complimented everything, and I think they had a good time. We're not used to having much company, and a dozen women milling around and talking and laughing for two hours makes me feel like a hurricane has blown through when it's over. Even the dogs were exhausted. *

The next night, Thursday, I made up another huge batch of deviled eggs for a work potluck on Friday. For those and for book club I used already pre-boiled eggs from the grocery store deli. For family meals, I'd boil and peel my own, but for a crowd the pre-done ones work like a charm. There was a ton of food at the potluck and coming on the heels of book club I don't feel like I want much more rich, heavy food. I'm considering some simple alternatives to the big turkey dinner on Thursday.

This morning, I had a 9:00 appointment with the dentist, the final appointment for this new crown I've got. It's a relief to have that done, even if I am $900 poorer for it! I will say that my new young dentist did a really good job, and this has been the most discomfort-free crown I've ever had. I told him so, too. 

So now I have the week off, and no more pressing obligations. It's going to be a quiet week at home, with Gregg and the pups and Marco. I went to the bookstore and bought a new novel I'd been waiting for, and there are several tv shows and movies I'd like to watch. I'm looking forward to a really relaxed, hassle-free Thanksgiving.

Some random pictures from the last week or so:

I finally got around to making Gregg his belated birthday pineapple upside down cake last weekend!

I bought this pretty Christmas cactus at the grocery store and added fairy lights brighten up the dining room. 

This cat has been hanging around a lot lately, hoping for a handout. I might have been guilty of leaving some cooked salmon out there for him/her one night when the weather turned very cold. Oops.

We've ended up with three big bags of apples (don't ask) and I'm trying to get creative to use them up. Last night I made battered, fried apple rings dusted with cinnamon sugar. They were delicious warm, but soggy and oily and awful after getting cold. 

The boys!

The girl!

The other boy, my favorite. He has no idea I took this picture. Don't tell him! :)

*The book we discussed this month is a classic and one of my all-time favorites: My Antonia by Willa Cather.

Shower gift

A young couple of our acquaintance are expecting their first child, a boy. I was invited to the baby shower, but decided to just send a gift without attending. So I bought a giant box of diapers and made them a diaper cake that will double as a table centerpiece. 

Dad is a hunter, and is eagerly looking forward to taking his son with him one day. I decided that a hunting theme would be appropriate for the "cake". This is what I came up with. 

What do you think? I sure hope they like it! (And even if they don't the diapers will come in handy).

A beautiful Sunday

I let the marigolds run wild after the summer garden was finished, and the bees spent all day yesterday taking advantage of the late season blooms. Temperatures tonight are expected to drop below freezing, so it was probably their last chance to prepare for winter.

Yesterday was also my dear husband's birthday! We had a quiet day at home (the weather was glorious, like Indian Summer) with the dogs and Marco. I made all of Gregg's favorite foods, including banana pudding for dessert. I have plans to make him a pineapple upside-down cake too, but he requested that I wait until the banana pudding is finished. 

Good morning, America!

It's wonderful to wake up to good political news for a change! I feel more hopeful than I have in months.

In today's newsletter Heather Cox Richardson summed it all up nicely:

Tonight the results came in. American voters have spoken. Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the governorship of Virginia by 15 points, becoming Virginia’s first female governor. Every single county in Virginia moved toward the Democrats, who appear to have picked up at least 12 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates. Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the governorship of New Jersey by more than ten points (the vote counts are still coming in as I write this). Pennsylvania voted to retain three state supreme court justices, preserving a 5–2 liberal majority on the court. Democrats in Georgia flipped two statewide seats for public service commissioners by double digits. Mississippi broke the Republican supermajority in the state senate. Maine voters rejected an attempt to restrict mail-in voting; Colorado voters chose to raise taxes on households with incomes over $300,000 to pay for meals for public school students. California voters approved Proposition 50 by a margin of about 2 to 1, making it hard for Trump to maintain the vote was illegitimate. And in New York City, voters elected Zohran Mamdani mayor. Tonight, legal scholar John Pfaff wrote: “Every race. It’s basically been every race. Governors. Mayors. Long-held [Republican] dog-catchers. School boards. Water boards. Flipped a dungeon master in a rural Iowa D&D club. State senators. State reps. A janitor in Duluth. State justices. Three [Republican] Uber drivers. Just everything.” Trump posted on social media: “‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters.” But in fact, today voters resoundingly rejected Trump and Trumpism, and tomorrow, politics will be a whole different game. Upgrade to paid   Like Comment Restack   © 2025 Heather Cox Richardson 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104 Unsubscribe

Trick or Treat!

Marla and her husband brought Carsen over yesterday to trick or treat, along with a one of Carsen's little friends (and her parents).  Look how cute they were! And this picture really doesn't do their costumes justice: Carsen's long sparkly veil, Ella's equally sparkly Wizard of Oz red slippers and little plush dog carried in a basket...

The sweet young couple across the street from us had their two-year-old, Georgia Kate, out trick or treating. Three little nieces and nephews showed up, too, and also three of the grandparents to help hand out candy while the neighborhood trawl was going on. One grandma even dressed up! 

Georgia Kate as Minnie Mouse! She's just

 turned two and is the most darling little girl. 

The neighbor's niblings. Everyone got lots of candy!

We had a handful of other kids from the neighborhood: a Policeman and a Wolf-Man, a Devil and Spiderman. I didn't take pictures of them, but they were awfully cute. 

 

It's all about the candy!

Last week I went ahead and bought Halloween candy while on a big monthly shopping trip to Sam's. I decided on a large bag of assorted chocolate "fun size" bars.

Today at work I decided I should have some non-chocolate candy to offer, so I stopped at a Dollar Store on the way home and bought Nerds Gummies (they didn't have the regular ones, which I would have preferred), Laffy Taffy, Sunburst chewies, and miniature Chick-O-Sticks. Remember those?

Then I made up about a dozen treat bags full of a little of everything for the children I know, including four at school. My little best buddies. :)  Tomorrow night Marla will bring Carsen and a friend of hers, and our neighbors across the street will be coming by with their toddler and three nieces and nephews. I have treat bags made for all of them, plus plenty of leftover candy for any other trick-or-treaters that may show up. We always have a few!

Not so little anymore

Last Friday morning I got a text from my friend Judon, mom of Little P. She told me he had a city league football game the next afternoon and would love it if I could make it out to see him play. I don't know (or care) anything about football, but I love Judon and P., so I went. 

It was a crisp, beautiful fall day, and I got to see this young man and his team win the game!

Look how much he's grown! I guess I should stop calling him "little". The three of us went to lunch afterwards, and as we were leaving the restaurant, I was shocked to realize he's as tall as I am now. He'll be 13 in March. Unbelievable.

Still good friends all these years later!

Show your friends some love

This is the old ice cream bucket where we store peanuts for the squirrels that visit our back yard. We leave them on top of the compost bin and then enjoy watching them have their afternoon peanut feasts.

Whenever we go out to the back porch, after a few minutes two or three squirrels will present themselves for feeding along the back fence. As soon as one of us walks out there and leaves a handful of peanuts, they rush over and help themselves. It's cheap fun.

Speaking of fun...my book club met this past Wednesday night. The book wasn't very good, but it was great to see my friends. As we were getting ready to leave I saw Karen H. preparing to take a selfie and said, "Hey! Can I get in on that?" and she said, "Sure!" The next day she sent me this montage. 

Last but not least, I finally put up a little bit of autumn decoration on our front porch. While I was out there arranging the wreath just so, my sweet Georgie showed up and watched me. I sure love that old boy.