All through last week I averaged one meal a day and I was never hungry. It's interesting to me when I have time periods like this. I kept expecting to wake up, get on the scale as I always do, and to see a drop in weight. But all through the week I never did. I was not eating crap, per se, but I was not holding back, either - as losing weight is somehow or another not what I want to be doing right now. Ok, said that wrong. I DO want to. But I can't. Not physically can't - but in terms of eligibility...

Anywho. :thumbup:

Monday was a rather lazy day. My hubby and I ran some errands but we were around the house and just chillin, too. Monday was the only day that was rather calm like that, so that was a bit of a surprise. After the weekend we had, we did sleep quite late on Monday.

Tuesday was a trip to the grocery store and a few more odds and ends of errands. Not much else excitement that day.

Wednesday was a neighbor and I taking another neighbor out for her birthday. The birthday girl is a mother of five with kids ranging from just about a year old up to 9 years. She never gets to have me-time because her husband is in the middle of getting his business off the ground. So we stole her away and took her for a pedicure, something she has not had since quite awhile before her baby was born. And from there we went to a local place called the Charleston Tea Room. I was expecting tea and scones and finger sandwiches but it was really just a sandwich shop that had two flavors of iced teas and the full assortment of hot teas. Given that this is Texas, though - after having the quite chilly weekend, this particular day was in the low-70's and everyone was drinking iced tea.

They say in Texas - if you don't like the weather you have two options. 1) wait ten minutes. 2) drive ten miles. It's true. :sleep:

We stopped at a shop that was right next door and perused their incredibly over-priced junk, too. This shop wanted to be an upscale sort of affair and it was just more of the same ol' same ol' with prices that averaged twice as much as most other places. They were in the middle of a "huge sale" in efforts to get people to spend some money there. There was tons of foot traffic and not one single person buying any of the stuff. I figure - if they want to get some income going, they need to drop the prices. Unfortunately, as we walked in the door they hit us with their "select savings program" and email addresses were given. We all thought the store looked cute and like our own styles so we gladly gave over those precious email addresses. And then we started looking and saw wall sconces - average quality wall sconces - selling for $185 EACH!

Eventually it was time to wander home as the babies were getting hungry. So I got home and grabbed the Hubby and said come on, les go. He dutifully put on some shoes and we headed out for something or another. At this point, I can't tell you where we went or what we did - but I know I enjoyed the afternoon with my sweetheart!

When we got back home I grabbed all the pie making ingredients and headed over to super-Mom's house to bake pies. We made two pumpkins, a pecan and a buttermilk pecan. We then peeled and cut up the potatoes (10lbs) to leave them soaking in water and got the green beans all snapped and cleaned.

I headed back home with the potatoes and the green beans and I pre-made the green beans so they'd be ready to toss in the green bean casserole. In the past I've always used canned green beans for that casserole and decided this year to do fresh as I generally like them better. Oh how the flavor was packing in that dish. I will never used canned again! I also pre-made the pudding for a Banana Cream Pie for my Hubby and whipped up the cranberry relish.

Thursday it was up at 7am to get the stuffing started. Super-Mom came over to help out while the children slept the morning away. She did bring her oldest daughter along. I've been told that when the oldest daughter gets a few more years under her belt she will be coming to me for cooking lessons. This neighborhood of mine thinks I am a gourmet chef. It's flattering that they like my food but truth be told - I just follow recipes. I'm just really good about trying new things and new techniques. That is the only thing that sets me apart. Yes, I have developed a few of my own things and I always adapt recipes to my own styles. But I generally always have a starting point from someone or something else.

We got the stuffing done and I rubbed the bird with a fennel seed, coriander seed and black peppercorn mix. With the bird cleaned and stuffed and nestled nicely in the roasting pan he went in the backyard on the grill.

I was amazed at how quickly that bird cooked. A 22 pound bird plus and it was done in a little over two hours. We actually dropped the temperature quite a bit to get the cooking to slow down but the bird was out by about 12:30.

From there we got the rest of the veggies chopped. I make a broccoli rice casserole and a cauliflower gratin. Those veggies all were steamed and ready to go for later. The sweet potatoes had been cooked the night before and with them now cold they then were peeled and ready as well. I went ahead and made the rice for the broccoli rice casserole and chopped and grated and minced whatever I could. And then it was break time.

Super-mom went back across the street and Hubby and I headed south to put a fresh set of flowers on his grandmother's grave. I wish I could have met this woman - I think she is the sole reason why my Hubby is such a gracious sharing easy-going human being. She taught him his manners and insisted on keeping him in line. I have now learned so much about his mother but I cannot say any of the good qualities in my Hubby can be attributed to her. He has never claimed that, and in fact has always claimed his grandmother was more of an influence on his good upbringing than anyone else. I always thought, ah, well, MIL HAS to have been a good influence. But with the unfolding of the past few weeks and especially Thursday, I can't claim otherwise now. On a very personal note I always ask my Hubby who I'm most like - mother, step-mother or grandmother. And luckily for me, he does not think I'm like his mom. Don't get me wrong, she has some great qualities - but mothering was not one of them. On the same token, my Hubby is most like, personality wise, my own Mom - that easy-going thing being one of the greatest characteristics.

Anywho...

We cleaned up the grave site a bit and shoo-ed away the ants with some fire ant killer. And with the fresh flowers placed there was a touching moment where I was glad to be alone with my Hubby. We are usually there with the in-law's...

From there we headed back home and then the kitchen turned into a whirlwind of activity. My sweet Hubby set the table and opened the wines and cleaned up behind Super-mom and I. He would also get either of us a cup of this or that on request.

I finished off the cauliflower gratin (the most amazing cauliflower dish you'll ever eat!) and made the gravy. I chopped and chopped for the waldorf salad and got the biscuits ready to go. We made the Red Lobster biscuits and Super-mom was surprised at how easy they are. I'm telling you, it's just about trying the recipes...

Super-mom whipped up the mashed potatoes and the yams. And she assembled the broccoli rice casserole. Hubby put together the green bean casserole and everything went in the oven.

Back for part 3 in a jiffy... :sleep2: