Thanksgiving Dinner!

My day started at 6:00am by waking up to put the turkey in the crockpot. Luckily it only took about 15 minutes and then I lazily fell back to sleep until 10:00am. Don't hate me because I got beauty rest :)

I spent a little less than two hours being in the kitchen preparing, which is a record! One of my biggest struggles with cooking in general is the magic of having all my dishes ready at close to the same time. Turkey-no prob, just chillin' in the crock pot. Stuffing and Potato Casserole-15 min @ 400 vs 20 min @ 375. I opted to leave them both in there for about 30 minutes on 375. The stuffing tasted pretty good (could have used a bit more salt and pepper), but I wish I'd baked it in a more compact dish. The potatoes were a) crunchy and b) not too flavorful. That may have been mostly because I forgot to buy an onion and just ended up using onion powder. It also could have used more salt/pepper or something. I don't know. I'm willing to give it a whirl as a side dish again and see about tweaking it. The pie turned out pretty well, even though my pie crust was all crumbled and shattered (I dropped it on the ground-sad panda). It was just REALLY rich!

I prepared some fresh green beans and asparagus as my veggies, and stayed within my portion control. It was so rewarding to NOT feel like I was going to explode with a super full stomach. I ate a small breakfast (eggo's with strawberries), and then ate a small dinner (frozen meal and some more veggies) around 7pm tonight. Here's a few pictures of the spread!

Aluminum Foil is a novice chef's best pal

The Spread-I brought out the fancy dishes to use on the
fancy table that rarely gets used.

My plate: Green Beans, Asparagus, Turkey, Potatoes, and Stuffing

Pie of sorts-it looks all weird but it tasted really good!

I'm an advocate for cooking/serving/storing any big meal in aluminum dishes.

Sessions with my Dream Dictionary

I had a weird night of dreams last night. In the spirit of the holiday sentiment I decided to decipher what it all means using the dream dictionary Marianne gave me. We used to consult the dream dictionary at work together to understand the underlying meaning of our odd dreams. Oh and I'm also going to use italics because it makes it seem more dream-like:

Late at night on a Saturday I drove to a deserted gas station, broke in and started vandalizing the place. A cop caught me in the act and I had to drive away quickly. Night turned into day and I remember being out in the country. I drove out to another old building and was hiding inside destroying things when I heard the cop outside. We started shooting our guns at each other, and I set an explosion inside the building and ran out. The cop caught me and handcuffed me. I couldn't figure out why I'd done all these bad things and I was really emotional about it. I asked the cop what I was supposed to do and he said I could go home until Monday since I didn't kill anyone, but that I might want to get in touch with a lawyer. I'd be picked up and brought to jail on Monday.

-to dream you're a criminal indicates that you're looking for a shortcut in life.
-to dream you're a convict suggests some situation or relationship is making you feel restricted
-to dream you're breaking something indicates change is ahead for you. You want to change the direction your life is going
-to dream that you feel guilty about something indicates that you feel you have let others down.
-to dream that a house or building is on fire indicates that you need to undergo some transformation
-to see explosions in your dream symbolizes your repressed anger. The reage that you've been holding in has come to the surface in a forceful and violent manner. Your unconscious is trying to get your attention.
-to dream that you shoot someone with a gun denotes your aggressive feelings and hidden anger toward a particular person.
-to dream that you see a lawyer suggests that help is available to you if you ask. Being involved in a lawsuit says you have insecurities and concerns of being judged or criticized for your actions.
-to dream that you're in jail suggests that you're feeling restrained or censored at work, or in a relationship or situation in life. You feel confined and suffocated.

**I woke up at this point because my alarm clock went off (6:00 am) to go put the Turkey in. I was only awake and up for 15 minutes and oddly I fell back asleep into this dream. The rest of it kinda kept skipping around but here are the highlights**

I was being transported on a train with two old friends on my way to jail. Annie Perry and someone else. I knew I kept in good contact with the unknown friend, but I felt guilty that Annie and I didn't email or chat. As we were getting ready to disembark from the train I found a piece of paper so I could write down my email address and my blog address but I kept messing up. I was finally forced to leave the train without giving it to her. I was somehow back at the first building I'd vandalized and I was walking my dog Bailey around the perimeter of the building in really tall grass. He did his business and we rounded the corner to check the mail. The mailbox was full of advertisements and wood chips and I wasn't able to push the woodchips aside well enough to grab the mail. The dog walk/mail checking sequence happened three or four times before I finally woke up.

-to dream that you're on a train symbolizes your life's journey. It suggests you're on the right track in life. Alternatively you have a tendency to worry needlessly over situations that will work out in the end.
-to see a childhood friend signifies regression into your past where you had no responsibilities and felt carefree.
-to dream that you're writing signifies communication with someone or with your conscious mind. It also denotes a mistake you have made.
-to see a dog in your dream indicates a skill you've ignored or forgotten but needs to be activated. Also symbolizes intuition, loyalty, generosity, protection, and fidelity.
-to see green grass in your dream suggests that there's a part of yourself that you can always rely on.
-mail: receiving mail indicates you need to communicate or re-establish contact with someone from your present/past. To see a mail box represents important information you're about to receive.
-to see wood in your dream signifies unsatisfactory business and misunderstandings in love.

So what does all this mean?? Dream analysis is pretty clouded and probably full of complete silliness, but poignant/odd dreams like this always make me sit back and think. I do feel a lot of those emotions (overwhelmed, disappointed, repressed anger, desire to be a better person). It's time to start prepping some dinner stuff, but I'm glad I got all that out :o)

Thanksgiving Day Foods

Here is what's on the menu for Thanksgiving Dinner. It's just Shawn and myself for dinner, so hopefully everything goes smoothly. Click on the links to see ingredients/supplies/how to

Turkey (credit to A Year of Slow Cooking)

**I played around with various ways of cooking turkey, and they mostly come up at 2 points per serving. This version sounds yummy and easy!**

Au Gratin Potatoes (credit to WW online recipes)

***I'll be making regular mashed potatoes as well for Shawn to enjoy-since I'll be peeling and cutting them anyway, but I'll be staying AWAY from them***

Stuffing with Sage and Chives (credit to WW online recipes)

**Stuffing has always been my one true weekness. YUM!**

Gravy of Doom

**For Gravy there isn't much option. I don't know how to make the legit bad-for-you gravy that I love so much, so we're opting for the Heinz Turkey Gravy. It's a healthy alternative and easy to prepare! (don't worry I won't eat the whole jar myself)

Turtle Pumpkin Pie (credit to KraftFoods.com)

**I'm using Keebler reduced fat pie crusts, Free Whipped Cream, Skim Milk, Sugar free caramel sauce, and the SF/FF vanilla pudding mix to make what I'm thinking looks and sounds like a tasty treat!**

WW Weigh In 11/23

Today I was down 1.6lbs for a total of 16.4 lost with WW! Here are a few goals for the week:

1) Journal every day-I'm pretty good during the day but all hell breaks loose once I get home from work for the evening.
2) No more snooze-I need to get my butt out of bed on time so I have a chance to eat breakfast before work and pack my lunch/healthy snacks.
3) Thanksgiving Day-I'm all stocked up on tasty veggies. Like our leader Jaime suggested, I'm going to fill half my plate with tasty steamed veggies and thoroughly enjoy (within moderation) my favorite Thanksgiving Dinner dishes.

I'll be posting my recipe ideas here in a bit, and I'm excited to give my report of how everything goes!

Choo Choo Choooo

This weekend Shawn and I touristed it up and decided to climb aboard the Bertram Flyer. It's a 3 hour train ride from Cedar Park to Bertram Texas on a super old train or something. It was my first train ride ever, but Shawn had been on a similar ride back home in Kentucky. We sat in first class station car (ooooo ahhhhh) which meant we were right behind the engine and we got free soda, a plate of treats, and a bag of chips.

(Enjoy these stock photos from the website. I totally didn't
jump out of the train to take them)

The ride each way was a little over an hour and it was kinda sorta boring. We were only going around 30 mph, and it was basically just a train ride through the back of people's yards with very little scenery. We saw a lot of fixer-uppers, a few Longhorn (hook 'em) and some horses and dogs. The train stopped in Bertram and we were able to get off for 15 minutes and walk around. Before leaving again, the engineers moved the engine to the back (now front) of the train for the ride home. That was kinda cool cuz then we could see straight out the back at the path behind us. Here are a few pictures of us being silly and passing the time:

Yep-this is what I get when I say "smile!" If you're wondering, he threw
the body off the back of the train to hide the evidence.

Here's Shawn proving he can do a happy face

Clearly my angry face is complete failure :)

And a few happy pictures of us in a station room and on the ride home in the caboose. It's fun getting out and seeing new things, and just spending time together in general. Luckily the weather is still nice and warm too! Tune in next time for the latest and greatest!

Yay!

This week at Weight Watchers I had good news-I finally lost the last little bit of weight I'd put on in the last few months during my surgery recovery/slack off time. That puts me down 14.8lbs since joining in July. It's not nearly what I'd like for myself but it is honestly what I earned. You remember that old saying "You are what you eat?" :p

I'm finishing this post a few days after I started it (It's Saturday now), but I'm happy to say I have my Thanksgiving shopping all done. I have my healthy menu mostly planned out, and a house full of good-for-me-food. I've been pretty irresponsible with eating this week, and haven't journaled like I should. My "mental notes" aren't nearly as accurate as pen and paper, but I am always striving to improve :)

That's all (for now) folks!

Weekend of Win

So yesterday Shawn and I ventured out to the Austin Celtic Festival. It had been a toss up between a quick trip down to San Antonio/Sea World or the Festival. We opted for the festival since it's only here once a year. If we'd gone to Sea World, we may have spent the whole time feeling emo and wondering how the Festival was, since we couldn't find out for another year...so we chose to go to the Festival.

We had the misfortune of getting stuck in UT Football traffic on the way down, but still got down there around noon. We brought the camera, but sadly there wasn't really anything worth photographing. Lots of cute dogs...but not so much in the way of authentic Celtic activities. I did learn that the Celtic's are way into Tye Dye shirts. Ok maybe not, but there was a huge shop display :)

We're glad either way that we ventured out and tried something new in the city we both know hardly anything about. I work next Saturday, but the weekend after that I think we're going to try a ride on the Bertram Flyer . Yes we are doing touristy things, but technically we both haven't done or seen very much here. Any native/long term Austinites have any good suggestions of fun things to do??

TGIF!

Today has been a long day. Something about getting in a car accident, staying out until 2am, and being to work by 8am. :o) I had a few weird back spasm/pain things during the night sleeping, and was generally sore and very exhausted all day. I talked to Janna around lunch time and she gave me a contact person for her insurance company so I could find out about medical claim/coverage. She and I both opted to go to a doctor to be checked out as a precaution.

They took some x rays that the doctor should have back by Monday. I got a prescription for a muscle relaxant and if needed, I still have some pain pills left over from my surgery. I doubt I will, but it's nice to know they're on hand!

Tomorrow Shawn and I are going to the Annual Austin Celtic Festival ! It's an all-weekend event, but we'll go check it out for a few hours tomorrow and see if there's anything cool. If anything I'm sure there'll be some cool people watching experiences. G'night all!

Good Times!

So last night I went with Janna and some of her friends to the Parish for the Marc Broussard concert downtown at the Parish. We all went out for dinner before at Outback Steakhouse and I have to say I had the BEST steak ever. I must have been craving red meat because that did the trick!

We split up in separate cars for the drive down. Janna and I in her jeep, and everyone else in her friend Suzi's car. We're a few blocks away from the concert and are stopped at the light when suddenly Janna tells me "Hold On!" I didn't understand what was going on until I heard the crash and felt the impact. Some guy driving behind us just totally crashed into the back of us! The impact crashed us into Suzi's car in front of us too! :(

Here are some pictures (that I casually borrowed for Janna's blog) of the driver's car-white and Janna's Jeep. The driver's airbags deployed, but the damage on Janna's car was isolated to the bumpers. Luckily we were the bigger car there.

We all had a great time at the concert once we finally got there, but partway into the concert we were all feeling the effects of the crash. I sat out for the last few songs, and most everyone else took a break too. We waited around to be able to get pictures/autographs with Marc but apparently he set up a meet and greet that none of us had known about. What a bummer! Marc missed the super fans that came to see him DESPITE being in a pretty significant car crash!

I got home around 1:30 am, and have decided that a) going out with friends and actually being social is FUN! but b) I'm really, really, really old. Wish we'd gotten some group pictures, but hopefully next time!

something is on my mind

So....my ex-husband got remarried last weekend to the woman he left me for. I wasn't surprised, but at the same time I was. The man that I'd been with for nearly 7 years is officially starting his new life with woman 2.0. For a very long time after he left, I waited to hear through the grapevine that she had dumped him and that he was miserable. I needed that to happen so I could feel justified that he'd made a mistake by leaving me. That I wasn't the crappy wife he'd told me I was, and that God punishes people who are unfaithful.

That clearly didn't happen. Instead he proposed to her and now he married her. Maybe they'll be happily married for 57 years, or maybe they'll end up painfully divorced. Just so we're clear, I hope for the latter.

I'm not in charge of their future and I'm really tired of wondering about their life together. I keep waiting for the day that I'll stop wishing bad things on them and move on with my own happy life. The more time that passes since we separated, the more worried I become that I still have all these unhealthy feelings.

That's all I have to say. Thinking out loud about this makes my brain hurt.

Mexico or Bust!

This is three-day old news, but my brother Thomas got his mission call this week. He'll be serving a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS/Mormon Church) in Mexico City, Mexico. He'll report to the MTC in Provo, UT to learn Spanish on Feb 3rd.

I'm not able to visit Utah to see him right before he leaves because it's during the black-out time off/merger at work. I've booked a flight a few weeks earlier to see him over President's Day Weekend. I'm in complete denial that my brothers are growing up so fast. More than half of the kids in the family are out on their own in the world now!!

I'm also excited that Shawn and I will be able to be together this year for Christmas. Last year (our first Christmas together), he flew home to visit his family in Kentucky for the Holidays. This year he's short on vacation time and said he wasn't in the mood to travel during the holidays, so I'll get to have him around this year! We're going to plan a road trip to go Kentucky in the spring time to visit his family and pick up a bunch of random stuff that's stored at his parents house there. I haven't done a long road trip in an really long time, so I'm looking forward to it-and to see different scenery besides Texas and Utah :)