Doo not ete me!

We did not eat the chalk turkey.

We ate a different turkey.

And it was the best roasted 'herb' turkey I've ever cooked/eaten.

Found the recipe here.

I also have a new phone/camera/life enhancer that I am learning and playing

around with and found an app that little mr. b, my comic lover especially likes.

(I really did love my old dumb phone, but it stopped speaking to me & I had to move on.)

I've also been taught by that young man how to make a screen shot,

so you can see what I used to alter that beautiful 'herb' turkey picture.

Here's that for you now:

I have one last screen shot for you.  I took it the old fashioned way.

We paused the screen, I walked up to the television and took a picture.

Because with all this 'herb' turkey talk,

I had to laugh when the following popped up.

(25 seconds - I rock in the running to get the camera category!)

Apparently, followers of a certain cartoon will all soon be speaking Ferb Latin.

And adding 'erb' to  many of our words.

Hi guys. Whatcha doin'?

Erb-ferb Atin-Lerb.



image from here

We heart Phineas & Ferb. We also love Candace, who totally reminds us of one of our children,

who is taking Latin right now. She's worried about her grade in that class.

Maybe she'd do better with Ferb-Latin. It might seem more familiar to her.

This year I am thankful for:

emerging readers & writers

technology

the ability to laugh

my family

my friends

good 'herbs'

and that our turkey wasn't one bit chalky.

Ok, so I am very thankful for oh so much more than just that list. You need to know that. Also, you need to know that I am especially grateful for you. Thanks for spending a little of your precious time here with me.

Happy Thanksgiving {weekend}!

__________________________________________
PS- I forgot to show you the Thanksgiving pepper miss s caught for us.
It had disguised itself as a little turkey, but miss s is clever - she found it and carved it up.
yum, yum, yum.

Turkey Hunting at the School

Every Thanksgiving, our school has a traditional feast that the children invite their grandparents and parents to. It's pretty amazing. Here's a link to where I wrote about last year's event and explained more about it.

I still think it's awesome. And after substituting a few times, I am thinking it's an especially ingenious way for the teachers and administrators to have the opportunity to send those kiddos home with their parents after the feast and get a little time to themselves to get things done before their holiday.

I heard that they were expecting over 1200 folks this year. Our lunch ladies rock.

This year, I attended wearing a beautiful indian corn brooch 

(that little mr. j wanted to give to his big brother instead of me,

but we asked his brother if he would wear it and he said no, so yay, I got it)

and an agenda.

I came to hunt turkey.
Because next year, we won't only be doing this:

We'll be needing to make a turkey.
On my subbing days the past couple of weeks, I had been watching the first grade tables to see what came in.
(FYI- Crafty things give me the willies and projects like the one coming up next year scare me. I've been concerned since seeing our neighbor's cute turkey last year. Situations such as these require stealthy reconnaissance to prevent a project panic attack.)
They all were awesome, but there were a couple that really stood out.
And they were my prey.

But, when little mr. j was still picking at our feast and the rest of us were finished, I pulled little mr. b aside and said, "Ok, there's a turkey in here that looks like........ please help me find it."

But, apparently most all the first graders and their families eat a whole lot faster than us because when we started looking down the rows of table tops, many of those turkeys had been taken home already.

So we hit the halls.
Out of the two basketball themed ones I had my eyes on, I caught one:

(the little shoes were painted blue!!!)

The other one used an actual basketball and net. I couldn't catch it and, after walking quite awhile with my older son, gave up on finding the one I most wanted to get.

Our family gathered our things and headed toward the main doors to begin our trek home.

Guess what walked right in front of us!

Yes!

The turkey!

(And the human family it belonged to.)

And I said, "Hey, wait, can I please get a picture of your turkey. You know- word at the school is that your Then the mom said, "Oh, so you're going to copy it next year."

And I said, "No, I'm not that good, but I want to show it to the world."

(Now, hopefully the world will come here and see it, because it is pretty cool.)

Anyway, without any further ado, I give you the prize turkey that I hunted down at the school today:

(Incredible little plastic army/cowboy/indian guy turkey - I hope they keep it forever and bring it out every year. I know I would-that's the kind of decorator I am.)

Happy day before Thanksgiving!

Shoot

Guess what I did last Thursday?

Ohhhhh, it was so fun.

my mr.'s has been talking to me about joining him in golf,

but this was way better than golf.

I went with this lovely lady,

who happens to be someone I go to church with.

And, I am thinking that maybe besides book clubs and play groups,

the shooting sisters would be an awesome excuse to spend some time together.

That and provident living.

And just so you know- if you need me to come hunt your skeet, I am 15 (or 16) for 50 and I hit them better when they are coming towards me or rolling across the ground pretending to be a rabbit.

And that the rifle I have access to is not as nice as the one we were shooting with,

but I could still probably do ok with it.

And apparently, my going on this outing surprised and brought great joy to my mr., who has gone on a couple of pheasant hunting trips the last couple of years and probably will not be going on any more.  When I was reading my friend's post about our outing, he kept bringing out items related to our outing -one at a time- and explaining how I could use them next time. I stopped him at the padded shoulder vest that has a lined pocket in the back to hold the day's victims. That just grossed me out. Just imagince those poor little skeet stuck riding on my back. Eewww. (Just kidding - I know that it's very unsafe and against the rules to walk out past the stands to retreive the little skeets.)

Then he started going on about how we could take up different hobbys together- I tuned him out for a little while, but then he just got silly....

He said, "Then we can do scouts together and wear matching shorts and ........."

I just laughed.
Me and scouting are like me and pheasant cooking.
And golf.

Has anyone seen the turkey?

No.

Good.

Because that was our Kindergarten assignment.

Disguise it to prevent it's early demise.

I think we did a fantastic job.

Yay little mr. j and me.

(Can you see the turkey now?)

Happy almost Thanksgiving!

(And FYI- I did not do most of this project. I did buy the red feathers, nag him to cut out the white paper feathers, figure out how to do the face, purchase fun foam for the pupils & brows (sketch, cut out, and prepare those and the beak to be glued on), ask him to color the feet black & explained why I thought he should do that, bought clear washable liquid glue, helped with face placement, and didn't get worked up when he glued the feathers on in the direction I thought they should not go- he will hand it in tomorrow. Phew.)

(And FYI again- the instructions clearly stated that this was a 'family' project. Next year, in first grade, 'he' gets to build a turkey from scratch. We have already had one preproject planning meeting.)

Oh, and another FYI - Last week a real, live turkey walked through our yard, across the street, and between my two across the street neighbors' homes. The next day, my mr. saw it in our behind our house neighbor's yard. It jumped their fence.

Incredible and timely.

Benefit of having children....

Cheap Entertainment.

(This one's from the archives, way before little mr. j arrived.

We had the best day. It still makes me cry laughing tears.)

Life vs. Life Blogging

Before you read this post, I have a note for Geoffry & Anita - Thank you for your comments on the prior post. (Thanks to all who commented!) I am planning on moving forward with both your comments. Geoffrey, I am a big slow poke, so please have patience with me. Thanks!
--the mrs.

On to the post:
__________________________________________________________________________
The last few months have been quite interesting.
I had my little breakdown.
There's been employment adventures for my mr.
Let go from one position and on to a new one in one month.

He's calling it his 'one month non-voluntary vacation.'

His humble, grateful attitude through it all taught me much.

I sure appreciate him.

He's now working in a whole different industry that looks to be much more stable than his past.

(He's moving from banking/insurance to energy.)

The first week or so was a little disconcerting for me.

It was hard to have him home.

The middle weeks allowed a res bit,

and by the last week we were thankfully out of limbo.

We totally recognize God's hand through this trial.

The timing of it all.

The miracle of a position that fit.

The incredible option to jump industries.

It's amazing and humbling.

I had been toying with the idea of applying to be a substitute teacher at my sons' school.

After my husband's release, I went ahead with that.

And I've been having some adventures.

Yesterday, I got to read with 7th graders about duck-billed platypus' mammary glands.

FYI- they are in the skin.

That got a rousing EWWWW.

So I said, "Well, I bet if the platypus heard how human babies get their milk, that would gross them out, just like you are getting grossed out about them."

And then some kid mentioned milk being for sale on ebay and I told him that I had never heard of platypus milk being for sale anywhere and he said he meant human milk and I said we are not talking about human milk.

And then I told them, "You all better not go home and talk about your crazy substitute

that was talking about selling breast milk on ebay. I'm talking about platypus milk.

Let's get back to the book."

I think I handled that well.

Word from the hall (via my son) is that I'm a pretty awesome substitute.

Hope so.

Church stuff has been kicking my tukas.

I am very grateful for the women I work with. They do so much.

It is 'Evening of Excellence' season and my wonderful counselor, Sister A, took charge & we had a most wonderful event.

(Details on this one will have to come later--

but it was awesome & every youth group should do something similar.)

Fall sports.

They are over.

Phew.

Enough said.

Updates, analysis, and pictures to follow.

Basically, I've been off living life and not writing about it.

I like living life, but I love it more when I can write about it.

That and going to the gym.

Which I haven't done for months

and I am turning into a grump

because those are the two things that keep me sane and happy.

And I think sane and happy is important.

See you soon!

the mrs.



Coupon Lesson Learnt

You can get to groupon if you click here.

Ha- did you know that learnt is really a word?
I thought when I typed it that I might be going crazy and maybe have been living in the land of y'all for a bit too long for my own English Language lovers good.
Please click here for proof of my ok-ness.

Anyway.
Stupid me.
I bought a Groupon for an online art site
and wasted too much time decide what I wanted to adorn my naked living room wall.
It expired one day before I thought it did.
Lesson to me:
If you buy a Groupon, use it quickly.
Do not sit on it.
Because that is how they make their money.
And why you will have a naked wall for a while longer.

Got it, the mrs.?
No more Groupon unless you move on it quick.
Please remember.
Thanks.

(PS- just so you know, I wish I could be a couponer. I just can never remember to use them. Looks like this little flaw of mine lives on in the online realm as well.)