Post-Thanksgiving

What a Thanksgiving we had this year! After J's plane got stuck in the Middle East for 3 days we didn't think he was going to make it home in time for the holiday. However, guess who arrived at 12:45pm on Thanksgiving day for a 2pm dinner; J! I think it was one of our most truly thankful Thanksgivings.

As we have done for the last two Thanksgivings we shared it with friends; specifically this year, our neighbors here on base who also host our small group from church. Her husband is deployed this year and so we shared the day with her, her two kiddos, her mother and some cousins. It was nice having a big crowd.

I, once again, made the turkey and it (the turkey), once again, was praised to the skies. Thank you Alton Brown for providing such an amazing turkey recipe. I also had my first go at homemade gravy (success), made Grandma P's rolls, tried a new cranberry fruit preserve (another success thanks to Ina Garten), made two pies (cherry and pumpkin), baked spice cookies ... and I think that's it.

Along with my food we had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, ham, stuffing, and more pies and cookies at our friends house. It was quite a feast! It also provided plentiful, and delicious leftovers for the weekend.

A new holiday tradition was also born on this Thanksgiving; Skype calls! I was able to actually see my Momma, her Momma, one of my cousins, and Aunt, and several Aunts, Uncles and a cousin from J's family as well. It was great getting to talk to people, but even better to see them. By Christmas I'm hoping to have a giant skype network orchestrated and ready!

After the food and the Skype, we played cards until about 9pm. Poor J was trying hard not to pass out after being awake for almost 20 hours. It was a good day, we felt very blessed!

After Thanksgiving was a bit more eventful a weekend than we had anticipated. Friday we got to watch a different neighbors little boy while she had her baby girl! That was fun. Saturday however, J was sick; fever and laying on the couch sick (he never gets sick!). I was, still am a little, worried about malaria since the location they got stuck in is a malaria area and he got lots of mosquito bites. I haven't been feeling too hot myself, but not nearly as sick as J.

So after our babysitting adventures it was a pretty low-key weekend. We did get most of the Christmas decorating done though. The house, both inside and out, is looking pretty festive!

Monday was spent at the base hospital and I wont even go into the details of that 3 hour adventure, but J has some medicine and heads back to the office today.

All in all it was a great weekend, and above all else I was sooooo happy to have J at home with me.

Thanksgiving

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up... Rejoice always. Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:11, 16-18

Thanksgiving is about being with the people that you love, and taking time to offer up gratitude to God for his many blessings. But there are also lots of little things that I love about Thanksgiving.

Turkey
Grandma Plunketts rolls
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Pie
Stuffing
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Football
Mashed Potatoes
Breaking out the Christmas movies
Setting up the Christmas tree
Chipmunk, pilgrim S&P shakers
Leftovers
The first batch of cut out cookies

This list isn't exclusive, or in any order, but it's filled with things to be thankful for this year.

My amazing family and incredible husband! Words can never do any of these relationships justice, so I wont even try.

Safe travels; this year we drove from Oklahoma to California, both took many plane trips, and of course, J is now piloting a C17 frequently. In all our travels we have stayed safe, healthy, and not lost one piece of luggage.

Blackberrys; This wonderful little piece of technology enables me to communicate with the people I love, but who are so very far away! Phone calls, email, text messages, and pictures. Even when J is thousands of miles away he's just a few touches of a button away.

Friends, both old and new. But this year especially, new friends who are our family while we are so far away from our real ones. It's hard for this gal to make friends, but God has really blessed me with some good ones here in California this year.

GPS; No idea how we would have navigated a five day road trip and our new home in California without out one!

My Cat; lately its just been he and I. It's nice to have something soft and warm to snuggle with on the couch.

Jesus; he is always right there with us providing his love, peace and protection. Thank goodness he is in control and knows what is best and where we need to go. I have so enjoyed our new church family, Bible study, small group and growing in his Word this year!

Little luxuries; a good book, a steaming cup of strong tea, cozy blankets, heated seats in our cars, a good library, an abundance of fresh produce, night lights, music, classic movies, yummy scented candles, a garage without stairs that makes carrying in the groceries so much easier, letters and cards in the mail, sunrises, DVR

TGIM

It has been a long weekend. I think the commercials for Monday night football are very appropriate today; thank goodness it's Monday!

I did stick to my plan, and in just over five hours, completed my big house clean Saturday. The weather was perfect; cold, rainy, cloudy and dark. I finished the day with some Harry Potter while curled up on the couch.

Sunday there was nothing but blue skies and sunshine! What happened to my whole weekend of rain and gloom? But it did motivate me to get to church, and I ended up going out to lunch with several people from our small group.

Today I've been in the kitchen. I baked a chocolate pound cake (which is cooling on the counter and smells divine). I made a batch of snickerdoodle cookie dough to freeze, and I'm in the middle of making a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls, also destined for the freezer.

I started to get some of my Christmas purchases in the mail today! My shopping is not done, but it should be soon. I'm also debating, perish the thought, of writing a Christmas letter to mail out with our cards this year. Any opinions...?

Wonderful Weekend

This weekend is forcasted to be chilly, rainy, cloudy, and basically yucky. Hooray! In all seriousness we really, really do need the rain. But I'm happy for selfish reasons. That is perfect weather for staying at home, lighting candles, wearing your comfys, watching football and, of course, cleaning the house!

My plan this weekend is to not only clean, but to take advantage of being cooped up by bad weather to tackle chores such as:
a. vacuuming the blinds
b. trying out the furniture attachment on the vacuum
c. deep cleaning the kitchen and bathroom
d. Christmas shopping (via. internet of course!)
e. tackling some Turkey Day food prep
                              
I'm hoping the weather cooperates and I stay motivated! It would be wonderful to have all those extremely nerdy chores done before J is home to make fun of me. ;-) And I'll feel so much better having a super clean house for the holidays and all the Christmas decorating that will be going on next weekend.

Bet your weekend isn't going to be nearly as thrilling as mine.

Book Review: To Kill A Mockingbird

I was really on a reading roll before the move. For some reason I find that I've been somewhat busy these past few weeks and not reading as much.

One of my moving time indulgences is re-reading books. I crave familiar things in the midst of so much change. However, I'm not going to post reviews on the two Harry Potter books I've read. (I'm currently reading the third). I did add those reads to my 2010 book list (scroll down, it's on the right margin). I've read the Harry Potter series, literally, half a dozen times and that in itself should be enough of a review. 

My latest "real" read was also a re-read. I read To Kill A Mockingbird in high school. However, I really didn't remember it at all during my latest read. Strange! I remember liking it when I first read it, but that's about it. 

I liked it again! Being written from the perspective of an 8 year old girl brings back memories and feelings of summers playing outside with my siblings and friends. I also find it a very humorous book. I'm sure most of you have either read it, or are well versed in it's major themes (racial prejudice, coming of age, justice). If it's been a while, I'd recommend picking it up again! If for some strange reason you haven't read it, you really must! 

I'm going to add this one to my Amazon list to buy.  

I'm also going to make my next Netflix movie To Kill A Mockingbird ... I'm not sure that I've ever watched it.

Almost Thanksgiving?!

I am having issues. My brain can not seem to grasp that Thanksgiving (and consequently Christmas) are upon us. All this sunshine, and temperatures into the 80's this week, have got me confused!

However, the calendar says that this time next week we will be watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and cooking our turkeys. In an effort to be ready I am baking cookies to send to my deployed brother-in-law today and finalizing my Turkey Day shopping list.

I think we finally have our Thanksgiving plans in place. Tentatively. J should (I hope!) be home despite not getting any leave. He's on yet another mission that is scheduled to return sometime next week and have crew rest days that extend through the holiday weekend. We are planning on joining forces with a neighbor and church friend's family whose husband is deployed.

So far I believe I am in charge of the turkey. The only other thing I know for sure is that I will be making Grandma P's famous rolls! It just isn't a holiday at our house without them. (In fact, I've been smelling them and tasting them all week...I can't wait!)

With Thanksgiving comes Christmas! I'm really excited that J should be here to break into the Christmas movies and help me decorate. I've got some of our favorite menus (Thanksgiving leftovers aside) planned for next weekend while we deck our halls and watch the most important college football game of the year: Ohio State v. Mi*hi*an! =D

Thank goodness I have a visit from my brother to look forward to after that! I'm pretty bummed I wont be seeing any other family, and probably not even J, on Christmas this year. It'll be my first Christmas away from home. But knowing I wont be totally alone is great! We have already been planning a fantastic trip long distance. I'm really excited to see him, and he'll be our first guest in the new house.

That's all from the Scherff house! Keep J in your prayers as he travels and hopefully makes his way home for Turkey Day!

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." - Psalm 107:1

Pictures of our new place

The complete album is up on facebook, but here are a few snapshots of the new place! (I almost hate to post them because things change around here daily). Shortly we will be decorating for Christmas and I'll put newly updated pictures out then.

The office/craft room. Need a window treatment and things on the walls. This is one of the 3 bedrooms upstairs.

 The desk area (where I'm sitting and typing up this post right now)

 Down the hall, the guest (or ducky) bathroom. We also have a guest room, not worth a photo yet!

 My favorite room! J's military closet. EVERYTHING work related goes in here, is organized, and is NOT in our bedroom. I think everyone needs one of these.

 The master closet. We both fit! Yay!

 Our bedroom

 Master bath

 At the bottom of the stairs looking into the living room. Front door is to the left.

A view of where the last picture was taken from

 Shortly there will be a big Christmas tree here!! After that ... some bookshelves?

 Dining area (door leads to the back yard)

 Different views of the living room

 Looking into the kitchen

 My lovely, large, red kitchen!

 The closed door is the pantry

 Laundry room/cat room/extra storage/half bath/garage entry/ ... you get the picture (it's behind the kitchen)

 Backyard/patio. It's nice and fenced. The door to the left is more storage.

 Home Sweet Home (please note: lush, green grass. Large, full, green trees. Clear, blue sky. Isn't it November?)

Settling In

It's been three weeks now since we've been in our new house. We have gotten a lot done! But never having lived in a place this big before, there are still things to be accomplished. Some new pieces of furniture to purchase, a bit more art for some bare walls, a guest bedroom to furnish, etc. However, we are getting there! J has been home for about 1.5 weeks now and has really been helpful.
The curtains I ordered for our downstairs all came last week and are now hanging. Really like them! J did a great job picking out the color; things feel much more cozy and soft.

As for living on base; loving it! I know neighbors I can wave out my front door at. I have friends I have been walking several miles with each morning. The commissary, and thus my weekly shopping, is all so close. I even dashed out to get a Coke icee from Burger King to go with popcorn and a movie last week. ;-)

So far the best aspect of living behind barbed wire, barricades, security checkpoints and MPs (Military Police) is the fact that I feel so much safer here. Usually when J is gone, which is most of the time, I have major issues at night. The sun goes down and I fall apart.

Since we've been on base I actually forgot to lock a door one night! And I have been sleeping so much better. No more up and down and up and down and staying up until midnight or later because I can't sleep. I've been in bed by 9 or 10 and up at 6 or 7.

Another fantastic benefit of this move is that we know have a guest bedroom. There is a real closet, bed, dresser, door, the whole nine yards! There is even a lovely guest bath with double sinks, tub, shower, etc. for your exclusive use! So potential visitors, fear the couch no more! Come and crash our guest room. (I'm still working on a table, lamp, clock, curtains, etc.)

Other than the move, J has been out and is currently home from another mission. There are pictures and an update to come soon. I've been keeping busy with church, squadron and OSC friends and functions. We have been getting some rain and the temperatures are starting to fall into the 60's-70's during the day. Things are starting to turn green thanks to the rain and the leaves on the trees are starting to change colors! Just in time for Thanksgiving ...? Strange.

I missed the first snowfall at home. :(

I have finally taken pictures of the new place and will get those up soon. J leaves again shortly so I will be putting more on here. When he is home I don't do much besides spend time with him! (Can you blame me?)

Happy Halloween

I know, I know, it's a little late! But I think I am finally coming out alive on the other side of this move. J has been home and helping me get a lot of things done and we are finally feeling somewhat settled and organized. So we are going to play catch up on the blog for a bit... here goes!

Halloween morning. This is the view from our bedroom window. It was quite creepy and foggy.

 My jack-o-lantern. Unfortunately J was gone for the second Halloween in a row so he didn't get to carve

 My HUGE candy stash. Gave almost all of it away too!

 Outside our door on Halloween night. Not bad for only being in the house a week.

 Christopher must be a Halloween cat. He usually runs for his life when the door bell rings ... not this night! He sat and watched all the trick-or-treaters and quite enjoyed himself.

 My pumpkin in the dark :)