Musings

It's the night before Thanksgiving and all through the house....all the creatures were stirring muffin mixes and vegetable casseroles!

I am baking a divine smelling pumpkin bread. Let's hope it tastes just as delicious and mouth watering as the scrumptious scent wafting through the house.

We will be going to my mother's tomorrow afternoon. My sis in law and brother are bringing some things, we will bring others. Mom is handling the turkey and mashed potatoes. She makes the yummiest mashers. Fun to share the cooking and goodies. And yes. I AM actually quite excited about the things I am making. I can cook occasionally! Really! My baked chicken is legendary but I digress....

Tomorrow morning Bill will be playing in the annual Fairborn, Ohio Turkey Bowl. This is the 34th year for this rough and rowdy extravaganza co-founded by Bill and a group of high school friends. What started as a little muddied, rough and tumble pigskin toss up among friends has grown over the years. Most of the original fellas stopped playing years ago. The teams now consist of military personnel from the Air Force base, college students from Wright State University and boys from the area high schools. Bill and one of his old HS buddies, Mark, are the soul Old Timers that still hang on to the dream. Old being the operative word here. Ahem. And yet they play. Bloodied and battered but never bowed, they persevere. Well, lest we wax too poetic, we shall now reminisce about LAST year. Oh yes, that was the year Bill was driven to the ER where he received 8 stitches, a deep, regal purple & crimson red eye and a nagging headache. And not a single flag on the field!

Let's hope that he returns to the bosom of his adoring family a little less "colorful" than last year.

We all slept in this morning and had a late breakfast. The sun was so welcome today. Warm and oh so bright. Grace, her best friend, the Divine Miss M, and Bill did the park thing. We are lucky to have a very nice city park just behind us. It is well tended and has some fun play equipment that the girls really enjoy.

On the spur of the moment, I decided to take advantage of my free afternoon and see "The Queen". I called my mother and my buddy (who lives in the same complex) and we headed out to catch this masterpiece. It is simply a superb film. Helen Mirren is amazing. Mixing on the mark performances with documentary footage, the film is wickedly amusing at times, heart wrenching the next. I thought that Michael Sheen's Tony Blair was outstanding.

We had Miss M. for dinner as well and a promised trip to Chuck E Cheese was in the offing. Oh yes, that rat is a terrific host according to the girls. They indulged in a little pizza and salad but that took the back seat to the mad dash for POINTS!!! I am sure that any parent/grandparent/aunt/uncle reading this needs no introduction to the Chuckster. Now, here is where I will admit to actually enjoying the place. Really. I am serious. No, the food will not win any culinary awards and the noise decibel level has been compared to Pete Townsend's guitar solos from the late 70s. Still, the kids are a hoot. Yeah, I am nuts but I actually love watching and listening to them. And after a couple of hours with Mr. Cheese, the girls were more than ready to hit the pillows without argument! Ah, serenity now.