I guess a higher education is not necessary to read this blog. Supposedly this website scans your blog and determines how educated one needs to be in order to read it. I'm OK with this, because I think I write pretty well. I've been told so, anyway.

I wonder if I use words such as supercilious, penultimate, quagmire and xenophobia if it'll change my rating.

Wow. I guess I failed in a big way to update my blog every day. Oh, well. I made a valiant effort. The pressures of hosting my first Thanksgiving at my house overwhelmed me. The good news is that our Thanksgiving was great! Everyone brought something which was so helpful; my mother stayed here and she and Robert and I worked as a well-oiled-cooking-machine! We did a great job. I think everyone liked it and it's a good thing that Thanksgiving only comes around once a year, because I sure was tired.

And for the first Thanksgiving without my father - sometimes I still can't get my mind around the fact that he's gone and will never come back - it was a pretty good one. I think he would have liked it.

Here are some pictures.
Me, Robert and my Mom in the background. She's making gravy and Robert and I have just dissected the turkey:


This is the table:


Here's Robert and his Mom:


And Angie and her parents:

Wahoo! Mike Lowell has agreed to a 3-year deal and is staying with the Red Sox. That is totally awesome!

Here's the article

Last night we went out to The Melting Pot to celebrate my birthday. The actual day is Wednesday, but we thought that going out for a big meal the night before Thanksgiving was not a great idea. So we opted to go out on Saturday. It was awesome! I love fondue and this was very very good. Not as great as the fondues my parents used to make for us back when we used to ski, but almost.

I can't forget to write in my bloggybloggington today. This blogging every day is pretty difficult. It's hard to think of something to write about.

My town, which charges exorbitant real estate taxes and yet provides no services in return, thereby requiring us to bring our garbage to the dump, has recently instituted a new set of "dump rules". These include a 30-minute time limit; a limit on the number of trips per day, and a no-picking rule. It's kinda crazy that a town would have to do this, but apparently people hanging out at the dump all day is a problem in our sleepy little town. This story made it all the way to the New York Times which was pretty embarrassing. I only hope it wasn't a question on Wait wait don't tell me. That would be really embarrassing!

This is a picture I took last January, after a particularly nasty ice storm. The sun coming through the ice enveloping the trees was really pretty. I think we lost power for three days. It got really cold in the house - everything was down to about 37 degrees inside. It took a full 24 hours to heat the house back to warm.

I'm not sure why I chose to post that particular picture, except I've just been shopping for Advent calendars and with Thanksgiving coming up, I'm looking forward to the holidays. I bought one for us, and also for Sarah, Steven and Elizabeth - but mostly for Elizabeth. I think she is old enough to get a kick out of opening up a little door every day on the countdown to Christmas. So thinking about the holidays naturally has me thinking of winter and this picture is what came to mind. I was kind of hoping for a little bit of snow this morning, but it didn't happen. I wasn't hoping for an accumulation, just a bit of snow in the air.

Next week we are having a whole bunch of people over for Thanksgiving. I've never hosted a dinner party, never mind a Thanksgiving. I'm a little nervous, but I think it'll be OK because my Mom is going to help me. She's an expert.

The painters were supposed to come today, but didn't show up. And I don't think it was because of the rain, as there's plenty to do inside as well as outside.

My fireplace doors are in and they look gorgeous.

Work at my house is winding down. Just a few things left to do. I always said that it would be Thanksgiving by the time they were done. Little did I know... But it's because I added stuff on to the job, not because they are slow.

My opportunities for using the torch now are getting fewer and fewer. It's just too cold. Or I'm too old to sit in the cold. Whichever it is, I just don't want to.

So that's about it for today. I'm bummed that Beckett didn't win the Cy Young award, but what can you do?

I don't have too much to write today.

I'm updating early, because today we're flying home! Hooray! I get to see my dogs and cat today. I can't wait. I want to snuggle with Java. She is so funny. The other day, Robert told me, she was barking at a boston terrier slipper that the cat had been playing with and left on her sunbeam blanket. She was mad because it was taking up room on her blanket in the sunbeam and she wanted to lie there. What a silly goose!

This place in Florida reminds me so much of my father. I'd lie in bed and think of him leaving in the morning to go get the paper, or some bagels. I'd look over to his chair and see the book I got him for Christmas a few years ago. This is the home that my parents have owned the longest - because they sold our childhood home in 2001 - and I have the most memories of him from the longest time ago attached here. Plus the memories of that horrible week in February.

Anyway, enough ruminating on that. I'm looking forward to coming home, seeing the dogs, and hearing that Dustin Pedroia was named AL Rookie of the Year. *Fingers crossed*

My mom has a pastel drawing of my dad hanging in her house. It was drawn when my dad was 5 or 6 years old. The expression on Elizabeth's face is the same as my Dad's in that drawing - especially the eyes. It's amazing how sometimes when you look at her, you see him shrunk down.

This has been a very trying week. My mother is now grating on my last nerve and I just can't wait to get home. I keep being reminded of my dad and the days surrounding his death. It's just not fun. I think this is my last ever trip to SW Florida. If I could, I'd leave today.

This is a picture of my Mom and Robert in the hot tub.

Today was kind of fun. We woke up late, had breakfast and then hot-tubbed it until early afternoon. Then my Mom went in for a nap, and Robert and I went to Target to pick up a few things. Nothing major.

I've alluded to my free mattress on more than one occasion. Robert and I bought a new mattress back in April because 1) we wanted to get a new one eventually and 2) the store was having a contest and said if the Red Sox won the World Series this year, the mattress would be free. So we decided that we should probably buy during the contest period just in case. I had a nagging feeling that this year might be a good year for them. Of course, I think that every year, and have since 1978. But this time I was right! Something like three days after we purchased it, the Sox made it to first place in their division and never left all season. They totally rock.

I just picked Robert up at the airport. I'm happy he's here. And I'm happy to be coming home on Monday. It's late so that's it for today. I was going to write about my free mattress, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

I feel like I need to pepper this blog with photos, especially because there's not much to write about. This is a photo of the front yard I found on my Mom's computer. It's very foggy. I thought it was kind of pretty.

This morning my Mom and I went to the Coach store and she bought me a new bag for my birthday, which is coming up. It's totally awesome.

As nice as it is here, I wish I were home in NH with my dogs and cat. I miss them. Oh and I miss my husband, too, of course. LOL. ;) He's coming down tomorrow. I can't wait. Then we're flying home Monday afternoon. I can't wait for that either.

I miss Martha, too. And Angie. And Katie. And watching Red Sox games. And my Father. And my glass and torch. And the birds in my backyard. And my free mattress. And The People's Court. And my bathtub. And my email. And Sarah and Elizabeth.

I'm lucky to have so much to miss.

This is my new stoop. I've wanted a granite stoop for a long time - well, maybe about a year now. It got put in on Monday, after I left for Florida, so this picture is the only time I've seen it. Last night I had a nightmare about the stoop, if you can believe it. It's hard to describe the stoop of my nightmare, except to say that it was made from molded plastic, resembled a hollow tree stump with a large root, and would have tripped the first person to step on it. I was in agony. But Robert sent me the picture from his cellphone this morning to ease my concerns and luckily it's nothing like the stoop of my bad dream.

How cute is she?

Here I am in Florida. I thought it would be hard to come back to this house, but it really wasn't. What was hard was flying into Ft. Myers at nighttime; seeing the lights of the houses below; and remembering old times. Like the time when we flew in at around 10:00 p.m. and my father was so happy that we were all together he blasted his then-favorite song "Run Around". I just thought of him the whole time we were landing and how happy he'd be when we'd come down to visit. That was the hard part.

The flight was OK. I read a very nice little book called The Alchemist on the way. It's one of those spiritual - inspirational - follow-your-bliss kind of books. Perfect for the flight down.

Oh and the Red Sox signed Curt Schilling for another year. I guess I'm OK with that, all politics aside.

I'm off to Florida. I'll update later.

This counts as a blog entry, btw.

The extra hour we got today was used well by me in sleep mode. It was delicious to sleep in today. I think we slept until 8:30 (9:30 on the body-clock). Now I have a bazillion things to do today before going to Florida tomorrow. I know it will be difficult to face going into that house but it's something we all have to get over.

My father would have been happy that I'm going down to Florida to help my mom. I remember two years ago when I went down after she had knee surgery. He was happy that I was there to cook for him and keep him company. I remember making him some chili - which he loved. I was going to make him some the week I came down to take care of them in February, but he ended up being in the hospital so I couldn't.

I know things are going to be OK around here while I'm gone. They won't fall apart just because I'm in Florida and not here. My brain knows that, but still....

It is a most disgusting day. High winds and heavy rains and almost freezing temperatures make me want to hunker down. Did I? Nooooo..... We went to Costco because we needed 15 lbs of pasta and a half-gallon of olive oil. LOL. It was crowded and noisy and not much fun. The one great thing about Costco is that we get Barney's medicine for $63.00 and at the pharmacy in town here it's $80.00. It's a huge savings.

After Costco we went to Chili's for a late lunch - early dinner thing and now we're home. Our house is pretty cozy. I'm going to go wrap myself in a blankie and sit in front of the TV with Java on my lap and just chill.

I'm going to update here early today because Sarah's coming over this evening. She's a little fussy and demanding so I need to have the place cleaned up and ready for her. Otherwise she's likely to tell me that my house needs "a good scrubbing". She's done that before. She marries neat-nick men who do all the cleaning at her house, but I remember her bedroom from when she was a kid. Ick.

The other day Keith put up the kitchen pendant lamps. They are really pretty and go with the knobs really well. Here's a picture:

And our new mantel was installed last week. It's a completely different color than our kitchen cabinets. The cabinet wood is the sample on top. It's like the mantel is natural cherry with no stain at all. I'm not sure what's going to happen with this, but hopefully it'll get fixed to match.

The outside of the house is almost all finished. They are working on the back and soon will only have one little area to work on, besides the places they intentionally left off to accommodate the air conditioning.

So that's about it for today. I have to go ready the guest bedroom for our arriving dignitary. :D

November is National Blog Posting Month and the challenge is to post to your blog every day for thirty days. I'm going to try it. I'm not sure if I'll do it.

I saw a red-tailed hawk near my driveway this afternoon. I scared it away when I went to shut the gate so I could let Barney outside. Wow. In the past month we've seen a sharp-shinned hawk make a kill, heard a barred owl in the back yard and now a red-tail. It is pretty cool to live in the woods. I love to just stare out the window at the birds on my feeders, and I especially love it when there's a new bird to identify.

I made another knob today. Now that I'm in the home stretch of doing all the knobs over I don't want to make knob after knob. I'm sick of knobs. I'm on a wine-stopper kick right now. I want to make one for each of my contractors as a small token of my appreciation (in addition to the many many green paper tokens of my appreciation). They aren't bead wearers I'm sure, so a wine stopper is about as neutral as I can make.

I'd better save something to write about tomorrow.