I just got finished watching the Andrea Bocelli My Christmas special on PBS. It was fantastic! If you are a Andrea Bocelli fan, you don't want to miss this. Even if you are not a fan, you don't want to miss it. It will be on 3 more times in Alabama. Check the website for your state's public television for the times in your area. When he performed "The Lord's Prayer" with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, chills went over me.

I hope everyone has a good Sunday!

Happy Day After Thanksgiving and...WAR EAGLE!!

We had a good Thanksgiving. My sweet mother did almost all of the cooking. I mixed up a cranberry salad and she poured it into the mold. I also mixed up the filling for a pecan pie and a chocolate pecan pie for her to pour into the shells and bake. That's all I did. She normally makes a sweet potato casserole with pecan topping. This year she made sweet potato dumplings. I was skeptical, but they turned out great. All you do is take frozen sweet potato patties, cut each in half, and wrap each in a Pillsbury crescent roll. Put them in a baking dish and pour a mixture of melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans over them. Bake for 25 minutes. We had so much food left over. My sister fixed her next door neighbor a plate and took it to him. We'll eat the leftovers today and tomorrow.

This afternoon is set aside to watch what in Alabama call THE IRON BOWL That's what we call the Auburn-Alabama football game. This year Alabama is undefeated and number 2 in the nation, but we will be pulling for Auburn. I graduated from Auburn which makes me a DYE HARD AUBURN FAN (Pat Dye was the head coach in the 80's, hence the spelling of the word "DYE" instead of "DIE"). There are a lot of people in the state that are rabid fans of their team. We sort of turn our noses up at them. I think it's a little much to center your life around a college football team, especially if you've never even been to the town where the college is located. Then, if their team loses, it becomes the end of the world. Then they get on a campaign to fire the coach...all because they lose one football game. I'm sure there are people in other states that are the same way, but it seems like Alabama is the worst.

I hope everyone has a good Friday. If you go shopping, I hope you find some good deals, and please, please be careful.

Happy Friday and.......WAR EAGLE!!!!

**UPDATE: Auburn fought hard and led for most of the game, but Alabama scored the winning touchdown with only 1:29 left in the game. Auburn did not have time to score another touchdown. I'm still proud of the good game that they played today. They played their hearts out, but lost 26-21. WAR EAGLE, anyway.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. We usually go to my sister and brother-in-law's house, but those plans got changed. They host both sides of the family, plus invite friends that don't have plans. My brother-in-law's mother has been in bad health lately, so his family wanted to eat at her house. We were invited, but it would be hard for me to get into her house. Her house is small and I take up a lot of room with my foot propped up. My mother decided that she would cook and we would eat ours at a different time. Afterwards, my sister wants to go to Huntsville for the Galaxy of Lights at the Botanical Gardens. That should be fun. I won't even have to get out of the car.

Our menu for Thanksgiving is the same as every year. We always have: Turkey and dressing (we don't call it stuffing), gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry salad, LeSuer green peas (it's not Thanksgiving without them), canned cranberry sauce with whole cranberries, pecan pie and chocolate pecan pie. My mother makes the best dressing that I have ever tasted. I guess she learned from my grandmother. I'm the only one that likes pumpkin pie, so we don't make that, but there is a store bought pumpkin pie in the refrigerator if anyone wants a slice. Someone gave my mother a mess of turnip greens. She might cook them and share with my brother-in-law's mother.

What do you normally eat for Thanksgiving?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

When it rains, it pours around here. Friday, my mother went to Home Depot and bought some tulip bulbs. She planted them that afternoon. She woke up during the night itching. She realized that she had poison ivy. Her yard man got rid of it, but she said the oil was probably lingering in the grass. It is all over her right arm, her neck and her inside thigh. She went to the doctor today and got a shot and a couple of prescriptions. I know she is miserable. She is highly allergic. Many years ago, my father was burning brush behind the house. She walked out there to take him a glass of water and came right back in. The next day she was broken out with poison ivy. The doctor said that the smoke from the fire settled on her skin and it had the poison in it.

Yesterday, was a dark, rainy day. We laid around and watched TV all day. As soon as Frasier goes off, I'm going to take my bath and wash my hair. Then I'm going to get my mother to take a desk chair into the kitchen. I'm going to wash my Tea Drop tea maker and clean out the water lines with vinegar. As soon as I'm done, I'm going to make me a pot of Twining's Christmas Tea. I buy several boxes at the Fresh Market the day after Christmas. I drink it all year long. I'm thinking about ordering a tin of Harney's Cranberry Autumn and a tin of Harney's Holiday. Yes, I will drink those throughout the year also.

I hope everyone has a good Monday.

Last night and this afternoon, I went out to a restaurant to eat. It is good to get out, plus I feel guilty for making my mother sit her and eat. We both hate being couped up in the house. Plus, we get to see people.

I think I fell for an email scam. I have an extra email account. I got a email from Window Live Hotmail alert. After I responded, I realized that is should have been Windows Live Hotmail Alert. I sent them info about me. I guess I need to report it to Hotmail. Maybe if I change my password right now, I'll be somewhat protected. Plus, I need to report it to Hotmail. It looked legit, but don't they all.

I hope that everyone enjoys the remainder of the weekend.

Yesterday, I had a lazy day. When I woke up, I had a sinus headache. I took a sinus tablet and slept for awhile. When I woke up from my nap, my headache was gone, but I was groggy for awhile. I sat around in my gown all day.

Today, I felt more motivated to do some things. Instead of just drying my hair, I also styled it. Instead of sweatpants and a turtleneck, I am wearing blue jeans, a Brooks Brother pink/white striped OCBD, and my pearls. Later I will put on a Brooks Brothers gray wool cardigan. Tonight, my mother and I are going out to eat at a local restaurant. It will be good to get out.

What I would really like to do tonight is go to Huntsville to Bridge Street Centre. They are having their tree lighting, plus....The Pink Pelican is having a Mad Men party as their grand opening. I don't think that I can manage going. Maybe I can go out there on December 26.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

I have been very productive today. I worked on genealogy, read blogs, looked at the supermarket circulars, emailed, etc. Since I can sit in my comfortable chair and use the computer, I have been able to catch up reading everyone's blogs. I feel like I am back in circulation, even though I am confined to this chair all day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Tomorrow, I am going to help my mother (the best that I can) to clean up around the chair and get my stuff organized. My sister's foster son is going to go eat with us tomorrow night. It will be good for me to get out of the house.

A friend of my mother's has volunteered me to address envelopes for a project that he is chairing. If I had some labels, I could do it on my computer. I love to play with the label maker on avery.com. It will be something to do while I'm sitting here.

I hope everyone has a good Thursday.

I finally got a laptop. I've been intending on purchasing one for about six months now. The one that I wanted was on sale at Best Buy this weekend. My sister went and picked it up for me. I can now sit in my chair with my foot propped up and use the computer. I haven't been able to sit at the computer desk very long. My foot starts hurting after a few minutes.

This past weekend, I was able to do more than I have been. Friday night, I was able to go out to eat in a restaurant. We went to a restaurant that did not have any step ups. The owner's son helped me to a table and helped get my foot propped up. He was so attentive. Saturday, my mother and I went to Birmingham to check on things. BFF MAB came over and we all went out to eat at Panera. Then we went back to my house and visited for awhile. Sunday morning, my mother and I headed back to her house. We stopped at Panera and got bagels. Then we went to Aveda and then to eat at the Cracker Barrel. I was so tired when I got home. Yesterday morning, I didn't feel well. I think I did too much over the weekend.

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, my mother works at the store. The new owners wanted her to work 2 days a week. I think she enjoys it. It gives her something to do, plus a little pin money. When she is at work, I try not to get up and roam around. I sit in my chair all day and watch TV. Unfortunately, I'm not real fond of daytime TV. I usually watch Matlock, Frasier, Will & Grace, Barefoot Contessa and Paula Deen. Sometimes HBO has a good movie that I want to watch. I have a few DVD's that I can watch on my laptop. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, I can manage a little better.

I hope everyone has a great Wednesday.

I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted. It is hard for me to sit at the computer. I have a hard time propping up my foot. I try to keep up with everyone's blogs when I can.

First of all...Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. I really appreciate it.

I went to the doctor yesterday. He said everything was going well. He told me to come back in 6 weeks. He also said that I cannot put any weight on my foot until I see him again. When he wrote my work excuse, he put that I would not be able to go back to work for 6 weeks. I'm going to stay at my mother's house until Christmas. I'm hoping that in a couple of weeks, I can be a little more self-sufficient. I can get around okay on crutches, but I can't carry anything. I use a plastic grocery bag to carry light weight things. I'm trying to think of a way that I can set up some kind of station in the kitchen so that I can help with cooking, especially for Thanksgiving.

When I told Queenie that I would not be back for 6 weeks, she seemed upset. Then she said, "You're going to get off work for all of the holidays." It's not like I'm going to be partying hardy during the holidays. Then she said that I'm going to be off longer than a heart patient. I tried to explain to her that I couldn't put any weight at all on my foot. Maybe she'll get over it. My boss was really nice about it. He told me to be stay off of my foot, watch plenty of TV and read. I think I will take his advice. The only problem, there's not much on TV that I like. My mother doesn't have a DVD player, but has a VCR. We're going to Birmingham this weekend. I may bring back some movies on VHS. I've been recording stuff as I see it on, but as I said earlier, there's not much on.

Thanks again for the well wishes. I'll post when I can.