Only a week late but Thankful none the less

Celebrating what is truly an American Holiday overseas is very different but I managed.  There was no turkey to be had and I have since learned it's because turkey is a Christmas tradition in Germany.  Also I would need to go to a farm to pick my turkey out and then they would slaughter it for me.  WTF?  I'm sorry I know people nowadays like to "know" what they are eating and do all organic but I ain't one of them. All my meats come on a foam tray with plastic wrap over them and that's just how it is.  So long story short, I roasted a whole chicken not quite the same but we did ok.  I also made dressing and candied sweet potatoes plus Mark's favorite chess pie! I cooked all day long because don't know I have mentioned it yet, the oven can only hold one pan at a time.  It's actually quite funny because the dishwasher can't even do that.  Now the only thing I hate worse than ironing is washing dishes.  My family knows that you never, ever give me anything that must be hand washed because I'll throw that sucker away and never blink an eye.  So said Thanksgiving feast required lots of hand washing pans but I mustered thru it.  Everything smelled heavenly and I was thinking that I should have invited the young couple from upstairs to experience an American Thanksgiving; that is until I tasted the food!  The chicken was fine because you really can't mess that up but the dressing tasted like I dumped a whole lot of salt in it and by a lot I mean A LOT!!!!  And I might have also burned the sweet potatoes because I forgot I slid them in the oven while we were admiring the chicken.  Good news is the pie was delicious and I made my very first, from scratch pie crust. I mean why learn to make a pie crust when you can get good ones at the store, am I right?  Mark's a Pie Man from way back and I can't believe that he ate those crusts without one complaint.  Not any more!  I'm a firm believer in homemade pie crust now. Of course, I'm not a huge pie lover but put a cake in front of me and all bets are off.  See we just balance each other out so well after 25 years.  LOL!

I wanted to show you what I found at the store and you tell me if you've ever seen these in our stores?  They're made in America and I've never seen this brand before! The back even explains how to roast a marshmallow which I found very funny.

 

I finished the guestroom and I'm pretty happy with it.  And more importantly we balanced my decorating budget and turned in all the receipts.  I not only furnished the entire apartment from kitchen cabinets to lighting to linens to everything but I also still had $23 Euros left over!  I rocked that budget and made every dime (euro) count.  So here's shots of the finished place:

Guestroom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I did a little holiday decorating because I just couldn't stand it!  We're going home for 3 weeks so not much need for holiday decor at either home but I needed it!

 

Entry Hall

 

Living Room

 

Coffee Table

 

Living Room Doorstop/Stool

 

And finally the tree on the bedside table in the Master Bedroom.  I don't think the keys show up but this one is done in hearts and keys

 

Thanks for stopping in to see me and I promise more funny stories later this week.  Now I'm off to walk the cat and get cash from the bank.  My dang card quit working because I did the stupid customer trick of putting it in the same pocket as my cell phone which of course, wiped out the encoding on the back of the card.  I knew that would happen and still did it....silly girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekends never will be the same again!

Forgive me for my absence but I've just not been in bloggy sort of mood lately. Nothing major just hanging  out reading everyone's blogs but not really wanting to update my own.

As you know we are living in an apartment over here and that's taken some adjustment time for all of us.  Clarice can no longer play with her favorite toys aka: golf ball or marbles, I have to put on shoes and clothing along with brushing my hair to just take the garbage out and poor Mark has to hunt for parking space on the street every day but the worst is Thin Walls! Yep that's right boys and girls, really thin, non sound proof, college apartment day walls.  The single lady next door has a new boyfriend that I know all about! I swear the first time I thought "oh no that's not what I'm hearing" but by the 4th time yesterday, I was begging Mark to please, please take me somewhere just anywhere but here. Our living room shares the common wall with her bedroom and she's quite outspoken. Yes, I said 4th time, and Yes, I'm jealous but more importantly I'm wondering how I'm gonna look her in the eye the next time we meet on the stairs. This isn't a large complex just 8 apartments total. I also wonder if I should offer her antibiotics to treat that raging bladder infection that will be caused from having that much sex in a short amount of time....LOL.  This is TMI in the extreme!!!!!!

Now on to more serious things like day trips, antiking jaunts, cooking and stitching.....
I lost my stitching mojo for quite a few days but found it again on Thursday when I discovered Parenthood on tv and watched 3 seasons worth over 2 days.  I had never seen it before but it's really a good show and I can see why it's won so many awards.  We are using Roku to access American tv and I love it because I can turn on mindless tv with no commercials then stitch away. Now the bad part is that older seasons of shows are free but current shows cost $1.99 per episode to watch so we're only paying for Mark's fave Fringe currently. Now after the first of the year we will be getting Sherlock, Downtown Abby and White Collar because those are on my must see list so I've had to start budgeting for those already.  I have really tried watching the German tv shows but I just don't know enough German to follow along with so I get frustrated which is not a good thing when you are just looking for mindless entertainment.  I finished Pineberry Lane's Autumn on Marigold Lane and a quickie BBD Noel plus started E Cunningham from BBD.  I love the muted colors and how they blend nicely with Snowgarden so I'll probably leave it up year round on my sampler wall here in the apartment even though it will have a reindeer stitched on it.  The quickie stitch BBD Noel is not doing much for me because the colors just aren't right so I've got to figure out what I'm going to do with it.  I think I may finally try walnut dye to age it and hopefully make it more prim looking than it is right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 



That's all for today boys and girls because Clarice is insisting that we play a little game of hide and seek before I start cleaning house.  She's so funny because she will hide and jump out to tag you on the back of the leg then run off.  She totally understands the game! Here's one of her new places to hide in the closet and I can't tell you how many times I have shut her in there without knowing it.

 

And finally here is her helping Mark this weekend while he was trying to get some work done