Nov 30, 2008

Thanksgiving dinner on Friday came out great! The cats weren't impressed, as you can see. We had them locked in the kennel, as the 18 people (including the 2 yr old) would have been a bit too much for them.

We had turkey, ham and all the trimmings. Linda brought over her carrot casserole (YUMMM!) and Brussels sprouts and Sandra supplied a Caesar salad.

Last night Ron and I met with Jim and Linda for a viewing of "Quantum of Solace". . .I thought it quite good. I think Twilight is next on the agenda, as the others haven't seen it yet.

Only a couple of days left and a few more loose ends to tie up yet. . .Gotta go work on them again now. . .

Nov 27, 2008 (American Thanksgiving)

Today was the Invertebrate zoology lab final for me. I did he usual, study, study, study, then blank for the test. Ah well, it's done now.

Tomorrow we will have a houseful for Thanksgiving number two. . .we celebrate the Canadian one in October. The kids and I baked 2 pumpkin and 2 lemon meringue pies this evening.

I have a "group project" due Monday night (along with a final) and my drawing portfolio is due early Tuesday morning (neither project is finished yet!!!). Fortunately, after that life gets back to a more manageable level of activity for me until January.

Adam's 17th Birthday

Today Adam is 17 years old. In some ways this seems a surreal statement to me. Those who know him should understand; for those who don't, I'm not sure I'm equipped to explain. He is still a VERY young 17 in many ways, but will occasionally give a glimpse of the man he will become one day. He is a kind, generous, and thoughtful older brother much of the time. . .he can be domineering and thoughtless at other times, just as any big brother is wont to.

We celebrated with gifts and cake last night, since Ron worked and the rest of us spent the morning at church today. He requested a white cake with chocolate butter-cream icing and a chocolate-lavender ganache filling. It came out pretty well, and I will have to try to recreate it again another time.

We made Kaili's week last Thursday night when I took her to the 10 pm "sneak preview" of the Twilight movie. She is reading through the series for the second time and thought she would have to wait for it to come out on DVD. It was quite the experience. I think there were 10 Y-chromosomes in the theater and about 15 of us over the age of 25. The rest of the auditorium was filled with screaming, chatting, bouncing teen girls. I was a little apprehensive about seeing the film, as I had enjoyed the books so much (film versions can be so disappointing). I was pleasantly surprised. The movie itself was very entertaining, and was fairly true to the book; if a bit cheesy and the make-up needed help. The girls and the almost cult-ish-party atmosphere reminded me a little of "The Rocky-Horror" midnight movies of the '70's. Many of the girls were wearing homemade tee shirts featuring book quotes or character names. In the line-up and while waiting for the film to begin, there was an excited chatter, with everyone talking to everyone else. During the movie, a couple of scenes were verbatim from the book, and I heard girls reciting them with the characters. There were at least two scenes that would not be very funny unless you had read the book; then they were hilarious! Kaili says it is "officially her favorite movie" now.

The weather continues cool and mostly clear here and my schedule remains nutty for anther 10 days or so.