Kona is in the house!

Our Kona arrived today. Actually, I think it was in town last week, but Pete picked it up today. I am so looking forward to that cup of joe tomorrow morning. Yum.

We buy it from the son of a retired Penn State Professor. The son lives on the big island of Hawaii. We order every year.

Last year, the coffee didn't taste as good as I had expected but, to be fair, our coffee pot was old and it broke not soon after the new year. I think it wasn't working too well and didn't deserve to brew such wonderful coffee as Kona. This year we have a new fangled fancy coffee pot that my sister-in-law gave us. I think she felt sorry for us because of the crappy coffee pot last year when they visited for Christmas. I don't mind being pitied if it results in having a nice coffee pot.

Speaking of the sister-in-law, we are going to take a quick trip to "the City" (New York City to all of you outside of the Northeast LOL) this weekend. I really want the kids to see the Christmas decorations in the store windows. And we have a dog sitter! woo hoo. Life is sweet.

Here's the Beef

Our cow was ready this week. We bought 1/4 of a beef cow. We went in with 3 other families and split a cow 4 ways. Now, this is what I call local. We bought it from a couple who live about 2 miles down the road from us. This cow was grass fed and finished off on corn so that the meat would be marbled. The next day we had New York strip and I have to say it was so tender and full of flavor. We had rosemary potatoes and green beans along with it. I dare say, one of my favorite meals.

Found!

I found my camera! Yay! It turns out that my sweet, lovely daughter had put it under a pillow on a couch for "safe keeping." I was about to vacuum the dog hair off the couch (it never ends) and picked up the throw pillow and voila, there it was. I'm so happy that I'm not mad at Kendall. Whew! I didn't want to spend $100 bucks on a camera and I really like my old one.

I think I'm going to be sick

I've lost my digital camera. I guess there will be no Christmas cards this year...

Gotta go and throw up.

Our Thanksgiving.

I worked today at the hospital. It was slow, which is good since I can't remember when I worked last, and felt like I had to think about stuff twice. I always feel so out of it at work when I haven't been there for a while. Good thing they are understanding.

The Thanksgiving holiday was nice. We drove to Boston on Wednesday and while the traffic was heavy, it wasn't unbearable. We made it in 8 hours--with two kids and two dogs. Not bad, if I have to say so myself.

Pete's mom was a little worse than the last time we saw her. She can't see much now and forgets who is sitting right by her. Pete's dad can't take her on business trips anymore since she requires someone to watch her 100% of the time. So sad.

Thanksgiving day was a busy one with too many cooks in the kitchen, if you know what I mean. Nana arrived around 10 am and was busy giving orders and double-checking everything. She's still got it at 95. And we all know better than to argue with her. :)

My pecan pie turned out nice and I also made cornbread stuffing/dressing. Since I couldn't go home to the south, I had to make a southern dish. The rest of the food was delicious, too. Everyone agreed that Pete's sweet potatoes was the favorite. (except for Nana's turkey, of course.)

Friday night Anne (Pete's sister), Thomas (her husband), Pete, and I saw Quantum of Solace. It is the new James Bond movie. We really liked it. And it wasn't too long. (With that said, I would like to see Australia anyway). Pete's dad and Nana watched the children. Pete and Anne were walking around Harvard Square saying things like, "remember the shop that was in that building?" and "dad used to go to the barber in that building." I can just imagine how fun it was to walk around there as a teenager.

Saturday we left Cambridge with all the intentions of driving all the way home. We stopped about 4 hours down the road near West Point, NY. Pete's old HS and college friend, Ben, was visiting his parents. He and his wife and daughter were in the country from Taiwan and we wanted to see them. We ended up staying the night. One of Ben's brothers is in a band and we all went out to a dive bar to see him--5$ cover. I think Ben paid for us. Ben and another brother wanted to show their support. The band was actually pretty good. We had left the kids at Ben's parents house. So, two dates two night in a row. Wow! We stayed up until 2 am which didn't seem like a bad idea until Sunday morning around 7:30 am. Ugh.

I got up, didn't shower, drank some coffee and ate some breakfast. We woke up Kendall (Clayton, aka alarm clock was already up) and loaded up the car and drove another 4 hours until we arrived in good ole central PA. Needless to say, we were tired. I mean so tired it was impossible to be nice tired.

So there you have it. My Thanksgiving in a nut shell. And how was yours?