Why I got married

They say you should marry someone who makes you laugh everyday. Well, I think I chose very well. Husband makes me laugh often and sometimes even lets me document his antics. He's such a good sport!

In search of Autumn

Autumn is my favourite time of year, and it is one of the main reasons I lived in New England for as long as I did. The winters there may be snowy and brutal; the springtime rainy and miserable; the summers hot and humid; but Autumn is New England's season. It can't be beat. It is what New Englanders live for. Since moving to Central Texas, I have been trying to accept the different weather patterns, but I knew that I would miss Autumn. Thankfully and fortunately, there is a State Park that for some unknown reason is full of Maple Trees. Each Autumn, the trees turn magnificent colours of red and orange. It is a very popular place to visit in October, and I was determined to see it! We made a camping reservation in July, and I counted the days until I could see the beautiful fall colours. Well, because this year has been so unusual weather-wise, the trees, which are normally ablaze with colour at this time, were still pretty green. We did get to see some pretty colours, but not as much as I was hoping for. I guess that's how it goes right? We still enjoyed being out in nature and went on a lovely hike. Maybe next year, the weather will cooperate.

I should have known the trip would not live up to my expectations when we were greeted by a tarantula as we pulled into the campground.

He's looking for the red leaves, honest. He's not a creepy stalker...

Yippee! Colour!



Look at all that green. It was a nice contrast to the trees that had turned.

Super Saturday

This past Saturday, the women of my church congregation got together and spent the morning crafting. I made a chalk/flannel board. I am pretty proud of myself. Now I need to make some pieces to go on the flannel board.

Let's talk turkey

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada. Being Canadian myself, I cooked Thanksgiving dinner, even though we aren't in Canada (To all my American readers: Yes, we have Thanksgiving in Canada. No, it has nothing to do with the Pilgrims. No, we don't have a cool story about the first Thanksgiving. No, we didn't steal it from you. You didn't invent being thankful!). Because it's just the two of us, I bought a small 2 pound turkey breast. The instructions said to cook it for 2 hours. Well, 2 hours later, when I stuck my meat thermometer in to check the temperature, the gage moved backwards! Ummm...pretty sure that is not supposed to happen. So I cut into the turkey a bit; still ice cold. This presented a bit of a problem because everything else (potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, etc) was minutes away from being done! So, I cranked up the oven a bit, and found ways to keep the other dishes warm until the turkey finally decided to be done (thank goodness for multiple crockpots with a "warm" setting!). Total turkey cooking time: 3 hours, 10 minutes. Now I am no expert on cooking turkeys (my experience is limited to the one I cooked last Christmas), but I am pretty sure a 2 pound turkey breast is not supposed to take 3 hours to cook. Does that sound too long to anyone else?

Who needs Martha?

We don't have a lot of space in our apartment so I had to get creative with decorating. I had to decide what decorations to put out and what ones would have to wait another year or two to be put on display. I guess the theme is "less is more" this year (And I have to admit I am already worrying about how to decorate for Christmas!).

Some of my long-time and loyal readers (Stop laughing! A blogger can dream, can't she?) may remember that jar from my Halloween decoration post last year. After everything I had to do to secure that jar, you better believe I will be using it for many years to come.

There's no place like home

I made a short trip home last week. I don't want this to be a travel-log because those can be boring. So, instead, here's some pictures: (which I admit can also be boring, but I added my own witty comments for your entertainment!)

Oh how I miss the beautiful fields!


We attended my brother's football game (He's #50). Is there anything better than a football game on a warm autumn night?

One of the local greenhouses had a pumpkin festival. This was the largest pumpkin I have ever seen! How in the world does someone grow something this big?

With my 8 month old nephew on the big pumpkin. We took a million pictures and he wasn't looking up in any of them. He has a mind of his own, that's for sure!

Pretty, pretty pumpkins

Goose on the lake with autumn leaves behind him (or her).



A maple dipped doughnut from Tim Horton's. These are definitely the reason I gained 700 pounds in 5 days. I guess 3 or 4 doughnuts a day will do that to a girl!

My nephew, Kaleb. How cute is he? (By the way, in case you were wondering, he really enjoys cookies!)




My other nephew, enjoying his hot dog.

We like to start them young on the whole hockey thing up in the Great White North.




This kids cracks me up! I kept trying to figure out how to bring him back with me. Unfortunately his parents actually love him and wouldn't let me take him. Maybe next time...



One of the emergency vehicles waiting for our plane on the runway after our emergency landing 15 minutes after take off! There was a problem with the landing gear not retracting. Apparently that's not a good thing. I guess it is standard procedure for emergency vehicles to meet planes during emergency landings. I did not know that. They say you learn something new everyday. I would have liked it if this new piece of information came to me in a different way!