Winter Weather for A Day

Well, we are having our yearly scheduled winter day today...I made it to work just fine this AM, but when it started to snow around 1230 I decided to call it quits since cars don't do winter tires up here in North TX. THe Husband is missing all the excitement as he's in DC visiting his grandma. Lucky man.
So I got home way too early in the day; despite that, I put in a full workdays' worth of tasks at work by noon, what with anticipating getting out early. So my brain is a bit fried; of course the fact that the cats decided I absolutely HAD to get out of bed to feed them at 0530 did not help...

Back from Arkansas

A lovely mini-vacation we had...much feasting, resting, walking and stargazing in the Ouachitas.

This was part of the food.

DO you know how to make gravy for 50? I do, now...:-)

And still under the weather...

This is a tough one...to shake this stupid sickness I mean. I am juggling stuff at work, travel plans at work, stuff around the house plus going out of town for Thanksgiving...so recovering is not going the way I usually plan this thing, inasmuch as you can plan your recovery from anything.
But I have a large amount of Christmas shopping done already, or planned out...and I managed to perfect my pecan pie recipe this year, so I am proud of myself. Now to make that chicken soup tonight that really nourishes, and possibly use up the apples too by baking them into another pie, or an apple cake? Possibilities, possibilities...as long as The Husband does the dishes, I can fiddle around with recipes all day...Hmmm...

Yikes!

Gotten The Bug somehow over this weekend (after escaping it when everyone else had it). Narsty head-chest cold manifestation of it too...Had a short trip to Houston Monday evening/Tuesday--had to cut short and back to Dallas last evening (work-related madness). I am sure that did not help The Bug either, even though I felt better in Houston actually (The Bug Is In Da House, I guess?) Need to sit at home and sip hot tea and soup...

Re-reading The Black Company series by Glen Cook. M-m-m...I forgot just how powerful simple writing can be. I think it's out of print now, but if you can get the series, go for it. It starts with The Black Company and it ends with Soldiers Live.

Links!

I linked up my beautiful and talented sister-in-law's new blog on the right side under "Bunnyfriends" for your enjoyment. I am glad we infected her with the blog-virus...she mostly, she says, will review books on the site whixh will make me mightly happy.

Also, in case my dear readers haven't stumbled into this one yet, I give unto thee: Geoffrey Chaucer's Blog...Pure fun!

Treat. Definitely Treat.

Whooo-boy, we had a ton of little people visiting last night! My neighbors the Lizard Queen and her hubby, The Marmot and JanusGate spent the evening at our place, and even with our unified candy ammo (which was considerable, let me tell you) the LQ had to make an emergency run for more candy, because they just kept coming...As opposed to last year, when I got stuck with three bags of primo chocolate I was forced to eat...(sigh)
I think the porch decoration and the little lamps The Husband wove into the peach tree on the corner made all the difference. Or our neighborhood just had a large influx of young families moved in, I am not sure. But we had them ringing the bell until about 2130. And most of them wore costumes !
And here's what I noticed: there were these groups of about 8 kids age ranging from 4 to 10, accompanied by 2 teenagers of about 15-17, who were acting so totally responsible and neat, it was a joy to see. "Come around here, John, you already go your candy, let Lisa get herss." "Say Happy Halloween..." "Zip that jacket up, it is chilly." Wonderful!

All in all, it's a pity The Husband missed the evening (he was teaching). We had such fun!