Well, no sooner did we feel a chill in the air than I was inspired to get out my Thanksgiving menu grid, get serious about Christmas shopping, and look through my holiday magazines to find some new recipes to try. Part of me wishes we'd have cool/cold weather all year long, and the other part of me knows that I'd miss the change--that sudden rush of high energy and optimism and yes, ecstasy that fall brings me every year.

But of course, with changes in the weather come risks. We have a metal gazebo with nice zip-up mosquito netting and an outdoor chandelier light fixture on our deck...or rather we did. It's usually screwed down onto the deck because everything we own blows away out here, but when Dave got ready to resurface and enlarge the deck we unscrewed it and put it in the yard. Alas, we waited one day too late to replace it, and now it's just a memory, sawed up into pieces and waiting for the dump. High winds threw it across the deck and very nearly into our Suburban, stopped only by other deck furniture that was in its path. So...now we have 1400 square feet of new decking with very little on it.

If you've ever misplaced your cell phone and your land line isn't handy to call from, here's a quick, nifty way to get it to ring. (Now, if you've left your ringer off, you're on your own.) Where's My Cell Phone?

And speaking of phones, we're about six inches away from the decision to give up a land line altogether. We can always be reached by cell phone, and for the two youngest who don't have cell phones yet, we can get one cell to be left here in the house for when all of us are gone and they need to reach us or be reached. Tacking a new cell onto one of our two family plans will just cost us $9.99 a month, much less than what we're paying to keep a redundant land line.

I LOVE this quote from Mark Steyn on Obama's hemming and hawing over Afghanistan when he'd really rather being working on socialized medicine: "Why squander your presidency on trying to turn an economically moribund feudal backwater into a functioning nation state when you can turn a functioning nation state into an economically moribund feudal backwater?"

For your afternoon historical/political reading assignment, I submit this piece from Townhall. (hat tip: Pam Y., who wonders with me why we see Dick Morris everywhere but never his wife/coauthor Eileen McGann.)

Anyone know a good source for inexpensive but dishwasher-safe charger plates?

Many of us are holding our breath waiting for the new cookbook--The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl . It will be out week after next...go pre-order one. And if you aren't already hooked on her web site, go here and here.

Have you enjoyed a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte yet this season? Ahhh....and I can already taste the upcoming EGGNOG Latte. What day does that start?

This is a fun story. Something about it smacks of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers...do guys still do this?

Granddaughter Carrie, 5, came in my room this week and looked at my bed. I have a very large feather body pillow that helps me greatly (now that I'm sleeping in the bed again) by giving me a place to rest one of my legs and keep pressure off my hip. It was under the covers and the quilt was spread up over it when Carrie arrived. She looked at it, looked at me, looked back at the bed, back at me, and said, "Granny, did you put that under there so I would think it was you?"

Smiling with you through a new week!

Labels: Food, Good Stuff, Grandkids, Holidays, ObamaNation