house guest ... from texas`

It is Thanksgiving and there is family visiting. Have you ever had those house guests that just drive you crazy? The house is too cold, the bed is too hard and they don't like anything you have to eat or drink. My sister has family in and they are driving her crazy. The in-laws ... mother, father and brother - in laws. There was a very special dinner tonight at their house. Mom-in-law planned and cooked. She came in and took over the kitchen. There was a very nice center piece on the dining room table, but it wasn't big enough for the important people coming for dinner. So she rearranged the dining room, she added everything she could find to the center piece, she added candles and had the table all decked out so much that the plates would barely fit. The important people from a university in KC came. Dinner was a success ... and then it happened. Everyone was sitting around the dining room table just talking and visiting. Important stuffy people ... everyone probably wishing they were somewhere else ... and someone says ... i think the centerpiece is on fire. After all the fuss about how imperfect the center piece was at the end of the night, it went up in flames. It just goes to show ... bigger isn't always better unless you want to roast marshmallows.

Casper ... the naked ghost

My sister has just returned from a visit to Chicago. She came home with this story about her friend’s niece (Molly) and her boyfriend (Dan) … the boyfriend and his family had never been big believers in ghosts but over the last three months or so, they had decided it wasn’t so unbelievable because they had one living in their house. They heard noises in the attic at night. Things around the house were moved when they were out and even food was missing from time to time. School was let out early one day so Dan took Molly to his house to wait for her mom to pick her up. Molly sat at the family computer and out of the corner of her eye … she thought she saw a naked man run down the hall. “That is our ghost!” No one had believed that they had a ghost but now Molly had seen him. He ran down the hall naked. He eats their food, moves things around and now runs around the house naked. What the heck?!? Later that night Dan’s dad went to the coat closet to hang up his coat and found a pile of clothes in the floor. He pick up the clothes, a bit confused as to why they were there, and what did he find? A naked man in the closet. It was their ghost, naked and hiding under a pile of clothes in the coat closet. The moral of the story ... if he is naked, he probably isn't a ghost. Apparently, this homeless man had been living in their attic for about 3 months, coming down during the day to shower and eat. I of course didn't find this odd at all ... as the man in my house is naked a lot ... just not running.

Cranberry sauce ... Are you kidding me?

It is getting close to Thanksgiving and because I am such a planner, I called my sister for the menu for turkey day. It was the usual stuff ... Turkey, Turducken, dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, pecan pie ... and on and on and on. When I was single, my responsibility was soda and a can of jellied cranberry sauce. Then I got married and moved to Columbia, so my responsibility didn't change, they said because of the traveling. We would come to Springfield for family BBQ's and I would ask, "what should I bring" the answer was always the same ... chips and soda. When I lived in Columbia, I held family gatherings for Gary's family and was able to prepare the entire dinner for 4 to 15 people. This is my second year back in Springfield. Last year we went to Columbia for Thanksgiving. So, you guessed it ... this was my big year. In a family where mashed potatoes have never come from a box, where pie crust have never been frozen, where everything is homemade and you have never had a bad meal ... and this year, it was my time to participate. My sister called me today to give me the menu and my responsibility ... and here it is ... corn. Butter, cream cheese, corn, salt and pepper, and sugar. Throw it in the crockpot and cook it for 4 hours. CORN. 10 seconds of prep and then just sit and watch the crockpot. Are you kidding me?

Hooters helps your hearing

My husband does not like loud places. When he goes out to eat, he likes to relax and eat in peace. Last night Phred, Hannah, Gary and I went to Hooters for dinner. It was a football Thursday and it was very loud, but for some reason, Gary didn't notice. He was cheerful, talkative and had no trouble hearing what the waitress said to him. Sometimes Gary can appear to be a bump on a log but now not only does magic tea make him come out of his shell but so does dinner at Hooters. Had we been at ... El Chico lets say, he would not have been so cheerful and I am sure that it has nothing to do with their waitstaff being mainly men. I am not sure how it happens but we never have bad service at Hooters, even if we have to eat our dinner with no drinks, napkins or silverware or if we have to wait a couple of hours for our food. We never have bad food, even if it is under cooked or burnt. You can have a horrible day and once you go to Hooters for dinner and the cute little waitress comes up and sets her Hooters on the table ... all is well with the world. It is a good night at our house if the chubby wife gets Buffalo Shrimp and the husband gets to flirt with his Hooters waitress.

50 shopping days until Christmas

My husband truly thinks I am a freak. I have a system for doing my Christmas shopping. I make a list of everyone I need to buy gifts for and then I just jot down ideas all year long. I buy gifts all year long so that by December 1 I am close to being done so that I can enjoy the holiday season without the stress of gift buying. This year I am trying something different. I am working on my list but am waiting until after Thanksgiving to start buying for the little kids. They usually have all kinds of things on sale after Thanksgiving. IT IS DRIVING ME NUTS. I have been to Toys R Us about 7 times ... walking around touching things. I have only bought one thing. I just need to go shopping and buy a gift. I have now just started adding random people to my Christmas list so that I can go buy stuff. If I can't buy gifts for the little ones, I will just buy for anyone. I freaked out last night because Thanksgiving is 27th and we have our "Baugh Christmas" on December 13. That is only 16 days to shop. I have to look at ads, go to stores, make lists, go to more stores and make more lists and then buy ... and that process is per item. I don't think that 16 days is enough. What if all of the good toys are gone by November 27? What them ... OMG ... I have to go shopping. I will just buy one thing ... something small. Maybe just a stocking stuffer.