Why I cook Thanksgiving Dinner

There were only going to be three of us for Thanksgiving Dinner this year.  I thought maybe we'd go out to eat, but then I remembered if we did there would be no leftovers.  To me the leftovers are what make it all worthwhile.  So I cooked a big turkey and a few trimmings.  A turkey cooking in the oven makes the whole house smell so good.

Then we had what we needed for the Day After Thanksgiving Dinner.

I'm not crazy about Turkey Soup, so a few years back I searched online for a recipe for leftovers and found this one for Day After Thanksgiving Dinner.  When I looked for the link today I noticed that the recipe has a four star rating and one review given by me in 2011.  I guess this recipe is a hidden gem yet to be discovered by others. :)

I really enjoy this recipe and would like to drum up some support.  Believe me...it's really good.  Please make it and post a review so mine isn't the only one.

This recipe used leftover mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, and gravy.

The potatoes and stuffing are used to make potato/stuffing balls.  Here they are ready to go in the oven.

They turn nice and crispy.  Here they after baking.

Then you make a turkey sauce using some of the gravy and a few other ingredients and adding chopped turkey.  To serve you pour the sauce over the balls.

YUM!  YUM!  YUM!

While I was doing all of this Keith was trying to figure out why the lights on the tree weren't working for me.

Did you know that all the strings must be plugged together in order for them to light? 

"B" as in BEACH for Alphabe-Thursday

Welcome to Alphabe-Thursday sponsored by Ms. Jenny at Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent."  This week we are studying the letter "B" as in BEACH.

Last week I was down in Galveston and planned to take pictures of the BEACH for this week's Alphabe-Thursday, but it was raining.  So, I decided to use some pictures of the Galveston BEACH that I took on December 25, 2004...almost ten years ago.

I don't think the people in Buffalo, New York will understand my excitement, but that year on Christmas Eve it snowed.

 On the rare occasion that it snows in these parts it's usually flurries that melt before they hit the ground. This snow was different.  It kept coming down and eventually it stuck!  I took the above picture around 10:00 o'clock at night.  I could hear kids outside playing.  Parents wanted their kids to have a chance to play in the snow so they let them go out.

We had reservations at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston for Christmas dinner.  It's about 30 miles from here and it took us over an hour to get there.  The snow on the freeway kept traffic to a crawl.  This is a picture of the Galveston Causeway Bridge that we have to cross to get on the island.

The hotel is located right across the street from the BEACH.  Here's a picture of the Gulf Of Mexico surrounded by snow.  To the right is a pier that goes out over the Gulf.  This picture was taken from the front of the hotel.  You can't really see the BEACH since it's lower than the road.  You'll have to take my word for it...there was snow on the BEACH.

Here's another view.  You can see the Gulf on the right.

You've got to admit that snow and palm trees are an unusual combination.

Look at this!  Children got to build snowmen!  This house was on my street.  Sadly, the snow didn't last long.

We had our Christmas dinner and by the time we came out the snow was melting rapidly.

People called it the Christmas miracle.  It was the first Christmas Eve snow in Houston's history according to Wikpedia. 

I've never been more excited about a snowfall.  I grew up in New Jersey so it's not like I've never seen snow before.  However, snow here is different.

OK, so Buffalo got a little more snow than us.

I can guarantee you that we enjoyed our snow more!

Now head over to Jenny's blog for a list of this week's participants.  Thanks for visiting.

Pre-Thanksgiving Activities

Let's play dolls!

Pre-Thanksgiving Activities With My Dolls

The "SAVE TOM" Campaign

"A" as in APOLLO for Alphabe-Thursday

It's the beginning of another round of Alphabe-Thursday sponsored by Ms. Jenny at Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent."  Today we are studying the letter "A" as in APOLLO.

For this round of Alphabe-Thursday I'm going to try and take you on a journey around my neck of the woods...Houston, Texas.

I drove over to Space Center Houston today which is located right next to the Johnson Space Center.  I like you but I didn't want to pay the $16.95 price to get inside.  It's $16.95 online or $21.95 at the door and that's Senior Citizen prices.  So, I had to go to the free little park they have right outside the entrance.  I know I've taken pictures here before, but it's FREE!

This is a fake APPOLO capsule.  NASA doesn't call it fake...that's my terminology.  These prototype command modules were called boilerplates by NASA and were used for preflight testing.  I have no idea why they called them boilerplates.  Kind of a strange name...huh?

I took a picture of the sign and if you click on it you might be able to read the description.

If you'd like to see an actual APOLLO spacecraft there's one on display inside Space Center Houston and at other locations around the USA (and London, England).  Click here for those locations.

If you'd like to learn more about the APOLLO program this documentary was made for the 40th Anniversary of the APOLLO program by NASA.

If you want to watch an exciting movie try APOLLO 13 with Tom Hanks.  I highly recommend it.

Now head over to Jenny's blog for a list of this week's participants.  Thank you for visiting!

"Z" as in making ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's for Alphabe-Thursday

Welcome to Alphabe-Thursday sponsored by Ms. Jenny at Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent."  This week we are studying the letter "Z" as in making ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's.

In keeping with my doll theme for this round of Alphabe-Thursday...

...here she is making ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's.

Now head over to Ms. Jenny's blog for a list of this week's participants.  Thank you for visiting.

"Y" as in YELLOW

This week we are studying the letter "Y" for Alphabe-Thursday sponsored by Ms. Jenny at Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent."

Our weather finally cooled off a little and I've been spending time out in the garage trying to get a wooden trash can painted for the kitchen and a table finished that I started working on over a year ago.  I only have a limited amount of time to work on this kind of stuff since days like this are few and far between.  I wish we had basements here!

All of a sudden it was time for Alphabe-Thursday!  I had to dip into my archives to come up with something.  How about "Y" as in YELLOW? 

Some years back I got together with some Ginny Doll friends.  One of the ladies made our dolls ice hockey uniforms.  They wore YELLOW shirts.  I could be mistaken but I believe their helmets were made out of those Leggs eggs that held panty hose and were sold in grocery stores some years back.

She made an ice rink too.

 Things got ugly but that's how it is with Ice Hockey.

I think these pictures were taken with my very first digital camera.

Now head over to Ms. Jenny's blog for a list of this week's participants.  Thanks for visiting.