and the Countdown's begin...

I’m starting to think about Thanksgiving and planning and such, which is HUGE for me, since it is a whole 15 days away. Yes, I even have a countdown started! (I also have a countdown for Christmas started – well, by started, I mean that I am aware that it is 44 days away.) I have never even thought about Christmas so early – probably because 44 days seems like a.very.long.time.away for someone who likes to do things last minute. Unlike, shall we say, my Mother, who is known for being a tad obsessive-compulsive in the organizing department, and who reminds me every year on June 25th, that “it is only 6 more months until Christmas!!” And she actually starts preparing! Way too much for my brain processing facilities, but I’m trying to turn a new leaf, so for right now I am focusing on the 15 days until Thanksgiving…

In honor of this, last night at dinner, which, on a side note, actually turned out to be a big success. I needed to go to the store, but instead ended up making quesadillas with the tortillas and cheese we had in the fridge. I was concerned that the kids wouldn’t be thrilled about the dinner, so I squirted some ketchup on the quesadilla triangles and voila! Instant hit!

After dinner, we cut up some craft paper in the shape of leaves and everyone took a turn saying what they were thankful for, and then writing it on a leaf. We then hung them from some branches in a vase. We are going to write on a leaf everyday until Thanksgiving as a way to bring some thankfulness into the month. The only rule we have is that once one person chooses something, another person cannot choose it later. The reasoning behind this being so we don’t end up with “family” written on a hundred leaves, and secondly, so we use our imaginations and thirdly, so we all embrace what other family members are thankful for.

After all that, I decided to whip up this Pumpkin cake recipe that I found on lillyella’s blog. It looked delicious and pretty simple to make. It was really easy to whip up, and when it was in the oven the kids asked to lick the beaters. They seemed really eggy, so I said no, and proceeded to wash the dishes. Then, out of the corner of my eye, what do I spy, but a small bowl filled with flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. and I’m wondering what on earth it is… yeah, it’s the FLOUR mixture that was supposed to be mixed into the pumpkin cake that has now been baking in the oven for 5 minutes. My husband suggested (after first suggesting that I do not completely freak out) that I simply open the oven, and stir the flour mixture into the batter that is baking in the jelly pan in the oven…since the batter was lying on greased wax paper, removing it didn’t seem like a great option, so I stirred it all up – right in the oven – shut the door, reset the timer and hoped for the best. I so wish I was not being serious.

Let me just say that this recipe is pretty damn foolproof – it came out GREAT! The kids loved it, although one child is not a fan of cream cheese, so he spent a whole lot of time removing the cream cheese before he would even begin to think about eating it, but to the rest of us it was delicious.