Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving or, as we like to refer to it, "Carbfest '05."  I read in Newsweek that the average person consumes 86 grams of fat on Thanksgiving Day, or the equivalent of 18 slices of pizza.  Amateurs.  I'm sure I consume at least 200 grams of fat, which is equal to closing down a Domino's Pizza.

Blair does most of the cooking for us.  I contribute a pumpkin pie and some minor side dishes, but Blair makes the turkey, sweet potatoes, ham, stuffing, corn pudding, peas, homemade mac-n-cheese (an odd but tasty Thanksgiving tradition), cranberries, biscuits, and whatever else gets thrown on the table. 

We get up early, about 5-6 am, and fire up the oven.  I'll make the pie first so the house smells of brewed coffee and pumpkin pie as we start the main meal cooking.  (Or, as Blair starts it.  I'm banished from the kitchen because I get nervous and want to start making dishes too early and throw Blair off his groove.  I'm then assigned table setting duties).

I remember the first Thanksgiving I spent with Blair.  We went to his parents house in Fayetteville, NC and I--the dieting nut at the time--watched in horror as his mother whipped through about 10 sticks of butter as she prepared the meal.  "I can't eat this," I whispered to Blair.  "My arteries will explode on the spot."  Then I took my first bite and I've never looked back.  Butter makes everything taste better...

A quick list and by no means complete list of what I'm thankful for.  I'm grateful for:

• My health and the health of those I love
• My warm home and stocked fridge
• The love of a man who not only encourages me in my dreams, but helps to see they become a reality
• My family and friends, who I don't tell near enough how much they mean to me
• My cats (no brainer...)
• My car and the gas money to fill it
• The millions of daily things I take for granted like eating,  having clean water, standing up, breathing on my own, being able to see, hear, laugh, love
• Getting to do work I love every day (no matter how much I complain!)
• The generosity of friends which has become so clear to me in the process of putting out this book.  I continue to be touched and amazed at how happy others are for me, how they offer their support, and how many truly good, kind people I find myself surrounded by.

If a magic genie were to appear and offer me the life of anyone I wanted, I wouldn't blink an eye as I informed him he would do well to be living my life, thank you very much.  I am blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. 

~Dena~

Decorating Diaries--Madcap Update

Here is where we stand in the master bathroom renovation saga.

"Cabinet Woman" has now become "Cabinet/Tile/Liner/Shower Woman." We have this superwoman of contractors (and help) arriving at our home the week of Dec. 5th to get busy.  Here is my tentative (and I'm sure, entirely wrong) understanding of the schedule:

The wires are in the place for the heated floor.  What must come next is laying down the shower liner.  And then after that the skim coat, followed by the tile for floor and shower.  EXCEPT, at some point in there we need to build out a wall for the shower door.  If we leave it as is, we have to order a customized door--very bad for the budget.  So, my general contractor was here today and he said he thinks he needs to come build the wall before the liner goes in.  Oh, and the heated floor people have to come back after the skim coat is one but BEFORE the tile is applied, to test to make sure the heating system works okay.

(The whole process reminds me of that medical song: "The leg bone's connected to the...hip bone.  The hip bone's connected to the...whatever bone.)

So, by this weekend Blair and I must pick out a shower door, get the measurements to the general contractor, who will then call "Cabinet/Tile/Liner/Shower woman" to discuss when the wall should be built and then--God willing--things will start to happen. 

I've set my sights on the end of December to have the bathroom completed.  A month ago, that seemed a no-brainer.  Now, I'm not so sure...

All I know is that winter is coming and the temperature in that bathroom is sinking fast.

Pictures from Cat Writers / CFA Annual Conference

Here are the few pics I took from my weekend in San Francisco:

 This is me at the Book Signing book at the CFA International Cat Show. I had great placement at the end of the booth.

This is a cat I adored--curly and cute and beautiful orange eyes.  Again...so hard not to grab and run!

This is curly cat again.  We love curly cat!!

Me and author Maggie Bonham. I bought her book and she bought mine.  Her book is a fantasy called "Prophecy of Swords."  I don't usually read fantasy, but I liked Maggie's personality so much I thought I'd give it a shot and SO glad I did.  I'm totally engaged in the story and the book made my 4 hour layover in Atlanta FLY by.  I highly recommend any of you pick it up for a read.

This is my friend and fellow pet author Arden Moore and her dog, Chipper.  The photo was taken at the elevator in our hotel, where this baby became fascinated with Chipper.  They were really cute to watch together.

 Earlier that day, Arden had Chipper at the Cat Show wearing an "I Love Cats" sweater as she handed out literature.  Chipper was a big hit!

The Last 48 Hours - Summary

First things first: I married a God.  I came home from my San Francisco trip to not just a clean, but a spotless home.  Toilets cleaned, baseboards dusted, bath mats washed, plants watered, countertops gleaming, dishes put away, laundry folded, floors vacuumed and the list goes on.  Nothing puts me in a good mood faster than a clean house, so bless him for what must have been a full day of cleaning yesterday.

Loooong travel day yesterday.  It was raining hard in Atlanta and most flights were delayed.  I got in at 7:30 PM from SF and my 9:55 PM flight home didn't actually leave Atlanta until almost 11:30.  That got us into GSO at 12:40 AM and I made it home by 1:30 and collapsed into bed.  Technically, I still haven't seen Blair yet.  He kissed me good-bye at 6 o-clock this morning but I don't think I actually pried my open to see him, so the homecoming will have to be tonight.

(Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, a big thumbs down to the Atlanta airport for charging $7.95 for their wi-fi service.  If you're going to delay us for hours at a time, how 'bout some free web time?)

Working backwards, I did not win the Muse Medallion.  It was 2 of my entries against the entry of one other person and guess who won?  I could have predicted that one. =)

It was still a great conference.  I made some helpful contacts and some new friends.  For me, the benefit of these writers conferences is always the networking and very rarely the workshops.  I also sold 10 books. Respectable, I suppose. 

I'm taking time now to do this blog because I have so much work to do that I can't even get my mind around it.  I'm almost scared to look at what's in front of me.  Knowing me, I'll spend today clearing out the myriad of little things that could be left for later, but that will make me feel like I'm accomplishing something if I check them off the list.  It's a short work week and Blair has said he's actually not going in to work over the holiday weekend, so I'm not planning to do much work over Thanksgiving either.  Which means this Tuesday and Wednesday need to be super productive days.

On the bright side, it's perfect working weather. It's cold and grey and rainy and makes me want to brew hot orange spice tea and snuggle down at my desk with the cats snoozing beside me.  A great day to not leave the house, which is exactly what I plan to do.