Hi! Man I’m tired on Sunday night as I’m writing this, but it’s been a fun Thanksgiving and weekend! So let’s see if I can do this in short form rather than writing a novel 
First Thanksgiving: It was wonderful! So it was Middle son, daughter in law, and us. And then they were camping with friends that consisted of a family of parents, two kids and one set of grandparents. The campsite was truly in the middle of the desert. Not a campground, but a desert on public lands. All they need to camp there is offroad permits for their vehicles, so there’s no pads and hookups. We loved it, the weather was mostly perfect, slightly warm during the sunny hours and cold at night. But the winds kicked up Thanksgiving afternoon. No worries, we moved it into Middle Son’s trailer. This is a huge 5th wheel, and we were able to seat 10 people at a long table setup in the toy hauler section of the fifth wheel (which has it’s own bathroom and TV, as well as couches that can convert into queen bed) and a porch. For 10 people, we had two turkeys, a ham, tons of amazing side dishes and desserts. No one went hungry! And there were leftovers for everyone to enjoy. It was lovely, and we really enjoyed it. Another daughter in law asked me if we’d do it again — we said absolutely. But if we can get all the family together by keeping it at home, then we’d choose that first. So depending on the circumstances, YES we would.
Maggie stuff: Maggie loved camping! Because this is isolated, she was off leash and loving the freedom of camping life! At first she was a bit worried about the bigger dogs here:
That’s Charger on the left, a 160 pound Great Dane who is a sweetheart, and then Middles son’s two dogs, Jett (in the middle, he’s also big but looks smallish next to Charger) and Hazel on the right. They were all great with Maggie. And soon she was fine with them. She especially likes to run with Hazel on walks. She doesn’t play with her in a rough way like the other dogs, but trusts her enough to follow her and likes being with her. Overall she did great. Here I am at night with a roaring fire and two dogs at my feet. Jett stole Maggie’s blanket, but she found another one and made herself comfortable. 
All the talking and the smoke from the fire haven’t been great for my throat, but I didn’t care Also I’m not sure you can tell, but that fire is safe. It’s a pit, with several layers of rock stacked around it. The fire was completely out when the winds came (they check the weather, and prepare — in the desert like this, conditions can turn dangerous on a dime.) By that evening, the winds were gone.
Maggie was fine at the hotel too. This is what surprised us. Far as we could tell, when we left her in the hotel room to get breakfast downstairs or run to a store, she never barked or cried. And while she was happy when we returned, she didn’t seem overly stressed. She was really interested in the elevator (we were on the third floor), especially when it beeped at each floor,making her do that funny head tilt dogs do. I don’t recall her going on an elevator in the years we’ve had her, but she goes where I go without any hesitation so she was fine. She also went potty outside in the rocks around the hotel without any problems. Other guests evidently were having trouble with that, but Maggie’s used to being outdoors on leash with me, so it probably seemed normal to her. My shy and timid dog has turned into a social butterfly, but she had pretty good manners overall, and I was very proud of her.
And the fun moments — the amazing dinner, spending time with my daughter-in-law while she cooked (I helped clean up, and I brought cookies and sourdough bread), and going in my son’s offroad vehicle with him. He went really fast, but I trust him so it doesn’t bother me. Plus I’m wearing a special helmet with communication system so I could tell him if I was scared, and I know my son upgraded and installed the harness and rollbars. Accidents do happen and those vehicles can roll, and if it happens, there are ways to keep as safe as possible. I listen carefully when they tell me. And son and daughter in law check my work every time I put on the helmet or harness. And while I’m the mom and part of me thinks this is funny, I keep my mouth shut and listen to them, because they reality is they know more than I do about their equipment and safety. But the amazing thing for me was riding along and seeing my middle son living the life he wanted so much from the time he was very small. And he works hard for it. So does my daughter in law. They have earned this dream and I love it for them. I also love that they want to share it with us (and our two other sons).
We left Friday morning, got home early enough to unload and do tons on laundry. Saturday we cleaned house and I prep cooked some things for me. Sunday I had more things to do, then we went out to see Turbo and family. That was so nice. It was a beautiful day and we took the Mustang (it’s all fixed! or we hope so anyway). We visited for a couple house, then came home and I played with a slightly creamy lemon shrimp noodle recipe I had been working on in my head. I used gluten free noodles that exceeded our expectations. Even better, I mentioned to Wizard that I didn’t have any white wine to deglaze the pan and reduce as the base for a lemon sauce and planned to use chicken broth for that. Wizard jumped up and opened a “good” bottle of white. That is not something we normally do. We guard our good wine for special occasions, but Wizard wanted to help me play with this recipe. Man that wine elevated the sauce! Once I cooked that down a bit with the seasoning I had from cooking the shrimp and tomatoes, I added lemon juice, lemon zest, a bit of coconut cream from a can of coconut milk, then added the noodles and finished with parmesan cheese. We loved it! It’s the first gluten and dairy free (aside from the parm, which I can eat as long as it’s aged) that I truly enjoyed! Plus I was making it up as I went along, something I like to do now and again. I’ve had some spectacular fails that way, LOL. And when I have recipes I like, I usually forget to write down what I did so replicating them is dicey
Okay it looks like I did write a novel! If you made it this far, I’d love to hear about your weekend and whatever else you’d like to share! Happy Monday!
November 27th, 2023 at 8:40 am · Link
Yay for Thanksgiving camping trips, good food, friends and family, and dogs! A Great Dane in a trailer or a tent must be adventure. LOL Maggie the Magnificent! She’s such a good girl and has come so far in her journey thanks to her wonderful people. I am not surprised that Middle (plus Oldest and Youngest) are all safety-conscious. Good parenting.
All in all, fun times! Glad y’all got to see Turbo, too. That lemon shrimp noodle thing sounds yummy but since we’re not worried about gluten or diary, I’d just do regular. Still, so happy it turned out and if you didn’t write down the recipe, shame on you! 
Wiz is such a good guy and while people say quality doesn’t matter when cooking with wine, wrong! It DOES matter and can alter the taste a lot.
Saturday was slow and quiet. The knee is better and I’m now keeping all electrical cords out of the way. My Cowboys gave us cardiacs. They finally won in TWO overtimes and now face Texas for the Big 12 Championship this coming Saturday. Since OU and Texas are both leaving for the SEC, we really hope OSU can pull off the upset and keep the Big 12 Championship IN the Big 12.
Saturday was cold and rainy. Yesterday was cold and sunny. I didn’t get much written Saturday–just a few stray thoughts fixed and added to. Yesterday looked like it was going to be the same until a big thing bugging me in the timeline finally worked the bugs out. I rearranged some chapters and some scenes and I was still working at 7 last night. I finally got to a spot where I could stop and know exactly where I’d be going today when I get back from Wallyworld. LG fixed himself a hot links and cheese bun for dinner. When I got around to realizing I was hungry, I finished off some leftover sliced pineapple.
The fridge is mostly holding steady. Hopefully, the repair guy can get to us this week and it’ll be a simple fix. 🤞🏼
On that note, time to get off the net and get on with my day. Glad y’all are home safe and sound, resting up, and that you had a great time! Have a great week!
November 27th, 2023 at 3:53 pm · Link
Your Thanksgiving camping trip sounds like it was a total win (except your throat ☹).
The photos are great. The guys have nice big trucks and the 5th wheel sounds like a campers dream.
You and the pups appear to be enjoying the heat from the fire. The first photo of the dogs is so cute. They must have worn themselves out.
The food must have been wonderful and to have all of able to sit around a table is a huge plus.
Maggie is a hit wherever she goes. She’s cute and nice. No better combination. I love picturing her trying to figure out the elevator. The head tilt is classic.
Good to know that the Mustang is fixed.
My Thanksgiving was not the best at first but got better. I had my bird in the basement college refrigerator for 8 days and it was still a rock Thursday morning. I spent 3 hours soaking it in cold water, changing it every 20 minutes or so. All ended up being on time and tasting good. It was just added work.
Hubs is getting worse, so that was not fun.
Harrison showed up at 10:20AM Friday with a cold. His mom said it was just allergies so that they could still come up here but it wasn’t. The poor kid is sick again. He had a good time while he was here.
I hope your cyber Monday is going well. Other than Harrison, no one has given me Christmas listed, so I haven’t done any shopping. They may all end up getting gift cards.
Have a great afternoon!
November 27th, 2023 at 5:49 pm · Link
Silver, so true on the wine! I buy cheap stuff to cook normally, but this time really noticed the difference. And thanks on all the rest! We really did have a nice time, and I’m happy we’re getting out in the world more these days.
I’m so happy to hear your knee is better. But to be fair, I can trip over my own feet when I’m trying to do three things at once, so…we all do it!
Hope your teams can pull it off!!! LOL on the near cardiac event with the Cowboys. I’ve seen that stress up close with Wizard
That big thing bugging you sounds so familiar! Very glad it finally surfaced and you were able to fix it. You were on a roll last night, and I hope you were able to pick it up today. It sure sounds like the book is heading into the final stages.
Crossing my fingers for your refrigerator. I can so understand why you’re don’t want to buy a new one yet! Money aside, I don’t want to live through that decision again. We spent way too much energy on that choice but at least we’re happy with it. I really hope the repair guy gets there this week!
LG’s dinner sounds filling while yours sounds good, it’s a bit light for me (I’ve been really hungry lately). But Wizard insists that’s because I eat rabbit food
Happy Monday, hope you have a great week!
November 27th, 2023 at 5:59 pm · Link
Viki, yep the guys have big trucks or they’d never safely pull those trailers. Middle had to get a special class of license for his trailer.
The dogs were fun! I enjoyed them all. And they loved Maggie’s blanket, which cracked me up. I refused to allow the others to chase them off for Maggie. She was fine and it doesn’t hurt her to share.
That is so frustrating to not have the turkey thawed. I’m surprised with how long it was in the fridge. Really glad you were able to get it thawed but that’s a pain to do (I’ve done it too). At least it all came out good in the end.
I’m so sorry hubs is progressing so fast. That’s really hard, and at this point, I think gift card option is probably the easiest thing for you to do while dealing with all this. Well except for Harrison
Shopping for the grandkids is different!
Oh no, I’m sorry Harrison was sick
Turbo’s been going through it too. It seems to be on repeat this year with so many kids I know. Hope Harrison can shake it for good, and you don’t get sick. I’m so happy to hear he had a good time!
My day’s been busy but good. Hope you get the lists soon or just opt for gift cards and not stress about it this year. Happy Monday!