Thanksgiving Pies

Mmmmmmm. Pumpkin pie, Pecan Pie, and a Louisiana Yummy.

Yep, I'm in charge of desserts this year. And those are the desserts that have been requested. But to be honest, my family requests those desserts every year. It's tradition. And not to toot my own horn, but damn, I am good at baking them!

The Pecan pie is never runny, and is loaded with gooey goodness and pecans. It's my father's favorite pie, but this year, he headed out early to Florida because of the damage to my folk's place by Hurricane Wilma. Sigh. It won't be the same without him.

My nephew, Drew, loves Pumpkin pie. That's his favorite, and I always have to make two so that he gets his own. He's a freshman in college this year and is going to school to be an aeronautical engineer. I might be biased, but he is the coolest kid ever. Even throughout his obnoxious teen years, he was so lovable. He would even STILL give his favorite aunt(me) hugs and kisses in front of his friends. He was on the wrestling team and the football team. He was very popular in high school, but even the not so popular kids loved him. I'm not sure how he turned out so amazing with a crazy mother like his, but I'll take him just the way he is.

My niece Kristyn, whom we call Bubba, loves the Louisiana Yummy. We started calling her Bubba when she was about four when she started calling my cousin Phillip, the Incredible Hulk. He's 6'7 and has a very deep voice. He used to scare her just by walking in the house. She would pull me aside and say "oh my gosh, the Hulk's here! Hide me!". He started calling her Bubba, after the football player Bubba Baker. The funny part is she's never been fat, but played rough like the boys. I guess that's where that comes from. Anyway, it stuck, and at 25, strawberry blond, blue eyes, and gorgeous, we still call her Bubba.

A Louisiana Yummy has a buttery, pecan crust, with a cheese cake like layer, then a layer of chocolate mousse, then vanilla mousse, and then topped with whipped cream. I usually make it pretty by dusting the top with cocoa powder and a sprinkling of crushed pecans. Yeah, there's never any left.

I love Thanksgiving, just to be able to spend time with my family. Of course, there is that one Thanksgiving about 10 years ago where my crazy sister and I got into a fist fight. But I guess you could blame that on the cocaine she was flying on. But that's another story.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Turkey Day!

H N T !!!

Oh yeah...that's my armpit. Pretty sexy, huh. Have a great Thursday!

Grace.

As in, I have none.

Thursday night, my mother calls and asks if I'm coming down on Friday to spend the day with Dad. He was leaving Friday night to drive to Florida for the winter, and I wouldn't see him again until Spring. I should note here that normally my mother would be with him, but she decided to stay a few more weeks to spend Thanksgiving with all of us because we give her grief every year about missing all of the holidays. My father is pretty stubborn and told her she could stay, but he wanted to get down south to check on the damage from Hurricane Wilma. So, she's flying out December 5th, enough time for us to have Thanksgiving and a mini-Christmas before she leaves.

Ok, back to the story. I told my mother I would be down at some point, but that the girls were supposed to come up for cooking lessons. Well, I felt guilty, so I called the girls and told them I would be at Granny and Papa's house instead of them driving all the way to my house. They were cool with that and planned to spend the day with us as well.

Here's the graceful part: When I got ready to leave Friday morning, I grabbed all of my stuff and headed out the door. When I got to my Jeep, I realized that I didn't have my keys. Dangit! This normally wouldn't be a problem because, while I always lock the front door, five out of seven days I forget to lock the back door. I mean, I have a Rottweiler and a Rottie mix. Who's going to break into my house??

Kudos for me! I actually locked the back door for once.

I go traipsing over to my neighbor Cindy's house because she has a spare key for my house.

And BAM!!! That's when it happens. I caught my foot on a bump in her driveway. It's all slow motion as I do a little sidestep to catch my footing and trip over my warm-up pants(as if I ever warm up for anything, other than a good meal and sex!). DOWN I go...first hitting my knees, then landing on my hands, then flopping over on my right side, where I proceed to roll and crash into her house. Even as I'm sitting here, writing this, I can't help but laugh. If someone had been rolling a camera, I'm sure I would be the $10,000 winner on America's Funniest Home Videos.

I laid in the driveway for a minute, checking to see if my parts were working. And I just started laughing. I couldn't stop. All I could do was hope that Cindy didn't feel the impact and come rushing out to see my fat ass, lying in her driveway.

Then I heard a noise. I look up, and standing on the otherside of the street watching me was the new neighbor. Crap. But then, she just turned around and walked back into the house. What the hell?? I could have been wounded! Or lay dying in the driveway! And she just walked away. Just wait until she needs to borrow some sugar.

Well, with all parts intact, I knock on Cindy's door, explain what happened, grab my key, and let myself back into my house. Listening to Cindy laugh the whole way.

I didn't hurt on Friday, but yesterday I was stiff and sore, my knees aching, but not really hurting. And this morning? I have a lovely set of matching bruises on my knees, and one on my back where I hit the house. Yeah, no, I'm not gonna post pics.

Truly, I am a graceless girl. I think it's part of my charm. I make people laugh, usually as I'm rolling down the hill, or following the bowling ball down the lane.

But if you want to talk about Grace in the behavioral/politeness category, in the face of adversity and assholes, I am always Graceful.

HNT

Ahhh....Nassau, Bahamas. Have a great day!