Today I found a game called Bookworm and it reminds me a little of Scrabble. I downloaded the free trial and get to play a few free games. If I like it, the purchase price is reasonable – cheaper than the Playstation and XBox games.

Something new for me this year will be a formal table with a centerpiece of fresh flowers. That is the nice thing about having just adults for dinner. You can dress up a little more, and we can splurge on a nice bottle of wine and fresh flowers. I’m really looking forward to this being the first of many more nice dinners.

What a fun time we had. We grilled about 20 pounds of hamburgers and cut up a cold seedless watermelon. I had bags of chips and a gallon of macaroni salad, too. Great food and fun times were had by all.

So I still have to maintain a separate calendar. I wish I could customize the Facebook calendar and add in the ones that I want.

Without the kids, its is much more somber and even depressing. I still went through the motions of decorating the tree and we will have a nice dinner. But it’s not so much fun this year.

Its nice to do a little something extra for the people you love. For example, tuck a little not into your kid’s lunchbox or hubby’s briefcase that says you love them. Or make a special dessert and surprise them after dinner with something sweet.

My step son must be trying to find out the answer to this question. At first I thought he was deliberately trying to break it so that he would feel entitled to a new phone and upgrade his. But I’ve watched the clumsy fool and he just drops it a lot.

I used a Reynolds oven cooking bag and placed a cut up onion inside. Then I took the chuck roast and cut it into smaller chunks so it would cook faster and also have all the sides exposed to the gravy for more flavor. Then I added a can of tomato soup and used the same can to fill with water and added that to the bag, too. Then I sprinkled some seasoned salt and some garlic pepper over the meat, sealed the bag and let it cook at 350 for about an hour and a half.

As it finished cooking, I took a can of store brand brown gravy and dumped it into a saucepan on top of the stove. When I took the meat out of the oven, I pierced the corner of the cooking bag and let about a half cup of the bag’s gravy pour into the saucepan with the brown gravy and stirred the two together. It was fantastic – not a drop of anything was left over.

I will be busy cooking most of the day.We bought a turkey on Monday and it’s been in the refrigerator slowly thawing out. I considered getting a fresh turkey, but I have had good luck with the frozen Butterball turkeys, so I decided to stick with the tried and true. Along with the turkey will be plenty of vegetables and stuffing, and I’ll make two pies this afternoon to bake while the turkey is in the oven. Can’t wait for a great turkey dinner!

Of course, the kids love the arcade and rides, but they also love to see the animals and the competitions. They will have pig racing, clogging demonstrations, live concerts and all kinds of fun. I’m interested in the arts and crafts, quilting and gardening areas, and hubby wants to see the antique cars, the tractor pull and loudly proclaims that he sure wishes he could be one of the judges for the pies, cakes and cookies baking contests.

We’re thinking about taking a day as soon as hubby’s assistant manager comes back to work to cover for him. It will be nice to go to something like the county fair and experience it as adults without the distractions of having little kids to chase after and dole out money to every time we turn around.

I’m sure the heat isn’t so bad if you get used to it, but we are accustomed to being inside an air conditioned house or office. My sister-in-law has air conditioning, but a lot of the old farmhouses out here do not. She keeps the thermostat much higher than we do at home, and it was uncomfortably warm the entire visit. I would much rather be too hot than too cold, but I sure wish there had been a more gradual adjustment to the temperatures.

It seems there is always some wind, which is very different from back home. The wind is a good thing for a lot of reasons and one of the most unique and rewarding good things is that some companies are now harnessing that wind by erecting huge wind turbines. They look like space age windmills and are generating electricity for the power companies.

The florist has brought flowers and plants to her home and also to the funeral home. I’m not sure what I can do to help, but hubby is really glad to be here.

Even though she’s technically living “in town” her property backs up to a huge farm. Here’s a picture I snapped from her backyard as the sun was going down:

Luckily, there were plenty of billboards along the highway and we knew there would be a Hampton Inn at the Shawnee exit. We’ve had several good experiences at Hampton Inns now that they’ve upgraded their properties and their bedding. The beds are incredibly comfortable – it is like sleeping on a warm cloud. Plus, most of them offer a complimentary full breakfast in the morning, with sausage patties and hot eggs and a full array of other breakfast foods, including hot and cold cereals, pasties, yogurt, fresh fruit and very tasty coffee.

We got into LaVergne about 4:00 in the afternoon and found my sister-in-laws house very easily. We are settling in and expect to be pretty busy over the next couple of days. It’s nice to be here but wish it wasn’t for a sad occasion.

Today we’ll be getting things in order around the house so we can leave for Oklahoma. My sister-in-law has offered up her spare bedroom and we need to get out there as soon as possible to help with the funeral. Hubby has to get someone to cover for him at work and I have to find the church clothes and arrange for a kennel for Buster Brown.

I’ll check the airfares to Oklahoma City, but there are rarely good rates without at least 2 weeks notice. More than likely we will drive, which is a hard 18 hours on the road, but the price of 5 tanks of gas and 2 nights in a hotel room halfway there is still much cheaper than two round trip plan tickets at full fare.