Ice Skates and Cheesecake

All of the big, mature trees in the yard drew me to this house and I have said multiple times that the vines on the fence give the backyard character. So my oldest reminded me of these words as I was cussing all of the mounds of leaves that have accumulated in the planting beds and every time my rake would snag a vine and halt my progress. "Mom, remember you said; The vines give it character." Yeah, yeah...

Well after two days of cleaning out gutters, raking, blowing, and mowing up leaves, not to mention all the Tylenol and sinus meds... I decided no matter what, we were doing something fun to round out our holiday weekend. So, with thoughts of ice skating and mouth watering cheesecake in mind, we packed our winter wear and took a short little jaunt over to KC to first visit Crowne Center.

Then it was off to The Plaza for cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory. By the time we finished eating Syd and I were literally falling asleep at the table. We wondered if they would just let us sleep and wake us for brunch the next morning but the thoughts of our warm, comfy beds sounded more appealing and the tuxedo chocolate cheesecake was carefully boxed up to go.

Thankful...

... For my wonderful, crazy, dysfunctional family, healthy, hilarious, and intelligent children who constantly keep me on my toes, and great friends who brighten every day. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. 

Peace

"What did you do this weekend Cj?" 
"Oh we buried my Dad."
"Um... didn't he pass away in January??" 

Yeah.. it's weird but that's exactly right. Dad was cremated and first mom wanted to wait until Spring when everything was in bloom and it was nicer. Then we experienced some creative differences on the head stone. So he's been hanging out at the funeral home in a vault and next thing you know it's November, the weather is iffy, and mom just wants to get it over with before the holidays to obtain a bit of closure. I think part of this whole scenario is that we were putting it off so we wouldn't have to relive all that over again.. but that was inevitable.

It was a nice, small gathering of friends and family on a cool morning. Grandma and Mom said a few words and told a few stories that made my sister and I both laugh and shed some tears. Hopefully now everyone can experience some peace, including Dad and he'll stop pulling pranks on us.

Daylight savings need to roll back at least three more times for me to get everything done this weekend that I wanted to but the list definitely has a dent in it now. I would have made more headway if it hadn't been for the spring on the garage door breaking on Saturday and the fact that we had early plans to go out on the town with friends as well. I started painting and couldn't put the brush down so I ended up allowing myself 15 minutes to shower, dress, and redo my make-up and hair. Needless to say.. we were late but I seemed to be the only one feeling anxious about it.

We hit some new places this weekend and revisited some favorites. Friday night we hit the Barrel House; a dueling piano bar that has fast become one of my favorite places to go on the weekend. Saturday, after hopping from Free State Brewery, to Yokohama, we bounced over to Henry's on 8th, a quaint, dark bar above a coffee house that use to be an apartment whose specialty was Sangria. Our final landing was at the Hotel Eldridge where I enjoyed a Kahlua and coffee in an attempt to stay awake and keep up with the rest of our party. I love so many things about this town but mostly I love having my own personal activity escort who knows all the fun, quirky places to go downtown. There is no other place as diverse as Mass Street.

Sunday was spent out in the yard cleaning out over grown, neglected planting beds, cutting down little trees that have popped up in random annoying places, and the dreaded dry, dusty leaves that make my sinus' go ape crazy. Finally, at about 6:15pm we allowed ourselves to sit and watch some football. Ah, the joys of owning a home again.

I wonder what will break next?

Days like today I am reminded of the belief that the only man that can fix anything is your daddy. Daddy's give you unconditional love, a shoulder to cry on, and will hunt down and kick the ass of the person who broke your heart. Right now my heart aches for my daddy and that shoulder.

Louisburg Trip

Saturday we took a day off from working on our "to-do" list to enjoy a perfect warm Fall day in the country. I had to have a little chat with myself Saturday morning as I battled to over-come the feelings of anxiety about playing hookie. "Take a day off already!" So, I did.

Step #1- washing the apples at the Louisburg Apple Cider Mill

I'd heard some people talking about the Louisburg Apple Cider Mill so I thought we would check it out. On paper it looked interesting; complete with a 10 acre corn maze, farm animals, pumpkin patch, and hay rack rides. The hay allergy attack I had by the end of the day reminded me why I don't spend a lot of time outdoors this time of year but, oh well! The apple cider slushies and the apple donuts made up for that.

 

Just a mile down the road from the cider mill was a sign for Somerset  Ridge Winery so we thought we would check it out on the way home. The girls weren't thrilled; they said the place "smelled funny." So they drank root beer and ate their rock candy from the cider mill while we enjoyed a bottle of Buffalo Blush. 

Somerset Ridge Winery

Cyndi Lauper and The Nerd

My oldest struggled this year with, "Am I too old to trick-or-treat? Will my friends think I'm uncool?" She waffled back and forth but at the last minute decided she would walk around with her sister and their dad. Her original idea was a plain white t-shirt with the word "COSTUME" on it written in sharpie but it didn't turn out the way she had hoped so the nerd glasses were plan B. Syd, on the other hand has known for a month that she wanted to go as Cyndi Lauper and actually wore a costume I wore a few years ago (with some altering, of course). I took my usual spot at the door handing out candy. After a long day of painting, all I wanted was a little quiet down time so I built a fire, lit some candles, turned off all the inside lights, turned on Sunday night football and patiently waited for the doorbell to ring. I considered a big glass of wine to round out the evening but didn't figure that would impress my neighbors too much when I answered the door and breathed on their children.

We spent a very low-key Halloween compared to past years. I didn't dress up or even carve a pumpkin but we decorated some and more importantly got the pleasure of experiencing the holiday in our new neighborhood.