Oh Blissful Rain......

There's something so calming and relaxing about waking up to the sound of rain. The pitter patter on the roof, the rain drops slowly rolling down the kitchen window and the lulling sound created by it. I could so easily slip back into bed for the rest of the day.

I'm a rain kind of girl woman, not necessarily BEING in the rain, but enjoying it from inside. Perhaps cuddled on the couch with hubby, or reading a book, or watching a wonderful movie.

It was a nice way to wake up, would have been better if it was the weekend and we didn't have to go outside, but you can't have your cake and eat it too, or that's what I've always heard. Me??? I always try to have my cake, there's no way around it LOL

We're slowly getting accustomed to this shift. At least we still have 3 more days of it, so I won't feel totally lost when he starts the new one next week.

Thank you all for the "get well" wishes, this cold is just not budging and it seems that every day there's a new symptom to add to the list. My sinus is having an end of year party, at least that's what it feels like, I can almost feel the "conga" in my nose. Strange!!!
My voice is still gone, actually it's slightly better, I can actually whisper, which is fine at home with the kids, but not when trying to talk on the phone. So, I do the next best thing, I don't answer it at all, guess I'll be calling everyone back next week.

So anyway, come on in, I have some Irish Cream Coffee ready and I also have some Pumpkin Pancakes. YUMMY!!!
When the weather starts changing, I start seeing pumpkins everywhere, I can't wait for pumpkin pie and soup and pumpkin carving. Which btw, reminds me, if you and the kids love carving pumpkins and want to have some fun this year, go on over to Bullfrogs & Butterflies, Theresa is going to be hosting a Blog-o-Lantern contest, how fun is that???

I'm already thinking up patterns and fun stuff. It's a big deal in this house. I still remember Halloween a couple years ago, actually I was pregnant with Nicholas.....we carved I think, like 10 pumpkins and had them all set up on the driveway leading up to the front door. Everyone stopped by to admire them. It was just great :)

Theresa had mentioned that she didn't have a graphic to go with the Blog-o-lantern contest, and you all know how much I love messing around with my graphics program, so I whipped this up real quick and sent it to her....what do you think??? Think she will like it???


Last night after the kids were asleep, I watched "Anne of Green Gables", all 3 hours of it. I can't believe that it's taken me these many years to finally watch the movie, and let me just say that I'm "Hooked", now I'm getting all the Anne of Green Gables movies to watch. See that's my kind of movie. I honestly believe that I should have been born in different years, the pull to those days is so strong at times, it just makes me wonder.

I love reminiscing about old times, childhood memories, places I lived, things we did. It makes me feel closer to my family. With the holidays arriving so fast, it's always a bittersweet time for me. I LOVE celebrating, but also being military, it means that there will be times when I'll be spending thanksgiving or christmas alone, it just goes with the territory, so when I DO have family nearby I like treasuring every minute and enjoying it to the fullest. Nothing like making a huge celebration even if it's just four people.

One of my most treasured memories growing up in Portugal, was definitely Christmas. We would walk across the street to the Tree Lot and just revel in the beautiful trees, the smell of pine and the anticipation of presents and good food in the air.

For the last few years, we've used an artificial christmas tree, quite honestly just because we figured it's cheaper, but every year I open that box, there's another twisted or bare branch and it really doesn't give that Christmas-y feeling to me.

So we've decided that from now on, it will be REAL Christmas trees, and the kids are thrilled, they can't wait for their first real tree.
I leave you with some images of Christmas in Portugal, it's just like I remember it :)

The beautiful lights in the city of Lisbon,

Now THIS is something I miss, the Bolo Rei, ask any portuguese person and they know exactly what I'm talking about. You can't have christmas without it, and usually inside there will be a "brinde", a small prize, whoever finds it, gets to buy the cake the next year. I remember being 7 and 8 years old and always looking for the prize, which used to be small little silver charms.

And now I really MUST leave you, though I wish I could stay all day, have coffee and talk about the holidays, the food and everything in between.

Enjoy your wednesday :)

Oh, BTW, seems that blogger has finally sorted out their Beta and non beta issues, so we can all post everywhere, YAY, now there's no more excuses from anyone for not posting. LOL






For dinner tonight, I am making Crab Cakes, some Tomato Rice and a Salad. I'll have the recipes up on my blog later.





Rachael Ray - *New* UPN 12pm (mountain time)

Montel Williams - *New* ABC - 3pm (mountain time)

Kidnapped - *New* NBC- 9pm (mountain time)

Taking Donations to the Airman's Attic
Running by the BX for some medicine
Working on my Cafepress Store
Updating food blog