★ Thanksgiving Day 2012 ★

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! The turkey is in the oven, we have pumpkin pie, stuffing, & I'll be making my incredible homemade mashed potatoes which probably have more calories, cholesterol, & fat than the rest of the meal combined including dessert. Yes, my mashed potatoes are made with heavy whipping cream (or half & half), about a stick of butter, bacon bits & seasonings. It's a heart attack on a fork but SOOO good! I turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade & waited for noon to hear Alice's Restaurant on the classic rock station. When the time got near I turned my stereo from Audio In to FM & nothing. Static. I looked at the back of the stereo & the antenna is GONE. I quickly downloaded the iHeartRadio app on my iPhone, found 92.5, docked the phone into the stereo & 2 songs later we were listening to Alice's Restaurant. :) Phew! Made it just in time! It's our 1st Thanksgiving without our daughter Eve. She's in Myrtle Beach with her grandparents & we're going to miss her today. We miss her every day, but today it's going to be a little harder to not have her here. At least we'll be out there for Christmas & we'll see her then. Today it's Pete, myself, Josh, & Kyle. Yesterday was a good day. I cleared some stuff off the bar, cleaned the kitchen counters, watered the plant in the living room, & swept & mopped my office. I checked eBay, checked my horoscope, & then showered & changed to go out with Pete after he got home. I knitted a gold wide panel on the knitting machine & attached it to the thin white edge panel I had made. Then the FD got toned out to standby for a grass fire in a neighboring town & here I am without my truck. I answered the county & wondered if I had enough time (since we were only on standby) to walk to the station. Just then our Assistant Chief called & we were discussing the possibility of someone on standby at the station swinging by & picking me up. Mid conversation I see a pending call pop up on my pc for a med call for us. If they're going to swing by & get me, they better do it NOW because we're about to get toned AGAIN. They picked me up at the bottom of my driveway in the rescue with lights flashing. That was a 1st for me. :) When we got back from the call Pete came home shortly after & we went out to Steak n Shake. After that it was the wrap up the day routine of TV & bed. In the middle of the night (around 1:30a) the FD got another EMS call.

Add place cards to each person's place setting. This saves time when the meal is served because people can get to their seats & begin eating faster.

Borrowing from your parents isn't a good idea. Proberbs 22:7 says the borrower is slave to the lender. You're going to change the way Thanksgiving dinner tastes when you eat with your parents because you'll be eating with your masters.

Die Another Day released 40 years after first Bond film (2002):

On this day in 2002, the James Bond movie Die Another Day, starring Pierce Brosnan as the fictional British secret service agent also known by his code number, 007, opens in theaters across the United States. The film’s debut came almost exactly 40 years after the first Bond movie, Dr. No, was released in Great Britain in October 1962. (Coincidentally, the title song from the Die Another Day soundtrack, written and performed by Madonna, was released 20 years after the pop icon debuted her first single, “Everybody.”) Die Another Day also marked Brosnan’s last appearance as the debonair 007, a role he had played in three previous films.

James Bond was the creation of British author and journalist Ian Fleming (1908-1964), who wrote 14 Bond novels. The first Bond book, Casino Royale, debuted in 1953. Dr. No, the first Bond film, was adapted from the sixth Bond novel and starred Sean Connery. The Scottish-born actor went on to play Bond in From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965) and You Only Live Twice (1967). The Australian actor George Lazenby assumed the role of Bond for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), while Connery returned for  Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Never Say Never Again (1983), a film regarded as “unofficial” because it wasn’t produced by EON Productions, the company behind all the other Bond films in the series.

The British actor Roger Moore took over as Bond for 1973’s Live and Let Die, which he followed with The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983) and A View to a Kill (1985). The Welsh-born actor Timothy Dalton portrayed Bond in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989).

Brosnan was the fifth man to assume the role of Bond, with 1995’s Golden Eye. The Irish-born actor also portrayed 007 in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and The World is Not Enough (1999), before making his final appearance as the dashing secret agent in Die Another Day, which co-starred Halle Berry. The British actor Daniel Craig became the next Bond, in 2006’s Casino Royale.

Along with George Lucas’ Star Wars series and the films based on the best-selling Harry Potter books, the James Bond franchise is among the most lucrative in the history of movies.

If the edges of your pie crust are becoming too brown before the center of the pie has finished baking, tear a piece of aluminum foil large enough to cover the top of the pie. Cut a large X in the center of the foil. Remove the pie from the oven & place the foil on top. Wearing oven mitts, crimp the foil underneath the dish to secure. Pull back the X to reveal the center of the pie. Return the pie to the oven to finish baking.

Plan a vacation. You don't really have to travel - the idea is to move your thoughts somewhere else.

Quiescent:

1: Marked by inactivity or repose : tranquility at rest. 2: Causing no trouble or symptoms.

After the Thanksgiving feast, several quiescent guests relaxed in the living room.

"Quiescent" & its synonyms "latent," "dormant," & "potential" all mean "not now showing signs of activity or existence." "Latent" usually applies to something that hasn't yet come forth but may emerge & develop, as in "a latent desire for success." "Dormant" implies a state of inactivity similar to sleep, as in "their passions lay dormant." & "potential" applies to what may or may not come to be, as in "a potential disaster." "Quiescent," which traces to the Latin quiescere (meaning "to become quiet" or "to rest"), often suggests a temporary cessation of activity, as in "a quiescent disease" or "a summer resort quiescent in wintertime."

Stack the States:

★ Voted Best Kids App for iPad! -Best App Ever Awards
★ Voted Best Educational Game App - iEAR.org
★ "If you have children who are elementary school aged this is a fantastic educational app that’s also a hoot." - The iPhone Mom.com
★ "Stack the States is a must have." - The iKids Blog
Stack the States™ makes learning about the 50 states fun! Watch the states actually come to life in this colorful and dynamic game!
As you learn state capitals, shapes, geographic locations, flags and more, you can actually touch, move and drop the animated states anywhere on the screen. Carefully build a stack of states that reaches the checkered line to win each level.
You earn a random state for every successfully completed level. All of your states appear on your own personalized map of the United States. Try to collect all 50! As you earn more states, you begin to unlock the four free bonus games: Map It, Pile Up, Puzzler and Capital Drop. Four games in one!
HAVE FUN LEARNING ALL ABOUT THE 50 STATES:
▸ Capitals
▸ State shapes
▸ Abbreviations
▸ Bordering states
▸ Location on the map
▸ Nicknames
▸ Flags
...and more!
FEATURES:
▸ Hundreds of unique questions
▸ Interactive map and 50 state flash cards
▸ Choose any of the 50 friendly-looking states as your avatar
▸ Create up to six player profiles
▸ Collect all 50 states and track your progress on a personalized map
▸ Earn FREE bonus games: Map It, Pile Up, Puzzler and Capital Drop
▸ High resolution pictures of famous US landmarks
▸ All games are powered by a realistic physics engine
▸ Fun sound effects and music
▸ iPhone 4 and new iPad Retina Display support
▸ Works on both iPhone and iPad - a universal app
FIVE GAMES IN ONE:
STACK THE STATES: Build tall piles with states and try to reach the checkered line.
MAP IT: Tap the location of the selected state on the map. Try to complete the whole country.
PILE UP: The states are piling up! Tap them quickly to get rid of them before they pile too high.
PUZZLER: Sit back and relax as you slide the states around and put them together like a jigsaw puzzle.
CAPITAL DROP: Match states with their capitals in this fast-paced bonus game. Don't let a state fall!
Stack the States™ is an educational app for all ages that's actually FUN to play. Try it now and enjoy five games for the price of one!

Subjects such as divorce, bereavement, job loss, & illness make people uncomfortable & shouldn't be raised in introductions.

What comic’s pet English bulldog, dressed in a custom-made tuxedo, served as ring bearer at his master’s 2003 wedding?

Adam Sandler’s dog, Meatball.

What happens to the turkeys that are reprieved by the president at the White House’s annual Thanksgiving Day pardoning ceremony?

Which color lava is at its hottest?

A. Bright red

B. Dark red-brown

C. Bright orange

CAB. Solid lava is black, but can still be mighty hot.

Which Harry Potter book was published 1st, 2nd, & 3rd?

A. The Philosopher's Stone

B. The Prisoner of Azkaban

C. The Chamber of Secrets

Which of these are spin-offs of Happy Days?

Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, The Jeffersons, Joanie Loves Chachi, American Graffiti, Out of the Blue.

Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, Joanie Loves Chachi, & Out of the Blue.

Whipping cream contains what percentage of fat (speaking of my mashed potatoes)?

A. 25-30%

B. 35-40%

C. 45-50%

D. 55-60%

Your comprehensive knowledge of the subject of __________ makes me want to spew.