I can say without a doubt that this has been the WORST Thanksgiving we’ve ever experienced.

We got the Norovirus.

The only one that seems to have been spared is my oldest son, Daniel. Yep. Sir nummies got it Sunday and vomited all morning. Thankfully after a LOT of nursing, the magical breastmilk seems to have done its job and he was back to his happy self by late afternoon. I wish I could say the same for myself.

It seems to have lasted longer with me and even as I type this I am miserable and in pain. I’ve suffered from two migraines and a third will probably hit soon because it looks like it’ll rain.

I am trying to have high hopes that the rest of this week improves.

Not Over Yet
As of now, Tuesday SUPER EARLY MORNING. My oldest son Daniel has started vomiting. I had hoped one of the boys would be spared but sadly, everyone in my household is having to deal with this evil illness. I got him cleaned up, on the couch, vomit bowl and gingerale in hand, and cartoons on the TV.

Keep Danny in your thoughts please!

I am SO freaking excited about making Thanksgiving Dinner.

I love to cook and more importantly, I love to cook for my family! This year I am having Daniel help me out because he loves to create, cook, and I’ve always felt that baking, roasting, whatever it is, even basic prep work like cutting celery, can give one a sense of accomplishment.

So this year we will be making the following from scratch:

• Roast Turkey (20lbs!) with roasted garlic, white wine, fresh thyme, and butter
• Gravy made from the turkey drippings
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes
• Cranberry Sauce
• Baby Carrots with Brown Sugar and Butter
• Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
• Hot Spinach Dip
• Sausage, Apple, and Mushroom Cornbread Stuffing
• Angel Biscuits
• Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
• Apple Pie
• Pumpkin Pie
• Double Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Am I forgetting any “classic” side dish or dessert? What are you cooking for Thanksgiving this year? If you’re not cooking, what are your plans?

This is a delicious Autumn themed meal and very filling! The walnuts add a nice flavor and crunch while the bacon… is bacon! Smokey and AWESOME!

Ingredients

• 2 LBS butternut squash, cubed and peeled
• 5 C whole-wheat penne, cooked
• 1 1/4 C milk (I used 2%)
• 2 TBSP all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1/3 C Parmesan cheese, grated (I use REAL Parmesan Reggiano)
• 1/4 C walnuts, chopped and toasted
• 4 slices of thick cut bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• kosher salt to taste (the type of salt I use)
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 TSP fresh thyme leaves, chopped (you could also use dried)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Coat a cookie (baking) sheet and a 2 1/2- to 3-quart baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Place squash on baking sheet; sprinkle salt and grind pepper over the squash and roast until tender, about 30 minutes. Place in a large bowl and mash until all the cubes are broken up but not totally smooth. I use a potato masher for this NOT a hand-mixer.

3. In a large saucepan, whisk together milk, flour, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking frequently; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring often, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in mashed squash, chopped bacon, and the fresh thyme. Add sauce to pasta; toss to mix and coat.

4. Transfer pasta mixture to prepared baking dish; dot with spoonfuls of ricotta and then sprinkle with Parmesan and walnuts. Bake until top is lightly browned in a few spots, about 20 minutes; remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Makes about 1 cup per serving and this recipe makes 8 servings. You can eliminate the bacon to make this dish vegetarian as well!

Delurk and comment!

If this is your first visit, say hi! Been coming by for the past decade? Let me know!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

I’ve struggled my entire life to be organized. To focus on the task at hand.

Generally, I don’t do so well. I would much rather stare at the sky than do laundry, dishes, or anything else “grown-up” in nature. I wasn’t raised to manage a household, was never given the tools to be financially responsible, and I suffer for it today. It also puts me in a position where I don’t know how to teach my own children, who will need those skills when they are adults.

When other mothers talk about how exhausted they are by the daily errands and house tasks, I simply don’t understand it. I feel like I must be missing some large “mommy” gene. Our days are far more relaxed than most. I think the only thing we do that is consistent are family dinners every single night and meal planning on Saturdays.

It really bothers me. I’ve read countless books on how to simplify my life, to gain control over the day, to not get so overwhelmed by everything, and yet here I am. Just as lost as ever.

We don’t get a chance to get out much simply because we are a one-vehicle household and I am a SAHM. It’s very hard for me because I tend to feel trapped if I’m in one place for too long. We try to go for walks but it’s getting colder and colder, which the boys don’t seem to appreciate.

So in turn, I get a “what’s the point” attitude. Why not let the laundry sit? We don’t get any visitors and we can easily reach into a basket for clean clothes. Why not put off sweeping the floor? The baby will make a mess of it anyway in a few short hours. It’s a fatalist attitude and I am aware of that, I just don’t know how to turn my pessimistic outlook into an optimistic one.

I want to provide routine and the tools to manage money and run a household to my children, but I don’t know how.

I just don’t know what to say anymore yet I feel like if I don’t continue to post everyone will forget about me…

I really don’t remember WHY I started blogging. When I first started, there were very few blogs out there and to own your own domain automatically made you superior.

A lot of bloggers these days consider themselves “old school” if they have been doing it for more than two years. What about those of us that have been doing it since the late 90′s? OSN itself is nine years old, and I had started in 1998 with a site on Angelfire.

Since there are now millions of blogs created daily how does one stand out? It seems like to be “popular” one must be thin, pretty, and controversial. Or do a lot of fancy giveaways. Blogs these days seem to be about a niche, controversial topics, and a schedule.

Gone is the review of your day. I have a hard time posting if I don’t have a photo to put at the top of the post! I struggle to find a “topic” rather than writing like I used to which, if you ignored the grammar, reviewed how I was feeling that day or in that moment.

It made for a lot of really short posts. A large chunk of my early posts here on OSN are private. 640 of them to be exact. I am embarrassed by the grammar, I never EVER censored myself, and in this day and age, I worry about being judged.

Go figure.

So what happens if you do luck out and become popular? You either become revered and loved by all OR deal with trolls, hatred, and personal attacks constantly. Yet so many of us work our asses off to become part of the blogging elite. WHY?

For me part of it stems from wanting to be a PART of something. To feel wanted and useful. Which growing up I never had. Deep I know.

How long have you been blogging? WHY did you start blogging?

I have a lot of random irritations so I figure I should let it all out!

“Vegetable” is not a BAD word!
All these commercials lately, from Chef Boyardee to V8 Beverages, they portray children as only wanting candy and fast food and it takes super powers to get them to eat anything healthy. Healthy meaning “secretly” giving them whole grains and vegetables. You can see a sample of Chef Boyardee’s television advertisements to see what I mean.

Both [Keith] and I get SO UPSET when we see those commercials or anything else that suggests children are idiots and that parents have to LIE to their kids to get them to eat properly.

Now perhaps I’ve just been lucky with my two boys. I’ve NEVER had ANY problem getting them to eat a wide variety of well… anything!

If you use WordPress, set up “pretty” permalinks
I know it’s insane but if I come across a blog post that ends in /?p182 I will INSTANTLY lose any potential of respect for that blogger. It takes all of two seconds to make your permalinks AWESOME and what’s even better? It improves SEO! Brings you more hits! Yet so many “popular” bloggers don’t do this! WHY!?

In your WP dashboard, navigate to settings -> permalinks and change them as such:

Ahhh, I feel better
Anything bothering you? Let it all out!