Inspired by Cyber Monday, which I really think is a media-hyped non-event, today’s Ten On Tuesday Topic is: 10 Favorite Places for Online Shopping.

Online shopping means you’ll be home and won’t miss out on fabulous sunsets right in your own neighborhood. Just sayin.

1. Amazon.com. I have used Amazon for ages and I love it. The shipping is free if you are a prime member, books are steeply discounted, and it’s fast and reliable. Their customer service is excellent, as well.
2. L.L. Bean. My family wears a lot of stuff from L.L. Bean and I appreciate their free and fast shipping, their quality, their return policy, and their customer service.
3. Etsy. This is a dangerous place, don’t say I didn’t warn you but you can buy box bags from JessaLu and yarn from Emily and very cool recycled knitting needle jewelry and so much more!
4. Best Buy. They often have better deals online than they do in the store and sometimes they even offer free shipping.
5. Wolferman’s. I am a huge fan of their cheddar English muffins and when they offer free shipping I can’t resist.
6. eBay. You can find anything at anytime. I definitely liked it better when it was more auction and less buy-it-now but it’s still pretty cool.
7. kpixie. I have a home field advantage on this one and get my yarn delivered to my door within one day and for free. Still, Missa and Jessica offer great yarn and good prices, terrific customer service and fast shipping.
8. Tiny Prints. I used them for Hannah’s graduation cards and then again for our Halloween party invites. Last week I ordered Christmas cards and I can’t wait to see them. They have coupons on a regular basis and their quality is excellent.
9. Sephora. If you sign up for their emails you often get coupons and special deals to use online. I might be a wee bit addicted to this website.
10. Adorama. Sadly,  most of the things I want from Adorama are out of my price range but still, I love to go and shop lenses and dream there.

See that? You really don’t ever have to leave the house. Hermits unite!

I was in full hermit mode this past weekend. In fact, I never left the house all day Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I had the groceries delivered, I put out all the Christmas decorations, I watched a lot of tv, and I did some online shopping.

Unfortunately, that sort of weekend doesn’t make for very exciting blog fodder.

Maybe you’ll be excited by this?

I did some knitting. The pattern is Through the Woods and the yarn is Cascade Eco + in the color Valentine.

It was a perfect weekend.

Today I will begin the process of transforming that big ball of red into a cozy hood for my girl. There’s nothing I’d rather do on a Sunday.

The one with all the pie tips . . .

1. You all know I make my pie crust from scratch but you may not know that I make it ahead of time. I made all the crust for the Thanksgiving pies last Sunday and I wrapped them in plastic wrap and stuck them in the freezer. It made things much easier on Wednesday, aka Pie Baking Day.
2. When I make apple pie I use about 8-9 apples. I peel them and slice them and mix them with flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Then I let them sit in the mixing bowl, stirring every now and again, for about 30 minutes. This allows the apples to soften a bit and then there is no shrinkage of the filling while the pie cooks.
3. I use One Pie canned pumpkin to make my pumpkin pie. I’ve done the whole bake-the-pumpkin-from-scratch thing and I just don’t think it’s worth the extra work.
4. There is no meat in my mincemeat pie. I use the little box of mincemeat pie filling and I reconstitute it with water. It’s apples and raisins and spices and it’s a very rich and delicious pie, especially when it’s served with vanilla ice cream.
5. When I make chocolate cream pie I use the cook and serve chocolate pudding from a box. It’s honestly better than my homemade chocolate pudding. When I make banana cream pie I make the vanilla pudding from scratch and then add sliced bananas. It is fabulous and rich and just about the best pie of all the pies I make.

And that’s that! Four Saturdays, each with five things about me, for a total of twenty new things about me.

Now I think I will go have some leftover pie. Mmm. Pie.

I stopped on the way home from work the other day to take a photo of the sunset over a cranberry bog. It was really striking and I’m glad I took the time to stop.

Be sure and stop this weekend and admire something beautiful.

And here we are with the 4th installment of Thankful Thursdays. I think it’s been even more rewarding to write these posts this year because I covered the major things last year (family, home, job, friends, etc.) and didn’t want to be repetitive. That has meant that I’ve really had to think about all the things I am thankful for and I’ve realized I have many blessings. And so, finally, this week I am thankful for:

1. My camera. It has allowed me to share so much of my world with you and I am grateful to have a very nice camera along with some pretty awesome lenses.
2. The internet. I remember the days when there were no search engines and you had to use a url to find anything. Now there is so much out there and it has been a wonderful resource for me. I have made friends, and enhanced my ability to do my job. I’ve wasted a lot of time, too, but it’s all good.
3. Thanksgiving. I guess this is obvious but if we didn’t have Thanksgiving I think it would be really easy to just forget to be thankful. So on Thanksgiving I remember all I have – the ones I love, the job I enjoy, the comfort of my home and my pets, the hobbies and the friends and all the blessings in my life.

In closing, let us consider the words of this quote:

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Let’s all live with an attitude of gratitude! Happy Thanksgiving, my friends.

It’s Wednesday and I’m feeling random . . .

• Yesterday I drove 2 hours each way to pick up Hannah. The song “Home for the Holidays” has all new meaning for me this year.
• On the way home we stopped and bought 100 Lindt truffles.
• 100 is a lot of truffles.
• The photo above is of homemade mac ‘n cheese that we had for dinner last night.
• It was the only vegetarian thing I could think of that everyone would enjoy.
• If this vegetarian lifestyle of Hannah’s keeps up I’m going to have to expand my meatless meal repertoire.
• I’ve been knitting the heel flap on a sock for Dale since Sunday.
• It is ridiculous that it has taken this long but it seems like every time I pick it up I get interrupted.
• Or I fall asleep.
• I am so glad that Jennifer Grey won Dancing with the Stars last night.
• Bristol Palin had some of the most lackluster performances I have ever seen and she should have been voted off weeks ago.
• Today is PIE day.
• The crusts are all made and I just have to roll them out and fill up those pie plates.
• My house is going to smell great!
• Hopefully in between pies I can finish that stupid heel flap.
• That is all.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday so it was easy to come up with this week’s Ten on Tuesday topic: 10 Things You Love About Thanksgiving

1. The food, of course. My love of mashed potatoes and gravy is well known but I also love the turkey and the boiled onions and the relish tray and the stuffed dates and the cranberry sauce.  I could go on here, but I’ll stop because I’m making myself hungry.
2. Making pie. I truly enjoy making pie. It’s a tribute to my mom, who made the best pies in the world, but it’s also wonderful to make pie and then watch people enjoy it. This year I am making 5 pies: apple, pumpkin, mincemeat, cranberry pecan and chocolate cream.
3. Being with family. Having Hannah “come home” for the holiday is a new experience for me this year and I’m so excited about it.
4. Being with friends. We’ve been going to Lois’ house for Thanksgiving for several years now and I love that our holiday has turned into a real mix of friends and famly.
5. Having a large group gather around the table. Nothing says holiday dinner more than having lots of people to enjoy it.
6. Holding hands while saying grace.
7. Thinking about being thankful. I have much to be thankful for in my life and I’m never more aware of that than on Thanksgiving.
8. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I always watch. Always. I love it all but I do especially love when Santa arrives at the end. I generally cry at that part.
9. Football. This is a new one for me but now that I enjoy watching football I am looking forward to watching some on Thanksgiving.
10. Playing games.  Between dinner and pie we usually break out the games and play Apples to Apples or Scruples or something like it and it’s fun to just relax and laugh and enjoy the feeling of being full and thankful.

What do you love about Thanksgiving?

On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade with my friend, Jo-Ann and her daughters. We bundled up and were out the door early in order to get free parking in a lot close to the downtown area. We sat in traffic for a bit and did get detoured around but we managed to park where I wanted and only had a 10 minute walk to the parade route.

We started with a quick visit to Plymouth Rock since Jo-Ann’s girls had never seen it. I think they were rather, umm, underwhelmed.

In any case, we found a spot on the parade route that was directly after the reviewing stand. We eventually realized that this is not the best spot from which to watch a parade as there were a lot of delays. But we still saw plenty of fun parade-type things.

There was the Native American float – the first time they have ever participated in this parade.

And of course the First Thanksgiving float.

There were antique cars.

And bagpipes.

There were several fife and drum corps.

And a float honoring 100 years of Boy Scouts. I would like to point out the woman you see on the left hand edge of this photo. She stood in the road, blocking everyone’s view, for much of the parade. That kind of behavior is why I don’t generally go to parades – people can be such asshats.

There was a small replica of the Mayflower.

And a certain Civil War reenactor. I don’t have a picture of Dale but you’ve see him in his uniform before. He was, of course, the reason I wanted to go to the parade. It’s nice to have a friendly face in the crowd when you are marching along on a lengthy parade route.

And lengthy it was – this was one of the longest parades I’ve been to in a long time. Now some people would think that’s great, more bang for your buck and all that, but honestly it was just a tad too long.

So we bailed on the parade and got cupcakes. And lunch. And wine. Now that’s what I call a good Saturday afternoon.

My favorite spot in the library. One of these days I’m going to sit there and read a good book!