Fear of Thanksgiving

I have to admit that I don't always trust people's cooking. I know my mom is a good cook, so I enjoy going to her house for dinner. I know Shannon is a good cook, so I love when she invites me over. I know my sister-in-law (and my brother, for that matter) is a good cook, so I get excited when I'm invited to eat with them.

Beyond that, I get a little nervous when people invite me over for dinner. If you've never proved to me that you're a good cook, then I'd rather go out to eat. No offense to you. You might be the best cook in the world, but until I've tasted for myself, then my trust for your cooking runs low.

Food is pretty important to me, and if you ruin a good thing, then I'll leave disappointed and may never come back.

Above all meals, Thanksgiving is my favorite. It's my favorite holiday, by far, because of the delicious food, the football, the long weekend, the family, the, well, thanksgiving of it all. I love green bean casserole. Stuffing is my favorite. I could take or leave the turkey, but give me the corn, the mashed potatoes, the gravy, the stuffing. Load my plate high. Let me enjoy the food. Let me go back for seconds.

And then there's dessert. Pumpkin pie. Cool whip. That's all I need. I'll skip the other pies, but give me a good pumpkin pie and I'm in heaven to complete this amazing feast.

Only my mom can perfect Thanksgiving. Her mashed potatoes are free of lumps. Her gravy is thick and fatty (just as it should be). Her green bean casserole is heavenly. Her stuffing is made from scratch and delightful. I don't want any other Thanksgiving meal than hers.

When I was invited to Josh's family Thanksgiving, I couldn't help but feel a little fear. What if they don't have green bean casserole? What is the stuffing is made from a box? What if the gravy is runny? What if the mashed potatoes are lumpy? Could my mom make the meal and bring to Denver?

And then Josh told me the worst thing he could have said: "My family talked about doing a themed Thanksgiving this year. I heard mention of an Asian meal or Mexican meal."

WHAT? You CANNOT have Asian or Mexican for Thanksgiving. I almost bailed.

But then I received an email from his mom asking me to sign up to bring something. On the list was turkey and all the regulars. Phew!

Josh, I'm back on for Thanksgiving.

I still hold fear that the food just won't be as good as mom's. It probably won't be. But I controlled what I could control. I signed up for a few things that I know I won't mess up. At least three things will be delicious, made by my own hand.

Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Cake Roll

I covered the important things.

Dessert.

The Most Wonderful Time

Decorations

I'm one of THOSE people.

I put up my Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving.

Gasp.

I did it last night, and I am proud of it. I figure if I'm going to take the time to set up a tree and decorate, I want to enjoy my work for longer than a month. I am so pleased how it turned out, too. I will definitely post a picture when I get back from NE this weekend, but it just makes the Christmas season feel real. It adds a touch of warmth to my place as I sit around my fireplace.

Now, who would like to come over for dinner to enjoy my tree with me? Any takers?

Church and Shopping

After many, many church visits, awkward greetings, and fake smiles through the introductions, Josh and I finally found a church we both like in Greeley. It happened upon Josh about three months ago as he was walking home from campus one afternoon. Pastor Jonathon was passing out church invites, Josh grabbed one, and we decided to check it out.

We were immediately mauled (in a good way) by the small congregation, and everyone was thrilled to see a young couple visiting. It's a small church of about 30 people, and I'm pretty sure we met all 30 people on our first visit.

Josh received a phone call the very next day by the Pastor inviting us to dinner, to which Josh turned down since I don't live there. We have continued to go back every other weekend (when I'm visiting Greeley), and we've really started to enjoy the cute little church. There's much I could say about it, but what's important is we're both feeling like we're being fed there and that it fits our needs during our dating long distance.

The pastor and his wife are young (we've estimated around 27 years old). They recently moved here from South Carolina to begin this church, and they have a little daughter who is a little over a year old. They are so sweet, and Pastor Jonathon knows his scriptures. They both come from teaching backgrounds (she was a teacher in SC but now stays home with their child, and he used to be a principal at a Christian school in SC). They are eager to talk to Josh and me about education.

I wish this church could be more of a regular occurrence, but we're happy find a place we both like and feel like we're growing.

_______________________________

On a side note, I went shopping with Josh's mom on Saturday. She called Josh over a week ago and invited me out for a day of shopping. She wanted to take some time to get to know me a little bit better, and I was excited to go shopping with her. Upon my arrival to the shop, I realized that it wasn't just Debbie and me shopping; it was also Josh's sister, Josh's two nieces, and Josh's great-niece. I had no idea an entire group was going!

It was a good afternoon, however, and his mom started to warm up to me a bit. She's more on the quiet side, so it's taken a while to feel comfortable around her, but I really think she's starting to like me!

So now the question remains....do I have to get her a Christmas gift?

Peer Pressure

Things I've done because of peer pressure:

1. Climbed a 14er (never again)

2. Jumped off Rush, a 40 foot bridge in Nebraska, into a river below...twice (dumb, dumb, dumb)

3. Started this blog

4. MS 150 (completed four years)

5. Raided a stage at a bar so we could dance in front of the crowd

6. Changed the color of my hair

7.

A Kind Email

It's not often teachers receive kind words (from either parents or students), but I received an email yesterday that made my day. I wanted to share...

Dear Ms.Nichols,

It has been great seeing you around the school here and there
and I miss having you as a teacher :( .

You are one of the only teachers who really tried to talk to me and get to know me outside of getting grades in class, and I thank you for that. You taught me how to write better papers, organize my thoughts, and yes, taught me that I actually have to read books for school instead of spark noting them. :) I was very blessed to have you my junior year. You truly care about how students do in your class but also about their outside lives, and most teachers don't, as you probably know, so it was amazing to have someone actually care.

I hope everything is going well for you and that the underclassmen are behaving, although
I don't think you would ever have a problem.

Your Friend,
A C

Dinner in the Trash

It was a complete flop, and I was embarrassed. This was the first meal I made that had to be thrown away with the pizza delivery guy on speed dial for back-up. It was horrid to the point that Josh didn't even eat it, and that's saying a lot because Josh will eat anything.

It was a lesson learned in corn bread making.

When I visit Josh in Greeley, we eat out almost every meal. He doesn't have pots or pans, nor does he carry spices in his kitchen. He has one wooden spoon, some salt and pepper, and ketchup in his fridge. Typical bachelor. I find it impossible to cook in his kitchen, so we head to Red Robin or Roma's or Texas Roadhouse or Chinese or Subway or whatever else sounds good at the moment. While I LOVE eating out, it was time to put a stop the money spending and unhealthy food.

So I've started cooking meals at my place and bringing them with me to Greeley. It's not ideal, nor is it easy for me, but it's better than eating out. I make the meals Thursday evening, cart them to school with me, carry them into the school building and stack them in the fridge for the day, and then take them back out to the car with me for the trip to Greeley (I leave straight from school because it's faster and helps me avoid traffic on Friday afternoon). It's a lot of work to safely get my dishes to Greeley but we both enjoy the home cooked meals and being able to relax while eating dinner. (This past weekend, the egg casserole leaked in my car and got all over my seat....still working on the travel accommodations).

This past week, I found a corn bread casserole recipe. It was easy and I knew Josh would like it, so I whipped it together and got it ready for transport. It was a layer of corn bread mix, a hamburger mixture, topped with more corn bread mix and cheese. Saturday evening, I stuck the casserole in the oven. The corn bread looked weird, but I didn't think anything of it.

After 40 mins. of cooking (it called for 20), the corn bread still wasn't done. It was gooey, but it was also starting to burn. I knew it needed to come out, but I also had a feeling it was not going to be good. We attempted to eat it nonetheless, but the corn bread was mushy and soggy. I was almost gagging as I ate my bowl. I was still hungry, but it was so awful I wasn't about to have seconds. Josh didn't even have seconds! We dumped the leftovers in the trash.

We ended up eating my breakfast casserole (which was a hit) for dinner.

Note to self: Corn bread MUST be baked immediately after mixing it together or it loses it's form and doesn't cook. Who knew?