And A Partridge In A Pear Tree, No Brown Thursday/Black Fridays Here, Turkey Yummies

And A Partridge In A Pear Tree-

One new computer

One new vacuum

One new Black and Decker screwdriver

and a partridge in a pear tree (sings in loud booming voice!)

It's like Santa came early! Sometimes life just works out that way. Our really old XP CPU was on the way out. I knew that once Windows 8 came in full force, the old Windows 7 would be cheap, but would also disappear off the market. We could have bought and loaded Win 7, but our old computer was so old (even after adding more memory) that it wouldn't work. I shopped around online and in some stores, then found the HP above (on the link.) Since I could get Office Pro 2010 for $10.00 thru my employer ($400. retail!) we decided to but a new tower. I bought it online and it was delivered 4 days later. What a difference! It actually boots up and everything loads within a minute or 2! WOW!!! Doing happy dance. It didn't take too long to figure out Win7, I had backed up all my files, email address & favorites and they transferred pretty easily. We got an upgrade for $15.00 for Win8 that I will keep.

Our old vacuum kept clogging and after 7+ years, so I was finished. It kept losing suction, even after cleaning it out every time I used it. The top wouldn't stand up as the latch broke a few years ago, and cat litter would spill out. Yummy. We figured the motor was just worn out. Since we have fairly new carpet, we wanted to keep it clean and make it last. I browsed around again and found the nice Eureka above. Holy crapola, talk about suction! Lightweight and it all works great. No more messy cleanups :)

Dave knew I just wanted a little stocking stuffer for Christmas (I'm ms. practicality) so when we both spotted the Black and Decker yesterday, while getting the vacuum, he grabbed one for me. Thanks Dave! Our last one was 15 years old or more, and they're great getting into odd spaces and really fast. It also won't strip anything with too much torque from a power drill. Happy, happy....



No Brown Thursday/Black Fridays Here-

I did Black Friday years ago, but never again. My view is if you're a smart shopper (like getting the HP computer online) why bother? I also like to sleep and and relax the day after Thanksgiving, and make more handmade gifts. My daughter has a part-time holiday job and had to be at work at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night. That sucked, but I admire her work ethic. Gotta pay the bills. I hope I'm wrong thinking that the stores will be OPEN ALL DAY on Thanksgiving in the future. Ugh. I love Thanksgiving the best of all the holidays, and it's just a distraction now for some. Sad. People get shot over this! 2 Shot Outside Walmart The there was the guy back east who left a toddler alone in a car, but took his new tv home. Great priorities. Man Left Tot In Car I sometimes wonder what other countries think of some Americans obsession with STUFF? I love this send up of the new IPhone 5 and Chinese factory workers on SNL, hysterical! So many of us are just a bunch of whiners. I tell my students that where we are is a "no whine zone" :)

SNL Sketch IPhone Factory Workers Problems

Turkey Yummies-
After being gifted with an all natural turkey (we get one each year) by my hubby's company I roasted that baby up! 23 lbs., and it had great flavor. I always put a little butter and fresh sage under the breast skin and fill the cavity with tons of fresh sage. I grow my own culinary sage and it's great! I add the same to the stuffing as well. I made a great new recipe for Cranberry Conserve this year. I used 1/2 the pecans (too spendy) and a little less sugar. Everyone LOVED it! I also made-
roasted yams with a little butter, brown sugar and cinnamon,
traditional gravy,
mashed Yukon gold taters,
Pumpkin pie and Indian Pudding for dessert.
The kinds brought veggies, salad and a pie. It was great!

I sent home jars of conserve, as well as other leftovers, with the kids. I made 2 big qt. jars of turkey stock last night from the carcass. Soup's on the horizon...