Where I've Been Hiding and Home Tour Tuesday

Where have I been hiding, you ask?  Well, like I said in my last post, I was on PTO from work last week, so I was hiding out at home, sans kiddo, for a few days!  I went to East Texas to visit my grandad in the hospital last weekend and dropped Jack off with my mom.  Jack got to spend a few days with his Grammy and Papa in Houston and I know he had a good time! 

While Jack was busy being spoiled, I was enjoying a full night's sleep, sewing, being lazy, hanging out with Randy and getting ready for Thanksgiving.  Since my Grandad had knee replacement surgery the Thursday prior to Thanksgiving, my Memaw decided she wasn't doing Thanksgiving at her house this year, so it was moved to my house!

Randy's mom came in on Tuesday, then my mom, Jeff and Jack came on Wednesday.  Jack was either teething or sick, or maybe both, so Wednesday night was not fun!  He didn't want to sleep and was just crying and wouldn't eat.  This went on until Sunday.  I'm glad I caught up on a little sleep during my mommy-cation, because there have been many sleepless nights since Jack's been home.  I feel like I have a newborn again; thus, confirming that one child is enough for me!  HA!

For Thanksgiving, Randy fried a turkey in his new infrared cooker and it was so good!  We put it in brine the day before and the turkey really absorbed the flavor nicely.  I made my Memaw's stuffing recipe - it wasn't nearly as good as hers, but not bad for my first attempt!  We also had green bean casserole (we add velveeta - YUMMY), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, hominy casserole, deviled eggs, a pumpkin roll, pecan pie and carrot cake.  I was STUFFED!!  Sorry, I don't have any pictures from Thanksgiving day, or all week, for that matter.  It was all I could do to get dinner on the table and keep my child from crying constantly, but it was a good Thanksgiving.  We are certainly blessed and have so much to be thankful for.  I think my mom took some pictures.  If so, I'll try to post them later.

All of our company left on Friday and we didn't do a thing the rest of the weekend!  I'm now back at work, Jack's back at school and Randy's enjoying his PTO and peace and quiet at home this week.  Jack seems to be feeling better and ate a pretty good dinner of hot dogs, bananas, goldfish and yogurt last night.  He's still not sleeping through the night, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that tonight will be a better night! 

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!  Now it's time to get ready for Christmas - let the shopping and decorating begin!  I even listened to my Kenny and Dolly Christmas CD on the way to work this morning!  I love this time of year!

 This week's theme for Home Tour Tuesday is "My Peaceful Place".  I'm not sure if our patio is really considered peaceful, but it is fun! Our Patio Since these pictures were taken, we have added a patio table and TV, making it the perfect place to just sit, have a beer or glass of wine and just relax!  There is also a lot of GOOD grillin' goin' on out there too!   

We built the patio back in July and have enjoyed it so much! The back of our house faces West, so without it, it was nearly impossible to hang out there in the summer.

That's it for my peaceful place! 

Where is your peaceful place?  Hope over to Shannon's blog to link up!  Shannon is also hosting an ornament exchange that I'm participating in.  You can click the link on my sidebar to sign up.  Tomorrow is the deadline, so don't delay!  It's going to be fun!!