Wrapping Up November: 2016

How is it December??

This year has simultaneously dragged on, and in the same inexplicable breath, flew by. Where did 2016 go? November was a pretty busy month for us, as it is for most with the Thanksgiving holiday. December is set to fly by too, as the hubby and I are leaving for Oregon in 15 short days!! I'm so excited, I haven't spent a Christmas in Oregon since Christmas 2009. It's definitely time to head home for a holiday!

But in November-

The hubby's mom headed to Florida to visit a couple of her siblings, so the hubby and I dog-sat for a week. Barney had a great time with us, and got lots of running in with Mariota. Those 2 get along like peas in a pod 😁 Barney might be an old fella, but he gets some energy going when he's with Mariota. 

The strawberries are done for the year, much to all the dog's chagrin. Every single one of them were strawberry fiends. I caught Haloti sitting in the strawberry box eating berries more than once. We had our first hard frost around the middle of the month, which means the strawberries were covered for the year-

The frost also took out the marigolds. I actually haven't cleared them out yet, which also means I didn't dig for potatoes. Oops 😮 Anyone know if you can dig potatoes up after several frosts?

We had a fairly strong wind storm move through this month. It completely broke this tree in half, although now there's half a tree hanging on another tree. As of today, it's still just hanging out. 

The hubby and I tried a new-to-us bar in Ironton called Frogtown. The hubby has been talking about it since we moved here but since it has the reputation for being a biker bar... we kind of held off. Until we decided to try it. 

We were pleasantly surprised! We went during the day, so the crowd was pretty normal. The drinks were strong (always a plus!) and the food was down-home (also a big plus!). The hubby got the frog legs (obviously their name sake) and I got meatloaf. The hubby hates meatloaf, so I really only get to eat it if I decided to get it when I'm out. Their's was definitely homemade and I loved every bite of it.

I returned home from the grocery store one day and there was a huge cow in the front field. The dogs had a fit! I think the cow could hear their frenzied barking from the house because he came all the way over to the fence before he eventually meandered off. Someone must have come and got him, because he was gone by that evening.

Does anyone know if kale grows wild? The picture on the left was taken under one of my bird feeders. The picture on the right is green kale that I planted in the garden (the marjoram kind of took over). Whatever is growing under the bird feeders looks an awful lot like kale. I'm perplexed. If it is kale, how in the world did it get there? 

One thing I know for sure? I'll be leaving that kale under the bird feeder alone. Birds aren't exactly sanitary eaters. Eew. 

I've captioned those 2 photo collages as "The Many Faces of Mariota" 😂

November brought Thanksgiving! I couldn't resist putting this little chalkboard sign on my door for the holiday-

And boy, did we! 

Our small little group we had for Thanksgiving- we had the hubby's mother, his sister, brother-in-law, and their 3 kids in for the holiday. 

Our family's standard goofball shot 😁

Now, the day after Thanksgiving, I got my jam on. After doing morning yoga, I got out a nice, big slice of Pumpkin Cake and put on my favorite of all "Friends" Thanksgiving episodes, "The One Where Ross Got High". I laugh just as hard every year. Such a great show. The cake wasn't bad either 😉

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, the hubby and I headed to Lexington to get my MRI's done. We chose Lexington due to the fact they have an open MRI machine and I do horribly in those tube machines. Claustrophobia gets me every time. I did pretty well with the open machine, only having to re-do 1 of the pictures. 

Afterwards, since we were downtown, we stopped in a local restaurant called The Village Idiot. A super-odd name for such a fantastic restaurant. The food was some of the best we've had since moving back here. The hubby couldn't turn down the New York Strip (delicious!) and my salmon dish was a revelation. I tried re-creating it on Tuesday, but it's going to take more experimentation for me 😁 That first picture in this post was actually taken at the restaurant. We will definitely be returning there, I guarantee it!

My favorite things I made this month (and coming soon!)-

Autumn Pork and Squash Stew (this was amazing!)

Jalapeno Popper Pizza

New England Clam Chowder (a house favorite!)

And I'll leave you with a picture of my 3 gorgeous babies. I love those furry faces ❤️🐶 Especially when I can get them all in 1 photo! 

~I hope everyone had a great November! Happy December everyone!~

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