Monday's News- A Full Festive Time

Our weekend started on Thursday due to the Holiday. We went to Chesapeake,Virginia to spend the holiday with Dad. I stated the holiday cooking on Wednesday. Thursday we were joined by, My Brother and his family, My Grandmother and Grandfather and My SIL and her family. We ended up with 14 people for our Thanksgiving meal. It was so nice and my Dad loved having all the folks in his house again. It amazes me how I still know my way around the kitchen. Not having Mom there was hard on a few of us,however I still feel at home there.

After we ate, the kids went out to play around....Took Critter to see the Blue Water tower,

He had never seen one.

Now this is a funny story... Across the street is an Old City Church.

Critter said to AuntieE " Wow...That is a big house".
Auntie E said "Oh that's a Church".
His reply "Oh Really?"

Then it dawned on us, that all he knows is churches at schools and the Big Church Building at McLean, Va (McLean Bible Church). At that church he goes from a huge Parking lot into a very large building. So we all had a good laugh. Now I will need to introduce him to some small churches sometime.

Friday my family and Dad went to see Christmas Town at Busch Garden. Oh there were lots of Blue lights in the villages.

I really loved that place. Got so many Ideas for Lighting and Christmas decoration.

Saturday we went to Colonial Williamsburg to do some shopping in the old merchant market.
I loved the feeling there.The sights and sound were so festive.
Arriving home late in the evening. We unpacked the car and went to bed.

Sunday we went to McLean Bible Church. Then went shopping at the Mall for the Angel tree kids. In the evening we went to get some lights for decorating the yard and porch. Our mail box was hit so we had to also purchase a new one to install. That is today's Project and of course the lights are on the list also.

So how was your weekend?

Be sure to visit Writer Cramps to see more Monday's Miss Marple. You never know when you need that Alibi!
I add this post to Blue Monday this week, you can see more Blue Photos at Smiling Sally

It's a Black Friday Question

How early did you arise to go Shopping?

I woke up at 630AM and my hubby and daughter were gone. Last night they were making a list and deciding where to start shopping. I tried to find out who they are shopping for. With only three of us in the family the question is pretty much answered. ME!

As for My shopping. I do not go out on Black Friday. Crowds and me at stores do not work. Standing in long lines and pushing through folk is just too stressful. I really do not think the sales prices are worth the stress in my life. You know there are great sales prices on line. Also Tomorrow is Small Business day. Now that shopping I like.

Later today we are going to the Holiday Towne at Bush Gardens. Be on the lookout for photos on my Auntie E On The Go site ( there is a link to it on the side bar). I will be sending live shots while on our trip. I'm really looking forward to this adventure. It will put me in the spirit to decorate my home and yard for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving From My Home to Yours.

We are expecting 15 folks over for Thanksgiving. I am at Dad's and have been cooking for two days. Critter and Alex will be sharing this day with their Great Grandpa( My Dad). Critter will be seeing his Grandpa(my Brother)also. My SIL and her husband are attending. My granny and grandpa will be joining us. My niece will also be joining us. We will Have the neighbors over later in the day. Our Eating will begin at 11 am. So much on our agenda. Watching the Macy's thanksgiving day Parade as well as the last details to the table and food.

Today's Menu is:

Apple Spice Turkey
Honey ham
Orange Cranberry Relish
Jellied Cranberry
Green bean Casserole
Sweet potato Casserole
Honey Carrots
Cranberry Pecan Stuffing.
Mashed potatoes with Gravy
Rolls with Fresh butter
Fig Bread
Pumpkin pie with Home made whipped cream
Pecan Pie
Cranberry apple pie
Orange Cranberry Bars
Cranberry mulled drink
Tea
Coffee
Cranberry Juice

May you all have a great Thanksgiving Day.

Monday's News-Getting ready for the Holidays

My weekend has been a busy one. We were package and getting ready to go to Dad's. I am cooking Thanksgiving Dinner there. So I had to go shopping to get the things I will need. then to the laundry and wrapping presents.

I had to take down the canvas and screen to the Gazebo. Winter is showing its head and the Fall winds are here. That meant time to batten down the yard items. We had to get the Cars tuned and ready for the winter and trips. Hubby cleaned out the cars and had them detailed. I moved some furniture around making room for the Holiday trees. Signed up for some tickets to the Menorah Lighting on the 1st of December. May some plans for this next week activities. We are going to the Christmas Town in Williamsburg, Virginia. This is the Second year for it. We have never been and are looking forward to going.

Sunday we took off to Virginia Beach. Visiting Dad's and getting ready for our Thanksgiving Celebration. We cross the Ocean on the way. Reminds me of that song " Over the river and through the wood to Grandmothers house we go.....". Only my song would go, Over the river and through the ocean to grandfathers house we go..." After all we travel in the tunnel under the ocean on our way. We arrived Sunday afternoon. There is an old Piano at Dads'. I love to play it when I visit.This year my daughter will play the cello and I the piano. We will play the theme song to the movie " Mr. Grinch"
On top there is a doll collection and some Framed music covers from days gone by.The little pianos do play songs. I love seeing and hearing the collectibles.After eating at The Texas Roadhouse that evening, Dad and I watched a movie on The Life network channel. It was a murder mystery, a very good one. We didn't figure it out at all, a total surprise ending to us all.

So how was your weekend?

Be sure to visit Writer Cramps to see more Monday's Miss Marple. You never know when you need that Alibi!
I add this post to Blue Monday this week, you can see more Blue Photos at Smiling Sally

Friday's Question- History and a Question

In the beginning of time the Hebrews would give thanks the first fruits of their harvest to their God. Thanking Him for their bountiful harvest. The Pilgrims continued the giving of thanks for their harvest. Still today we thank the Lord God Almighty for our Bountiful life and harvest.

In 1620 the Mayflower arrived in Plymouth (now in the state of Maine). It was the first ship to arrive and many others were to come in the next following years. In autumn of 1621 the Governor of the pilgrims sent a message to have a special day to meet together to rejoice. Being Christians,(followers of Christ, Gods' only Son) I think it was part of the thankfulness of their first year harvest. Thanking the Lord God for his protection and their food. Winter was coming again and they were storing up and batting down. We know the time frame due to some letters we had from that time. Some of the Mayflower folks also did not make it to the first Thanksgiving celebration. Of the 102 first passengers of the Mayflower to arrive in America. Only 53 made it to celebrate the First Thanksgiving, In the autumn of 1621.

Now in 1863 Abraham Lincoln declared:

.....It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

So our Thanksgiving celebrations began all around the Nations. Solely based on giving thanks to God Almighty for the blessing he has bestowed on each one of us.

So Now question to you today is:

Do you, at your Family gathering, on your "Thanksgiving Day" do something special with the family?

We will go around the table and have everyone answer a question" What are you thankful for the year?". My Mother started that at our table. We always had a guess or two and they still had to answer the question.. then My Dad would give thanks to the Lord God Almighty and we would eat.

Wordless Wednesday-Rare Sightings.

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Check out this Link to sign up.
Sorry, the Wordless Wednesday link site is down.
I will leave the link up this week, however I will have to
delete it if it is still not up next week.don not know what happened to it

When some of us blogger need to just add words on Wednesday's post. Surf over to Parenting by Dummies to join the Wordful Wednesday group.



While in Washington DC we viewed some rare things. Maybe You have not seen some of these in this way....

Of course most know about....
the Merry-go-round on the Mall

and about the Smithsonian Castle not too far away...

Dates back to the 1800'sBut did you know right around the bend...
hidden in the courtyard of a building are these sights...

I know everyone has seen...

The Washington Monument....Did you know Bill Nye-The Science Guy,
thought if you add the dots...
Just perhaps it could be...
A Sundial.....Now that's not possible but it is a funny photo.
It was presented at the science fair we attended.

Monday's News-Computer and Shopping

My weekend was rather calm. Did some computer work, cleaning up my Blog Landing Pages. I am a Member of Adgitize and Ken Brown, the Creator, has a Forum there. I learn a few things last week on Blog Landing Pages and about Bounce Rate. Never knew that the Landing Page should be under 50K in size, in order to control the Page Loading time. It is always nice when one lands of a fast loading page. So I did a few tweaks to my blogs Landing pages.

Saturday I limited the amount of post to appear when the page opens. Put a List of my post title for the past week on my side bar. that way visitors can see what has already been posted. Also worked on cleaning up some old stuff on my pages. Have been blogging for about two years now. Some of the things have been there that long! Bloggers come and go in this Bloggerland. So I needed to clean up. Kind of like house cleaning. I have seven blogs, so this took some time. Oh, In case you do not know...You can find out your page size by Right clicking on your Blog page and choosing"View Page Info". I was able to get mine under 20K.

My daughter wanted to go to the Amish Market for some Fruit. Of course we also got a few other items. Can you believe it.... the Egg Nog was out. We tried some last night ,it was very good. So Dad, I will be bring some with us for our visit. After we got home I made dinner, a Beef Goulash served with Noodles. Worked on the menu for our Thanksgiving Brunch and the week at Dads. We planed out some activities to do while with Dad. I called my Brother to Let him know his Grandson, Critter, will be coming to Thanksgiving Brunch at Dads. He was so excited, Haven't seen his grandson for over three years. I was trying to think about the last time. I think it was when critter was 2 1/2, he is now almost seven. My how times flies!

Sunday we had church. Alex and her Dad joined us for church. Alex had a sleep over so she was tired, you know Kids just do not want to sleep at those. Now I wonder why we call them Sleep overs? Sound to me they should be called, All Nighters. Saw Critter and the rest of the family after church. Talked about our upcoming Trip plans. Critter, being a boy, had an accident on the school play ground last week. He got a little scraped up. It will heal okay though.

We went out to eat at Eggspectations. This is a restaurant that serves any thing and every thing with eggs. It was very busy, always is on the weekends. After that we went to the mall. I was looking for Boots and my daughter a Hat. My fall/winter color this year is Gray. Therefore the boots had to be gray and not slick bottoms.

The Candle Shop was calling me to stop in. So I purchase some Holiday scented candle and a few other things. Oh yes I use a coupon and purchased items that were specially priced.


I like this shade, if you click and look closely you can see the Crackle glass. When it is lit that church image is cast on the wall. the crackled glass creates a snowing effect. The Santa shade and plate set has different views of Santa around the shade and plate. I chose the Blue boy for today's blue Monday view.

So how was your weekend?

Be sure to visit Writer Cramps to see more Monday's Miss Marple.
I add this post to Blue Monday this week, you can see more Photos at Smiling Sally

For the Love of Questions-Link systems?

There are so many link systems out there. I first started with Mr Linky, then moved to MckLinky(now known as Linky Tools), tried Simply Linked and my new one inlinkz. They all offer about the same service. Some have different programs one can use. Like:
Thumbnails- where one can link a photo with there URL.
Blog hops- where you can link on one link and it will be posted on several blogs.
Contest voting- this can be hidden or public. Can also allow for a random winner chosen.
Just a plain URL link- nothing fancy.
Meme links- to be use with a repeating theme across the network.

Some are free for a time with limited use. Other have a optional Cost, allowing and give more options in their system. Also allowing you to use more than one link at a time.

I think I found one worth paying for. I like the way it is set up. Not taking you to a different page to link up and having the option to design it to blend with your pages needs and space. The HTML is easy and the maintenance of the links are good. Not too complicated to use.
I still use others however I am finding a like only a few of them.

So My questions to you are:

1. Have you or do you use any of these link systems?
2. Which ones have or are you using?
3. Are you taking advantage of the freebie version?
4. Would you pay for one, if you really liked it?

Come Join In The Fun!

Today I wish to invite My visitors to my Kitchen. What's cooking? Bread, can't you smell it...It's Blueberry Scones. Part of my Thursday Holiday Flare series. For the next seven weeks you are invited into my kitchen, for the Holiday Cooking has begun. There is a contest going on there and everyone can vote on their favorite recipes. If you cook, you can link and enter your recipes. Each Thursday there will be a different category. We have already had Side dishes, Desserts and now Breads. So I'm calling all Cooks to come link their holiday recipes up. Check your archives for those holiday gems! then come to my kitchen and link them up, it's that easy. And I'm inviting all Visitors to drop by Auntie E's Kitchen and try them out. Then come back and vote for your favorite ones. Come Join In The Fun! Let the Holiday cooking and tasting begin.

Tis the season for smells of the Holiday to start. I thought it would be so nice to have recipes from all over this world. So what do you enjoy and look forward to when the holidays come?

WW-A Piece of History...

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Close to where I live is a piece of railroad history.

The history Written....

Part of the B&O iron Bridge still standing in 2010.

The Close up of the Bollman TracksThe Iron Supports

A view of the River through the mill.

This mill was a Cotton Mill, known as the Savage Mill.
Located in Savage Maryland. Today it is an Antique and arts store.Restaurants sprinkle though out the old mill buildings.We enjoyed our visit there this last weekend. My daughters Early school years were down the street from the Mill. I remember going there and walking around. Times have changed in the years since I had last visited. Some new shops were added and more Eating places.
This is a place we will surely revisit again soon.

Mixing things up....

I have enjoyed Aloha Friday for these past two years. Loved visiting new blogs and answering questions on Friday. Kailani of An Island Life has done a great job.

Lately the numbers have been down and the problems with her link system has been troublesome for me. The purpose of a meme is to bring bloggers to your site and maybe they would follow you and answer your question. I think that some of the players have forgotten this process. One leaves an answer on their blog and they should come to your blog to reciprocate. Even if they do not want to follow you, they should return the comment. Memes can be so time consuming and frustrating when one visits all the linkers, comments on their site and only gets 1/10 return. I hope folks who play memes will read this and think about it. We play for our blog traffic to increase. It is sometimes great to meet some new followers also. I will not stop playing memes, however I will choose wisely and sometimes step away for a while if need be.

I have been Thinking of a Friday post thing to do for some time now. Trying to decide if I should rework my blogs Friday Post. After looking out the statistics I have decided to Mix things up.

I love the idea of questions at least once a week. There are so many question memes out there. Some are way too long for my liking. I need something easy and informative. Something that would help bloggers in their life or on their blogs. So I thought I would have a "For the love of Questions" Friday post.

Now for my question Friday post I will ask a question or two on a certain subject. I am thinking about all kinds of ideas, Do you have any in your mind?

I think this will be a great Friday post for me to do. It will broaden my mind and cause me to be responsive to visitors. This is not a meme I am starting, just a New Friday post for my blog. I want the question to be ones that are in reference to whatever I post that week. Trying to have some continuity to my At Home blog. Sometime a question will come to mind while I'm posting during the week. I'll try to harvest it right then. That way I will not forget it and can do some research if need be for Friday's post.

So come on by For the Love of Questions on Friday, right here. Maybe we all can learn something new or unusual. Let's broaden our horizons, and Mix things up!

Monday's News- Old Place Revisited

Here we are a new week and It's Monday, time to share my weekend adventures. Oh it started with a Thursday night Sleepover. You see daughter had Friday off school. That meant the girls wanted a sleepover night. On Friday they, as teens do, slept in. Then once up decided to go to the Catholic Church to take photos. My daughter has a blog and she posted some of those shots there.

On Saturday Hubby and I went to the Amish Market. I love getting our lunch meat, churned butter, cheese, bread and nuts there. This time I purchased some pepper fennel rolls. Not sure what my take on them are.I love to try new things, however these are not going to be my favorite.

Sunday was church time. Got to see the family. Critter was so funny as usual.

Here is one of the photos from our meeting.As you can see he is wearing my daughter hat, acting silly.

We didn't spend too long together for we needed to get going. We ate at one of our favorite place Nortons, then off to pick up our teens boyfriend. Here comes the Old Place Revisited. we drove pass my daughter old school. The one she attended from K4 to 2nd grade. Hubby and I both taught there. It was nice to revisit it. then we made are way to the Savage Mill. this is a very old Mill which was mad into an Antique Mall and shops. the added some Resturants since last time we were there.

We had not been to the Savage Mill in some time. Thinking back it had been about ten years. You know sometimes we just stop visiting the places close. On Saturday my daughter had mentioned Savage Mill. That got me thinking, we should go visit it this weekend. Hubby had never been over the bridge, so we took a walked on the 100+ year old bridge. We did some antique looking and some shopping for Christmas gifts. Stop for a Banana slit, it has been years since I had one. Stop by the French Bakery, will have to go back some time for it was closing time for them.
The stores were great, we will have to go back sometime to really shop. I saw some great things.

Well, we got our walking in and had a fun time doing it.Here is a photo of the bridge dating back to the 1800'sSo what did you do on the weekend?

Be sure to visit Writer Cramps to see more Monday's Alibis.
I add this post to Blue Monday this week, you can see more Photos at Smiling Sally
Here's the Link to:
My daughters Blog