Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Fall is Here...and So is Random Tuesday!!

It's absolutely unbelievable to me that it is already NOVEMBER 6. How did November get here so quickly? (Do you think that time flies because I'm just getting older and older by the minute? lol)

We don't have as true an Autumn season in the South as in many places (after all, it has been 85 degrees on Thanksgiving Day before), but I've actually caught a couple of pretty trees in our neighborhood. And...the weather turned a little bit colder last night and this morning we are awakening to 40 degrees. That feels a little bit like Fall to me.

Some other signs that Fall is here? I like to decorate my dining room table according to the seasons, and I took some time Sunday afternoon to put some orange and brown and yellow on display.


Also...state football playoffs arrive this Friday (get out the sweatshirts and hot chocolate for that one!)...Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away and I'm having visions of Gan Gan's incredible dressing... and Gary has started his Christmas shopping already. Yep, Fall is officially here!

I decided to add a fun all-November-long event on my blog and I'll encourage you to do something like it on yours as well. You'll see my "Giving Thanks for..." entry on my sidebar. Each day I will add what I am thankful for that day; at the end of the month, it will be a cool thing to go back and read. (Thanks, Kari, for the inspiration to do this!) Maybe you might want to do it on your blog too. It's always good to stop and count our blessings, isn't it?

Now, for my Random Tuesday post today, I thought I'd pose some Fall musings for all of us.

Join in the fun and answer if you'd like (or post on your blog and let us know about it!).
1. What is your favorite Fall color (on clothes, on trees, etc.)?
I just love Fall colors, especially deep orange, yellow, and crimson.

2. What is your favorite Fall food?

Well, that would have to include the aforementioned Gan Gan Thanksgiving Dressing (oh my...it is SO good!). I also love the barbecued brisket we usually have at my parents' house. I also love sweet potato pie, pumpkin bars, green bean casserole, and anything with apples. Really...it's pretty much ALL fine in my book!

3. Do you like or dislike daylight savings time?
I really loved it this past Sunday morning, when I was a little bit more rested after the late night we had the night before. But..I do not like it getting dark so early!

4. Do you like or dislike football?

Duh...what do you think? (If you are "new" to this blog, just read the post right before this one!) It's one of my very favorite things about Fall!

5. Do you have any special Thanksgiving traditions?
Two are probably the most special to me. Starting two weeks before Thanksgiving, we have a basket full of paper strips and everyone in the family writes down things they're thankful for on them; on Thanksgiving morning, we read them together as a family and talk about them. (This year, I'm planning on changing this a little bit and making a Thankfulness journal for everyone to write in. That's one of my projects to finish this week!) The other tradition is that usually a lot of members of my mother's family travels from Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina to their home for the Thanksgiving weekend. I'm praying it will still happen this year, although the serious illness of a cousin might prevent it. Both traditions reveal two things that are so important to me--being grateful for the big and little things in my life, and cherishing moments with my family!

6. What is the weather like where you live this time of year?
You never know in Alabama. It was 75 degrees yesterday, but today it's supposed to be only 55. Fall is a crazy season down South; sometimes, we get some cool days and at other times it's completely mild. We pray for snow every year, but we haven't really had a good snow since Delaney was maybe 3. Maybe this will be the year!

7. Share at least one favorite Fall memory.

Well...since now I have snow on my mind, I guess that one particular Thanksgiving is really memorable to me. I must have been ten- or eleven-years-old. We were living in Fayetteville, Arkansas and we traveled to some second cousins' house out in the country. I'll never forget it snowing the whole way there and back. It's the only white holiday I ever remember, and I'll always remember how beautiful the mountains were in the snow.

8. What are you thankful for today?
So many, many things. But the first that immediately comes to mind is "Heroes" and the fact that it got really intriguing last night. And...fresh blueberry muffins. And... a husband that works so hard for all of us.

So, share, share away. I would LOVE to hear your answers! (Answer all of them, answer one of them, answer some of them...whatever floats your boat.)

20 comments:

Adrienne said...

Oh fun!!!

1.ORANGE!!!! But I bet you knew that already! LOL

2.Thanksgiving dressing! I totally agree with you on this one!! Only my moms....man it will make you hurt yourself! LOL

3.I hate it. Who ever invented it did NOT have kids. My children are still messed up from the time change! LOL

4.I actually love it!

5.So many. I think the one I love most is putting up the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving night and telling what we are thankful for and what the Christmas season really means.

6. This is Alabama...its CRAZY LOL

7. My favorite fall memory to date....when I was 21 my brother was in the military and it was his first time being away from the family for the holidays. He was on a 6month tour and something happened to his ship and they came back to shore....he was able to get some free time and came home as we were praying. I bawled lol.

8. Right now, my laundry is done lol. But a lot of other stuff too lol.

Adrienne said...

Hey, I was first! LOL

Jeff said...

1. What is your favorite Fall color (on clothes, on trees, etc.)?
I'm really a fan of red. Red trees look just awesome (and we don't seem to have any here yet, hopefully soon before the color burst is over). Red clothes are nice too.

2. What is your favorite Fall food?
Anything on the Thanksgiving menu is game here. Although I have a real thing for stuffing! It's just so yummy.

3. Do you like or dislike daylight savings time?
I don't mind dark early, it sort of means "fall" to me. And I really like the time shift. The past couple years I've had super late hockey games on that Saturday night, so once that's done and I'm getting home at near 2am, it means it's really 1am and I get the extra hour of sleep.

4. Do you like or dislike football?
I'm pretty neutral on football. In high school I went to games, but that was more for the social aspect than the game itself. I think in college I went to only two or three games, again for the social aspect. Today I can't even remember the last time I looked at football for more than about 10 seconds. What fall really means is hockey!!!

5. Do you have any special Thanksgiving traditions?
Our current Thanksgiving tradition is spending it at a friend's place here in the city. We've been doing this for about five years now. AJ unleashes his inner Martha Stewart and cooks up the turkey and stuffing and all the guests bring the rest of the meal. We've got an excellent green bean cassrole that is our contribution.

6. What is the weather like where you live this time of year?
After weeks have bouncing between fall-like and near-summer-like, we seem to have settled into normal fall weather with highs in the mid-50s and lows in the low 40s. Although this particular morning we're having some rain and the temp right now is 52, but it's dropping into upper 30s tonight and be in the 40s a couple days this week.

7. Share at least one favorite Fall memory.
I always love the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The first year I lived in New York I went to the parade and it was amazing to see it in person after so many years of just watching it on TV. I go every couple of years, it depends on what the weather is doing. I’ll stand in the rain (I’ve done that a couple of years), but if it’s too windy there’s really no point in turning up because the balloons end up so close to the ground it’s just not quite right. The odd thing about watching in person is sometimes you don’t know who is on the floats or even what the float is supposed to be. Some years I’ve come home and watched again on the DVR to find out what something really was.

8. What are you thankful for today?
My husband! I’m thankful for his love and support every single day!

Cheryl Wray said...

Adrienne--Oh yeah, I knew orange would be your favorite color. :-) And we should have a Dressing Battle between your Mom and our Gan Gan. HA!!!

Jeff--I'm always so jealous that you are right there in the middle of the Macy's Parade.I think that is so cool!!!!!

Monogram Queen said...

1. What is your favorite Fall color I would have to say deep orange. Not that yucky Clemson/TN orange though LOL

2. What is your favorite Fall food?
Squash and pumpkin pie

3. Do you like or dislike daylight savings time? I don't like it. The up at dark, dark early depresses me.


4. Do you like or dislike football?
I Lurve football!

5. Do you have any special Thanksgiving traditions?
No but hopefully as my daughter gets older we will.

6. What is the weather like where you live this time of year?
I think Alabama and SC probably have quite similar weather!

7. Share at least one favorite Fall memory.
When we used to have big all family Thanksgiving dinners at the rec club where my Dad worked and my grandparents were still alive. After dinner we would take all the kids on a "nature walk". I miss it!

8. What are you thankful for today?
My family, my health, my home,my job and all of the wonderful people i've met through Blogging!

Anonymous said...

We also don't hardly ever get snow. I wish we did.

Thankful today for a good night sleep last night. It seems like the first I've gotten since the time change (hence, the fact that I don't like it!).

Josie said...

How fun..I posted on my blog.
Love fall, love Tday...
Happy Tuesday!

Unknown said...

My favorite fall color is burnt orange.

Turkey and dressing is my favorite fall food. Oh and oxtail stew! and sweet potato pie.

I hate daylight saving time. The reason being is, it gets dark sooooo early and I am sleepy at 8pm...lol

I love football

Yes, we have tons of Thanksgiving Traditions. One of the craziest thing is getting up at 3am the next day to hit the Black Friday sales...LOL

In Chicago the weather can be crazy..last Thanksgiving it was in the upper 70's, and the next day it 30 degrees....LOL

One of my most memorable fall memories, was playing in the leaf pile, crunching leaves, while my grandmother was in the house making hot apple cider and all kind of pies. Loved that. Going on hayrides....fun, fun, fun

I am thankful that the plumber finally fixed our mainline, we had raw sewage backing into our laundry. What I am not thankful for is the clean up...ewwwww.

Andy said...

i'm going to post on my blog at some point today. and i love love love the pic of the tree on your side bar. also the one of you and your hubby and your girls. very cute.

~Nancy~ said...

I was thinking exactely the same thing this morning..it's just unbelievable that it's already NOvember 6th.. before we know we'll have our Christmas tree up!!

And uhm.. here I go!!

1. What is your favorite Fall color (on clothes, on trees, etc.)?
Red and orange.. especially orange.. as this color also reminds me of the summer.. hehe..

2. What is your favorite Fall food?
Uhm.. we don't ahve real fall food overhere.. yeah.. maybe sauerkraut.. but I don't like that too much.. hehe..

3. Do you like or dislike daylight savings time?
I don't like this part of the year at all.. we just turned our clock back 1 hour last week.. so that means I'm leaving in the dark to go to work..and when I come back home it's dark too.. ugh!!

4. Do you like or dislike football?
Uhm..I don't know too well.. I guess I'm a little neutral here..

5. Do you have any special Thanksgiving traditions?
We don't have thanksgiving overhere in Holland.. unfortunately..

6. What is the weather like where you live this time of year?
Cold, rainy, grey.. need I say more?? hehe..

7. Share at least one favorite Sorry can't come up with one right now..

8. What are you thankful for today?
My boyfriend an family.. to have them all around me in good health.

Cheryl Wray said...

Patti--I'm with you...yucko on the TN orange. But burnt orange is good!! I LOVE the tradition of the nature walk!

Gin--I'm still recovering from the time change too!!

Josie--Fun! Going to check out your blog next.

Dana--I have never head oxtail stew. Hmmm. I do NOT do the morning-after shopping. We tried it once and it just make me cranky. Ha!! And, uck, on the plumbing problem. We have had to deal with that a few times and it's not fun!

Andy--Oh good! I will look forward to coming and reading it.

Nancy--Thanksgiving may just be my very favorite holiday. It is a very special one. you will have to experience it via blogging, I guess. :-)

Dawn Bibbs said...

Hey Cheryl, what a great post.

I love answering your questions. So here goes:

1.My favorite fall color(s) are deep purple, orange, golden yellow & brown. Hmmm, that's all the colors almost, lol.
2.My favorite fall food is my MIL's sweet potato pie. YUMMY!!!
3. As far as DLS time, I still don't understand the need for it. Not sure what we gain. Pick a time and leave it alone!!! I do, however, like that it's not dark anymore when kids leave for school. And that whole extra hour thing only seems beneficial that first day!
4. I love football!
5. We don't really have any Thanksgiving traditions. Sad. But we don't. Unless you consider everyone fighting over my MIL's sweet potato pies a tradition, LOL.
6. Just like in Alabama, the weather here in Georgia is simply KArazy!!! I remember last year, the kids wore shorts right up through the last week in October. Today, we woke to 50 degree weather and VERY windy. Who knows, tomorrow, they may open the neighborhood pool back up because it so freakin HOT! LOL
7. I'd have to say my favorite Fall memory is last year when we took the kids to this HUGE pumpkin patch. It was a treat for all of us. I'd never been myself. And considering the one Jayla's Pre-K class went to last year (and now this year), it was AMAZING!!! I truly hope we're able to go back to the big one this year.
8. Today I am thankful for being able to breathe. I've been kinda stopped up lately. So I guess the brisk wind we're having today is a little token for me from God...so I can breathe. And I'm also thankful that I got the emissions done on my van. (It's the little things)

Thanks again, Cheryl...that was fun.

Unknown said...

1. What is your favorite Fall color (on clothes, on trees, etc.)?
**I love all of the fall colors when they are at peak! It makes me sad when all the pretties turn brown!

2. What is your favorite Fall food? **If we're talking Thanksgiving food then it would be mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie (not together...LOL) Other cool weather comfort foods for me are chicken & dumplings and pinto beans cooked with ham in them, served with a nice chunk of cornbread.

3. Do you like or dislike daylight savings time?
**I like gaining the hours in the Fall, but not losing it in the Spring! LOL And I really don't like it getting dark so early.

4. Do you like or dislike football?
**I am not a sports fan at all! Although, I have been asking my husband the last few weeks how Alabama is doing? LOL Just to see how Cheryl's team is doing!
Of course, my husband is from Ohio and the Ohio State Buckeye's are HIS team, so I hear about them all the time.

5. Do you have any special Thanksgiving traditions?
**The only thing I would call a tradition for us is that Mr. Mister is the one who cooks the turkey. He has cooked it since our first year of being married (22 years now) unless we go somewhere else to eat.

6. What is the weather like where you live this time of year?
**WACKY! It was almost 70 degrees yesterday, and only supposed to get to 48 degrees today. Then we are warming up again.

7. Share at least one favorite Fall memory.
**Not necessarily just a memory, but I would have to say one of my favorite things is when we drive around looking at all of the leaves changing colors. And the smell of people lighting their wood burning fireplaces.

8. What are you thankful for today?
**Definitely my husband, who puts up with my craziness! And my kids, who always make me laugh!
I am also thankful for the creation of blogs. There is so much inspiration out there in blog land. And LOTS of very nice people!

Jill said...

I loved reading all of your Thanksgiving/fall answers and especially loved the tradition of listing things you are thankful for. We started that last year and I hope to continue it yearly as well.

Linda said...

C- totally loved this post. So many things to be thankful for... and I played along, come check out my blog for today. Hugs

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful tree photo on your side bar...wish we had trees like that here in so cal!

I wonder if I can remember to do the thankful thing everyday. I may have to try that! What a great idea!

Jacquie

Cheryl Wray said...

Dawn--The tradition of fighting over mil's sweet potato pie sounds like a good one to me! LOL I am SO ready for some sp pie!! Yummy...

Kathy--I LOVE mashed potatoes. And ThaNk YOU for the Bama football support. LOL

Jill--That is one of my FAVE traditions. Such a good thing to do!!

Linda--Ooh, fun! Coming to check it out.

Jacquie--Well, I sorta cheated and "stole" the tree picture. There are some pretty ones around here, but I haven't seen one quite that pretty yet. ;-)

Anonymous said...

So fun! I love FALL! Totally LOVE it! I can't wait to answer these questions, but I'm getting ready for work...I'll come back tonight, promise :)

Anonymous said...

LOVE this post today. I love Fall. The cool weather just makes me happy. And the food too. Love it!

Marg

Anonymous said...

answered em on my blog!!