Thanksgiving 1988

The year is 1988.  I am 10 years old, and I love food.  It's Thanksgiving Eve, and I love the smell of the turkey baking in the oven.  If you know me in the least, you know I love to be around the food.  I ask my parents if I can call Grandma and ask to spend the night.  Luckily, she says yes.

I only need to take a couple of things, my grandma only lives maybe 2 blocks away.  It's probably around 6 pm or so, and I walk through my backyard and walk the well known streets over.  If I see any neighbors, I am sure I say hi and gleefully continue on my way.

Grandma is getting a few things ready for the next day.  We find something to watch on tv together (I pray it's not Little House On The Prairie or Bonanza.). I'm sure we don't stay up late, the next morning is going to be busy.  I pick out my favorite blanket that I like to use at her house and snuggle in on the couch and fall asleep probably by 9 or 10.

It seems like I have just fallen asleep when I hear Grandma getting up and getting out the pots and pans and starting the turkey in the roasting pan.  It's a busy morning, and there's lots of work to do.  There are potatoes to mash, yams to make, and green bean casserole for me to drool over.  (One time, she didn't make it, and I almost cried.  She made it every time after that.)

Slowly family starts trickling in.  It's a smaller house, but somehow we managed to probably get 20-30 people in there.  Since it's such a big family, it's kind of a free for all when it comes to where to sit.  I'm lurking in the kitchen, keeping an eye on things.  I want to know as soon as the turkey is coming out of the oven (I am basting it every so often).  It's around 12 pm, and it's finally done.

My dad traditionally carves the turkey.  My favorite part of the turkey is the crispy skin, and I am ready to fight over it.  I am normally first in line, and I load my plate up in the dining room.  Turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, and the jello whip cream dessert.  I hurry up and find a seat.  I am quick, and I find a seat in the living room.

After everyone is done eating, us kids are in the kitchen working on the dishes.  It's a bit, there are lots of things to wash and dry.  And it's a good day.

Times have changed.  My grandma passed away back in 2009.  Lots of us have moved away from Blairsville.  Some of us have jobs that don't close on the holidays.  This year, our little dinner at my mom's is on Friday (my sister Bekah is working daylight on Thanksgiving and I work 3:30-7:30). And I am now plant based/vegetarian.  My mom is awesome.  While I would've gone out to get some sort of veggie turkey, she was kind enough to get me something as a substitute.  It'll be much smaller dinner than the big holiday dinners of my youth, but it will still be memorable.  And I am grateful, happy, and blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving, all my friends.

Update On My Virtual LOTR Challenge

Hello, my beautiful friends!

It's been a bit dreary in my neck of the woods for the past few days.  Hopefully we see some of those lovely sun rays today, but I think it's doubtful.

I'm a little over the halfway mark for the first stretch of the Virtual Lord Of The Rings Challenge from The Conqueror Events.  I have to say, I'm really enjoying this challenge.  I bought and downloaded the kindle version of the entire book.  Fun fact, instead of the 3 books the we have come to know, I guess it was actually written as one long book.  Since I bought the kindle version and it's one long book, it's a little difficult to know at any given moment.  So as I have been working on the virtual challenge, which is around 140 miles, I have also been reading the book.  I've really been enjoying to it, and I have been plugging away at it.  In fact, I've liked it much more than I thought I would!

Well, I thought I was getting towards the end of the first "book."  I was pretty proud of myself.  And then, as I turned the page on the kindle app, I discovered that I was only half way through the first book.  (I know it may be confusing to those that have not read LOTR before, but each of the 3 books actually has "books" in it.  I was kind of disappointed that I was only halfway through it, but then also happy knowing that I still had so much of the story to read!

I normally get roughly around 5 miles in every day (I have it synced so that it calculates my total mileage for the day).  Sometime I get more.  However, this past Friday, the weather forecasters weren't joking when they said it was going to rain all day.  From early in the morning until late in the day, it rained.  and rained.  And rained.  I think I had almost 3 miles in for the day.  And then Saturday, I worked 12 hours.  I did go out for a quick walk before work, so I did manage to get in about 4 miles for the day.

I would like to finish this challenge before the end of the month, and it shouldn't be too much of a problem.  As long as the weather cooperates, I would love to have my finishers medal in hand before Dec 1.

I hope this motivates you to get moving, in whatever way works for you.  If you would like to join the conqueror challenges, please go to https://www.theconqueror.events/

My referral code is theconqueror.events/r/BH9295 (copy and paste into search bar)

LOTR Conqueror Challenge

Hello, my good friends!

I hope you are all safe, blessed, and doing well!  I have been enjoying the decent weather lately and I am looking forward to the 70 degree days we are going to have soon!

Several months ago, I decided to start doing some virtual distance challenges.  I always like having a challenge when it comes to workouts.  While I try to walk on an almost daily basis, I wanted to push myself a little harder.  I had been seeing The Conqueror Challenges online, including a Lord Of The Rings event.  I looked into this site a little more, and noticed that they had different challenges.  They had varying distances; anywhere from 21 miles to well over 2,000 miles!

For my first challenge, I decided on Estrada Real, which I believe was a little over 80 miles.  If you registered early, there was even a chance to win a gold plated finishers medal (unfortunately I didn't win).  I also put out a request to my family to see if they wanted to join.  My sister Bridgett also signed up!  It was so cool that we got to work together to meet our goal!

These challenges are pretty cool.  There is a virtual map to follow, and some even have street views, so you can see where you would be on the actual trail!  They also send you virtual postcards along the way with some interesting local facts about the area. 

Since my sister and I loved this challenge, we signed up for the next new virtual event, Cotswold Way.  This was set in England, which is cool because we have a lot of family ancestors from this country. I also once again opened this up to the family, and my cousin Sarah decided to join us on our challenge.  With all 3 of us, we crushed this 97 mile challenge!

Since The Conqueror Events seems to put out new challenges about once a month, I was patiently waiting for their new one.  My patience definitely paid off.  Their new even was in Transylvania. and I think that is just plain awesome!  And to top that off, they had a buy 2 get 1 free offer.  I kept shuffling the random cards until I got the bundle that I wanted.  My 3 challenges: Transylvania, Appalachian Trail, and the first in The Lord Of The Rings Challenge.

I'm pumped!  I'm saving the Appalachian Trail Challenge to start on New Year's Day.  This will be opened up to anyone close to me that would want to join me on this almost 2,000 mile virtual challenge.  For the Transylvania Challenge, I opened it up to my family, and Bridgett and Sarah are once again with me on this challenge.  I believe we are roughly 25% done with it (maybe more).  

And then there's the LOTR challenge, which I am doing individually.  I have never read the books or seen the movies.  It's not like I never wanted to (unlike Star Wars, I will NEVER watch that).  I just haven't.  I figured what a perfect time to start reading the books!  Since I know that these are long books, I purchased the kindle version.  I didn't want to order a physical book online and then the print be too small for more.  It's not that I need large print, but I don't like what seems like tiny print.

I am going to continue writing about this these challenges, especially LOTR.  LOTR has I believe 5 challenges total, so it may take me a bit.  And I am very much enjoying reading the first book already!

I hope I inspire you in some way.  Whether it be to get out there and exercise or to read more.  I'd love to hear from you if I do!

If you're interested, hear is my referral link for the Conqueror Events: theconqueror.events/r/BH9295 (copy and paste if needed)