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Happy Thanksgiving!

No Thanksgiving over here in the UK. For the first couple years, Char and I made the effort to recreate the famous feast in a mini celebration across the pond. It was fun, but not sustainable.

When you live abroad, it's difficult to keep the Turkey Day tradition alive. It's just such a non entity over here that you actually forget all about it until you wake up and see "Happy Thanksgiving!" all over Facebook. We're already in full-on Christmas mode. The German markets are up. The carols are blasting over every shop's sound system. I'm brainstorming present ideas (hint: you get a pair of socks, you get a pair of socks, everybody gets a pair of socks!!!!).

Instead of stuffing a bird and stuffing my face, I'm busy collecting memories and evidence for 'Murder in Kenmore: Part 2', which will be out next week. I was going to post Part 1 and Part 2 back to back, but I realised I had some actual journalism to do to make sure I was getting all the facts, opinions and speculations right.

Anyhoo, in the spirit of T-Giving, why don't I share what I am thankful for? Oh, but I'm not going to do boring things like "my family" and "my health". Those are obvious. Instead, I'll go for a sitting-here-on-the-couch, want-to-write-this-quickly, stream-of-consciousness approach.

Things I am thankful for:

My reusable, apple-print grocery bag from QFC.

The fuzzy warmth of a new hooded sweatshirt that's only been washed a couple of times.

The US Postal Service and the Royal Mail, without which these beloved photos would have never made it to my kitchen door.

A heater for drying clothes and keeping warm. Seriously, this one's a biggie. I take for granted the fact that warm air just comes out of a thing on the wall whenever I tell it to. When we first moved in I was warming myself by the heater after a shower and I burnt my bare bottom. There were grill marks on my left buttock. But I'm even thankful for that learning experience. 

OK, I'll admit it. Those were just items that I could see and photograph whilst sitting on the couch. I didn't have to move a muscle. But the point we can take away is: I'm thankful for everything! 

If you're reading this, then you're probably one of the 12.55% of the population to be born above the poverty line in a first world country. We hit the jackpot. Sure, I whine sometimes—when the sink gets clogged, when Serial takes a week off or when I just can't handle all the GODDAMN CLUTTER. But I'm going to try to do it less. I'm already better at not-whining than I was a few years ago.

Alright, I got to go. I need to whip up that most traditional of Thanksgiving dishes: gnocchi with peas and a creamy parmesan sauce. YUM. 

Love,
Margaret 

Brrrrrr! It's blog in here...

DON'T SAY A THING.

I have to live with the guilt, and that should be good enough for you. Let's just look beyond this with hope and enthusiasm for a bloggerific future.

Well, it's officially cold here in Edinburgh. Actually, it has been cold for weeks now but only recently have people stopped fighting it. The usually fashionable inhabitants of this magical town have swapped their TopShop trenches for long, tubular, down jackets that look like giant vinyl oven mitts with head and arm holes. Hail, freezing rain, and pathetic wet snow (maybe?) pelt the cobblestones with incredible, wind-powered velocity.

In Seattle, on the day after a storm, the streets are littered with fallen branches and capsized garbage cans. Here in Edinburgh it's deformed umbrellas and collapsed postcard stands.

OK, now that I've gotten past the awkward haven't-blogged-in-ages elephant in the room with a little small talk about the weather (Always a good "ice breaker." HAHAHA), let's get down to the real juicy biznass.

My weekend:

MARY came from Paris for a Thanksgiving feast! She brought along some real French baguettes, for which I am very very thankful. Also on the menu...WHEAT THINS. My favorite cousin (Yes, you read that right. It's a rolling application process though, so all you cousins out there still have a chance to fill the position) found the delicious, American, crackers at a shop in France and bought them along in true Padden Fam fashion. Char and William made a pumpkin pie. It was square, but it was the best p-pie I've ever tasted. Hands down. So good. Ha- I am emailing her right now and telling her to make another one.

Mary and I made rice krispie treats for the gang. They called them "rice krispie cakes", which was cute. We didn't correct them. We just smiled and nodded sweetly while exchanging knowing glances with each other.

Char, Mary and I climbed up the Sir Walter Scott monument for some fantastic, foggy, Edinburgh views. Check out the picture of me on the stairs- one of the best pics I've ever taken!!

On the Sunday that Mary had to leave we enjoyed a quick romp around the Edinburgh Castle. It was SO WINDY and FREEZING. But fun.

Twas a grand weekend. Loverboy really had it right when they concluded that "everybody's working for the weekend." Truer words have never been spoken. Now that it's over and another daunting week stretches out before me, knowledge of the absolute, certain existence of an upcoming Saturday/Sunday combo is what gets me through. Huzzah!

Wow, it's been a while and I forgot how exhausting this is. Allow me to leave you with that brief blog and a promise to update more frequently as the goose gets fatter and the old man's hat more penny-filled.

Beannachd leat,

Margaret

Go Blog Go

T-Giving came and went like an episode of Supermarket Sweep- exciting, frenzied, food-related, chaotic, and leaving me wanting MORE! Lucky for me- I will get more because Christmas is just around the corner. So it ain't over yet. YAY! Two of my favorite holidays back to back. Gotta love the holiday season!

I want to try out a sunless tanning product. I don't know which one to use and I am nervous about it. The main reason I want to try it out (actually, it's the main reason why I do anything at all.....why I wake up in the morning) is so I can blog about it. Wouldn't that be great? I could do before&after pictures. It has the makings to be an epic post. 

One time in elementary school I was talking with this free-spirited girl who had hippie parents about being buried or something about burial (weird...I wonder why we were discussing it at all actually. But it's irrelevant to my point) and she said "Oh, I plan to donate my body to science when I die." 

I was BAFFLED. 

The nonchalant way she said it- "donate my body to science"- just like that...it haunted my thoughts for quite some time. I pictured a creepy man in white lab coat ripping one of her arms out of its socket and studying it carefully with a microscope....another one would pluck out her eyeballs with giant tweezers and toss them into a beaker causing it to bubble and splurt green fizz. 

Now, of course, I understand what she meant and I find it a perfectly reasonable solution to corpse disposal. ANYHOO, I am willing to sacrifice my epidermis to sunless tanning research so the next time I am at the store I will buy one. 

 

MOVING ON, This article in businessweek lists the worst jobs with the best pay...here they are:

Gastroenterologist- Average pay: $269,500 HA! I went to one of these back when I was having my constipation problems (see archive). 

Podiatrist- Average pay: $125,663 Barbie just went to one of these to try to fix her flat foot/short leg.

Private Security Contractor in Iraq- Average Pay: $120,000 Sounds scary.

IT Worker- Average pay: $103,400 Don't know what this really means.
Crop Duster Pilot- Average pay: $53,870 I guess this is dangerous because of the pesticides. 
Crime-Scene Cleaner- Average pay: $50,400 You'd have to pay me a lot more....

Roughneck- Average pay: $46,867 What's a roughneck?????????????
Toll Collector- Average pay: $45,000 Harhar, I thought this said "troll" collector. Now THAT would be a bad job (unless you're Hagrid or someone else who's well versed on the creatures of the forbidden forest).

Long-Haul Trucker- Average pay: $43,200 What about an ICE ROAD trucker???
Embalmer- Average pay: $42,400 EW.
Sewer Inspector- Average pay: $34,960 STINKY! (my friend Liz hates that word)
Crab Fisherman- Average pay: $29,000 Deadliest Catch, holler!

I think I'm going to take a nap, 

Madge

P.S. I don't like having to capitalized the "I" in "I'm"- it bugs me

Happy T-Giving Eve! Get Baking!

Weird, I'm about to watch "The View" LIVE this morning- as in, not just selected YouTube clips the following afternoon. It's bizarre actually watching them pretend to be friends during the first 3-4 minutes. 

Ahhh, this is the life. Eating my oatmeal, drinking my Twinnings loose leaf English breakfast tea (wish it was Tetely or Lyons...but it'll do) and flexing my toes back and forth, back and forth, listening to the sound of the crack reverberating off the kumquat walls in our family room. I can crack my toes endlessly- they will NEVER not crack. It's one of my few unique talents. 

OH WEIRD, Drew Carey is hosting "The Price Is Right". I mean, I knew about this but STILL.

To Do:

-Bake a key lime pie

-Exercise (bike to the Woodinville Barns&Noble to get a treat at their starbucks w/ my B&N gift card??)

-Put up more Christmas Decorations

-Take a shower (meh...MAYbe)

Speaking of pie baking....I really like that movie "Waitress" with Keri Russell. She bakes pies according to her mood. For example, if she were me right now she'd bake a "Loves-The-Sound-Of-Toes-Cracking-In-The-Morning-Pie". 

 

I bought a turtleneck sweater yesterday! Barbie Solbakken is probably rolling over in her grave and thinking "I told ya so!"

What are you thankful for, 

Madge