It's two weeks and counting until Dylan's first Christmas. We've decorated the entire apartment, inside and out, and his face just glowed when he saw everything. We will be having ham instead of turkey for Christmas Dinner, because we cooked a huge turkey with all the trimmings for Thanksgiving. Dylan even had his first Thanksgiving meal...he ate my grandmother's dresisng, yams, some turkey, and some fruit salad. He liked all of it. Sent Lauren some new photos...they are wonderful. Today, Dylan scared me about to death. Jay had put him in his high chair for lunch, and buckled him in with the seat belt. He wiggled around until he was able to stand up, seat belt still locked in place but no longer securing him. He then proceeded to climb up on the table. Of course grampy had to run for the camera to get his picture. We have some great shots of him laughing his head off in the high chair, that we took about a month ago. He's grown so fast, and he's beginning to cruise now. He hasn't been sick at all, except for mild sniffles, and that is a major blessing. We got a watch for Courtney, a Christmas ornament and $5 for KK, and a radio with batteries for Michelle. I also wrote her a note in a Thanksgiving card last month. I want her to know she is appreciated. Think maybe I'll send a copy of the note to Lauren. I need to talk to her about a few things having to do with Dylan and visiting Michelle and the rest of us when she comes home anyway. Got a letter from her that I need to answer this week.

I've been working from home since the end of September...much less stress. Finally back to getting a full paycheck, so we can catch up on some of the bills.

I've upgraded FireFox to the full release, version 1, and I have stored several hundred or so extensions on the hard drive.

I got a cd burner, but I haven't had a lot of time to play with it...eventually, I'll get it figured out. Now I want to get some software for making an image of my disks. Upgraded Langa List to the Plus edition, and joined Live365 again, too.

...Most people will complete the title sentence with "...make lemonade." I, however, am not most people...and what I choose to do with my lemons isn ot such a huge deal, but a lot of fun: I am learning through trial and error to make lemon meringue pie.

Attempt 1: Went into the trash. Filling was good, crust was prefab, meringue flopped. Yuck. it was horrid.

Attempt 2: Crust was homemade; filling was so so, meringue was wonderful.

Attempt 3: crust prefab; meringue terrific. Jury is still out on the filling which may be a little bit runny...will have to wait until tomorrow to find out, as it's in the refrigerator now. The recipe only makes 8 servings, which is not a long term commitment...

I have a recipe for banana cheesecake I want to try as well. I love cooking! I've given up making carrot cake for a while...the last one got put into the freezer, so we're tired of it.

These recipes and more can be found at Kitchen Classics.