Teresa’s Blog

OK, so I’ve been a slacker when it comes to blogging lately! Well, here are some ramblings from the past couple of months. Hope you enjoy catching up with me!

November:

Our youngest child, Andrew (or “Bubba” as he is affectionately called by his sisters) left his teen years behind on Friday (Nov. 7th) as he turned 20. Wow. It really doesn’t seem that it was that long ago that God blessed us with our fourth child. Then Sunday, Nov.9th, I celebrated 49 years on the planet. Wow. It really doesn’t seem that long. Anyway, the Jenkins family likes to celebrate occasions like this by doing something together. This year, Andrew asked us to go to a hockey game to see the Indianapolis Ice and Memphis Riverats play. OK! I’m turning 49, and I’ve never been to a hockey game before, so I’m excited. That fact alone worried my children.

Brian, my son by marriage, loves hockey, so he got us set up in his favorite section where we could see the Ice shooting on goal for two of the three periods. (See there, I picked up some hockey lingo too!) Unfortunately, there were MANY elementary aged children there as well. I have to admit, it was a little upsetting to hear these kids chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” and singing along with the crowd - Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh. Heeeey! (You suck!) Duh-Duh-Duh-Duh-Duh-Duh. Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh. Heeeey! (You suck!) I hope you get the idea of what song I’m trying to put into your head. Anyway, during the third period, Amanda, Sarah, Andrew, and Brian all got to “Chuck your Puck!” That’s when they let you throw a puck onto the ice to try to hit a target and win prizes. Sarah landed on right on the ice cream target, and the fans went wild! (Well at least the Jenkins/Groce fans went wild!) When they called out the names of the winners, they DIDN”T call Sarah’s name! We were outraged! I think that she got ripped off. I mean, come on… we all saw it…who do they think…See how easily the violence comes? That’s what I’ve always said about hockey. (But I will be going back….it makes for cheap fun!)

Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving was at my parents’ house this year. We stopped letting Mom take care of the turkey a few years ago when she forgot to turn the oven on, so it was my responsibility to prepare the turkey for 27 odd people. (Trust me, we are odd people!) Mom did a good job of preparing me for the task at hand as I watched, and sometimes helped, as she made the necessary preparations for the meal each year. Mom’s idea of preparing the turkey involved getting the biggest bird you could find. leaving it in the freezer until the day before and then bathing it all day Wednesday, then on Thanksgiving morning getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to salt that sucker down till it had no moisture left in it other than that which oozed from the plastic bag of “innards” that always got left in its body cavity.

I had loftier ideas myself. I find myself addicted to the Food Network now that I’m not at school all day. So, I decided, in keeping with the trend, I would brine the turkey this year. Brining a turkey involves soaking it in salt water for 8-12 hours the day before you are going to cook it. (I failed to see the similarity to the Wed. bathtime and salt down that Mom did every year. After all, this was Food Network stuff!) So, I bought “Birdzilla”, a 22.5lb. turkey, and armed with sea salt, (not REGULAR salt) fresh sage, fresh rosemary, peppercorns, and brown sugar, I started the process.

OK, so finding a container to do all of this in, and finding a cold place to let the turkey rest in peace was a little challenging. However, undaunted I grabbed a rubbermaid container and went out to my Dad’s workshop to clear a place on his workbench for the bathing area. I mixed up the first batch of brine and lugged (8lbs/gallon) it out to the tub. Second batch of brine - send Sarah out with the heavy, wet concoction. Sarah returns to tell of brine all over the workshop floor because of a crack in the rubbermaid container. Great. Now what? OK, so a bird this big……trash bags! Of course. I’m sure Martha Stewart uses trash bags to brine her turkey! After much fuss and mess, Sarah and I emerged from the workshop victorious!

8 Hours later:

It didn’t occur to me that I would no longer have help to get the 22.5lb turkey out of the 64lbs of brine until I was getting ready to go get it. (My helpers had all fled back to Indy for the night.) My Mom, (Alzheimer’s, remember) was constantly wanting to lock the back door, and I was convinced that I was going to be locked out when I went to get the turkey. Oh, and it was raining outside. None-the-less, it had to be done, so I went to the bathing area and proceeded to shove my arm unceremoniously up the turkey’s keister, grab it by the neck, and run for the back door –where my Mother stood in her stocking feet–C’mon, Mom move a little faster, and let me in! I then made the mad dash to the sink where I could finally rinse Birdzilla off and rub him down with some olive oil and fresh herbs for the night. (Told you, Food Network.com)

Lifting the stuffed bird into and out of the oven was iffy, but in the end, he was delicious! Next year, I’m lobbying for Cracker Barrel.

December:

Mark’s Uncle Frank turned 70 on Dec. 10th, so on Dec. 6th, his family decided to throw him a surprize party. ( Questionable judgement when someone is turning 70, if you want my opinion.) They live in St. Louis, so the Jenkins/Groce bunch (minus Katie, who had a concert) headed over. The trip went smoothly. Brian and Andrew tried to eat their weight in chicken at the KFC buffet in Effingham, and we arrived at our hotel just 7 blocks from the famed Arch.

After check-in, we headed to the Arch to be tourists. Brian and Amanda have pictures…seem the arch isn’t as big as you’d imagine. Nearing the entrance, we saw signs warning against carrying in any weapons. If you’ve read my previous vacation blog, you’ll know that the men in our group carry knives. This day was no exception. So, as any good mother would do, I told them to hand them over and I put them in my purse. (Not to try to smuggle them in, mind you, but to wait outside till they got back.) The rest of the gang, minus Mark and I went in.

Next thing we know, a park ranger was coming toward us. She asked if we were carrying knives. Uh…..yeah. She checked them out and told us that we could go in as well. (Thought things were really going to get interesting, didn’t you?) We rode in the incredibly little “inclinator” cars to the top, and had a great time.

Back to the hotel, and off to the party. Oops. Wrong direction. Over the MLKing bridge back into Illinois and East St. Louis. Wonderful little area. We turned around at a place advertising “Pretty Girls and $3.00 longnecks.) Made it to the party. Had fun. Danced. Saw family. Sang “Love Shack”. Back to hotel for some rest. Mark noticed that all the elevators were labeled 2 on the second level of the parking garage. (Think about it.)

Sunday morning, all of the gang went to church. Brian had noticed on Saturday that the brand name of the toilets in our hotel was “Church”. Sarah said that Brian spent a long time in “Church” that morning.

Anyway, that’s what we have been up to in a rather large nutshell. Hope to write our Christmas story before the new year comes. Blessings to you all! Merry Christmas!

This entry was posted on Monday, December 15th, 2003 at 3:28 pm and is filed under Daily Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.