The Good With The Bad

Happy Thanksgiving!

Let me get the bad news out of the way; you all know we got a young cocker spaniel, Brando. We are not going to be able to keep him. Brando suffers from something called resource guarding. Basically, he feels he needs to guard certain things, from a toy, to a random pillow (that he's not using), or people. The problem is that this is completely unpredictable and random. Having a child in the home, this is just not something we can take a chance with. We are working with a rescue organization that can hopefully find a home qualified to work with this issue of his. We are sad to see him go, but know that we will have another dog when the time is right.

Now some good news, the Mandarin Festival was this weekend. Placer grown mandarins have been proven to have high levels of synephrine which is a natural ingredient shown to improve allergies http://www.placer.ca.gov/News/2008/October/CountyMandarinsContainColdReliefSubstance.aspx. I digress, I made my Mandarin Cranberry Oatmeal cookies and entered them in the recipe contest. When I showed up on Sunday there were nearly 30 entries in the dessert category alone! I expected that my cookies were a bit too ordinary to win, but win I did, third place! Whoo-Hoo and $25.00 to add toward our Thanksgiving holiday! If you're interested, I've posted the recipe below.

I practice gratitude everyday but I certainly feel more nostalgic this time of year. I hope you have many things to be thankful for and lots of friends and family to share them with. I'm grateful everyday for my marriage, Dave and Mason, and our extended family. I'm also deeply thankful for all of you, my true friends. I know I have more friends than most people and I'm sincerely humbled by all the love you send me every week! Happy, happy Thanksgiving!