Whew! I survived... and all went well. My parents loved my sweetie's parents. I think they liked mine, too. Cool. Everyone's gone, now and there's tons of Turkey and pie left! Meals for the next week. ;-) I am so tired and my feet are aching, but I feel good. It really makes this place feel homey to have your family around you. My sweetie's grandma came, too - she speaks very little english, but she loved the place and the food and was very happy to listen to us all laughing and talking... my sweetie and his parents translated for her from time to time, too... and I love the sound of Russian. =)

We left Rainy upstairs while we went to take the parking pass down to my parents' car... and she ate a whole whack of the crackers that I had put out on the coffee table! I didn't notice until my dad had eaten some and I went to put more out. I thought he had eaten them all!! Rotten dog. Can't really blame her when we leave it right at nose level...\

I made Chai yesterday. From scratch. It's GOOD. I gave my Dad my last cup of it tonight.. I'll have to make some more tomorrow... Now to fight the illness that's been taking everyone out at work. I think I'm going down... but Chai will speed my recovery. =)

My recipe for Chai (Oregon style)

3 darjeeling tea bags
2 cups boiling water
1 3" cinnamon stick
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup honey
6 green cardamom pods
3 slices of fresh ginger (use a veggie peeler)
1/4 tsp vanilla

simmer for 5 minutes. All the recipes I found online said you should add the milk and cook it, too... but I like to froth mine up before I put it in, so I just refridgerate the unused portion of chai and heat up 1/2 cup of it in the microwave and add my frothed milk after that.

YUM. I'm addicted. The guy at Booster Juice gave me a free sample of thier Oregon Chai trying to get me to buy some. It tasted GOOD... but I was in a smoothie mood. I almost bought some but then thought I could make my own so I checked my glorious Google and found a whole whack of recipes. Chai to me is like hot pumpkin pie in a cup. The only hot drink I have ever tried that I can actually drink a whole cup of and want more. Neat! I'm an adult, now. Heheh.

It's so time for bed. G'nite y0.

One more thing... I'm so happy for DeeAy - she's working her sexy butt off and getting fit and healthy! She and Trillian are my inspiration. They are simply amazing.