I don't know about you, but I like to get as much done as possible before the day of Thanksgiving. There are so many different dishes to prepare! I like to spend time with my family rather than all my time in the kitchen. And I tend to get frazzled easily if there are too many things going on.

 I have been making this gravy for years. Gravy is one of those things you have to make at the last minute, and it sure is nice not to have that going on along with everything else.

Package of turkey drumsticks (2 or 3)

3 or 4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

Large onion, quartered

Parsley

1/3 c oil

1/2 c flour

6 c chicken broth

pepper and salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Put the drumsticks, carrots, onion, parsley, and oil in a roasting pan over two burners on the stove. Brown the drumsticks for about 3 minutes per side; stir and brown the vegetables.

Transfer to the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Remove carrots, onions, and parsley. Remove drumsticks for another use. Put the roasting pan back on the stove and whisk the flour into the pan drippings. Add the broth and pepper, whisking constantly. Bring to boil, then simmer for about 45 minutes. Strain and salt to taste.

Can be made up to three days ahead of time or earlier and frozen. Reheat over medium heat; add a few tablespoons of broth if necessary.

Happy Thanksgiving! Even in this difficult year, there is much to be thankful for. xo.

Silver can be beautiful, don't you think?

 But you need to take care of it. This is what my tray looked like before I polished it.

Silver hair also needs care. It is more porous, which means it is more easily discolored. Sun, pollution, product buildup, and heated styling tools can all cause yellowing.

I cut my hair really short after I decided to go natural. I was just too impatient to wait for it to grow out, and was tired of seeing the bleached blond ends. It was the shortest it had ever been and I really liked it that way. 

But then COVID happened, and nobody got to get their hair cut. Mine grows fast and it was quite a bit longer when we were able to go back to the salons. By that time I had decided to just continue on growing it out.

But I've found I need to take much better care of it. After all, with a super short haircut and having hair that grows fast, I get a whole new head of hair every six months or so. Hair that reaches the collarbone can be two or more years old!

I have given away my curling iron. I didn't even want to be tempted to use it. It is a killer on silver/gray hair, and will yellow it very quickly, especially if you have any product like hairspray on your hair.

I do use a blow dryer, but only twice a week, on low heat, and only for a short time when my hair is almost completely air dried. I use it just to smooth my hair out.

Despite being very careful I recently noticed that the top layer of my hair looked off, a little yellowy and dull compared to the bright silver underneath. I'm certain it is because of the sun this past summer. Next year, I'm wearing a hat if I spend any amount of time outdoors.

I used a couple of different kinds of purple shampoo with no results.

Then I got the idea to treat just the area affected as if I was coloring my hair. I separated out the discolored hair and covered it (dry) with a dollop of purple shampoo. I put it up in a clip and let it sit for a good half hour. I then washed my hair. Et voila! The yellow is gone!

I wouldn't recommend overdoing the purple shampoo. It's always better to practice prevention than to try and fix things. I overdid it with the purple shampoo when I first went natural for fear of the dreaded yellow. My hair turned a dark iron gray. Yours might turn lavender or blue. 

Now that I've fixed the problem I'll only use it once a month.

I use a shampoo, conditioner, a root lift, and occasionally a little hair spray. Sometimes some dry shampoo. The great thing about using dry shampoo with silvery white hair is that you don't have to worry about hiding any white powder!

These are my current favorite products.

 Redken All-Soft Shampoo and Conditioner.

Fall . . . the season Michigan does best. My favorite time of year. 

 A number of years ago I read a fun book entitled Wear More Cashmere by Jennifer "Gin" Sander. The subtitle is 151 Luxurious Ways to Pamper Your Inner Princess.  In it, the author encourages women to treat themselves to special pleasures and to enjoy them every day.

I didn't own any cashmere at the time and thought that a cashmere sweater in my wardrobe would be the epitome of chic and classic style. Fast forward a few years and I have three beautiful cashmere sweaters in cream, pink, and pale blue.

But I'm letting them go.

I knew I couldn't wear wool, but I had thought cashmere would be different. And I ignored the discomfort at first, thinking only about how luxurious they were. But. They itch.

My cashmere sweaters have come from Garnet Hill, Talbots, and Everlane. Maybe an extra-fancy, ultra-refined $500 cashmere sweater would not itch? I don't know, but I'll probably never find out. (In case you love cashmere and it loves you, I think the Garnet Hill sweater, the blue one, is the nicest.)

So here I am, donating three beautiful cashmere sweaters.

If it's uncomfortable and you don't feel good in it, it's not worth it! Someone else will really appreciate it.

Have you ever had this buyer's regret? Spent good money on something then realized your mistake? Maybe kept wearing or using something even though it didn't feel right? Or worse, let it languish in a closet or cupboard somewhere, and feeling guilty every time you see it?

Better to cut your losses and get rid of it. Try to learn the lesson and not repeat your mistake.

From now on, it's 100 percent cotton for me. Or silk. But no wool of any kind.

Another thing I've realized is not working anymore is dresses and high heels. My favorite things to wear. But after I've replaced just about everything in my wardrobe because of my weight loss, I'm not replacing the dresses. Of course, I have a few. For church. One for funerals, sadly a necessity. But we haven't been to church since March because of COVID. And really dresses don't work for my life. It's too cold most of the year here in Michigan. I've also realized that I favored dresses because I thought they were more flattering when I had extra weight on me.

These are so beautiful. But, seriously? What was I thinking?

I've taken to heart what some minimalist wardrobe experts have called "not shopping for a fantasy life." Mine would be very dressy -- beautiful dresses, high heels, lots of special occasions to go to. But realistically, this isn't my life. My new closet needs to reflect the fact that I spend most, almost all, of my days in very casual activities.

So, as I've been re-building my wardrobe after this weight loss, I've let go of some of the lovely, "fantasy" items -- the ones that I thought were luxurious (cashmere) but in reality were uncomfortable and itchy, and let go of the idea that my life is going to be a fancy, dress-up party every day.

Here I am with my husband at a friend's cottage on Lake Huron in August. This reflects my daily "uniform" these days. Easy and casual and comfortable. And that's good by me.

After a six- or seven-week hiatus, it seems I should have something a little more interesting than bed making to post about. 

But it has been a quiet summer. No vacations or travel plans, no concerts in the park, no big get-togethers. It sure has been a strange year, and things are still quite uncertain. So much turmoil and confusion. I've been reading very light, old-timey fiction and watching Hallmark movies when the news gets to be too much. And trying to rest and trust in the One Who has all things under control.

Speaking of resting, haha, I want to show you our new bedding arrangement. I'm not exactly sold on this, but my husband likes it, and there are some definite pros.

I thought about gussying up the pillows and my nightstand for this photo, but decided just to show you what it really looks like on a day-to-day basis.

The biggest change is not using a top sheet. This is just a fitted bottom sheet and a light down alternative blanket on top. It's super easy to make a bed like this. I wash the fitted sheet and pillowcases every week and flip the blanket over for the second week and wash it every other week.

I made this change mostly because my husband is a hot sleeper and has never liked tucked in sheets at his feet. Sometimes I put an extra throw on my side of the bed if I need extra warmth. In the winter of course we'll have a heavier comforter (not too heavy for him!) and I will probably wear socks.

The down side for me is that I love the cozy feeling of being tucked in. I'm getting used to it, though, and love how easy it is to make the bed.

I understand this no-top-sheet thing is popular in Europe and in Scandinavia. When my sister went to Iceland with her family, she and her husband slept on a bed that had only a bottom sheet and two twin comforters, one for each of them. I might try that this winter, with a heavy comforter for me and a lighter one for my husband.

You can see we have different pillow preferences too. I like a tiny little one under my head and a squishy one to hug.

Do any of you sleep without a top sheet? Or have any other non-traditional ways of making the bed?

I keep thinking I've done all the decluttering I can. But look what I came up with in the past few months during our lockdown. I finally was able to schedule a pick up by the Vietnam Veterans Association.

All this decluttering over the past five years or so, and I still have lots of stuff. I'm not a minimalist, although I love to read those blogs for inspiration. I still have hundreds and hundreds of books, dozens of teacups, boxes of old letters and journals . . . 

But I've been really thinking more about getting serious about questioning every. single. purchase. It feels like I've made so many bad purchase decisions and have wasted so much money when I do these decluttering rounds.

I feel I'm even more committed to making much fewer, but better, purchases in the future.

I'm sorry I haven't been around to visit my blog friends this month, and hope to remedy that as soon as I hit publish. Hope you're all staying well.

xo Deborah