Lessons Learned...

From the Thanksgiving holiday:

- Ashes on a hearth rug smell like burning rubber. Ewww. Open up the doors & windows!

- No matter how smart it seems, if you can't open an old jar of molasses, slamming it on the concrete patio is not a good idea.

- Mixing red and blue food coloring into frosting does *not* make purple. It makes a disgusting purple-tinted brown.

-Uninspired Christmas shopping = 7 1/2 hours in a shopping mall with no gifts to show for it. But I did have a good time!

- A cafe mocha does strange things to me.

- Pioneers who heated their homes with wood-burning stoves must've been nothing short of amazing. It seems like all I do is feed that fire. It's a ravenous monster!

- Being on the mountaintop alone means I sleep with a dog at my feet and a shotgun within arm's reach. And still, I only lay down and sleep in peace after praying.

Finally, don't schedule things every day on a four-day weekend. As The Sis succintly said, "I hope you learned your lesson." I hope so, too.