Giving Thanks

My parents recently made a long-anticipated move to a real town for a new job (and secretly, I suppose, to be nearer to children and grandchildren). Lo and behold, they settled on lovely Mitchell, South Dakota, home to both the World's Largest Corn Palace and Adam's extended family. This has been a wonderful gift for all of us, and we're so happy to see them settled in their new place. 

Their new home came with 30 years of wallpaper, but I promised my mom that if she did the hard work of wallpaper removal, then I would help paint. So, I traveled to Mitchell to help out for the entire week of Thanksgiving, which was the best form of a working vacation that I can imagine. 

We took a break from painting to make the easiest and most delicious pie in the entire world, gleaned from an early morning episode of The Nate Berkus Show. I'm not kidding - I don't even like pie, and I made two, one right after the other.

Adam and TJ arrived just as the second pie was coming out of the oven. Their timing, as always, is impeccable.

Unfortunately for home decor fans, I was too busy to take any "after" photos, so I'll have to snap a few photos over Christmas, once we get everything put back into place. I do have one photo of the basement wall, which is still a work in progress. This delightful color treat is called Chrysanthemum. Looks even better in person.

The best part of my parents' move to Mitchell is that Adam's parents are now only a five minute drive away. By the time we arrived at their home for second Thanksgiving, TJ had already reverted to his wild country dog ways.

Thanksgiving Day reached a beautiful record high of 71 degrees, and then, being South Dakota, the following days immediately returned to winter. It's a wonderful time of year to be a Samoyed. TJ is already looking forward to a white Christmas, and so are we.