Holiday joy and blahs

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Every Thanksgiving I enjoy a delicious feast that Door Dash brings to me from Bob Evans.  It is the next best thing to having to cook for a family.  I'm thankful for a tradition I enjoy.

Since the holidays are not a pleasant time for me, my mind is lured to the thought of food and cooking.  The things you are supposed to do for the holidays.  Something I loved so much, but will never have again.  So, writing in my food blog is the next best thing I guess.  It is a release for all those food and cooking related desires.  One day I will enjoy actually cooking again.

Yes I have gone crazy with the food blog.  Now you know why.  And it keeps my mind occupied.  I'm thankful for having the desire for something, anything.  Since The Captain died it was all nothingness.  So I'm thrilled to have some desire for something coming back.  I've delighted my mom with my renewed sense of humor and laughing again.  Even telling her funny stories.  That is what he left me with.  He would have wanted me to laugh and find humor with life like he did.  Trust me, this is progress!

The sadness I can't get rid of is missing my little doggie girl Kiki.  That is killing me still.  Oh the anxiety!  I'd love a lot of little Kikis, but I can't.

My desire for this month is to find those things of holiday joy to share with everyone on all of my blogs.  Get ready for the holiday-ish posts.  Yes, and the desserts since I have cut sugar from my diet if I care to live a longer life.

Have a great week everybody!  Listed below are my new blog posts.

New Blog Posts

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Butter Cream Chicken

Cheesy Chicken Noodle Casserole

Cheesy Taco Bake

4-Ingredient Sausage and Egg Casserole

Sausage and Egg Breakfast Rolls

Marry Me Chicken Pot Pie

Turkey Pot Pie Pockets

Is it safe to line the oven with foil

Turkey Leftovers

Grandma's Hash Brown Casserole

Hawaiian Sliders 

Chicken Alfredo Rice Casserole

The Best Chicken Fried Steak

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

Shepard's Pie

One Dish Chicken and Rice Bake

The Best Way to Make Lasagne

Cheesy Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Peace Love Happiness

Find the reason

LaBelladiva

DIY Small Pouch Sewing Pattern

Thankful They Were In My Life

 

What I am grateful for this year is that I was so blessed to have The Captain and Miss Kiki in my life.  They were so precious to me and I miss them so much.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  Give thanks for all those you love.

New blog posts follow . . .

New Blog Posts

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Magic Chicken Pie

Buffalo Chicken Potato Casserole

Thanksgiving Ideas and Tips

Crockpot Stuffing

Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole

Bobby's Goulash

Creamy Chicken Tortellini

Peace Love Happiness

We all have choices

Babyboomer Flashback

Vintage Items Designers Say You Should Get Rid Of

LaBelladiva

Most Popular Holiday Decorating Trends Of 2025

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

 

My food blog had lots of new posts added and updates to older posts.  I mentioned in my last post that I miss cooking and besides, this is Thanksgiving week and everyone is getting ready for the big dinner.  Next week I hope to post recipes that will be great for leftovers.

We are back to our tropical weather with less humidity, but by Thanksgiving we should be getting a cold front.  I hope it doesn't get too cold.

Hoping that everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving!

New blog posts

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Spaghetti Aglio E Olio

Black Beans Cuban Style (Frijoles Negros)

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Collection of Ham Posts from Baking to Leftover Ham Recipes

Butter Pecan Cake

Rotel King Ranch Chicken

Frittata with Italian Sausage and Cheese

Updated - Ten smart kitchen storage ideas and DIY projects

One Pot Chili Mac

Toasted Coconut Pound Cake

Updated - Collection of Chicken Recipes

Babyboomer Flashback

A Babyboomer's Flashback

LaBelladiva

Update - Craft Room Organization

Happy Autumn Update

 

Autumn hit Tampa three days last week.  It was quite a surprise to get down to 38 degrees one night.  I hate the cold and would like to enjoy a mild autumn that brings cooler temps and less humidity.  Not an early winter!

Yes, I know I am spoiled with awesome Tampa weather and some of you guys are dealing with snow already.  Some people like the snow, but I can't relate at all.  I wouldn't know what to do living in a snowy climate.

I've been obsessed with posts to my food blog.  Honestly, I miss cooking and am slowly getting back to preparing meals for one, but it is not fun.  I'm working on it and hope to learn to love it.

My workaholic nature has brought me to being behind the computer way too many hours and loving it again.  I'm grateful I have found something that makes me happy again and I'm like a kid with a new toy.

I'm extremely active on x/Twitter joining others in retweeting each others posts.  If you are interested in joining me and bring more people to your website, blog, online store, events, promotions, etc., go to https://x.com/GinaAlfani and simply retreat one or more of my posts and I will retweet yours.  You will automatically be picked up by other retweeters after I retweet yours.  

New updates to my blogs follow . . .

Yes, I'd like to go back in time.

NEW BLOG POSTS

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Puff Pastry Cream Horns

Drop Dumplings for Soup

Pecan Pie Bars With Shortbread Crust

Ten smart kitchen storage ideas and DIY projects

Hot and Spicy Hush Puppies

Southern Sausage Balls

Sandy's Tasty Pasta Meal

The Ultimate Shrimp and Grits

Red Lobster Crab Alfredo

Chocolate Walnut Strudel

Subtropical Gardening

Late fall is the most important time to mulch your flowerbeds

Grow Ginger As A Houseplant – And Have Fresh Ginger All Year Long

Why is my poinsettia losing leaves?

Overwintering perennials and shrubs in containers

LaBelladiva

Drawstring 8-Pocket Jewelry Pouch

Craft Room Organization

Refashioned Flip Flops

My Florida Paradise

Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse

Fabulous Frugalista

Holiday Shopping Mistakes to Avoid This Season

How To Save Money on Black Friday

Peace Love Happiness

Renewed sense of aliveness through gratefulness

Humor and Laughs

New Seatbelt Design

Making up for lost time!

Yes, I've been making up for lost time and feeling like my old self again, the computer geek.

It's about time!

New Blog Posts

Fabulous Frugalista

How to Make Oxiclean - DIY Oxiclean

LaBelladiva

Creating Mosaics the Easy Way

Subtropical Gardening

Grow vegetables from kitchen scraps

Babyboomer Flashback

Don't Recognize The Changing World

My Florida Paradise

I'm Back!

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Coconut-Pecan German Chocolate Pie

Cake with Rum Syrup

The Home Page of My Blogs is Back!

 

The home page of my blogs is back again!

The good news is that with faith and God by my side, I have come out of a terrible grief phase that has taken me two years to struggle through and have finally reached a new phase that has me productive online again.  My blogs are starting to come alive again with new posts that I hope everyone will enjoy.  More of my blogs will become active again soon.

Although I have reached this new grief phase, I guess called the acceptance stage, the grief never goes away.  But . . . I have new angels in heaven to help guide me through the rest of my life.  That is a comfort and what I have accepted.

I'm at the point of gathering up the boxes of my jewelry supplies and jewelry inventory.  Since we came home from my mom's house after the hurricane hit us, I haven't desired to touch any of it and couldn't care less where they were.  I went through a different kind of grief stage after the hurricane and then my mom moved away to another state with my brother.  So it is definite progress in my mental state that I even have the slightest interest in getting that stuff together.

Anyone who is going through a grief time in their life may get comfort from reading my blog Peace Love Happiness.  It has turned into a dealing with grief blog, but could also apply to anyone going through a terrible time in life and needs to have hope and faith that you can get through anything in life.  Take my life experiences and learn from them.  I sure have.

Hope everyone is getting through the changing seasons well.  Here in Florida we don't go through much of a change.  We had a few nights of cooler weather and it was a shocker, but we are back to normal beautiful weather.

Happy Sunday to all . . . have a wonderful new week.  New blog posts will follow . . .

New blog posts:

Peace Love Happiness

Be true to yourself

What is your heart longing for right now?

LaBelladiva

Sew A Messenger Bag The Easy Way

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Pierogi Lasagna Rolls

Collection of Thanksgiving Recipes 

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Banana Pudding

Macaroni and Cheese

Gina's Mojo Roast Pork

World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Spicy Crab Cakes

Pastina

Air Fryer Chicken Thighs

What To Make With Chicken Broth

Air Fryer Baked Potato

Blogging again

 

It has made me happy to return to blogging about all kinds of stuff.  I guess I could say it is good therapy to keep busy doing something I love on my path to getting "normal" again.  My blogs are listed on the right side of this blog.  Some of them are still closed for now.

My life has reached the point where the heavy grief of losing The Captain and Kiki is a passing phase of grieving.  Instead of crying all the time, I am thinking of all the happy memories that are bringing a smile to my face.  The grief now feels lighter even though it will never go away, manifesting itself into different phases.  I know the coming holidays will be rough again.

The road to online selling has been on my mind and so has the desire to make jewelry and be creative.  A huge part of my life has been creating stuff and I miss that so much. 

As in the past, I will be listing my latest and updated blog posts on this blog.  Here they are for November:

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

Turtle Brownies

Crab au Gratin Pizza

Shrimp Creole

Mexican Sweet Corn Cake

Picadillo

Pimento Cheese

Chicken Alfredo Baked Ziti

Stuffed Pizza Bread

Fabulous Frugalista

Avoid Christmas Debt When Cash Is Tight

The Frugal Mindset

Replacing Your Washer or Dryer

Thoughts From A Frugalista