Wednesday Day Before Thanksgiving PWYC

[lucylee]

Oh c*r*p... lost the post.

I want some 7 layer cookies now. And Nancy, Archway cookies bring back such good memories for me -- my maternal dgm always had the soft lemon ones at her house.

LadyM -- that is ridiculous about the insurance! Yes, try to follow Scarlett's example and don't think about it now.
I know the Cajun turkey is going to be sooo good!

Progress here:
Chicken and dressing is in the refrigerator waiting to be cooked tomorrow. It takes me about 2 hours and my back is killing me now. DGS chopped the celery and boiled eggs, and I just told DS if the pieces look too big, just "mind yo business." He was a big help -- he also vacuumed in the den and dining room for me.
I am taking a break before I finish my tasks -- some things I will do in the morning.
I have to
[ ] wash dishes & run the dishwasher
[ ] bake cookies (the refrigerator dough with pecans added)
[ ] vacuum the kitchen
[ ] s/s the bathroom
[ ] get ice (in the morning; there's a place just down the road with good size bags for $1)

DDIL and dgd are still under the weather. I'm kinda afraid for ddil to be cooking our food for tomorrow but I have offered to do it; surely she can judge her own health well enough to know if she is going to spread something to dmom.
DGS and I are going to watch some more basketball and then I'll get back into the kitchen.

[CathyS]

When dh was out this morning I dealt with some hot spots. There were 3 tall glass vases on the counter near where the clean dishes go. I finally put them away. They are there for a really long time. The counter looked empty without them. I actually did too much cleaning and clearing this morning. I also cleaned all 3 litter boxes when he was gone. I hadn't gotten the 3 bags out to the compost bin and when he came in, he said he thought one of the cats had an accident in the hall way. I told him I had 3 bags to go out, so he took them out while he still had his shoes on.

Tonight after supper I wanted to run the dishwasher and there were 5 plates waiting to go in. (2 for human food and 3 for cat food) The I washed the pot I fried the smoked pork chops in and now the dishes are all done!

A notice on FBook stated that with the winds and expected storm tomorrow, people should charge their phones tonight. Mine is charged now. I told dh but I don't know if he's charging his phone or not. Maybe if the power goes out and his phone dies, he might actually sleep.

I've done some stitching. I've also done some reading. I finished Return of the Spider and now I'm back into a John Sandford that I had put down to read the Alex Cross book.

[Harriet]

More work on checking addresses and finishing cards. The closer I get to finished, the slower it goes, which is normal. I'm sure I won't be finished tomorrow, but I can put it all back into its box and hide it. Then hand it over to HRH for his part later this weekend.

Early tomorrow morning, I'll probably bake a pie. I'm thinking a lattice crust this time.

Dd27 says she will call in the morning to let us know a more certain time when she and dsonil will arrive. They may well be our only guests, although ddil might come with plates as she has done in recent years. Ds often sends his deviled eggs.

Ddolder arrived safe and sound at her dsisil's with DangerBoy.

Oh, Twins', you reminded me of a funny story I PROMISED myself I would tell ya'll.

So, my dcousin S' granddaughter is marrying in early Dec. But this is the cousin who fell and broke her back a few months ago. She is walking with a walker, recuperating, and managed to go to the wedding shower, even. BUT all her nice clothes are upstairs in her house, and she can't do stairs. So, she asked the lady who has been housekeeping a few days a week to go up and get her 3 best dresses so she could try them for the wedding. She described at length what room, what closet, what end of closet, described the dresses. The lady came down so proud to have helped - with S's MOTHER's 3 best ANTIQUE dresses, stored for decades. So, S asked her daughters (she has 2) to come bring her dresses down, but they won't do it! (Nice girls, just opinionated.) They pointed out that 2 of the ones she wanted to try on were those she wore to THEIR weddings, and their children are old enough to start having weddings of their own. They shopped first instead and came with 2 choices of new clothes and insisted she choose between them, also a pair of shoes that will work for either.

Twins', you are probably just too critical of yourself, yes. But it all sounds like fun.

lucylee, so glad your dgd is feeling better.

blessed, I hope the wind damage is fixable and the folks working know just how to deal with that.

[lucylee]

Did some more Christmas shopping -- dsisil sent me a pic of watch dbil wants -- ordered it and some items for dgd from Target.
Not many ideas for 13 year old boy though... their suggestions were a lot of Lego kits -- dgs won't do those and he'll lose all the pieces in the clutter of their house in no time.
DGD had asked for books, ("chapter books") so I got her the first three Trixie Belden books. I have the first 15, I think, but she has shown no interest in them. These are new printings, paperback, more modern look on the cover. I LOVED those books. I hope she will like them too one day.
(Did any of y'all read Trixie Belden?)
Also got her a UNO Spin game. I think her goal in life is to have every edition of Uno there is. This looked interesting.

All dishes are washed except a couple spoons I was using to do cookies and the cup I measured pecans with.
No dishes are put away.
My back is still killing me. I stopped cookies at 4 dozen (and almost burned the last batch! Forgot to set the timer!)
I took some Aleve.
Still need to set table, etc... put away dishes... vacuum kitchen...

I am so tired. I am just really not all that excited about the holiday, and I feel a little sad about staying home with dgd this time -- there's a part of me that would enjoy going to the ballgame. I am trying to look forward to spending some time with family Saturday night, and I need the weekend to put up the tree and decorate. DGD is more demanding than dgs, though, and he has been so much help for me these past few days.
It's partly the remaining sadness of doing holidays without dh -- and I can push that to the back of my mind most of the time, but after cooking all day, I just keep thinking about how thrilled he was the first time I did Thanksgiving. I did everything that year, except the turkey (which dbil brought, smoked, from local BBQ restaurant). DH almost had tears in his eyes that night when he thanked me for doing all that, and he said, "I thought I'd never eat that meal again." (Because no one in our families made dressing like his mother.) That made it all worth it, of course, and I know no one else will appreciate it like he did.
Oh well... I know DGD will enjoy helping me get ready for Christmas and we'll stay busy. Maybe she'll give me some time to rest too. I know I'm going to need it!

EDITING -- 1:53 A.M.
[X] wash dishes & run the dishwasher
[X] put away dishes
[x] bake cookies including the last two dozen I had put off earlier
[x] vacuum the kitchen
[ ] s/s the bathroom
[ ] get ice (in the morning; there's a place just down the road with good size bags for $1) * Will have to ask ds to do this b/c I don't have any ones.
[x] set out extra chairs
[x] checked/filled salt & pepper shakers
[x] got out silverware and serving spoons/etc

And now... y'all, I did it again. Buyer's remorse. Just spent $22 on MORE CHECKLISTS that I will probably not use and which will probably not help me with my constant hope of becoming one of those organized, high-achieving women I aspire to. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??? My own self-styled Excel sheet is a perfectly fine checklist. At least it was just $22. SMH... I am an idiot.
I also got two sets of magnetic bookmarks (one for ddil's Christmas stocking, one for myself.) I think I will use those, and they have inspirational sayings.
These are all from the Passionate Penny Pincher in case any of the rest of you want to be tempted by them. Or if you want to see what makes me act so crazy. SMH. I actually feel a little nauseated. (That might be from eating a lot of cookie dough and sampling the cookies.)
-- On the bright side, I just got a message from SS and my check is going up $48/month in January. I wonder how much will come out of it when Medicare kicks in in August.