So Much to Do, and it Takes so Much Time

All right, I finally got to sit down - but I made a German Chocolate pie, Oatmeal Rolls, a pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce - and cooked a turkey today. I made African Burritos for dinner, too, then had to clean up the kitchen and get the turkey all cut up and the broth put in a pan so I can use it tomorrow. And now I'm just tired.

I've also decided that we'll have to give up Thanksgiving if/when I ever have to get a job outside the home. Not that I really want to, because I'm already making list of things that will have to go and Thanksgiving is the least of them. But my husband seems to think that when Cory gets out of high school that I'll want/need to go back to work. Never mind that I don't know what I would want to do - definitely not rv repair and preferably not retail again, but other than that? And who is going to do what I do now? Still me? With less time?

I know other people do it, somehow. And I used to do it before kids, but I forget how, and back then we lived in a much smaller place. For now I guess we better enjoy this Thanksgiving while we have it, and I better try really hard to get things caught up around here.

Cooking for Thanksgiving

Image by kendiala via Flickr

I've got a lot of cooking to do tomorrow, because Thursday is Thanksgiving, and we're having it here. We're not having a big group, just us and my brother and his daughter, but I've still got to fix turkey and all the rest. It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it all. So tomorrow I'm cooking the turkey, baking rolls and some pies, and maybe making cranberry sauce. I say maybe on the cranberry sauce because the people in my house like the jelled stuff that comes out of a can, but I just really want some real, fresh cranberry sauce.

I always cook the turkey the day before because it's just easier to deal with that way. I can cool the broth, remove all the fat, and have it to make the dressing and gravy. I add some broth to the sliced turkey and reheat it in the oven. No pretty turkey for the table, but so much easier. And seriously, I've never been able to get the turkey out of the pan in one piece.

So if the turkey and the baking is done tomorrow, all I have to do is dressing (I already have the bread laid out to dry a little), mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, and a vegetable on Thursday. Right? I feel like I'm forgetting something, but I have time to figure it out. As it is, it sounds like there's going to be so much food people are going to need appetite suppressants or they're going to eat so much they'll explode. Time to start talking up the benefits of leftovers, I think.

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Who Do You Think Will Win?

So far this Dancing With The Stars season I haven't picked a favorite and haven't voted for anyone. In the past I always had my favorites - Emmet Smith, Kristi Yamaguchi, Apolo Anton Ohno, Ty Murray - and I voted. I didn't go so far as to get t-shirts or promo keychains, but I used several email addresses and my home phone and my cell to vote. This season, no one really stood out, and it wasn't until last week that I decided it should come down to Mya and Joanna, because they were the best dancers. I still didn't vote, though, and Joanna got eliminated.

So now here we are in the finals. It's down to Donny, Kelly, and Mya, and I might even go ahead and vote. Of the three, I think Mya is the one who deserves to win. What do you think? I think Kelly is adorable, and there are flashes of good dancing in her performances, but she just hasn't put the whole package together. Donny always seems to have so much fun, and he really knows how to put on a show. But Mya can really dance. If the Mirror Ball Trophy goes to the best dancer, then she should win.

I guess we'll find out tomorrow night.

ETA - never mind. I'm voting for Donny (if I can get through and if the ABC website will cooperate) - that freestyle was awesome!

Looking at the Sky on Friday - 36

I’m so glad there’s a meme like Looking at the Sky on Friday, because it means all the time I spend looking at the sky, and taking pictures of it, has a purpose! Click the badge for more info.

I went to get the mail.  I don’t remember what we got in the mail, probably just some credit card offers, bills, something from a store trying to sell us a ps3 and some games we don’t really need, something like that.  What I do remember is the sky.  I grabbed the mail from the box and hurried inside for my camera.

If you enjoy skies as much as I do, be sure to check out Looking at the Sky on Friday.

Never Run Out of Toilet Paper

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Alice.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

A friend once asked, "What one thing have you never run out of or would never want to run out of?" My first thought was something like flour or onions, but then she said for her the answer was toilet paper. No one wants to run out of toilet paper! I have to agree with her. Of course, there are lots of basic things we need around the house - laundry detergent, dish soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc. It would be pretty inconvenient to run out of any of them. Maybe not as inconvenient as having no toilet paper, but...

I tend to stock up on all these basics when they're on sale, so I have quite a stockpile, and I don't think we're in danger of running out of anything for a good long time. That didn't stop me from signing up for a free account at Alice.com about a month ago, or maybe that's why I signed up. I don't just stockpile stuff because it's on sale. I stockpile because I don't want to run out and then have to make a special trip to the store and probably pay a higher price. Now, with Alice.com I can actually use stuff up and let the supplies dwindle a little, which will make my husband happy. He says we have too much stuff around here.

You see, Alice.com is a site where you can shop for and buy all your household essentials. They have tons to choose from, so chances are you can find the brands and products you usually use. The prices are very competitive, and they even find and apply coupons to get you the best deal possible, and there's no clipping involved. And, shipping is FREE. So, you can sit back, log onto your computer, and do all your shopping for household essentials from the comfort of your own home, and have everything delivered to your door for FREE. How cool is that? Now I'm wishing we were almost out of something so I could actually order something.

What I am doing is looking through the products available in all the different categories and adding things I know I will need eventually, the body wash Cory likes, hand lotion, facial tissue, etc. That way it will be quick and easy to find when I need it. It also looks like Alice.com pays attention to my choices and uses them to offer me special deals or suggest products I might like, which I really like. Also, as you add things to your products, you can tell Alice how often you need to buy each item, and Alice will remind you when it's time to buy, so you won't run out!

I encourage you to check out Alice.com because I think this site is going to be really handy. If you hate shopping for basic household needs and would like to save some time, money, and hassle, this might be just what the doctor ordered. Alice.com has a Refer a Friend program, too - so if you sign up for your free account and then refer your friends, Alice.com will pay you, too. You'll get 3% of the total dollar amount of each one of their orders on Alice for an entire year. Each person you refer will also get a $10 credit in their Alice account once they spend at least $50 on the site. Here's my referral link - http://www.alice.com/referral/4D789F8D - so if you copy that into your browser, I'll get the 3% of your orders for a year, and you'll get $10 after you spend $50. Sounds like a good deal for both of us, right? (or just click the ad in the sidebar)

Oh, and what one thing would you never want to run out of?

Free Ed Hardy Handbag. Don't miss out!

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I Need a Script Writer

Why is it that I always think of what I should have said later, after it's too late? If only I had a script to use and always knew what to say and how to act. But no. For instance, last night we had some people coming to watch Cory in Peter Pan. A lot of the kids had already saved seats, but the front row was available so I grabbed some there, but then the girl who played Wendy needed some seats for her family. There was nothing available up close so I volunteered to move our seats, because our friends didn't really need front row. We did some rearranging of other seats to get her the ones she needed, then I went to put the tape I had peeled off the front row on some seats further back - basically the next available row on the aisle. It was a ways back, but simpler than trying to rearrange a bunch of other seats. That's when some woman I never saw before came rushing over and prevented me from putting my tape on the first seat. "Those are my seats!" Never mind that there was nothing on them. I told her that my kid is a senior, and seniors get priority, and she basically said "SO? These are my seats. I was just waiting on the tape." At that point I just got extremely frustrated and walked away. There may have been something about shoving a chair, too.

Looking back I wonder why I didn't just calmly explain to her that my kid is a senior, and he's playing one of the main parts in the play. What part is your kid playing? Not Wendy because I just moved off the front row so her family could sit there. Not Peter Pan because she has the first three rows on the other side. So, that means my kid has priority over your kid, and if I want to put my people here, you're just going to have to move back a row. But I didn't, I walked away, she got the seats and all I got was upset. Where was that script writer when I needed her?

Later I found out that this woman's child was a 3rd grader who was playing one of the Lost Boys, not even one of the main Lost Boys, just one of the extra Lost Boys, the ones that were only in the play to fill the stage or so their parents would come to the play. But, those parents did not deserve to reserve better seats than any of the kids who had actual, real roles in the play. I'm pretty sure this woman was aware of that, but she pretended not to, and I didn't explain it properly. Then again, it really frustrates me to explain the obvious to people.

Let's just face it - I am not a people person. I'm thinking I should move to a beach on oahu hawaii, make that a private beach, and avoid people altogether. Oh, and if you know more about Oahu than I do, don't disillusion me by telling me that I'd have to deal with people there, too. I just can't handle that right now.

Looking at the Sky on Friday - 35

I’m so glad there’s a meme like Looking at the Sky on Friday, because it means all the time I spend looking at the sky, and taking pictures of it, has a purpose! Click the badge for more info.

Oops, I missed Looking at the Sky last Friday.  I had every intention of posting, just let the day get away from me.  How does a day go by so fast?  Time just seems to fly – a week goes by and before I know it it’s been three, a month, three months.  I don’t want to admit it, but the way time is flying, I better start looking for the best wrinkle treatments now, before I wake up, look in the mirror, and wonder where all those lines came from.

Speaking of the passage of time, I took these photos of the moon about a week and a half ago, when it was nice and full.  As of this morning, it was a fast-waning crescent, meaning another month is about over.

If you enjoy skies as much as I do, be sure to check out Looking at the Sky on Friday.

We've Got Candy

Image by Scorpions and Centaurs via Flickr

I think we have more than enough candy around here. It's so hard to resist those after-Halloween candy clearance sales. The candy is just as good the day after the holiday - it just costs half as much. Makes me wonder why anyone would be dumb enough to buy it beforehand. Anyway...

We hit Walgreens on Sunday and got a whole bunch. Then yesterday I bought just one bag of peanut butter kisses when I went to Walmart. When I got home, Cory asked me why I only got one bag. I told him I thought I was the only one who really ate them, so I only needed the one bag, otherwise I'd either feel really bad or be searching for the best weight loss pill because I ate so much candy.

That's when he informed me that he, and his sister, were guilty of getting into my bag of peanut butter kisses last year. No wonder they disappeared so fast!