THANKSGIVING WAS A SUCCESSFUL MESS

I got up, straightened up the house a little, then started nagging Gary to help. I am super good at that. We have to bring in an extra table, cause my dining room table is wrought iron with a glass top, and cannot be extended, and it only seats 6. He got that done, then Chloe and Morgan came over for a bit to help.

They were responsible for decorating the table. This is the first time I've used a non-frozen turkey. I got my time table out, using directions from the catering recipes, stuffed it, and put it in the oven at 1pm. My timetable for serving dinner was 6pm. All was well, so far. All I did to "baste" the turkey was spray it with Crisco Canola canned spray. Angie and family came over at 2pm to take holiday photos. I will post pictures later. (I didn't mention it, but the maids are at the house, and I'm at McD's using their wi-fi to blog). Their dogs, Annie and Coco, were dressed as a pilgrim (Coco) and an Indian (Annie). What a fiasco....... I did get one of Stella dressed as an indian when Annie took off her costume. Annie hates costumes. Her first objective is to get her outfit off, which takes all of 20 seconds, and then she starts on Coco's outfit. Coco is so stupid, she doesn't even know how to get out of hers. It was great fun, and I'll get the pix when I get home.

Chloe conned, no make that nagged, me into going with her to feed her friends rabbits. We were pulling out of the drive just as Mark and Sheila pulled up. SAVED! I promised Chloe I'd go today, and that Gary would have to take her. I didn't visit much with Sheila and Mark the entire afternoon. I stayed on schedule with my cooking, making munchies, and washing dishes as I went along. Sheila and Mark and everyone else either watched football, or attempted to learn how to play Wii NHL hockey. That didn't work, so they progressed to Beatles Rock Band. They didn't do as well there either. I think the controllers need to be adjusted, but I didn't have time to mess with that,it was NOT on my schedule. You know it's out of whack if Sheila makes like a 93% on singing, and Chloe and Mark only made like 19% on drums and guitar. Anyway, that's how the afternoon went.

Everything was finally ready to eat. Get this..... we sat down to eat, and I looked at my watch. We were all starting eating and it was 6:05. Nothing (except the pumpkin pie) over cooked, or messed up. The time table worked, and the food was good. We all over ate, except Mark. He knows how to pace himself. We had the turkey, two types of dressings, mashed potatoes, two types of sweet potatoes, giblet gravy, two type of cranberry sauce (one Chloe made, and the traditional type I grew up on..... the jellied crap in a can that has the ridges in the sides caused by the can), hot rolls, green bean casserole, and corn casserole. For dessert, pumpkin pie, brownies, and Gary's pecan pie. Oh yeah..... the girls had Italian soda and the adults had wine that Sheila and Mark brought.

Gary cleaned up the entire kitchen by himself, and we ladies packed up all the left overs for everyone. I sent giblet gravy home with everyone, and then I provided additional non-giblet gravy. I made everyone promise to either eat the giblet gravy by today, or toss it, and then use the non-giblet gravy after that. I think I read some place that giblet gravy doesn't keep well.

Sheila, Mark, Angie and I sat down to focus on the hockey game. We took a training class (it's part of the game) and figured out how to use the buttons to skate, change players, score, fight, etc. Sheila beat me, sheila beat Mark, on and on. Those damned Canadians sure know their hockey! Once Gary finished dishes, he took on Mark. Mark whooped up on him. I am going to learn to play hockey again before I invite the Coles back. I HATE losing. They had brought their hockey outfits, but we didn't get pix of them in it.

I made a midnight run to Toys R Us to buy some Black Friday (specials on the Friday after Thanksgiving) sales that they were having from midnight til 1am. Drove the 10 miles, got there, and like to never got into the plaza. There were no parking places anywhere near the store. I did drive past Best Buy, and there were about 100 people there in camping chairs with portable heaters, waiting in line for the 5am sales there. The line for Toys R Us was about 3 city blocks long, weaving all around the shopping center and parking lot. I left! Dang, all I wanted was a blue light up laser toy and skate ramp for Morgan. I'd rather pay full price that fight that crowd. I had no idea there were so many bargain hunters out there. Never again!


All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving. Sometime later today, I'll post pictures. I hope everyone of you had a Thanksgiving as good as mine. If you did, then it had to be super. Later, and bye for now from me and Mickey Dee!