Mmmmmmm, pie.

Darn lesbians wanting to BE sporty instead of just WATCHING sports.

Ha, ha! I'm glad my sister and wife do not exhibit this behavior. We would have to have words. (Well, my sister might've fifteen years ago or so, but two knee replacements kind of put the kibosh on super sportiness.)

Yay to the two new-homestead Thanksgivings, Laura and Zmayehms! What a delight it would be to see either of those days unfold... and the food... I can just imagine!

Nice to hear the comings and goings and entertaining of friends and family, all around!

Cleaning. So much cleaning. There is only cleaning. My parents arrive tomorrow morning.

All the cleaning. I heard that.

but I haven't really felt like cooking in a long time. I dunno why it just hasn't really appealed to me.

I've been in that headspace for months now. I don't know what's up. I've rarely loved cooking, but I've gotten into some grooves. Not right now, though.

My sister and I are having a spa night on Wednesday evening at some luxe Roman bath type place (with a gift cert that I gave her for Xmas last year) and then going simple on Thursday. Like pot of chili simple, and having a friend or two over for football.

Nice and nice! Also nice if you fancy it up, of course.

Originally, were were doing pretty much nothing on Thanksgiving Day, then going out to a nice chef's tasting at the place we had dinner after our wedding (not because of that, but because it's a really good restaurant that we happened to discover that night). We would have done it Thursday, but I liked the regular November menu much better than that Thanksgiving Day menu.

But then my nephew ended up inviting us to their place after my other sister (his aunt, not his mom) and her wife "went AWOL," in his words (they usually host Thanksgiving; apparently nephew does not approve of their alternate plans this year, ha!)

So, now I'm making the requested mashed potatoes, and we're going nephew's family's place (Kent Island, MD -- about and hour and a half away) for an afternoon meal, so... day trip. Should be fun! My-sister-his-mom + a few of his wife's relatives + the kids.

And we still get fancy dinner on Friday! Nice.

Who else has some plans to share?

Oh and my key fob for the car has decided to split kind of. I'm kind of keeping it together and I have no idea what happened to the spare key, I don't think I've seen it since I got the car. I'm going to see if I can do a DIY Fix

I’ve been limiting my news consumption for sanity preservation reasons but I try and watch once or twice a day. I feel like I need to watch, but it hurts. I can hold it together for the most part, but reporters or officials or fellow humans being unable to hold back the tears puts me over the edge. Then I accept that the victims deserve my tears too.

Yeah, going to hug my loved ones a lot this Thanksgiving. And send loving thoughts to those who won’t be able to this year.

I just had to say somewhere that I am feeling very superior to all the people Replying-All right now to the instructional email we got a few hours ago with the same issue I took care of with a simple reply at the time. I sniff haughtily at them.

As well you should, -t!

Indeed!

"But we wont' have leftovers if we just go to their houses!" This from the woman who doesn't actual eat leftovers and wants to start throwing leftovers out less than 24 hours after they've been in the fridge.

She's a nut.

We had a Thanksgiving potluck at church yesterday, which might seem like overkill, but I won't have T-day leftovers, so I don't mind having it in advance! (And didn't even mind also going to my father's nursing home on Wednesday for another turkey dinner, when that was the thing.)

My sister and I are having a spa night on Wednesday evening at some luxe Roman bath type place (with a gift cert that I gave her for Xmas last year) and then going simple on Thursday. Like pot of chili simple, and having a friend or two over for football.

That sounds like a great plan.

Spa night Thanksgiving Eve is an excellent plan! I am inspired to go sit in thhe sauna at the gym after work. Maybe soak in the spa if it isn't full of other people.

Pot of chili and football and friends is also a pretty dang good plan.

I finished the leftovers from the Thanksgiving potluck at work yesterday, so I am just about ready for more leftovers to be created.

Have you adjusted to the new kitchen? What are the pros and cons?

Pro: It's much bigger, much more counter space. Still haven't mastered the oven. It's a double oven so the broiler is on the top and the heating element is much closer to the food.

Con: despite looking up the manual online I still haven't figured out how to adjust the temperature. It just turns on at 350 and stays there. I can't bump it up or punch it in as I did on my last stove, and the online manual gave an insanely complicated counter intuitive process to turn the temp down but not up. So...I'm probably missing something obvious. My last stove was just: Bake > Punch in Temp > Start.

But it might have something to do with the whole double oven thing, and I should focus on the bottom oven.

My plan is to take Mom out for Thanksgiving lunch (likely to Cracker Barrel), then if weather permits put a second coat of paint on her garage door. Our real Thanksgiving with the family will be Saturday over in Tennessee; I'm bringing a Caesar and pesto salad.