Mission Thanksgiving - Phase 3

Ok, got done with Phase Three!

• Prepare brine for turkey and place turkey in brine
• Process veggies for dressing
• Assemble dressing for baking tomorrow
• Freeze half of the double batch of dressing for Christmas

Looks like I'm ready to hit the ground running tomorrow. We'll be going to the in-law's house in for lunch and then we'll be coming back home to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves and my dad and stepmom. That's when Phase Four kicks in. Everything I've been preparing for comes to fruition tomorrow.Well, I'm gonna go to bed soon so I'll be ready to actually enjoy my day tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mission Thanksgiving - Phase 1 & 2

Well, preparations for Thanksgiving are under way. This year me and Clint will be having Thanksgiving lunch at his parents' house, and then we'll be heading home to host Thanksgiving dinner at our house. Now, given, it is only going to be my dad and step mom joining us, but I'm still excited to be "doing Thanksgiving" for us.

I've got a menu drawn up as follows:

• Turkey
• Dressing & cranberry sauce
• Broccoli casserole
• Roasted potatoes
• Creamed corn
• English peas
• Green beans
• Shrimp dip
• Yeast rolls
• Chocolate chip peanut butter pie

My step mom is planning to bring deviled eggs and sweet potato casserole. Yes, I know it's a lot, but hey, we love to indulge during the holidays, and I expect to be eating leftovers for a while. After all this cooking, heating up some leftovers will be quite welcome. I love to cook. After all, I wouldn't volunteer to do all this if I didn't. One of my greatest joys in life is to feed people and see them enjoying what I've prepared. So, needless to say, I'm excited.

All this work, however, requires some pre-planning, so I've divvied up my tasks by days so I won't overwhelm myself and make Thanksgiving day as easy as possible.

Phase One (Monday)

• Cook cornbread for dressing
• Cook and debone chicken for dressing
• Skim and store broth from cooked chicken
• Prep veggies for dressing
• Cook broccoli casserole

Well, I got the first three done before I ran out of steam. I was quite tired Monday night. Fortunately I was able to get the last two done tonight.

Phase Two (Tuesday)

• Make cranberry sauce
• Make shrimp dip
• Make chocolate chip peanut butter pies

Got everything done on today's list. Go me! Just in case you're interested, I'll list out my recipes in the next post. Tomorrow, on to Phase Three where in I make brine, dressing, and tea!

Hope to be close

I'm having dinner with my sister tonight. It'll be the first time I've seen her since our mom passed away back in February. Six months. I can't believe it's been that long. I kinda swore to myself that we wouldn't drift apart again after mama died. Hopefully, this'll help me get back on track with that promise.

For a while though, I just didn't want to see my sister. Not because of anything she did. Just because she reminded me of mama, and I didn't want to deal with that reminder so soon. I wonder if she thought the same of me? I really wouldn't blame her. I think we've both needed some time to just be apart to grieve and heal.

I'm still grieving. Even as I write this, I think about mama, and it makes me sad. Not the raging, wailing kind of grief. Just this dull ache in my heart that simply misses my mama. I wish I could've been better to her. I feel like I didn't do for her like I should have, and sometimes that weighs heavy on my heart. I feel like when my sister sees me, she thinks the same thing. I don't know.

Anyway, tonight I'm going to see her, and I'm honestly really glad. I hope I don't cry. Maybe if I do, sissy will just tell me to "put your big girl panties on," and that'll make me laugh and forget about being sad. I could never say that to someone that's upset, but then again sissy is pretty much my polar opposite. We're so different. I guess that's why we were never very close. Hopefully that can change though. Mama wanted us to be close, so I'll try. Really, I want it too.

If the title didn't clue you in...

Sorry for the sarcasm. I'm tired. I don't usually have trouble sleeping, but tonight's an exception. I decided to get up rather than keep tossing and turning and possibly waking my husband up.

Anyway, I made this blog for me. You can read it if you want. Who am I to stop you? I can't guarantee that the content of the blog will be helpful or inspiring in any way. In fact, I won't guarantee that. After all, this is for me. If you want to follow along, you can probably expect some posts about who I am, what games I'm playing, what I'm writing, what I'm doing creatively, my goals (big and small), and probably some other random items.

With that, I'm going to go on to bed now, and let you wonder what I might possibly post here next. That is, if you're still interested.