While
I had hoped for a new attitude on Monday morning, it didn’t happen. Power pump
was fine but didn’t improve my mood so I was a cranky mess when I got to the
office. I immediately put in for an afternoon of vacation time, which would
conveniently burn the half day in my bank. I don’t like uneven amounts there,
btw. I also emailed my cleaning lady to offer a delay until after Thanksgiving
if she was busy, which she promptly took me up on. That meant I didn’t have to
worry about picking up my house when I got home. Yay!
After
a lovely lunch of Irish food with Dodie, I headed home for my attitude
adjustment afternoon. It was warm enough to outside in a t-shirt so I went onto
the deck to sort the apples Nancy had dropped off last week. I had a bucket of
green apples for Lori’s chickens (about half of the load) and started working
the rest of the apples. I made Ozark pudding to take to knitting and put on a
big pot of applesauce. After puttering for the rest of the afternoon and making
comfort food (tuna casserole and broccoli) for supper, I headed to knitting a
new woman. I had finished another WIP and had a lovely time with my friends.
It’s amazing what an afternoon off in the sun will do.
The
rest of the work week went quickly. On Wednesday, Layton and I did lunch at Red
Fox, which we used to go to all the time but now seldom because it’s hard to
find diet food there. Well, one of our regular waitresses made a point of
coming over to tell me how good I looked, which felt great! We always get to
leave early the day before Thanksgiving so I only had to work until 3:00 then
headed to Menard’s to buy my Christmas trees and wreath. I had no intention of
putting them up so early but the weather was turning so I figured I’d get them
bought while it was still relatively warm. I was in and out in 10 minutes and
headed home for four blissful days off.
The
weather turned wintery and Thanksgiving Day was a mess of freezing rain with
the whole world covered with a sheet of ice by the end of the day. I happily
stayed inside and cooked a mini turkey dinner with stuff from the freezer –
turkey thighs (brined) cooked over stuffing, a pumpkin pie and sweet potato
casserole. It was pretty easy cooking and worth it to tide me over until our
family Thanksgiving on Sunday.
On
the knitting front I was working on yet another WIP and this was the WIP to end
all WIPs. When Aaron, my friend’s son, was in utero 16 years ago, I started a
little cardigan for him. Knowing it’d take awhile, I made a size 2T. Well,
Aaron is now 15 and the sweater had been sitting in pieces since he was born, done
except for sewing the pieces together and knitting the placket. After digging a
bit in the basement, I found the extra yarn and spent a day sewing it together
and knitting the button band from hell – 7 stitches but a yard long. I finished
it Saturday night just in time to throw it in the wash because, you guessed it,
it was Red Heart acrylic. It came out super cute and is washable to boot. I was
so happy to finish it and hand it off to Carter on Sunday. Helen and Brenda got
socks and the men were happy with pie. All good.
I
puttered for days, knitting, neatizing, cooking, etc. and enjoyed every minute.
In addition to getting 2 packages shipped to Canada on Saturday afternoon, I also
got the pies made – apple, pumpkin and pecan. Having neglected to get pecans
when I was at Menard’s on Wednesday (I had them in my hands but put them down
to pick up when I got back to the registers with my trees, only to completely
forget about them – sheesh!), I had to venture out to the market, breaking my
vow to not leave the house until Sunday. I can count myself lucky that that was
my only foray out in the weather and making the pies was a happy thing. Gotta
love homemade pie – both the making and eating.
Sunday
was the family Thanksgiving so I was on the road to Lincoln before 11:00. We
had a lovely dinner at Brenda and Michael’s and while the sun wasn’t out, it
wasn’t too cold so we had some fun playing in the yard with Carter, who is almost
2 and a fun kid. Just before I was leaving, Michael’s biological father showed
up. Now Helen had mentioned that he’d contacted Michael after years and wanted
to be part of his life but I wasn’t expecting to see him. I thought they’d
called him Grandpa Zach (his name is Rick so I misheard) and having not seen
him in more than 30 years, I didn’t recognize him. I was flabbergasted when
Helen told me who he was as I was leaving. Rick moved to Lincoln from Texas and
is actually in Michael’s life. Knock me over with a feather! Family drama at
the holidays! Go figure.
The
anticipated storm started late Sunday and I decided then and there not to try
to go to Power Pump in the morning. It was lovely not to worry about getting
prepped for that when I got home Sunday night. I already had to do the final
pick up for the cleaning lady, which I finished at 7:00, just in time for a
Guinness and snacks for dinner. It was a lovely way to finish a good week. I
hope everyone had as nice a Thanksgiving as I did. Now on to Christmas!
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