Hot Stuff

So, what are you cooking?

I am just making the assumption that you are slaving away in the kitchen or you have been doing so this morning. All I have left to make is Jen's hummus for a veggie dip and I am done. Honey is going to make his famous Oatmeal Raisin cookies, too. But other than that, we are good to go.

This morning I have:

• Put together the Cornbread Dressing a la my Mother in Law
• Chilled the brine and got the turkey into it, a la Pioneer Woman
• Put together all the ingredients for my yummy homemade rolls.
• Bagged all the items for the Spinach & Artichoke dip
• Baked some yummy Double Chocolate Mint Chip cookies. Oh my YUM.

Then I took a nap. Can you blame me? I don't have a whole lot left to do. My mother called me in a panic this morning because we switched roles this year and she is doing the desserts and I am making the turkey. She actually doesn't do desserts, so she was in unfamiliar territory. Also, she still needed to go to the grocery store (!!!) on Thanksgiving Eve (!!!).

She says she is jaded about the days of work to lead up to a meal that she just has to clean up after. I can understand that after doing it for 25+ years. But I am still fresh in my thanksgiving-ness. I am still pleased to make delicious and special treats to share with folks. So, I am really looking forward to tomorrow, even with its tidal wave of things that have to be done. I hope you are too.

Happy Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving

So, remember how I was off for the week to spend quality time with my family and all that jazz?

I actually had to go into work yesterday. For just about the whole 8 hours. And I was MAD. Furious, even. Like the mumbling under your breath and angrily swiping at tears kind of mad. Like hating my job and its neediness and the fact that it stole a day with my family from me. But then? I am not mad anymore. Oh well. No use crying over spilled milk. I knew we were swamped when I asked for the time off. I was a bit surprised when my boss told me it would be ok. Like I said, Oh Well. What are you going to do?

Because when I was out of town last week, I heard about a colleague of mine who worked at another agency who got a terrible infection somehow related to the birth of her child and had to have all of her limbs amputated at the elbow and knee joints. She has a new baby and two other children. And I just felt my heart constrict and fracture. A few days later, my mother gets a call from one of our dearest family friends from back home. It comes out that the friend's baby granddaughter, who was just 19-months-old, died from meningitis. Within 10 hours of symptoms, she was gone.

Jelly Bean hasn't been sleeping through the night and I go to comfort him in the dark. I pick him up and cradle his two-year-old body in the stillness. I sway back and forth. How absolutely lucky am I to be able to stand and hold his 20-something pound self? What gift is this to be able to sway back and forth with these wonderful legs and strong arms I have? And I know of a set of parents who would give probably every single thing they own to be able to rock their child in the night just one more time.

So, instead of being angry and upset about stupid things, I am just glad I am needed. I am just counting my blessings.

A Little Bit of Randomness

Things have been crazy at work and still the craziness marches on. However, in the midst of it all, I have decided to take this week off. Mind, we get off Thursday and Friday anyway. But with the long hours I worked last week and carry-over holidays, I should be almost set. I am a little nervous about leaving...there is so much to do on such a tight deadline. But I am going to try to relax and enjoy the time with my family.

We are all home this week and the only things I have to do is help with Thanksgiving, as my mom and I share this onerous task, and work on a group project for the class-that-felt-like-it-would-never-end-but-now-there-is-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel. This is our very last assignment. Phew. Do me a favor and remind me next time I want to continue my education that I am smart enough? I just don't remember grad school being so much work! Ok, scratch that. I do remember it being this much work. But now I am not accustomed to it and it feels so much heavier.

I am actually planning on going grocery shopping this morning. I am not missing too many ingredients, but feel like the perfect time to go Thanksgiving shopping is the Monday morning before. I mean, really? Who else is going to be there? (No one hopefully. And hopefully they will have stocked their shelves on Sunday.) Speaking of shopping, we are starting to think about the holiday season. This year Christmas and Hanukkah are in the same week. I am simultaneously excited and nervous about this prospect. I need Santa Cookies and Latkes all in the same week! We have to light the menorah and do the advent calendar! Donuts! Eggnog! Matzo balls! Ahhhh! (Hmmm, has anyone just noticed that my holiday traditions are all about food? No wonder I have gained 5 pounds.)

I have a book I want to read, but I can't find it. I imagine it is in the bedroom and Honey is still asleep. Drat. I have no idea when he will be up. He was up in the middle of the night with a terrible migraine and I convinced him to take one of the precious, hoarded painkillers that we kept from some dental surgery he had awhile back. I expect him to sleep for a bit. Poor guy.

I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up with what is going on with you guys, but I am going to give it a whirl this week. I miss knowing what is up with you, neighbor.

Lack of Civility

I haven't been feeling really well and decided at a coworker's recommendation to try some of that coughing-aching-stuffy head-so-you-can-rest-medicine? Oh my GOD. I have such a freaking hangover. I feel like I am walking around in a Dali painting because everything is so so surreal. I feel like I am coated in thick blankets and am trying to peer out. I think I probably should not be driving...and yet.

While I was driving, I was listening to the news and I heard about California Proposition 8 passing. I could hear the protesters banging on the glass walls at the CNN building in LA. At first, due to my being 'under the influence' (gods, I am such a freaking lightweight), I was sure I heard wrong. I had checked these results yesterday...hadn't I? Granted, I spent most of yesterday in bed. I thought it had failed by a narrow margin, but it had failed nonetheless. I heard a protester, a young man say something to the effect of how now people could look him in the eye and say, "You are less than me." It sent a lamentation of truth surging through my body.

The proponents of this raised buckets of money from every state in the US and around the world, apparently. Why would people in other countries care if couples in California could get married? This is so bizarre to me. That and most of this political backing was done by religious groups. I don't quite understand how they can do this and not mess up their tax exemptions. That and I will never be able to understand the general focus of religion toward homogeny. There is such a trend toward dichotomization. If I am good, and you are different from me, therefore you must be bad. For us or against us. Black or white. There is no room for gray understanding.

I can't even convey how incredibly incredibly downtrodden I feel by this violation of civil rights. I just hope that one day, as a nation, we will look back at this the way we look back at "colored only" restrooms, drinking fountains, and bus seats and think this: "How horrible we were! How stupid we were! Can you even believe that is the way it was?"

I am crossing my fingers for the 3 million absentee ballots that have not been counted. Maybe this really is a dream wrapped up in my foggy mind. Maybe it didn't happen after all.

I'm Lost!

Oh my god! Where did I go? I vanished.

*POOF*

Dude, I have been so freaking busy at work, I can't even scratch. But I am here because the lovely Emblita has tagged me for a meme and I lurrrve being tagged for memes because that means people like me and I so like to be liked. So, here is the randomest random things I can possibly think of:

• There is an egret, which is a southern type of crane, that lives in and about our neighborhood. Every time I see him, I feel a little sad and plenty guilty. We are a new development. My home used to be his home.
• Occasionally, while driving, I find myself in a position where I *have* to flip off another driver. While I get caught up in the emotion at the time, I immediately regret my inconsiderate behavior to a complete stranger, even if they bloody well deserve it. I agonize over it for hours and sometimes days. I feel like it causes a little bit of my soul to evaporate.
• A colleague treated me to lunch yesterday and it was seriously the very best meal I have had in a very very long time. It was a vegetable sandwich with crimini mushrooms, avocado, sprouts and other veggies on a 6 grain bread served panini style. Oh my YUM. I had dreams about it.
• Jelly Bean woke up in the middle of the night last night and I was up anyway with "irrational worry" syndrome. So, I took him and rocked him for a while and then laid down with him in my bed for a bit before putting him back in his own crib. I never get to hold him like that anymore, since he is so busy during his waking hours. It felt like such a blessing to be able to hold my baby and look into his shadowed dark eyes.
• There is a kid screaming in my office right this second. WTF? There are no children here...
• Brother and I read the first three chapters of Matilda last night and he was so tickled and loved it so much. This gives me unspeakable joy that he is *finally* at the point where we can read chapter books together and he LOVES it. I am thanking my lucky stars for this one. It feels like a exquisitely chosen gift tailored just for me.