Counting Down

It is the week before Thanksgiving and there is much happening here at Casa de Crazy.

The kids and I are terrorizing the cats...er...tidying up a bit.  Poor house is a right mess as a result of some serious depression, chaos, and stress (so what's new?), and it WILL BE CLEAN for Thanksgiving.  Or, at least, the parts our guests will see will be clean.  Probably.  Maybe.  I hope.

This is a somewhat traditional post for me - every year I write a little something about this week, as it is the lead-off to The Silly Season (aka Christmahannukwazakyule) and often one of my busiest here at the Casa.

So, here we go.

Wednesday (today) - Band practice, because really, who doesn't band practice right before a holiday?

Thursday - More housework.  Lort, the housework.  Then there's the laundry.  Oh, lort, the laundry.  Hopefully we will also finish shuffling the garage so I can park in there before it gets really, actually cold outside (nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but I'd be thankful if it got done).  Grocery shopping, because there's nothing like looking for obscure ingredients at the last minute.  Panicking about the butter - is two pounds enough for the day?  Gah!

Friday - cleaning, cleaning, more cleaning (I move slowly, the Casa is enormous, and I am not a good housekeeper so when we DO clean, it's a job).  Making sure the table linens are washed and ready to use and pulling out the "good" flatware**.  Also going up to the HAHC to shoot pics and make FB posts and maybe apply to offer a class this winter.

Saturday - Thawing and then cutting up bread for the dressing.  I bought it ahead of time and froze it because supplies have been unreliable, and T might just cry if there's no dressing.  Can't have that!

Sunday - Washing the "good"* dishes and serving bowls/platters.

Monday - Making a list of ingredients for baking so I can make some donations for the Friday HAHC bake sale, because I don't have enough to do this week.

Tuesday - Remove turkey stock from the freezer so I can make dressing and gravy with home made stock.  Cut vegetables for the dressing.  Do a little dance.  Probably more housework, which may include mopping, so maybe say a little prayer for me.  Gather ingredients for bake sale shenanigans.

Wednesday - Prep the dressing for baking.  Make keylime pie (including shortbread crust since I cannot buy them ready-made any more, waaaah).  Make the mashed turnips and carrots.  Bake cookies, miniature keylime pies, and banana bread for the bake sale.  Sit down for a moment and ponder my life choices.  Probably last-minute cleaning, mopping, and table setting.

Turkey goes in to bake.  Dressing goes in to bake.  Green beans are steamed.   Finishing up any last minute cleaning.  Children are shooed outside to frolic.  Friends and family trickle in.  Set the table.  Fill the water pitcher.  Watch TV and baste the turkey.  Make food, food, more food.  Start Dutch apple pie baking and start chocolate silk pie thawing (because Marie Callender does pie so well, I'm happy to let her).  Serve.  Eat.  Coma.  Dessert and coffee/tea.  More coma.  Play games.  Pack leftovers to go for guests.  Pack baked goods for mom to take to the bake sale.  Eat more.  Sleep well.

Friday - More food coma and maybe go up to the HAHC to shoot more pics so I can write FB posts for 'em.  Or maybe just continue the food coma from Thursday.

Saturday - Start baking holiday goodies for shipping to family and friends.

Sunday - Rest.  Possibly interspersed with napping and more baking.

How is your week shaping up?

*These are dishes that Mum and I bought one piece at a time from a grocery store a long, long, looooong time ago.  Service for fourteen including serving dishes, either free or bargain priced with purchase of a certain amount of groceries.  I love them.  Not fancy, but pretty and simple and I like them.

**Not sterling, but some rather lovely and solid stainless steel flatware from the Oneida Company, back when there was a Betty Crocker catalog and we clipped Betty Crocker points from boxes and saved them in a tin on top of the refrigerator.  Service for twelve, and some day I hope to expand it and add more serving pieces and other cutlery, but that'll have to wait a bit because it's a discontinued pattern and getting the pieces I'd like to have will cost a small fortune.  I adore my pattern, bought a few pieces at a time through the mail with little bits of cardboard and postage paid.