Archive for November, 2009

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Thanksgiving “Break”

In Family, Food, Geek, Home, Vacation on 11/29/2009 by adam

Here are the highlights for how we spent our all-too-brief holiday break:

  • Cleared and set our dining room table with new centerpieces and a holiday theme
  • Baked pie
  • Brined and cooked two turkeys, one at our house, one elsewhere, as well as prepared associated trimmings
  • Had delicious Thanksgiving dinner
  • Went on three separate shopping outings, including an early one on Black Friday, another to buy a suit for an upcoming wedding, and yet another to Philadelphia Premium Outlets to hang out with family
  • Gave Bram his first through fifth rides on bouncy cars and airplanes (totally worth $2.50)
  • Cleared bookshelves and dressers in the master bedroom of various clutter
  • Steam mopped the main level of our house
  • Finally replaced X10 wired receiver for dining room fixture (killed many months ago by lightning)
  • Sorted DVDs into binder, disposed of about 100 cases (100 more to go and our collection will be neatly organized and out of sight)
  • Began planning holiday party
  • Collected 3 batches of stuff we no longer wanted and left free items on curb (all taken)
  • Sorted old baby clothes into lots – 0-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-18 months, 18 months-2T
  • Sorted Tupperware, tossed dozens of old plastic containers kept “just in case,” prepped much unused stuff for sale
  • Packed old China and other dishes for sale
  • Made 5 postings to Craigslist (see clothes, Tupperware, China above; one transaction complete so far)
  • Trimmed Christmas tree
  • Hung up 10 pictures from various vacations and life events
  • Sorted dozens of other pictures as candidates for placing in newly purchased frames
  • Cleared space for Department 56 Christmas village display
  • Hauled an embarrassing amount of trash to the curb
  • Ran the dishwasher pretty much continuously
  • Washed laundry
  • Paid bills
  • … and many other mundane things

I think it’s fair to say we’re not very good at relaxing, but we’re coming out of a few days off feeling good about some of the things we accomplished.

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Stuffed

In Family, Food on 11/26/2009 by adam

Well, that’s another Thanksgiving come and gone, and I’m sad to see the celebration end.

  • This was the first year I made two turkeys, brine and all, due to excessive paranoia about there not being enough leftovers. Once again, I am thankful for the magic made within a double convection oven.
  • Tiffany made pumpkin pie, which I wait all year for, and there was enough of the good stuff left that we could have pumpkin pancakes on the morning of Thanksgiving.
  • Bram rediscovered the deliciousness of peas, a preference he probably inherited from mommy. And, um, he’s also a hound for pie. I, uh, have no idea where that comes from.

I believe we are all sufficiently fortified for Black Friday.

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