Monday, November 28, 2022

Monday, Home, Crazy Thanksgiving!


 We started out our Thanksgiving prep with more than our share of disasters.  Non-life threatening I might add.

Hubs and I arrived at his mom's place about 4:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday with good weather and roads all the way.  Of course, she insisted on making food for us, but we begged off as we wanted to go out and see Hub's sister.  She cannot be around crowds of people.  I thought she looked good. She is thin, but she is beautiful and has a great attitude. She will have another cat scan on Dec. 2nd to tell if the chemo is working.  We are all praying hard for her.


When we returned to mom's she insisted we eat.  She had made clam chowder, but she thought she had turned down the skillet when actually she had turned it up, so it was burned to the bottom of the pan.  No worries just scrap that burned stuff off and mix it in and serve it. It was not edible, but she ate hers.  The rolls were hard as rock and tasted bitter.  Well, she could not find the corn meal as son in law had tossed it (he said it was more bugs than meal) so she used corn flour and then later found the butter in the microwave, so the batter had no butter.  Luckily Hubs and I had cheese and crackers to sustain us.

Wednesday, daughter showed up and we went to pick the kids, Signe', Kelsa, and Will at the airport.  Well the flight was 2.5 hours late so we wandered around Boise.  His mom kept calling and asking what we wanted for dinner offering all these things she had to feed us and we told her no and picked up Chinese.

We all set to work, making dishes ahead.  I did the stuffing, and daughters did other sides, which we stored in the fridge so all we had to do on the day was the turkey and the rolls.  I started to make pumpkin pies last.  Daughter had made 4 of her famous vodka piecrusts.  I made two pies, and some left over pumpkin in a side dish.  I pulled them out at midnight.  The girls had already left for the hotel with the kids as they all wanted to swim.  I tasted the pumpkin, and it was awful.  It actually burned my mouth and throat and upset my stomach.  I went to check the spices.  The cinnamon was fine and so were the cloves, but I noticed the ginger was in a bottle that had been relabeled.  I smelled it and it did not smell like ginger.  It looked like ginger.  We suspect now it was old Alum.

Anyway, hubs and I were back at Winco after midnight buying all new ingredients and I was in tears. It was two o'clock when I got to bed.  I actually bought those crappy piecrusts as I was not going to make more that late at night.  I called Jethelyn and told her about the fiasco and she said Danny (her eldest was running a fever) and Kelsa had just vomited all over the bed.  So, they were having about as much fun as I was. 

Now it is Thanksgiving morning, and the kids are back, and Danny is better.  J pulls the turkey out of the cooler so I can stuff it and I tore the bag wrong and all the brine it had been soaking in poured out all over me and the floor.  Finally got that sticky mess cleaned up and I changed clothes.  Jess started to make her famous chocolate creme pie.  When she was pouring it into the shell, she tasted the spatula and said, "Mom come taste this something is really wrong!"  Well mom had put salt in her sugar container and J had used salt instead of sugar.  So run to the store again for all new ingredients for pie. J was so mad.  I just took it with a grain of salt.... Okay bad pun.

We had thrown away three lovely pies. Finally, while J and I were out getting replacement ingredients, Carolyn (Jethelyn's mother-in-law) showed up and we all tasted everything we put into anything.  We threw away so many things out of the kitchen. AS upsetting as it all was, we still found a way to laugh about it because that is what we do.


Here is J wishing there was really alcohol in this bottle.








All of us at dinner well except for the lunatic who has the solo picture.  We had a wonderful time.  Lots of laughs and great food. Mom had such a good time.  We used all her lovely China and did all the work, and she was just in her element.

The girls went shopping Black Friday and I stayed and watched the kids. Then we all piled in cars and went our separate ways. We brought Signe', Will and Kelsa home with us.  We left Roscoe with J and her boys until we get back.  It is weird not having him here.  He is such a presence. But he will enjoy his time with the boys.

I have a house that has been destroyed by the grandkids, Signe' and Nate just came and got the two little ones. I brought the leftover turkey and the scraps from the boiled carcass home and have a pan of turkey enchiladas for dinner tonight and then I froze the rest for later.

I ordered J and Paul's present this morning and I just have two boxes to mail this week and I am done with Christmas. 

Now I have to get my butt in the shop as I have two wedding dresses due out tomorrow!  Will this year ever end?  

I am also turning down all work until the first of the year.  Well except for the policeman that just came. I have 4 wedding dresses to get out this week.  That is all I am going to do and then just remember all the things I have to do to get out of town again.


How was your Thanksgiving?  Any disasters to report?

Have a great and productive day staying positive while you are in the negative.


Kim 

27 comments:

  1. No offense - but I was belly laughing and tears coming down my face. Sounds like a scene from a movie. Oh my, one to remember for sure.
    I sure pray all goes well, for your SIL.
    Just remember what Rosana Rosana Danna used to say - "It's always something!!!!"

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  2. OMG!!!!! It sounds like mil is losing it and does not need to be cooking. She might accidentally forget to turn off the stove. You are so funny though in how you tell the story… 😂. The pic of your daughter with the wine bottle was hilarious! My oldest and middle son have been very sick with chills and fever and muscle aches but not Covid nor flu.There is a virus going around also. They are well tho to be sick. Good to see oldest but so sorry he was sick. Cindy in the South

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    1. They “ate” well not they are well…. Sigh. Cindy in the South

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    2. Well, it was a Thanksgiving to remember. I am sorry you guys got the crud. We are trying to avoid it here. Our next door neighbors have covid!

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  3. I would be right there with your daughter wishing there was some wine in that bottle.

    God bless.

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    1. It about killed me to throw away those gorgeous non edible pies!

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  4. Would you have to slap me into next week if I told you I was laughing my head off at this? I am sorry it happened to you but dang, it is funny in retrospect. You are better than me though, I would have just bought grocery store pumpkin pies at that point.

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    1. I thought about it, but every fiber of my being was screaming NO!!!!!.

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  5. Bless your soul! Oh my goodness. I would be curled up in a ball under the covers, but you are out there, sleeves rolled up, going at it! I told you that you are an inspiration, my dear friend. I thought I had it bad because our pop-up timer popped too early and the turkey was undercooked. But you win the prize for the hardest Thanksgiving Day! Hope you have some cozier days ahead!

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    1. It was just one of those memories. Memories can be beautiful and yet.... go ahead sing along with me..

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  6. Jre loved this! These are the things that are relived for years later! The “remember when…” that’s laughed about! The normal, boring is forgotten.

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  7. I really laughed, while simultaneously having a ton of sympathy. I would have catered the entire thing at that point. You are brave souls. I don't think we had any disasters, other than one of the teens not properly shutting the freezer during a late night ice cream binge, and defrosting a bunch of stuff that we then needed to frantically use up. Also, he made a giant mess of the ice cream on the counter, and graciously left that for me at six am. ;-)

    Fingers crossed for a positive & productive week for you!

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    1. You got to love those teenagers and just think they will turn into men!

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  8. So some of us always use those "crappy pie crusts" and we live to tell the tale. :-) It could have been worse and now you have another amusing story to add to your book of life.

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    1. I am not a crappy crust person. I think that needs to go on a pillow!

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  9. I quit making homemade pie crusts and started buying crappy pie crusts and loved my mother for relieving me of that burden. We could both make good scratch pie crusts, but these were a relief and now not so crappy.
    Tuna salad was what I had and Tommy might have had a pbj sandwich. I am taking a medicine that makes things taste strange, so I am not cooking Thanksgiving until things taste right.
    I was laughing and cringing as I read of the disasters. I assume you will never cook there again. Take your own ingredients if there is a next time. Alum and salt instead of sugar are two disasters that cannot be overcome. I would be so angry to get turkey brine all over me!
    Good for you for shutting down until the first of the year.

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    1. I left out why I was relieved about the pie crusts. I went in one Thanksgiving to my mother's kitchen and she was not making pie crusts. She was using store bought pie crusts. So, I never made another crust.

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    2. I am telling you Alum burns and is so awful. Believe me this will be the last time without checking a double checking every ingrediant.

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  10. Oh, Kim! I'm part laughing, but totally sympathetic. I would not be telling the tale with humor, but sobbing. Then, a year later, I might crack a smile. I also use crappy pie crusts, but my filling isn't awful. But, I'd be with Anne buying whatever pies were left.

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    1. Talk about a nightmare. I just kept thinking this is not happening.

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  11. Now that was an adventure of a Thanksgiving.

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  12. An evenful Thanksgiving I must say. And, I am sorry for laughing at it. You have a wonderful story telling skill.

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    1. All you can do is laugh. I mean no one died. I was thinking of killing someone.

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  13. I have had those days and Son2 said the VFW just last week the day before Tday he had it in the VFW kitchen.
    Thought of you when I saw online that Joann's fabric was closing stores. We have already lost 2 and probably will those the other two. It's okay for me as I have a Mennonite fabric store within 5 miles.

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