201 Posts and a Turkey

This is my 201 post! Hooray!

Well, that and it is Thanksgiving so I am one happy camper. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it involves the things I most enjoy: time off, knitting (usually), sloooow cooking, and eating turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. I could eat Thanksgiving dinner once a week! This Thanksgiving started AWESOME. (ma, it is sarcastic)

It started with: a trip to the mechanic to see if the car was falling apart!

Five hours spent at the mechanic's dirty smelly waiting room were....magical....

Then it rained, and rained, and rained. And I felt like singing the children's song of the wise man building his house on the rock. Let's sing it, shall we, while we picture the rain coming up in my basement:

Oh, the rain came down

And the floods came up

The rain came down

And the floods came up

The rain came down

And the floods came up

And the wise man's house stood firm.

The foolish man built his house upon the sand....

Soooo...yeah. Basement flooded. Bentley alerted me with hysterical screams, "My paws are wet! My paws are wet!" As soon as I discovered the flooded basement I knew there was only one thing to do: sing Madonna to get into the mood to clean. "Get into the groove" was sung oh at least five times while I tugged on my clean-the-flooded-basement outfit on. It got me into the mood alright but as soon as I swamped my way into the basement the song changed to Dolly Parton's "Hillbilly heaven..." Going to hillbilly heaven seemed better than cleaning that basement. 

Anywho. Skip the basement and the mess and let's get to the nice part: Thanksgiving. Before I post the pictures here is a list of what I am thankful for. FIVE great things! Roll it!

1. Madonna music to get me to exercise and clean.

2. Water to drink to keep me going

3. My nail file to keep my nails looking purty 

4. Turkey, mashed potatoes, lots of cranberry sauce

5. Books to take my mind away from the car, the basement and into the mind of the author.

Then for my mom who won't be satisfied with that, here are another 5 just her style:

Five things that would make my mom feel happy that I am thankful for:

1. My husband

2. My brother

3. Classical music

4. Ignoring my duties and escaping for walks

5. Fruit

And here are 5 more things, in the spirit of thankfulness, that I am particularly grateful for today

1. Being in the USA for Thanksgiving! When we were in Italy I didn't realize how much I missed it!

2. The Macy's parade

3. Nice police officers helping insane drivers park for the grocery store

4. The rain, though hard and damaging, was nice to hear

5. Pumpkin pie, I can't get enough

Here are some pictures to document the day. Let's do it in categories.

1. Clean up the basement day!

Tucking the pants in my socks made me feel like I could compete in a traditional Russian dance.

I made oatmeal cookies afterwards to freeze and to take to work as my "healthy" snack. Hey, its oatmeal. :)

2. Il Turkey

I ordered a turkey breast with bone (juicier) from the butcher. I didn't want to make an entire bird or cook more than what we would eat in a few days. I do make one mean turkey though and will write the recipe later. A turkey boss gave it to me years ago and it is the best.

make your own brine.

Let him sit for a day. It does him good.

Carrots with a pony tail

massaged, tied, and stuffed with herbs. Upside down. That is the secret.

Letting the kitty sniff so he can make me laugh watching him walk like a penguin.

ready, set, go!

make at tent for the turkey so he doesn't know he is going to roast.

 While it cooked I watched the Macy's parade and knit a hat for the cold that is coming.

I'm making an astronaut hat that will cover head, ears, and nose if necessary. Take that cold NJ! Then, when indoors, I can pull it down like a hood. 

How they get those HUGE balloons between NYC's skyscrapers is beyond me.

I got up to dance with the marching bands.

my buddy

SANTA!!!! Or is it a guy who grew his beard out for Moovember?...

Then the turkey was done. I wish lazy Thanksgivings happened more often. Maybe I need to make them happen but they aren't the same without the Macy's parade.

flipped, roasted and done!

pull out the fancy plates and wedding things

all done

But what about the kittens? How did they spend the day? Well, they spent most of it fighting, as many families do during the holiday:

This video is entitled "Get off of my side of the couch!"

This one is called "Going for the Jugular"

But it ended in a good way. As it turns out, little kitties also like turkey.

I bet their kitty food is just as good as some pate' they sell in the supermarket.

All in all it was a good Thanksgiving. And there is plenty of pie left for the next few days.