Day 247-250 of Sheltering In

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Monday my wife and I picked up the last few items needed for Thanksgiving. I had my son stay home because he needed some alone time, and my wife and I needed time together. Usually we would go out to lunch, but with the pandemic, we only do takeout. We picked something up for the 3 of us after grocery shopping. This sheltering in place makes it difficult at times to keep the peace. 

Tuesday was the big day! My son and I picked up my daughter from her group home and she insisted I take her Christmas shopping. (Twist my arm!) She bought gifts and I helped her pick out a a good pair of winter boots.

My goodness did we need hugs! 248 days without hugs! Funny thing was, we waited until after we got home from Christmas shopping. 

After the hug I took some vitamins and my temperature and had a nap before dinner. I was up late and got up early, so I needed it. I’ve got a stuffy nose, LOTS of sneezing, and no other symptoms. 

Wednesday it was time to prep for thanksgiving. This is not new for me. I’ve been cooking for Thanksgiving most years, other than a couple at my in-laws. We stopped that after my father-in-law’s wife’s family were incredibly rude to us one year. That was the end of that. First, they started eating before all of us got there, then they wouldn’t pass the food to our end of the table. They would not talk to us, even though we tried to engage them in conversation. It was uncomfortable, and not something I will put myself or my family through again. I don’t know if it was homophobia, or maybe they are just asshats all the time. My point being, this isn’t our first rodeo. I’ve cooked the entire Thanksgiving meal, probably all but a handful of years. I use a Nesco Roaster Oven for the turkey and the sides are cooked in the oven. I have made it on the gas grill with smoker boxes a couple of years, but it’s a lot more work, and a lot of in and out of the house, which is hard on my back.

As I peck this out on my phone, I’ve checked my temperature and it’s normal. I think this is a cold. My daughter had a cold just before her visit. I think the vitamins are really kickin this cold’s butt cuz by late afternoon Wednesday I had stopped sneezing and my nose wasn’t stuffy.

So Wednesday I chopped celery and onions and cut celery for the veggie tray. And yes, I gloved up and wore a mask as I prepped the food. Cuz I’m a weirdo like that and didn’t want to be sneezing uncovered while I was cooking. I also baked an Apple Pie and I ended up baking 2 Pumpkin Pies because I didn’t have a 2nd deep dish pie dish. I had a 2nd one, but I think it may have gotten broken last year. No big deal, I have (2) 9” Pyrex Pie dishes, so it worked out. Dinner was leftovers. Turkey is taking a cold water bath. Put it in the fridge Sunday, but it wasn’t thawed by Wednesday night.  Backup plan is turkey bath. Lol! We want to eat by 3pm at the latest. Hopefully 2pm. We’ll see, but definitely not last year’s after 7pm because of the turkey baster explosion. Glass baster exploded and got scalding hot drippings all over my front, chest to thighs. Cleaning up and tending to my burns really delayed the meal. Fortunately everything healed with no issues.

My wife told the kids they had to be up at 10am and they weren’t to “bother” me. We’ll see how that goes. I still have to make my Mom’s stuffing. My wife is making her Mom’s stuffing. (I don’t care for her stuffing. It has breakfast sausage in it.)  My son wanted Cauliflower Mock Mac n Cheese, but I didn’t buy cauliflower, so that can’t happen. I’ll be making a Broccoli Rice Casserole, Thanksgiving day, or Black Friday. My son loves that, so we’re good. I told my wife that my son is to make the Corn Pudding. He made it last year with a little help from his sister, so why not take advantage of the help cooking, right? No mashed potatoes, I haven’t been able to crack the code on my Mom’s. It’s not difficult, but when I make it, it’s just not quite right. Baked sweet potatoes will go in with the turkey, but will go with leftovers for Black Friday, or Saturday. I may, or may not make my popovers. They are always a big hit since I only make them for holidays. My wife will make roasted Brussels sprouts either Thanksgiving day, or Black Friday.

Who’s going Black Friday shopping? Not us. I’ve been taking advantage of the all week Black Friday sales, and the start of Walmart’s online deals at the beginning of the month. I scored a super deal on a television. My wife wants us to take the new one and give my daughter the one from the master bedroom. We can always replace it next Christmas with a larger one. We have no idea where her tv will go in her apartment, so to start out, smaller is probably better. It’s 36”, so it’s not like it’s tiny, but the new one is larger.

Wishing all my blog pals a happy thanksgiving. 🦃 

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