I Didn't Kill Anyone...Yet

November 26, 2004: So far, no one has come down with food poisoning. I stress, SO FAR. I was going to have everyone sign a release holding me harmless, but they wouldn't do it. Actually, dinner turned out very well. I will post pics of my beautiful turkey, once I upload them. I made everything, but the stuffing. We had, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, jello, cranberry sauce, rolls, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie. There was only one mishap, and it wasn't my fault! Mom was putting the finishing touches on the sweet potatoes, and put them in the oven so the marshmallows could brown. They started on FIRE. If you could have seen her and K blowing the fire out, you would have died laughing. Of course I have a picture of the aftermath. I'm thinking it would make a great Christmas card.

If I never have to clean a turkey again, it will be too soon. I was thoroughly grossed out by that whole process. Sticking your hand inside of it to remove the gizzards, etc. Was awful. I thought I was doing surgery. My stomach was turning and I was gagging. Now I know why I'm not a doctor.

Besides the fact that we were going to eat at 3 and the turkey wasn't done until 6, it was an uneventful day. Seriously, I need a new oven. For the last 2 hours, I had the oven at 500. I was considering putting it on broil, when the timer popped up. The heavens opened and the angels sang, "HALLELUJAH". You're supposed to wait for 30 minutes before carving it, so the turkey isn't dry. We waited about 15 minutes. Twenty-five minutes later, we were all done. All that cooking, for 25 minutes of pleasure! B was the only one to eat dessert. The rest of us were way too full to even think about pie.

Mom and K left shortly after because they wanted to watch "Survivor." I cleaned up the kitchen and layed around. M had to go to his parents house. He was going to take C and B, but C was tired and fell asleep. B wanted to stay home and watch "Spiderman"

I am pretty proud of myself for such an accomplishment. I never cook and I made the whole meal! It was definitely time, I'm 35 and making my first Thanksgiving dinner. I wonder how old grandma was when she cooked the dinner for the first time. I'm guessing really young, since her mom died giving birth to her.

I am a little sad I didn't get to go to Milwaukee. However, they had cold weather and snow! It's in the 60's here and I can barely feel my fingers. Also, D probably would have been stuck at Midway, in Chicago, because that's what they showed on TV. They had 6-8 inches of snow. OK, I was a little jealous when I saw it, but was snapped back to reality when I looked in my closet and saw, two sweaters, three long-sleeved shirts and no winter jacket.

I hope your Thanksgiving was as good as mine.

Mich