Sunday night check-in

Bee sting update: while there is no more swelling and no more redness, the arm both hurts a lot and itches like crazy. Hope this goes away SOON!

Today was a typical Sunday of laundry, some cleaning up, sorting out etc. The summer shoes (including the worn-everyday-for-32-days Phillies Crocs) are all put away and the boring winter shoes of navy, brown and black are all ready for the new week. It's also time to finally start wearing the normal clothes to work- the Phillies shirts will all get packed away soon. Feels like winter is coming.

There's been lots of good news lately. My favorite uncle was near death a few weeks ago but pulled through and just came home. Our friend who suffered a serious stroke will be leaving the hospital for rehab tomorrow. It is great to be able to plan to spend another holiday season with them- something we feared would not be only a short time ago.

This is always the weekend I go into holiday planning mode. I totally bombed on the Holiday Houseworks plan at Organized Christmas, but that's okay because I usually do pretty well with the Christmas Countdown plan. For those who want or need someone to tell them "right now you should be doing this to get ready for Christmas", this is a great website and program.

As for the house, Thanksgiving is our "get ready" deadline. For years now my DS's friends have visited after dinner each Thanksgiving for dessert, coffee and a long evening of fun. As usual I will be making cranberry bread, pumpkin and coconut custard pies and the famous (infamous?) peach cobbler.

Also in use this Thanksgiving will be our new Showtime Rotisserie. I bought one of these about 6-7 years ago. DH came home, saw the large box, asked what was in it and when I told him he went nuclear- "you did NOT buy another kitchen gadget!!!!" (Confession- I love to cook but also love all the toys; I am dangerous in a good kitchen supplies store!) Since I bought it from QVC, I could use it and still return it for up to 30 days. The following Sunday I made a turkey in it. About 5 minutes into dinner, DH announced "you are NOT to send that thing back".

A couple of years ago my mother was having company for dinner. She put a large roast in the oven, turned the oven on and walked away. About 3 PM she decided to check the roast and discovered that her oven was broken and had never come on. She called me asking if she could do a roast in the microwave- to which my answer was NOOOOOO!!!!! I carefully put my showtime in my car, drove to her house and transferred the roast to it. The dinner party was a big success- and the meal was ready almost on time because this thing cooks so fast!

Unfortunately, the bottom support piece got broken on the trip home. We've been doing a rube goldberg on it for the last couple years but the last time we used it, a few weeks ago, DH (who LOVES to help when I cook in it) thought it was getting really annoying and potentially dangerous and said "buy a new one". I said "it's expensive". He said "I don't care, buy a new one". Those of you who know my DH- who is never cheap but ALWAYS frugal- know that this means that this thing is FANTASTIC!

Tonight's dinner was a ham with which we "tested" the new Showtime. It was FABULOUS. I don't understand why everything cooked in this thing comes out tasting so good, but I don't worry about it, I just use it!

Well, it's time to steam my clothes for tomorrow, double check the schoolbag, keys, etc and get ready for bed. I'm almost done my current book so I might even go to bed before I'm ready to drop and try to finish it.

Have a good week, everyone!