Thanks

The turkey is roasting. We have two ice chests in the garage full of crushed ice since we had to relocate most non-Thanksgiving dinner related food items out of the fridge - too many casserole dishes awaiting the oven after the bird is finished roasting. Our guests arrived early - don't know why the driver can't tell time, but he apparently can't. When J. told him to arrive 'sometime after 1' he figured anytime before 1 would be better. Typical. They are here at lunch time and dinner is 3-4 hours away so we are now snacking on chips and dip, brie and crackers and protein bars (for the kids). Wish I had time for a nap, but not today. Oh well.

The week has been fraught with mishaps. J. cooked breakfast for the house full yesterday before they headed off to the golf course. Left a clogged garbage disposal in his wake - it was egg shells and a paper towel. Thank goodness for Johnny's Plumbing in Ripon. I don't know how we got lucky enough to have called them for our first plumbing problem when we moved in here 7 years ago - but we are so fortunate we did. They are THE BEST. I called at 8AM and the thing was fixed and working again by 10:30 - they were here less than an hour and the fix included the plumber sawing the pipe off (since the builder took another code-violating short-cut and didn't install a 'trap' as per code). Even with the re-do of the pipe and trap, the bill was still under $100. Amazing. They are so incredibly nice and do really good work. Very professional. I can't rave about them enough and they are the ONLY plumber we ever call.

Added to that is my PC (laptop) which was infected with a virus. With J.'s help last night, we FINALLY got rid of it - and thankfully, it did no damage. The Norton antivirus program stopped it from accessing any files - but unfortunately could not quarantine nor remove it. I got a pop up hundreds of times each time I turned on the PC and it was processing at a crawl. But it's all back to normal now, thank goodness.

We are off until Monday, though I will undoubtedly be working at least one of those days. So much to do. It never ends. I was tidying up some things and working on the garage and found (still more) boxes from my college job days. Just cleaning those out made me so homesick for that place, I could hardly stand it. Called Bug (who was at her desk late on Thanksgiving eve - she's so dedicated and works so incredibly hard) and she was thinking of me, too. I miss that place and have pretty much decided that I'm going back. Don't know when. Don't know how. But it's where I am ready to be. Again. In the mean time, I have so much to do and will just need to do what needs to get done as it arises. Can't say I like it much these days. Maybe that will change. Maybe not. I'm betting on not. Doesn't 'feel' even remotely 'good' these days, even when it's only a 3 minute commute. Heck, I work the same - actually more - hours at the new job than I did at the old, even including the commute time. So going back to the 'old' job would probably mean more time at home - compared to now. I feel like I live there. Literally.

The weather has turned decidedly chilly - very cold last night, necessitating extra blankets and putting the down comforters on the beds. It was COLD. I still haven't turned on the heat - my frugality is taking over and I just refuse. I did finally close the bedroom window - had have it open for weeks letting fresh, cool air in. But it's time to board up for the long cold winter months. We are raking leaves like crazy - though they are not from our trees, but from our neighbors fruit trees. Was so excited about those when they were planted years ago - but now, they just drop leaves and rotted fruit on our side of the fence and necessitate a ton of clean up. Oh well. They are the neighbors that gifted us with the awesome sleeper couch so we'll keep raking their leaves. It's a good chore for the boys, though they grumble a fair amount. But that's nothing new - they grumble a fair amount about pretty much everything anyway.

On this day, I thank God for my family, my friends, my health and for turkey and pumpkin pie.

Blessings to all! Happy shopping tomorrow!