The morning after

The obligatory shot of the turkey and a picture of the colorful vegetables and sweet potatoes.

Thanksgiving was great. Family came here, which is perfect. It's just too difficult to take Maggie out of her element. I would much rather do the cooking and prep work than try to cart her off somewhere. Everything we need is here and set up for easy use. We needed it yesterday as Maggie needed an oxygen boost for a bit mid day. Not sure where that came from because she seemed healthy. Maybe something is brewing. 'Tis the season for illness as well as shopping, holidays, family, eating, etc.

Just to complicate my life, I did start the day out with an unnecessary stressor. I offered to bring the turkey over to my moms house and put it in the oven for her. The problem was that both turkeys were going to take five hours to cook and both of us were planning to eat around three. I was waking up in the night worrying about how to get it all accomplished in a short widow of time. My plan was to get mine stuffed and in the oven and then race over to my mom's house to do the same thing. That was going to take precision timing.

I made the stuffing on Wednesday - a ton of it to stuff two big turkeys. I had the potatoes peeled and boiling and the cranberry sauce all cooked by 7:45 and then had to get my turkeys.

I always order my turkeys from Arguello Super (home of the World Famous Turkey Sandwich). It's just a couple of blocks form here and the turkeys are fabulous. The best part is you can pick it up Thanksgiving morning, meaning no ridiculous overcrowding in the refrigerator Wednesday night. I arranged to pick up two turkeys, one for us and one for my mom. I was standing at the door when the store opened at 8AM. These are big birds, 21 and 22 lbs. I knew I couldn't carry them home so I brought my old lady shopping basket. I put my 43 lbs of turkey in it and wheeled it home. .

Really sorry I don't have a picture of that to share with you.

My bird was in the oven by 8:30 and I headed over to moms. Steve called while I was en route. He was exasperated. Ms. Maggie was going crazy and he couldn't get the talker to work. That was making her crazier and she was trying to pull her trach out. I tried to talk him through the fix, which I can do in my sleep, but I just know it, I can't explain it without looking.  I was sitting in my mothers driveway trying to explain it and finally said, "Look, if I could hang up and get this turkey stuffed and in the oven, I could be home in 25 minutes." He basically had to sit next to her and hold her hand down until I got home. Come to think of it, that episode should have been a warning that she didn't feel well, because that is definitely not her norm.

I stuffed mom's turkey and put it in her oven, gave her a kiss and left. My sisters and brother were headed there for dinner and one of them would get it out when it was done. I was back home by 9:45, fixed the dynavox in about 30 seconds. (Steve was on the right page to fix it, but we were describing different parts of the page to one another and didn't realize we were talking about the same thing.)

The rest of the day went off without a hitch. The food and company were excellent. The dishes are done. The 49ers lost, but they are still 9-2, so even that was palatable. The nurse arrived at 11:00PM and I fell into bed. And then woke up at 4:30 AM and never went back to sleep. I got up at 5AM and had a cup of tea and said goodbye to Tim who had to go to work early. Now it's 6:30 and I'm out of gas, but the nurse leaves at 7.

The term "long weekend" is taking on new meaning. At least there are leftovers.

I need coffee.