After the launch

Glutenmom · November 24, 2011, 12:37pm

Ah… kids… as my DH cries: “the brainlessness is rampant” usually with regards to how the dishwasher was filled. I hope all the launchees have safe travels and that you all have wonderful family time together.

This is the first year since we moved to NY that we are not going to someone else’s home for Thanksgiving. DH’s brother moved to NYC last year and he and a certain denizen of the 100 acre wood are going to come eat turkey with us. I am trying to imagine what would happen if they happen to run into each other on the train.

So the turkey is in the oven and most of the cooking is done… manga girl made gf cranberry bread and gf pumpkin pie and gf apple pie. D1 was really super with helping with the house cleaning and aspie girl tries to pitch in as much as she can. We averted catastrophe when the Fleish Wolf came up with a missing piece… near panic ensued. Then low and behold, from the depths of the bottom very back of the cupboard my DH emerged with a brand spanking new never been opened box – a meat grinder attachment to the kitchen aid mixer!!! It worked great! I’ll admit I did miss the hand cranking drip drip dripping Fleish Wolf… but I’m hopeful that this did the trick. The Cuisinart always made hash of things and you could never get the right consistency for the turkey dressing and the cranberry orange relish.

So enjoy your day…I know we will!
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all – tigger bouncing out!

bears_and_dogs · November 25, 2011, 12:32am

guess what Tiggers like for T day? hohohohooooh

since beans are spilled, I ate what Tiggers like and Eeyore like them, too.
Turkey was superb (think Norman Rockwell to Martha Stewart if curving was bit messy with flying bits licked off by giant yellow lab standing by)
German mystery recipe stuffing that was actually stuffed in the bird
butternut squash
baby peas
rice and mushed potatoes
two kind of homemade cranberry thing
butter lettuce, green apple, crumbly cheese and pecan salad
two kind of home baked G free bread
assorted pickles thing
two kind of G free manga pie with whippy thing on top
two kind of super cute dogs
three kind of super cute girls
one of each charming hubby and BIL
and the supper mom in stripe bouncy suit
home
family
friends
food
life is good
thank you for having me over, and take home leftover packet (I brought my own tupperwear just for this, smart me!!)

Glutenmom · November 25, 2011, 8:56am

Glad you made it back home to the city safe and sound, Eeyore. Was the train as crowded going back? Probably not.

Your description of our dinner made me smile. Giant yellow lab standing by indeed! With drool on his chin and a hopeful expression in his big brown eyes! The stuffing is a french-canadian recipe from my grandmother - altered to be guten free – I don’t think there’s much of a difference from the regular bread version, but I haven’t had the regular version for so many years now it’s hard to know. It tasted good to me! Another tradition from this same Grandma is ‘riced potatoes’ – there is this potato ricer contraption that works like a garlic press, it’s just big enough for potatoes. So you squeeze the potatoes and it comes out of the holes – it doesn’t have the milk or butter (and fat and calories) of mashed potatoes but are fluffy and perfect for gravy (adding back missing fat and calories) nonetheless. For some reason the kids object to riced potatoes, but too bad for them.

Super charming brother in law snoring in the arm chair…lol. Did he fall asleep on the train too or did you two go your separate ways?

Wonderful DH did the bulk of the cleanup after you left. I woke up this morning to a clean and sparkly kitchen (because he washed the crystal stuff but didn’t put it away). I have to work today… but I will not miss all the shopping madness.

I’m curious to hear what happened in everyone else’s neck of the woods – hundred acre or otherwise…

drae27 · November 25, 2011, 9:41am

We (me, H and 2 sons) spent Thanksgiving at my mom’s along with my brother’s family…wife, little girl, MIL and SIL and my Grandmother who is 94 and has more energy than all of us combined. She entertained us with stories of the past. She was put in a foster home after her parents got divorced during the depression. Her mother was flapper and was too busy partying. Finally her grandmother got her out and raised her for a few years until her mother took her and her siblings back.

We played HYPERtheticals: 50 Questions for Insane Conversations a party game by the author Chuck Klosterman. We considered questions like: if you were offered a choice between a year long trip to Europe with a $2000/month stipend or 10 minutes on the moon what would you choose? The men and my Grandmother chose the moon. The women all wanted to go to Europe.
or
If you were offered a deal where you could be 10% smarter but outwardly would appear 20% stupider, would you take it? Well, would you?

Food was great and I am super grateful that there were a lot of leftovers this year so we are well stocked for today. Thinking about going to a Korean spa this weekend with some friends where you hop from sauna to sauna, get scrubbed down and eat Korean food.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

switters · November 25, 2011, 9:48am

We had a small but nice meal. Baby Switters and gf got the 130 am bus. I picked them up in Boston and they were at grandmas by about 830. Breakfast, cold walk on the beach, followed home by baby switters buddy, tea and scrabble.baby switters sucks at scrabble. Also had been up for days and was very unwashed in only that teenage boy way. Naps for many. Dinner ( kind of lame) but turkey etc… More resting. Both kids have big papers due Monday so we are driving them back really early tomorrow. Much more grown up then last turkey day, when gf from the under world came and ruined everything. We like this one a lot, I’d trade her for baby Switters in a minute. My mom was worried that if baby Switters didnt bathe she would dump him. They actually seem pretty solid and are kind to each other. We all gave thanks that baby Switters showered before sitting down to dinner.

bears_and_dogs · November 25, 2011, 10:10am

OHHH grandma mixing up. that was kings daughter recipe, not the one lost graveyard.
I have it heating now for brunch, hehehe

It was the most crowd-est Grand Central I ever saw. T day midday.
The line to ticket machines are snaking around, then again at the track entrance. filled with couples, families with bouquet of flowers, pie box and tinfoil covered casseroles.
Warning! for future last min. travelers. Buy tickets ahead, and the shops in the station are mostly closed, so if you want anything other than Junior’s cakes or Starbucks, plan ahead.
the couple in front of me started to argue about
“where the hell could we get flowers” should go out and look for the store? enuff time? no? it was your idea. I was going to… Thing is, you didn’t. fine do whatever! I mean sorry <kiss kiss=“”> yapyapyap (was from the small dachshund in the dog stroller)</kiss>

on the way home was roomy, quiet and nice.
I did not bother fellow NYer further and read my book and slept a little, lovely BIL listened to his ipod tapping lovely fingers on it.
I was tempted to shake him up and ask what music it is but just imagined it to be “smells like teen spirit” (SOOO not him) and be it.
[Nirvana</a> - Smells Like Teen Spirit - YouTube](<a href=“Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Official Music Video) - YouTube”>Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Official Music Video) - YouTube)
We parted with lovely handshake and my shoe was untied as he promptly pointed out. thus no drama! drama!!

fineartsmajormom · November 25, 2011, 3:57pm

Oh such nice T-Day meals and memories. Ours worked out just fine…I had 7 hours to calm down and S called twice to say how they were doing on the road. I was still a bit miffed but finished with…ok…better communication…so he arrived late but did justice to my mother’s lamb roast. I had asked if chinese student had dietary restrictions/preferences and he had said no but when I put lamb roast in front of son he said…good thing friend didnt come he is VEGAN. DID you THINK that this may be important particularly for thanksgiving where everything revolves around FOOD?! I mildly said that next time he has a guest I want to speak to them personally about food and arrangements.

T-day I went on the local 5k turkey trot with friends and my parents (walking). My H’s godchild and her sister (who is now a college freshman) jogged/walked with me and the godchild, who is autistic, made me feel a million bucks by walking arm and arm with me and her sister who she adores. Every time we saw my parents on a loop-back we broke into a sprint…much laughter and a small amount of exercise. So at lunchtime with our close friends here in VA we did our traditional potluck–amazing food–followed by another long walk; we all say what we are thankful for gathered round the table and beautiful godchild remembered to be thankful for our cat and her neighbor’s dog as well as her family; my son was thankful for his sister (she blushed); I was thankful to be able to run a turkey trot with remarkable young women I have seen grow since babyhood…we are a very close group…some I have known since before we lived in Ecuador and we have seen our kids grow up like cousins. guys played basketball…S did not get murdered or dislocate anything and did ok for an artsy kid. D took photos of all the family groups for xmas card/photo cards. Then we went to see (all 14 of us) Departed…a bit weepy but good movie. D went with other girls to midnight black friday opening…

So S is working on art history paper and also seems to have to build a compiler in c for c-not…sounds very difficult…loveblue will understand what this entails. I think he will leave in the morning on Sunday with his ride. I am glad all are well and safe and enjoying the bounty of the season. Bears…as soon as you get details on your S’s thanksgiving…tell all…

bears_and_dogs · November 25, 2011, 9:05pm

I shouldn’t have done it. (posted the link^)
I worked, yes but also watched every Youtube thing on nirvana, then dug out his old stuff I kept and listened and read.
His 7th grade paper on Kurt Cobain
Did I tell about this?
then English teacher was this prissy conservative heavily made up frilly dress wearing but starting to shrivel lady.
My kid was in trouble with her about something else and I was called up to meet her with new assistant principal, who was new because old assistant principal gotten promoted to principal because old principal was promoted to be some hi-up dpt. of Ed job and just left.
Anyways, she goes
“here, look at (kid’s name) chose to write about, the heroin addict who shot himself!
This assignment was to research on famous person he admires the most”
the assistant principal (mid 30s, tall, skinny, piano fingers, red fluffy hair, green twinkling eyes with gold eyelashes, lopsided tie on pale pink button-down shirts (but un-buttoned collar) looked at her in disbelief and said
“Is it bad?”
I looked at him and our eyes met, we smiled at each other.

The assistant principal became his advocate, signed him up for citywide art camp (didn’t get in as middle schooler but this is how we knew it was even existed, and scored seat the next year, where he met so and so and this and that all that went this way and that and in the end he did finish HS, unlike this English teacher’s prediction (=Juvee, nut bin or reform school)

^ what is all this about?
I am bragging and I miss him!! boohoooowooooooo

here is the best-est of Nirvana.
[Nirvana</a> - Seasons In The Sun - YouTube](<a href=“Nirvana - Seasons In The Sun - YouTube”>Nirvana - Seasons In The Sun - YouTube)

when am I ever gonna grow up?
NEVER Never mind

greenwitch · November 26, 2011, 7:00pm

Hello all, wonderful to hear all the lovely T-day stories! We traveled this year, which always makes me very cranky. Leaving late (as usual) and arriving hideously late (2AM Thursday) but hitting no traffic by some miracle. Home today, leaving later than we planned (as always, it seems) and hitting some traffic, but nothing too hideous.

It turned out to be a fun get-together but my kids get so emotional about Thanksgiving food! They are still traumatized by the year Grandma served lasagna before a very dry turkey and there were no mashed potatoes. And they looooooove Grandma’s lasagna! This year I called on Wednesday morning, just in case. Turned out Grandma was not making mashed potatoes again and D1, with a look of horrified determination, went out and bought potatoes and made some herself to bring with us. We also brought 5 pies. Completely insane, but they’re all gone now except the vegan pumpkin one ( made because D2 is lactose intolerant).

Grandma made sweet potatoes but put nuts on them which would have sent D3 to the hospital, but luckily there were extra yams around so we made a bit more. D3 also nearly burst into tears because there were no crescent rolls, but H went out and found an open grocery store and saved the day on that account. Phew. Life would be much simpler if we all had the SAME food allergy at least!

We picked up D2 on the way up and she flew home Friday morning which was very easy from Islip airport to BWI. She thought she would be able to get a lot of work done by returning early but it turns out that MICA closed all their studio buildings until Sunday anyway. She is working on academic work, cleaning her apartment etc, and just settling in. Now what will I do when the semester ends and she needs to come home with her 200 pound sculpture? Anyone else drowning in projects?

greenwitch · November 26, 2011, 7:01pm

Bears, what a cranky sounding English teacher! I remember doing a bio report on Jim Morrison in 8th grade, what would Miss Fussy have said about him? Nobody living a happy, normal life is terribly interesting to a junior-high school aged kid!

artsmarts · November 26, 2011, 8:33pm

Great story Bears, I’m finding that young rascal of yours more and more interesting as the stories continue. And what a great assistant principal, hope some kidlins somewhere in NY have him as a principal by now. Here my story…it’s sort of a thanksgiving theme.

When the kids did a group event in grade school all the kids individually “thanked” someone important to them and most of course said my mom, my dad, my grandma, my teacher . . . mine…“I want to thank the aliens.” Afterwards this parent/grandparent who I admired tremendously, who worked for the UN came up to me with tears in her eyes telling me how wonderful my child was and I didn’t have the heart to tell her that those aliens being thanked weren’t the ones from foreign countries, that this wasn’t my child’s way of making a statement about immigration, those aliens were the ones they talk about on Coast to Coast, you know, the aliens from outer space, the aliens on power rangers. Oh my I was wishing it was what she thought it was but it wasn’t, sad to say something a little less great hearted and a little more indicative of too many TV cartoons.

As for our Thanksgiving this year I can’t even talk about it yet. Too much drama, I’m sooooo glad to be home. I usually cook and even with all the work I wish I had although I guess the drama would still have been there.

greenwitch · November 26, 2011, 8:36pm

smarty, I’m thankful that you’re back home at last!

bears_and_dogs · November 27, 2011, 1:55am

owwwww
G
I can hear Ms. prissy going
“whichever it was, drowned in the swimming pool or bathtub or choked on own vomit, wasted ****ty life that lasted all about 28 years”
then again, she is my (our) age, so might have done her own 7th grade paper on one of them! heheheh.

thing is, that was then and now is now. and as she pointed out, other well meaning students did work on Harriet Tubman, Edison, Jane Goodall, Nelson Mandela… you get the picture.
I knew about the teacher (“everyone hate her!!” yeah, right…) and what he should betetr be doing, but of course took out pile of Cobain books from library for him and of course read them myself (thus my obsession started. I didn’t really know who he was till my kid started to listen to them. I mean, I WAS HERE, when Kurt did MTV and went MoMA by himself to see the SAME show I saw!! heck I coulda even standing next to him carrying my kid! means he would have noticed the baby if he didn’t on me, he would have thought about his own girl (same age) then he might have, you know, no… what do I know. I don’t know. )

Smarty dear, I did not think of anything but those green aliens when I read it, albeit I am the UN alien myself.
how old was he?
I know a pre-school kid who thanked turkey, another one said icecream. everyone followed with some sort of food (mashed potato was in it) the last one, however said
“I am thankful for my mommy”
then we all went awwwww
there always the ONE with his/her own mind. be proud and pat your back!!

bears_and_dogs · November 27, 2011, 1:57am

let’s hear about drama! drama!! part?
(licking bear-chops)

artsmarts · November 27, 2011, 5:29am

Give me a few days to recuperate and I’ll give up a few details, nothing that interesting probably to others, just family stuff . . . ing.

When I reread what I wrote I remembered that what was said was “I want to thank the aliens who come to this country” which is why that wonderful woman thought my dear child was being such a model of openness and kindness, which I am happy to say are traits DC has now, now that the power rangers fascination has faded. This was like 2nd grade Thanksgiving program.

As for those kids who wrote about Mandela, et al I think your child was probably being the most honest. I’m sure the ones who picked the teacher appropriate paper appropriate person all went home and asked their parents who they should pick as a topic. I mean really c’,mon if all those kids had actually wrote about someone they admired in the true sense (meaning really found interesting in my book) they would have been writing about pop cons or contemporaries all across the board. Well maybe there would have been one or two Mandela, Tubman, Goodall papers where the kid actually thought the person interesting but maybe I feel that way having a kid who also would have gone down another road.

Soooooo nice to be home, sat and read Girl with the Dragon Tatoo with my little dog curled up next to me yesterday during work breaks. In this case the book is as good as the movie (I’ve only seen the Swedish movie). I read these historical books and love them but there’s nothing like sitting down with a good thriller/detective/murder mystery. It’s sort of like the difference between Mandela/Tubman/Edison and Curt Cobain I suspect. You know both are good but there’s something very fascinating about that grimier pop stuff.

bears_and_dogs · November 27, 2011, 11:13am

well…
no PARENT should encourage such behavior considering what sort of English teacher he got, if one wants your kid to get A+ and/or 85 plus average that ultimately keep your kids out of remedial classes (where he ended up in 8th grade)
I know well then, but what would you have done if your otherwise glum 13 year old run home excited, flush faced and proclaim
“I wanna write! I’m gonna write about Kurt!!!”

but tell me Ms.Prissy,
how can you say this is inferior to Robert Frost or T.S Eliot?

"Sell the kids for food
Weather changes moods
Spring is here again
Reproductive glands

He’s the one
Who likes all our pretty songs
And he likes to sing along
And he likes to shoot his gun
But he knows not what it means
Knows not what it means
when I say
He’s the one
Who likes all our pretty songs
And he likes to sing along
And he likes to shoot his gun
But he knows not what it means
Knows not what it means

[Nirvana</a> - In Bloom - YouTube](<a href=“Nirvana - In Bloom (Official Music Video) - YouTube”>Nirvana - In Bloom (Official Music Video) - YouTube)

bears_and_dogs · November 27, 2011, 11:20am

ok ok I quit now, and wait for drama! drama!!
back to sewing…

greenwitch · November 27, 2011, 6:44pm

D2 loved the Anthony Kiedis autobiography “Scar Tissue”. He’s still around bears, so you could stalk and gawk if you want to.

D3 missed class the day they were choosing people to write bios about, so the teacher chose for her----- Sigmund Freud! Go ahead and groan, it’s what everyone does when they hear! As part of it she had to act like him in front of the class which lead to a riveting session about various envies and complexes. Hahahaaha, all’s well that end’s well (and sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…).

fineartsmajormom · November 27, 2011, 9:00pm

oh greenwitch…you make me laugh…the cigar. Thank goodness that your kid got such an interesting character… I am glad for Mini-BandD that there was a vice principal with a sense of place and time and music.

so my son in 4th grade had to learn about a famous american and dress up and tell his/her story…everyone else was a president, betsy ross, paul revere etc…my son was fascinated by Henry “box” Brown, the slave who packaged himself into a box and posted himself north to freedom…I had never heard of him but made early 19th century outfit (waistcoat and shirt with big sleeves) and S made a box with address from south carolina to Rhode Island or something…so I go to the parent presentation and son bursts out of box (remember this is in ultimate suburbia–lily white mclean VA–our former home–the only black kids were african francaphone embassy kids and S was the only hispanic in school) and starts a rap of henry"box" brown that sounds like the rap stars of the time, including the accent, the bling, the whole moving the hands and he had put a cap on backwards (instead of the nifty tricorn I had provided) and included some bad words including the F*** slaveowners…oh my! I think the teacher had been so impressed that one kid had picked an african american hero that she didn’t check on what he was planning…there was a shocked silence from the parents and an ovation from the kids who thought it was the coolest thing ever…luckily the one and only african american teacher cracked up and asked S to do a show for his class…all of us politically correct parents were sooooo relieved that it did not come across as culturally insensitive…etc.

I have to tell you that my S is now the adored hero of our DC “family” because when my husband’s autistic god-daughter had her birthday on Friday she announced she was doing a talent show. She loves DDR and all the wii dance stuff and had choreographed an elaborate and sexy dance and was making her friends and sister dance (much to their mortification). I asked S to see how he could help; then the show was announced and there were the girls (young women) with sexy pop music in an elaborately organized dance routine but with S in the middle doing all the very sexy hip and shoulder wiggles with all the girls…we laughed until we cried and the older girls were able to enjoy themselves because it wasn’t akward with a gangly 20 year old boy doing the same moves and fun was had by all including the birthday girl who had her adored “cousin” and friends dancing with her to the applause of all the adults. Classic and never to be forgotten golden moment. I tear up just thinking about it.

He left this afternoon with very, very pretty art student (not girlfriend! sigh) in his class who gave him the ride from CMU. She was smart, charming energetic…and did I say pretty? Hmm…fingers crossed…

redbug119 · November 28, 2011, 1:59pm

Wow, it sounds like everyone had a much more exciting TG with better food than we had. I would have given anything to be at any one of your tables, all the food sounds absolutely marvelous. My H and mother and I went to Cracker Barrel, where we waited an hour for a table. My mother can only eat pureed foods and liquid due to a throat issue, which hopefully will be cleared up soon! She knew she could get a milkshake and applesauce there, so that’s where we ended up.

H and I were joking that everyone there was either an OP (Old person) or RN (redneck, dressed inappropriately for even Cracker Barrel – but I’m sure H enjoyed the girls falling out of their tops and short shorts!). We got the special that consisted of a slice of turkey, slice of ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, a veggie, pie, and a smidgeon of cranberry sauce. I am a big cranberry sauce fan and usually make my own, so the portion (maybe a tablespoon) of sauce was very disappointing.

D and her roommate had planned on Cornish hens, but after going all the way to Target to find them closed, they had to regroup. The only place open for meat was an African butcher shop where they got goat meat (“cheap, mom, only $3 a pound, and he was butchering a cow when we got there!”), and then at CVS they got stuffing and cranberry sauce. They braised it first, then cooked the goat meat with some potatoes in the oven with Penzey’s spices (they make the BEST!), at around 350, then turned down to 300 for about an hour and half total. She said it was delicious and fall-all-off-the bone tender. Would have LOVED to try that!

Thursday I decided to do the Black Friday thing for the first time ever to get some games for our office Toys for Tots program. H was working the overnight shift, so I thought what the heck. What a madhouse! Walmart first at 10 pm, then Target at midnight, then Bealls, getting home at 2:30 am. I was starving so I made a grilled cheese and Klondike bar and I was ready for bed!

D said all her stuff is due at once and one prof must think that hers is the only class she has. Boy doesn’t that sound familiar, so I just say yeah, that happens. She is working like crazy and actually admitted she was a day late with a paper, but the prof gave her an extra 24 hrs, so it sounded like she was all set. Next semester she is taking 18 hrs to make up for the 2 science classes she was signed up for this semester (1 of which she didn’t need), so she’s trying to figure out how to make it all work!

After the launch

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