This has been a great weekend!!! Really a lovely time spent enjoying good food, family and relaxing.
Before I get into all of that, I’ll address the fact (again) that I clearly ended up bailing on the tail end of NaBloPoMo. Oops. I think I just got a little overwhelmed trying to even read or comment on so many posts and then I ended up just sort of rebelling against blogging for a few days there altogether at the end! Ha. It was fun while it lasted though and I’m still glad I (tried to) participate! Thanks to those who read my posts and all those who participated as well!
Also, I am really in need of some FRESH MONTH ENERGY right now, regarding my workout routine. I’ve just sloughed off a lot lately. I am happy overall to not let exercise routines like, dictate or control my life in any way- I don’t have a particular need for that right now, and my main goals with exercise are just health, strength and wellbeing. But as I’ve discussed here before, I can be a little “all or nothing” sometimes; either I’m all in and borderline obsessive, or I’m leaning way out. I don’t really like EITHER of those choices.
My ideal is: “exercise most days, miss workouts sparingly and be dedicated, but also don’t sweat it if things come up and you can’t and/or don’t want to sometimes.”
I have not been particularly “dedicated” these last few weeks, to the point that I’m annoyed with myself. Some things have been out of my control, sort of, but in reality, many times I’ve just not prioritized it or have frankly been lazy.
So, I told Ivan yesterday I want to do a “December Exercise Challenge”: must exercise for at least 20 minutes every single day in December.
Knowing this is a busy season and we’ll have houseguests coming, I feel like a 20-minute bar is sufficiently low and do-able EVEN if I have people in my house or a lot going on. The “exercise” can not count regular casual dog walks (those are just standard and do not raise my HR), but a 20 minute incline walk on the treadmill would count.
I asked Ivan to join me in this challenge, and he kind of just looked at me blankly and didn’t really answer, so…. I think that was a yes?! 🤣🤣
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day was a very relaxed day!
My dad and I typically do the cooking, with my dad doing the heavy-lifting of handling the turkey. However, the last few years it has felt increasingly “chaotic” on Thanksgiving trying to get everything ready, hot at the same time, and cleaned up in my not-super-huge kitchen.
So, this year I suggested we try something new. I said, why don’t we try to make some things in advance this year? Specifically… THE TURKEY. My dad is retired; I figured there would be no reason he couldn’t make the turkey a day or two before Thanksgiving and get all the mess of roasting it and cleaning up all the grease etc out of the way.
This ended up being a great idea! He pre-cooked the turkey on Tuesday in the comfort of his own home, with no time pressure or needing to share the oven. He also made the acorn squash, gravy and stuffing.
Then, on Thursday, he was able to sit back and relax for once and watch football, while I had an open kitchen in which to make my apple pie, mashed potatoes, 2 veggie dishes and Watergate pistachio salad.
Was re-heating pre-carved turkey in the oven the “Better Homes and Gardens way”? Probably not, but it tasted exactly the same and was a LOT easier! This also made post-dinner clean up a lot easier too, without the roasting pan and additional greasy dishes to deal with.
Per tradition, we had the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on TV in the morning.
I spent most of the day puttering around in the kitchen. The boys rotated between being in their rooms with their video games…. and hanging out with us/ my parents.
My mom set the table!
Relaxing during one of the football games. Fortunately, the Packers played at 7 pm, which was perfect for post-dinner viewing.
We always try to get a nice family pic on Thanksgiving.
My plate. Yummy.
Charlie did not sit up here during dinner, lol! But I wanted to show off his little Thanksgiving bandana that I saved from the groomer last week. Definitely packing that away in my “Thanksgiving decorations box” for next year. 🙂
My apple pie with a T for Thanksgiving on it:
Charlie chewing on his bone post-dinner:
And his post-dinner nap. lol!
Ivan’s sister was there too, so after dinner we mostly just hung out/ talked/ etc. and then watched the Packer game by the fire!
A low-key Thanksgiving compared to my childhood Thanksgivings with all the extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., but I love our cozy little Thanksgivings now all the same.
Oh, and this cracked me up….saw it online. HAHA!! The gourds… lol.
Friday
Friday Ivan and I both had to work.
Most of the people in my department took vacation, but we really didn’t have any plans, and I figured it would be a pretty chill day, so I didn’t want to burn another vacation day.
I did a little online Christmas shopping earlier in the morning, then worked (it was indeed a very quiet/ no-meeting day where I actually got some good work done in peace) and wrapped up by 4.
At night we had tickets for the UW hockey game! It was also my dad’s 74th birthday.
Ivan got the whole suite from work which is seriously the BEST way to watch games!
It ended up being mostly a shut-out against a team from Anchorage, Alaska. It was fun though! We had hot dogs and popcorn for dinner and had a good time!
The plan was to drop the boys off at home after and then take my dad out to a local brewery for a birthday beer, but when we got home, Charlie was SICK!!! He had had some liquid diarrhea during the day, but he has a history of a sensitive stomach so thought he had just eaten something he shouldn’t have….
Well, turns out wen we got home he threw up some huge blob of… something (a sock, maybe?), had more diarrhea, and then proceeded to vomit repeatedly large amounts like 6-7 times! He was acting really lethargic and even shaking. I was worried that he had a bowel obstruction and called an emergency vet, who agreed we should probably bring him in. So, at 10:30 p.m., we drove all the way across town like 30+ minutes to the ER vet. Only to have him suddenly stop vomiting and perk up as soon as we walked in (wagging his tail, looking happy again). Hmmm. The ER vet said we’d be looking at a minimum of $550 for office visit + x-rays. She was so amazing and gave us basically a FREE 15-minute consult in the lobby where I explained his symptoms and the whole situation. She said she thought it would be okay to take him home and continue to watch him, considering he seemed to be improving/ vomiting had stopped. So, we turned around and drove 35 minutes home, but at least we didn’t spend a ton of money for nothing!
Fortunately, he did okay overnight and by Saturday morning seemed a little loppy yet but overall on the mend. Phew! What a relief.
Saturday
Asher had a mock swim meet with his team on Saturday morning, so I dropped him at that at 8:15. Ethan had to work from 7-11, and I made a Target run.
My parents packed up and left for home by early afternoon, after doing a little gift exchange- my dad’s, but Asher also opened his birthday gifts from my parents (Asher’s birthday is Monday!).
His main gift was a (really nice!!) new fishing rod that Asher wanted!
In the evening Asher and his swim team were in our town’s Fire and Lights parade, an annual Christmas parade where they decorate all the fire trucks/ emergency vehicles with Christmas lights and decorations. Santa comes, and after there is a tree-lighting in our historic downtown.
Ivan opted out of going, citing his soccer team having a big game at the same time. Ha. (It was also 17 degrees out, which may have factored into his decision.)
Okay, fine. I was going to go alone, but saw Ethan was basically just sitting on his X-box in his room, so I asked if he would join me! I bribed him with the promise of buying him a hot chocolate. He reluctantly agreed.
I put on Christmas flannel and boots, channeling my inner Hallmark movie actress. I warned Ivan that if he let me go off to a small-town Christmas tree lighting by myself, I would certainly serendipitously “bump into” the world’s most handsome man, who’d also be sporting flannel and would be from out of town, and we’d fall madly in love. 😅😅😅
Just kidding!!! I did run into this handsome man…. 😉
who wore Crocs and socks to the parade (I didn’t notice before we left!) and whose toes were so cold 5 minutes in that he ditched me and went back to the car. 😫
IT WAS COLD. Even my boots were not up to the task for keeping my toes warm after a while, but I stuck it out.
I did thoroughly enjoy the blaring Christmas music and all the lights, and I got to see Asher and team walk/ride by. (They wore their toasty warm swim parkas!)
There was surprisingly a very, very good turnout of families with young children on this freezing cold night!
I even stayed for the tree lighting part! And then I made a beeline back to the van, where at least Ethan had it running and hot!
Back at home, I joined Ivan and Charlie by the fireplace, and we watched a new Lindsay Lohan rom-com on Netflix.
One more day now of our holiday weekend, which I wish could just continue on! Work looks to be pretty busy these next couple of weeks, unfortunately.
Also today- planning to work on more shopping! And need to wrap Asher’s birthday gifts. We’ve made a good dent in the Christmas shopping, but I really want to get it finished up now. Oh, and I’ll definitely be doing a workout! 😉
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful that our city puts on special things like the holiday parade and tree lighting. It’s so nice.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Your Thanksgiving sounded wonderful! Good idea to make some things ahead to make the day less stressful and hectic. I get off very easy as I just bring a few sides. My brothers and mom are such pros at hosting and seem to have to all down to a science. And there are lots of hands to help since our family is so huge. We hosted people for Taco’s birthday – 13 of us total which was quite a large group. In hind sight I should have put up another table. I have a big dining room table with 2 leaves but it was still quite crowded with 13 people around it! Everyone ate well, though, and were out of our house by 6:30 (probably because it was quite crowded – we don’t have a lot of space on our main floor and very limited seating).
While you are wanting more days in your long holiday weekend, we are very ready to go back to work tomorrow. Will was home all week, though, so it’s been a long week. I’m in the waiting room of a minute clinic with him right now actually. He keeps waking 1-2+ times/night so I want to rule out an ear infection.
Your 20 min challenge sounds great. I’ve done ok with workouts but my running season is coming to an end. I ran today but it was so freaking cold. I was quite miserable even though I wore plenty of layers. There was a cold wind coming off the lake and I was just like – what am I even doing running when it feels like 3F.
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We don’t have the space nor do I honestly have the desire to host a really big Thanksgiving, but hats off to those who can! I am sure your mom is a pro after all these years with a really big family!!
I also totally get you being ready for the weekend to end! I used to feel the same way, especially when the boys were younger/way more chaotic and also when my job was super chill and I honestly looked forward to the quiet days at my desk. Now the weekends are more chill and work is often… not…. So, sadly, that whole dynamic has changed.
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What a great idea to break up the cook to pre cook stuff and bring it so that you could all enjoy not only the day without all the mess and rush, plus, have a great weekend together. It all sounds like you had an amazing time.
Way to go your dad!
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Yes, it just made everything so much easier and calmer. I will definitely vote to do something similar next year!
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Poor Charlie! It’s always scary when the fur babies get sick. The emergency vet is a hero for doing the free lobby consult.
I approve of the plan to do all of the work in advance so that the cooks can enjoy the holiday. We have the next best thing where we divide the menu among families so that no one person has to do too much.
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That’s definitely the way to go when it’s a bigger crowd. Although, we often feel like it’s still complicated to get everything hot at the same time no matter what we do. It’s not like we can actually COOK everything to be done right at the same time (especially when cooking stuff in advance!) but things also seem to reheat at different rates… maybe this is just us, but that part always seems to be a little headache.
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Can you invite me to your thanksgiving dinner? Looks sooooo familiar and cozy. Love it! 😍 I would love to host thanksgiving or new year dinner with my closest family members.
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Thanks! You’re welcome at our Thanksgiving any time! 😅 It is nice to have just our close family for this meal… it’s nice and intimate and I always enjoy it.
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Oh man, dogs and their penchant for eating stupid things. We just had this happen with Rex, he ate a piece of DEAD DEER that was found on our property. He came into the house, was acting weird, and then barfed. It was 100% the grossest thing I have ever had to clean up. (Me: why is there fur…OH MY GOD). Anyway. The deer has now been dealt with and all is well but GROSS.
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Yes it’s the worst!! Omg that’s sooo gross about Rex eating dead deer!! It’s frustrating that Charlie EATS everything. It would be one thing if he just picked things up and checked them out, but he just scoops things up and down the hatch it goes. I was complaining to our dog trainer about this and saying how my dogs growing up really never ate anything at all… (a Lhasa apso and a chihuahua). She said that in Charlie’s case it’s due to his poodle genetics- they were bred for hunting and apparently it’s in their genes to be very “mouthy”.
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It sounds like a REALLY nice weekend, but poor Charlie!!! I’m glad he’s okay, and I’m glad you didn’t have to pay $550.
My son’s birthday is Sunday. He actually had to remind me that his birthday was in a week- I was so thrown off by Thanksgiving being so late. I mailed off a package to him this morning, which was weird- he was JSUT HERE. December birthdays are hard.
I LOVED NaBloPoMo as I always do, and I’m glad you participated because I really enjoyed your posts! However… I’m going to suggest something a little different for next year. Actually I think some people already do this. While I love the community aspect of it, I don’t think it should be mandatory to read and comment on every single blog post! That was feasible in the years where NBPM was really small, but now there are a lot of people participating. And it seems like some people are being discouraged from participating, because of the overwhelming task of keeping up with everyone else’s posts. I say, read as many posts as you can. For my regular blogging friends, I would read every post. For people I don’t know (yet) I would stop by and check it out, give some encouragement, and possibly make a new blogging friend. But to read 30 posts from every single person is getting too daunting. I say- write your 30 posts and then do what you can, reading and commenting.
Anyway- good luck with the fitness challenge! I think challenges like that are good. Some people do a running streak from Thanksgiving Day to New Year’s Day. I’ve never done it, but it seems like a good thing to get you out there during the busy season where it might otherwise slip away.
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Happy birthday to your son!! Asher is especially excited because we are heading this morning to the DMV so he can get his driver’s permit… Lord help me. Ha.
I agree about NaBloPoMo! I honestly didn’t even really try to keep up with “everyone”- but I even still felt a little stressed just keeping up with all my usual favorites! I did a lot of reading on mg phone and then intending to circle back and comment on my computer, but then I often didn’t get around to it… and then I felt bad/guilty, which I know is silly! But I still did. Haha. I guess I didn’t want to come off as “one-sided”, like, here, you should all read and comment on my posts, but I’m too busy to reciprocate. 😆 You know what I mean? Of course I’m sure I’m overthinking it all. I know it’s just supposed to be for fun!!
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Ugh. Poor Charlie and poor you! Glad he’s feeling better. And also glad it WASN’T A DEAD DEER. I saw Nicole’s post and – OH MY GOODNESS.
I have a friend who always cooks her turkeys a few days ahead of a giant family celebration for Thanksgiving. She loves having it out of the way. Maybe I should do that this Christmas? My daughter is already mad I cheat and buy a rotisserie chicken for Thanksgiving, so how will she react if I cook the turkey in advance – haha.
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Cooking ahead of time sounds like a great plan. You are also getting the benefit of a second kitchen that way. My most successful fitness challenges have been when I pick a certain number of days per month to work out (like 20). When I’ve tried to do something everyday once I miss a day I just quit. 20 minutes sounds totally doable especially with online workout platform round up you did a while ago.
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I love that your dad was on board with making the turkey early. Keeping things simple is a bonus on such a hectic day. Poor Charlie. That sounds like it was a little scary. Lad’s dog got sick once. I was out of state with Curly and Coach was out of state with Reg. Both at b-ball tournaments. Coach forwarded a text from Lad about how he thought the dog was going to die, and so did the vet – but there was no context or mention of a pet, so I THOUGHT that Coach was texting me to say that Reg had stopped breathing (Reg has epilepsy) and I about died . . . before I got to the end of the text and Coach typed . . . . from Lad. What? Who does that? Anyway, I’m glad he was OK. That outdoor parade, shiver. I don’t think I could’ve attended. We managed to get our Christmas card photo done on Thanksgiving. Oh, and my son, Tank’s bday is Dec. 5th. Busy time of year. (half of my kids are born around Christmas/just after).
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Oh my GOSH that story about the dog vs Reg!!! Ahhh I cannot even imagine!!! That must have been terrifying!! Happy birthday to Tank! 2 more days for him! It is a busy time but fortunately now at 15 Asher’s birthday is a lot lower key than when he was little and cared more about all the “birthday stuff” like a party and decorations and all of that. Now he mostly just wants a few gifts and a family dinner out and we call it good!
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You had such a full weekend! Your Thanksgiving sounds really nice and good planning on the pre-cooking part. And I just love the fireplace (and I can really appreciate now that I have one, too :)).
So glad Charlie is ok. Is he still chewing on random stuff? What a bummer you drove all the way to the ER vet for nothing, but at least you didn’t have a huge bill to pay.
Thanks for joining NaBloPoMo this year, event though you fizzled out at the end 😉 you shared some great posts… and I hope you get back into the swing of things in December and will completely your 20-min workout streak. I am cheering for you.
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Ina Garten / Barefoot Contessa agrees with you. Roast the turkey ahead of time, and a bunch of other things too. It really helps!
I like your workout plan too. 20 minutes seems manageable.
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