A new type of giving Thanks

This Thanksgiving was the first time in my life that I have not had the traditional go to mom's family for dinner then off to dad's family for another smorgasbord of food in one day. This year was Matt and my Thanksgiving as a small family, inviting family and friends to share this with us.
We invited family parents and sisters from both sides and friends such as
Cathryn, the Boutot's and even the Buena family. My dad had to work and Matt's mom had to work so the family that showed was my mom, sister, and nephew; Cathryn was the only friend to show but she brought one of her friends. So we had a hodgepodge of family and friends to share Thanksgiving with.
We had looked through our subscription of Bon'Appatite Magazine and picked out what we thought would be the best Thanksgiving meal ever. We shopped at the Whole Food's Market to find the finest most fresh herbs, spices, and vegetables. Then we got up early Thursday morning to start the preparation of this wonderful meal. Matt was head chef and I was his sidekick. I spent most of the day chopping and dicing while he read recipes and pulled things in and out of the oven.
So our guests arrive at 6 pm right on schedule and the turkey is still not done. It is very hard to time the cook times of so many items with only one oven but Matt did a splendid job. We had some very nice cheese the we had also purchased at the Whole Foods store. If I were well off I would spend lots of money at this place. The wine was flowing between Cathryn and myself. In total for dinner we had a bottle of Champagne, one and a half bottles of wine, 2 wine coolers, and multiple beer between the 5 of us, Dan had H2O.
Between comments about Julie's oven rack, Matt's cake having a nice crumb, and the poor construction of our mix-matched dining chairs we worked off our meal by laughing. So this Thanksgiving I gave thanks to good food, good friends and laughter.

MAID SERVICE

THIS WEEK MY HUBBY HAD A MAID COME AND TIDY OUR HOUSE. SHE VACCUMED EVERY ROOM AND DUSTED ALMOST EVERYTHING, CLEANED THE MICROWAVE, TOILETS, SINKS, AND SHOWER. SHE EVEN VACCUMED THE STAIRS WHICH I HATE. AS THANKFUL AS I WAS AND AS MUCH STRESS AND ANXIETY AS IT TAKES OFF MY SHOULDERS I KNEW I COULD HAVE DONE A BETTER JOB. I MEAN YOU CAN STILL SEE SPARX HAIR IN CRACK NEXT TO THE COUCH, AND THE BASEBOARDS AND ON THE TOP STAIR B/C SHE DIDNT USE THE LITTLE TOOL. AND I THOUGHT SHE WOULD VACCUM THE COUCH AND SHE FORGOT TO DUST THE SIDE TABLE NEXT TO THE BED. WOW I SHOULD HAVE GOT OUT MY WHITE GLOVES. THE WHOLE SITUATION MADE ME NERVOUS B/C A STRANGER WAS IN OUR HOUSE AND THE DOGS WERE IN THERE WITH HER AND SHE WAS GOING IN AND OUT GETTING SUPPLIES AND I JUST KNEW MY LITTLE ESCAPE ARTIST OF A DOG WAS GOING TO TRICK HER AND RUN FREE THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD. MY INTUITION IS NOT ALWAY RIGHT I GUESS.
THIS WEEK I HAVE BEEN CRACKING THE WHIP ON MY FELLOW TMPers. THIS WEEK I HAVE SENT OUT MANY E-MAILS ABOUT EVERYONE CLEANING OUT THE MOLD TRAP IN THE KITCHEN AKA THE REFRIGERATOR. SO TODAY AT 5:01 THE UNCLAIMED FOOD WILL BE TOSSED. I ALSO PLAN TO DOWN SIZE OUR GLAD WARE COLLECTION AND BETTER ORGANIZE OR CABINETS TO MAKE MORE ROOM. SO THIS WEEK MY HOUSE IS GETTING CLEANED BY A STRANGER AND MY OFFICE IS GETTING ORGANIZED BY ME. BY THE WAY IF ANYONE KNOWS ME I LOVE TO ORGANIZE THINGS.

My own little cat factory

You mix a roaming orange male cat with an un spaid gray female cat and guess what you get.
Idiot inconsiderate trashy neighbors who dont know how to control the ferrile cat population.
I have a grayish yellow (heinz 57 as my neighbor would call it) half grown kitten on my porch that wont leave. I made the mistake of feeling sorry for it one morning and giving it some warm milk and dog food;I know cats eat cat food but that is all I had and as hungry as he looked he didnt mind. In fact that little bowl of food attactracted even more cats, of which I think are from the same litter. I found this out after I unlocked my garage yesterday and discovered a kitten inside my fully sealed garage. I assumed it was the same kitten for whom I had given the warm milk and dog food to that morning but only to my surprise as I walked around to the front door with the little gray meow following did I find a little grayish orange meow still in the same spot on the front steps. They are multiplying! As I am talking to my husband on the phone and he is giving me grief about attracting the neighborhood's cat population to our house here comes the sperm donor of these two teenager cats Dexter. So now I have to figure out what to do with this grayish orange teenager cat that is too tramatized to leave the steps. Do I take it to the neighbors and tell them it is there problem, do I call the SPCA, or do I keep it and take it to the vet to get neutered?