The Countdown has begun

Song Stuck on the Brain: Are You Lonesome Tonight by Elvis

I'm not lonesome, just singing about it. Actually, I could stand to have a little more lonesome. I'm back to full time at work and I miss my afternoons for writing. I can't really whine too much though, having a job to come back to is a blessing.

I can't believe it's only three days until Thanksgiving. I'll be hosting it at my place again and there will be about 14 of us. We planned our menu two weeks ago and divided the dishes up between my mom and us 3 girls. My oldest sister isn't much a of a cook, so she's bringing drinks, whipped cream and paper goods. Mom is the pie baker, so she's handling that and the mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. We never know what kind of pie we'll have other than pumpkin, because it's just whatever sounds good to Mom at the time. Not that anyone complains. Angel's handling the sides and I have the turkey and dressing.

The problem we're having now, is that Mom, Angel and I keep watching the food network. Paula Dean, Emeril, Giada, etc. They all have great new recipes and we keep switching out things for the new recipes. I have no idea what we'll actually end up with when it's all said and done. Hopefully, our menu is set, because I've already been to the grocery store. It was a nightmare and I don't want to go back any time soon. If I do, I think I'll wait until midnight and hope there's less traffic.

For now it looks like our final menu is:

Roast turkey
Portobello and sausage dressing (my own recipe)
Mashed potatoes and turkey gravy
Paula Dean's Fresh creamed corn
Roasted Brussell sprouts
Green beans almondine
Cranberry sauce
Homemade pies w/whipped cream
Grandma's raw apple cake

The apple cake is actually for my birthday. Yes, I'm actually making my own cake. That's okay though, I enjoy baking. I think that's everything, heaven forbid we add another item, we're going to be overloaded with leftovers as it is. We always buy those snap together plates so everyone can take leftovers with them, that helps.

Now I just have to clean house, edit my book, do laundry, cook... . Nothing to it, right?

A.