Thanksgiving Day Challenge, Day 1

Romeo, Elvis, and Larry wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

It is Day 1 of my 4-day Thanksgiving Challenge. What is my Thanksgiving Challenge? Why to get my house back in order of course! Mike crawled out of bed this morning at the crack of dawn, and made it out of the house by 7:10 am to drive six plus hours to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving. He is going to spend four days visiting with his family, while I stay home, ostensibly to clean the house... Before you start to feel a little bit maudlin that I am spending my first married Thanksgiving separated from my darling husband, I have to let you know that this was my idea. It may be my dumbest idea yet, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I wanted some time to rest, catch-up with my life, and maybe even to feel bored. My work load at the office has been crushing, I've traveled extensively, and lately some of my clients seem to have taken crazy pills.

This has been the busiest, happiest year of my life. Mike and I got married in February in Florida, honeymooned for two weeks in Hawaii, and the rest of the year has just gone by in a flash. Other family milestones included my Mom's 75th birthday, my nephew Josh's Bar Mitzvah, adopting Larry Pug, Mike's 50th birthday, and my parents' 50th anniversary. Mike's Mom was very ill (and trying to hide it) during our wedding and the ensuing Spring months, and her doctors finally figured out the diagnosis, she had surgery, and she is 110% better! Back to her old self!

Back to the Thanksgiving Day Challenge... by the time Mike gets home I hope to have cleaned out both closets in the master bedroom and reorganized them, along with cleaning off the top of the dresser. Ideally, I will stop wearing my clean clothes out of the laundry basket and find a place to put them away. Other potential ideas for cleaning and organizing entertainment include: replacing the burnt out light bulbs in the hallway and kitchen in those hard to reach places; assembling the new shelf we bought for our dining room, and taking out everything of the corner kitchen cabinet to see if the new lazy susan will fit inside. If I finish all of these things, there is always a load (or 20) of laundry to do. Or, I could clean and organize my sewing studio some more. There is a large mystery corner full of boxes that needs to be attended to and I also want to dump everything out of the scrap basket (formerly laundry hamper) and sort these fabrics by color into the plastic drawers that I purchased earlier this fall.

If all else fails, I can have my own personal Dancing with the Stars TV marathon (please don't tell me who's been kicked off, I'm a little behind) as well as finish my Design Star TV marathon. Plus, I have eight zillion sewing projects to entertain me.

My girlfriends are all home for the weekend and ready to play! I'm not brave enough to go Black Friday shopping with Olympic Gold Medalist Shopping Queen, Eleanor, but I'm sure that eventually I will want to get dressed and leave the house at some point.

I'm going to Joannie's for Thanksgiving dinner. I made a loaf of beer bread (yum, yum) and bought a plethora of tiny goodies at Whole Foods. Aren't they pretty? Can't wait to taste them!

My goal is NOT to call Mike one million times and beg him to come home. I will miss him like crazy but I have the Pug Pack to keep me company, and he never complains when I leave him at home for a quilt weekend. I have loaded Mike down with candy for my nephews and mother-in-law, as well as a loaf of beer bread for his cousin's Thanksgiving dinner.

Almost 9am now...must be time for a nap! Will report back later. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy