We Put the Fun in Dysfunction!

Oh boy...my work days are longer and I don't get home till mid-evening most days anymore, and by then due to the vagaries of my job responsibilities I'm often emotionally a zero by then.  I'm dysfunctional, but whether anyone around here notices or not, they don't seem to be too concerned...I think we're ALL dysfunctional, ha!

We REALLY wanted to have Thanksgiving as a family this year with our daughter.  We had to realign the planets to all get scheduled off work at the same time, but it actually did happen.  I tested the waters with whether the possibility of eating out would be as much fun, thinking maybe the time and effort saved might be a relief to everyone.  But in the end, if it's possible, we all need a place to be able to wind down, put our feet up on the coffee table, and eat food made by Mom, so I REALLY wanted to have that available this year.

I'm slow these days, just really really slow in getting things done.  I do multitask really well, I run the sprints of life admirably, but the day-to-day upkeep often goes into prolonged survival mode, such as organizing and keeping the house clean beyond mere functionality.

Anyway, Jack was my hero last  night, making the late night foray to (the despised-by-me but sometimes necessary) WalMart.  He was tailgated on the way, and slowed to let the bozo pass him, which never happened, at least for a couple of miles of road.  He was then flashed by the police lights...the tailgating vehicle was an unmarked police car, so instead of pulling over on the congested highway, he pulled into what else? the WalMart parking lot after being joined by two MORE police cruisers.  He called me from the cell phone after they had collected his driver's license and other docs.  Reason for being pulled over?  Going too slowly, to which he replied "I always go slowly when someone is tailgating me, so they can pass."  He was issued a warning citation...warning for WHAT??  "For exceeding 150 feet to pull over in after seeing our police lights."   Hello???  Wow that sure put ME in a thankful mood...

Anyway, after my husband's heroic return with the crucial items needed to round out the cooking efforts of the night, I did get some things cooked.  And it looks like it will actually happen, thanks to his also mopping the floors for me before I got home last night (a big task...the house is all tile).  Jack, did I mention YOU ARE SOOOOO MY HERO??? :-D

I have a couple hours left to go before things kick off here, in which I need to brush and wash the dog, shower and get ready, do the final kitchen counter clean up and make some tea.  Other than that, here's what's on the Group Effort menu, somewhat miraculously.....

Baked Crispy Onion Chicken (French's french fried onion recipe)
Cranberry Sauce
Broccoli Cheese Casserole (our daughter's)
Corn Casserole (also our daughter's)
Sweet Peas
Orange Fluff salad
Hot buttered Parmesan rolls
Mashed sour cream potatoes
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Cake (for daughter to take home)
Oreo Pie

Hooray!!!

If R had not decided to come this year, Jack and I would have
gone to Golden Corral for a feed gone down to our great friends near Ft. Myers. But I'm really glad we were able to rouse ourselves enough to gather and collapse today...can't wait to see our girl and to actually all have time off together to laugh and eat.  We will grab this time together every chance we get!
R's bringing her DVDs of Arrested Development, which I've never seen (having no TV will do that, ha) and we plan to lounge around and laugh our heads off and catch up on a hundred missed details of daily life.  Yay!!

However unorthodox or traditional the gatherings are, it's the being together that counts.

What are you doing for T-Day today?  I hope it's wonderful!

:-D  Robbyn