Lots to do

I'm a bit behind on my preparations for Thanksgiving. Brayden's had another cold (poor guy), Mary's been sick, and now Jeff and I are fighting it. I know it's from Brayden going to day care and picking up the germs, then coming here and/or home and spreading them around. He was very sick over the weekend and Mary wasn't far behind him. I went over on Saturday and babysat so Mary could get to the store for what she needed to get them both through another bout of sickness. I tried hard to stay back from him when he coughed, I washed my hands frequently, stayed conscious about putting my hands near my eyes, mouth or nose... but at 3am this morning woke up thinking "uh oh... I'm coming down with a cold"...sigh. Just what I need when I'm already behind on Thanksgiving prep. My turkey (24 lbs) is out of the freezer and I cut up our Halloween pumpkin and cooked it for pumpkin pie filling. I've also made cranberry muffins with a cream cheese center, and those are in the freezer. The majority of grocery shopping is done, but I do have a few last minute things to pick up today. Today will be a busy day. My To Do list is as follows:

• Small grocery shopping of last minute items - done
• Go to library to return due books - done
• Take all china out of hutch and run through dishwasher - done
• Dust interior of china cabinet - done
• Vac downstairs
• Dust dining room, my office
• Finish cleaning my office - done
• Get Thanksgiving candles, etc from basement - done
• Wash and iron linens for table
• Clean kitchen, wash kitchen floor
• Get turkey roaster from basement and wash - done
• Plan what serving bowls I need and make sure they're available - done

Tomorrow will be a cooking day:

• Make apple and pumpkin pies
• Make stuffing
• Put green bean casserole together
• Make cream sauce for onions

Now see? Now that I've written it all down, that doesn't look as bad as I thought it was going to be. Also this year's cooking will be a little bit easier because I have the new warming drawer in my stove. I can cook things ahead (such as the rolls) and just keep them warm in the drawer, rather than fight to get everything done at the same time!