I'm Back!

 Boy, I really whiffed on that 30 days of thankfulness, didn't I?

I mean blogging about it, not at being thankful.  I had good intentions, but you know what they say about those.  In my defense, I was kind of busy.  See, I went up to Memphis Wednesday evening and spent the night with Cody, so I pretty much spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning cooking.  I didn't really figure you'd want to hear the play by play of me making broccoli casserole and cranberry sauce.  

I got to Cody's apartment Wednesday evening, and he already had his tree up.

and his apartment decorated. He and his roommate are looking after their friend's cat, and she mussed up the tree skirt.  I straightened it out, and she mussed it up again.  Cody says she's not peeing on it, but it smelled mighty strong over there.  Oh, and he has a hamster, too.   He said I probably wouldn't see it, but I did.  It's so teeny. 

He calls it his robohamster.  I'm not sure what kind it is, but it sure is cute.  

Thursday, we went to Brennan's house for Thanksgiving, and naturally the overthinking introvert was dreading it the whole time -- ever since Cody told me that's what he wanted to do.  Also, just as naturally, I did all that dreading for nothing.  

Brennan's family was so nice, and made me feel so welcome.  They thanked me for bringing food, and Brennan's dad complimented my broccoli casserole.  It's Cody's favorite.  I have to make it every year.  The recipe is linked in the right sidebar, you know, if you're wondering what broccoli casserole is.  All the food was very delicious, and I ate way too much.  

By the way, I told Brennan I wanted to make a good first impression on her parents, so I wore my Weird Al T-shirt.  She said, "Awesome!"

I was afraid they wouldn't be a football watching family -- because Brennan isn't a football person -- but they had the games on, at least until we left.  Then they gave me the entire turkey to bring home, what was left after they'd carved the breasts off of it.  There was a lot of meat left on it, but none of them wanted the thing.  They were going to throw it all away, but Brennan's mom asked if I wanted it.  I said, "Sure.  I'll take it home and make soup out of it."  I'm probably going to boil it down and pick the meat tomorrow.  I've already got celery and onions, so I'll just need to get some carrots to cut up into it and decide if I want to make rice or noodles to go in it and I'll have enough soup to feed an army.  And I really need to get the old stuff out of my deep freeze...

After dinner, Cody and Brennan drove me out to the wedding venue they had booked, and it looked really nice.  They are determined to have an outdoor wedding and this place has a really nice gazebo, plus an indoor reception hall.  Cody said if the weather turns out to be inclement, they can move the ceremony inside pretty easily.  The best part is the venue comes with a wedding coordinator's services included, so that takes a lot of stress off of them. 

The date is set for May 20th.  

I was really thankful that I had finally upgraded my phone plan to unlimited data and a personal hotspot, because I was able to watch the game the whole way out there, and the whole way back, and also when we decided to go back to Cody's apartment.  I'm telling you, the signal up in Memphis is so strong!  I don't even get 5G here, but I had it the whole time up there.  

All in all, it was a good Thanksgiving.

Friday morning, I was up bright and early ready to come home.  I was pleasantly surprised at how empty the roads were.  I figured everybody would be out shopping, but no, there were very few people out and about.  I made it home in plenty of time to watch Texas beat Baylor, and began taking down my fall decorations in preparation to decorate for Christmas. 

This morning, the kids came down and helped me put up my tree.  

Cody insisted he was tired and needed a break before putting the tinsel on the tree. 

I'd wanted Cody to put up my outside lights today, too, but he didn't because it was raining.  I'm going to try to get it done tomorrow.  But anyway, here is the finished tree.  

That was my Thanksgiving 2022.  I hope you and yours had a good Thanksgiving, too.