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Cooking and cleaning
Nov. 24th, 2004 08:52 pmFamily, be prepared to fawn at Thanksgiving tomorrow. We have been cleaning since Saturday, and cooking since 9 am, and it's only Wednesday!
Yesterday, I nearly made a cheesecake. I mean, it was all done except that I had to pour the batter into the pan, only the bowl slipped out of my hands, into the pan, and graham cracker bits went flying all over the kitchen and into the batter. I didn't think cheesecake should be crunchy... no, that would be Wrong. So I dumped it, called David, and had him buy more ingredients. Grrr. Stephen was a sweetie about it, though -- I was mad, of course, but he said, "Don't worry, Mommy; you can fix it." I told him I couldn't really fix it, but that I'd make another one, and he said, "Okay, but promise you won't drop it next time." Heh. He was very excited today when I succeeded in not dropping not just one, but two cheesecakes. (One for tomorrow and one for Saturday.)
Yesterday night was also the exceedingly ill-timed orchestra concert. I mean, god, who schedules a concert for 8 pm on a Tuesday night right before Thanksgiving? Well, our conductor. I suspect it was one of the few times he could get the hall, but really, ugh. David came and brought the kids, but Sophie wouldn't sit still, so even though Stephen wanted to watch Mommy play, they had to leave. Pity; I think Stephen would have liked it. It went pretty well. And Bob (the conductor) asked me to sit first chair (of the second section) next semester -- vindication! He'd picked one of his students for the job this semester, and while she is sweet and an excellent player, she has zero leadership skills. Not a surprise; she's a freshman, and I think probably has never sat first chair before; I would have made a lousy first chair my first semester, too. But I'm glad to have the position (back) next semester. I'm a good leader, damn it, even if I'm no virtuoso.
Today, woke up at 8:00 to Stephen asking if he could get up and watch TV. "Ungh," I grunted, which he took as a yes. "Oh, and I have to pee!!" he said, climbing down from his bed. "Umph," I said. He's good at that now, but the flaw is that he seems to think he has to announce when he's done. So I hear, faintly at first, "Mommy, I just peed!" from the bathroom. Then again, louder. Then again, louder still. Twice more, before I finally yell back, "Okay, wash your hands!" which of course wakes up Sophia, so no more sleep for me. I have been sleeping like absolute crap lately -- takes me forever to fall asleep, then I wake up repeatedly during the night, can't go back to sleep, and when I do sleep, have vivid dreams about the things I need to accomplish the next day. Ugh.
Anyway, I did get a lot done. Got up, cleaned the upstairs bathroom, my room, got Stephen's breakfast, cleaned more in the kitchen and living room, baked two cheesecakes, cut up carrots and red peppers, processed the squash, and finished all the associated dishes by the time David came home from work (early, because everyone else was also gone). Had a brief respite to nurse Sophie, then 2.5 hours of grocery shopping at three different stores. Plus I picked up the new Harry Potter DVD for $12. Stores were stupid busy. And I was on my way home when David called and asked me to get more peppers, because the first batch didn't come out right, so another grocery store. Once home, nursed Sophie again, then more cooking and cleaning.
The upside is that the only things left to cook tomorrow are the turkey and the mashed potatoes, and David's doing something with artichoke hearts and mushrooms. Everything else just gets reheated. And the place needed a thorough cleaning anyway; it'd been to long. Just glad that huge family meals like this happen only occasionally -- whew!
Yesterday, I nearly made a cheesecake. I mean, it was all done except that I had to pour the batter into the pan, only the bowl slipped out of my hands, into the pan, and graham cracker bits went flying all over the kitchen and into the batter. I didn't think cheesecake should be crunchy... no, that would be Wrong. So I dumped it, called David, and had him buy more ingredients. Grrr. Stephen was a sweetie about it, though -- I was mad, of course, but he said, "Don't worry, Mommy; you can fix it." I told him I couldn't really fix it, but that I'd make another one, and he said, "Okay, but promise you won't drop it next time." Heh. He was very excited today when I succeeded in not dropping not just one, but two cheesecakes. (One for tomorrow and one for Saturday.)
Yesterday night was also the exceedingly ill-timed orchestra concert. I mean, god, who schedules a concert for 8 pm on a Tuesday night right before Thanksgiving? Well, our conductor. I suspect it was one of the few times he could get the hall, but really, ugh. David came and brought the kids, but Sophie wouldn't sit still, so even though Stephen wanted to watch Mommy play, they had to leave. Pity; I think Stephen would have liked it. It went pretty well. And Bob (the conductor) asked me to sit first chair (of the second section) next semester -- vindication! He'd picked one of his students for the job this semester, and while she is sweet and an excellent player, she has zero leadership skills. Not a surprise; she's a freshman, and I think probably has never sat first chair before; I would have made a lousy first chair my first semester, too. But I'm glad to have the position (back) next semester. I'm a good leader, damn it, even if I'm no virtuoso.
Today, woke up at 8:00 to Stephen asking if he could get up and watch TV. "Ungh," I grunted, which he took as a yes. "Oh, and I have to pee!!" he said, climbing down from his bed. "Umph," I said. He's good at that now, but the flaw is that he seems to think he has to announce when he's done. So I hear, faintly at first, "Mommy, I just peed!" from the bathroom. Then again, louder. Then again, louder still. Twice more, before I finally yell back, "Okay, wash your hands!" which of course wakes up Sophia, so no more sleep for me. I have been sleeping like absolute crap lately -- takes me forever to fall asleep, then I wake up repeatedly during the night, can't go back to sleep, and when I do sleep, have vivid dreams about the things I need to accomplish the next day. Ugh.
Anyway, I did get a lot done. Got up, cleaned the upstairs bathroom, my room, got Stephen's breakfast, cleaned more in the kitchen and living room, baked two cheesecakes, cut up carrots and red peppers, processed the squash, and finished all the associated dishes by the time David came home from work (early, because everyone else was also gone). Had a brief respite to nurse Sophie, then 2.5 hours of grocery shopping at three different stores. Plus I picked up the new Harry Potter DVD for $12. Stores were stupid busy. And I was on my way home when David called and asked me to get more peppers, because the first batch didn't come out right, so another grocery store. Once home, nursed Sophie again, then more cooking and cleaning.
The upside is that the only things left to cook tomorrow are the turkey and the mashed potatoes, and David's doing something with artichoke hearts and mushrooms. Everything else just gets reheated. And the place needed a thorough cleaning anyway; it'd been to long. Just glad that huge family meals like this happen only occasionally -- whew!
