Let's just go through a few of the highlights since my last blog post, shall we? Let's start with that day.
Sunday
- Having spent the last three weeks in the middle of fall housecleaning, the past two while our main staircase is being finished, I have about an hour's more work to do before I start my planned pre-Thanksgiving days of relaxation.
- My mother calls. My grandfather is in the hospital with pneumonia. The nurse isn't telling her to go visit him right at that moment, but...well, he is 96.
- I get in about 20 minutes of work before my mother calls again. My brother, who spent the night at our place on Thursday on his way out of town needs a place to stay again that night. He, of course, didn't mention this on Thursday so I could have planned.
- I get in about another 10 minutes of work before my husband comes upstairs. He's just talked to the roommate, who is supposed to be moving out by the end of November. The roommate has just announced that he's staying through December. Announced.
- I discover through non-standard means (i.e., not via the roommate) that his girlfriend is staying all week (through Thanksgiving), not just for the weekend.
- After finishing my cleaning and giving up on the day, I come out of seclusion to discover that the washing machine has exploded, or at least sounds like it. I, of course, have left the laundry out of my cleaning equation, since I usually manage it in the mornings and evenings around work. I identify one pair of clean, work-friendly pants.
- I go back into seclusion.
- The attempt to get the washer repaired does not go well.
- I work 10-1/2 hours, with multiple deadlines hanging over my head.
- Once I've made it home, I bake the very large batch of banana bread that will use up all the bananas we pulled out of the freezer before all hell broke loose.
- While the banana bread is baking, I hand wash a load of work clothes in water approximately the temperature of the snow on the ground outside.
- While I'm at work, my mother calls to let me know my brother had just been arrested. No, really. Oh, and I should make another dish for Thanksgiving, since he won't be bringing his contribution.
- I put in another 10+ hour day of racing against deadlines.
- I don't remember much else of the day. I can't guarantee that's a good sign. Oh, wait. I got a margarita...on the second try, but it was on the way to shopping for washing machines.
- My mother calls again. I answer, "Now what?" Just another change of plans. They don't want to keep my brother over the holidays after all.
- I give up on work early.
- While I'm washing cranberries in preparation for making relish, the roommate and girlfriend are eating their lunch, thus slightly decreasing the amount of leftovers they had taking up space in the fridge. Then the roommate asks whether he can get into the sink to rinse out his dish. I point out that he doesn't need to do that if he's putting it in the dishwasher. Only after he's out of the kitchen do I realize he's put it in with the load of clean dishes.
- Later, the roommate sends me a text message, from within the house, to ask whether it's okay to use the oven. When I say it is as long as it happens soon, he tells me that's okay...since he started preheating it before asking.
- Once again, I remember very little of the day.
- Ah, Thanksgiving. Prep is to start early. However, the roommate and girlfriend manage to be using both the stove and the shower. I get no bacon with my breakfast, and the turkey starts late.
- Cooking goes fairly smoothly...except for the borosilicate pan that explodes in the oven.
- The roommate and girlfriend leave five minutes after the first guests arrive and get back fifteen minutes before the last guests leave, thus ensuring that we are not alone once during the day.
- Otherwise? Not so bad. Having family over is literally the simplest part of the week.
Yeah, I'm still working on resting and recuperating. The fact that the washer that was supposed to be delivered today not only didn't show up but also exists in an order status that no one's ever heard of doesn't exactly help, but at least I'm mostly caught up at work. Oy.
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