I definitely called my family 9 billion times while preparing this meal

The night before Thanksgiving, I did not sleep well at all. I was so worried about everything I had to make, none of which I'd made before. I tossed and turned, and I had the weirdest dreams. In fact, one was so weird that it made me forget all the others: I actually dreamed that a starfish somehow found its way from the ocean, through the water lines, into our refrigerator ... and into the pecan pie sitting inside. (I didn't even make the pie -- I bought it!) So in the dream, when I pulled the pie out of the refrigerator and carried it to the table for our friends, I was horrified to find a starfish writhing around in the pie, with a couple of its arms sticking out of the top. (I told you it was a crazy dream!)

Thank goodness, I was worried for nothing. I made a few rookie mistakes, but nothing that affected the flavor. And they're all mistakes I'm sure K and I will laugh about when we recall our first Thanksgiving playing hosts:

1) The pumpkin roll that we accidentally rolled the wrong way (we made it short & wide rather than long & thin).

2) Having to turn my family's traditional sweet potato balls into a sweet potato casserole, since I forgot to drain the yams before mixing the other ingredients. (It's very difficult to make a solid ball with a liquid.)

3) The stress of making the dressing. My mom's "recipe" had only a list of ingredients (cornbread, sage, broth from giblets, salt, etc.), but no specific amounts. "Season to taste" doesn't help a new cook very much! The dressing wound up being everyone's favorite part, and it tasted just like my mom's, so I was relieved!

We made our cranberry sauce the night before Thanksgiving. It looked beautiful as it cooked, and it made the house smell amazing. Thanksgiving Day, we were pleased to find it was just as delicious as it looked and smelled! I'll definitely be making this again (although it was a TON for four people).

K did an awesome job frying (and preparing) the turkey. It was delicious!

Piper was eager to help clean up any turkey K accidentally dropped.

We wound up with a lot of food for four people (we had planned on my brother being here as well, but he didn't come in until Friday), but it was delicious! Since it was our first attempt, I cheated on a few more things than I'd have liked (gravy from a jar, store-bought pie), but we took on a lot for first-timers! Considering we cooked fresh green beans and used fresh cranberries for the sauce, I'd say we did well. K told me several times how proud of me he was, and how I should be proud of myself for doing such a great job.

(I can't believe I forgot to get a picture once the turkey was on the table -- wait, yes I can! Everything smelled delicious, and I was starving! Trust me, the table was packed.)

I'd say Thanksgiving was a success!

Ooooh, I want these

Why do they have to be $400?!

A question for the moms -- and the experienced "aunt"s!

My cousin is pregnant, and she's due Feb. 2. She went into labor last Thursday night. Now, she's in the hospital, and she has to stay there until the baby arrives. The doctors are doing all they can to delay the birth, and for now, it's working.

My cousin seems to be handling it pretty well. Her facebook updates are upbeat and positive. She's way tougher than I would be!

Since she'll likely be in the hospital on Thanksgiving, I think it would be nice to send her a little treat. I'm planning on making some pumpkin cream cheese muffins tonight for us to have this week and on Thanksgiving morning. I think those would be a nice, delicious Thanksgiving surprise to send to my cousin ... but I don't have much experience with pregnancy. Do you moms (and those of you who know more about this!) think that would be OK to send, or is it too unhealthy for mom and baby? (If it helps, I'm pretty sure my cousin isn't a big health nut.)

In addition to your advice, prayers for my cousin and her baby would be appreciated. I'm eager to see her baby pictures, but I want her baby to be as healthy as possible when he or she makes the big entrance!

Good thing we're not planning on kids anytime soon

I don't really cuss on this blog much. It's really usually not necessary in my posts. In real life though, particularly around K, my vocabulary is a bit more colorful. We often use cuss words when we joke with each other, and we love calling Piper a little bitch. (I think she actually likes it too.)

Anyway, so I was reading a blog the other day where the author announced she was pregnant. It was actually the same day that ER had told me she was pregnant. The blogger referred to their baby as "our bean." I've heard a few people refer to their unborn children as "bean" or "peanut." I thought it was cute until I realized a LOT of people refer to their fetus that way.

I turned to K. "Promise me that someday when we have a baby, we won't call it 'the bean' or 'peanut' before it's born."

"OK ..." K said slowly.

"We have to call it something original," I said, "like 'little shit' or 'fuckface.'"

This news made my day

ER called me tonight. "I have a little bit of news for you," she said. She told me she'd dreamed last night that she told me, and I reacted the way I did when Rachel told me she had gotten married.

(Haven't blogged about that one yet. Rachel married a douchebag in a secret ceremony, which she told me about four days later. When I called her. More on that crap later.)

Anyway, I was pretty sure I could guess ER's news, but I kept quiet, just in case.

"I'm pregnant."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" I started tearing up. SO excited for her. It happened fast! She just told me in August that they were going to start trying. Her husband thought it would be fun to be able to tell everyone at Christmas. "You guys better get crackin'!" I told her.

She just got the official word from her doctor yesterday, and they told her she's five weeks along. Right now, they're putting the due date somewhere near July 20.

I'm so unbelievably excited. I can't wait to see ER in maternity clothes, to watch her belly grow, and to pick out tons and tons of gifts for her and the baby.

The only people they've told are ER's parents, her sister and BIL, and me. They want to tell her in-laws in person at Thanksgiving, and then her husband can start telling his friends (since he has to tell his parents first!). Not long after we got off the phone, I texted ER: "You guys are champs for being able to keep this quiet. I'm so excited I want to tell everyone, and I'm not even the one who's pregnant!"

I feel like I'm going to be an aunt!

I'll spend enough time in the kitchen NEXT week!

K is gone again. We didn't know about this trip until this morning.

Originally, he was supposed to go to Colorado this week for a conference. Then, a big Nor'easter hit last week, and a lot of the military bases in this area got closed both Thursday and Friday thanks to all the flooding. (Actually, a lot of EVERYTHING was closed Thursday and Friday.) The Colorado trip got cancelled, since there was no time to plan everything and get it approved.

K and I had talked about going to PA over the weekend since one of his friends would be in town. Once K was off Friday & I wasn't -- and since he was no longer supposed to be gone this week -- I told K to leave early and make it a guys' weekend. (Plus, it got me out of 14 hours in the car!)

And then this morning K's boss told him the trip is back on. Awesome. I told K to tell the boss he's on my shit list. (K had already told him.)

Now, I've got the night to myself, and it's crazy how much more time it feels like I have when it's just me. It's about the time K and I would usually reluctantly get up to get ready for the gym. What's funny is it always feels like no time at all since dinner, but tonight, I could've left 40 minutes ago. I've been lazy and trying to think of an excuse to not go.

I may have found it. I'm watching the Food Network and getting ideas for Thanksgiving dinner. We're staying at our house for the holidays this year. My brother will probably drive up, and K's work friend and his wife might be joining us if they don't head home for the holidays.

I've never cooked turkey, and I've never cooked real stuffing. This is going to be a big deal for me! Giada De Laurentiis just told us to not try any new recipes at the holidays, since you don't want that additional stress and have to worry about feeding it to your friends and family. Ha! Like I'm gonna be trying any of this crap on my own this week! If K's not here, I'm not cooking!

For the days when you need a pick-me-up

I saw a link to this site on PostSecret, and it's amazing!

http://1000awesomethings.com

Good thing I didn't read this article a year ago

Check out the needle-in-a-haystack trick these sanitation workers did. If I'd read this article last December, I'm not sure I wouldn't have tried for a little miracle myself!

Jury is back, and it's not good

I'm not a quitter. I don't want to be, anyway. But I hate this job.

There's nothing really bad about it, I guess. It's not unbearable. But I don't like it. My coworkers are OK, but the work itself? Not so good. I thought when I applied that this would be an admin/editing job. It's neither. It's entirely data entry. For a newspaper.

A newspaper.

I'm not a newspaper person. I struggled with that at my first job in Dallas. I felt like an outsider wandering the halls while everyone around me tried to figure out how to get people to subscribe to the paper again. I didn't subscribe, and I didn't want to.

The money isn't that good here. Not good enough to convince me to stay. But I can tough it out for the two months the job lasts, right?

Only there's so much memorization. So many special cases, and so many things that change on a regular basis. I've noticed myself zoning out when I get crazy code updates. I can't justify paying attention and committing these thigns to memory if I'm just going to be here for two months.

No matter what happens, I'm not in it for the long haul, so I've decided it's not worth the effort. It's nice earning a paycheck again (even if it is smaller than what it was 6 months ago). But is that enough reason to stay at a job that's not worth the effort?

For now, I've decided that my job search is not only back on, but it's in high gear. If I can find a job -- any job -- to take the place of this one, I can justify leaving to myself. But until then, I'll continue what I'm doing now: Thinking every five minutes about how much I'd like to just get up and never come back.

Restarting the counter

Until K and I moved to VA, the longest we'd been together consecutively was 20 days (his R&R last year). That all changed, though, just days before we moved out of our apartments in Dallas and Louisiana. Since June 24, we saw each other every single day ... until yesterday.

On Tuesday, K had to go to some sort of conference in Arlington. He left just after we met up for lunch.

I've been fine with him gone. It's been barely over 48 hours, so it's not like it's been that long.

But it's funny how you can get used to having someone around so much. He's on his way back home now. It'll be nice to have him back home, especially just in time for our weekly TV date (we love Flash Forward)!

Jury's still out on the job

But I did overhear (and participate in) some interesting conversations on my first day.

Overheard

Twenty-seven-year-old girl discussing (all day long) boys and dates she's been on. Went on one date last week with a lawyer ("Oopsie!") who was decently cute. "We'd make pretty babies!" she said. And she couldn't figure out why she doesn't have a boyfriend. Two words, woman: SLOW DOWN! (She also talked about how she wanted to find a boy to pay off her debt. And if he was fun to look at too, bonus. I'm thinking she's not the most mature 27-year-old I've met.)

Participated

Coworker: "Is your husband in the military?" (looking at my ring while asking)

Me: "Yes."

Coworker: "Is he an officer?"

Me: " ... Yes." (I hate that question, since if a person is asking it, they probably will judge me in some way based on the answer. Never mind the fact that I'M not the officer, and I wasn't born an officer's wife, either. Not to mention the fact I've never lived on post, and my first experience being an officer's wife is at a post where my husband is surrounded by people who outrank him.)

Coworker: "Air Force?"

Me: "No, Army." (What made her pick Air Force?)

Coworker: "Dang it, I was on a roll!"

Participated

Coworker: (incredulously) "You're married?"

Me: "Yes."

Coworker: "How old are you? You look so young!"

Me: "I'm 26."

Coworker: (slightly relieved) "Oh, so you're old enough to be married. You look 21!"

Overheard/Sat cautiously nearby but didn't participate

Nearest coworker strolled in at 10 this morning looking thrilled it was Monday (sense the sarcasm?). She was even more excited to learn that she had a new neighbor, since it meant that half her belongings, which she had arranged on my desk, would have to be confined to her own desk. She asked my boss whose idea it was to put me there. My boss said there was nowhere else for me to go. Coworker offered to move to another area of the building. I thought of telling her I don't bite, but I kept quiet in case she did. (Lucky for me, she's much nicer in the p.m.)

I can hardly wait for tomorrow (sense the sarcasm again?)!