Sunday at the Sandwich Life
All day yesterday I thought it was Sunday so it's nice to have this unexpected additional day before Monday comes around the bend. Yesterday we pretty much hung out and enjoyed being tired, snacking on Jim Dennison's fabulous sweet potato chips (I heard raves about his collard greens as well but I didn't snag any), taking Owen to his guitar lesson and having our Saturday lunch at Fries and Peanuts. Ernie listened resignedly to me repeating, "I can't believe Jason was in our HOUSE" and "oh my gosh....Jason was SO wonderful" over and over. He thought so too he just doesn't gush the way I do....but he's used to me. Later we went to the store and bought our turkey and giggled while we shopped for other odds and ends. On the way back to the car I told him that I guessed if we still liked grocery shopping together then it must mean we're still in love. He just grinned.
So now it's Sunday 2.0 and we're being lazy; we just finished some of Ernie's biscuits, the boys are loudly playing upstairs, Ernie's reading bits of the newspaper out loud to me and I'm perusing facebook and playing Jason videos while trying to think of how to tell Jason how much he meant to us. In a little while we have to head over to my mother's house. We are finally shipping out some of the furniture and other things to Debbie tomorrow morning so we need to make sure things are organized for that.
My last dilemma in terms of my folks' house is what to do with the books. We're taking many of the books on antiques for ourselves and we may try to sell some of the duplicates ourselves but then the rest of their books....what to do? Most of the antique books are going to Debbie or me but there are still some and then stacks of other books, almost all non-fiction. When we checked around town earlier nobody was willing to buy for cash and we don't need that much credit. It's not even as though I want top dollar for them but I want them to go somewhere where they will be found by others that will appreciate them. Do I just send Ernie up to Powell's in Chicago? I just don't know..... Any ideas or recommendations would be appreciated.
I'm struggling a bit with planning for the holidays. Not Christmas in general----I can't wait to get our tree and decorate, have Fats and Kristi Rose here, make some cookies, spend too much money on my sweet peas....but Christmas Eve will be hard as we always spent that with my folks. And Thanksgiving will be difficult as well. The last three years we've been in the midst of losing everybody so there wasn't time to do anything but get through it. Judi and I had always talked about the way we would spend holidays together after my parents were gone. So now I find myself trying to figure out how to still savor the holidays and my memories but not feel too lost. Ernie and I have been tossing ideas around....how to make Thanksgiving a little different. We always had the dinner early as late in the day was hard for my parents....so perhaps this year we'll eat more towards evening and leave the first part of the day free for something new. The boys suggested a picnic breakfast somewhere....perhaps Meadowbrook or Allerton. Or depending on weather perhaps a movie---we never go to movies. That gets complicated though----Owen will want to see Harry Potter while Leo insists he HATES Harry Potter.... I don't know. Somehow we'll come up with a new tradition though....and maybe that will help.
Christmas Day will be o.k....but Christmas Eve will be hard. Meat pie without my mom? So we'll have to come up with something different to do that evening. I'll still have my tourtiere mind you, but something else to focus on as well..... Onward I guess....as I said, we bought our turkey yesterday and YES I did get an almost 20 lb bird for three or four of us but damn it....small turkeys just don't taste the same! And we had turkey stock, made from some turkey wings and necks we bought, bubbling on the stove all evening so I guess we'll get there. I've started Christmas lists and even bought the candied cherries for the Christmas shortbread cookies that Judi always used to make.
Damn, now I've made myself sad. But I know how to fix THAT! Below....behold the wonders of Jason Ringenberg in my very own house! HA!