Thanksgiving Travels

Thursday morning we drove to Creighton, NE for Thanksgiving with Mark's side of the family. We were late leaving the house but still had breakfast at McDonald's since we'd promised Cassie we'd eat there. Finally arrived in Creighton at 1pm.

Everyone was there, except Gordie's wife. Had a nice time. The younger kids had a blast together, the older kids and I played with our laptops together and I showed them the wonders of Lexar's Power To Go jump drives, and Kody harassed Ryan by calling his cell phone but labeled it "private" so Ryan wouldn't know who it was. Kody showed me how to do it (*67+attach+contacts+choose contact, or *67+area code+number), so when Ryan was watching Kody, I'd call Ryan. Had him going for quite a while but we finally 'fessed up. We're so easily entertained!

Everyone was gone by 7:30pm or so. Got Cassie and myself ready for bed and we crawled onto the sofa-sleeper and watched "March of the Penguins." Mark wanted to be home the next day in time to watch the NE-CO game on TV at 11:00am but we didn't leave his mom's on Friday until 9:15am.

We arrived home at 12:30pm, unpacked the van, left Mark watching the game on TV, and Cassie and I headed over to Mom's. We visited her folks' and Dad's graves at Lincoln Memorial, went to Campbell's Nursery to look at Christmas decorations (very disappointed at what they had to offer), and on to Tico's to eat.

After dropping off Mom, we picked up Mark and went to Home Depot and bought a 7.5ft, slim artificial tree. I really wanted a pre-lit tree so I wouldn't have to mess with lights any longer, but after looking at them I wasn't all that thrilled with the plugs and how the lights were strung. I'm not getting rid of my six-foot Mountain King that I purchased from Brandeis department store in 1983. It still looks great but it simply has too wide of a circumference for where I'm putting the tree now.

We returned home and Cassie, Eli and I did four loads of laundry, folded some clothes, and I did dishes while they hung around underfoot. I gave Cassie a bath and got her set up in the Big Bed with Food Network on the TV. I ran down and showered but by the time I'd returned the TV was on Animal Planet. Cassie claims Food Network had on a host that we don't like (but she couldn't specify who) and had Mark change the channel. So instead we watched lions hunt cute antelope and try to avoid being grabbed by crocodiles while drinking. You know, the usual blood-letting for family fare.

I was exhausted. It had been a busy two days and I still had to work the weekend!

Book Display - Adoption

November is Adoption Awareness Month. The following are part of this week's display:

Adopting Alyosha: A Single Man Finds a Son in Russia by Robert Klose

Adoption for Dummies by Tracy Barr and Katrina Carlisle

Adoption Journeys: Parents Tell Their Stories by Carole S. Turner

Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming America by Adam Pertman

An Empty Lap: One Couple's Journey to Parenthood by Jill Smolowe

Be My Baby: Parents and Children Talk About Adoption by Gail Kinn

Birth Marks: Adoption in Contemporary America by Sandra Patton

Boys Town: The Constant Spirit by James R. Ivey

China Ghosts: My Daughter’s Journey to America, My Passage to Fatherhood by Jeff Gammage

China’s Lost Girls (DVD) by National Geographic Society

Dim Sum, Bagels, and Grits: A Sourcebook for Multicultural Families by Myra Alperson

How It Feels to be Adopted by Jill Krementz

How to Adopt Internationally: A Guide for Agency-Directed and Independent Adoptions by Jean Nelson Erichsen and Heino R. Erichsen

I Love You Like Crazy Cakes by Rose Lewis

The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided To Go Get Pregnant by Dan Savage

The Lost Daughters of China: Abandoned Girls, Their Journey to America, and the Search for a Missing Past by Karin Evans

Love in the Driest Season: A Family Memoir by Neely Tucker (two Americans adopt a Zimbabwean girl)

Loving Across the Color Line: A White Adoptive Mother Learns About Race by Sharon E. Rush

Moving Heaven & Earth: A Personal Journey into International Adoption by Barbara U. Birdsey with George Cadwalader

A Passage of the Heart: Writings from Families with Children from China Edited by Amy Klatzkin

The Russian Word for Snow: A True Story of Adoption by Janis Cooke Newman

The Waiting Child: How the Faith and Love of One Orphan Saved the Life of Another by Cindy Champnella

West Meets East: Americans Adopt Chinese Children by Richard Tessler, Gail Gamache, Liming Liu

A Short Week

Tuesday Cassie was well enough to return to school, and packed two bags of critters and toys to take with her to Grma's in the evening. The weather turned cold and we both tried out the body glue to keep up our socks. That stuff works great! My socks didn't fall at all, and Cassie reports her socks stayed up as well. And it washed off easily with soap and water.

I got home at 9:15pm and grabbed my shower while Mark finished Cassie's bath. Her cough at bedtime wouldn't stop, so she cuddled on my lap while I watched my "House" timer tape. By 11pm the Dimetapp finally kicked in and she was able to lie down and sleep. I didn't take my Gabapentin so I could be aware of Cassie during the night. Sadly, this meant I got two hours of sleep while Cassie slept through the night with no trouble!

She awoke at 6:15am Wednesday and suggested she didn't need to go to school since she still had a cough. I reminded her there was no school today and she was going to Vickie's daycare instead. Cassie was so excited about going to Vickie's that she was up, dressed, her hair done and her coat on by 6:45am! And I hadn't managed yet to locate my clothes.

I had the Day From Heck at work. Ill-behaved patrons and computers that acted up were the theme. So I stopped at Tico's on the way home and got a small bag of chips, 4-oz of hot sauce, and three slices of chocolate mint pie. Cassie and I had a nice snack when I got home.

Then Cassie and I went to Target for laundry soap. We live on the wild side!

Thanksgiving Aftermath

I kept Cassie home from Sunday School as she was coughing up a storm. I did some work on my piles of paper, and wrote on the backs of photos. Also gathered up some laundry and ran a few loads. Mark was sprawled in the easy chair reading the paper.

Cassie had cabin fever and since I was planning to send her to school on Monday, I took her along with me to run a few errands. If nothing else, this got her acclimated to physical activity. We hit the post office, went to Mom's, looked at photo frames at Shopko (she's a great little shopper and found all the sizes I needed but one) and stopped at Taco Inn for lunch.

Deb S. and her hubby, Charlie, met us at Taco Inn to deliver my replacement Tupperware seal and my body glue. I also won the door prize at her open house! Can't wait to use my instant manicure.

Cassie and I headed on to Younkers and Dillards looking for a pasta pot, but couldn't get myself to shell out 120 bucks. Then on to Target, and back home to do four more loads of laundry. I made soup for Cassie and me, changed sheets, got us bathed and jammied and we were in bed snoring away in no time. I was still tired from Thanksgiving preparations.

Cassie's cough seemed worse on Monday so I kept her home again from school. Mark stayed with her this time. When I got home in the evening, I grabbed a quick supper, tossed in a couple more loads of laundry, then got Cassie and me ready for bed and we hopped into the "big bed" with our laptops. Cassie is no longer happy at playing with the surplus keyboard and mouse and pretending she has a laptop, now she asks to borrow mine to email Grma M.

There's something not right about a 5yo able to use the fingerpad and properly move the mouse.

Thanksgiving On My Side

Saturday we held the Thanksgiving Dinner for my side of the family at our place. Scott did the turkey, I made the Frozen Salad and Lemon Cheesecake Pie, Mark made the Pumpkin Pie and peeled the potatoes, Betsy made candied apples, and Mom brought the gravy.

Cassie was very excited about everyone coming over. Paige showed up first. I had everything done and was just waiting for Scott to bring the turkey so we could reheat it, so I had the chance to spend some time with Paige. Her brother, Dustin, stopped by to pick up a movie from her. We haven't seen Dustin in years and I invited him to stay and have Thanksgiving with us.

Finally Scott arrived with the turkey and, while waiting for that to heat, we celebrated Paige's 17th birthday. She opened her gifts receiving everything from a flash drive to movies to Calvin & Hobbes books to a popcorn popper complete with popcorn, oil and salt.

After eating our turkey dinner, we had birthday cake along with pie. Since I did most of the prep work for the dinner, the guys washed the dishes. Scott always refuses to dry my stemware as the first year we used it he managed to break one. He's been ribbed about that ever since.

Cassie was still fighting her cold and spent most of the time coughing, but she had a terrific time meeting Dustin and having her family around.

This was also the first family gathering that's taken place at our home since we adopted Eli. All morning he was nervous as I put in the table leaves, set the table, got out additional chairs and just generally picked up. (I followed Cassie's advice to put everything in a bedroom and shut the door. With her being ill I couldn't get the house picked up as I wanted.) He knew something was up. He kept hiding downstairs, then would return in a few minutes because he was curious about the goings-on. When guests began arriving he'd disappear for a bit, but would turn up again to get his full due of pettings. He managed to get himself into the middle of everything. However, after everyone left he sprawled on the couch and took a giant nap. He was worn out from all the attention and activity.

I was worn out too and managed to get Cassie and I bathed and into bed by 8:15pm. Since her bedroom was the one into which we'd stashed everything, she couldn't get to her bed. So she and I slept in the Big Bed along with Eli. As you can imagine, the first hour was spent whispering, giggling and coughing. But soon her Dimetapp and my Gabapentin kicked in and we were sound asleep.

Cassie and Her Cough

Cassie caught my cold and has been coughing all week, getting progressively worse. I kept her home from school last Friday, from Sunday School yesterday, and from school again today. We spent most of the time with the vaporizer running, I applied Vick's Vapor Rub to her chest all day, and we cuddled on the couch beneath quilts, watching her dvds. Just let me make this clear - I'm not a fan of Tom & Jerry cartoons.

Her Words of Wisdom for the day (noted during breakfast): "It's hard to cough with a full mouth."

People are People

Cassie's school is definitely multi-cultural. In reading lists of students who have won awards, there's not a Tom, John, or Mary in the bunch. Here's a short list of sample names from Cassie's kindergarten class: Alberto, Amarion, Amira, Anastasia, Cartel, Daijanae, Gabriel, Gryphon, Hermione, Jalen, Princess, Quar-tus.

Her teacher distributes "Happy Notes" to students who do good work or behave themselves. When a student collects 10 notes they can turn them in for a prize. Cassie redeemed 10 notes today and chose a stuffed rabbit (like this kid needs more stuffed animals). She's named the bunny "Rashelle."

Even better, she sees nothing weird about that.

A Full Saturday

Cassie and I were on the go all day.

We left the house at 9:00 and hit the post office to mail an envelope to Paige of Cassie’s kindergarten photo. Then we hit the credit union to get cash for Betsy and some cash for me. Onward to LaMar’s for a big box of donuts that we took with us to Betsy’s. Gave her the cash, a 5x7 of Cassie’s kindergarten photo, and ate our breakfast there.

We headed on to Grma’s and dropped off more kindergarten photos. Cassie wanted to stay and play with Grma for a bit. Then we headed back home to get the checkbook. On to the vet’s to pay a bill then we decided to run by the Quilted Kitty. I got some fat quarters and Cassie chose some cat buttons.

It was past our lunch time and Cassie felt like Tico’s so we headed there to eat. Then we stopped at Office Depot and Target. Finally walked in the door at 3pm.

Cassie and I sorted laundry and tossed in a couple of loads. I made us a quick supper then I busied myself sorting Cassie’s papers into a Memory Box, while she sat next to me coloring and practicing her writing. We also sang “Into the Air Junior Birdman” several times.

Got her bathed and in bed, I showered and hopped into bed with the laptop. Worked on my blog while watching my Friday night timer tape ("Ghost Whisperer" and "Numb3rs"). Finally turned in at 12:30am, but at least I got a lot accomplished.

Colds, Sleep, Deer, and Thanksgiving

I spent the first part of this week down with a cold. “Cold” sounds so innocuous. As if I’m comfortably sitting in an easy chair wrapped in a quilt, sipping tea and enjoying a TV show; just resting until the little cold bug decides to leave. Nothing implies the stuffed sinuses, the pounding head out to here, the raw nose, the body aches, the raspy throat, the deep cough that’s bringing up a lung, and the bone-tiredness that all has to be ignored to care for a child. Can you spell M-o-m-m-y? Fortunately Cassie was tired and I was able to get her to bed at 8pm. My little night owl was actually asleep by 8:15pm.

Sleep. Not something I’ve been familiar with for over five years. Why in the world would menopause affect sleep? Sleep wasn’t affected at age 12 when it all began, doesn’t make sense for sleep to be affected at this end of things. Poor Cassie has never known her mom to be wide-awake, alert, and full of energy. But while taking my shoulder meds last week a wonderful side effect of the Gabapentin was sleep. It didn’t knock me out, but kept me asleep. Sadly, last Sunday was my first night without this wonder drug. And sure enough, I got three hours of sleep. Not even all together mind you but in one hour segments followed by two or three hours of lying awake. No wonder I catch every cold and virus that comes calling.

So I called my internist, Holly McMillan, and told her I’ve become accustomed now to sleeping through the night and wanted to continue doing so. She told me to keep taking the Gabapentin and call her in three months. But not to pull apart the capsules and dissolve them in a spoon like I had been doing (I can’t swallow pills). I can pull apart the capsules but should sprinkle it over applesauce. It takes me about an hour to get moving now in the mornings but happily I’m sleeping. Wonder how long it will take to get caught up?

Friday morning Cassie and I had breakfast at McDonald’s at 27th & “W” streets. As we turned into McDonald’s we saw a deer bound across 27th street, through the parking lot, across 26th street and wander around the yards of those houses. We lost sight of the deer between some of the houses. Cassie thought it was cool to see a deer but worried that Animal Control would kill it. I told her they would catch it and put it someplace safe.

She’s worried about animals now. Thursday night we had a discussion about where hamburgers come from. And sausage, and the pepperoni on her pizza, and steak, and bacon. She was quite horrified that we kill animals to eat them. To quote her, “Eyyew.” So I’m gonna have to work on a few vegetarian entrees. Wonder what she’ll think of Thanksgiving now?

Speaking of, Thanksgiving has caught me flat-footed. We always celebrate with my side of the family the weekend-before. I wasn’t prepared for that being NEXT WEEKEND!

Friday night Mark and Cassie met me at the library and we walked to Noodles for supper. Sitting at a table next to us was another family with an Asian daughter about Cassie's age. The girl took note of Cassie right away and kept looking over, smiling at us.

Then Mark went to work and Cassie and I went to Grma’s to work out Thanksgiving details. I have a lot of picking up to do before next weekend. Cassie informed me we could just hide everything in the big bedroom and shut the door! What a smart child.

Book Display - Thanksgiving

I left the Halloween book display up for a second week, but took it down today. This week's display covers Thanksgiving - choosing a menu, preparing the meal, setting the table, making a toast.

Betty Crocker Celebrate!: A Year-Round Guide to Holiday Food and Fun by Betty Crocker.

Betty Crocker Complete Thanksgiving Cookbook: All You Need to Cook a Foolproof Dinner by Betty Crocker.

Chuck Williams’ Thanksgiving & Christmas edited by Chuck Williams. Includes all the information the home cook needs – from equipment advice and roasting and carving instructions to a complete glossary.

Family Celebrations: Prayers, Poems, and Toasts for Every Occasion by June Cotner.

Guests Without Grief: Entertaining Made Easy for the Hesitant Host by Paula Jhung.

Home for the Holidays Cookbook by Susan Carlisle Payne.

Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Encyclopedia of Wine, 1998 by Hugh Johnson.

Our Best Holiday Menus magazine by Better Homes and Gardens. A special interest publication featuring 14 fabulous feasts with make-ahead directions with every menu. Includes Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas gatherings, holiday buffets, New Year’s parties.

Over the River and Through the Wood by Lydia Maria Child, pictures by Brinton Turkle. The Thanksgiving song is reprinted here in its entirety, along with almost forgotten verses, together with simple piano and guitar accompaniments. Full-color illustrations show the families preparing for the day from the point of view of Grandma preparing the meal to the younger families making the journey.

The Perfect Setting by Peri Wolfman and Charles Gold. Table settings for all occasions, any time of day, from the simple to the sublimely elegant.

The Simple Art of Napkin Folding: 94 Fancy Folds for Every Tabletop Occasion by Linda Hetzer.

Special Occasions: The Best of Martha Stewart Living by Martha Stewart. Menus, recipes & entertaining ideas.

The Thanksgiving Book: An Illustrated Treasury of Lore, Tales, Poems, Prayers, and the Best in Holiday Feasting by Jerome Agel and Jason Shulman.

Thanksgiving Dinner: Recipes, Techniques, and Tips for America’s Favorite Celebration by Anthony Dias Blue and Kathryn K. Blue.

Toasts: Over 1,500 of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces by Paul Dickson.

Halloween

Cassie had a fun Halloween. Dressing for school, she wore her black tee-shirt with a ghost on it that reads, “Boo!” I braided her hair and she wore stick-on, ghost earrings.

Then she won the classroom pumpkin. Mrs. Allen had a carved pumpkin in the class and everyone’s name was put in a hat. One of the students got to draw a name and Cassie was the lucky winner. It’s a good-sized pumpkin and I asked how she got it home. According to Cassie, Mrs. Allen put it in her backpack! How she got it to fit I have no idea.

(I feel badly though that Cassie won. She has parents who took her to a pumpkin patch, got pumpkins for each family member, we carved them together as a family, and lit them every evening. Knowing the demographics of her school there must be several children who don’t have parents who’ll spend time with them let alone have a pumpkin. Think: rich kid wins the bike.)

Then Mark delivered her to the library at 6pm so we could head-out directly from there. Mark decided not to take the night-off from his part-time night job at Lincoln Square (nee Miller & Paine department store) so I took Cassie all around by myself. We Trick ‘r Treated at several friends’ homes, our neighborhood, Betsy’s, Grma’s neighborhood, and Grma’s. Scott and Cassie had carved a pumpkin Tuesday evening and Scott had it outside all lit up on display.

By Cassie's standards her evening was a success - her treat bag was overflowing. Finally got her to bed at 9:45pm!