Thanksgiving Adventures

I know this is a little late, but I just wanted to update you all on our Thanksgiving adventures. This year Thanksgiving was a time of firsts for me. It was the first time I had ever planned and cooked a complete Thanksgiving meal on my own. I am happy to report that everything went pretty well. I was completely up for trying new and different ideas.

For the turkey, I experimented by using a brining (sp?) technique (kind of like a marinade using salt) and it was really fabulous (if I do say so myself!). The brine was the key -- it made the turkey so moist and delicious. I will definitely do that again in the future. I also used a stuffing recipe similar to what my mother-in-law uses and although it wasn't quite as good as hers, (as that is utterly impossible) it was pretty decent.

The only casualty of the night was the rolls. I underestimated the prep time and tried to make up for it by putting them on top of the oven to rise faster. I ended up cooking half of the dough and it was a complete mess. I ended up just bagging them and using a pre-made set of rolls that I had bought just in case. I always have trouble with rolls! However, I am no quitter so I am determined to try it again (and hopefully get it right) this Christmas.

On Black Friday there was no way I was going to subject myself to the horrors that accompany any kind of shopping venue, so instead, we went downtown to visit the newly reopened American History Museum. Unfortunately, the National Mall was not any less crowded than the local shopping malls. We didn't stay too long and vowed to come back on a day that wasn't so crazy. Here are a few pictures from that day:

Halloween Fun

Paging the Tooth Fairy

This is a little bit of old news, but things have been crazy around here with Halloween so I haven't been the best at updating the blog. Two weeks ago, Alyssa lost her first tooth. She was very excited about the whole process. It had been loose for a few weeks and then it finally came out in school on a Friday. She couldn't wait to get home and tell everyone about it. I have never seen her so excited to go to bed. She couldn't wait to go to bed so she could see if, "the tooth fairy was real." Apparently there was some debate about this amongst her Kindergarten friends. It really pleased me to see the faith that she had. Alyssa just knew that if something was left under her pillow then the Tooth Fairy must be real (even if she couldn't see the T.F. with her own eyes). To Alyssa's delight, the Tooth Fairy did not disappoint and left a very crisp one dollar bill under her pillow. Check out a few pictures of the tooth & Alyssa's new smile:

Georgetown boat trip

We had family in town so we decided to do the tourist thing and see the D.C. sights. However, this time we wanted to try something a little different so we took a boat tour from Old Town Alexandria to Georgetown. The way out was a little cold, but it was beautiful and extremely relaxing. It was fun to see the Monuments from a little different perspective -- from the Potomac River. We had a great time.

It's official: I am a certifiable nutcase

It has been an interesting day... It's only 3:14 pm and I have come to the conclusion that I am officially crazy. For many of you this might not be a new revelation, but for some reason I was still clinging to the notion that sanity had not totally escaped me. Not after today... Let me explain what brought about this discovery:

So, today I set up a doctor's appointment for Alyssa thinking that she had another eczema flare up since she has been sporting a nasty-looking rash around her mouth. I am thinking its no big deal -- I'll go in, get some heavy duty steroid cream and everything will clear up in a day or two. Well, that would be a big, fat NO. Turns out Alyssa has (and probably has had for a while) a serious case of strep throat. This totally catches me off guard. I'm thinking, "how did I not know that she was so sick?" Sure, she has had what I thought was a little cold and has been crankier than usual in the past week but I never guessed it was so serious. Now I am feeling extremely guilty for yelling at her more than a few times over the past few days because of her crankiness (or perhaps mine -- sometimes its hard to tell). At this point I am feeling like the worst-Mom-ever.

Finally, I get over the shock of the diagnosis and I temporarily push aside the ever-present feelings of "mommy-guilt." Now I start to do a little self-assessment. I haven't been feeling especially great lately. I have been really, really tired and my throat has been a little sore. I start to think, "Do I have strep?" Great, just when I thought this day couldn't get any better...

Then I have a sudden thought that actually cheers me up. This is where the nutty part comes in. I am ashamed to admit that I actually thought to myself, "Well, if I have strep, maybe I could wait or day or two to go to the doctor and that way I could lose a few pounds, five if I am lucky." Who does that? Who actually thinks that way? Luckily, I caught myself and reminded myself that no, I do not have an eating disorder so that kind of thinking is just plain crazy. Is craziness a symptom of strep?