Like The Foxfire 5 joke, or playing "ketchup"

For a couple years before I left Virginia, I made an attempt at my own Thanksgiving tradition -I hosted a 'girlfriends' Thanksgiving. I invited my single friends over and started serving margaritas at 10am. I made a pot roast for Jodye, who doesn't like turkey, and home made macaroni and cheese. Dawn came and brought venison and other "Pennsylvania delicacies".


Everyone spent the night, and the next day we went to brunch and had mimosas and toasted our birthdays (early, but we only saw each other a couple times a year, so we had to optimize our time together as well as maximize the damage to our respective livers.)


When I moved here, Thanksgiving weekend happily became home improvement weekend. Last year, I painted my bedroom. This year my plans were far more ambitious. So ambitious in fact, I needed professional help. I had 11 unruly, pokey-leaved-holly bushes ripped out , and little odd looking trees chainsaw-ed down.. old stumps were removed, two bottles of round up went onto the odd-potentially human eating plant growing in the southeast corner of the yard. Other things on the list include replacing the front door and the back storm door (arguably the most important door in the house, as it's the one with the dog door in it) a hole in my bedroom wall will be patched and painted, a new light fixture hung over my kitchen table, new window blinds will go up in all the windows in the front of the house and some old, unused wood structures in my backyard were torn down. Grass seed will go down, mulch too. Also, I bought hardwood flooring for the living room and master bedroom. I've been getting estimates on a new deck for the backyard.

Pictures, they will be a-comin'. Those of the before and after variety.

If you're thinking I got carried away, you're probably right, but hush up, okay?, because I'm really happy. My non-traditional spending of a very traditional holiday leaves me pleased as punch.

For my birthday frivolity, I took the advice of the lovely Redneck Scottsdale Princess and went designer handbag shopping on E-bay. I came away with two Coach purses and one Coach wallet. I also blew more than a few bucks at L'Occitane. That's frivolous, and fabulous, and just what this girl wanted for her birthday. The actual birthday will likely be spent doing yardwork..because the paying of someone else to do the big stuff leaves the little stuff for me. Of course, I could always wake up on the day and decide I want to eat pie and wear my pajamas all day and make the yardwork wait. It's been known to happen.

I've been completely unable to finish a blog lately. I start them and then my brain turns to mush. I'm blaming it on my productiveness at home and at work which has been leaving me busier than the proverbial one-legged man in a butt kicking contest.

As usual, the end of the year always leaves me feeling like I can't catch up, but I never know what exactly it is I'm trying to catch.

Right now, though, I'd settle for 8 hours of sleep.