Thanksgiving Countdown - Monday

T-minus four days until the main event. I have my lists of things to do and things to cook, and let me tell you - I'm going to be one busy little girl.

Apparently I felt I didn't have enough going on this week because I scheduled a parenting class for tonight and tomorrow from 6-8 pm. Our state will not grant a divorce until both parents have completed a parenting class. The closest one to my house is a half hour away.

So, tonight's agenda is: leave work at 4:30; pick up cheerleader child at 5; slow down in front of the house so she can tuck and roll out the door and I can speed off on my journey to being a better parent; come home and referee the fighting that has taken place while I've been gone; and clean up my dining room. You may ask why I need to clean my dining room? Well, the computer desk is in there, so that needs to be de-cluttered. My daughter built a magnesium model over the weekend, so the fallout from that needs to be removed. There is a box of stuff from my old office that I brought home in September and it's still sitting on the chair in the corner. I know, I know. I ground my kids for that stuff. I need to dust the chairs and the china cabinet.

I also need to review my cabinets to see if there is anything else I forgot from my two-page shopping list. I forgot evaporated milk for the chocolate pie, and a jar of turkey gravy. Yes, I admit it, I do not make turkey gravy from scratch. Reason one - because I don't cook a whole turkey and reason two- I'm making everything else from scratch, so I can skate on the gravy.

I think I'll have one child clean the desk and the other one do the chairs. Perhaps if I keep them busy while I'm gone they will have less time to argue with each other. (Ha!! I almost typed that sentence without laughing).

No Boys Allowed

First, let me preface this by saying I am not anti-men. I love men. I'm can change my own tire, mow my own lawn and kill my own spider, but I have no problem admiring a man who does it for me, especially without me having to ask. Quite frankly, I'm pretty impressed when they do it without expecting a pat on the head. Did I get a pat on the head when I cooked your dinner, washed your underwear, or birthed your child? Yeah, I didn't think so.

In the few months that I haven't had a man living in my house, I've noticed some things. My laundry piles have been cut in half. Who knew he wore that many clothes? Cleaning the bathroom is a breeze now. In fact, it stays cleaner longer now. Ditto on the rest of the house, and if I get the urge to vacuum at 9:30 at night, I can and not fear that I'm interrupting his TV coma.

I've also taken care of some a lot of little stuff around the house that we'd talked about doing but for some reason they never got done. Like sealing the kitchen door, re-grouting the bathtub and winterizing the lawn. I'm Annie Oakley with a caulk gun.

Don't get me wrong, it sucks sometimes that I now have to do all that stuff, in addition to the long list of mom stuff I already had, but I don't mind in the long run, because I have a sense of accomplishment when I'm done.

I'll be honest, I hired someone to clean my gutters. It's a two-story house with a pretty steep roof. In the end, I got it taken care of, so I can still claim a sense of accomplishment.