Friday Things
1. How was your Thanksgiving holiday? Tell me what fabulous things you ate! We had an awesome day at home with lots of family, a massive turkey and more desserts than we could possibly consume; which is to say, we had an absolutely fantastic holiday. I spent most of my time after dinner on the couch, with my feet up, because thatโs what pregnant people are supposed to do, right?!
2.ย Thanksgiving prep did not go off without incident, however. I almost ruined Thanksgiving. Seriously. True story โ I take my garbage disposal for granted. I throw a lot of stuff down there. Full disclosure: my husband has warned me multiple times not to put potato peels down the garbage disposal. I keep doing it because Iโve always done it and Iโve never had a problem. Well, on the night before Thanksgiving, it finally became a problem. My mom had spent all day at my house helping me prep for Thursday and around 6pm the kitchen sink totally clogged. My father-in-law made a 50-minute drive to try to fix it, saying that this was his third Thanksgiving in a row trying to fix a clogged garbage disposal. Long story short(er), he was not able to fix it and said the clog was too far down and weโd need to call a plumber.
Nothing like setting your alarm for Thanksgiving morning to let the Roto-Rooter plumber in and praying that it will get fixed and youโll actually have access to a kitchen sink on Thanksgiving. Luckily, he was able to get it in working order in less than an hour, and said that Thanksgiving is their busiest day of the year; he had 6 more service calls after us โ all clogged kitchen sinks. Oops. In case youโre a garbage disposal abuser like me, here is an article on what NOT to put down the garbage disposal.
3. While weโre still on the topic of Thanksgiving, did you do any Black Friday shopping? My mom braved the mall, but I stayed firmly planted on my couch the entire day and ate leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pecan pie. We did, however, shop online for new health insurance which is very, well, grown-up and boring.
4.ย A few nights ago, we caught a โbehind the scenesโ type of show on REM, which included a snippet of the band playing โLosing My Religionโ. It immediately reminded me of high school, and also, as an extension, the show โMy So-Called Lifeโ. Oh how far Claire Danes has come!
5. Speaking of which, I was beyond agitated that Homeland was off this past week. I didnโt realize they were on a week break and spent ALL DAY looking forward to watching it after the previous episode. Then we went to turn it on andโฆ nothing. Ugh! So frustrating! Needless to say, Iโm really ready for this weekโs episode.
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6. While Homeland is the only series weโre currently watching right now, I was excited to see that The Americans will be coming back at the end of January and that House of Cards will be released at the end of February. Iโm sure Iโll be a sleepless, walking zombie at that point, but Iโm still looking forward to them nonetheless!
7. My husband and I went out this past weekend and stocked up on some newborn clothes since most of the baby clothes weโve received as gifts are all larger sizes. Oh my goodness, every outfit was more adorable than the one before it! We had to seriously restrain ourselves, but got the little guy a nice assortment of starter clothes. Things are definitely more and moreย real by the dayโฆ Iโll beย 35 weeks on Monday!
8. If you love holiday music and havenโt heard of them yet, you HAVE to check out Straight No Chaser. They are anย a cappellaย group that formed in the mid-90โs at Indiana University. They have some amazing Christmas music that I just love. I think they tour every December, and really wanted to see them in Pittsburgh this year, but just didnโt think that I could sit comfortably through an entire concert. Maybe next year!
9. Do you have a list of holiday cookies that youโre planning to bake? Lay โem on me! Iโm planning to do a little more meal prep for baby time than extra holiday baking this year, but Iโd love to live vicariously through you :)
10. TGIF! Duke just loooooooves sleeping next to his big brother!
I put very little down the garbage disposal. Iโm so glad you were able to get it fixed quickly on Thanksgiving. I had a fuse going bad on my refrigerator awhile ago on a Sunday. It took forever to find someone to fix it. It was such a relief when it was mission accomplished.
I love your blog. I happen to be up late reading it and came across your garbage disposal story. I have too clog ours up with potatoe peels twice. Finally learned my lesson after two visits from the Plumber โฆso no more potatoe peels. However one year on my Birthday I was cooking a big dinnerโฆ.homemade lasagna, homemade spaghetti sauce and homemade meatballsโฆ.cooking up a storm and one box of lasagna noodles exploded over the sink. I picked up as much as I could but some of the noodles ..well slipped through. Needless to say we had to call the Plumber again on a Sunday. Well I think they took pity on me when they found out I was cooking my birthday dinner and they showed my husband a trick. Take a washcloth and stuff it in one side of the sink drain then take the plastic drain clog and just create the suction several times and violaโฆ.drain unclogs. in fact weโve had a couple of issues since and we just do that little trick and literally no more plumber!!!! I still donโt put potato peels down the drain but we havenโt had to call the plumber when the sink gets clogged. We always wonder why they would show us that trick but weโre glad they did!!! Oh and I was happy to cook my own BD dinnerโฆ.hubby got me a new stove and double ovens that year so I was breaking it in with a big Italian meal!!!
Oh goodnessโฆIโve always wanted to cuddle with your puppies! :)
Hi Michelle, I read the link to what not to put down the disposal and thinking a list of what you CAN put down there would be shorter!!! Lettuce???? Egg shells??? I have a friend that NEVER uses hersโฆwhy have it then??? We compost most stuff but in the winter it is not so convenient to schlep the scraps thru the mud to the composting bins :(
Have you tried The Newsroom? Itโs my new favorite right now โ HBO. I think the final season just started, but weโve been watching the previous seasons on On Demand. And good for you showing restraint in purchasing baby clothes. I still canโt seem to get a handle of that ;-)
I am hysterical at the garbage disposal bit! Hahahaha. My husband keeps putting banana peels down ours and I keep telling him to STAAHHHP because the maintenance guy has been here 3 times and weโve only lived here 9 months. Good thing we rent!
I love reading your Friday posts! Several months ago I spent a week in bed sick and remembered your comments on the show Scandal. I saw it on Netflix so I decided to give it a try. I was hooked by episode 3 and have since got caught up! Go Team Fitz!! That said, we have very similar taste in TV shows. I love Homeland, Game of Thrones, House of Cards, The Americans and so on. I was wondering if youโve given Newsroom a try? Or Downton Abbey? I remember you posted a while back that it might be too girly for your husband, but I can assure you itโs not!
Other contenders: Justified, Shameless, White Collar, Revenge and Nashville.
We LOVE Straight No Chaser!! My fiance is actually doing his Ph.D at IU right now (so we live in Bloomington!) and we have tickets to see them this Thursday! I canโt wait!!
Iโm so with you about Homeland! Really disappointing.
My favourite Christmas cookies are savoury onesโฆMacadamia Cheese Biscuits (in Australia thatโs a cookie)โฆthey are buttery, cheesy, nutty bites of deliciousnessโฆand they go great with a glass of champagne! I also love shortbread cookies. My fruit for my motherโs White Christmas Cake has been soaking in brandy for the past week and Iโm going to make your Maple Walnut Fudge recipe again this year. And if I find time, Butter Tarts (my Canadian heritage). Happy Christmas preparations!
Michelle,
We had a snow storm the day before Thanksgiving. We knew it was coming, so we postponed the Thanksgiving feast until Saturday the 29th. My hubby didnโt get home until 7 AM on Thanksgiving after working 23 hours. The power was out from 12:30 AM to 1 PM on Thanksgiving. For the postponed feast we had antipasto, homemade mozzarella and pizza to start. Then we had lasagna, turkey and ham with roasted yams, candied yams, turkey gravy, sausage and bacon corn bread stuffing, broccoli, 96 stuffed mushrooms. For dessert I made an ultimate crumb apple crumble and brownies. My sister brought a store bought cake. My other sister baked some cookies and my brother-in-law brought some cannoli. I think thatโs everything,
Annamaria
I look forward to your Friday posts, so I can see the โboysโ. You will have to start including them during the weekโฆespecially when the new boy arrivesโฆPLEASE!
Congrats on your upcoming baby! You look wonderful. Love your blog. Today I made toffee almond bars and Italian anise cookies for a party Iโm going to tomorrow night. My girls and I think baking is one of the best parts of Christmas and we have at least 8-10 types we make every year. Keep those feet up.
A plumber told me that the only things that should go in the garbage disposal are the scraps on dishes, mixing bowls and so on. Now when Iโm doing food prep I put a colander in the sink. All peels and scraps go in it and any liquid drains out. When Iโm done the contents of the colander goes in the trash (or compost heap if you have one).
I was a garbage disposal abuser in the past. Until I clogged my momโs sink! She was not happy! Have you thought about composting? Potato, carrot, apple peels and egg shells are all good for composting. For Thanksgiving, I made Pumpkin Creme Brulee. Yummmm! And I had a blast playing with the torch! Congrats to you and your CCC on your expected baby boyโweโll want pics you know!
Oh I canโt tell you how many times I thought I destroyed my garbage disposal because of vegetable peels! I did the same thing last Thanksgiving with potato peels and I thought everything was over! My aunt was there thankfully with her genius idea of unclogging a garbage disposalโฆA PLUNGER! Oh my gosh it changed my life! I now keep one under my kitchen sink that is just for unclogging the garbage disposal. Plug the other side of your kitchen sink to create a suction and slightly fill the garbage disposal side with water (itโs probably already filled at that point) and plunge until it goes down then run your garbage disposal with water until itโs completely clear!
We totally tried the plunger to no avail before we called my father-in-law, but yes, if itโs not a bad clog, it definitely works!