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Well, I did it. Here I am, making my final November 2009 post. I did 30 posts, but not in 30 days– since I started November 2nd, I didn’t actually do the whole month.

I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with my blog in the future. I don’t think I will force you to read a post every day anymore. But I don’t want it to languish. I’ll try to keep up the Friday Recipe… but that means I need to learn more recipes!

This was my first post of the month. I guess I kept you hanging on about my zyrtec habit and the swine flu, huh? I decided there really wasn’t that much of a story with the swine flue. We had it, we survived. We hope we don’t get it again. The end. Here is info about what can happen when you get hooked on Zyrtec. It happened to me, and it took me about 3 weeks to get it out of my system and stop itching. I never did pick up my ukulele this month. Maybe if I wasn’t posting so much in my blog, I would have. Haha. And the funk I’ve been in since graduating last December is lifting, so I guess my goal with participating in NaBloPoMo November 2009 has been accomplished.

I will try not to stay away so long next time. But I will be a bit relieved that I don’t HAVE to post every day anymore.

Ciao for now!

Wow, today is November 29th. I really lost count of days this month– I have had to count back on my fingers to the last date I can remember– Monday November 16th, my grandmother’s birthday.

Since November 2nd, I actually did post every day this month, didn’t I? I haven’t necessarily had a lot of substance, but something short everyday- links to pictures, recipes, etc. I don’t really know what else I want this blog to be. I have another blog for sporadic complaining, and I have facebook for keeping in touch with people. I think not posting between May and November was a mistake, but I don’t think I need to keep posting every day. Maybe just once a week? Should I be more personal here? I don’t really want to go into things like job hunting, etc. I stopped using laurushka on my resume, but I’m sure resourceful folks could find this by googling my name, if they wanted. I’ve been meaning to update my website (which this blog is part of) to include some papers I wrote for school. If I did that, it would make it even easier for a resourceful folk to see this blog. Is this site a plus or a minus to a potential employer? I’m just typing as a I think here… I still have one more day to the NaBloPoMo Challenge. Any requests for a final blog posting topic?

Eek, I’m at the end of the pictures. Will have to come up with a post with substance tomorrow night!

Had enough turkey? If not,  here’s a recipe they were handing out at Trader Joe’s last year:
Thanksgiving in a Skillet

1 pkg Ground Turkey
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 stick butter
1 pkg diced yams
1 pkg Stuffing mix
3 1/2 cups water

Melt butter in skillet with cover. Add onions and ground turkey. Cook until the onions are soft and turkey is cooked through. Add diced yams, water and stuffing seasoning pack to skillet. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer until yams are cooked through (about 15-20 minutes). Add stuffing. Turn off the heat. Leave skillet covered for 3-4 minutes. Uncover, stir, serve with Cranberry Sauce on the side (optional).

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The pre-cut yams were four or 5 dollars, and it was less than 2 dollars for a bag of regular sweet potatoes, so I cut them myself. The recipe card lists this website: www.tjrecipes.com– which is not a Trader Joe’s website. I found it listed here: http://tjrecipes.com/?p=969 , butt it is slightly different. If I make this again soon, I will have to make potato filling and Cope’s Dried Corn as sides… because can you believe this– I had neither for Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving 1978: My dad, my sister Maria, my brother Chris, my Grandmother, me and my Grandfather– at my grandparents’ house in Reading. My mom must have taken the picture.

This is how my family spent Thanksgiving almost every year when I was a kid.  Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday. My uncle and his family would come too, and we’d try to arrange the lefties and righties around the table. My grandmother made turkey, potato filling, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, regular corn, Cope’s dried corn, and who knows what else. There’d be a point where my grandmother would realize she forgot to bring something out (usually rolls!). And we’d eat till we were completely stuffed. There were always pies and cool whip for dessert, but as the word’s biggest fan of the potato, they were always an afterthought for me.

Things changed after my brother and sister graduated high school and moved out, my parents got divorced, my grandparents moved to an apartment, my grandfather passed away, and then my mother passed away. Since then, I have spent Thanksgiving pretty much wherever I am invited first. We’ve spent it at home alone, with cornish hens; we’ve spent it in Michigan with a large extended family. We’ve gone out to restaurants with my grandmother, and met my in-laws at the midway point between Michigan and Philadelphia. This year, we weren’t going to spend Thanksgiving in Michigan at all, but we managed to make it back last weekend for a nice short visit, and a Thanksgiving meal. Today, we are going to my dad’s house to spend it with Lilia’s grandparents and their friends. I wish I could also spend it with my grandmother, since Thanksgiving, in my mind, is HER holiday. I wish I could spend Thanksgiving with everyone special to me, but I can’t be two places at once, let alone several. All I can do is wish everyone out there a very Happy Thanksgiving, and hope that you are not as torn between places to celebrate as I am.