Falling into Homeownership

Skinny tree

Originally uploaded by RLToth

It’s been a little over a month since we’ve moved into our new home. We had a successful Thanksgiving dinner and now I’m moving into holiday mode. I have four candles in my windows (one in the front bedroom and 3 in the living room) and a wreath on the front door.

Yesterday I put up our “skinny” Christmas tree. First, I moved our blue “Poang” Ikea chair & footrest into the bedroom and started on the tree.
My mother gave me this tree three years ago, and we both appropriately named it the “skinny tree”.

First, I put up the tree and strung the white lights. This always takes the longest because I always string them too close together and there is never enough on the bottom. Then I start fixing it from the bottom to the top.

Next, I start with the ornaments. Over the years, I’ve acquired a lot of ornaments from my Mom and Mother-in-law. My favorites are the old wooden ones and I tend to put those on every year. This year, instead of different colored balls, I just used the silver ones. Then I put on all of the wooden ornaments. Then, I added some Santa decorations.

As you can see, my 7′ “skinny” tree is close to the ceiling, so I cannot put a star on the top. Right now, I have a Santa up there, but I’m going to get a bow and have it stream down the tree.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with my decorating and I know the cats both love laying under it.

Thanksgiving Recap

Our first Thanksgiving was a HUGE success! I believe I was well prepared, didn’t stress out and was excited to host our first party!

Last Saturday I went shopping and got all my ingredients for the big day. I didn’t want to be shopping the week of Thanksgiving, let alone, the day before! Sunday, I mixed up the bacon herb butter that I would be rubbing all over the turkey and chilled it. Tuesday after work, I picked up our fresh, local 18-pound turkey, whom I named Lester. Lester, was missing a wing, bizarre, right? LOL. Wednesday night, after J and K got here, she helped me as I rubbed the butter between the bird and the skin. She took some pretty funny pictures, I hope to post them soon. We went to bed around 12:30am and I was up at 5:30! I was so excited to start my first Thanksgiving in our new home.

After showering & making coffee, I got to work. First I chopped up the vegetables that the turkey was going to sit on. Then I diced the onion and celery for the stuffing. I also started the base for my turkey soup with the neck, heart and gizzards. Around 9:30 I mixed up the stuffing, stuffed the bird and put him in the oven. I started it out at 300 degrees for two and a half hours. At noon, I turned the oven up to 325 and let it cook until 3:30. In the meantime, I cooked up the bacon for the potatoes, and diced, boiled and mashed the potatoes.

My in-laws arrived around 3pm and I got all the appetizers out. My family arrived at 3:30, just as I was taking the turkey out of the oven. We sat down to eat the feast around 5pm. The turkey came out fantastic, the herb stuffing and bacon mashed potatoes were fantastic and my apple pie turned out amazing. My Mom made two vegetables, green beans almondine and carrots, her famous New England pork pie and spinach dip. My MIL made mashed sweet potatoes, cranberry jalapeno sauce and a pumpkin pie.

All in all, we had a great time and having our family together really makes me happy. I think having everyone bring something definitely takes the stress off the host preparing all of the food. Also, waking up early and getting all my food prep done, takes the stress off of the moms asking questions and telling me how they would do it.

Indian Summer in November?

So, J and I have been in our new home for a little over a week. We’ve gotten settled in and the cats have adjusted quite nicely to the new digs. There are a few things we want to do to the house, but nothing major that needs to be done right away. We’re going to start in the bathrooms; remove the wallpaper, paint and get a new sink for the master bath.

A few years ago, I mentioned to my parents & in-laws that once J and I bought a home, we would be hosting Thanksgiving dinner from that year forward. So this year, we’re doing it! I’m a bit overwhelmed, as Thanksgiving is in two and a half weeks, but I think I’ll survive. We decided on a potluck style Thanksgiving. J & I will be doing the bird, stuffing, mashed potatoes & green beans. My Mother will be doing carrots, pork pie & dessert. J’s Mom will be doing cranberry sauce (homemade), sweet potatoes & dessert. I think that will be more than enough food, with leftovers for 10 people.

In other news…
A friend taught me how to single crochet properly and ever since I’ve been practicing will all my small balls of leftover yarn. Yesterday, I taught myself the half double crochet and the double crochet. Since I’ve pretty much got it, I started this project on Ravelry. I’m having a hard time determining where my start row is, but other than that, I think I’m doing OK! I’ll post progress pictures on Flickr later.

Thanksgiving

We’re closing on our new home 10/30. I told both sets of parents that once J and I were in our own home, Thanksgiving will now and forever be at our house. We’re sick of driving everywhere! Plus we’ve always wanted to do a turkey, and now is the best time!

So I’ll finishing this post with a rough draft of Thanksgiving Potluck later on this week.

House…

So, we’ve pulled a snag in the house buying process. Hopefully everything will work out. Keep your fingers crossed!