OK, now I have a ghost in the kitchen. Twenty minutes ago or so, I stuck my meat thermometer in the turkey, decided it wasn't done, and put it on the counter...now? I can't find the damn thing. It disappeared! ...rather inconvenient.

(I also managed to try to pick up a thing of green bean casserole while hot from the oven, but only marginally burned the fingers on one hand--I'm not sure why my brain thought ONE hand needed a potholder but not the other...)

I did exactly that one potholder thing the other day, meara. I don't know why either.

Eep! Speaking of timing issues. JZ's mom isn't getting here until closer to 4pm, and I planned everything for 3:15 to 3:30.

Hmph. I could've used that information earlier.

Travel question for those of you in or familiar with San Francisco. If you had a free day, a car and a time limitation of leaving at 8:00 in the morning and being back in San Francisco by 6:00 p.m., where would you go? Monterey? Napa? What would you do when you got there? I may be staying an extra day on my next trip and would like to venture out of the city.

Depends on what you like, lcat! Do you like wine? Spas? Scenery? Outlet shopping?

All my stuff is attempting to stay warm, while waiting for my friend to show up (stuff was ready around 2:45, friend is coming between 3 and 4. Oops)

Monterey seems far for a day trip to me, but I guess it's doable. You have a lot of options, lcat! I'm partial to Napa and Muir Woods, myself. Er, probably not in the same day.

I concut with -t, Monterey wouldn't be a relaxing day trip.

I'd go to wine country (Sonoma over Napa, for me). Or you could go up the coast to Mendocino. Or if you want to hike, there's Mt. Tam, and a Redwood forest nearby.

Everything's ready. We're just waiting for Nana to arrive now.

Watching Glee eps.

Dinner was slated to start at noonish, everyone got her at 11:45 and started helping, and we sat down at 12:30. Perfect.

My family and his family got along great; everyone was talking and laughing, and my FiL's turkey was great, my ham was delish, we had a ton of food. People stayed about 4-5 hours, and then D and I cleaned up (people had helped clear a lot of stuff up earlier, and I put a load in the dishwasher right after dinner.)

Everyone went away stuffed and with leftovers, and our fridge is STILL stuffed with leftovers. WIN!

Also, I put a large turkey carcass in the freezer in a copper bowl, because that's the only place I could fit it, and leaving it out till I figure what to do with it is Not ON with 4 cats. What can I do with it besides make stock?

Yeah. My turkey refuses to cook. It should have been ready by now. It's registering at 140 degrees and should be at 160. Bleh.

I'm ten minutes from just having sides and telling the turkey to fuck itself.