I just went to run errands (CVS, which has wine!, and the fancy chocolate store), and there are FLURRIES.* I strongly object.

I still need to bake a pumpkin pie for tomorrow, but other than that we have our Thanksgiving meal contribution wrangled (pie, rolls, wine, cranberry in the can, snacks). My only requirement for tomorrow is that we get home before the Bengals game starts, because Joe Burrow is back and ready to get injured again! (Seriously, the dude is made of glass. But also, his O-line sucks.)

My fucking hip is not so good, and I have a doctor's appointment next week to see what the next step is. I assume MRI,** since I've had an x-ray and did all my PT. The pain in my hip, which also radiates to my groin (<-- the WORST word in the world! I cringe every time I have to use it), got better after PT, but not totally gone, and now the pain is coming and going and it's pretty painful to walk a longer distance than the bedroom to the living room. (Seriously, I drove around the block to park in front of the chocolate store instead of across the street, because I worried I wouldn't be able to (jay)walk across the street fast enough to avoid getting hit by a car, which sadly, but for real, happens in my neighborhood way too often.) In my not-an-MD perusal of medical info, it sounds like a torn labrum (cartilage in the hip socket). If it is, the worst-case scenario is surgery, but it can be done arthroscopically, so that doesn't seem too bad. I just really don't want my leg to hurt any more. And I hate being limited in what I can do, physically. (Like, I know I'm not missing out on running a marathon; I get that. But I could certainly still go hiking, except not right now I can't.) And I hate using my cane because it draws so much attention. Anyway, my hip is a jerk, so everyone send thoughts and prayers for an actual fix for it.

Oh! I've lost 27 pounds since April, which -- yay!, but taking some weight off has not helped the hip at all, which -- boo!

*In the time it took me to type this post, it started flurrying HARDER. I see you, Mother Nature.

**And if insurance still doesn't want to pay for an MRI after that, then fuck them and I'll pay out of pocket. Seriously, what's one more medical bill in the year of cancer and 2 carpal tunnel surgeries? Toss it in the cart, folks.

I have started cleaning and I did grocery shopping earlier.

I need to get two pies made tonight and do quite a bit more cleaning, but I am filled with don’t want to.

I did go get Ethiopian food gor us today since E might be out door dashing tomorrow and he really does not like thanksgiving food anyway.

Timelies all!

Yesterday we had our annual lab potluck. Way too much food, but yummy. (I brought sodas as usual, since cooking anything requires more spoons than I currently have)

Tomorrow we are not having turkey, since Mr. S stated that he didn't like turkey unless it was fried. We are having chicken in an apricot-Russian dressing glaze, which is fine except we do that at home regularly. Ah, well...

Tep, best of luck with your injury. Sheryl, ours is going to be a lot like "dinner," too, though we are having turkey. Not exactly into it, but Mom wants to.

Done: Turkey, cranberries, stuffing, mac and cheese. Still have to roast the veggies. Will pack it all up in the morning, drive across the alley, and heat it all up again at my sister's.

Way up there on my gratitude list are the Buffistas. I send many wishes for peaceful, loving gatherings tomorrow.

My food prep motivation FINALLY kicked in. I’ve piddled around and deeply cleaned shelves in the fridge, countertops, cleared the table, started the roomba. And now I’ve got cranberries on the stove and more cranberries chopped and soaking up sugar for a salad.

I still think I can get pie crusts and one pie done.

Because of who I am as a person there is still a couch and chair to clean off and more counters to declutter and clean.

Oh and I should scrub the bathroom.

My stupid process is still running and I could log off and check tomorrow to see if it finished but I'd rather not have to anything remotely resembling work tomorrow so I'm continuing to babysit the thing. Tiresome

I hope you can get the hip issues resolved quickly, Steph.

I made butternut squash puffs for tomorrow. And I rearranged the living room to make room for the tree, which I’ll be decorating Saturday, along with my annual Lord of the Rings extended edition rewatch. I actually prefer the new configuration in general, so I’ll probably keep it after the tree comes down. Much better flow.

Jeez, Tep, a torn labrum is pretty incapacitating. I hope it's something else and more readily fixed.

I made the cranberry sauce. [Monica: "A monkey could make that!!"]

I stupidly walked away from the stove when it should have been on low, happily burbling away and busting cranberries. But in fact it was still on high, burned off liquid, and set off the smoke alarm. What a dumbass. However, I was able to save it and doctored it with a bunch of off-book ingredients (Campari! Ginger Juice! Liquid Smoke! No wait, not that one!) and it might be my best ever. My pot does not look good.

I then decided to get ahead of the stuffing by cutting the ciabatta loaves up, so I sat on the couch with a cutting board and a big bowl and watched a reaction video. The reactor was watching Saving Private Ryan for the first time so she and I both got weepy.

This morning I took my downstairs neighbor, Jamille, out to brunch. She's a single mom and never has any time for herself, but she sent her son down to her mom's place early (she's driving down tomorrow), so I took her out to fancy Zazie brunch. Then I took her to get a mani-pedi, and I got my nails done. Fun to spend more focused time with her.

EM is coming early tomorrow morning, which is good because I need some cleaning help.

I have to do the stuffing and mashed potatoes but both of those are fairly easy, especially now that I've torn up the bread and I already have turkey stock. The mushroom stew will take some time, and I might make Emmett do the Mac and Cheese after he gets here.

So we'll have six people here and we haven't had that many mouths for several years. It'll be fun.

I cooked last year, so I'm going out with my CT bestie and her mom, my second family in CT. However, I bought greens, sweet potatoes, and cheese, so am going to make an all sides dinner on Saturday or Sunday (becuase that's the best part)

I have unfortunately/fortunately found the perfect recipe for a Nick & Nora manhattan. I sometimes want a drink at home, but not, like, a whole cocktail. I now can make a perfect 2.5 ounce cocktail, which hits the spot exactly.

As it is after midnight EST, Happy Thanksgiving!