Happy Turkey Day (or should I say ham day?)*
I suppose this is a milestone of sorts. At the age of 23, I am cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner. And I'm making a ham. Because, really, a turkey is a bit impractical for three people.
For awhile I thought I was going to be doing Thanksgiving solo this year, and I had the perfect singleton-in-the-city plan. I was going to make myself pancakes, watch the parade on my tiny TV and go see the sequel to Bridget Jones' Diary.

But thankfully, I now have two friends coming into town to celebrate the holiday, and I'm even more excited about cooking than I am about the movie. I got out of work early today and spent the whole afternoon cooking. I made my very first kugelis (for all you non-Lithuanians, that translates into tasty potato-onion-bacon dish), and all those years of helping my mom make it paid off. I haven't tasted it yet, but it looks like it turned out perfectly. I also made a pumpkin cake with homemade brown sugar whip cream frosting, and a raspberry Jello salad (because I'm from the Midwest). On tap for tomorrow: Swiss vegetables, sweet potatoes and ham (because it goes better with kugelis).

So hopefully it all works out well. If not, I had a lot of fun cooking it. And now I just have to figure out how three people can eat at the same time in my apartment. I don't have a kitchen table, and my breakfast bar only has two stools. I'm leaning toward sitting on the floor and eating off my coffee table.

*This post was composed the day before Thanksgiving but not posted until now because Blogger was being a bitch. The kugelis ended up tasting as good as it looked, and it even passed the taste test of another Lithuanian when my brother came down for post-Thanksgiving leftovers today. And for the record, we did sit on my floor and eat off the coffee table, which was popular with the boys as they could eat and watch football at the same time.

That's all. I'm going to stop rambling now.

Wow
It's been a while since I've blogged. Sorry about that.

My Family Is More Fun Than Your Family
One of my cousin's had an engagement party last weekend. It was in New Hampshire at my grandmother's house. There were coolers full of beer and enough fried fish to feed a small army. And the best present was a pitcher shaped like a cod that gurgles when you pour water. I don't think we even scared the fiance (too much).

The Underwear Bandit
Ladies, beware of the men who deliver mattresses! They will steal your favorite pair of underwear while you are in the other room letting in his co-workers. I was getting ready to do laundry yesterday morning when I noticed my new favorite pair of underwear was missing. I'd only worn them once and definitely remembered putting them back in my drawer after doing laundry. I had not worn them since.

The only strangers who had been in my room since then were the delivery guys who set up my new bed. I didn't want to believe this theory (because it's creepy), so I went and double checked the laundry room just in case. Nope. I checked all my other drawers. Nope. So it was definitely the delivery guy. Why did he have to take the good pair, the pair I spent too much money on? Why couldn't he take some of the cheap cotton ones I wouldn't have missed? Bastard.

I stormed off to Macy's to buy a replacement pair. I was not going to let some creepy guy deprive me of my favorite underwear. Especially since I still had the matching bra. But of course in the month since I'd been there they had rearranged the lingerie department. I finally found the right brand, but they didn't have that style out any more. In desperation, I decided to check the clearance rack. I found the top, but not the bottom. Damn. I kept looking and found the same color, but in a thong. Damn. I should not have to settle for uncomfortable underwear because some creepy guy pilfered my underwear drawer. In a last ditch effort, I checked the big bin of $2.99 underwear that's all in a big knot. Success! It only cost $4.33 and a subway trip, but now I can pretend this never happened.

Can we discuss how excited I am to go to bed tonight?
I finally broke down and spent some of my tax refund money on a new bed like I said I would way back when I got the check. Good-bye, crappy, cheapest-the-store-sells, you-can-feel-the-springs-digging-into-your-back twin mattress. Hello, comfy, pillowtop, adult-size bed that I know I'm not going to want to crawl out of in the morning. Thank you, delivery guys.

Best bit of conversation I overheard in McDonald's this afternoon
"Daddy, I saw a lady with a moustache."
"Where? On the bus?"
"No."
"Did she just walk by?"
"No. She's here."

At first I was a little paranoid that she meant me. Is the light really that bad? But, several minutes later, I saw a middle-aged Hispanic woman in a McDonald's uniform walk by. She had a moustache many high school boys would be proud of.