On Wednesday I got started with the dozen or more jobs I had to get done. Thawing out smoked maple bacon for Thursday’s breakfast, and some ground pork and beets for Wednesday’s supper was one of them.
My intern arrived and she and I set to getting the rest of the lights up throughout the house. We took a break and worked on a little “Charlie Brown” tree I had acquired somewhere (the one on the left near the tall Santa). She made garlands and I made tiny decorations. She did most of the decorating on it. The little tree next to it was my previous Charlie Brown tree.
Then we went back to lights and got them done and the mess cleaned up.
Next we made Wild Blueberry – Cranberry Chutney. Here’s a post
I did on it last time. While it cooked we sat down to unwrap all the decorations and they ended up on the table, as you see.
She left to go help her mom and I set about vacuuming up the mess the carpenter made and finishing up the room. Then I vacuumed the rest of the house because the carpenter’s helper had filled my wood bins.
He had spent the day bringing up all the mulch bales and getting them into gardens. I didn’t watch what he was doing, or I would have had him stack these. He will have to move a bunch out to be able to do the mulching.
He put the overflow into the Small garden. Then he cleaned up the area by the tractor: getting the pallets into the barn to dry out, raking up the loose hay that was full of plastic, and moving all the cordwood that held the plastic down back to the woodshed.
I then got some of the decorations put up and the rest ended up on the small couch in the living room. I got the table set for supper, laid the fires, turned on all the window lights, and set up to make supper.
My mom and brother arrived about 5PM and we made supper and visited. They tend to stay up much later than I do and once I found boxes to wrap presents, turned off all the lights, and tended the stoves I went to bed at 8PM.
Thursday will be the usual Thanksgiving chaos of cooking and more cooking. My brother is very handy in the kitchen, and as I now have a kitchen 2 people can work in, things should go well.
My surrogate grandchild and family will be here and my mom and brother. So small but fun, I think.
On Friday the carpenter’s helper will set about mulching the 2 gardens until he runs out, unless it is raining. On Friday, I have to take down the bed and move it to the second floor, probably in the old laundry room. I have the rest of the decorations to do also, as I didn’t get that finished on Wednesday.
I tried to hang up the wreaths on the doors, but the space is too small between storm and door, and the lip of the storm prevents the hooks from working. So I’ve got to figure out a different way of displaying them. My helper friend will be here and he can help with these chores.
I also have to get my sister’s 25 tiny advent presents wrapped and shipped on Friday. I think this is all I might accomplish on that day.