Thanksgiving Eve

Thank you for your kind and heartfelt responses to my Gotcha post. I wrote it with my heart and you got it! Hugs to you for letting me share that with you.
I don't think I am capable of writing two deeply felt posts in a row, so you will have to settle with an update from Utah. And I already had this post mostly written when the power went off, so who knows how it will suffer for having to be written twice.
I spent all day yesterday getting ready for tomorrow. Brown Boy arrives today, (we think the formal proposal will happen tonight!) and my carpet was beyond filthy. Ya know it is time to clean the carpet when you are having to photoshop spots out of it in pictures! We rented a steam cleaner, (mine died) and the carpet looks lovely again. I don't much like day to day cleaning, but there is a certain amount of satisfaction in deep cleaning, the kind that stays done for more than 5 minutes.
Shopping had to be done, so the turkey had time to thaw. Good thing I got all that done, cause Little Man did not have school today as I had thought. The paper said he did, but alas, he didn't. So I took the boy to go see Happy Feet. Cute movie, I only got bored once. Little Man laughed out loud a few times and I LOVED the penguins with the mexican accents.
Our Thankgiving will consist of all the regular stuff. Turkey, mashed tatoes, green bean casserole, jello, pies, (cherry, apple, pumpkin, cheesecake, and chocolate)rolls. Things I am willing to take shortcuts with: Stovetop stuffing, (my family doesn't care), a turkey oven bag, (love it!) and frozen pie crusts.
Things I won't take shortcuts with: my rolls (homemade, light and fluffy!) my mashed tatoes and gravy, and the pie fillings. I can and have done it all homemade, but as I have gotten older and tireder, I found what I was willing to shortcut and what I wasn't. I hate yams so I never, ever make those. ewww. No one really likes cranberry relish either, so we usually skip that. But I found out Brown Boy likes the canned stuff, so we shall have to pick up a can.
I need to get my pies done today and the rest of the cooking will get done tomorrow. And then? This homemaker ain't cooking again for at least 3 days!
Hope your holiday prep goes well.