Housecleaning

For as long as I can remember, Saturday has always been housecleaning day because it was the day off from school and work. After I was married and became a stay at home mom, I still did the main job of housecleaning, maybe because Sunday was the day of rest and company and cooking dinners, so the house needed to be clean. Today, it's just a matter of routine and it seems to fit.

Aside from that, I have a couple of books I've started reading and a knitting project which is extremely easy - no counting required. I will probably never finish it and I can legitimately say that because I started it last year as a Prayer Shawl for my Aunt in Ohio and I've only completed about 20 rows or 4 inches and I need lots more than that for a decent length shawl. I am not a committed knitter but it is good therapy.

What are you doing for Thanksgiving? I am feeling poorly these days and I am not sure I'll cook Thanksgiving dinner. As I was typing this, I remembered the first Thanksgiving Bob and I had together. We lived in Woodland Hills, California, in an apartment. I worked at a bank which was across the street from the apartment complex and he worked at the Sears store in Canoga Park. He was fresh out of the Air Force and couldn't find a job in Las Vegas where we had met and married. I lived in Vegas with my parents, had graduated high school and went straight to work at the telephone company after graduation, and within a year promoted to supervisor. I realized soon that Bob had wanderlust and we would travel a lot in our first 10 years of marriage.

At our apartment, our dining room table sat by the large picture window. We both had shopped for the food for our first Thanksgiving meal. I had some knowledge of cooking since my mom was a super cook and tried her best to teach me - any failures were my fault because she tried and I resisted because I had other things to do but I did observe and didn't know it. I can't remember exactly what we had for our first Thanksgiving dinner but it must have been traditional as that is what my family had. The table was set with china and the good silver and tablecloth too - we didn't have a lot of money, but I had been prepared with a Hope Chest of dinnerware and pots and pans when I married.

With everything cooked, table set, and the candles lit, we were ready to enjoy the fruits of our labors and we were hungry. Bob sliced into the turkey and what we found was very puzzling - weird, and ugly! Yuck! Can you guess? Are you still wondering? I wonder how many times this has happened to young brides when they cook a turkey for the very first time. It seemed as though all was lost - there it was, that bag, yes, that bag of gizzards, uncooked, with yucky juices running out all over my beautiful Thanksgiving platter. Oh, woe is me! I can't remember anything else, but thinking our dinner was ruined!!!! That is only one of the many "tragic" happenings that was to occur in our marriage, and one of those things we just don't seem to forget but can laugh at years later.

What can't be forgotten is the memory of the event and the thanksgiving we shared for finding each other and for our life together - that was back in 1964.