Prepping for Thanksgiving Day (redux)

After recovering all day Thanksgiving, I felt pretty good the next day. Dinner was rescheduled to the following day so I began the prep. The only dish I could really make wholly ahead of time was the stuffing. I mostly just cleaned and brined the bird and did an ingredient check to make sure I was ready to rock Saturday. Check out my striped socks in the left photo! :)

That morning, we did participate in the mass hysteria of consumerism that is called Black Friday. This is a phenomenon unique to the U.S. I think. Or I hope. A single day out of 365 is slated to "give thanks" for what we have and then, before the gratitude soddens our hearts too deeply, we rush out the next morning to shop for "stuff."

I was still sick so Sergio was going to let me off the hook about it. I DID NOT want to go. I didn't want to buy anything that badly and quite frankly, crowds are unnerving. But I woke up at 4AM and couldn't get back to sleep. It was misery trying to stay in bed and fall asleep. And I knew how much Sergio wanted to go to Best Buy...so, I conceded. I was awake anyway. I made sure to grumble sufficiently though.

Turns out, it really wasn't the mass hysteria I had feared. There were a couple of news crews. Everyone was well behaved inside (mostly) and it really wasn't that crowded! Odd. The line for the register was long, but not awful. Once awake, I'm awake. So, I suggested we go to IKEA. I know, sounds like suicide for a crowd averse human like myself. But again, no crowds! Loads of shopping carts...and their meatball plate was $1! Probably the best score of the day.

We purchased a bench for the entryway. It's not really our style and not used/vintage/recycled...but only $49.99 and it's made our entryway neat and tidy! It was part of their one day sale and looked like a good shoe storage solution. We are a no-shoes household so it can get messy out in the entryway. I hated tripping over shoes every time I walked in the door. Here, Sergio builds it. Micio insisted on overseeing the build. Not sure if she helped at all.


I plan to paint it gray and get a larger rug. The current little rug doubles as the cat scratcher. I kind of loathe the thing because it sheds everywhere and pils terribly. But I'm loathe to rid it because the cats prefer it to the furniture.