I'm in trouble. The High Holy Day of Gluttony is upon me.

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  I'm so far behind and it's almost the DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVNG !!!!

  I had such a grand master plan and had convinced myself that it would all fall effortlessly into place and the house would gleam and sparkle like nobody's business. The food would all be perfect and my granny would be looking down on me and nodding her head in approval from heaven on high...

  I  HAD A LIST, PEOPLE !!!

It dictated my every chore, timed perfectly, and spread out over 2 weeks. I don't know what happened, because 2/3 of the stuff isn't done and it's the day before Thanksgiving [officially].

  MAYBE I FELL INTO A HOLIDAY INDUCED COMA.

They did get me all fired up by putting up the Xmas decos in town 2 weeks ago. Ad 2 of the radio stations I listen to have gone completely Xmas already. And even the freaking Dollar store has jilted me. I can't find any Thanksgiving stuff, because the store has been stuffed from floor to ceiling with Xmas.

  It all started when my son came over to help me with my kitchen cabinets, which was one of the first things on my list. 

    1. Clean and reorganize kitchen cabinets.

Somehow, it turned into, scrubbing all the cabinets inside and out. Putting new hardware on all 23 cabinets and 26 drawers (or something like that). Replacing or lining all the cabinets with a lovely self stick oak parquet floor tile, which, of course, had to be cut and fitted in every single one. (But it is awesome).  Then he saw the leak under the sink and had to repair that. Repairing meant buying and installing a whole new faucet gizmo and blowing a window fan into the opening under the sink for a day and a half to dry it all out. Then I had to clean all the drawers and vacuum up all the wood shavings from the drill used to install the handles. 

 So, my one day job turned into 4.  Now, mind you,...I am not really complaining here. Because I did want this stuff done [eventually] and it does look really good. But as you can see..I was NOT off to an auspicious start.

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 2.  Clean bathrooms, touch up paint.

    Once again, it turned into a 3-4 day ordeal. Convinced that it wouldn't take any time at all to just go ahead and repaint the 2 bathrooms, we set off to buy paint and make ready. It took me a good 3 hours to get everything off the counters and walls, and brush down cobwebs.   The master bathroom was a nightmare because it has a stupidly textured ceiling that was impossible to clean and made a mess every time you touched it. It was also mildewed beyond belief.  The only solution was to paint the ceiling as well. With a foul smelling mildew retardant in the paint.  On the bright side, I found a calm ocean blue paint on sale that matched the seashore wallpaper border around the ceiling. It looks great, now that it's all done. Thank you Jesus. Today I cleaned the toilets and floor behind the toilets and the sinks and it's all ready to replace  the counter junk now. In the front bathroom, we took out the medicine cabinet and replaced it with a giant mirror in a wicker-ish frame that I got for nothing from Freecycle.  It covers up a goofy wall and looks awesome.

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  Somewhere in between there, I managed to disassemble and wash both living area chandeliers and glass panels, AND clean the ceiling fan.  I got the mudroom all straightened up and swept out and sent the Irishman to the recycling center with a ton of stuff.

  Today I worked on cleaning the kitchen. Not finished, but better. I put the leaf in the dining room table and got out some pretty tablecloths. So now, the cats think I've made up their bed in a most lovely fashion.

  Tonight I was going to clean this office. But you can see where I wound up and now it's almost 1 AM.

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  I still have to shampoo the carpets, massively clean our bedroom (you have to go through it to get to the master bath, and with 30 people coming for Thanksgiving, trust me...somebody's going to be walking through my bedroom).  I need to take my little upholstery shampooer to the couch cushions.  I need to burn the paper garbage in the mudroom.  I need to mop the wood floors.  I will be up late tomorrow (today) baking pies.

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  OMG.  I have lost my mind. Tonight I had a jolt of an epiphany that there is no way in hell I am ever going to get all this done. I tried to get somebody to work for me tomorrow, but no luck. (Did I mention  that I've had to work every day too?)

  The Irishman's truck is in the garage again (another part of this sad story--this is the second time in a week, and it cost 735 dollars the first time. Not much of a charge after we took it back to them, 75 bucks, but it's the time and effort in all this!!!) So now, I have to go to the next town where the truck is also tomorrow and at least pay for it and get the keys, or better yet, have someone take me there and pick it up myself. It's about a 20 minute drive each way.

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  SO.  I went to the store after work today and bought frozen deep dish pie crusts. That will save me several hours of work.  Today I seasoned and toasted all the bread for the stuffing, so that is done.  The turkeys are out of the freezer and thawing.  At one point when I thought of all the stuff that isn't going to get finished on time, I almost started to cry. Then I realized how ridiculous it is, and just looked around me and sighed.

  I have washed all the shower curtains and liners. I have washed all the slipcovers for the chairs and loveseats. I have a ton of laundry to do, but it may or may not get done. At the very least, I will spot clean the carpets (and of course, just in case it wasn't bad enough, it has done nothing but rain all day, making the animals be inside and the yard a muddy mess).

  I will fly through this messy office with my feather duster and move all the dirt around. I'll pick up books and straighten my desk and it will be fine.

  BTW--did I mention my vacuum cleaner is making a weird noise??????  It better hold out until Friday, that's all I can say.

  Well, I'd better go to bed so that I can get up at 5 AM and get busy. I am way too tired tonight to do much of anything, even though I told myself I could clean this room tonight....it ain't happenin'....

  I hope you all have  a happy Thanksgiving, shared with friends and family and everyone you love.  I hope you all have lots to be thankful for in your lives.  I'm filled with gratitude to know that I have a cyber family of bloggers out there that mean a lot to me. Even if we've never met or hugged or eyeballed each other.  You all help me more than you will ever know.

  Namaste.