Because it's been almost two weeks

Somewhere during that two weeks there was a presidential election. Personally, I'm happy with the results, and cautiously optimistic that real change will happen. Then again, that would imply some measure of cooperation from the Democrats.

That.ain't.gonna.happen.

In local news, I am on vacation the three workdays there are next week. Two full days are scheduled with necessary things; I've moved on to trying plan some fun. I've yet to visit the local Hobby Lobby. There is an arts and antique vendor mall half an hour out of the city I'd like to visit. A friend and I already have a craft day scheduled for one afternoon.

That, however, may be dependent on the weather. This Friday, our amazing stretch of above average November weather is coming to an abrupt and pneumonia-inducing end. Temps are supposed to drop twenty degrees between one day and the next - and stay dropped. The weather people are already making noise about a "storm" of some sort or other arriving somewhere between Thanksgiving and the following Saturday. At this point, they are not saying snow, but it is early days.

Time to wash the winter coat.

One of the vacation projects is to "eat the freezer". Actually, the contents of the freezer. I have a bad habit of picking something up after work rather than coming home to cook. While I do cook quite a bit on the weekend - including things to reheat for dinner during the upcoming week - not cooking during the week means the freezer eventually gets rather full.

The chicken breast and containers of soup (the three Italian beef/barley I just put in, plus the two of chili I unexpectedly found Sunday) will stay. Everything else is fair game. I plan to make the small pork tenderloin on Thanksgiving. I need some ideas on what to do with ground turkey (a pound or so), half a pound of ground pork, Italian sausage (other than the obvious things), a little bit (maybe one or two links) of Andouille, half a pound of lamb stew meat, a small cube steak and a lone pork chop or two. I know there is more...catfish and a couple of small steaks.

Truly, it doesn't get like this very often.

Also on the list is clearing out the pantry, taking a bag or two of cans and pasta to the local police station for their food drive. If I have the ambition, I'll bake a couple of coffee cakes to take to the officers, plus a batch of "cookies" for the K-9s. With the chimney sweep and carpet cleaning on Monday, it will be a good day to hang out in the kitchen.

Quilt guild tonight, with the speaker I've looked forward to since June. It's also the last night to hand in money and registrations for our Christmas party; I think I'd rather not spend the money. It's fairly expensive ($40 - 50 depending on your choice of entrée), and that doesn't include the buy-your-own drinks. Eh. I don't have my checkbook with me, but if I change my mind before I leave work today, we have an ATM in the building lobby.

Besides, since this guild seems to do everything based on "old people" time, I'd still be home by eight that night. And that includes a half hour drive time home from the restaurant.

Still on the fence about this guild, can you tell? The nickel and diming...I just realized I forgot to grab my nametag, which will cost me a quarter. Sheesh. Or maybe fifty cents? If they don't mind some pennies, I have about fifty cents in my desk drawer.

I'd better get to it. I have things I need to get done by Friday, yet every time I turn around someone wants something else, and it's an "emergency".