Progress!

The house smells clean. Bookshelves are dusted, coffee tables cleaned, floors vacuumed and swept (Thank you Julia). Dishes are washed, piles of homeless crap sorted and put away, china hutch, sideboard, and microwave cart are dusted and cleaned (thank you Burgundy). Guest bathroom almost done (just the sink and toilet remain) (thank you Julia); master bath in the same boat (thank you Burgundy).

Last night I sat down with Burgundy and listed out all the work she needs to do for school along with the due dates. She has to read three to four chapters a day of Dickens' Great Expectations; that's about three hours a day. That's on top of reading in her science textbook, working on her Algebra II, working on her Debate poem, working on her Science Fair, and working on her two different assignments in AP Human Geography. We scheduled and listed in the planner what she would have to do for each subject each day, and every evening, we will sit down together and check her progress on each task to make sure she isn't falling behind.

I caught the laundry up to a manageable level. We probably still have three or four loads of laundry outstanding, but I think that if I wash, dry and fold one load a day from here on out, I'll be able to stay caught up. The laundry detergent I mixed up seems to be working well.

We planned to smoke our Thanksgiving turkey this year; unfortunately, I bought a 16-pound turkey, and most of the instructions I've found say you should be careful when smoking turkeys over 12 pounds. I found one that talked about roasting the turkey at 400F for 30 minutes before starting the smoking process to kill off surface bacteria, so I'll look into that some more and see what we decide.

This afternoon I will make the pie crusts and possibly even the pies, finish cleaning the library, and if I have anything left in me at that point, I'll also make the cranberry sauce. It was so awful last year that we just did without. I can only pray this year's batch turns out much better. If I make it tonight, I will have time to go buy the canned crap (I used to think the lines in the sides were marks to help you slice it straight).

I think that's all the output I have for today. I have photos I planned to post and blog about today, but I don't have the cord to connect the camera. Alas!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!