Entry 487: Thanksgiving Break, 2019

It's the last day of Thanksgiving Break, 2019, and it was a mostly successful break.  Everybody got sick at some point, but nothing serious.  There is a case of the sniffles going around.  I've been kinda snotty and sore-throat-y since Tuesday, but it hasn't been enough to knock me out of commission.  It's a slow burn illness.  I worked from home Tuesday and Wednesday, so I haven't been in the office in a week.  The kids didn't have school on Wednesday and S is between jobs (she starts a new one tomorrow), so it's been a full house the past week.

We did our best to stay busy and keep the kids involved with activities -- you know, idle hands and whatnot.  If they're left to their own devices, it's a countdown until they start fighting.  Lil' S1 is old enough now to know how to push his younger brother's buttons, and Lil' S2 isn't old enough yet to know how to ignore it.  Sometimes they have some funny arguments though, such as the following:

Big: Do you know where your Dog Man book is?

Little: It's at Ava and Thatha's.  I lost it.

Big: You didn't lose it if it's at Ava and Thatha's, because you know where it is.

Little: No.

Big: Yes!  How can you lose something if you know where it is?  I left Pokemon cards at Ava and Thatha's so that I can play with them next time we go there.  I didn't lose them, but you would say I lost them.

Little: No.

Big: Yes!  The way you say it, I would have lost them but I didn't!  But that's how you say it.

Little: No!  I didn't say that!  You're making me sound worser!  You can't do that!  That's not fair!

If I had to pick a winner, I'd give this round to Little Brother -- "You're making me sound worser!" was a nice rebuttal, the four-year-old equivalent of "don't put words in my mouth."  He just needs to learn to keep his composure, but I think that's literally impossibly for a kid his age.

Anyway, Thanksgiving day was quite nice.  We hosted what ended up being a pretty big dinner -- 11 adults and six kids.  I made deviled eggs and cranberry sauce, both of which I love making because they are both so easy and yet so delicious.  For the eggs, I mix the yolks with mayonnaise and yellow mustard and sprinkle on paprika -- that's it.  For the cranberry sauce, I mix the berries with (way too much) sugar and OJ and boil it until the berries pop and then let everything congeal -- that's it.  So simple, but always such a hit. 

I also was in charge of the turkey, which was also really easy because we bought it precooked from Whole Foods.  All I had to do was pop it in the oven for an hour and a half to reheat it.  I didn't have to worry about meat thermometers or overcooking or, worse, undercooking it and giving everybody salmonella.  Again, easy-peasy.

I completely gorged myself, naturally, and I've been hitting up the leftovers all weekend.  I "invented" a new sandwich.  It's a grilled cheese with turkey inside, but the bread is coated with mayonnaise instead of butter (try it, seriously), and then once it's done, you open it up and put on some cold cranberry sauce and dill pickle slices.  Absolutely divine.  Friday night, I had two of those suckers, and a massive slice of cherry pie with whipped cream, as an after dinner "snack."  I mean, what's the point of doing strenuous workouts on a regular basis if not to eat like a glutton every once in a while?

[Originally Eric Stoltz was cast as Marty McFly in "Back to the Future", but the director Robert Zemeckis didn't think he was right, comedically, so he put Michael J. Fox in and basically reshot the entire film.  Pretty crazy.  Spike Jonze did that with Scarlett Johansson in "Her" (originally the part was performed by Samantha Morton), but that was just a voice, not a live action part.  Good move by Zemeckis (and Jonze, probably).  I think Stoltz is too emo for Marty McFly.]  

Yesterday we went to the Natural History Museum (technically, the National Museum of Natural History, but I've literally never heard anybody call it that) with another couple and their two kids.  It was a good way to spend an afternoon, even though I've seen almost everything in that museum a dozen times.  (It's the museum I've been to the most in DC, by a large margin.)  There was a new dinosaur fossil exhibit, but the kids, surprisingly, weren't that into it.  My kids really liked the Insect Zoo, where they can hold cockroaches and pet walking sticks, and our friends' kids liked the gemstones.  And of course all the kids liked the Doritos at the museum cafe.

Apart from the museum, it's just nice to go out sometimes and be among the people, especially on a crisp, clear late November day.  It feels so quaint and yuletide.  We took the Metro, which is good for about ten minutes.  After that, the kids get restless and start climbing over the seats and wrestling each other in the aisles and whatnot.  It's fine when the train is nearly empty, but that's usually not the case.

Last night, after the museum, S went over to a friend's house, so the boys and I watched a movie.  Lil' S1 is at the age where he can appreciate actually good films and not just that cartoon crap.  (Lil' S2 is only good for about 15 minutes either way.)  So, I can pick out decent stuff to watch with him.  I thought about Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark last night, but S said it was too violent, so I went with Back to the Future instead.  Lil' S2 loved it, as did I when I was his age.  He mostly understood it too, although I had to provide a running commentary to fill in the gaps.  He's eager to watch part two, but I think I'm going hold off as long as possible on that one.  It's just not as good and not as suitable for kids.  Although, he might like it if only for the hoverboard scenes.

Alright, I'm out.  Until next time...