Monday

My stepfather Ed is back in the hospital. My Mom had invited us all over for a turkey dinner Sunday. Since she is at the hospital with Ed, and since she had already defrosted the turkey, she asked if I could possibly come over and cook the turkey dinner for my bro.'s family and mine. Sure, I thought, no problem. I have never cooked a turkey before, but I am an adequate cook, so I thought, How hard could it be? I will admit that I was dreading it, because I just have issues with intact birds. I never buy chicken with skin and bones, or eat it. I don't buy red meat, except for the very rare occasion where we buy boneless steaks or roast, or what have you. Anyways, my sweet, sweet hubby agreed to help me make this turkey (he is always suffering because of MY inability to say no, I can't do that...) and so I figured, we are smart people, we can do this, right? And we ARE smart people. We just can't manage to cook a turkey between the two of us. There were four issues: 1.) The turkey, although it felt soft, was still frozen solid inside. 2.) We thought that we had removed the bag of whatever that is inside a turkey (Please, don't tell me, I really don't want to know.) but we had NOT removed all of it, so we cooked this half frozen turkey with plastic still inside. 3.) We accidentally put it breast side down in the oven. 4.) I came down with a violent stomach flu while it was in the oven.
So at about 7 last night, an hour PAST when the turkey was supposed to be done, my brother and his family came over (we called to delay them because we knew it was not done yet), Dave was trying to pull together all of the sides, and I was puking in the back bedroom (Anna was SO sweet. She was trying to take care of me, and actually went and got me a trashcan all by herself. She can be very nurturing when she is not trying to boss us all around!). Ugh! Here's what finally happened: my brother called and ordered pizza, Dave took me home and then went back and ate with everyone, and I was sick all night and felt terrible about the wasted, ruined turkey. Although, as far as I am concerned, an undercooked turkey roasted with onions, celery, bay leaves, AND a plastic bag tucked inside, is really not THAT much worse than a normal turkey. I really just don't get it. It gives me the chills just thinking about touching that nasty thing. Dave and I were prying it apart with all our might and using tongs to try and extract the plastic bag out of the inside, and I just felt like I was assisting in a childbirth or something. I almost threw up right then, but managed to get it together.
Anyways, so I was sick during the night, but feel considerably better today. I ate lunch. Nothing happened, so I think I am good. The kids had a great day at school. I talked to my dad on the phone, and he sounded like he was doing really well and is planning on coming to visit us in March.
I have my class tomorrow night and I have a presentation due. I have that mostly done but I am feeling a little nervous about being in front of the class. My partner from class came over to work on it Saturday evening, and her little girl, Serenity, and the kids got along great. They ate dinner with us and we all had fun.
A man just came to our house to give us an estimate on filling the pool in. It has a bad leak and is losing water and chemicals like crazy. Both the pool, the tiles and the deck surrounding it need A LOT of work. Dave HATES taking care of it (and I really don't blame him, the thing is FULL of spiders, wasps and snakes!), and we really only use it a couple times a year. We love the idea of being able to put up a swingset or actually have room in the yard to have a bbq or play ball with the kids. Not that the Dooligans ever really play ball, but it is a nice thought!
We have a decent-sized lot, but because of the fencing and the pool and the citrus trees and the way the house is set on the lot, there is really no room to play.