Whatta Weekend.

I am very remiss in posting but...I was busy and my nephew had commandeered my computer.  Sounds much more feasible than "the dog ate my power cord".  Even though that could happen - they seemed to be even more focused on food than normal. 

After a lot LOT of driving and cooking and braving Black Friday, this morning found me with a refrigerator full of leftovers, a new gate on the goat paddock, my hooped raised bed fortified for winter, and a roof on my run-in shed!  We won't even discuss the fat, spoiled dogs, although I swear Scrappy shed a tear when my nephew walked out the door to head for the train station.

All I have left to show of my 20 lb. turkey is a container of leftovers and two gallons of turkey stock.  The pumpkin cheesecake was great - but I wouldn't recommend using gluten-free gingersnaps.  It was more like ginger-y sand.  It tasted fine, but ... icky.  I brined the turkey this year in apple juice, water, kosher salt and garlic.  It was amazing!  I liked the idea of using apple juice/cider rather than brown sugar. 

Friday, Austin and I braved the Black Friday crowds to buy him an early birthday/Christmas/birthday/Christmas present - work boots.  To say he packs light is the understatement of the year - he brought the clothes he wore, a sweatshirt, a sweater, a toothbrush, and a razor.  I decided that I owed his mother to try and keep him from breaking bones and spraining things - my ground here has no level points.  We picked up all of our materials on Friday, along with said boots, and then he got to visit his best friend - which was a real bonus.  They happened to be spending Thanksgiving only 20 minutes apart!  This was a nice break for both of us - it gave me time to work on ridding my vocabulary of "like".

Saturday, I dragged him out of bed early (for him) and we started.  We worked until it got dark, with a short break for lunch, and got so much accomplished.  I can never thank him enough.  And he's a joy to work with - always in a good mood, helpful, and holds up to my weird sense of humor.  It helps that we have known each other since he was a sprout.  We have years of history and some very good memories.  He's far from a sprout now -- he's now well over six feet tall! 

The results of our labors:

After working hard for hours, he went inside and made dinner!  He loves to cook and doesn't use recipes.  He decided to make stuffed peppers and sauteed potatoes with greens.  It was wonderful!  I briefly thought of locking him in the guest room and making him stay.  Luckily for him, there is no lock on the guest room door.

It wasn't all work, though.  He did manage to get in some quality time with the goats.

He also got to enjoy the peace and quiet and made quite a bit of headway on a creative project he's been working on.  I think, like, he had, like a good time.  And he, like, said that, like, he'd love to, like, come back.  Ack!

Resource: Look for a Lowes Promo Code and save on weekend project supplies.