WHEW!!!!!

Can I sleep now??? PLEASE?????????????????

After Tuesday night rehearsal (and photo call), aided by yet ANOTHER major accident that had ALL of the roads blocked (1 mile took about 30 minutes... I finally gave up and turned around), causing many people to be late to rehearsal, and a very LATE rehearsal after photo call, I faced Wednesday.

Last day before Thanksgiving. Just EXHAUSTING. Kids all wound up, trying to teach anything almost impossible.

Then I came home and started cooking. Cooked until about 12 am (after making a trip to the grocery store for pie crusts, which I had forgotten). I thought the grocery store was full on Sunday!! That was NOTHING compared to Wednesday night! And it seemed like everyone there was doing ALL of their Thanksgiving grocery shopping on Wednesday night!! YIKES!! So, after waiting forever just for two lousy pie crusts, I came back home and continued cooking. By the time the pies were cooked and then allowed to cool, it was way after 12 and I tumbled off to bed. And my oven is now going to need to be cleaned because the pies, while they turned out wonderfully, managed to boil over and/or spill out of the DEEP DISH pie crusts in which I placed them, leaving nice burned spots on my oven. I tried to clean up the spill on the door, but quickly gave up-- it was WAY too hot to touch even with a wet cloth. It'll just have to burn on and be cleaned off!!

Table was set (well, as set as it CAN be with two cats-- table cloth on, and china washed and stacked on the table under cloths to protect it from little cat paws just in case, and cat hair). D, the cat, decided she wanted to taste the sweetened condensed milk, and it was interesting keeping her away from it while mixing!!! She had already decided that the aluminum roasting pan I was GOING to use made a great sleeping place-- so I ended up having to use the metal roasting pan I have, but didn't want to clean!

Anyway, so, turkey was thawed, eggs boiled for deviled eggs, pies made, cole slaw, cherry salad made.

Next morning, up early and the whole morning was spent cleaning-- the downstairs was not in great shape, so it took a bit of cleaning, plus both the bathrooms had to be presentable for company. WHEW!!

Turkey went in at 11, although the top rack was too low, really-- I thought it would fit, but it was already hot when I put the turkey in, so I thought I would just deal.. except that the top started browning almost immediately, so I needed to put aluminum foil over the turkey-- NOT going to happen with the top rack in the way. So, I grabbed the potholders and took out the top rack, and put it on top of the stove to cool-- burning my arm when it flipped back. ::SIGH:: But, hey, I could now baste and cover the turkey!!!!! And, the lovely burned spots from the pies are making the smoke alarms give off a LOVELY high-pitched squeal!! Fortunately, it was warm enough that I could open the doors and let the smoke out....

Meanwhile, I'm fixing the mashed potatoes, dressing, corn and gravy, and making the deviled eggs. The turkey took (as always) longer than it's supposed to to cook, but that was okay, because I put it in a little early to give it time to cool when it was done. People brought salad, drinks, rolls, other vegetable dishes, so we were not short of food, that's for sure!!

We had a wonderful time eating and talking, and when people went to get leftovers to take home, I discovered I had forgotten to put out the cherry salad, so it went home as leftovers!! I was absolutely exhausted, so it was nice to be able to sit and relax for a while when everyone was gone. But it was a lot of fun! I did not even bother to TRY to start washing dishes, because most of them have to be washed by hand, and I was NOT up to it last night.

And, S., the other cat, who usually will try to grab anything you have to eat, just LAY there when I tried to give them a bit of turkey! I gave some to D., who after a minute of checking it out, not sure what this strange thing was, gobbled it down and quickly asked for more. S., who usually doesn't allow the other one to get ANYTHING that SHE doesn't get, didn't even bat an eyelash. Just lay there in the dining room and watched. I called her, showed her, told her-- nope. "YOU bring the food to ME... I AM, after all, mistress of the house!" No WAY! You want it, you gotta come into the kitchen to get it. Regal swish of tail in reply. So, D. got two pieces of turkey for Thanksgiving. S., for once, doesn't seem to mind. She doesn't like turkey??????

Did have to call the plumber this morning because someone stopped up the toilet-- ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, well, c'est la vie. At least there was one who could come out today, thank goodness-- although they charge an arm and a leg!!!!!!!

Didn't sleep late this morning, too much to do, and I was still a wound up. Did get the kitchen all cleaned up this morning, dishes washed, the dishwasher run (HOW did we use so many utensils????????), and the house more or less restored to order-- in fact, better order than it was before they came (good thing about having company-- gives you REAL incentive to clean up).

Called the plumber, of course, who charge HUGE bucks for a 10-minute job... but it was worth it.. it was NOT fun having to go down two floors to use the restroom!

They had sent my replacement phone, which I got on Wednesday, but of course, hadn't even LOOKED at until today. Got it programmed, activated and about as set up as I can.... I have been told that I should go to Verizon's store and they will transfer all my stuff from the old one to this one. I hope so, will try to maybe deal with that tomorrow.

I'm not sure I like this one, the numbers are more firm (which in most cases is a good thing), but the 7 seems hard to push and doesn't always respond... you sometimes have to hit it 2 or three times to get it to work. Well, I'll give it a few days, and we'll see. I have to get the old one in the mail back to them or they'll charge me 'full retail.' Which is why I hope that Verizon will transfer all my stuff, because it's going to be a royal pain to try to do it all by hand-- and I still don't have any way to get my photos off.

I REALLY would like to go with T-Mobile next time, but then I wouldn't be able to talk to my sis or mom as much (it would cost them minutes), so we'll see.

J. had to work this morning, so she didn't take leftovers home with her last night. She just called and is planning to stop by in a few minutes to get some (I don't know how much is left-- I'll have to go see!).

Talked to Mom and her neighbor who had invited her for Thanksgiving dinner brought her a huge plate full of food when she begged off. Had told K. that she wasn't feeling well, so K. brought dinner to her, which I thought was very nice.

I want to know WHO the heck was out shopping in the middle of the night last night?? Apparently, it was half the free world!! I cannot think of ANYTHING I need that badly. I wasn't even about to go out today-- the radio was giving 'parking lot reports' this morning-- how full this lot is and that lot, and you might as well forget this store for right now, and in Boston there were MILES of backups to get to the stores at TWO IN THE MORNING!!!!!! I can only shake my head. All I wanted to do was SLEEP!!!

Oh, well, that was my Thanksgiving.... how was YOURS? :)

Update on Chocolate

Of course, since the time I took it to them when it wouldn't come back on, and she finally (after about 10 minutes) got it back on, there have been no problems with it! Figure, huh? They tried to deliver the 'new' one today. We'll see what it looks like and how it works. I am just REALLY dreading having to try to transfer my pics and contacts, especially since they don't send a new battery......

LG Chocolate Phone

My phone ( a Strawberry Chocolate) has been great. I've had it since April.... until the last couple of weeks. It suddenly started shutting off randomly. At first, I thought it might have something to do with the Bluetooth headset (although I've been using that for months with no problems). It always came right back on, though. Until today. Even though the battery was at 3 bars (and had been at 4 before when it shut off), it shut off today and refused to come back on.

I took the battery out and put it back in, put it on the charger... charger said, "Fully charged." When plugged in, it would come on. Would go off just as soon as it was unplugged, though the battery was supposedly fully charged. Took it to the Verizon store, and they checked moisture (nope). Was told that they would send me a refurbished one, which really annoys me. I bought a NEW one a few months ago, and I know that they're going to take this one and 'fix' it and send it to someone ELSE as a refurbished one. I don't want someone else's problems!

Furthermore, the main reason I bought it was because I wanted to be able to use my own music as ringtones, as almost everyone I know can. Turns out Verizon intentionally crippled that feature so that the ONLY ringtones you can add are those you download from THEM, and I'm sure the Chocolate isn't the only phone they did that on. Furthermore, you can't even add music to it (which is one of the selling points) without buying the $40 extra "Music" accessory pack. AND, I couldn't use my old headset because they have a proprietary connection-- you have to buy it from them... and theirs is VERY uncomfortable, which is why I went out and spent MORE money on a bluetooth headset-- which I should at least be able to use on future phones. I should have taken it back right then, except that I really liked the phone itself.

So, now, I thought I was out of luck for two days, because the refurbished one won't be here until Tuesday, and I won't be around to get it (so it may be even longer, if I have to go pick it up). Anyway, the girl at the store got it turned on again. However, though it had been 'fully charged' just a few minutes before and had been OFF, when she got it back on, it said it was only half charged.

Since this happened, I have done some looking on the internet, and I find that this is a VERY common complaint with the Chocolate phones (random shutting off), along with the screen suddenly going white. I NEED my phone for work... at least the one I have is working right now, let's hope it continues. I'm almost hoping the next one is a dud, too, because as I was told, 3rd strike you can get a different phone. Probably will happen right after the year is up, though!! I found lots of people who are on their third, fourth, or FIFTH Chocolate phone. Unreal!! It appears this phone is very poorly designed and of poor quality, even though I like it when it works! I considered getting the insurance this time, but seems to me that I'd be better off using that money to buy a different phone if it comes to it. And I STILL have to figure out how to get my pics off of it, and will have to manually change my phone book over, I guess- which would have been VERY difficult if the phone won't turn on!!

Wondering if anyone else out there has a Chocolate, and if you've had any problems with them (or not). I will probably not buy a new LG phone ever again (I've previously had bad experiences with their battery life, as has everyone I know who's ever had one-- which is why I hesitated before I got this one), and may go with T-Mobile when this contract is up, because of Verizon's attempts to cripple the features of their phones just to get more money from their customers. I also don't like them giving me a used (and probably returned for defective workmanship) phone to replace the new one I bought from them.