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Another month passes me by

By Jess
To quickly recap:

We enjoyed a late-October weekend in St. Louis, accidentally arriving during the 8th inning of the Cardinals' World Series Winning Game. At the Ballpark Hilton. One block from the stadium. It was a night -- and very early morning -- to remember. We visited the zoo, Union Station, the Arch, the Botanical Gardens (to see the Chihuly exhibit), and I don't remember where else. Great city, good times.

The furnace installation was completed on November 4th, and we've been toasty warm ever since.

On November 15th, I hosted (with the immense help of three friends) 20 at the Ladies' Gourmet dinner. "Cranberries" were the theme ingredient. Everything was delicious. I was exhausted.

The afternoon before leaving for St. Louis, I taped three half-hour shows for the Health Department, which I then had to scramble to assemble and deliver by November 17th. Of course, nothing ever goes smoothly over at the studio, so it took three times as long as planned and I wasn't able to deliver the tapes until the 21st.

Though always frustrating, it wouldn't have been such a problem had not my in-laws called at 5:30pm Sunday afternoon to say they'd be arriving Tuesday night to spend Thanksgiving with us. Panic set in, but my Tuesday morning everything was looking much rosier, and we did somehow manage to clean up the last of the plaster dust and fix a fitting feast. Wednesday we unexpectedly spent shopping in Indianapolis, showing the fam a few of our favorite haunts.

Paul's family left Saturday, leaving us an hour to prepare for the Thanksgiving we agreed to do with my friends that afternoon. Another comedy of errors... I missed the message Friday afternoon letting me know that dinner would be moved from 2 or 3 pm to noon. I noticed the blinking light at 11:15am, just as I was about to call Noelle for details. Noelle called at 11:45 to say they were running late AND that dinner would be at Tracy's house, where I had never been. We took the pie out of the oven, rushed over to Tracy's, and enjoyed a fabulous meal and good company.

Boy, was it nice to come home to a quiet house! I spent the next week recuperating, and now I'm on to Christmas cards and crafts. Saturday we're having a party for Paul's research students. Lots of holiday events next week, then over the weekend we're rendezvousing in Cleveland with my family. I'm hoping for another lull after that!

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