I hope to be done by Christmas.

It's not that cold outside right now and it's still such a wondrous sight!

Bare tree branches are being frosted by all that fluffy stuff and it's really coming down like big, fat feathers.

But I still have huge things to do this month, which would be the last month not only for this year, but ALSO this decade (AND the first decade of 21st century, too!), starting with shopping for Christmas decorations at Walmart this afternoon (if I'm still awake by then. )

Since I'm not flying home this Christmas, I may even get a Christmas tree of my own. And I want it to be snow-white, too.

(Still worried about the money, though.)

My little refrigerator was so stuffed with Thanksgiving food the flower-like glass bowl I've had since 2005 (when I first moved to Brockport) fell when I opened the door. It broke into several pieces, needless to say. (It held such yummy homemade mashed potatoes, too. A little cream cheese was the "secret" ingredient, BTW.)

I just looked at the pieces - and then took the smaller glass bowl holding JELL-O dessert (it hadn't given my favorite bowl enough room, BTW) and held it high. Then I threw down the bowl hard enough to shatter it into little smithereens, sending colorful gobs of JELL-O everywhere. Now I have a pretty big mess to clean up.

At least I have fewer dishes to wash now.

I am having turkey (it's actually about six lbs. and a half; I just checked!), cornbread stuffing (can't afford to put sausage in it like always ), a BIG slice of ham, homemade mashed potatoes with maybe giblet gravy (if I know how to make it), green beans with bacon and almonds, marshmallow-topped instant sweet potatoes, fruit salad, dinner rolls, "instant" pumpkin pie (out of a box, yep), French silk pie (chocolate crust is baking right now), and Mexican gelatin dessert (layers of red and green JELL-O with pineapple-cream cheese filling in between).

And it's my first time cooking a whole bird and I also have to STUFF it!

I'm also getting ready to go through holy hell of juggling scalding hot dishes and washing EVERYTHING (dishes, utensils, hands, etc.) ALL the time, too.

I should have dinner ready by about 7pm tonight - if I'm lucky.

Remember the sandwich logo contest that I won last summer? Well, the T-shirts with my winning artwork on the back finally came in and there was a kind of celebration going on at the store today (well, while the flyers promised FREE FOOD!, there were just cubes of strong-tasting white cheese with toothpicks in them and some pieces of bread with dip, too. Oh, well. )

The entire staff, the owner included, wore those new T-shirts with my art on it and I was given one of my own (one of prizes that I won, FYI.) Then the owner took a few pictures of me holding up the shirt by a bunch of hanging shirts and asked me what kind of sandwich I would like (I also won a "Gutbuster" hero sandwich, BTW!) I chose roast chicken (the sliced deli kind, though) with Muenster (my favorite kind of cheese) garnished by shredded lettuce (the worker really piled it on like a carpet!) and dill pickles. Mayo on both sides and mustard on one side. Hold onions and all the other yucky stuff, of course. The whole thing is about 22 inches long (it can be cut into FOUR nearly 6 inch-long sandwiches for my eating ease, heh.) The edible monster should last me all weekend long.

And as for the $25 prize...I got it as a gift card for the store. (I could have used some extra cash, though.) But that's also good; remember how my shopping spree for the Thanksgiving dinner yesterday almost wiped me out and how I hoped the feast would feed me for about a week? Well, I can always use the card to get more food if I need it.

After I left with the prizes, I went straight to the gym, which is offering $10 off the membership fee for a year to CELEBRATE its first year here in Brockport. With the help of a very friendly girl on duty, I just signed up. Now I will be starting next week! (I used to work out every afternoon when I was in the college, BTW. In fact, I could even do 7th level on the Stairmaster at the time.) Finally, the hottie in me is going to come out one day!

Finally, it's looking like the new pizza cafe across the street from my apartment has already closed for good. That is sad and I loved the nifty little place. But it's also good...no more inexpensive pizza for me whether I feel like a slice. And ironically, it's right next door to the gym in the same building.