Thanksgiving

I'm starting to get used to living in Montpelier, however, I'm getting too much into a pattern. I get home from work and am too tired to do anything. I watch TV at night, something I never did before. Not that it's bad, but I'm not being as productive as I'm used to. I signed up for a cake decorating class at Michael's that starts this coming Monday. I'm hoping that'll jazz things up a bit and make my work days better since I'll have something to look forward to when I get out. It has four classes that'll meet during the next two weeks, and it was actually very cheap, only $22.50. I'll have to buy my own supplies during the first class, but since I'll have them for years to come, I'm quite OK with that.

This Thanksgiving I went home to my dad's house. It was just us, my brother, and his girlfriend. I made my very first apple pie the night before. We also had a Costco pie there as well so I was able to compare the two. I have to admit, I liked mine a lot more. It didn't look pretty, but I liked the taste. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart, except I used Hannaford-brand pie crust instead of making my own. The only think I would have changed was to put less lemon juice in it.

I also had my first attempt at making homemade rolls. They didn't come out as fluffy as I was hoping, and I definitely realized why we buy our bread in the bread isle already sliced. It took me so long to make them. I know that I could have bought rolls or even the frozen dough, but Thanksgiving for me is about home-cooked-meals, that take time. It's one of the few times I get to go home and have a meal with my family.

I really enjoyed the time at home (even though it was 83 degrees in my house!). It's always a little bitter-sweet since my mom's not there with us. I don't think I'll get used to holidays without her.

So it's now Christmas season, which means its time for me to start making fudge. I had wanted to make some today and it was one of the reasons that I took today off. However, my car decided to crap out on me. I need a new muffler badly. I brought it to a garage that wanted to charge me $419. If only I was made of money... Luckily my brother offered to fix it tomorrow. I'd so much rather pay him than someone else but I feel bad for taking time out of his weekend. I'm definitely very lucky to have him and my dad around.