Turkey - Day 4 ... Christmas Day!

Today is the day to cook the turkey! I am still praying that it turns out well. I will be serving my first turkey to my family, my parents, and my in-laws, so I hope that it turns out well!

I was afraid to risk carrying the turkey from the refrigerator to the sink by myself again (remember the vision of turkey and brine exploding all over my kitchen), so I asked my dad to carry it for me. He could not believe that I had carried it to the refrigerator myself. It was heavy!

I cleaned off the turkey and disposed of the brine. Next, I was to place half of an orange and half of an apple into the cavity of the turkey. Then, I was to tie fresh herbs together and to place them into the cavity, as well. After placing everything in the cavity, I reconnected the legs to the plastic holder and began to oil the turkey's exterior and then seasoned it with salt and pepper. Mom and I placed it into the oven about 11:30am.

Remarkably, the turkey turned out great! Sharolyn, thanks for the recipe and the instructions, and thanks for having left over gravy from Christmas Eve, as well! I did not have to boil the neck or innerds! Yeah!

Our Christmas dinner was fabulous. The party potatoes were moist and delicious, the rolls were fabulous, as usual, the broccoli was wonderful, Sharolyn's stuffing was excellent, and Carol brought some terrific roasted sweet potato wedges to add to our Christmas feast, as well. We enjoyed white cake with 7-minute icing, chocolate chip cookies, and white chocolate popcorn for dessert. We were all stuffed and happy!

Just before Flip & Sharolyn headed home, Blake surprised me with an iPhone! As many of you know, I have wanted an iPhone for quite a while, and because I was on Verizon Wireless, I was not able to get one. Well, Blake tricked me by giving me an iPhone box with a watch in it for my birthday and then an iPhone box with eye drops in it for Christmas, but then ... I recieved the iPhone on Christmas night! As soon as I discovered it, Megan said, "Well, what phone am I going to have now?" (as she is tied to my phone plan); and she was surprised with a new phone, as well. Blake got her an LG Vu. She was jumping with joy!

It was a good Chritmas at the Richardson house! Good food, good gifts, good family time, good memories!

My First Turkey - Day 2 & 3

Today I purchased a brine for the turkey. According to the instructions, I have to mix it with a gallon of boiling water, allow it to cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate it for 24 hours.

Day 3 -- Today, I have to add a second gallon of water to the brine and then place the turkey and the brine in a bag to marinate overnight.

I pulled the turkey out of the bag, cleaned it, removed the neck, and after some looking, located the other "turkey parts" that needed to be removed. Until now, I did not know that the "other parts" were stored in the turkey butt. Couldn't they have stored them in the cavity with the neck? Why did they feel the need to place them in the butt of the turkey? That is not where I would have chosen to place them. Anyway, I managed to removed everything and place it in a ziploc bag for later use. According to my instructions, I will use the neck and inner parts to make the gravy. Joy!

After cleaning the turkey, I placed it in the brining bag and filled the large bag with the brine and an additional gallon of water. Next, I had to get this 19 lb turkey and 2 gallons of brine from the kitchen counter with the garage refrigerator without dropping it. For a second, I saw the bag breaking and brine and raw turkey going all over my kitchen. Luckily, that was only a split second fear; I made it to the refrigerator with the turkey, bag, and brine. No mess! The turkey will marinate for 24 hours before cooking.

My First Turkey

I found out today that we were not receiving our annual smoked turkey from Blake's insurance guy, which means ... I am going to have to cook a turkey. I am a little nervous about this, as it is the main course, and I have no idea what I am doing. But, Sharolyn is emailing instructions, so I plan to give it my best shot.

I purchased a 19 lb turkey from Kroger this afternoon. It is partially thawed, so it is sitting in the sink thawing a bit more right now. I will put it in the refrigerator to finish thawing in just a bit. Along with the turkey, I will be preparing and serving broccoli, party potatoes, and rolls. Hopefully all of it will turn out great!

Blake's Eye Surgery

Blake had his surgery on December 4th. The surgery went well, but he is not healing as quickly as I did. When he returned for his second follow-up visit on Monday, December 8th, he was not seeing clearly, had a dry spot in his left eye, and was told that his cells were growing back wavy; therefore, he had to keep the contact in his left eye to protect it. He returned for two additional visits last week. His left eye is improving, but the progress is slow.

At his appointment this morning, the contact was removed, but the dry spot is still there. Last week, his vision was 20/70 in his right eye. Today, he was able to read 20/20 with his right eye, but it was still fuzzy. So, we know that his right eye is healing and improving. His left eye is still bothering him. The dry spot is hurting him, so he is going to have to go back to have a contact put into his eye to protect it.

Thank you for your prayers, calls, and emails. Please pray that his left eye heals and that his vision is 20/20 in both eyes very soon.

SmileBox

SmileBox is another Web 2.0 tool that allows you to create precious slideshows and scrapbook type pages for FREE. Of course, there is a paid version, but ... free is good for me. Here is a SmileBox that I just created with pictures that I had with me. Check it out.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Extra Homework?

This afternoon, I was about to begin a workshop when Connor's teacher, Mrs. Orr, walked into the room with a file basket filled with worksheets. I welcomed her and asked if she was here for the workshop. "No." she said. "I'm looking for Connor. He asked for some extra homework today, so I am here to let him choose it."

I'm sure the confused look on my face said it all, but I immediately asked, "Connor asked for extra homework?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I think I may have had that same confused look on my face as I tried to translate what he asked. Did he just ask me for extra homework?" Mrs. Orr continued, "I'll get that to you after school," she finally uttered through her confusion.

Sure enough, my 8, almost 9-year old, asked his third grade teacher for extra homework today. I'm not quite sure where that came from, but I'll take it. I guess we will have to see what happens when we get home, and he actually has to "do" it. I'll let you know how that goes.

The picture is of Connor and some of his classmates. They are researching the history of our home city this 9-weeks.