Thanksgiving is celebrated at my home every year. One of our traditions. I used to pick up my mom when she was alive and rational. (She developed dementia later in life.) and have her make all the Turkey, stuffing and gravy, then half the time I'd take the credit for it. I always made the spinach pie.
Now that she's gone, I'm filling in for her.
Keep in mind that I am the oldest of eight - almost all my siblings have children and some of the children have children. I'd say we had at least 42 people at the house. Guys were all sitting in the frontroom, trying to watch the holiday sport which I believe, for Thanksgiving, is football. Some are grumbling because I don't have all the sports channels. Why should I? I don't watch any sports except for boxing or ice skating. I don't need anything special for that!
Well, my turkey was taking it's sweet time this year and as a consequence, everybody arrived and had to wait patiently. It was well worth the wait; I believe it was one of the best I've ever baked. When the line formed for the feast, people sure piled on the food. Oh, the luscious desserts! Everything was top-notch.
Lots of noise. Lots of back and forth. My oldest son, Dino, couldn't stay as long as he wanted to because his wife was calling. Nathan had the stomach flu and was throwing up - again. Dino kissed his way out of the house and that's really when this story begins.
The next day, my daughter-in-law calls and says Nathan needs a perscription filled. They had to take him to the emergency room because he was throwing up so much. Doctor told them he had the virus and it's one of the worse they've seen in a long time.
I drive over to Jewel for her. I know it's a supermarket but way, way in the back, there's a tiny drugstore. I encounter the slowest-moving pharmacist - he scanned the perscription, scanned the insurance card, typed in the information, and phoned the insurance company . Even though I implored him to hurry, that I had one really sick grandson waiting for this medicine, all he could reply is, "Did he get food poisoning?"
Oh, and he helped another customer with her questions about multi-vitamins.
(You know, Dr Oz has got to stop confusing us - too much vitamin A? Not enough vitamin D? Don't get iron!! Unless you're a menstruating female that is...) You could tell this woman watched Dr. Oz by the unGodly amount of questions she had.
Anway, it took over an hour. In the meantime, the appraiser was coming to my house and I was hoping to clean it (again) after the relatives had their way with it on Thanksgiving. Luckily my husband was able to get things back to normal and the appraiser loved the place. Said it was one of the most unique homes he'd every appraise. That does mean it'll be hard to find comps, but my husband, an ex-realtor, had a folder of comps, surveys and an actual appraisal done just two years earlier, ready to hand over to him. The appraiser seemed to be plenty grateful. Hope that gets us the amount we need for our reverse mortgage!) (You can read about that ordeal in my earlier posts.)
When that's done, I finally get a chance to check my emails and facebook. Curiously, I realize that a pattern is emerging. Lots of family seemed to also come down with that virus.
Here's the rundown - four from my family of ten.
two from Mike's family of seven.
two from Jimbo's family of three.
three from Mary's family of six.
and three from Jeannie's family of five.
That's at least eighteen people that got sick!!
So wouldn't you question whether it's really the flu or food poisoning?? Check this story out, found in the Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mo-grapetomatoes-rec,0,7718546.story
Thought so...
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