A few brief moments...

It's becoming increasingly difficult to find uninterrupted time to write!  I've got a few brief moments now, but from the sounds of things, they won't last long, so we'll see how much I can catch up.

Though I haven't been putting up any library lists lately, it's not for lack of going to the library!  Eldest has been going several times a week, sometimes a couple of times a day, even after completing the studies she was working on.  As I write this, she and Youngest are there right now and I've got an open invitation to join them for coffee later on, if I want.  The branch we use has a Second Cup in the same building, next to their little free art gallery.  It's been a great place to get some quality time in together while having all sorts of discussions and doing some people watching, too.

Sadly, in noting the time, I won't be able to join them today.  As soon as I finish this, I need to get a stew going.  Ah, well.  Maybe this evening. :-D

Dh, meanwhile, is home sick today.  He seems to have finally caught the stomach bug I suffered with not that long ago. I hope that's not it, because whatever bug I caught, it seems to have completely messed up my digestion on a long term.  I'm guessing it effected my intestinal flora in a bad way, because even though I'm feeling fine now, no matter what I eat or how little, I've been suffering from bloat ever since.  Dh has enough problems without that on top of it!  Either way, he's just gone back to bed.

Raider King is still living with us.  He's still looking for work and has a job interview coming up, which is encouraging.

As a family, we're slowly trying to get ready for Christmas.  This year's Christmas decorations are based on these instructions.  They went over so well that both girls ended up making some, and even Raider King made a few as gifts for his family.

Our tree is up, as well as a few decorations, but very little else; a frustration of mine.  We're also behind on getting our yearly group photo that I use to make our digital Christmas cards.  It was supposed to be done yesterday, but between people being sick, in pain or just plain snarly, it just didn't happen.  It was going to instead happen today, with the girls and I meeting Dh near his office during lunch and getting some outdoor shots, but with him home sick, that's out.  So I have no idea when we'll get the photo taken now.

I've pre-ordered the meats for our tourtierre (24 pounds this year) and will be picking it up on friday.  We'll be baking like crazy over the weekend.  If things work out, we'll freeze a few and mail them to Dh's parents through Express Post.  Packed properly, they should still be frozen when they arrive, but even if they're partly thawed, it just means they can eat them faster. :-D

While ordering our meats I looked into getting a suckling pig, having been inspired by watching old Julie Child shows.  She recommended a 10-12 pound pig, which would be more than enough for the 5 of us.  No such luck!  The smallest available was 30-45 pounds.  I don't think our oven is even big enough for a pig that size, and it would be way too much for so few people.

So what I'll most likely do, then, is a goose.  I've never done goose before, and it's not the same as other birds.  One of the things I've learned while reading various cookbooks was that the skin needs to be pierced to allow the fat to drain.  The one time my mother cooked domestic goose, we found it so fatty, it was almost inedible.  I now suspect she didn't know about the skin piercing thing.  Having so successfully cooked a Canada Goose previously, it never occurred to any of us that a domestic goose would need to be treated differently.

Well, I've just lost my quiet time.  Oh, well.  At least I got this much done. :-P  Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up more soon.