Perfection is Overrated, Right?

Hey, missing one out of 30 is still an A, right?

I had the computer on and Blogger running all day yesterday...but we were running all day yesterday too and the post never got to the blog.

It was worth it, though; I had a ball trying out new recipes for corn pudding and the All-in-One Cake (which was only ok; next I think I'll try the NYT's apple cake and see how that goes; I will also try toasting the all-in-one for breakfast this morning and see if that helps); we made our "famous" Le Bec-Fin carrot mousse; and I'm very cheery about the remains of the cheese tray in our fridge.

To top it all off, we had three special things happen yesterday. First, our Beloved Babysitter came to join us for the feast, which is making my older son practically dance with joy that she is here with us this morning.

The other two things are more long awaited. For one, we had tomatoes from the garden on the table for a salad. That doesn't sound like much; I mean, who gets excited about the salad on Thanksgiving, right? Well, for my grandfather's entire adult life, he wanted to have a Jersey tomato on Thanksgiving. (For any non-locals: I don't know what's in the soil, but New Jersey tomatoes are truly one of the world's most amazing fruits. The only downside is they have ruined me on almost any other tomatoes in the world.) He tried everything to save those last tomatoes of the year and eke them out to the holiday. Newspaper, Saran Wrap, paper bags, keeping cool, you name it, any tomato-saving trick you can imagine, he did it. It never worked. He lived to 88 and never had it happen for him. Alas, it's just that he died 10 years too soon. Between global warming and an early Thanksgiving, our last tomato harvest happened last week, giving the greenies exactly enough time to turn a beautiful red for dinner last night. I was sorry he wasn't there to enjoy them but it was fun to have them and to think of him and how pleased he would have been to see them on the table.

And how did this miracle come about? Girlfriend, of course--the amazing woman who has been dating our brother-in-law for the last two years. She grew the tomatoes herself and remembered to have them on the Thanksgiving table. (I would love to grow them but we don't have enough sun.) Girlfriend has been my parking lot buddy at my new job (she's part-time, I'm part-time; she got me the duplicate parking sticker and so I can use her spot in the garage on her off days--a HUGE favor making my work life much easier). Girlfriend is always up for a trip to the shore and kindly included me and the boys when she had her week in her brother's shore house, even though it meant a ton more work for her, because she knows that I love the shore like she does. Girlfriend decides when my husband and I need a night off and descends with our brother-in-law and his younger son, who is worshipped by our boys so they don't even notice when we leave and have a night out. Girlfriend singlehandedly keeps three households running and still has a life. I am in awe of her energy and kindness. And I thrilled to say that last night they annouced: Girlfriend and brother-in-law are engaged.

For all of this, I am thankful. Whoever you are reading this, I hope you had much to be thankful for, too.