Thanksgiving leftovers

The nice thing about hosting Thanksgiving dinner is not having to travel. The challenge of hosting Thanksgiving is the never-ending clean-up and the seemingly magical ability of leftovers to regenerate themselves in the refrigerator. I finally have clean-up under control, save for a few dirty dishes; the leftovers, however, are another story. Despite sending my guests home with tupperwares full of goodies, my fridge is still stuffed with Thursday's remains. I feel so guilty at the thought of eating anything else, I've had turkey and sweet potatoes for the majority of my last ten meals. That's more marshmallows than the last ten years, combined.

Another nice thing was that I got to use both leaves for my new(ish) dining room table. I felt like such a grown-up! I'm debating leaving the leaves - or maybe just one - in for a while, even though the expanded size is a bit large for the room. I'm not planning any more dinner parties (unless you'd like to come by for turkey and sweet potatoes) but it's nice having extra space at my computer.

Friday was a fun day. First, my mom and I braved the Black Friday Best Buy crowds, and both purchased new digital cameras. You may recall, I lost mine in June, and she now has a food blog to shoot for. We didn't really save any money - my camera was the same price it has been listed at since the summer - but the holiday was a good motivator to just go out and get them, already. The lines were long, but moved quickly, and we were in and out within 30 minutes.

Friday afternoon, we embarked on the Dearly Departed Tragical History Tour, a guided bus tour of some of LA's most notorious crime scenes, celebrity stories, and general dark trivia of Old Hollywood's elite. When I was planning the weekend, I wanted something a bit more off the beaten path than the typical Red Line or Star Map tours, and something with history that I wouldn't have known, otherwise. This was fabulous, if a bit morbid, and made me feel kind of dirty visiting the scene of so many murders, deaths, and sites of arrest. But if you have an interest in crime, Old Hollywood, or even Young Hollywood (Lindsay Lohan is tragic enough to be mentioned quite often), I highly suggest it.

Saturday morning, I drove my mom back to the airport for her return flight home. And Saturday night, I booked my own flight home for Christmas, because much as I enjoyed staying in town this weekend, I really missed seeing the rest of my family. Some things are just worth making the effort.

Update, two hours later: I'm sorry - did I say I had my dishes under control? I went to tackle the remnants sitting in the sink, and, apparently, at one point, one of my mini snack bowls settled snugly within the drain, blocking the water flow and leaving me with a sink of half-done dishes and full-on dirty water. Naturally, the bowl seems to be the exact same size as the drain, and is wedged - suctioned - so tightly in there, no screwdriver, knife, spoon, etc. can help get it loose. This is especially annoying because not only had I wanted to finish the dishes today, I also wanted to dirty some more with my cooking (yes, seriously) in an effort to make the most of my leftovers. Now, it looks like I'll have a tub of dirty water until at least tomorrow, when my landlord can hopefully send someone out, and likely take apart the entire disposal, going in through the bottom to get the bowl out. The moral of this story, of course, is this is yet another reason I am not meant to be doing dishes.