Tetrazzini, by far. Recipes abound, and sorry I don’t have time to type it right now, but basically a parmesan cream sauce over turkey, noodles, mushrooms, with a crumb topping. I also enjoy turkey soup, but the kids don’t. I wrapped a froze a large chunk of white meat, which will be dinner for us in the next week or two…while the college ones are gone, don’t need as much for dinner, so that works well.

Honestly, I leave out one additional meal’s worth and then chop and freeze the rest in meal sized proportions for casseroles and soups.  My family seems ready for one additional turkey meal, but then everyone is done and it seems to develop a funny taste to me anyway.  Freezing it keeps me from wasting it.  I just use it in any recipe that calls for cooked chicken.  I actually remove all the meat and chop and package it as I clean up from Thanksgiving dinner.  All in all, it’s a huge effort but then I’m done.

Turkey pot-pie! Nice winter comfort food. But maybe in a week or so if your family is tired of turkey.

Turkey Divan.

Turkey enchiladas, turkey chili

Oh, I love this carpet!  With solid light walls it will really add the finishing touch to the room!  However since you asked for advice… I would do the green color option.  Good Luck!

Patterns in carpets are great for hiding stains, wear.  If you have kids, low pile with a monochrome pattern is a great way to go.

My vote: go for that carpeting!
Also, I saw a clip on one of Hulu.com’s free home improvement shows where they re-did a room wiht a recessed ledge as you have described.  One of the things they did was to create these barrel-type cannister lamps that shone upwards…not describing it too well, but it was a genius idea.  Don’t know how much room you have to work with.

I know I am chiming in late, but go with that patterned carpeting!  It hides a multitude of things! 

People first, then pets.

Tell DH that you don’t intend to put the dog in a sack and drown him in the river; you just need to find a better-fitting home for him.

Contact your area ASPCAs or humane shelters (no-kill),post on Petfinder, contact breeders of this dog’s particular breed for tips on finding a good match.  Write up a little “bio” for the dog listing all his great qualities and quirky, fun facts.

We finally did this when our cat had to go due to allergies in the kids.  I agonized over it for so long, but when we were able to finally give the nebulizer a break and my son’s asthma has all but disappeared, I know I’d do it again in a heartbeat but only faster.  He went to a no-kill shelter, btw.

As for the relationship friction, I am at a bit of a loss. Is dh’s only problem the fact that he was brought up with the “til death do us part” motto for pets?  Does he like the dog? Does he exercise it daily, or 2x/daily? If you can’t do that & he’s best buds with the dog, 2x/daily runs are the *least* he should be doing in a good faith effort to keep the dog, imho. (What’s the Dog Whisperer’s motto? “Excercise, Discipline, Affection - in that order.”)

Do not beat yourself up over this.  Set yourself a deadline, and keep it.  Remind yourself that delaying could mean depriving some other family the joy of having this pet!

I hope I don’t sound cold-hearted.  I know it’s gut-wrenching.  But if your vocation as wife & mother is hurting b/c of the demands of an animal, I think your sanity wins, hands down!

We just found our lab puppy a new home at the beginning of the school year.  We were careful about finding a really good home for him, but I can tell you, he was way too much for me to handle with the children and we had to decide, family first, we made a mistake in taking him on.  So, now he is much happier as the new family has another lab who is now his buddy, and there is rarely a day that goes by that I do not thank God that he has a new home and is no longer in mine.  It was very stressful around here for a few months.  Really, family first, just be very responsible about the home you find him (and I can guarantee God helped us find these people, He will help you just pray!-it was amazing the people were due to pick him up on a Monday, my husband was traveling and it was the day before on Sunday and I was literally losing it because of him.  I was crying to God I did not know how I was going to get to Monday afternoon for the pick and suddenly the phone rings, the dear woman said her daughter asked if maybe they could pick him up a day early.  Really, truly, I cried out to God and He had great mercy on me;)-and like I said, I sent out a few emails to prayerful people who might know other dog loving people and soon enough we had found that lovely family for him.  God bless them I will pray for you!

a few suggestions for simplifying are gifts of 3 for christmas - good enough for the baby Jesus, right?   It helps me personally to hone my shopping and I like how it keeps the emphasis on consumption down.

here is a link to some of our advent traditions, including gift giving on St. Nicholas Day instead of Christmas itself.
http://stsebastianprayforus.blogspot.com/2009/12/liturgical-gift-giving.html

in addition, a lot of great traditions are just food   St. Lucia’s day - hot cocoa and sticky buns for breakfast, etc.

Epiphany - the chalk blessing over the door is simple but fun.

good luck!

When I was pregnant and exhausted during Advent, the Jesse Tree was a great way to keep the kids occupied for a few minutes every day. I didn’t do anything fancy. I went online and found little pictures of the symbols for each day and cut out a tree from green poster board. I printed out the symbols and gave one to my son to color each day while I read the scripture passage. All I had to do each day was sit at the table, read, and watch him color. It ended being some rest time for me!

I don’t attempt to do every activity every year. Some we do every year but some activities are rotated from year to year.  Last year we did the Jesse tree so we won’t be doing it this year.  Last year we didn’t do much for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe so this year I will plan something.  My main concern these days is staying as stress-free as possible and the happier I am the happier everyone else is.

I am on the other end, due any day after a challenging (nothing serious) pregnancy, and we recently moved.  I have finally learned to slow down   We generally keep it pretty simple but I will be making things even simpler.  One year I asked each of the kids what tradition was important to them.  They would so much rather have a peaceful home than a stressed out mom trying to get all the activities in.  As far as Feast Days (throughout the year) we celebrate with dessert - sometimes as simple as pulling the ice cream out.  Ditto what other ladies said.  In addition, I plan to gather supplies for a bunch of really easy crafts (cut and paste, color, etc.) and I will NOT let my kids know they are there.  That way I figure I can pull a project out pretty quickly if they are bored and I have the energy, but I won’t feel any pressure to get them all done.  If you have any older kids, they could help with this too.  We are also going to try the Holy Heroes free Advent program.  Not sure what it entails but we just signed up.  Hopefully we’ll continue with it, but if it just becomes another thing to check off we’ll give it up.  Have a peaceful Advent!

Can’t quite comment on what I actually do yet because we are still slowly figuring it out. I just wanted to post a link to Simcha Fisher’s blog because she put up a simple Advent chain Jesse tree activity the other day that might be a good place to start!
http://simchafisher.wordpress.com/2011/11/26/a-genuinely-easy-advent-activity/
Good luck, keep it simple (you can always add more as your kids grow and you feel inspired), and have a blessed Advent.

My boys are 14 and 11, and we always did the 3 gifts in honor of Jesus. During Advent they have their Advent calendars where every day their open up a date and their is a piece of chocolate behind it. On St. Nicholas Day eve, they boot their shoes on the hearth w/their list for St. Nick in them. In the morning, the list is gone and chocolate gold coins are in there. I like to decorate a little each day in preparing for Our Lord. On Dec 9th, our anniversary, we have a tree trimming party. http://irishcatholicmom.blogspot.com/2008/12/we-trim-our-tree-each-year-on-our.html (although be advised that we never stopped w/the themes. UGH!!) I love the Novena to the Magi in anticipation of the Epiphany ~ http://irishcatholicmom.blogspot.com/2008/12/feast-of-holy-innocentsdec-28th.html Have a lovely and blessed Advent, Christmas, Epiphany.

Anywhere you see flatware will work.  I bought one set at a discount store - wish I had more of them, but most got lost in a move.  I got another set at a supermarket - wish I could find buy more of them (I skipped the soupspoons week) but they were apparently a one-time deal.  I got a third set at a “nicer” department store and all the spoons have gone down the disposal.  They don’t all match but they have all held up equally well.  The main thing I do is look at the knives see whether they are well balanced.  Good luck!

We’re Praying! Good Luck!

Praying!

Praying to St. Lucy