I didn't have to wait 'til Thanksgiving.

I got my wish yesterday. (Remember all my moaning in my Tuesday post?) I spent the day yesterday in the kitchen.

It all began around 10:00, and I didn't leave the kitchen permanently until 9:37 last night. What fun!

I was helping Mom by doing Thanksgiving-prep work. Those hours of kitchen work resulted in:

~ One double-size pumpkin pie. (Made in a casserole dish. This recipe is a traditional dish at Thanksgiving, for us. Mom wanted to make two separate regular pies this year, but when I begged to be allowed to make the double-size one, she graciously let me. :))

~ One loaf of bread. (That honey-molasses recipe I wanted to make!)

~ One dozen rolls. (I'm SOOO pleased with how these turned out!)

~ And...are you ready for this?...Thirty-six biscuits. (Sweet potato biscuits, with brown sugar and cinnamon. Yum!) To mix the dough, I used the largest bowl we own, and it was still a tight fit - I got flour everywhere. :)

Hmm...now that I write it down, it doesn't seem like much, but it sure took awhile to make those four things.

And guess what else I was creating in that kitchen?

A mess.

In particular, messy dishes.

And you can guess who had dish duty yesterday.

Yup. Me.

That's why I didn't leave the kitchen until 9:37 last night. It took me 15 minutes just to empty the sink of dirty dishes! I'm very thankful Mom decided to make a light lunch, and use paper plates for supper. Thank you, Mother!!!!

Anyway, to make the job more fun [oh - I did mention we do our dishes by hand, didn't I?] I decided to keep track of what I washed - you know, like those memory games where you look at ten items, then cover them up and try to remember what you saw.

After a good night's sleep, here's what I remember:

~ 21 cups
~ 1 dinner plate
~ 10 cereal bowls
~ 4 mixing bowls
~ 2 pots
~ 1 pot insert
~ 2 pot lids
~ 1 glass casserole dish
~ 4 measuring cups
~ 1 small frying pan
~ 3 pitchers
~ 1 blender
~ 3 cookie sheets
~ 2 biscuits cutters
~ 1 bread pan
~ 1 rolling pin
~ 2 spatulas
~ 1 serving spoon
~ 2 or 3 mixing spoons
~ ...and I decided not to count the silverware. [grin]

...So, why am I posting this on Thanksgiving?

Because while I was splashing around in that sudsy water, this poem was playing over and over in my mind:

Thank God for Dirty Dishes
author unknown

Thank God for Dirty Dishes,

They have a tale to tell.

While others are going hungry,

We're eating very well.

With home and health and happiness,

I shouldn't want to fuss.

For by this stack of evidence,

God's very good to us.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I can't begin to name the ways I'm blessed! Thank You, LORD!