Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope everyone's turkey day was better than mine. I've been fighting a cold that my husband gave me, and spent the day in bed napping and watching the first four Puppetmaster movies.
As I lay in bed, rubbing Ben Gay on my chest because I couldn't find the Vapo-Rub, I thought about what my family might be up to at that very moment. Dad, of course, would be eating all of the shrimp cocktail, while Mom ran around trying to get dinner ready for 2 PM. This, of course, would be a ridiculous goal, as she only has two ovens and six burners to get two turkeys and 23 different side dishes prepared and all hot at the same time at 2 PM. My sister would be sipping coffee and consoling my brother-in-law, who would not have seen any deer when hunting at 4 AM with my father. (This is not unusual. Nobody, not even deer, want to be up at 4 AM on Thanksgiving Day, trekking around in the woods in the freezing cold, something the hunters in my family haven't seemed to learn yet.) My Aunt Joanne would be playing with my two nephews until their cousins arrived, allowing her to collapse by the cheese-and-crackers tray and catch her breath until the kids realized they would need an umpire/goalie/floating player for their kickball game. (Why the boys buy my "sorry, I'm just too old" excuse while my aunt trots out there in 40 degree weather, kicking balls and stealing bases, is beyond me.) My sister's in-laws, whom we have all adopted as our extended family and share holidays with, would arrive with corn pudding and two casserole plates full of cheesy potatoes. Will Martha notice that she has more leftovers than usual this year, since I often consume most of one casserole dish of cheesy potatoes all by my self? Will my mother save me some, or is she the other cheesy potato over-indulger in our family? I might have to get out of bed and drag my feverish, coughing body over there right now!
My attempt to crawl out of bed, shower, and head over to my parents' house fails when I cough so hard that one of my lungs actually dislodges from my chest cavity, travels up my throat, and flies across the room, landing with a messy "splat" on Pugsley the cat. Okay, I get it. No cheesy potatoes for me today.
Sadly, my family had a wonderful Thanksgiving without me while I slurped on turkey soup and watched stringless puppets attack and kill bad people. I was hoping for a little wailing and "Why, oh why, can't Stacey be here with us? It's not fair, God!" 
But no. The report from Mom later that night was that everyone had a lovely time. Not one tear shed over my absence. 
The good news is, Mom saved me a plateful of cheesy potatoes. So the holiday wasn't a total bust.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Our happy little bookstore will be opening on Tuesday, Nov. 20th, but I must tell you, it was a long road getting here!
We lost a few days to Hurricane Sandy, and then a few more to a nor'easter. Jason scheduled a bunch of New England Horror Writers events in October and November (yup, I'm blaming him) and then he gave me a horrible sinus infection (it was either him or our friend, Typhoid Barry, but it's easier to blame Jason since I live with him) However, despite these odds, we are opening!
This doesn't mean I haven't begged my family to come help me. I have my mother and aunt coming over today to alphabetize and stock shelves. My brother-in-law Brian is stopping by to fix the light that's been flickering and giving me the spins. My friend Kathy is out shopping for curtains for the windows in the YA room, and I have even called on those who have passed on for help. ("For the love all things sacred, Grandma Mitzi, if you see where I left the hammer, please direct me towards it.") (It was behind the toilet, in a pile of dead, shriveled bugs. I suspect my late Grandma Annie put it there in the first place - she was quite the card. But I digress.)
This weekend is going to be a flurry of stocking books and running out for last minute things we've forgotten (for instance, we picked up a coffee pot to offer free hot caffeine to our shoppers, but no cups to pour it in) and then, we will officially be a store!  Stop on by 514 Westchester Road in Colchester and say "hi" or I will never speak to you again. See you there!

After last year's Hurricane Irene debacle, I was less than thrilled (read: frothing at the mouth in anger at God) to hear that Hurricane Sandy was heading our way. "The Perfect Storm," meteorologists were calling it, trying to fool me into thinking that George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg were going to wash up on my front step. Not so. A bad storm was a-comin'.
We drove to BJ's to stock up. Once we had a cart full of candy bars, soda, Doritos (two kinds!) and sour cream, I began to feel better. Apparently I associate hurricanes with a license to eat as much crap as possible. I called my mother, who had picked up cheesy poofs, brownie mix, and a pound of Italian cookies from the bakery. Clearly, eating junk food during stormy weather is a genetic thing.
Monday, the storm hit. The black clouds opened forth and poured rain. The wind blew, rattling the windows. We lost power twenty minutes in. I munched on a Butterfinger bar and watched Creepshow on the iPad.
The storm ended. We fired up the generator (finally, we had smartened up enough to purchase one of those bad boys) and turned on the television. Our house was still in one piece. I didn't have to brush my teeth with toilet water. I called my parents and my sister, who were all safe and sound and bored out of their minds. George Clooney had not appeared at anyone's house (stupid @!!*! meteorologists!) The worst thing that happened all night was that "Criminal Minds" was a rerun.
We had power again within 48 hours, which was a commendable feat by Connecticut Light & Power. The temperature outside never dropped below 60, so we hadn't needed to turn on the heat. Overall, it was a survivable hurricane.
However, I now have 35 more Butterfingers to eat and four pounds of Doritos to consume (which I've been dipping straight into the tubs of sour cream). Clearly, hurricanes are dangerous...to my arteries.
Hope everyone else made it through safe and sound!