So, at my house, witching hour is between 5:30 and 6:30. That's when I've just walked in the door, and when Duke comes home, and most importantly, before Ryan gets out of work. So it's just this party time of the dogs needing to be shuffled out in intervals, dinner needing to be cooked, and Duke usually running at full speed around the kitchen island while I'm the only adult in the house. It gets wild, right?

So last night, at some point in the hour, I said "shut up, Ralph" to my dog. And then Duke immediately repeated it and has been effectively using it (and totally correctly) whenever Ralph barks. So...that feels like the universe's gentle way of letting me know it's time to stop using my full vocabulary in front of Duke.

It could have been worse, okay. I say a lot of things that make "shut up" pretty much no big deal in the grand scheme of things, but then later in the evening, Ryan told him it's not nice and Duke responded with "shut up Dad!" and now I'm trying really hard to back track.

#momofthefuckingyear

***

In other Duke news, ever since daylight savings ended, he's been waking up at 4:30 every day, which is just great. We'll be staying with family for a few days and they are in for quite a surprise!

You know what's hilarious though? Blind optimism for the morning hours. Every day, I'm always like, okay, I'll be up at 4:30, so I'll have plenty of time to do everything in the morning. This morning,  I have a million actual valid things to do because we're traveling downstate for the holiday. And I literally thought I'd paint my nails, and pack our stuff for the weekend, and make that salad, and pack a breakfast and lunch for work, and straighten my hair, and do a quick load of laundry, blah blah blah.

Lol. I actually have just enough time to drink a cup of coffee and freak out.

Anyway, just curious -- what's your favorite thing on the table on Thanksgiving? I'm definitely a side-dish gal and I'm here for the stuffing. My sister in law also makes this Pretzel Salad, which is not a salad at all, but I'm going to pretend it is so I can justify eating three bowls of it.

Ha! Happy Thanksgiving guys!