Today I braved the commissary. Not a good idea, two days before Thanksgiving. I don't know what it's like in the civilian world, but going to a military commissary the week of a major holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter) is just asking for trouble.

I'm generally a patient person, so it usually doesn't bother me much. If I could have gone without Grace, that would have been perfect!!!!

Poor Miss Gracie hates being put into the cart. She much prefers to run around and create havoc. When Kurt and I go to a store, it's not so bad because one of us always has an eye on her. When it's just me, however, I can't watch her run around and get my shopping done. Also I get nervous shopping for groceries with Grace now that I know she's allergic to peanuts. We're not sure if she's actually allergic to regular nuts, but chances are she could have a reaction anyhow due to cross-contamination.

You don't realize how many things have nuts in them (and I'm not even talking about peanut oil or peanut butter. Did you know my local Mexican restaurant makes their red enchilada sauce and their mol� sauce with peanut butter?? Who'da thunk??) until you have a kid allergic to nuts. Going down the foo-foo grocery store's bulk food aisle, with huge bins of nuts and peanuts right at her level, is enough to give me heart palpitations if Grace isn't in a cart.

My first inkling that there was going to be trouble was when I arrived at the commissary and could not find a place to park. It took me about ten minutes driving around to find one in the lot for the Navy Exchange. I could use the extra exercise, so I didn't mind. I just hate driving around aimlessly looking for a spot.

The commissary was packed. Part of the problem was the sheer number of people trying to shop, but also the commissary had thought ahead and stocked up on food, only they didn't really have room for all the extra food in the produce section. Once you left the produce, it was pretty much smooth sailing, though.

Somewhere around the baking aisle, about three-quarters of the way through the store, I lost my list. It wasn't a huge deal, as I hadn't planned any recipes ahead of time. But I still forgot to get salt. How do you forget salt??? Silly me.

The checkout line was very long. It stretched the width of the store and almost the entire length of it as well. Amazingly enough, every single checkout lane but one was manned, so even though it was an extremely long line, I only stood in it for ten minutes. That was shocking! I've stood in a line that long before that took over 45 minutes to get through, so I was excited that the line went so quickly.

Actually, it almost went TOO quickly! I noticed the line was long when I first got to the commissary, and I wasn't going to worry too much about remembering everything because I knew I'd have time to scoot down one aisle or another for one last thing as I waited in line. But the line never stopped moving long enough for me to do that! I did have to scoot down one aisle for lime juice, and the lady in front of me very kindly pulled my cart along behind her.

The checkout lady was kind of grumpy that it was so busy today. She said, "It was empty in here yesterday!!!" When I expressed surprise that they were even open (that commissary is closed on Mondays), she snippily informed me that they'd had signs up for three weeks that they would be open yesterday. I wish I'd known; I certainly would have gone yesterday if I was aware of it.

I still don't know what we're doing for Thanksgiving. The day itself Kurt has duty, but there will be football on all day, so I won't be too bored. I think I'm going to either roast a chicken or do this cool butterflied chicken recipe. I know you're supposed to have turkey, but when it's only the three of us, it's somewhat of a waste. I'll miss having the leftover turkey for sandwiches, but there's always next year.

My friend J told me yesterday that the folks across the street may invite us over for Thanksgiving, but they still haven't done so. I'm sort of hoping that they don't... I'm not in a very social mood. I guess J's family and the neighbors are definitely doing dessert together on Thanksgiving, and J tentatively invited me for that, but I'm still not in the mood. We'll see.

The rain is continually pouring down. I'm amazed by how much we've gotten already. We're up to 16" for the month as of yesterday, which is twice the monthly average. I believe it smashes the record for the wettest month as well. It's not so much how many rainy days we've had; that's been normal. It's how many days we've gotten pouring down, driving rain -- like we're getting right now. It just thundered as well, which is a sound you hear maybe once a year in Seattle.

I'm just so thankful I have a nice warm snug house. I'm definitely lucky in that regard.