For Those Paying Close Attention

You'll notice that we didn't spend Thanksgiving with either of my parents or the HUSband's parents. Mom and her husband went to see his son in South Carolina. The HUSband's parents drove to Minnesota for the entire week. And my Dad and his wife have a group of friends that they get together with every year. A couple of weeks ago, I called my Aunt to see if we could crash their Thanksgiving. It worked out quite nicely.

We'll see the HUSband's parents in a couple weeks for his dad's 60th birthday. We saw my dad on Saturday. Still trying to figure out when we'll see Mom next. It may not be until New Year's Eve.

Long Weekend - Hurrah!

I think the thing that I am most thankful for this year at Thanksgiving is the four-day-weekend that we had. It gave me time enough to make a trip to the Dallas area and come back in time to still feel like we had a weekend here.

We left the house by 8:30 on Thursday morning and made it to my Aunt and Uncle’s in good time. My cousins and their wives, my Grandmother, and my Aunt’s mother (who I thought was also my grandmother until I was about 5 years old) were all there and we all behaved so well. Oh yeah – and my cousin’s 3 year old daughter too. We ate too much, talked about nothing and then headed back to Granny’s house. She doesn’t drive in the dark anymore, so the HUSband drove her car and I followed in mine. We stayed up too late chatting and slept in a bit on Friday. Granny made biscuits and bacon for us Friday morning. Yum! There’s a bit of sadness in me as I think of the fact that she now makes the bacon in the microwave and the biscuits from a tube. I remember the days when she’d make the biscuits from scratch and the bacon on the stove just swimming in grease. And the coffee can full of drippings under the sink. Did she ever actually re-use the drippings?

We came back to Austin Friday just in time to watch the last quarter to the A&M/UT game. I couldn’t watch though. It made me sad. So, we rented The Day After Tomorrow. Good enough flick to keep me from falling asleep.

Saturday we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I even dusted the ceiling fans. I need to remember to do that more frequently. They’ve been on the whole summer, so my excuse is that I don’t seem to notice the dust when they’re spinning around. That night we went to dinner with my Dad and his wife at our favorite Indian restaurant. The HUSband and I both tried dishes we hadn’t had before and liked them.

The highlight of Sunday was that we got the wireless router all set up! I was chatting with friends last night in front of the TV. This means that I will need to be more disciplined about the amount of time I spend on the computer at home. I also made some progress on my Christmas Cards. I realized that I don’t have the HUSband’s family’s info in my PDA, so now I have another project.

I had strange dreams last night and woke up at 7:22 realizing that I forgot to set the alarm. I wish I could have had just one more day to sleep in. What a great weekend!

OUCH

I asked (or so I thought) for a landing strip and walked out with a helipad.

Yep - I finally went for the BBW rather than the regular BW last week. Those are the codes that they write down in the appointment book. I think that the HUSband will request this as a recurring event rather than a one time treat for his birthday.

Gotta Love Her . . .

I love my mother dearly. I have to. She's my Mom.

She's generally a very kind, generous and caring person. That's one of the things I admire about her. I've received a gift from her that has me scratching my head.

Last week, I got an email from Mom telling me that she was sending me some "drops" (which I took to mean "pendants") that my grandparents had given me and she thought I should have. I had no idea what she was talking about, couldn't remember anything of the sort. So, the box arrived yesterday. There was a puffed heart pendant circa 1986, a funny looking pendant which looks like fake ivory with a boat etched on it, a Girl Scout pin, and a bracelet.

The puffed heart made me giggle. It looked great with my Units outfits!
The boat thing is just plain bizarre - I have no memory of it.
I never made it to Girl Scouts, so I'm not sure where that pin came from. I changed schools the year I was to move from Brownies to Girl Scouts and the church choir met the same afternoon. So, church choir won.

The bracelet almost brought tears to my eyes. It is one that my mother used to wear often. My father brought it to her from a business trip to Africa in the early 1980s. I still sometimes wear the necklace he brought me from the same trip.

It's been over five years since she left my father. I don't understand why she can't just say something like "I think it is more appropriate for you to have this now." Instead, there is no reference to it at all. She did the same thing with her pearls. They were my "something borrowed" for my wedding. When I tried to give them back, she said I should keep them with no explanation. I imagine that was her plan all along.

The fact that my parents are no longer together is harder for me than it should be. These sorts of reminders drive me nuts. My mom's attempt to slide this bracelet in with the other random contents of the package frustrates me. Why can't she be direct about it?

I'm wearing the bracelet today. I've decided that I will be happy that I have it, not frustrated about the way I received it.

Rude?

Is it rude to ask for money for a Christmas gift? I ask not because I'm asking others for it, but because someone has asked me for money. We drew names this year on one side of my family. I'm asking for ideas, and I'm told money by the person that the HUSband is to buy for. It isn't sitting well with me. Is that wrong?

Turtle?

So, I was reading a co-worker's paper at lunch and discovered this gem*:

Q: In a recent column, John Kelso referred to some of his friends who had toilet-papered his house as being as drunk as Cooter Brown. And, on a couple of occasions, my wife has referred to me the same way. I did an Internet search to no avail. All the references were to a champion chocolate Labrador retriever and some musician. Who was Cooter Brown and just how drunk was he?

A: Most etymologists dismiss the phrase as a Southern expression of unknown origin. Cooter, by the way, is slang for turtle.

The Farmer's Almanac notes Cooter Brown was a resident (it is unclear if he was mythical or real) near the Mason-Dixon Line during the Civil War. Cooter did not want to be drafted by the Union or the Confederacy and had divided loyalties with relatives on both sides of the conflict. His solution? An extended drinking binge until the war was over.

*Link will require one-time registration with the Austin American Statesman.

"Cooter" is not a word that I would ever use as slang for a turtle. It's a term that I won't even say aloud unless I'm around people I feel very comfortable with. It is something to be waxed, but not at all with Turtle Wax, that's for sure.

Good Stuff

I've gotten Michelle going on this, so I'd better play along as well. Much of life is what we make it. I believe that if I can focus on the pleasant things, I will able to make my life a bit happier.

Wednesday, November 10: Free Yoga! A friend is taking classes to become an instructor, so the studio has given her some free passes and I got to go for free. Hooray! The temperature control in the room made it feel more like a Bikram class than Hatha at times. I certainly didn't have enough water during the day for that craziness. I was proud of myself for being able to go into a resting pose for a bit when I got light-headed and catch back up with the class when I was ready.

Thursday, November 11: Happy Hour with work people. Our department is a strange one and the people don't really socialize much. Five us went to a bar within walking distance and had a couple drinks before heading home.

Friday, November 12: A friend's mother is moved from ICU to a normal room in the hospital. If you're the praying type, please pray for her well being. Both my friend and her mother.

Saturday, November 13: We weren't in a rush to get out the door to come visit the in-laws. In fact, we didn't leave until about 11:00. I love lazy slow weekend mornings.

I'm Really Not . . .

as bitter as I've sounded in my last few posts. I promise. It's been a rough week already and it is only Tuesday. I may need to take on a daily happiness challenge again.

Something that made me happy today was traffic wasn't bad on my way in this morning. Another thing to be happy about is that a co-worker has been extremely helpful as I try to piece together various things that have been left for me to pick up as I take on this new role. She deserves a million gold stars.

Monday Monday

What a crazy day it has been. I seem to have over-committed myself in a volunteer group that I belong to. I will be the first to admit that I could be doing more. But, I am at least doing what is expected of me. I can't say the same for the committee chair. I learned via an email to the whole group that she has asked me to do something and respond to her by a particular date. Who knew? Apparently she did. And I suppose she also thought that sending an email stating that she'd already asked me to do something would be an appropriate way to actually ask me to do it. argh. dumb. bitch.

I'm Not Gonna Die

I'm not sure if P Diddy was issuing a threat with his "Vote or Die" campaign, but he can't come get me. I voted this morning on my way to work. I know that I should have voted early when I had the chance. That way I could have avoided the 40 minute wait this morning.

I am curious to see how long it will take to declare a winner. This is a cool site, and possibly more reliable than major networks will be tonight.

The title to this post also has caused me to get this song stuck in my head. Lots of good times watching a friend of a friend's band play it during college. Of course, in my own quirky way, I got the lyrics wrong - - the song actually says "I'm not gonna lie." I crack myself up sometimes.

New Toy

We did it. We bought a piece of exercise equipment, a recumbent bike, over the weekend. We're both getting more squishy and bigger than we'd like to be. The good news is that we both spent some time on it last night. I hope we'll continue to utilize it.

The biggest challenge may not be meeting our exercise goals, but to figure out where the kitty will sleep. We've had to move his favorite chair with his favorite blanket on it.

So. Strange.

I don't get it. So, the person that wasn't at work on Thursday still hasn't returned to work. She came in on Sunday and cleaned out her desk. Apparently, there's still some confusion as to whether she has resigned or is on a leave of absence. I'm afraid that she herself is rather confused about much more than the status of her employment.

I've been asked to take over her stuff and to communicate that to her customers. Fun. Actually, it is a good thing. I just wish it wouldn't have had to have happened this way.