new year's eve

Spent last night hanging with adolph, amber, diana, todd, brent, killy and killito - we talked to one of the new train conductors - he was excited to talk to interested civilians about the new metro of Houston. The plan is, spend the night at Adolph's, wake up tomorrow and ride the train up and down houston.
woo hoo!
I can't wait!
So, what are your plans for the new year?

Next year, first thing I gotta do, is look for a new job!

Ask me about it!

more blog browsing

check this out
lots of interesting reads

so what is everyone reading these days

i just started Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Funny guy! I'm laughing hysterically the whole time!

anyway
then Killy got me Serve it Forth by M. F. K. Fisher. I can't wait to start reading that one!
Unfortunately, the only time I really have to read is after the baby is asleep, which can be pretty late sometimes. And then that means I have to choose between going to sleep or reading. Hmmm..
I've been coming to work late this week.
Speaking of this week. It's so slow here, i just want to choke.

how are you doing?

Oooh Oooh
Look at this site!

seems like our girl won

the best written blog around
wouldncha know it
belle du jour is a blog site i just happened to read because i was bored outta my mind at work
and it's a gem i tell you
take a look
there are some interesting links too

citizens of the united states

hello fellow citizens of the united states - well, maybe not quite yet - but very soon i hope
I am completing my application to become a legal citizen of the United States of America!
YAY!
But FIRST - I have to read a 57 page guide to Naturalization
What a strange word.
To become naturalized
Means to bring into conformity with Nature
But it also means to cause (as a plant) to become established as if native
intransitive senses : to become established as if native.
Hmmm.
So I will be brought to conformity with nature like a native plant.
YAY
I am a delicate flower of promise. I will bloom with tomorrow. But first, I must make my voice heard.
I intend to vote in the presidential elections.
Wish me luck!

Never complain about your job

unless you think this is more fun.
I can't even imagine.
I
like my job.

Merry Christmas - Back at work...

Hope you had a wonderful christmas
I know I did. My husband and my son gave me a Spa Day at J. Claude's in Montrose.
I had a massage for the first time in my life. I found out I was very flexible (or is that one of the things massoosesses like to tell their clients, like pedicurists who like to tell their clients that they are so pletty, face so lound) and that I actually had tension in my back. I would have never known. I don't know if it's because I haven't paid attention to me that I have grown into a masochist making pain a normal and everday part of my life or if he was trying to convince me that I needed to come back. If it was the latter, he didn't have to do that. All he needed to do was what he did, and that was knead me into a ball of soft putty. aaahhhhhh
My husband does love me after all!
It was really nice to have 5 hours of personal attention by people trying to convince me that I wasn't a boring, struggling, working tired out sleepless mom. But that I was a glamorous gem of unaltered natural beauty and that it was a privilege to be trimming my tresses and softening my cuticles.
man oh man
If you haven't done it, you really should!

Killy also bought me a really nice digital camera that actually fits into my many mini purses!

I love it!
I love it!
I love it!
And so does Killy.

My sister sacrificed herself to buy me my signature scent, patchouli. Maru is extremely allergic to processed fragrances and for her to stand in line at a perfume store for this special treat FOR ME because she loves me was a BIG deal. And I got her a CUTEY little outfit for the holidays!

Sicknesses

Merry Christmas, everyone!! I remember my mom used to take such good care of me when I would get sick -- she would dote over me and feed me lots of soup and juice and put cool towels on my forehead ... it was so nice and so soothing but eventually I think I actually started to get sick more often just so I could stay home from school and have my mom pay attention to me ... and then I got pneumonia when I was 13. For the first time, I realized how terrible being sick could be -- I was sick for like 2 or 3 months -- the fever dreams were so spectacular, I still remember those, so vivid and real. I remember seeing my entire body represented by a gigantic life-size chess board and all the white blood cells in my body were the white chess pieces fighting for good health and the black chess pieces were the pnuemonia growing and festering in my lungs -- I was coughing and in bed for what seemed like an entire winter. And then I had dreams about going through a tunnel of bombs flying past me, filling up the sky all around as far as the eye could see. After that, I decided being sick was no fun and strengthened my resolve to get sick as infrequently as possible. Nowadays, I just don't have time to be sick. It's just too much of a pain in the ass. So I take my vitamins, get plenty of sleep, etc, etc... I think the worst thing for sick people may be having too good of a nurse, like my mom, to take care of you. It spoils you somehow.

Christmas Eve

Congratulations little d! Your big brain is legendary in this small cow-poke town!
I hope we get to see you before you disappear into your books again.

So much for traditions. I am sad to report that we haven't made tamales this year. We haven't taken our Christmas family portrait in front of the Christmas tree either. Oh well, come si come sa.

Killy is still sick and I am at work.

I'm tired.

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas.

2.5 days to go and a house full of sick...

OK
Grandma has been sick. Killy tells me that I have no empathy for people who are sick. It's true, I'm sad to say. Maybe it's because I am never sick. Or at least, I refuse to be sick. After listening to MamaLynda coughing all last week and watching her feebly surviving each day, I tried to understand why she was so knocked out by this. It's really hard for me to imagine being knocked out by something that isn't causing my lungs to swell through my ribcage or my temperature to soar to obscene levels.
I'm talking to my sister about illnesses right now. I don't remember being sick as a little girl, but apparently she does. She tells me that I would get sick VERY often. My symptoms would include super high fevers and were always a dramatic event for the family as they would often sit by listening to me ranting feverishly through my turbulent nightmares. Maru tells me that she would sneak by the "isolation" room where I would invariably be placed, and watch my mother praying over me, rubbing my naked body with alcohol and sloshing wet rags all over me to bring down my temperature. She would yell to my mother that I was going crazy when my fevers would bring me to a new point of deliria. She remembers looking at me during my feverish highs and wondering if I was asleep or awake as my eyes were half open and I would be screaming and mumbling deliriously.
I asked her if I was mean and impatient with her whenever she got sick. Maru says she never got sick. But when she did, she said I would complain a lot because I had to do her housework. Boy, I sure don't like myself in my sister's eyes.
But then, Maru reveals to me, that she is the same! She also recognizes that she has no patience for people who get sick.
My brother says this...
Maru hardly got sick. You got sick more. When you got sick, you were like a little sickly bird. You were so skinny. And your baby hair on your forehead was always wet, like a little newborn bird. Your eyes never shut all the way when you slept. And your eye lids were so thin, like a newborn bird. I remember always feeling scared seeing you sick. But you were brave. You always seemed to be in Carol-land instead of sick land. As weak as you were, you were brave.
Especially that one Christmas Eve. We were all waiting for midnight to open our gifts after church. You were so sick. But you fell asleep. When midnight came, I ran to get you but all I saw as a sickly bird in a nest of coats and jackets on mom's bed. I felt bad because you wanted to open the gifts so bad but you were sickly.
Maru, just ignored being sick altogether. It's like she didn't even know she was sick.
When I get sick, I'm a big baby. Thing is, I can be sick and I'm fine. But, occassionally, I really, really get very sick. When that does happen, I don't ask for things, I just make you feel guilty. But now, nobody pays attention to me. And, if anybody does do something for me, I don't feel it's enough. So, I just deal with it myself.
Ironically, when others get sick, I think they are just making it worse than what it is. I think they are just doing it for attention. Except for Adi & Thalia, I just feel so helpless when they are sick and I spoil them.

So all of us have this wierd impatience with people who let their illness be on display, as if advertising for sympathy. Maru tells me she thinks it's because of my parent's attitude when they were sick. She says that they would just get up and go. That there was too much to do to waste time being sick.

So with this in mind, many questions arise...
Does this mean that I am sick each time I wake up with a sniffley nose?
Does this mean I should stay home for an entire week nursing a little cough?

Hmmm...

Baby's first JOKE

Killito: Knock Knock
Mom: Who's there?
Killito: In the...
Mom: In the who?
Killito: Egg Nog

Mom: In the egg nog?

Christmas MUST go on!

Lots of stuff happening this season. Finally took Killu to get pics with Santa at the Galleria. That was fun! I took last Thursday off as a vacation day because I deserved it and I wanted to spend the day with my little baby boy. The morning started off slow and easy with breakfast at Empire. We managed to wake Paul Mercado and drag him out into the morning. Killu ran around all over the place after eating the contents of a giant breakfast taco with chorizo and egg. He also gobbled down a small sweet risotto. He munched on cookies while maneuvering between occupied tables and chairs and charmed everyone in the restuarant with his little diaper booty shaking to a fro with each step.
Then we took Paul to Diedrich's and left him there to tackle the traffic to the Galleria on our own. It wasn't too bad, we got there in record time to arrive 20 mins before Santa was to appear. There was one couple there before us, had been there since 9:30 (ten minutes before we got there) with their little three year old angel boy (everyone compared to my little one seems to be an angel these days). So we proceeded to wait, wich meant, I got to chase Killu around to keep him from eating the dangerous poinsettias or from getting on the dangerous escalator (MAN was that scary). He did climb up and down the stairs though, with mom right behind him.
Santa arrived at 10:00 AM with his two helpers. One was a surly large woman, the holiday vest did NOTHING for her. The other, a young sweet girl with tons of face powder. Surly was not happy. Powder explained that the cameras could not be found and that we would possibly have to wait a little while.
Killu started violently bucking in my arms screeching to be set free to run. Angel boy looked on wide eyed with wonder (You were just like that not too long ago, I said to him in my head). I let Killu run and chased after him shouting my stats to Powder for my order form.
As Killu ran around the Mini Santa village, I could see Surly was making little progress, even with two cell phones and one land line all a-ringing like the holidays. At one point I heard her proclaim, "Yes I will hold and I must tell you that I don't like your attitude...No you don't understand...!!" Boy, I wouldn't want to be in her shoes, I thought as I ran after Killu who managed to walk into a Crystal store (they advertised on three t.v. screens that your 3-D likeness could be immortalized in a crystal brick - looked kind of morbid like the face of a dead person lying face up in a crystal casket). I chased him back out into the staircase again, which he proceeded to happily climb.
10:40 AM
Checked back with Powder, Surly had run off with a distressed and stressed out looking man "to seek the lost cameras". It should be 20 minutes or so, says Powder.
GREAT!
Now we've been out of the house since 7:30 AM, Killu has run around to near exhaustion and nap time is fast approaching. Change of scenery was needed as I watched him ready to explode into Mr. Hyde. I took him away to the snack area where I ordered an iced Chai latte with tapioca balls. The lady who served it spilled some on me. Great! Killu screeching for me to pick him up, hmmmm, he's tired. Saw the clock on the wall, it's 11:00 AM.
We went downstairs and found 10 COUPLES in line with beautiful children. Camera was finally found and was working. GREAT! I thought, Now I have to stand in line. So I took my place at the end of the line behind double strollers bearing twin angelic little girls, dad's burping little newbies on their giant shoulders, moms licking their hands and plastering their little boys cowlicks down. Killu wanted to get out of my arms again and run up the escalator. Powder saved me at that moment by spotting me and signaling me to come up ahead. SURE DID!
Killu and I were next, and he was not happy. Instinctively, he did not want to release my sweater. When I pried his little fingers away, he pouted, severely, in Santa's arms. Inwardley, I thanked him for not bucking in Santa's arms (a new little trick he loved to use on me). He continued to look to the ground with his adorable little pout. Camera guy yelling and hooting, mama standing a few feet away bouncing and caw-cawing or something, I don't even know what I was doing but it was making everyone else laugh except Killu, who coolly looked aside, steady and sober. I reached for his face and ran back. Did this three times before he looked up, obviously unhappy and tortured.
SNAP

Taggart's family tragedy

Liz,
I heard about your weekend trek to the valley (see boy's blog). I'm sorry about all of that. My prayers are with you!

Love you!

???

Please ignore all of that -- it did print my message about the snow, etc. after all. Anyhoo, maybe once Anthony and I buy a place you can bring your baby boy up for a visit so he can play in the snow and see the Big Apple -- plus then we'll have more room so you can hopefully have your own bedroom to stay in comfortably when you visit and then you and killy will decide to move to nyc and then todd and diana will move here and so will liz and taggart and amber and adolph and paul and dave and megan and colin & family and we'll all live on the same block in our own beatnik version of an artist/intellectual community where free thinking and creative inspiration are all we care about as we frolic in snow and drink hot chocolate and spend time with good friends and stuff like that ... so how 'bout it?!

reposting amber's wierd posting

I think my last blog got edited off the blog because it was too controversial -- they sent me an e-mail that the word s h * t was not allowed already -- what did I do now? It's been completely wiped out ... It was right after Carol's xmas blog and right before her cute poodle pic.

--
Posted by Amber Scott to Persephone Risen at 12/8/2003 05:40:22 PM

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blog being wierd

I don't know what the blog is doing
there is a small entry that Amber tried to post asking about a 'nuther entry but it didn't get done posted
for some reason

Amber, I am so jealimonous that you are having a WHITE Christmas as all God-Given Christmases were meant to be while I sit here in my shorts and crop tops sweatin and a'sweatin in the heat of the winter-time. Makes no sense I tell you!

I often wonder where my little boy will end up when he is 30 years old. Will he be living in Texas, or will having been raised here cure him of all the blistery evils of it's overgrown sun and frolicking in normal temperate zones where seasons DO exist by golly! One of my life's goals is to have my baby spend a Christmas in the snow while he is still young to enjoy it without restraint.

Speaking of life's goals
Here's a small list.
- Eat a lobster on the rocky coasts of Maine while wearing a cable knit sweater and jeans
- Go to Hawaii, sleep in a tent and fish for my dinner
- Go to Spain and paint a portrait of my husband
- Buy a luxury motorcycle and take a road trip across the USA and write all about it
- Own a collection of sassy wigs
- Learn Portuguese
- Open a bed & breakfast in the mountains of central Mexico
- Get a university degree of some sort (English or Art or both)
- Publish something (already did that, wanna do it again)
- Quit my job, be a stay at home mom and be a virtual assistant and give aerobics classes in the evening (sigh...)

Some things to think about.

How bout you?

Winter Wonderland

We measured 12" of snow on our deck this weekend -- the conifers looked so pretty all outlined in white with the fake red berries I had attached to their limbs poking out here and there -- I especially love the way Central Park looks in the snow -- Fifth Avenue running up alongside with sparse traffic moving very slowly along it and all the usual city sounds are muffled by the snow and all the bare tree branches are covered on top with a layer of snow about 1" thick that just outlines their silhouttes in subtle splendour...

I went Christmas shopping in the blizzard on Saturday -- not content with staying home and roasting my toes by the televised fire -- I went to the Soho Apple store and gawked at all of the prices on Microsoft software that has made Bill Gates too stinking rich for his own darn good -- and then I looked over at Photoshop and nearly fainted at the $600 price tag -- seeing as how I was considering buying my first legal copy until I realized what it is that makes software piracy so attractive ... but then I looked down at the scaled-down version of Photoshop Elements and decided I liked the $100 price tag much better -- the sales guy said it only made a diff. if I plan on editing video or animation, which I don't, so I bought it and then rewarded myself for being so financially savvy by making my way over to Fauchon on Park Avenue for some fancy Parisian chocolates which were , yummmm, so good they make Godiva look like wax chocolate by comparison ... I bought all the girls in our families small boxes of chocolates there and then headed over to Home Depot to buy gift certificates for the guys... I made it home finally covered in snow and laden down with boxes and spent 4 hours scrambling around like a maniac wrapping presents, making pretty little bows in the beginning, and toward the end settling for tissue paper and gift bags as the hours wore on...

Ah, what a relief, Christmas shopping is all done and now I can focus on creating more botanic gardens classes -- they've increased my number of classes from 10 to 20 since the last class was sold out and got really good reviews ... excellent news, now I've got to actually come up with the course materials I promised. Should keep me very busy this winter ... Ciao bellas, good luck with the shopping and stay warm!

Love Dem Poodles

got my poodles again this morning.

Christmas List

I already have MotherInLaws gift, one sister in laws gift, some of killy's gifts, some of killito's gifts. I have yet to get my sister her gift, although I already got her bday gift. I already got Margaret her bday gift too and took care of BBA's gift. Just need to finalize Killy's gift and maru's and one SIL. Then we tackle the kiddies' gifts. Lots of kiddies, and our secret santa.

BOY

I have a lot to do this in the next week and a half.

wedding bells

I just learned that our old friend Lisa Westerbeck will be ringing these bells soon!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! My little family spent the weekend with good friends. Which is exactly how I would love to spend every weekend if I could. I must report that my husband has not made it to the running track yet (not even after Thanksgiving weekend). But he did enjoy his first real guitar lesson which happened this Saturday.

Killito woke me up pretty early on Saturday, made breakfast for everyone who was home and then sat in the living room to watch Finding Nemo with the baby. Daddy joined us pretty early on so I could have my legs free to cook (baby likes to cling to my legs for undivided attention from me at any given moment). And then we played around and cleaned our room and did all sorts of miscellaneous things until baby needed his nap. I took a nap with him for three hours.

I hate taking a nap in the middle of the day. I usually wake up with a headache. About 3:00 PM, I woke up with a HUGE headache. Killy sensed this and suggested we leave the house to do something outside. I was more than happy to leave the confines of the house so we went to the park.

It was wonderfully chilly out and Killito loved it. Some kid was having a birthday party at the park and there were all sorts of crazed and manic kids running and screaching and chasing each other with make believe ray guns or swords, girls yelling for the boys to save them (from who???) and boys trying to beat each other with games of strength. Killito just watched wide eyed and amazed. Every once in a while interjecting an "OOOhmm!" or "Dah?!". We explored the playthings. He didn't like the slide. I think it had to do with his big baby shoes curling under his legs as he slid causing him to tumble forward and slide on his face. So we abandoned that pretty quickly. He liked pushing the swing and climbing where he could. Daddy practiced his guitar while baby and I explored and watched the crazed kids.

We left the park after about an hour and went for ice cream. Baby doesn't like to drink milk from a cup so I worry about how much calcium he gets. Ice cream is a good way to get it, so we try to take him to get ice cream no more than once a week. He loves it!

Then we went to Houston to see Paul and hang out for a while. We got some pizza and went to Adolph's place. Adolph got home pretty late but Killito stayed awake just so he could see his favorite Godfather. Then he gladly stayed awake longer to play with him. We didn't get home until midnight and boy, Killito was tired!!!

My lovely husband let me sleep in on Sunday. He fed Killito and bathed him and did laundry and was wonderful. He is such a beautiful man. But soon we were on the road to Houston to hang out with Adolph, Amber and Paul again. We stayed their the entire day. It was nice and Killito got a really good nap in Adolph's freezing room. Killy, Paul and Adolph played computer games and I relaxed with my little sleeping angel. Killy and I went back home about 6:00 PM or so with plans to take our family Christmas portrait.

Killy got to go see Ted Leo during the middle of the week last week( I'm sure you have looked at the boy's blog about that). We are so looking forward to being able to do things together again in the evening. But naturally, when the weekend comes around, Grandma needs a break and is usually not available for any significant amount of time to allow Killy and I a real date. I don't even know what a real date is any more. Not that I'm complaining, I love being with my little baby boy, but I miss my husband too you know. So Killy gets to go to these shows when they come around and I haven't been able to join him.

So that's what's been going on with me.

How bout you??

i miss my old home

So I went to the Hot Bagel Shop this morning for a handful of poodles. The pretty black guy with fun dreads calls these tasty treats poodles, and I just got a kick out of it. Now I want them every morning, plus, it's nice to be flirted with in the morning. These are mini bagel dogs, three of them are enough to fill you up, yummm, with a hot cup of coffee. Boy do I love coffee! This coffee is a Starbuck's blend. It has just the right amount of bitter and richness that I need first thing in the morning.
Anyway, this morning was a little unusual in that everyone in the Hot Bagel Shop was there with their little kiddies. They must have been about three or four at least and they were CUTE. I missed my little baby back in Sugarland and I longed to be visiting the Hot Bagel Shop with my little boy this morning. There was a little blue eyed boy named Sam who wanted to go out into the busy parking lot, "NO SAM, stay with mommy!" the petite, casually, well dressed and well coiffed woman sweetly cooed. He reminded me of my little baby boy with his milky white skin and fine silky locks. I wanted to chew on his cheeks!
Killito woke up today with the biggest smile. I didn't want to come to work, I wanted to stay home with him all day and take him to the park and explore and play all day. Of course, I got to work late, but I was able to smell my baby and kiss my little boy for a few more minutes.
Waiting for my poodles, I watched the mothers and father interacting with their children. They were vaguely aware of the people around them focusing all their attention and efforts on conversing with the chirpy little kiddies, "Mommy, I LIKE these!" a little girl in a flowered crocheted sweater gleefully announced. She knelt on her stool and poked her poodle. Another little boy, older than the others, hid behind his daddy's legs, eyeing me shyly. I waved and smiled at him, he shrunk further back and put on his sunglasses to hide.
I thought about how nice it would be to live in this area again. We lived only a few blocks from the Hot Bagel Shop and have walked here on a few Saturday mornings. Always a nice walk, now a new Chipotle's was being built right around the corner and I love Chipotle. Plus, this is the type of place where I feel Killy and I belong. It's only too bad that the property taxes and house prices are so high...
It really would be nice though...
I took my bag of poodles and my coffee and got back on the road to work, dreaming of a fine house in the Montrose/River Oaks area...
Maybe one day...

NEW BABIES

Did you know our loving Reverend Meagan E Jones is prego
and so is Jennifer (Kabay) Barnett

FYI

Smile, change the subject and walk away...

That's how you do it.
It's never easy, especially when they are in your family. But the fact is, even if they don't like you, they will be stuck with you forever. Normally, I separate myself from people who don't like me. Believe it or not, they exist, and thanks to one person in my family, I remembered this horrible fact. Unfortunately, because this person is a member of my family, I can't distance myself from them. Instead, I smile, change the subject, and walk away.
Thankfully, I get to go home with my loving husband after the experience. Everything is better now.

Sorry baby, it's not easy, but it can be handled.

Also,
Killy and I agreed that Thanksgiving is with my family, Christmas is with his and New Years is just us, hopefully with friends, but not family.

Maybe you and Ant'ny can make similar arrangements.

LOVE YOU

Have babies NOW

Family Nights

Yesterday was Barbara Ann's birthday. She was excited to celebrate her 16th birthday with her family gathered round at the Olive Garden. My little baby was just excited to explore and run around a new place than anything else. Killy and I really splurged and got BBA a Teen Facial at Sensia Studio for her special gift. I myself have never had a facial, but I understand they are wonderful.
She was very happy with all her gifts (especially with the S&M heels her mom innocently bought for her from the birthday wish list). Killy and I habitually refuse to indulge some of her more ridiculous requests by never even looking at her wish list. She has come to expect this from us, thankfully, and seems to genuinely like what we have given her after much thought.
I was so scared that dinner would be a chaotic experience and that somehow Killy and I would be stuck paying an extra 30.00 from someone skipping out early or "forgetting" to include gratuity in their share. But happily, the staff accomodated our needs by separating our bill. Also, thankfully, we were NOT embarassed by anyone complaining about the service, loudly and frequently while demanding meticulous attention the whole time. This is such a normal part of these outings that I have learned to make myself scarce most of the time by following Killito around on his little excursions.
All in all, BBAs birthday was one of the more tolerable celebrations yet. Although I still came home exhausted from smiling and not pointing out that gifts from Mexico were brought to every girl in the family but me. Hmmm, I guess I'm still considered an outsider. Somehow, this is a great relief to me.

The holidays can be stressful -- so full of expectations and the pressure to create great memories for years to come. I even found them stressful sometimes with my own family. This is my 3rd holiday season with the Fredas and for some reason I got myself worked up into a frenzied ball of nerves this Thanksgiving -- not sure why, perhaps it was because I hadn't done my yoga for the week ... or maybe it was Anthony's fiesty red-headed sister Elizabeth saying my mom's sister's name (Corliss) sounds like a W.A.S.P. name to her, or maybe it was when she said she hates liberals as she stared at me pointedly, but then I have to remind myself that she's half crazy and her particular mix of anti-depressants, marijuana, coffee, and cigarettes all of which she uses habitually and in massive amounts, is probably more to blame for her outbursts than any real feelings of animosity towards me.

"Your sister stresses me out," I tell Anthony when we have a moment alone.

"You act as though you're dealing with a sane person," he tells me, "Remember, you can't take anything she says seriously."

Ah, a strange predicament. What does one do with a crazy woman? And the weird thing is, she can be so loveable one moment and so irritating the next -- the day after her weirdness she was hugging me, apologizing, and offering to give me one of her special Shiseido facial massages. She doesn't even remember half the crazy shit she says anyway -- when I moved here from Texas she said to me in genuine amazement:

"You moved all the way from Texas to America?"

It would be funny if she hadn't been so serious when she said it. This coming from a 33-year-old woman, I knew I was in trouble. So back to my original question, what does one do with a crazy woman? Ignore her? Laugh at her? Respond? What? I haven't figured it out yet -- at least Thanksgiving is over. All of the rest of Anthony's family is really great. I love his mom and dad so much!! And his other sister, Christine, is also wonderful and our friendship seems to be steadily growing every time we hang out. So what to do? I guess I have a few weeks to think it over until the next family get together -- Christmas...

Hello all!
Hope everyone's Turkey Day was just as wonderful as mine!

It started Wednesday afternoon. I was able to leave the office at noon, which I did enthusiastically. Naturally, my husband couldn't get out of work until about 1:00 or so. I spent some time at Walgreens and picked up some Christmas stocking stuffers in the meantime. When we got home, the plan was to put everything in the car and start driving right away. This would get us into the valley just after sundown with enough time to relax and hang out before hitting the bed. Well, Killito had just fallen asleep when we got home at about 1:30. He woke up at the sound of our voices, and wouldn't go back to sleep unless I nursed him and lay down next to him. So I did. And because I was so tired from having stayed up the night before packing everything, I promptly fell asleep with him.
Two hours later, I woke up to the sound of drunken shouting out in the living room. Apparently, Barbara's dad had arrived with his brother in tow to pick up Barbara for her Thanksgiving trip to his house. In my sleepy haze, I realized that everyone in the house was taking a nap too and that Bob and brother had entered the house through the open garage door. In any case, I immediately got up and began loading everything in the car, furious with myself for having wasted two precious hours. I didn't want to be getting in so late. Killy, who had fallen asleep in the living room, realized the state I was in and hurried to help me. The baby was still asleep so we could take advantage of this time to load everything without his interruption.
We finally left at 4:30. The six hour trip was extended by one hour because of the two pit stops we had to give Killito a break. He was adorable, running through the Stuckies' touching all the shiny crunchy potato chip bags, throwing all the bags of peanuts on the floor and banging on the water and coke refrigerators. All sorts of women and young girls would approach him and ask to touch him, for fear of inadvertantly leaving evil eye residue on him. Sure, I'd relent, and Killito would suspiciously eye these strangers as they caressed his head and cheek. Along the way, we discussed our sleeping arrangements. Last year, my sister in law was hurt that we decided to stay at a hotel instead of at her house. She has a cute little house, but on that occasion, my parents were there and they were staying in one room. But she still felt hurt that we didn't stay with her. Killy and I decided to avoid the potentially sticky situation and sleep at the house this time thinking we would save money in doing so.
We got to my brother's house at 11:00 PM where Lina had just also arrived from shopping all day. The funny thing was, she didn't get any grocery shopping done. So Killy had to make a run to the HEB for stuffing and other miscellanies. We didn't get to bed until around midnight or so and Killito was too excited when seeing his cousins that at first, he fought like a wild cat against going to bed. But soon, I got him to sleep, and sleep he did. And he was the only one who slept.
Thursday
My brother had acquired 4 dogs during the last year. And these weren't about to be forgotten. The entire night was a welcome concert in our honor, performed by four mongrel mutts just outside our bedroom window. Poor Killy, grumbling and mumbling to keep himself sane. No sleep for us. Not only that, our family of three shared a full sized bed. A comfortable arrangement considering our other options, two couches or the floor.
I woke up at 5:00 AM made the stuffing with veggie butter and diced veggies (yummm) put the turkey in the oven and went back to bed. I woke up two hours later mortified because I didn't season the bird.
Oh Well...
We had dinner at 2:00 PM (Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes made with veggie butter and skim milk, asparagus, cranberry sauce, apple pie) with the idea that we would be visiting Lina's family at about 6:00 PM for more food. But everyone was too tired to consider that idea. We stayed home and let Lina visit her cousins and aunt without us.
Sleep was welcome but made itself scarce again. Someone clogged the guest toilet and the kids wouldn't go to bed. Killy grumbled and mumbled a little louder this night and vowed never to do this again, who cares whose feelings got hurt! He finally rolled out of bed at about 2:00 AM to try to capture sleep in the living room. I don't know what was up with those dogs, but they were at it all night long again. Killy didn't get any sleep at all. Neither did I for that matter. But I was just grateful that I could close my eyes and put my feet up for a little while.
Friday
The next day, we hurried out of there FAST!
We had strategically made breakfast plans with Killy's sisters in town. We met them at a little dive (all decent restaurants in the valley are dives) where we enjoyed YUMMY eggs and beans prepared in various ways. Killito wanted to play and talk to everyone. I was mortified that he was pestering people regardles of how cute he looked in his little cable knit sweater and corduroys. I plucked him out from between two occupied chairs at a family's table when he promptly started to scream bloody murder! I quickly took him outside to calm down. But here, it was worse, he found a particularly dangerous stairway that lead to the flat rooftop of a condemned garage building and proceeded to climb it. I plucked him off the stairs into the safety of my arms where he started to thrash about violently, gargle screaming hysterically (a gargle scream is one that is deep and rumbling and comes out much more pronounced than it could because of the raspy use of the back of the throat). I was looking mighty cute that day, I must say, wearing my long and lean Gap jeans with stilleto heels trying to calm down a wild cat baby. I quickly ran back inside the restaurant, thrashing baby in my arms, to Killy so he could help me calm him down.
We left the restaurant right away to the safety of Killy's sister's house. Baby found another staircase here and proceeded to climb up and down to his little heart's content. I stayed close on his heels in case I
needed to catch a tumbling baby. Thankfully, I didn't have to, but boy was he tired. I used a wonderful and HIGH sleigh bed to put him to sleep, for FOUR hours. He napped like an angel and I rested and read some books that were there.
When we woke up, we were hungry again, so we went to TGIF for lunch.
Baby had spaghetti and I had a steak, daddy had fish and chips (not the best food for his condition, but he enjoyed it so much, promising with each mouthful to do some exercise when we got back home).
Lunch over and done with, we retired to our HOTEL ROOM!!! for much needed peace and quiet. Here we enjoyed a complimentary cocktail and let Killito walk around the hotel lobby. Then we went back to our room where I chased Killito around for a long time, then we jumped around on the king sized bed until he was exhausted. He fell asleep hard!
Saturday
We woke up late, enjoyed a late complimentary breakfast at the hotel, then drove around to enjoy the beautiful day. Too bad the mosquitoes were out with a vengeance, otherwise we would have made our way to the park with Killito. As it was, there were too many pests flying about threatening to pimplify my baby's milky white skin so we stayed in the car while daddy photo'd at every opportunity. Lunch was yummy and bad for the arteries but Killito enjoyed his taco. We eventually made our way back on the road for the long trip home.
We got home seven hours later and after one pit stop. Luckily Killito fell asleep for the majority of the trip so he didn't get tired of his seat until we were ten minutes from home. Then he commenced his wail of supreme suffering. But we got home quickly enough.
The second we got home, he was so excited! He saw his grandma and was even more excited! There was no way he would be going to sleep anytime soon.
He explored the house making sure everything was just where he left it. Then he ran up and down the hall until he was quite sweating with glee. I took off all his clothes to cool him down and there he was, quite comfortably running around in his diaper, happy and content to be home.
Boy was this ONE CRAZY Thanksgiving...
Next year will certainly be different.
Next year, we are getting a hotel room!