Thanksgiving and Other Things

So, this year, instead of only getting sick (which I did), I also fell multiple times. I added injury to insult. I'm resisting going to the doctor's though. Just too much to do! I only have a massive bruise on my shin, and a sore left side (entire), and my foot has puffed up like never before. I can hear my mom's voice from here, "Why are you so stubborn??? Nevermind, I know it's your dad's fault!"

On Black Friday, Jason and I got up early (I should say, Jason got up early then called to wake me up) and surfed the crowds at various stores. He went to Best Buy. (I got a cell phone finally!!) We both stood in line for 2 1/2 hours at Menard's. They always have good doorbuster sales there!

My friend, Kasey, came into town that night, and we spent a really nice weekend. Mostly just resting. :) She has pics of my house up! Check 'em out! And, she's right, we're not done!

Tonight, I helped the ladies at church decorate for the holidays. It was fun! I can never get enough decorating and my small house can only hold so much! (Can you hear Jason's screams of frustration with all the Christmas clutter??) At least this year, I'm not taking up valuable space with craft stuffs! Although, next year, I make no promises! Crafting most likely will start in about May. :^P

I have so much stuff to cram into this month before I leave for my parent's in North Carolina! I wish Jason could make the trip with me, but he recently got promoted and his company holds class on that week. Heathens!

I have to get my house ready for caroling. And, by caroling, I mean, a bunch of people are coming over and using my house as central station while they wander around my neighborhood caroling. I'm excited about that, although so very nervous about having my house clean enough. And, I just know I'll notice some dirt somewhere only after guests arrive! Isn't that always the way??

Then there's the Christmas parties. (First one on Wednesday!!) And the Christmas play at church. (Jason and Jay both have parts!) Packing and partying and insomnia, oh my!

Gifts and Holidays

Gift list add on: Cashmere by Victoria Secret. (I'm sure someone will buy me this as soon as they pick themselves up from their faint. Perfume is such a girl thing for me to want, I know.)

Yay!! Turkey Day is almost here!!! Wooo!!! And, oddly, it isn't the food that I love about it. It's the family getting together and the games and loudness and fun. I grew up with that. I missed it the few years I didn't get to go. Never again! :^) Jason, I love you, and I love your family. I just can't spend holidays with them, sorry.

My one downfall is, I get too excited and make myself sick. Every! Year! Since forever! I think my aunts and Grandma would argue over who was gonna be the unlucky "Keeper of the Sick Girl." (I think Aunt Debbie "won" that prize the most over the years. Lucky her!)

I Heart Faces Entry!

I actually have one this week! Yay!



If you've read this blog, which most have not, you know that I took this at the local Windy Ridge Farms Fall Fling thing they had. And now you all know. :^P It was a fun, fun day!

Gift Ideas For Me

I've promised certain members of my family that I would keep a sort of running tally on gift ideas for me since I'm apparently so hard to buy for!

• The movie "Up."
• Almost anything from Alton Brown's site: extra points for stuff with his cartoon face on it.
• Autographed Tenth Avenue North paraphernalia! (What can I say, I tend to "superfan" stuff.)

Some will be repeated, but that is simply me not remembering I put it on the list before. Or maybe it is just that wanted? Chances you all will have to take! :^P

Veteran's Day

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)

Weekenders

So, Jason's family is a different denomination than Jason and I. Jason grew up in theirs, of course, and according to them, I brainwashed him, the little heathen vixen I am. The weekend went just about how I thought it would go. Some judged me for not segregating myself from the males, some judged me for not having my hair properly done up, and some for the fact that I only dressed up for the wedding. Now, for Sunday service, I did wear a nice outfit, but since it is dress slacks instead of an actual dress or skirt, it is not dressy.

Other than that, the weekend was lovely! Lovely weather, and well, the weather is all I can really say I enjoyed. But I did enjoy it a LOT!

The hotel suite was suitable, until we pulled back the covers on our bed to reveal some previous room occupant's bodily fluid of some sort. Horrifying!

Jason forgot a dress shirt and I forgot my black dress shoes, so we went in search of them. They apparently do not have big and tall men in Iowa (at least in Dubuque) because several stores didn't have anything close to the size needed. I found a pair of shoes at WalMart, but they were painful after wearing them for more than twenty minutes, so I bought a different pair at Kohl's. The Kohl's pair were fine, until we got back to the hotel when we discovered that the bottoms were cheap. They looked like I had taped cardboard to the bottoms and then got them wet! Very disappointing! They will be going back ASAIC! (As Soon As I Can) Jason did finally find some shirts very decently priced at JC Penney's. ($17 a shirt for his size is rare!)

On Sunday, after service, Grandma's friend Warren drove us out to his farm (and I mean a real massive acre working farm, people!) and gave her some various frozen elk meats. (She gave us some; I plan to make swiss steak! Yum!) He has such a pretty farm house!! All real oak furniture and trim with a southwest decor. Lovely! (I'd have pics of the house and his great big 6-month-old rottweiler pup if my camera battery had been charged!)

Then we drove home for four and a half hours.

Then, Jason and I went to a Tenth Avenue North / Mercy Me concert. (Johnny Diaz opened.) Very fun!! I won a ticket to a Newsboys concert next Friday! (Can't wait!) I would have got autographs and chatted with the groups had Jason not started to feel poorly. Boo!

Which brings me to how I spent today. Jason had a very rough night last night! I won't go in to details, but general flu symptoms apply, all of the usuals. This morning, against my judgment, he went to work. Jay's school called at 8:30am to inform me he'd gotten sick as well. Jason ended up coming home from work early and I drove both of them to the ER. Turns out, it was a simple flu bug, but we have to keep an eye on Jay because he was complaining about sharp abdominal pains and a few other symptoms (blood work and scans) that possibly could be early signs of appendicitis. Scary! So, at the very least, he'll be missing school for the next few days. (School says he can't go back until he's 100% and the doctor says so.)

Because of their sickness, I had to wash all the bedding, but my dryer is notoriously slow on the drying of large things such as comforters and sleeping bags, so we had to go to WalMart to purchase new blankets. Luckily, I caught a good sale! I also bought some dietary stuff for their doctor-ordered BRAT diet. (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) Blandtacular!

Hopefully, I will not catch whatever it is they have!

Frustrations

So, Jason's cousin is getting married this weekend. That means I need a dress, or at least a nice skirt outfit.

What frustrates me is sales clerks who care more about selling than the customer's needs.

I try not to buy ruffles. Why would they try to force me into a ruffled skirt? Or that dress that looks more like a grandmother's nightgown?

It doesn't help at all that I have lost enough weight to put me into apparently the most popular size! (Don't get me wrong, weight loss has been great! Just made it harder to find clothes that fit properly somehow.)

I settled on a plain black dress skirt and a gray top with (I actually don't know what those things are called) faux gemstones around the neck. It's nice, and I'm sure the uncomfortableness has more to do with my anxiety issues than the clothes themselves. I just wish I had had somebody other than Jason to shop with. He knows nothing about girl clothes. Blah! Why couldn't his cousin wait til next month to get married!?!

A Tale of Schoolwork

When I was in school, I didn't have a problem learning, especially if the teacher knew me and let me learn on my own. Teachers who didn't know me (whether new to school or substitutes) were the biggest hindrances to my studies.

Second to teachers who didn't know me enough to trust me were teachers who taught as though the students would never "get" what they were teaching.

I find this to still be true. I'm taking a class where the author of the book is a pompous pious self-centered know-it-all and I feel like I'm the only one that sees it! Everyone else is all "Wow, did you hear that lecture? It was so down-to-earth!" and I'm like "What? Did you not see him sneer at that girl who answered his question correctly??" Like a freaky trip to the Twilight Zone!

To make matters worse, the book is written with that same snide tone! Makes it phenomenally difficult to read! When I'm not having to keep myself awake from sheer boredom, I'm biting my tongue so I don't scare people sitting around me as I read it! (Of course, the tension building up in me keeps everyone at a fair distance anyway. *G*)

For you authors out there, (by the way: it is NaNoWriMo!), humility goes a LONG long way with most people! Just saying!

Dream 11/02/09

I was running away from some sort of zombie monster that was eating my friends, or at least the people who were running with me, in a school. One by one, my friends would disappear only to be discovered dead in some way (decapitated, maimed, gnawed on, etc.). At the end, when all that was left was me, I discovered I was the monster I was running from. I killed/maimed/ate my friends. Lovely.

And, to complete that experience, I awake to my friend's pics of a Zombie Walk.