The Feast!!

Holy moly, that was awesome!! The food was incredible, the company was hilarious, the liqueur was top-shelf and the time had by all was amazing!! There were two turkeys to choose from, one oven baked and one deep fried. There was a veritable mountain of side-dishes and pies galore. There was a river of freely-slowing alcohol and of course, the full gamut of sarcastic and witty humor to be enjoyed. Everyone had a fabulous time and I'm so glad we could all be together like that this year!! A certain too-fabulous chef that I know and am related to by marriage was severely smashed by the time dinner was ready and kept us all giggling with her attempts to speak English. I particularly enjoyed it when she tried to offer me some wine by saying that I should "have a piece of this." Of course all the stuttering and false starts leading up to that only increased my enjoyment. This person, of course, is the reigning Queen of hostesses and never, ever fails to put on a shindig that wows us all. It is always amazing to me that she can make it all come together in such a perfect fashion and make it look effortless and gracious at the same time. I can't cook dinner for 3 people and have it all come off that way. She was perfectly attentive to all her guests and even made the children feel welcome and comfortable. She's the only person I've ever met who can exude both drunkenness and propriety at the same time. Explain that. She ends up with an event that is somewhere between the best formal dinner ever and the karaoke dance party in the swamp. I don't know how she does it. It is better food than you can have at the best catered affair and more fun than a dive bar with friends you don't introduce your mother to. Either way, I had a rocking good time and am looking forward to doing it again tonight!!

Let the games begin!!

Whoa nellie! Here we go!!!

Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Tomorrow will be my last day of work this week. Thursday I will be going over to my SIL's house early to get the food started then we head off to church. After we return (we will run home to change, of course) we will finish food preparation and we feast!! No doubt we will be there till way late and the kids will all be running around like little nutcases on crack and of course we will have a few extra kids there. I'm sure that will be a blast. Then home to sleep off all the food and use the next day to lounge around and drink coffee. Then it will be back to SIL's house for a seriously huge drunken card game! We are each contributing a different variety of alcoholic beverage and the kids will all be at grandma's house. It promises to be seriously fun!! If that weren't good enough, Saturday night B and I will be off to party it up with all my friends at work. We are planning to go dancing, maybe some more drinking and who knows? We may end up doing something not previously on the agenda! I even have a good friend coming from out of town to join us. I've been looking forward to this four day weekend all week as have all my friends at work. We were all talking today about how excited we were getting and how we couldn't wait for it to get here! It's so cool that all the significant others are joining us as it is usually just the people I work with. Not that this is a bad thing, it is a group of gals between the ages of 22 and 29 some of whom have children and some not. We can all get pretty exuberant and ridiculous with the assistance of a few drinks and a lot of laughter. We have also discussed doing a potluck kind of dinner with all the kids so we could all continue to get together. Either way, this is going to be a seriously kick-ass weekend!

I can't wait to see what we do for Christmas!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

So out of shape...

Last night I joined almost all my co-workers for a hilarious night of bar hopping in honor of my friend Sheila's birthday. It was great fun, starting at the bar closest to work, progressing to one downtown and ending at the new dance club just a few blocks away. It was such a riot, there were quite a few people there and we all joked and laughed and had a wonderful time. However, I can admit to being tipsy enough that by the time we got to the dancing part of the evening it did not occur to me that I should start slowly as I haven't been dancing in, oh, like years and years. So I hopped my seriously buzzed behind around on that dance floor with all my friends and stayed out there for hours. I came back to the table only occasionally to guzzle water and then back out to the floor I went. Afterward we all wandered off to Denny's for a little snack and some coffee and the girls in the group giggled the entire time. We were all giddy and buzzed and enjoying ourselves probably way too much, but it was such fun! After we had eaten and drank warm things we all hugged and headed our separate ways. The drive home was fine and once I got home the hubby was still up and I told him all about the fun night and he said it sounded so fun he would join us next time, which I am really looking forward to. However, this morning after waking up I became aware of something that didn't occur to me last night. I'm out of shape. My legs are killing me. I was wearing comfortable shoes last night so my feet don't hurt, but damn near everything else does. My knees are even slightly puffy, probably because I don't usually make them work this hard. Of course, if they called me and said that they were gonna do it again tonight I'd be all over it but I'm glad that my day can be low-key and easy going so I can stop being sore by Monday. It's a good thing I'm registered for school because that means I will start working out again so maybe I'll have a little more stamina. That would be great, because I honestly forgot what a grueling workout dancing can be if you do it right. I ended up so over-heated that I was the only one in our party who walked back to the cars in my short sleeves and no coat in 30 degree weather. My hair was soaked in sweat and smells a bit strange this morning. Luckily, I never hit that seriously plastered stage that comes right before I throw up and disgrace myself so there is no hangover this morning. Thank God for that, I hate hangovers. So, last night was somewhat nostalgic since hubby and I used to go dancing all the time in our early relationship and into our early married life. Once the booger was born I honestly don't think we ever went again, and then the club we used to go to closed down and there wasn't another for a long time. I can't wait to go back with my friends and husband. I'm sure it will be great!!

Oh, and by the way, Mojitos are better if you're a little tipsy before you start drinking them.

Swimming in weird.

You just gotta love sharing the planet with all the beetle-headed humans taking up space on it. We all know that the weather is starting to get a little sloppy. A teensy bit of snow, a lot of rain and a whole lot of wind. Nothing too dramatic or alarming, at least in my book. In the last week I've been rather unfortunate in my quest for a peaceful drive to and from work. A bit disappointed, really. I've been stuck behind people who resolutely refuse to come close to the posted speed limit due to, I assume, the small and insignificant fact that there is some form of moisture falling out of the sky. It's as though their cars put a stubborn cap on their velocity as soon as the windshield wipers are engaged. I've also noticed that the same moisture seems to cause their peripheral vision to fly south for the winter. I've been cut off, swerved toward, and the victim of an attempted scraping-off. I'm not really a violent person. I'm generally too easy-going and too lazy to work up a good head of steam. Nonetheless, I've used more foul language at higher volumes in the last week than I have in a long time. I've not made any obscene gestures or anything, but I have family members who can vouch for the fact that I prefer to flip "el birdo" when I'm face to face with the recipient. So much more fun in person, don't you think? Anyway, my shouted profanity has had zero effect on the state of traffic, but it has helped me feel as though I'm not letting the ignorant bastards get away with it. I hope their ears are burning. It feels somewhat counter-productive to arrive at work, facing a full day of verbal fencing and cajolery, feeling somewhat drained, like I just survived a dangerous obstacle course rife with landmines only to find out that I still have to get to the center of the labyrinth and then do a triathlon. By the time I stash my stuff in my locker, fill up my coffee cup and find a pen I'm not interested in doing my charting or file review. I just want to take a nap. Maybe preceded by a cocktail and some chocolate. Same thing when I get home. I had to drive through hell and you still want me to cook dinner? Kiss my a$$, you turkey. Get some takeout and make with the foot massage and we'll negotiate who gets stuck doing yesterday's dishes. Of course I don't actually express these sentiments because this is real life and that's just not how it works. If it could I'd be all over it, but so would you. Admit it.

Anyway, now that I've vented my spleen (where did that stupid saying come from???) I'm off to do the dishes. And, no, they're not left over from yesterday.

School days, school days....

So my registration is currently being cleared by my former microbiology teacher. This means I will be registering for classes no later than November 18th. This is a bit strange as I have been out of the grind for two terms now. I both miss it and kinda dread it, knowing how labor-intensive it can be. On the upside I have a clearer idea of what area I'm interested in so that narrows down my prospective classes quite a bit. That's a good thing considering the number of seriously boring classes offered. I'm glad I'm not required to take psychology or sociology or any of that crud. It's hard to get financial aid for classes that are generally slept through, though I can't imagine why considering the curriculum. Anyway, that first week or two should be interesting, work and school going at the same time. I'm not sure if going back is smart or stupid.

Let it be smart, please God.

On that note, the Rock is on TV, no idea what the movie is, but he just walked onscreen with no shirt on so I gotta go.