family

Thanksgiving Part 2

25 November 2006 / family, thanksgiving

Yesterday, I drove up to my mom’s to have some of HER yummy cooking, and to get Aidan after his week-long vacation with her.

THE FOOD WAS SO GOOD. It had been a year since I’d had it and it was worth the wait. It really was. Mmm. She sent a bunch home with me today. Wheee!

Other good things of yesterday:

1. Great weather and traffic for the drive.
2. The Christmas List on ABC Family. (I’d thought this movie was gone for good!! I’m so glad they played it again!)
3. Free wireless internet from my mom’s neighbors. Ha!

The bad thing:

– Aidan is sick. He has a horrible cough and gets cranky, a fever at times, and a very runny nose. Poor little guy.

No pictures again, I was too hungry to go and get my camera, but I had mustard/turnip greens, dressing, macaroni and cheese, turkey, ham, and gravy over everything. Dinner rolls too, one with butter, the other with apple jelly and butter.

It was a good weekend. 🙂

And now I am tired. I shall sleep well tonight.

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Thanksgiving!

23 November 2006 / family, shopping, thanksgiving

I forgot my camera, so I didn’t get to take a picture of my meal, which consisted of mashed potatoes, corn, green beans w/bacon, Honey Baked Ham, rolls, turkey, and gravy. Yummmmm. I didn’t eat myself into a food coma, but it was delicious. Dessert was hot apple pie with (real) whipped cream! 🙂

Had fun hanging out with family members who are absolutely crazy and perverted. Good times, good times. I laughed a LOT today. And still felt as welcome and loved as ever.

The drive back to my place was gorgeous! The sky was clear and the sun had just dipped below the horizon, so there was that blue, then orange, all accented with one of my favorite kind of moon–the waxing cresent. (I also love the waning cresent).

I might or might not have picked up a very small amount of holiday gifts today for people. 🙂 I also just browsed and got ideas for other people. The Christmas section was crowded at Meijer today. Lots of people buying decorations. I got lights for 99 cents a box.

I got ahold of the new Josh Groban CD today. WOW. Just… wow. What a beautiful voice that man has.

Dude. I am so addicted to the Highlights hidden pictures games. You can play them online here: Hidden Pictures! I get frustrated with the ones in the magazine, but some of these have sound and animation. That makes it fun.

As if I needed another online/computer game to become addicted to, right?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! 🙂

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Sunday

2 July 2006 / family, life, ronni

On the way home from my mom’s today, I got caught in the most horrific thunderstorm ever.

Traffic was stopped. Everyone could only sit there with their hazards on and wait it out. Hail POUNDED the SUV. It was so loud I had to cover my ears. The lightening was terrific. Debris was flying all over the place. Visibility was minimal. The sky was pitch black.

It was simply incredible.

I had to marvel, because years ago, I would have had a hysterical fit. I would have had to pull over, scream, curl into a ball, something. Today, the most I did was grip the seat and cringe at the sound of the hail, and at the sight of the trees blowing like mad. Hoping and praying everyone on the road would make it home safely.

It was quite an experience.

I’m proud to say I didn’t have a panic attack. Actually, I can’t remember the last time I had a panic attack. Over anything. I think it’s been years. YAY.

I wanted to take pictures, but my camera was in my suitcase.

Hours before that, I’m ashamed to say I threw a temper tantrum. Well, not an actual *on the floor kicking and screaming* tantrum, but I sulked a lot. I just really HATE going to Heinen’s, and I especially hate it now because they don’t sell the damned chocolate Rice Krispies Split Stix.

I had fun, though, helping my mom pick out a new car. Well, it’s used, but still new. A 2002 Ford Taurus. Red. So much better than the 2002 Dodge Intrepid she was considering. I really don’t like that car. But she fell in love with the Taurus, is getting a great deal on it–but she wants to wait ’til my step-dad is with her to actually commit to it. She’ll hopefully be driving it home tomorrow or Tuesday.

And I had the most yummy dinner today. BBQ chicken and baked beans, and a slice of bread. Mmmmmm.

The agenda for tomorrow includes:

– Library;
– Meijer;
– Lunch with itskels;
– Kicking the boys out of the house to watch fireworks and stealing some ME time. >:)

You know what I realized? As lazy as I can be, I have a hard time relaxing. I always feel like I should be doing something. So, even though I could be stealing a nap, (say, the boys are out of the house or something) I always feel a twinge of guilt–because there is laundry to do. Website work to complete. Novels to revise and edit and work on. Library books to finish reading before tomorrow (yeah, about that…), friends and family to call. I often have to physically WORK to keep from grinding my teeth because I start to think and concentrate so much that I don’t even realize I’m doing it!

I neglected to mention I spent all day yesterday at Andy’s. He’s so cool. He cooked a lot of good food that make my tummy very happy. Spaghetti and grilled chicken. Mmmm. He grilled the chicken on a CHARCOAL grill, too. Oh wow, yum. Then he made chocolate chip cookies–mostly to keep me from eating all the raw cookie dough, I think. We watched movies all day. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (with that great Moaning Myrtle scene, plus anything involving Diggory), Pirates of the Caribbean, and …. oh shoot. Why can’t I remember the other movie we watched? Oh man. What the heck?

And seriously, bacon cooked in the oven is a piece of Heaven on Earth. Firstly, it SMELLS heavenly. Thirty minutes of … BACON. Mmm. And it tastes better than bacon cooked any other way. Although, Foremanized bacon isn’t bad either. But OVEN-COOKED BACON cannot be beat. Ever.

Had a weird dream. I was in Chicago, but a strange part of town with strange random girls. Shopping in strange, random stores. I wanted a box of earrings, but in silver. They only had gold. I remember waiting a long time to see if they could put in a special order for silver. But in the dream, I knew that I was broke, so I was trying to figure out how I was going to pay for the earrings. Turned out they couldn’t order them, so I was off the hook. I also remember getting Aidan from where a bunch of “guys” were hanging out (Chris included), and trying to get him in the stroller. Aidan was too big for the stroller and there weren’t wheels on it. I said the F word a lot.

What a weird dream.

Anyway, Aidan woke me up at 8:35 this morning, and I got a ten minute catnap early this afternoon. So I’m tired. G’night.

ETA: BATMAN BEGINS! That was the other movie!!! 😀
I also got my desktop computer back, all nicely rebuilt by Andy. Once my Windows XP disk comes (yay for OEM software!), I’ll install it and YAY, I’ll have a desktop up and running again WOOHOO!

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Lots (Pictures)

14 February 2006 / family, life, pictures, recap, Uncategorized

I am EXHAUSTED! Last week was long:

Wednesday: Family stuff/mourning/support.

Thursday: More family stuff, then a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond to get a coat rack. I ended up picking up some canvas storage boxes for $2.99 each, and a Santa Claus who was on clearance for $3.74.

Friday (around midnight): Out of town relatives showed up, and we took some of the cousins to our house. They were tired, but we stayed up really late talking anyway. It was good to see them, even though the circumstances were sad.

Friday evening: Calling hours. They showed a DVD full of pictures of Grandpa. The cousins and I were in and out. It was really sad, but the support was amazing. After that, all the cousins went to Max & Ermas to eat a late dinner, and a few of us went to Meijer in search of long underwear.

Saturday: The funeral. Needless to say, it was very, very, very sad. There were three eulogies (Chris gave one), and a song, and their pastor spoke. After the service, we went to the cemetary, and there, the American Legion did a service, and there was a 21-gun salute, and they played taps. It was heartbreaking. It still doesn’t seem real. 🙁 As an aside, the Johnstown cops are PIGS. I hate them. One of the pallbearers had expired tags on his car. THEY IMPOUNDED HIS CAR. He didn’t get to be a pallbearer, he was at his UNCLE’S funeral, and he was already upset–they couldn’t have just let him have a ticket? The cops were supposed to be there to help escort us to the cemetary, not towing cars. Grrrr. Anyway… after the funeral services, we went to a lunch that the church had provided for the family, and then some of the cousins and I went home for much needed naps. They woke up after an hour (AN HOUR!) and headed to Grandma’s. I slept for a few more hours, and so did Aidan and Chris. We were so tired. After we got up, we headed to Grandma’s where the mood was a lot lighter than it had been. People were laughing and talking and it was good. We were also taking pictures, some of which I’ll put under a cut. The cousins stayed with us again (YAY) and we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and half of Hitch before we all got tired and pooped out.

Sunday: BIG BREAKFAST made by Chris. We talked and hung out with the cousins, then they left about 10:30am to head back to Illinois. I miss them. THEN we went to Aurora to drop off the Booba. Mommy had us take her grocery shopping, and I was cranky and tired. We also ate Ruby Tuesday. We came back home, I finished reading A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl (Tanya Lee Stone tanyaleestone) and crashed.

Monday: WORK all day, then Barnes and Noble. I got a few books and a book light. Then I met Craig at Target and helped him pick out an iPod. Then I went to his house and set up his wireless network (can I just say $#@!*&), and helped him with his iPod. I was there a lot later than I’d intended, so I grabbed some McDonalds on the way home and ate that before reading a bit then falling asleep.

Tuesday: WORK all day, and then I plan to stop at the library to pick up a reserve, then go home and relax and write and read. I am worn out, I have a headache, and I need an evening, so I am turning off the phones and probably won’t be answering anyone on AIM or AOL.

And… here are some pictures:

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