Catching up!

Well, hello there.

I seriously checked out, didn't I?! Sorry about that! I was so happy to see that you continued to write anyway, and am finally at a point of P&Q where I can write for a minute.

Backing all the way up to Friday -- turns out J and I went shopping after all. School was called off for the third day in a row. I never made it over to S' for coffee and tv; J worked in the morning then came home and we went out for most of the rest of the day. We got almost everything done, then had an appetizer and a beer at Red Robin. It was actually a nice afternoon, even if he is a complete workaholic. Saturday, I dinked around, shopped with M a little, then came home to go to the movies with K. The weather was so bad, though, that we bagged it in the end and everyone stayed home. It was kind of nice, just us hanging out here; M was at a friend's and JJ was over at JL's until 9:30 or something crazy like that, so it was just the two of us, wrapping presents and hanging out.

Sunday we did more wrapping...S and I went to Target etc. in the yukky weather for awhile. That evening KB and her husband (the crazy one whom I had not yet met) came for dinner. We had really been dreading it for days; JB has told me so much about this guy and what nut job he is, I didn't have any desire to meet him at all. Eventually, though, we couldn't get out of it, so they arrived here at 5:00 for dinner, with the intention of it being an early night. At least that was the plan.

OMG. "Nut job" doesn't cover it. LOUD, obnoxious, annoying, never shuts up, weird, insecure, socially retarded...that comes a bit closer. I'm surprised J made it all the way to 10:30 when they finally left; he literally shut the front door, said goodnight to me, and went to bed. I stayed up and did some dishes then crashed too. The guy's a big drinker and, well, so am I, so I was pacing myself alongside of him (mostly because it was easier to deal with him that way). It was so painful - he's just unbearable. I was so glad to have gotten it over with; now the trick will be to not have to do it again any time soon. Or ever.

I did make a killer chicken fettucine alfredo, though, with crumbled bacon...it rocked. Fresh French bread and Caesar salad...warm gingerbread for dessert. I was a little intimidated at first because KB's husband, (GG) is somewhat of a chef, I guess. She's always telling me about these dishes he makes and how much he loves to cook, blah, blah, blah. You know me, I can feed my family, but I'm no Giada. I tried to make something with which I was familiar, yet would be a little more impressive than the average chicken dish with sides. He turned out to be such a whack that he could have been Emeril himself, and I wouldn't have felt bad if I had served Kraft Mac and Cheese.

Yesterday I did the daycare thing again. T and S went shopping and my sister-in-law let me borrow my nephew to help entertain their youngest. Then JL came over and we all (six kids and me) walked to Wendy's in the foot-deep snow. That was actually pretty fun; M helped a lot. He's so good that way. Of course, there was free food in it for him, so that was good incentive. When we got back, the boys headed out to play in the snow and JL and I curled up on the couch to watch The Polar Express. About halfway through it I decided to make cookie dough. When I accidently put twice the amount of sugar in, I had to double the recipe. This jammed up my KitchenAid to the point that it took like an hour to get all the dough mixed. By that time, I didn't have any desire to make the actual cookies, so I put it all in the fridge and called it good.

K and R left today for their Christmas in Winthrop (eastern WA, where their youngest son lives) so last night, she made tacos for all of us. BBQ pulled pork - hello! I ate two of those, then later had a plateful of the meat. That was after my half of the bottle of Walmart wine (not bad - better than $2 Chuck) and a fair-sized chunk of leftover gingerbread. An hour after dessert, S went back for seconds, so I figured, hey! Why not? It was amazingly good.

S and I left a little early - she to put her kids to bed and me because I was tired. M had come over earlier to eat (and found his Santa gift in K's garage when he went out to get a pop - that SUCKED) and JJ was spending the night at a friend's house, so it was nice to have grown up time. It was our "Christmas dinner" for BLU; we are doing a big New Year's thing with Kim and Josh too, when everyone is back in town.

Today J and I were up and out of here at 5:30am to get to Seattle for his 6:45 cataract surgery. All went well and he's been crashed out on the couch for most of the afternoon. Tomorrow we have to go back up there for a follow-up, which I'm not looking forward to. The city was a flippin' mess today - the streets are horribly icy and bumpy with frozen snow. It took us about 45 minutes to go six blocks. It's supposed to snow again tonight, so tomorrow morning ought to be fun. Not. I hate driving in that.

And there you have it, my update. M's off to meet a friend here in a minute (he worked today) and JJ's out somewhere in the snow - I've hardly seen him in a week. I was contemplating making pork chops for dinner, but I'm wondering if it's worth the effort. I also gave some thought to making those cookies, but as of right now, it's not looking good. I'm much more inclined to sit on the couch, watch tv and go to bed early. Tomorrow, C will (hopefully) be here by dinner time, so I've got her room and the bathroom to clean...that can most certainly wait til the last possible minute. I just hope that, if it snows, it's not awful, and she can make it up here in her little car.

I'll make it a point to call you tomorrow and check in verbally before Christmas. I am surprisingly DONE with everything gift-related, so I'll have some time to kick back and enjoy this first nearly-stress-free holiday. No need to bump up the meds; the dose I'm on seems to be perfect even for the rough patches. Yahoo!!

Hope you guys had fun this evening and that you areenjoying the beginning of your Christmas break. Talk to you tomorrow!

Love you,

A