2000-11-27 - 14:52:46
There's noplace like home for the holidays ...

Well, I certainly had an interesting weekend! Much more good than bad ... Enough left over glow to squelch the typical Monday blues. I'll list out some highlights.

Wednesday night, we watched Pitch Black, Patriot, and Gladiator all in one sitting ... well, the first two anyway; by the time my brother and I put Gladiator in, it was nearly two in the morning, so Mom and Dad went to bed. Now, if we'd also had Braveheart, it would have been one great Heroic Evening ... but I think we did all right. I discovered, however, that movies like that are MUCH more emotional to watch when you're finishing the ending at four AM.

Thursday we spent half the day at my mom's sister's house. Her daughters are the ones who gave me the nickname "Shell" years ago, which really doesn't have anything to do with my true first name, but that's a story for another time. They're 10 and 6 now ... which pretty much means that I was bruised and exhausted by the time we left their house!! I really don't mind being a punching bag /slash/ climbing tree /slash/ entertainer for the first couple of hours, but then I start running out of steam. Fortunately, my aunt & uncle rescued the party and got out Pictionary. We played boys vs. girls, as per ancient family tradition. I rediscovered the fact that I'm MUCH better at guessing than drawing ... but we won anyway!

We were supposed to go to Granddad's for dessert afterwards ... but all my dad's sibs and their children were up there (ugh) and Mom's back was aching so she and I stayed home. It was better that way for my dad. None of his family, except Granddad and a cousin or two, like Mom very much so he usually doesn't get to visit very long. This way, everybody was happier ... except maybe Granddad. I felt a little bad about not seeing him -- he's in his late seventies, and he's had cancer, and I don't want to lose him without spending a little more time with him. He's the last real grandparent I have.

My mom bought a treadmill, since she's supposed to walk every day for her osteoporosis and the weather's getting too bad to walk outside. Of course, this meant she had to find a place to put it ... and since I'm going to be taking the bed in January anyway when I move out of Sarah's, they decided to finish moving me out of my room. Well, it's not like I've had anything but a bed and a cabinetful of books and letters there anyway for the past several years ... but still, it stung a little. So now my old bedroom has become the sewing room /slash/ Dad's computer room /slash/ exercise room /slash/ whatever-they-want-to-do-in-there room (don't laugh, they probably would). So we spent Friday and Saturday, on and off, sorting through my leftover junk, moving the bed out, et cetera, et cetera.

I found some stuff I'd forgotten I had ... newspaper clippings from things I did in junior high and high school, copies of old report cards and transcripts, letters, birthday cards, several 19th century literature books in French that I'd picked up at a garage sale ... and an envelope of Weatherman-related things that escaped me back when I burned everything that reminded me of him. He actually gave my parents a letter of references when he asked me out! There's also a printout of a suck-up email he sent them later, and the newspaper form from his home-town to annouce the engagement. His mother mailed it up just after we got engaged, and my mother never mailed it back. (Thank you, Mom!)

Saturday we had a power outage ... half the town was out. That means Safeway was down, and McDonalds, and Walmart, and most of the other important "commercial" areas, too. One nice thing about being on that part of the power grid, our outages last a hour tops. I think my mom wouldn't have minded if it was longer, though, she really enjoys breaking out all her candles and kerosene lamps. *grin*

Oh, and I sprained my ankle Saturday. No, don't wince, it's actually pretty amusing. I went to get us fast food in the afternoon, before the outage ... we were a little sick of turkey, and Mom didn't want to cook while we were in the middle of cleaning. So I threw on a pair of Fake-nstocks and ran for the car. (These are pretty old sandals -- no tread left at all, but very comfy). While I was out, it started raining. It didn't mean much to me; I rather like being out in the rain, as long as I don't get cold and soggy. I didn't want the food to get wet, though, so when I got back and climbed out of my car, I ran for the garage, top speed. About a yard from that slick concrete floor, several things occured to me: (1) My sandals had no traction (2) My sandals were now quite wet on the bottom (3) The last time I encountered the [feet with no traction + water + garage floor] equation, I ended up at the hospital. (If you ever lose your footing, do NOT catch all your weight on one small joint ... I've had problems with that elbow ever since).

I just KNEW that I was going to fall. So I put on the brakes -- ahh, safety, smart Shell. At a normal slow walking speed, I carefully stepped over the transition from asphalt to concrete. FWAP!! (That's the sound my left sandal made when it arced through the air and landed on the far side of the garage). Yes, I FELL ANYWAY. *snicker* In my astonishment and panic, determined not to ruin my elbow again OR dump the food all over the floor, I pulled my right leg up under me as I fell. That's where the sprain comes in. I sat on that foot hard at a funny angle and drove the buckle of my sandal into the skin. It's still a little swollen today, and there's a nice curve of blood blisters to show off ... "Oww, oh, poor Shell ..." *snicker* I don't know why that's so funny to me ... but it is.

Sunday we were ambushed in church by a family that keeps inviting us over to lunch ... and my mother had run out of reasons not to go. You can't just tell a woman that you don't want to visit because her teenage children are bizarre and her husband creeps you out. So we went. I was pleasantly surprised; the food was good, and the conversation flowed well ... if you cut out the part where the man of the house started talking about his hemorrhoids.

And then there was the Sunday afternoon Florida-vote announcement ... I'll just stop right there.

The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful -- a movie here, a TV show there, a bit of book-reading, a bit of reminiscing, a bit of daydreaming. I've even made some Thanksgiving Resolutions ... the New Year's ones never work. I'll post those later, though, I've got to get back to work.

I hope your Turkey-Day went well!