The One with Things We Did Thanksgiving Weekend

Having my parents here Wednesday night was great.

It's nice they've come so frequently.

It makes it feel like we're not three hours away.

Though I wish it were more like 15 minutes.

The four of us drove to Kevin's family's house.

We drove our "new" car.

Mom and Dad brought their truck.

And Cooper.

The Bichon.

We arrived with plenty of time for preparation and relaxation and conversation before the BIG dinner.

I had a victory.

I resolved NOT to overeat.

Nor feel the need to eat one of everything.

I had 1 slice of turkey and maybe 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes.

On my side plate.

And a large veggie salad filling my dinner plate.

It was great.

And I totally didn't anticipate so many compliments on a salad.

But I was happy.

I made my own croutons for the first time.

They turned out so well.

And of course I mixed my own Italian dressing.

Everyone loved it.

Mom and I looked at our family pictures online.

The boys made bird houses with grandpa.

I opened my belated birthday presents!

yay!

We all played Catch Phrase.

And laughed hysterically.

There were tears.

I was the first one awake.

At 5:30 am.

But I went back to bed (not to sleep) until 6:30.

Then Daddio and I went on a dark brisk walk.

It had snowed.

The first of the season.

I LOVED it.

We watched the sun rise.

Kevin's mom made an abundance of breakfast goods.

My favorite was the cardimum bread.

SO good.

Moist.

Light.

Faintly sweet.

The women made live evergreen wreaths.

I was done in about 30 minutes.

I'm not sure why.

But I'm a speedy Gonzales in whatever I do.

Sometimes that's a great thing.

Sometimes it might be haphazard.

But I like being quick.

And I LOVE my wreath.

We hung it up as soon as we arrived home.

Well, as soon as I could remember where I put the wreath hook last year.

We ate and ate.

Too much deliciousness.

The boys played frisbee.

I would have gone.

But I was making the bow for my wreath.

The women shopped my AVON catalogs.

I shopped the amazingly great deals on my favorite website.

Amazon.com.

We got almost all of our Christmas shopping done in 20 minutes.

And at GREAT prices.

Awesome.

The ride home was filled with good conversation.

But then I got a migraine.

And was crazy nauseated.

And that was the end of the goodness for the night.

I have a headache again today.

It's one thing to have a headache when you're having a bad day.

But when the day is just wonderful a headache just ruins it.

And where does it come from on a stress free day?

Saturday we slept in.

Till 8.

I went for a glorious run in the park.

I passed a guy along the way.

No, he wasn't some crazy cross runner.

No, he wasn't 75.

He was just some guy.

Running.

And I was running faster.

That was a confidence boost.

On my way to make breakfast, I got sidetracked.

I totally reorganized the bathroom closet.

All those extra toiletries and tiny hotel shampoos.

They have a place.

In a lovely plastic bin.

And I'm in love with that.

The plastic three drawer unit that was holding all those miscellaneous items is now in the office closet.

Holding the printer.

And printer paper.

And other things.

That "big" move led to a complete restructuring of the office closet.

And breakfast became lunch.

Oops.

It's hard to believe that an organized person still needs to reorganize.

What's up with that?

But I did.

I spent a few hours on the office project.

It feels great, though.

And Kevin tweeted something like:

"I'm loving my lazy Saturday. Mel is celebrating an open day by doing her thing...organizing everything in sight. I love her."

That made me jump up and hug him.

He's too cute.

Many many episodes of Friends were watched.

It's a great background show.

We've seen all 10 seasons at least 4 times.

I think I finally have them memorized.

I'm a slow(er) learner.

This wasn't what I thought the afternoon would hold.

I didn't have plans.

But I thought I might put up Christmas decorations.

And go grocery shopping.

We're out of milk.