This Thanksgiving will be G's first turkey day with my family. Now, I know that almost everyone has good food on Thanksgiving day, but I think that the spread my family produces has to be one of the best in the world. First of all, my aunt's dressing is amazing. It's not some horrible Stove Top Stuffing (which I can't stand). It's a completely homemade stuffing that is absolutely amazing.
My Mom bakes her signature bread, which is honestly the best bread ever. Also, my aunt's sweet potato souffle is to die for. I couldn't ask for a better Thanksgiving meal than the one we've been having at her house since I was a small child.
Then there's the people. This year, it seems there will be a ton of people. My aunt and uncle's six grown children with their spouses and children of their own will all be there. My brother and sister with their significant others and my sister's daughter will be there, along with of course, me and G. My aunt from Indiana is coming and possibly my cousin. Then Lord knows who else will be there, but there's always various people from the community. I'm hoping that the more people that come means the less I have to bullshit with people I barely know or barely like. I can get lost in the crowd, enjoy my food, and cuddle in the corner with my fiance. Haha! Not to say I don't like most of the people, because I do.. just that there are a few choice people I don't particularly want to get stuck talking to for very long. Aren't all families like that when you are being honest about it?
Anyway, I am most excited to just be going home to spend time with my closest family. My brother is having a cookout in our honor tomorrow night, and as long as traffic isn't so bad it takes us twelve hours to get there, that will be lots of fun :). My sister in law is now 7 months pregnant and I can't wait to see her and talk to her about the baby! I know it will be a wonderful time! I wish everyone a wonderful, happy Thanksgiving.
Oh, by the way, if you're wondering what the picture of my dog Snickerdoodle has to do with this post... she is coming home with us and she went to the groomer yesterday to get a gussied up for it. Doesn't she look super cute? G thinks she hates me for putting her in that outfit, but I think she likes it! Safe travels to all who are traveling, happy times to all who are not. Sweetie Chronicles will be back up with new posts on Monday next week. Until then... peace out.
Home for Thanksgiving
WriMo's Final Week
There is so much to get done this week! I'm going to have to write up a major to-do list today so that I get every little thing done before we have to leave for Georgia on Wednesday morning!! Stuff like *take the dog to the groomer *clean out the car *do the laundry, etc.
Then, on top of everything else, this is NaNo WriMo's final week! As I look back, I am truly amazed that I have been able to write 37,500 words in just three short weeks. I was even sick several of the days last week and didn't write hardly at all. But I wrote like crazy at the end of the week to make it up, so here I sit... less than 13,000 words from my goal. It's a very exciting feeling!!! Before this, the only other project I had completed was a short story of less than 20,000 words. And believe me when I say it took a lot longer than a month to finish the damn thing! Now, in just one little week, I will have a full 50,000+ word novel!!
Sure, the editing is going to take some time, but that's the fun part. The creating of the thing is fun too, don't get me wrong, but it's also excrutiatingly painful at the same time. An infinity of choices can leave you feeling restless and doubtful at every turn of the story. But the editing process is at least somewhat contained because the story already has a life of its own by then.
My challenge now is that Wednesday through Saturday is family time and travel time, with very little writing time in between. That means 13,000 words need to come between right now and Wednesday morning. If I don't finish it before we leave, that will make for an anxious me stealing laptop time in the hotel or a very caffeine-driven gallop to the finish on Sunday the 30th before midnight :) Either way, I know that I will finish, and that makes me so very proud of myself.
The Cookie Monster
I just wanted to make mention that even after .. how many seasons? 15? more? ... Survivor is still one of the best shows on Television. Last night, the season was down to the final 8, and although the challenges and the survivor auction were pretty normal for Survivor... it's the players that really make the game.
It was hilarious to watch an almost 60 year old man throw a fit over a damn chocolate chip cookie. If you didn't see it, you missed out, let me tell you. Then, the sheer joy of watching that bigot of a hateful little man get played by Sugar and Bob and the rest of the original Fang alliance, was pure happiness. I have never laughed so hard in my life at a tv show! It was awesome!
If you didn't watch it, just take my word for it. I wrote up a short recap on my Survivor blog... which btw, I have not kept up with this season, but could not resist posting on last night. I was not expecting amazing things from this season because honestly, I didn't think you could top Fans vs. Favorites last season. But the more time that goes by, the more I love Survivor Gabon! I definitely can't wait to see what happens next!
OH, and by the way, Happy Friday :)
Holiday Shopping
It's that time of year again, where everyone stresses out about the "perfect gift" and picking out cute wrapping paper and beautiful christmas decorations. I have always loved Christmas, but there are flaws in the whole gift giving system, don't you think? When I start to think about the perfect present for someone, I have to consider what they really would use or want. BUT, I also have to think about how much they are probably going to spend on me, or how much they spent on me last year, reducing their present into a mere exchange of money in the form of a pretentious gift that fit into the right monetary category. And what do you do when someone is obviously going to spend more on you than you can possibly afford to spend on them? Your only options are to buy something you can't afford or to buy something you can and be embarassed by it instead of happy. In some ways, I think Christmas would mean more if we all agreed to give thoughtful sincere gifts that we either made or whatever instead of having to worry about how much everything costs.
This year, for example, some people can barely afford to pay their mortgages, but I bet they will still find some way to spend hundreds of dollars on presents. It's just simply expected in our society today, and parents and family feel obligated to spend money on presents. Of course, there are different groups around town that will happily donate to families in need, but in order to get help, you have to admit you ARE a family in need.. which is humbling and can be embarassing.
Christmas, at its roots, is supposed to be about joy and happiness. Christmas is supposed to be about families coming together and being grateful for what you have. When I walk through the mall and staqrt to think about presents and how much I should spend on who, I start to feel as though we're all missing the point.
Prestiq: My New Medication
So, when I went to the doctor last week, I told her about some problems I'd been having with prozac and wellbutrin. I was wondering if maybe I should try something else, and she agreed. That landed me with a two week sample pack and a prescription of Pristiq, a relatively new anti-depressant. One of the side-effects that it lists in the very long list of possible side-effects is "vivid dreams". Let me tell you, this is a side-effect that I am definitely having.
Okay, so I often have vivid dreams, I know. But the past few nights have been super vivid, like live in HD kind of vivid. Last night, for example, I was leading a group of people on a trip of some sort when I realized I had to go pick up my brother from the house. When I went to pick him up, however, Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt were blocking the way to the house on my dirt road, threatening to kill me if I tried to pass. Now, to make things worse for me, they had giant trucks while I was driving a four wheeler. The rest of my dream was focused on rescuing my brother from the house and trying to sneak around the Freeman-Pitt death trap. By the time I woke up this morning, I think I had almost won, but who can say for sure? All I can tell you is that it was so vivid, I believed it was happening.
As far as side effects go, that's not such a bad one, I guess, for a writer to have. Maybe one of these nights I'll dream of something that will end up in the pages of my first best-selling novel. You never know.
The Common Cold
Even with medicine's amazing triumph over diseases like polio and certain types of cancer, no one has yet to figure out a cure for the common cold. Continuing this very sad cycle of late posts, I am just not up and moving around at 11:00 in the morning. Why? Because I have a cold. Yesterday was the worst of it, I think. Very sore throat. Ear ache. Tiredness. Nausea. Yucky. I got a ton of rest, but when I was asleep, I dreamed I was in a talent show but could not sing because my throat was sore. Ha! I guess you know it's bad when it invades your dreams, right?
Today is much better though. I slept in and am starting to feel more like myself again. My nose is still stuffy and my ears still ache, but my throat is much better and there's no nausea, thank god. I just wish there was some type of vaccine against colds, you know? Just go into a doctor's office when you're like five years old, and get a single shot that will keep you from getting colds for the rest of your life. Ahhh, that sounds good. I think I'll try to dream about that next time.
Not On Strike
No, I haven't been on blog strike. I've just been a bad girl. Well, good in some ways. I didn't write a blog yesterday morning because I was sound asleep. Now, normally, you could scold me for that, but I had a really really good reason this time. I stayed up the night before all through the night to write, and I actually ended up with almost 7000 words in one day! I finally made it to sleep around 7'ish, which is when G was getting up. It was definitely productive, but I was Tired.
This morning, I don't have a good excuse. I had a doctor's appointment at 9:30, which should have given me plenty of time to update, but when I woke up and looked at the clock is was already 8:45. I knew I had to take a shower, dry my hair, and get dressed in less than 30 minutes... there was no time to write! But here I am, making it up somewhat. Get off my back! jk :)
Tune in Monday for my regular morning sweetie chronicles. Meanwhile, back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Peace out homies.
