Then again, I've never been fond of being forced to make a point, so here is the entire list of things I did this past weekend.
Went to Reba's mom and dad's for Thanksgiving with all of Reba's mom's relatives. There were close to 60 people there. I spend most of the time hiding in the basement watching Cartoon Network. Good food, though--all these folks can cook, and they all brought enough to choke a mastadon. And Reba has some fine-looking cousins, too. Probably best I stayed in the basement with the kids.
Friday, Reba had to go back to work, and I stayed home with the kids. We didn't do a thing except vegetate. I do wish they'd allowed me to sleep a bit later.
Saturday, the traditional assembly of the lifelike plastic and metal Yule tree. Cat helped this year, and was actually helpful. She seemed to like bending all the little branch tips out. Then there were the lights. We've had several strands for years that were nothing more than glorified bulb storage strings, being that they had one or another electrical maladies that prevented them from working. I finally pulled the bulbs and discarded the wires. Then it was time to shop. Took Boy and Cat with me to get them some new shoes, then went by myself to get some presents for the other kids (Reba being at home wrapping presents and not really in a mood to shop. Thankfully.)
Oddest thing? As I was leaving Target, I saw a Toyota Sienna minivan with Hawai'i license plates.
That's one long drive just to shop at the Trussville Target.
Anyway, still have some other things to get for Reba from the kids and me.
Sunday, church, then lunch, then to Party City to buy an elf costume. Do not ask why, because I promise you I cannot answer without ranting. And no, it won't be fun. Unlike the drive back to the house, which was quite fun because I saw the biggest flock of turkey vultures I have ever seen!
Must have been over twenty of them--which might not sound like a lot, but when you get twenty of something together that are the size of a cow flying around, it's pretty danged impressive! I don't know what they'd found out in the woods, but whatever it was, it must have been one big ol' dead thing to draw a crowd like that. Maybe it was a mastadon that had choked. (By the way, this article is how I know what kind they were.)
Back to church early so the girls could have a teen get-together with ice cream, during which time I went and took Boy and Cat to Wal-mart so we could do some more shopping for Mommy. They both decided she needed more stuffed animals. ::sigh::
Then back to church, then back home, then some supper, and then to bed, and now I'm here, and I'd like nothing better than to take a nice, long nap.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at November 28, 2005 09:12 AMNow all we need is for one of the resident Photoshop experts to superimpose your face on Will Ferrell's character in Elf!!
Posted by: Stan at November 28, 2005 09:27 AMThe only thing that keeps me from losing it completely is that it's not a costume for me, but for Oldest, who must dress this way for a Christmas parade float, and for some reason just finding a few items of clothing and things that suggest elvishness isn't enough, but instead we must go and spend money on something that will be worn possibly once, and probably ruined.
MUST. RESIST. RANT.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at November 28, 2005 09:34 AMHmm, I thought the big difference between turkey vs black vultures was that the black ones are social and the turkey vultures are solitary. Though now that the sites have better pictures I can see that the t's have red heads and the b's have black heads.
Posted by: Sarah G. at November 28, 2005 10:03 AMAnd both heads are ones only a mama vulture could love. Blech.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at November 28, 2005 10:08 AMMust you spell it Hawai'i? Why can't the apostrophe be left out like in the old days. Have you started calling Qatar "gutter" now too? And you pretend not to be trendy, Terry.
Posted by: Jordana at November 28, 2005 01:09 PMNo, I don't HAVE to spell it that way, I only do it because I know it makes some people itchy. I'm not trendy, I'm just a back-end! As for Qatar, my preferred pronunciation is to dial up the Southern accent to 11 and say "kew-A'TER." I also like "KWAY'-tar."
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at November 28, 2005 01:21 PM