The past couple days...
So yesterday we did not a whole heck of a lot. I slept in... again... because I had a crappy sleep. Again. So I got up, had cereal, talked to Mom and Dad for about 45 minutes, had a shower and put on war paint makeup to go to the in-laws' place. It was just the family - Chris and I, his dad and step-mom, and his brother and sister-in-law. We had tons of food - stuffed turkey, roasted potatoes, Jill made a salad with tangerines in it, roasted tomatoes and onions, asparagus, and... canneloni? oh well, whatever. Then there was a blueberry thing for dessert, as well as carrot cake that Jill made, and I brought some of the metric tons of cookies that I had baked in the last week. After dinner we did the present thing. Chris and I got a gift certificate for one of the nicer restaurants in the city - nubby_1 and xena_and_gabby, it's the place we went for dinner after my wedding - and $300 in gift certificates for the mall I work at, and Chris also got a photo of the whole family after his dad's wedding and a bag-o'sushi-stuff.
There's a whole thing about that, though.
When we went for dinner on Thanksgiving, and went for Japanese, Chris commented about how he likes sushi and has it a couple times a week for lunch. And Alanna (the step-mom) said that he should learn to do it himself at home, as they did, it would be cheaper, blah blah blah. And Chris told them point-blank that he didn't want to do it at home, he preferred the stuff at Sobey's. And he really didn't want to make it himself, especially as I don't eat the damn stuff. I hate the seaweed and I'm allergic to seafood, even the raw stuff, so I see it as pointless. Anyhow, he told them several times that he does NOT want to learn how to do it and do it at home. (It doesn't help that while they have a big kitchen with a nice island for doing stuff on, we have a space the size of a glass cutting board in terms of available counter space. Total. In the whole house.) So this gift, all 10 pounds of rice, seaweed, green tea, and a sushi kit, was kind of disappointing. Enough that we both have thought of re-gifting it. And while Jill got her own present, a new carryall bag for her laptop and files and the like, I didn't. At least this year I didn't hear Jill being called the favorite daughter-in-law outright.
Chris had been in charge of the gifts to his folks, much like i pretty much took care of my family. We got everyone liquor, for the most part. His dad got a bottle of wine and some wine books (he's big into the wine tasting); Alanna got a bottle of some new chocolate liqueur that was just released, as she's into that kind of stuff, and a gift certificate to my work, because they like the books; Jill got 5 Chicken Soup for the Soul books (that was totally Chris' call, not mine) and Steve got someother kind of alcohol and a wireless controller for his XBox and a gift card for the Electronics Boutique. Plus, I bought a box of assorted weird chocolates for his dad (I know he likes dark chocolate, but these were kind of neat and I know they're having more guests for dinner tonight, so they might want to have them) and I knitted a ginormous scarf for Steven. He's taller than Chris is (which is kind of impressive, actually, as Chris is about 6'4"), so I tested it on Chris to see if it was long enough. He wanted a "Tom Baker-style" scarf, so I made it long enough that even after wrapping it around it was still about knee-length.
Anyhow, after dinner we sort of sat around and talked. I feel kind of bad that I didn't go do dishes with Alanna and Jill, but I have nothing in common with either of them, and the guys were talking about the Crusades and stuff, and I have a love of history, so... I sat in the living room with the guys and absorbed. Having gone to Catholic school, we were taught, "Crusades? I don't know what you're talking about..." so I like to read up on it, although I still have only a passing knowledge of what went on. I still find it fascinating. At about 10:30 we left, because everyone else was going to 11 pm Mass, and although I wouldn't have minded attending I still had cleaning up here to do and I had a headache. Plus, I had no idea where they were going to Mass, and I prefer the Catholic Mass (for familiarity's sake, mostly) and I'm pretty sure they were going to an Anglican Mass.
On the way home we had a bit of an... incident. Have I ranted on here about the crappy road service we have? Well, all of Universiy Drive has not been graded. It looks like not yet this WINTER as there are giant ice ruts. And that's where all the big, expensive houses are, so you would think the city would care to keep it drivable. Anyhow, we hit the edge of an ice rut and spun out and up into the snowbank of the median, blocking that side of the road. We had to call CAA for service, and the tow-truck guy even slid bad on the ruts. It was crazy out there. Thank God we haven't gotten the promised snow today, or those roads would not be driveable.
So we didn't get home till after 11 pm. I put on the end of It's A Wonderful Life while I cleaned up the living room of all the excess wrapping stuff and the empty bags from gifts I had bought and wrapped the night before, and put my snowflake blanket on the couch like a couch cover, and moved the lazy boy chair around while Chris changed the sheets and stuff. Got everything ready for this morning, and then I knitted to unwind a bit, and went to bed at about 3 am.
My alarm went off at 8:30, so I got up, made coffee and orange juice (separately, of course, but i know someone would comment, "Together? Eeewwww." if I didn't specify), lit a bunch of candles and plugged in the tree, and called Mom by 9 am. We opened presents on speakerphone, I had a coffee accident on my jammies so I had to run and put jeans on, and by 10 am we were done presents and the phone call and I was off to make breakfast.
I made pancakes and eggs and sausage rounds. Turned out okay, and as we were sitting to eat, I discovered Amends on. So we watched Buffy and had breakfast together. At about 12:30 I fell asleep on the couch and napped for 2 hours or so. Got up at 2:30 and discovered that the turkey thing? Needs to cook for 4.5 hours, not the 3 I was expecting. So we got it in by 3, but now I don't have time to make the cupcakes for dessert. Not enough room in the oven for both to cook, not to mention that they cook at different temperatures. So maybe while the roast is resting and I'm finishing the potatoes I can get them in, but that might be too much to handle in my little kitchen all at once.
So now it's back to normal at the house. I have laundry to do and other housework to get on top of, then I have to finish with dinner, then hopefully a couple more hours to relax before Hell Day Boxing Day tomorrow. *sigh*
There's a whole thing about that, though.
When we went for dinner on Thanksgiving, and went for Japanese, Chris commented about how he likes sushi and has it a couple times a week for lunch. And Alanna (the step-mom) said that he should learn to do it himself at home, as they did, it would be cheaper, blah blah blah. And Chris told them point-blank that he didn't want to do it at home, he preferred the stuff at Sobey's. And he really didn't want to make it himself, especially as I don't eat the damn stuff. I hate the seaweed and I'm allergic to seafood, even the raw stuff, so I see it as pointless. Anyhow, he told them several times that he does NOT want to learn how to do it and do it at home. (It doesn't help that while they have a big kitchen with a nice island for doing stuff on, we have a space the size of a glass cutting board in terms of available counter space. Total. In the whole house.) So this gift, all 10 pounds of rice, seaweed, green tea, and a sushi kit, was kind of disappointing. Enough that we both have thought of re-gifting it. And while Jill got her own present, a new carryall bag for her laptop and files and the like, I didn't. At least this year I didn't hear Jill being called the favorite daughter-in-law outright.
Chris had been in charge of the gifts to his folks, much like i pretty much took care of my family. We got everyone liquor, for the most part. His dad got a bottle of wine and some wine books (he's big into the wine tasting); Alanna got a bottle of some new chocolate liqueur that was just released, as she's into that kind of stuff, and a gift certificate to my work, because they like the books; Jill got 5 Chicken Soup for the Soul books (that was totally Chris' call, not mine) and Steve got someother kind of alcohol and a wireless controller for his XBox and a gift card for the Electronics Boutique. Plus, I bought a box of assorted weird chocolates for his dad (I know he likes dark chocolate, but these were kind of neat and I know they're having more guests for dinner tonight, so they might want to have them) and I knitted a ginormous scarf for Steven. He's taller than Chris is (which is kind of impressive, actually, as Chris is about 6'4"), so I tested it on Chris to see if it was long enough. He wanted a "Tom Baker-style" scarf, so I made it long enough that even after wrapping it around it was still about knee-length.
Anyhow, after dinner we sort of sat around and talked. I feel kind of bad that I didn't go do dishes with Alanna and Jill, but I have nothing in common with either of them, and the guys were talking about the Crusades and stuff, and I have a love of history, so... I sat in the living room with the guys and absorbed. Having gone to Catholic school, we were taught, "Crusades? I don't know what you're talking about..." so I like to read up on it, although I still have only a passing knowledge of what went on. I still find it fascinating. At about 10:30 we left, because everyone else was going to 11 pm Mass, and although I wouldn't have minded attending I still had cleaning up here to do and I had a headache. Plus, I had no idea where they were going to Mass, and I prefer the Catholic Mass (for familiarity's sake, mostly) and I'm pretty sure they were going to an Anglican Mass.
On the way home we had a bit of an... incident. Have I ranted on here about the crappy road service we have? Well, all of Universiy Drive has not been graded. It looks like not yet this WINTER as there are giant ice ruts. And that's where all the big, expensive houses are, so you would think the city would care to keep it drivable. Anyhow, we hit the edge of an ice rut and spun out and up into the snowbank of the median, blocking that side of the road. We had to call CAA for service, and the tow-truck guy even slid bad on the ruts. It was crazy out there. Thank God we haven't gotten the promised snow today, or those roads would not be driveable.
So we didn't get home till after 11 pm. I put on the end of It's A Wonderful Life while I cleaned up the living room of all the excess wrapping stuff and the empty bags from gifts I had bought and wrapped the night before, and put my snowflake blanket on the couch like a couch cover, and moved the lazy boy chair around while Chris changed the sheets and stuff. Got everything ready for this morning, and then I knitted to unwind a bit, and went to bed at about 3 am.
My alarm went off at 8:30, so I got up, made coffee and orange juice (separately, of course, but i know someone would comment, "Together? Eeewwww." if I didn't specify), lit a bunch of candles and plugged in the tree, and called Mom by 9 am. We opened presents on speakerphone, I had a coffee accident on my jammies so I had to run and put jeans on, and by 10 am we were done presents and the phone call and I was off to make breakfast.
I made pancakes and eggs and sausage rounds. Turned out okay, and as we were sitting to eat, I discovered Amends on. So we watched Buffy and had breakfast together. At about 12:30 I fell asleep on the couch and napped for 2 hours or so. Got up at 2:30 and discovered that the turkey thing? Needs to cook for 4.5 hours, not the 3 I was expecting. So we got it in by 3, but now I don't have time to make the cupcakes for dessert. Not enough room in the oven for both to cook, not to mention that they cook at different temperatures. So maybe while the roast is resting and I'm finishing the potatoes I can get them in, but that might be too much to handle in my little kitchen all at once.
So now it's back to normal at the house. I have laundry to do and other housework to get on top of, then I have to finish with dinner, then hopefully a couple more hours to relax before Hell Day Boxing Day tomorrow. *sigh*