My mother's younger sister, my godmother Jenny, is very ill--breast cancer. She's been fighting it for awhile--this isn't the first time--but my Uncle Jon thinks this is it. My mom's flying out there right after Christmas ( Read more... )

So the visit went okay. It was awesome seeing my niece and nephew again, and Dad was okay. My stepmother was kind of cold though, have no idea why. If she's annoyed about the thing with her friend whom Dad said "was like family"--well, I wasn't the rude one. As to being "like family"--hello, I AM your family. Why would you reflexively side ( Read more... )

Got an email Saturday night from my dad saying they'd love to have me visit and we could "discuss our differences, or not....The visit with you is much more important. My relationship with my only daughter is even more important ( Read more... )

So this happened ( Read more... )

So the concert actually went quite well. N**** came over Friday night and we drilled the living hell out of her shaky parts--we drilled so long I was worried I wouldn't have a voice the next day. Girl just does not read music and isn't really that musical (like she does not have the instincts of a singer. Some of this is knowledge and some you' ( Read more... )

I miss London. How can you miss a place you've visited (really visited--I've been in and out of it before on flights) only once? Well when I went there in '09 I said it felt like coming home. I need to start planning another visit except that I have to go to Oslo first! My brother and his family are posted there--they moved last summer and will ( Read more... )

Thanksgiving went super well--the bus ride there wasn't bad at all, even with the storm. It rained but didn't delay us at all--I actually was able to catch an *earlier* connecting bus. Plus my step-mother's brother was supposed to join us with his daughters and they couldn't make it, due to the storm. I'm sorry to say that I silently yippeed. ( Read more... )

We have another building mixer tonight which will interfere with my preparations for the housewarming. I've bought a ton of stuff to prepare/make for Saturday including SIX seasonal items (all homemade, of course). Anyway I had to make something for tonight (no, I will NOT be buying a bag of chips like *some* slackjaw neighbors :) So I whipped ( Read more... )

Lots going on right now!  A little too much actually--

• A project for Tim's friend who is a playwright
• Taxes (MUST force myself to get up early tomorrow to go to the tax prep's office, they've been ready to go for weeks)
• Must take NYC tour guide test so I can become a tour guide for Amada
• Have to get registered as a federal vendor (a huge pain in the ( Read more... )

Stuart deep-fried the turkey which should've tasted better but as he admitted, the turkey itself wasn't too good.  As he said "Next year will be a Butterball!"  Stuart's wife had two uncles there, Ken and David--I've met David before, when my niece was born, but never Ken--he and his wife brought crazy amounts of side dishes, including a delicious ( Read more... )