Oops. Forgot to talk about Christmas and New Year's...
I realized I didn't talk about Christmas. It was nice. AJ's parents held the Anderson Christmas dinner at their house, and I got to meet a lot of that side of the family for the first time in a few years, which really meant meeting them all over again. AJ's Uncle Pete said to me, "You're AJ's wife?" "Yup." "I know I met you before, but I didn't recognize you 'cause you were BIIIIG!" with his arms stretched out as far as they could go. I would have been insulted, but I did weigh a lot (although not as much as he was saying), and then I lost it. (I'm close to the weight I was before, but I'm growing a young'un, so I get a pass on that.) I spent a bit of time talking to a couple of AJ's cousins Melissa and Christy, and that was nice. I feel like we all got along pretty well.
One other funny moment that evening was when I overheard AJ's mom talking to a woman in the kitchen about AJ as a baby. The woman said, "Ya know, AJ was the first baby I'd ever held," and I walked up to hear the conversation. AJ's mom said, "OH! Tell Miki the story!" and wandered away. The woman asked, "Oh, are you AJ's wife?" "Yep." "Hi!" She ran up to me excitedly, rubbed my belly, said, "Now he'll have a head full of hair!" and walked away. No story. And who was that? AJ walked inside shortly thereafter, after having helped direct parking. "What's wrong, sweetie?" "Some family member of yours rubbed my belly. I have no idea which one." Turns out it was his cousin Tammy. The mystery was solved.
We spent Christmas Eve with my family. My mom held her dinner, and she said that it'd be her last one. She'll still continue doing Christmas Day brunch. It'll make remembering who we see on which day easier. As it's been since AJ and I started living together in 2006, we alternate the days each year. For 2006, 2008, and 2010, we spent Christmas Eve with AJ's family and Christmas Day with mine. For 2007, 2009, and 2011, we spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with his. Each year, we inform the families of whose house will be at on which days, and whoever had us for Christmas Eve the year prior swears that we were at the other family's house that year, so in the future, we won't have to worry about that. Christmas Eve will be with AJ's family, which will make his mom soooo happy, especially with next year being Nathaniel's first Christmas, and then we'll be at my mom's house on Christmas Day, where Nathaniel will open more presents. And whenver we move back to NC, we'll have Christmas Eve at our own house and will see AJ's parents probably earlier that day.
Anyway, Christmas was nice with my family. The only negative thing was when we were passing out presents at the dinner, and Robbie saw the gift bag I had for him and his family. "Oh, snap, is all of this for me?" "The bags inside are for Ashton, Robyn, and Jordyn. The gift card on top is for you and Cindy. *gasps* NOOOOO!" Everyone sucks up all the air in the room, then there was an awkward silence, followed by nervous laughter, and then life resumed. Robbie's fiancee's name is not Cindy. It is Michelle. Cindy is Robbie's ex-wife.
So I felt really bad about that for several minutes before assuring myself that it was an honest mistake and that no one cared. Then when everything started winding down, Robbie came up to me to say good-bye. Although smiling, he started talking like he was angry. "You called my fiancee by my ex-wife's name." "I know. I am so, so sorry about that." "You tramp." (He's recently started trash-talking me like Daniel does, so this is par for the course.) "I deserve that." "I ought to punch you in the throat." There is when I thought, He's not joking. He's really mad about this. And I wanted to cry. I told myself not to cry because I did a bad thing and to cry would only make things worse. I managed to hold it back until Robbie walked away, but when AJ saw that I looked upset and asked, "Sweetie, are you alright?" I couldn't contain it any longer. "Noooo! *blubber blubber*" So then Robbie came back and was telling me that everything was fine and that he was just trying to be funny. Then he told me I could stop crying. But I couldn't stop crying. AJ looked at Robbie and said, "You know how pregnant women are."
Robbie walked away and told Michelle about it. Meanwhile, Daniel is asking me what's wrong. I didn't want to keep talking about it because it really upset me, so to talk about it made me cry all over again, just when I was calming down. Daniel said not to worry about it. I think Holly came up to me too. Then Michelle sat down next to me and said, "Oh, girl, don't you even worry about that!" Then my grandmother sat down next to me and asked what was wrong. I told her, and she said, "Aw, baby, I don't think anyone noticed..." "Vava, everyone noticed." My mom made some funny comment about it while Robbie and Michelle were out of the room (or maybe they'd already left with the kids), and then Wade was asking what we were talking about. So then I had to tell it for the fourth time, and he said, "Don't even think about it. Everyone makes mistakes, and it's okay. And if Robbie has anything else to say about it, he can answer to me, and I'll make it okay." Then his wife Carol told me, "The only name you need to be sure to get right is AJ's."
So that happened.
So New Year's! AJ thought he was coming down with something either the Thursday or Friday before New Year's (New Year's Eve being on Saturday), and by New Year's Eve, he said he didn't feel up to venturing out. Our initial plans had been to meet with our friends Mary and Jason in another part of WV and to see some friends in western Maryland. Instead, we spent the evening in our pajamas, eating leftover spaghetti, having ourselves a Dexter marathon, toasting the new year with wine glasses filled with Vitamin Water. It was a good way to ring in the new year. Then Carolyn came to visit the next day. She usually visits us every other New Year's, so we kind of fudged tradition, as she came last year. We introduced her to the nifty Chinese buffet about 30 miles out and to the bizarro world Walmart just a few miles away from us. She cooked every day she was here I think. It was amazing the stuff she could come up with based on what we had in the pantry.
Carolyn had planned on heading back to NC on Tuesday, but it snowed Monday night, and the roads weren't safe. AJ had waited until the sun had been out for a while before trying to leave for work (he normally leaves while it's still dark) and ventured ahead of me so that he could tell me how the roads were. He said that our road wasn't safe and that he didn't feel comfortable with me driving on it. So after a nice four-day weekend, I had a snow day. Carolyn and I spent it fiddling on our laptops side by side on the living room couch, playing Scene It in the basement, making a mess in the kitchen, and wandering outside in the snow for a bit. When we came down for Christmas, we briefly saw Robert, since he had gotten me a present (and by "briefly," I mean we stopped as close to the highway as we could, spoke for a few minutes, hugged, and were on our way. It was late, and we'd been on the road for hours and still had farther to go. I felt bad that it wasn't for very long, but it was past our bedtime.), which was a book of Ansel Adams photographs. Flipping through them earlier in the weekend, I saw some nice wintry ones of Yosemite and was inspired. So after the snow fell, I took some pictures of the scenery. It was nice to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the snow, rather than to look at it with disgust, since it caused me a lot of anguish last year between losing a temp job and being unable to volunteer at a local shelter, resulting in a month and a half of cabin fever. Hopefully, this winter will be better for us, as we're at a lower elevation, and we both have vehicles with all-wheel drive.
The roads were cleared up enough for Carolyn to leave on Wednesday, and I was able to get back to work. And Friday got here fast.
Earlier, my boss was talking about wanting ice cream, which resulted in the rest of us getting our hopes up. Later, she mentioned how she had to leave to pick up her daughter but would be back shortly. I asked her if she was still planning on making that ice cream run, to which she replied, "Oh, I changed my mind about that." I informed my fellow co-workers, and we were all sad. One said to me, "You should have pulled the pregnancy card!" and so I did. "I have been advised to remind you of the fact that I am pregnant." My boss laughed and indicated that she'd only stop for ice cream if her daughter wanted some. Her daughter is six. Yes. She will want ice cream. So of course we got a phone call at the office a few minutes later from the boss, asking us what our orders were. Maybe 10 minutes later, her daughter walked in with a little cup of ice cream for herself, which was a sign that we were victorious and would be receiving ice cream as well. So I thanked her. It's been a good day.
Is there anything else I can possibly tell you about my life right now, LiveJournal? Because I think I've finally caught you up.
One other funny moment that evening was when I overheard AJ's mom talking to a woman in the kitchen about AJ as a baby. The woman said, "Ya know, AJ was the first baby I'd ever held," and I walked up to hear the conversation. AJ's mom said, "OH! Tell Miki the story!" and wandered away. The woman asked, "Oh, are you AJ's wife?" "Yep." "Hi!" She ran up to me excitedly, rubbed my belly, said, "Now he'll have a head full of hair!" and walked away. No story. And who was that? AJ walked inside shortly thereafter, after having helped direct parking. "What's wrong, sweetie?" "Some family member of yours rubbed my belly. I have no idea which one." Turns out it was his cousin Tammy. The mystery was solved.
We spent Christmas Eve with my family. My mom held her dinner, and she said that it'd be her last one. She'll still continue doing Christmas Day brunch. It'll make remembering who we see on which day easier. As it's been since AJ and I started living together in 2006, we alternate the days each year. For 2006, 2008, and 2010, we spent Christmas Eve with AJ's family and Christmas Day with mine. For 2007, 2009, and 2011, we spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with his. Each year, we inform the families of whose house will be at on which days, and whoever had us for Christmas Eve the year prior swears that we were at the other family's house that year, so in the future, we won't have to worry about that. Christmas Eve will be with AJ's family, which will make his mom soooo happy, especially with next year being Nathaniel's first Christmas, and then we'll be at my mom's house on Christmas Day, where Nathaniel will open more presents. And whenver we move back to NC, we'll have Christmas Eve at our own house and will see AJ's parents probably earlier that day.
Anyway, Christmas was nice with my family. The only negative thing was when we were passing out presents at the dinner, and Robbie saw the gift bag I had for him and his family. "Oh, snap, is all of this for me?" "The bags inside are for Ashton, Robyn, and Jordyn. The gift card on top is for you and Cindy. *gasps* NOOOOO!" Everyone sucks up all the air in the room, then there was an awkward silence, followed by nervous laughter, and then life resumed. Robbie's fiancee's name is not Cindy. It is Michelle. Cindy is Robbie's ex-wife.
So I felt really bad about that for several minutes before assuring myself that it was an honest mistake and that no one cared. Then when everything started winding down, Robbie came up to me to say good-bye. Although smiling, he started talking like he was angry. "You called my fiancee by my ex-wife's name." "I know. I am so, so sorry about that." "You tramp." (He's recently started trash-talking me like Daniel does, so this is par for the course.) "I deserve that." "I ought to punch you in the throat." There is when I thought, He's not joking. He's really mad about this. And I wanted to cry. I told myself not to cry because I did a bad thing and to cry would only make things worse. I managed to hold it back until Robbie walked away, but when AJ saw that I looked upset and asked, "Sweetie, are you alright?" I couldn't contain it any longer. "Noooo! *blubber blubber*" So then Robbie came back and was telling me that everything was fine and that he was just trying to be funny. Then he told me I could stop crying. But I couldn't stop crying. AJ looked at Robbie and said, "You know how pregnant women are."
Robbie walked away and told Michelle about it. Meanwhile, Daniel is asking me what's wrong. I didn't want to keep talking about it because it really upset me, so to talk about it made me cry all over again, just when I was calming down. Daniel said not to worry about it. I think Holly came up to me too. Then Michelle sat down next to me and said, "Oh, girl, don't you even worry about that!" Then my grandmother sat down next to me and asked what was wrong. I told her, and she said, "Aw, baby, I don't think anyone noticed..." "Vava, everyone noticed." My mom made some funny comment about it while Robbie and Michelle were out of the room (or maybe they'd already left with the kids), and then Wade was asking what we were talking about. So then I had to tell it for the fourth time, and he said, "Don't even think about it. Everyone makes mistakes, and it's okay. And if Robbie has anything else to say about it, he can answer to me, and I'll make it okay." Then his wife Carol told me, "The only name you need to be sure to get right is AJ's."
So that happened.
So New Year's! AJ thought he was coming down with something either the Thursday or Friday before New Year's (New Year's Eve being on Saturday), and by New Year's Eve, he said he didn't feel up to venturing out. Our initial plans had been to meet with our friends Mary and Jason in another part of WV and to see some friends in western Maryland. Instead, we spent the evening in our pajamas, eating leftover spaghetti, having ourselves a Dexter marathon, toasting the new year with wine glasses filled with Vitamin Water. It was a good way to ring in the new year. Then Carolyn came to visit the next day. She usually visits us every other New Year's, so we kind of fudged tradition, as she came last year. We introduced her to the nifty Chinese buffet about 30 miles out and to the bizarro world Walmart just a few miles away from us. She cooked every day she was here I think. It was amazing the stuff she could come up with based on what we had in the pantry.
Carolyn had planned on heading back to NC on Tuesday, but it snowed Monday night, and the roads weren't safe. AJ had waited until the sun had been out for a while before trying to leave for work (he normally leaves while it's still dark) and ventured ahead of me so that he could tell me how the roads were. He said that our road wasn't safe and that he didn't feel comfortable with me driving on it. So after a nice four-day weekend, I had a snow day. Carolyn and I spent it fiddling on our laptops side by side on the living room couch, playing Scene It in the basement, making a mess in the kitchen, and wandering outside in the snow for a bit. When we came down for Christmas, we briefly saw Robert, since he had gotten me a present (and by "briefly," I mean we stopped as close to the highway as we could, spoke for a few minutes, hugged, and were on our way. It was late, and we'd been on the road for hours and still had farther to go. I felt bad that it wasn't for very long, but it was past our bedtime.), which was a book of Ansel Adams photographs. Flipping through them earlier in the weekend, I saw some nice wintry ones of Yosemite and was inspired. So after the snow fell, I took some pictures of the scenery. It was nice to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the snow, rather than to look at it with disgust, since it caused me a lot of anguish last year between losing a temp job and being unable to volunteer at a local shelter, resulting in a month and a half of cabin fever. Hopefully, this winter will be better for us, as we're at a lower elevation, and we both have vehicles with all-wheel drive.
The roads were cleared up enough for Carolyn to leave on Wednesday, and I was able to get back to work. And Friday got here fast.
Earlier, my boss was talking about wanting ice cream, which resulted in the rest of us getting our hopes up. Later, she mentioned how she had to leave to pick up her daughter but would be back shortly. I asked her if she was still planning on making that ice cream run, to which she replied, "Oh, I changed my mind about that." I informed my fellow co-workers, and we were all sad. One said to me, "You should have pulled the pregnancy card!" and so I did. "I have been advised to remind you of the fact that I am pregnant." My boss laughed and indicated that she'd only stop for ice cream if her daughter wanted some. Her daughter is six. Yes. She will want ice cream. So of course we got a phone call at the office a few minutes later from the boss, asking us what our orders were. Maybe 10 minutes later, her daughter walked in with a little cup of ice cream for herself, which was a sign that we were victorious and would be receiving ice cream as well. So I thanked her. It's been a good day.
Is there anything else I can possibly tell you about my life right now, LiveJournal? Because I think I've finally caught you up.