(no subject)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
It was an enjoyable holiday, although I could've used a few extra days off. Ain't that always the case?
On Christmas Eve, my parents and I went out to dinner at an Italian restuarant in my old hometown for the Seven Fishes. I'm not a fishy person, so I'd never had that before, and it was interesting . . . although I spent a great deal of time screwing up my face and going, "Ew. Dad, you want this?"
Yep . . . my father, human garbage disposal.
I still hate squid. Calamari. Whatever. Yuck. Tastes like boiled rubber bands. Ditto on the mussels.
They also served baccala, which I'd never eaten and surprisingly, liked a great deal. I adore broiled salmon steaks, and went into raptures over the lobster ravioli in blush sauce.
Can't go wrong with shrimp scampi, although I did swap my swordfish for my mom's salmon.
Christmas Day was great. I slept until almost noon and then wallowed in bed under penguin flannel sheets for another couple of hours. My folks were planning on coming up for the 4:30 dinner reservations, so I didn't have to get up until I damn well felt like it! Whoo-hoo!
Dinner was a problem, though. I showed up at 4:15 to check in for our reservations, and they said, "It'll be a few minutes."
No problem, think I.
Half an hour later, I was questioning that optimism.
And half an hour after that, I lost my temper and told my parents that we were going to our favorite Indian restuarant instead.
But . . . they were closed.
So on the way to find somewhere else, we passed a French Thai place we've been before. They didn't look crowded, so we popped in and were seated immediately.
Whew. Disaster, narrowly averted!
I had crispy duck with cranberry chutney, wild rice and snow peas. Dad had wild boar and Mom ordered the seafood medley. It was excellent, as I knew it would be, and all went well.
Then we went back to my house and opened presents.
There wasn't much, of course, because of tight finances due to my recent hardship, but it's still fun to unwrap everything.
The best gift I received, by far, was from lucifrix. She made me a little anger management kit with a tiny voodoo doll and the necessary accessories. It's the best!
And, by the end of Dec. 26, I was more than ready to use it on my mom, who was driving me crackers.
She stayed over Christmas night so that we could get an early start at the stores in the morning -- which proved to be the right tactic, as we were able to get all of next year's gifts for assorted relatives at half-price!!!
These sales are tough, I'm telling you. You have to be especially vigilant once your cart is loaded with tempting items. Last year, I was raided twice.
This year, I armed myself with a wooden spoon from housewares and set about whacking the interlopers for their temerity.
Nobody raided my cart this year, let me tell you!
I've got wicker holiday sculptures for the aunts and uncles, holiday pillows for the married cousins, holiday mugs (which I will fill with candy) for the unmarried cousins, and all the appropriately sized gift bags and tissue papers for wrapping.
And, of course, a few things for myself, including the best thing of all!
You see, somewhere along the line, I became obsessed with reindeer for Christmas.
As a beneficiary of the after-Christmas sales, I am now the proud owner of a lighted standing reindeer with a moving, antlered head. And, it was free.
I forgot that it was under my cart, and I guess the cashier didn't check, and I didn't discover it until I was loading the car with all of my bounty.
My mom didn't want me to take the time to go back into Target and pay for my forgotten lawn decoration, so we went to lunch instead.
I felt really guilty for awhile, but I was quickly overtaken by reindeer glee as I unboxed it and started connnecting it to my current light display.
Now, all I need is a few more extension cords, and I'll be all set!
Talbots has a reindeer sweater that I really want, but I'm waiting for it to be marked down some more. A mere forty percent off is nothing!
And, my Atlanta Falcons won yesterday!
All in all, it's been a pretty good weekend.
So how were your holidays?
It was an enjoyable holiday, although I could've used a few extra days off. Ain't that always the case?
On Christmas Eve, my parents and I went out to dinner at an Italian restuarant in my old hometown for the Seven Fishes. I'm not a fishy person, so I'd never had that before, and it was interesting . . . although I spent a great deal of time screwing up my face and going, "Ew. Dad, you want this?"
Yep . . . my father, human garbage disposal.
I still hate squid. Calamari. Whatever. Yuck. Tastes like boiled rubber bands. Ditto on the mussels.
They also served baccala, which I'd never eaten and surprisingly, liked a great deal. I adore broiled salmon steaks, and went into raptures over the lobster ravioli in blush sauce.
Can't go wrong with shrimp scampi, although I did swap my swordfish for my mom's salmon.
Christmas Day was great. I slept until almost noon and then wallowed in bed under penguin flannel sheets for another couple of hours. My folks were planning on coming up for the 4:30 dinner reservations, so I didn't have to get up until I damn well felt like it! Whoo-hoo!
Dinner was a problem, though. I showed up at 4:15 to check in for our reservations, and they said, "It'll be a few minutes."
No problem, think I.
Half an hour later, I was questioning that optimism.
And half an hour after that, I lost my temper and told my parents that we were going to our favorite Indian restuarant instead.
But . . . they were closed.
So on the way to find somewhere else, we passed a French Thai place we've been before. They didn't look crowded, so we popped in and were seated immediately.
Whew. Disaster, narrowly averted!
I had crispy duck with cranberry chutney, wild rice and snow peas. Dad had wild boar and Mom ordered the seafood medley. It was excellent, as I knew it would be, and all went well.
Then we went back to my house and opened presents.
There wasn't much, of course, because of tight finances due to my recent hardship, but it's still fun to unwrap everything.
The best gift I received, by far, was from lucifrix. She made me a little anger management kit with a tiny voodoo doll and the necessary accessories. It's the best!
And, by the end of Dec. 26, I was more than ready to use it on my mom, who was driving me crackers.
She stayed over Christmas night so that we could get an early start at the stores in the morning -- which proved to be the right tactic, as we were able to get all of next year's gifts for assorted relatives at half-price!!!
These sales are tough, I'm telling you. You have to be especially vigilant once your cart is loaded with tempting items. Last year, I was raided twice.
This year, I armed myself with a wooden spoon from housewares and set about whacking the interlopers for their temerity.
Nobody raided my cart this year, let me tell you!
I've got wicker holiday sculptures for the aunts and uncles, holiday pillows for the married cousins, holiday mugs (which I will fill with candy) for the unmarried cousins, and all the appropriately sized gift bags and tissue papers for wrapping.
And, of course, a few things for myself, including the best thing of all!
You see, somewhere along the line, I became obsessed with reindeer for Christmas.
As a beneficiary of the after-Christmas sales, I am now the proud owner of a lighted standing reindeer with a moving, antlered head. And, it was free.
I forgot that it was under my cart, and I guess the cashier didn't check, and I didn't discover it until I was loading the car with all of my bounty.
My mom didn't want me to take the time to go back into Target and pay for my forgotten lawn decoration, so we went to lunch instead.
I felt really guilty for awhile, but I was quickly overtaken by reindeer glee as I unboxed it and started connnecting it to my current light display.
Now, all I need is a few more extension cords, and I'll be all set!
Talbots has a reindeer sweater that I really want, but I'm waiting for it to be marked down some more. A mere forty percent off is nothing!
And, my Atlanta Falcons won yesterday!
All in all, it's been a pretty good weekend.
So how were your holidays?