Boxing Day
Geez, you'd think going on vacation would mean I'd have more time for checking email and posting, but apparently that's a big fat lie. Every chance I get to sit down and try to do something (I've been desperately trying to read a book, but with no time at the new job, and a house and husband to take care of...) *someone* has to check up on me, make sure I'm DOING something. LEAVE ME ALONE. It's frightening. My mother-in-law has been laughing herself silly over bugging me. I sit on the couch reading, and she comes in to stare at me. "What?" "What are you doing?" Grrr. Or she comes in and just stands over me to "check if you're breathing". Then there's the sit down next to me and chatter away at me. Or from the kitchen "why don't you come in here and keep me company?"
Same thing happened all day for Christmas. Okay, maybe I should back up. Christmas eve we did our thing, and we (husband, sis- and bro-in-law) were waiting for a phone call to go help put together a play house for the nephew. Got the call at just before midnight that he'd finally fallen asleep, so went and did that until 1AM. Came back and we stayed up playing Texas Hold 'em until 3AM. Cool, right? Very. We went our separate ways and went to bed. So morning came, and we got up and layed around watching tv, getting breakfast, waiting for the rest of the family to come over and open gifts. Got through that after a while, and then when that finished, we all crashed. I was happy watching Mary Poppins (nephew got that for Christmas) and every time I'd doze off, someone (read: mother-in-law and husband, then sister-in-law) would come over and tell me something (do you need a pillow? Are you asleep? You should go lay down upstairs). I just wanted to doze right there. What is SO bloody hard to understand about that???? I finally gave up and just stayed awake. Mom-in-law sat down next to me, and every couple of minutes for the last half hour of the movie, she'd look at me and whisper "are you still awake?" DUH.
So when the parentals decided it was time to get dressed and go out visiting, I took my sleep-deprived headache to bed (at 8:30) and slept until morning. Take THAT. And then you wonder why I get up in the mornings and disappear to Knoxville for a few hours by myself. Huh. Oh well! So yah, I got up and left the whole house sleeping, and drove the 35 miles to the mall to do some after-Christmas shopping. Did I actually look for those kinds of specials? Of course not! I actually had specific items in mind that I just hadn't had time to look for in Massachusetts, so I didn't get any sale items. That may come later in the week. As it was, I blew almost $400 (3 pairs of boots, 1 pair of dress shoes, and an awful lot of stuff from the lingerie department at Dillard's). I drove by Jo-Ann's, Hancock Fabrics, AC Moore, and Michael's without stopping. Oh, and I didn't go to Kohl's because I know I would have spent another $100 in shirts for work if I'd done that. Maybe tomorrow. A work day makes more sense, so many people will be stuck going to their jobs and I can roam the other stores I am interested in. Theron and I did go to Lowe's this afternoon (there's a brand new one about 5 miles from here) just to see what they carried that we haven't seen at the Lowe's in Woburn. Found several things we want to get, so we're probably going to prevail on a brother-in-law who works there to shop with us.
That's my rant for the night. Can you understand why I haven't jumped at the chance to move to Tennessee since we got married? I think that thousand miles is a very nice buffer zone for peace and quiet.
Now what did I get for Christmas? Much more than I was expecting. My dad-in-law sent Theron and I on a scavenger hunt (and may I just say that running around outside and across the street in below-freezing temperatures in socks/barefoot is NOT recommended) that ended in us each having a bicycle. I am very happy with this. We just didn't have the funding over the summer to do it. Theron also got me a jewelry armoire that I really needed with my extensive collection. I got kitchen accessories that I wanted, and DVDs I'd asked for. My in-laws got me a lovely pair of sapphire earrings. My sister-in-law gave me a book (could almost be a text book) for learning Egyptian heiroglyphics. I'm very excited to sit down and go through that book. I had a very nice Christmas.
And we surprised a couple of people, and I think made some very good gift choices. Theron spent a couple of months ordering the parts and building a new computer for his parents. They had been trying to budget for one early next year, so this was a complete surprise, and very necessary. We bought some beautiful leather-bound books for a sister-and brother-in-law that are just as addicted to the written word as we are. The hardest part for us is picking out just a few books out of the many choices we have when we go to this particular book store! The baby afghan I crocheted was a big hit with everyone. Mason will be raised in the UT religion. My sister-in-law really liked the sweater/coat I crocheted for her (even if it is a bit warm for Tennessee!) and the silk tie we found for my father-in-law fit right in with the UT requirements. I surprised Theron with a couple of items, so that was good. Too bad the last present I ordered didn't show up by the time we left home! Theron gets one more next weekend.
Anyway, that's enough for one night. I'd better check some email and go socialize with the family. Have I mentioned that I'm ready to go home? I miss sleeping in my own bed, and having all my clothes hanging in my own closet where I can get to them. And of course, I want to snuggle with my kitty at bed time.
Merry Christmas, again!
Same thing happened all day for Christmas. Okay, maybe I should back up. Christmas eve we did our thing, and we (husband, sis- and bro-in-law) were waiting for a phone call to go help put together a play house for the nephew. Got the call at just before midnight that he'd finally fallen asleep, so went and did that until 1AM. Came back and we stayed up playing Texas Hold 'em until 3AM. Cool, right? Very. We went our separate ways and went to bed. So morning came, and we got up and layed around watching tv, getting breakfast, waiting for the rest of the family to come over and open gifts. Got through that after a while, and then when that finished, we all crashed. I was happy watching Mary Poppins (nephew got that for Christmas) and every time I'd doze off, someone (read: mother-in-law and husband, then sister-in-law) would come over and tell me something (do you need a pillow? Are you asleep? You should go lay down upstairs). I just wanted to doze right there. What is SO bloody hard to understand about that???? I finally gave up and just stayed awake. Mom-in-law sat down next to me, and every couple of minutes for the last half hour of the movie, she'd look at me and whisper "are you still awake?" DUH.
So when the parentals decided it was time to get dressed and go out visiting, I took my sleep-deprived headache to bed (at 8:30) and slept until morning. Take THAT. And then you wonder why I get up in the mornings and disappear to Knoxville for a few hours by myself. Huh. Oh well! So yah, I got up and left the whole house sleeping, and drove the 35 miles to the mall to do some after-Christmas shopping. Did I actually look for those kinds of specials? Of course not! I actually had specific items in mind that I just hadn't had time to look for in Massachusetts, so I didn't get any sale items. That may come later in the week. As it was, I blew almost $400 (3 pairs of boots, 1 pair of dress shoes, and an awful lot of stuff from the lingerie department at Dillard's). I drove by Jo-Ann's, Hancock Fabrics, AC Moore, and Michael's without stopping. Oh, and I didn't go to Kohl's because I know I would have spent another $100 in shirts for work if I'd done that. Maybe tomorrow. A work day makes more sense, so many people will be stuck going to their jobs and I can roam the other stores I am interested in. Theron and I did go to Lowe's this afternoon (there's a brand new one about 5 miles from here) just to see what they carried that we haven't seen at the Lowe's in Woburn. Found several things we want to get, so we're probably going to prevail on a brother-in-law who works there to shop with us.
That's my rant for the night. Can you understand why I haven't jumped at the chance to move to Tennessee since we got married? I think that thousand miles is a very nice buffer zone for peace and quiet.
Now what did I get for Christmas? Much more than I was expecting. My dad-in-law sent Theron and I on a scavenger hunt (and may I just say that running around outside and across the street in below-freezing temperatures in socks/barefoot is NOT recommended) that ended in us each having a bicycle. I am very happy with this. We just didn't have the funding over the summer to do it. Theron also got me a jewelry armoire that I really needed with my extensive collection. I got kitchen accessories that I wanted, and DVDs I'd asked for. My in-laws got me a lovely pair of sapphire earrings. My sister-in-law gave me a book (could almost be a text book) for learning Egyptian heiroglyphics. I'm very excited to sit down and go through that book. I had a very nice Christmas.
And we surprised a couple of people, and I think made some very good gift choices. Theron spent a couple of months ordering the parts and building a new computer for his parents. They had been trying to budget for one early next year, so this was a complete surprise, and very necessary. We bought some beautiful leather-bound books for a sister-and brother-in-law that are just as addicted to the written word as we are. The hardest part for us is picking out just a few books out of the many choices we have when we go to this particular book store! The baby afghan I crocheted was a big hit with everyone. Mason will be raised in the UT religion. My sister-in-law really liked the sweater/coat I crocheted for her (even if it is a bit warm for Tennessee!) and the silk tie we found for my father-in-law fit right in with the UT requirements. I surprised Theron with a couple of items, so that was good. Too bad the last present I ordered didn't show up by the time we left home! Theron gets one more next weekend.
Anyway, that's enough for one night. I'd better check some email and go socialize with the family. Have I mentioned that I'm ready to go home? I miss sleeping in my own bed, and having all my clothes hanging in my own closet where I can get to them. And of course, I want to snuggle with my kitty at bed time.
Merry Christmas, again!