Had an up and down holiday. Pulled a muscle or something, so that nixed the 8-hour drive, but excellent husband got plane tix at the last minute. I arrived on Wednesday and Hung out with my brother who lives in the Netherlands and his wonderful wife. My niece was also there (she's getting her doctorate in forensic psychology) and she's a very fannish person, so we bond over shows and podcasts. It was a joy. Saw other family on Thursday morning during food prep. We had wanted a smaller do at my nephews house, but my Aunt and Uncle like to invite a huge group of their friends each year and we decided to do one last blowout. We rent the church hall.

My poor uncle. (Who is 96 and in frail health) took a very bad turn, so I was called at 2pm to be informed the family wasn't coming and I had to host the 30 or so people I didn't know for dinner. One of my two brothers was there along with his family, so that was nice, and the meal ended up being very nice-except for worry about my uncle. Luckily, he pulled through! He is on hospice care, so it's only a matter of time, but I got to see him and my aunt this morning. I'm certain this is the last time I'll see him, and I I'm so glad I got to be with him when he was conscious.

Aw, Scrappy, that's both terrific and sad. A lot of my residents are fairly frail, so I'm not looking forward to the post-season dark period when the excitement dies down and exhausted bodies can't push on.

I'm sorry, Scrappy, that's a lot to take in at once.

Yikes Scrappy, that's a lot!!

I made an appointment today not realizing that being at the mall today was a horrible plan. So I'm taking the bus most of the way there and then planning to walk the mile, so I don't have to be trying to park.

Seriously, Scrappy, that's more up and down than one person needs!

I had a great time at the DMV (seriously) even though it looks like I went at the busiest time, and am looking forward to making my leftover mashed potatoes into some kind of potato skin situation for dinner.

Mmm, leftovers. I'm much looking forward to mine later! Should've waited and eaten some before leaving—I figured the more time I left to get to the mall the better....but instead ended up arriving at the UW stadium where I planned to change busses about 15 minutes before the annual big football game between them and the Washington state team? Oops.

You're really hitting all the hotspots!

Timelies all!

As I went to work today, I did no Black Friday shopping.(Not that I ever do it, even when I'm off work)

Wow, Scrappy, that is a big day in a lot of directions.

Good luck, meara

We forgot to bring the food donations with us to the 5k, so mom looked up where we could drop them off today and the most convenient place was a thrift shop that was having 50% off store wide sale for "gratitude day", so that was my Black Friday shopping. I actually didn't get anything, mom picked up a couple of cute Christmassy shirts. Pie for breakfast; turkey, stuffing and butternut squash for lunch; pumpkin soup, turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes planned for dinner. And probably Brussels sprouts. Tomorrow is another 5k, we will try very hard to remember to bring the donations...

My family's weirdest conversation yesterday was when my cousin asked my mom how our great-uncle met his wife. And my mom started the story with, "Well, Uncle Woody was a Navy medic in WWII, and when he came home after the war, one of his friends was asking him about necrophila."

Hand to god, that's how she started. As it turns out, it had nothing to do AT ALL with how Uncle Woody met his wife (also, Uncle Woody did NOT engage in necrophilia). My mom was just, I don't know, super drunk and thought that was a great way to start a story. (Uncle Woody met his wife in a bar. I feel like that should have been a pretty damn easy story for Mom to tell.)

So, yeah. When we go to my family for holidays instead of to Tim's family, shit gets real weird real fast.