Howdy Strangers!

Ya'll, I so could've used this blog while I was off work. Dude, all that angst and nowhere to put it??? Misery. I did, of course, have my journal at home but somehow, I just can't seem to express myself as well when handwriting. lol My hand moves much too slow for my brain, I guess. And it tends to cramp. hehe

So yeah. I'm back. I've actually been back since Monday but, you know, life's been busy. Playing catch up and all that. And wouldn't you know, the first week back has been the COLDEST this season? Prolly not cold to ya'll north of here, but pretty darn cold to my spoiled southern bones. And they're predicting ice and some snow tonight and tomorrow. Mostly ice, though. Which...ugh. I hate ice. Ice is bitter and mean. I'd much rather have snow if I have to have any type of winter precip. Although, if I had my druthers, I'druther have no winter precip at all. Color me old but there ain't nothin' fun about slogging through cold wet white stuff. And all that potential for injury? I can barely walk without mishap WITHOUT mother nature's help, thankyouverymuch.

Anyway. So while I was out there was lots of angst. Lots of baking, too. I mostly just baked, washed dishes, cried and ate the entire two weeks I was at home. Seriously. And well, I slept, too. lol And despite my best efforts, it definitely was not the most perfect holiday I've ever had. But after all the tragedies I've heard and read about that took place during that time, I'm not complaining. I'm blessed, that's what I am.

Seriously, I've heard of at least two people who died on Christmas Eve due to various causes and one of the apartment complexes in town caught fire the week after and killed nine people--six of whom were children. So yes, I'm blessed.

I don't know what got into me this year...if I'm nesting or getting old or just plain crazy but I baked and cooked for two solid weeks. I even tried my hand at baking homemade bread for the very first time ever. And it almost actually came out great! My house was a little too chilly for it to rise properly, though. At least I think that's why it wasn't as fluffy as it should have been. But it tasted pretty darn good and made some nice little sandwiches.

Also made more sausage balls for the folks and a cheese ball for Emmy and for Christmas morning I got up super early and made Tearoom Coconut Toast (using cinnemon bread instead of raisin bread because I don't like raisin bread) to contribute to Christmas breakfast. (Suzanne McMinn was one of my two best friends this Christmas. hehehe)

And since I'd bought The Pioneer Woman's cookbook for myself and Sis2 for Christmas, I made some Jalapeno Poppers from it. The poppers that started my Christmas off all wrong but made up for it with their yummy-ness.

So okay, yeah, I didn't read the recipe all the way through before deciding to make them before going to the folks Christmas morning. How was I to know that the suckers took an hour to bake?? *sigh* So yeah, I'm responsible for screwing up Daddy's plans. He'd wanted me there SUPER early to open gifts before breakfast (didn't bother to tell ME that, though) and I got there an hour later than he'd expected me to. And that's even with me taking the poppers out halfway through and taking them up to Mama's to finish baking.

Seriously, I walked in door to the folks' house Christmas morning, cheerful and still in my pj's. I was really feelin' it, ya know? I'd successfully made the yummy looking coconut toast, I'd shopped for and bought things that I knew everyone would love and...hello? It's Christmas morning? You know, Jesus' birthday? Happiest day of the year?

Anyway, I walk in the house all chipper and cheerfully say, "Merry Christmas!" Mama turns away from the stove where she's cooking breakfast and says to me, "Yeah, what's so merry about it?" in a totally sarcastic tone. Like ice water, it splashed right over me and washed away the good cheer I'd been fostering. And then she tells me about Daddy being out of sorts because I'd screwed up.

Yay. Merry Christmas to me.

*sigh*

And things did NOT get better. Well, that's not entirely true. They got a little better during breakfast. Granny and my great aunt, G, came to eat with us and the coconut toast was a major home run. Then Sis1, Emmy and BIL got there and we finally got to open gifts and everyone got what they wanted and was happy.

But then...

For some reason, Emmy decided to pick the table in the dining room to park herself and Lyssa during the big Christmas supper at Granny's house. It wouldn't have been a big deal except my cousin (the one who behaved so atrociously during and directly after Paw-Paw's funeral) and her family had taken up homestead in there. And because my sisters were seating themselves elsewhere with their hubbies, Mama asks ME to sit in the dining room and keep an eye on Lyssa.

I don't really even remember what I ate because I was so annoyed and ready to slap somebody. I got lectured all through supper AND dessert about how we need to depend less on Granny and how poorly we treat her and how fragile her health is getting and how my cousin does all this stuff to help her out and NOBODY else helps Granny and we should be ashamed that Granny worked so hard to host Christmas supper and how awful we are because Granny made two desserts. And doncha know my cousin helped her peel potatoes?

Yeah.

All this is being spewed at me all the while my cousin is stuffing her face with all that delicious food Granny prepared. Granny is a grown woman who knows both her own mind AND her limitations. If she was in too ill of health (which she isn't) to host Christmas supper, then she would have very well told us!

And this is all on top of the very real and very prominent reality that Paw-Paw wasn't there. It was our first Christmas without him and as if that weren't difficult enough I had to sit through a lecture by a cousin who I was already ready to strangle. Talk about ruining your digestion.

*sigh*

But I survived it and avoided her the rest of the night and we went back to the folks' to open gifts with Sis2, Lyssa and Goofus. They'd had plans with his monster, uh, mother earlier so they missed the first round of gift opening. By that point, my nerves were frayed and I was tired and I'd had far too much family togetherness. So I was already on the edge. And then my mother YELLED at me to get out of the way so that she could take a picture of Lyssa opening a gift. And then YELLED at Libby because in her haste to follow me, she blocked Mama's shot as well. I swear, had the exit not been blocked by my sisters, I totally would have snatched my puppy up and left. I was so over Christmas.

Mama did apologize later but you know, by that point I was just ready to go home and be done with the lot of them. So when Sis2 and her crew left at 9:30 I sprinted out behind them and cried all the way home. I had a nice little pity party/crying jag for about an hour, actually. It gave me a headache.

So Saturday I stayed at home and slept most of the day.

The week after Christmas we had Emmy with us. Well, she stayed with the folks, but I still spent a great deal of time with her. We went shopping Monday so that Emmy could spend all the money she got for Christmas. Then Tuesday we went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel.

And let me pause here and just be a girl for a moment...

Zachary Levi!!!!!

hehehe

Okay, so yeah, I didn't know it going in, but Zachary Levi plays Toby, Dave's cousin, who "watches" the chipmunks while Dave is recovering from massive injuries in a foreign country, the name of which escapes me at the moment. My brain's still on Zachary Levi.

Zachary Levi!!!

Ahem...sorry, 'bout that.

Anyhoo, we also squeezed in a gathering with Mama's folks on Friday. Yeah. Fun. Each year gets better and better. Last year, you may recall, I got humiliated by Maw-Maw who conspired to blatantly set me up with her unmarried pastor. Well, this year, no humiliation, just severe aggravation. I mean honestly. Have they never seen an unmarried 30-year-old woman before? Oh, but it's not the usual old maid jokes. This year it was just condescension. "Oh, Jana and Brad and Brent (my other unmarried cousins) are the smart ones. They've got it all figured out." Which doesn't sound bad but in the right tone of voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

I mean, honestly, why the heck does my lack of marital status have to even be noticed?? No one even MENTIONS the marital status of my married cousins. So why is it an issue that I and my two male cousins have chosen to NOT marry?? And you know what else? The fact that they think that we're so pathetic that we CAN'T get married and they have to try and make us feel better about it by saying we're smart to have not married.

Ugh!

Moving along...

*deep cleansing breath*

So yeah, I survived my two weeks off with baking, washing dishes, crying and eating. I only wish there'd been some drinking involved as well.