post-thanksgiving HORF

Hi. I’ve just returned from the ridiculously overpriced on-campus convenience store where I procured Pepto Bismol because things have gone all wrong in my stomach. I’ve been grappling with what I can only describe as extreme hunger since early this morning and the only explanation that I can come up with is that since I’ve spent the last four days eating (and doing little else), I’m on some weird new digestive schedule. If the Pepto doesn’t help, I may have to call my HMO to see if they will cover an IV of liquefied mashed potatoes.

I could tell that this mini-vacation was going to be rad when my son came downstairs Tuesday night looking like this:

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And said, “Take my picture in this outfit and put it on Facebook!” Um, no. But I will put it on my blog. This is why I don’t really let him on the internet and as far as he is concerned, the series of tubes begins and ends at cartoonnetwork.com.

Wednesday, I got out of work early and the dudes and I went to the museum to see the whale exhibit, which features a replica of a blue whale’s heart and apparently blue whales are really big because the heart was the size of a Volkswagen. Kids were able to crawl around in it and the baby invited me in. Because I possess the ability to identify Spaces In Which I Will Get Stuck, I declined but stuck my head in to take a look. From what I could smell, someone in the recent past had not made it out of there in time to make it to the bathroom, which is probably the only instance in life where you could close your eyes and be unsure of whether you were on the bus or a plastic blue whale’s heart.

After that, we went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was pretty great and then rushed home because I had pie-making and potato-mashing duties to tend to.

Thursday morning I made the executive decision to make 5 more pounds of mashed potatoes and this made the husband very nervous. But I don’t have time for girly-men when it comes to Thanksgiving, so I shushed him and we piled into the car and headed to my mom’s.

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YES.

My dad and his cancer-free ass showed up to bring the appropriate level of cheer to the event.

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If you ever wondered where I get my sunny disposition, look no further.

This portion of Thanksgiving went off relatively without a hitch, and I couldn’t help but think of one Thanksgiving in 2003ish, during which we got into a huge fight about I don’t even remember what and all of the pictures feature my red eyes and puffy nose because I don’t understand why you have to be such a bitch MOM. Anyway, the only tense moment was when I realized that my grandmother and I had both made pumpkin pies and my grandmother said something about passing the torch and I detected a note of bitterness.

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Look at her giving me the stinkeye. Your applique sweater fools no one!

After we were adequately stuffed, we rolled out to my mother-in-law’s house for the second shift. That culminated in lying on the couch, groaning and farting, while watching The Godfather on AMC. This is a torturous activity because The Godfather is several hundred hours long as it is. When you add 300 commercial breaks, you begin to have the urge to shoot Vito and blow up Appollonia yourself just to get on with life.

I am pleased to say that spending time with my family and getting to visit with Frank over the past couple of days has greatly improved my mood. I’m still sad about stuff a lot of the time (which has had the fortunate side effect of a clean entryway), but our people really do rally around me and my little family and they’re not going to let us smack the bottom. They’ll at least help us to land softly.

The next week and a half is going to be an exciting one. The baby turns 8 (EIGHT!?!?!) on Sunday and then next Tuesday I give my final presentation as a graduate student. Effectively, I will be done with my MA a little over a week from now.

Also, I made the executive decision that the husband and I needed to re-watch The Wire from the beginning. I think he was a little surprised, especially since we just started watching Deadwood (a couple of years after the fact, but whatever), but he didn’t really resist. Being able to watch the whole thing over again is so fun. I highly recommend it.

6 Responses to “post-thanksgiving HORF”

  1. jive turkey Says:

    I started giggling at the blue whale heart/public bus comparison, and lost it at applique sweater. Her pie is made of PAIN and FEAR and casual separates from Coldwater Creek.

  2. Mary Says:

    I had my own awkward pumpkin-pie moment on Thanksgiving when Joe’s grandma showed up with an apple pie and a pumpkin pie, after I made Joe run to the store to get evaporated milk for my own pumpkin pie.

    What’s worse is, Joe’s grandma’s pumpkin pie kicked my pumpkin pie’s ass. Her pie tasted like you remember pumpkin pie tasting in your childhood – rich and creamy and packed with spices and flavor – and mine tasted like pumpkin-flavored cardboard. Add to that the fact that I basically burned the pecans for the chocolate pecan pie and the force of pie-baking was clearly not with me.

    At least the turkey turned out tasty.

  3. Kizz Says:

    I am absolutely yearning to re-watch the Wire. I doubt Santa is going to gift me with it so felonious measures may have to be taken.

  4. Sara G Says:

    I’m failing to see the problem with finding there will be MORE pumpkin pie at an event.

  5. Burgh Baby Says:

    Holy crap! A week left! That’s pretty kick-ass. Congratulations on surviving!

    I have now used up my weekly quota of exclamation points. I apologize.

  6. lazza Says:

    little hug and tie = niiiice

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