Thanksgiving Frame of Mind

I will completely admit that I was in a very unholiday-like mood for Thanksgiving. I had all these ideas of home i hoped to spend Thanksgiving. The smell of roasting turkey would fill the house as my husband and I unpacked Christmas decorations. My mother-in-law would be completely amazed by my cooking skills and never stop raving about dinner. We would spend the evening snuggling on the couch, watching some old movie, and enjoying the Christmas lights we hung up.

But in reality I was still really sick. The idea of spending another day in bed did not please me, but I did not have the energy to do anything else. Rommel drove me by McDonald's for breakfast just so I would not have to think about cooking more than one meal for the day. I was so afraid of making everyone else sick that Rommel ended up doing most of the cooking with me annoying hovering over him, telling him what to do. I at least was able to set the table and put all the food out, but my mother-in-law was no where to be found. Eventually we ended up eating without her. Turns out she went to the movies with a friend and her only comment was "I didn't know you were going to cook." Maybe she did not notice the freaking turkey in the freezer for the the last week and she just forgot that I have cooking Thanksgiving dinner for us that last three years.

Rommel went to visit some friends while I took a nap and continued to remind myself how much this Thanksgiving was sucking. I really missed my family and our holiday traditions. I missed sitting around the living room reading while my dad watched football, my mom fussed over the meal, and my sister went through magazines.

Eventually Rommel came home and I called his cousin to find out if we could drop off our dessert because I did not want to stay and take a chance their kids would catch my cold. She convince me that they would risk getting sick and wanted us to stay for awhile. We agreed we would only stay for thirty minutes, but ended up leaving over two hours later. And I was extremely happy we did because it reminded me what the holidays are really about.

It is about being with the people you love and knowing those who are not with you are safe and happy. Even though I was not with my parents for Thanksgiving, I knew they were having a nice holiday in Illinois with my sister. Rommel's mother may not have been there for our holiday lunch, but we knew the effort we put into it and at least she enjoyed time with her friends. And most importantly, I am married to a wonderful man who takes excellent care of his wife when she is sick, even when she is in an awful mood.

Things to do when you are sick...

I have been sick since Friday and slept almost all day every day since then. I went to the doctor this morning and am now able to breath again after having some miraculous breathing treatment. I am no longer as tired, but I am completely bored. I am not big on watching TV all day, so I had to set about finding other ways to entertain myself that didn't require too much energy.

What I have done so far today

• lounged in the bath with a book
• watched Sex and the City (the movie)
• pampered my feet
• cleaned up my cuticles
• check my email and all the usual websites
  

What I might do the rest of the day

• take a nap (I am still sick)
• paint my fingernails and toenails
• try a deep cleaning face mask
• read
• start my Christmas cards
• watch Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (they didn't have much in the grocery store kiosk)
• transfer Cd's to my ipod

More fires.

I had read about the Santa Barbara and Sylmar fires online, but they were spreading so fast and I had no idea how big they were. Then a fire broke out in Anaheim Hills. Even though we are several miles away, the wind slowly brought the smoke our way Saturday morning. That evening smelled like someone down the street was burning leaves and was unusually hot.

But the eeriest moment all weekend was when we were driving west for my friend's daughter's first birthday. The smoke was unbelievably gray and almost murky. We couldn't even tell if the smoke was from the fire north of us or the fire south of us. Finally the wind picked up so much, things cleared up and you could actually see the blue sky. But we couldn't get that image out of our heads.

Today was pretty much the same. I woke up with a sore throat after leaving the window open over night. It kind of smells like a smoker lives in our house. As I ran my errands, I saw several people wearing masks.

Hopefully the fires are under control soon and no one is hurt.

The Whole Twilight Thing...

I have read the Twilight series and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I even made a date with a friend to go see the movie (while all the crazy screaming kids are at school of course). But I am not obsessed with it. Maybe you have to be a thirteen year-old girl to be insanely crazy about the series?

Anyway, I was on MSN today and saw a article entitled "Twilight: The Lost Script." If you have read the books, you should check it out. It is quite funny if you know the real story.

http://movies.msn.com/movies/galleryfeature/lost-twilight-script/?GT1=28127

Puppies!!

Maybe Natalie Portman was right about what she said in that Funny or Die video; maybe puppies are the solution to all the world's problems. So I posted this link I found to today that streams live video of the cutest puppies all day.

Live video by Ustream

Hope for Change!!!

As soon as I got home from work Tuesday, I turned the TV on to the news and sat there intently watching the rest of the night. I felt so much pride and hope watching Obama give his speech after winning the election. I know I woke my mother-in-law up, I was cheering so loudly. Next thing I know, I was crying, but they were happy tears.

It was depressing yesterday to find out that Proposition 8 passed in California though. It hard for me to understand how it passed when people have such ridiculous arguments why gay marriage should be banned. Like saying it corrupts our children and will be taught in school. Come on people, wake up! I just hope that this can be turned around too.