It's official - I'm pathetic

It's only 6:45 PM and I'm already in my pajamas. How sad is that?

So, The Thanksgiving Gauntlet of 2006 is officially over. I think I might be recovered sometime around March 2007.

On Friday, we were due to leave for my parents' house around 9 AM after Joey got back from meeting an HVAC repair guy at his office (who never showed up) and dropping Rufus off at doggie daycare so he could run his little ass off all weekend. As I got out of the shower, I could hear this piercing beeping going off, so I wrapped my towel around myself and started poking around trying to figure out where the alarm was coming from.

Shit. The septic tank alarm. We have this really wierd septic system in this house that has its own pump, which is connected to an alarm in our garage. And you don't want this alarm going off, because even though it could be something fairly benign like an air bubble in the septic line, it could be something horrible like sewage backing up into your house.

Luckily, no sewage. Not so lucky - calling every jackass in the Yellow Pages only to have 9 out of 10 not answer and #10 not able to come until Monday. They recommended shutting off the pump and the alarm in the breaker box, and advised us that we really had a few days of use before anything really bad could happen. I sure as hell hope so, because my stankin' ass ain't going to work tomorrow without a shower. Period.

So we did end up having a great visit with my parents. My sister (who lives in the same city as me) and her husband were there, my brother was there from Seattle, and my niece came from Atlanta. Apparently, she brought a girl friend with her and the general consensus was that she is interested in my niece as more than just a friend. Like sitting in the living room talking to the rest of the family and the girl was literally laying down with her head in my niece's lap. Do people normally do that, or are we just a bunch of squares? I wasn't there, but it just sounded really...odd. I mean, if she's gay, that's one thing - but if she's not, I hope she doesn't get sucked into some situation with this girl that she can't handle.

Then, there was the battle of the food with my mother. My mother has always ruled with an iron fist when it came to food - you don't have to clean your plate, but you do have to try everything. And she never fixed anything special for anyone - you ate what was served or you went hungry. Back when she was in high school, my niece suddenly decided that she was a vegetarian. I don't think that it was due to any moral beliefs as much as she is an only child and has always had the entire universe revolving around her - so what better way to get more attention than have everyone revamping their entire menus around you?

This year my mother went way overboard trying to fix stuff that my niece would eat. Thanksgiving Day involved making several dishes especially for my niece, which she barely touched anyway. On Friday, my mom, sister and I were on our way back from shopping when my mother announced that we had to stop at the grocery store and get some stuff to make baked ziti for my niece to eat. Fine, I announced, I make a mean ziti so drop me off and I will get everything and meet you back at the car.

So I was in the Food Lion loading up some ground beef and Italian sausage in the cart when suddenly my mother appears with my sister in hot pursuit. "Oh, you can't put that in the ziti, because Niece won't eat it!" she scolded me.

"Um, you are going to let ONE person dictate the menu for the dinner of ten people? That is ridiculous. I'll just put some meatless ziti in a small dish for her, but the rest of us will have regular ziti." I snarled.

So I made it. It rocked. And of course, my niece was hovering around in the kitchen to make sure no wayward meat made it's way into the dish. It was almost enough to make me put a big slab of ham in the bottom just out of spite.

And you know what? She picked out every tomato and speck of onion in there. So how are you a vegetarian and not eat any veggies? I noticed at lunch yesterday at this diner we go to that she got lima beans and corn pudding to eat. And let's just say she's not a skinny thing, so obviously she's eating something. I just can't figure out what.

Okay, deep breaths because I'm getting worked up again.

My dad is doing spectacularly well. He was walking around the house with no walker or cane, he uses mostly the cane when he's outside, and he does take the walker along in the van when they go out just in case he runs into something that might be a long distance or if he's overly tired. What really cracked me up was that he has all these exercise bands and weights, so even when he's sitting in front of the TV he is constantly working out. He is hell-bound and determined to be 100% again. I'm really proud of him and he looks just amazing.

We got home around 3:30, I went and picked up the dog and some birthday party invitations for Monkey Man's party next weekend (egads!), and came on home. Worked out for an hour, ate some soup, trying to finish up this blog, and then off to our office to print out the invitations. It's been a loooong four days. It's good to be home with my jammies, my slippers, and my own liquor cabinet.