We’re in the Deep South!

I’ve only insulted one server at a restaurant by not being able to understand his accent, and I remember again why they call sweet tea the House Wine of the South…omg I love sweet tea! Definitely going to need a dentist visit to chip the sugar crystals forming on my teeth, but it’s worth it.

My MIL gets here today, and I can honestly say I’m excited to see her! She’s such a sweet woman, in a genuine way, and I enjoy visiting with her.

Marmot was up at 5am this morning to go hunting. Seriously. The only reason I would get up at 5am for on vacation is if Macy’s was giving away free shoes, and even then I’d think about it.

And Marmot really wants to move back to the Deep South. The only way I’ll consider it is if I have guaranteed Internet. Blogging on the iPhone = short blog posts. lol

Hope you’re having a wonderful Christmas week!

So the Deep South trip has been planned since August and yet, somehow, we are leaving tomorrow and I am completely unprepared.

I bought all the Christmas presents that I was responsible for prior to Marmot’s last day of work, and they are all wrapped in my office. Only minor damage to the bows thanks to Snooty Kitty, but at least she hasn’t peed on any of them right? Thanks to the caramel corn disaster, we will be braving the mall (or at least swinging by a Trader Joe’s in St. Louis on the way) to finish our Christmas shopping.

So I’m packing up all the thoughtful gifts, and doing laundry. Ahh yes, the laundry hamper. My old nemesis, we meet again. Somehow the clothing I wore yesterday have completely disappeared, and I apparently have no clean socks. None. The only underwear I can find are thongs, and the jeans that are clean, well they’ve obviously shrunk in the dryer. Again.

The suitcases have been unearthed from the closets, still containing clothing from our (June) North Shore trip. I always think I’m a light packer until I try to shut the damn suitcase. But you never know when you’re have an unexpected period in an off-week, and need 18 pairs of underwear! Marmot always drags the suitcase out to the truck, muttering we’re only going for a week…..not a damn world tour….why do you need all this shit?! Even though moments ago I was thinking maybe I could leave some things, I decide everything is absolutely necessary. And launch into my own tirade about the double-standards for women, how men can wear clothes twice, and slick their hair back, but women have to dress perfectly in a new cute little outfit everyday with accessories, and how we’ve been oppressed by men through the social standards of makeup! Marmot doesn’t usually react. One time he countered with that’s right Honey, strike one for all of womankind and just stop shaving your armpits and well, he just won’t ever say that again. He’s not into the earth woman look.

Marmot and I drove to Trader Joe’s this afternoon, which is about an hour and a half drive. We got up there and he got irritated with how much stuff I was buying, and then decided that we shouldn’t get anything there for his family (I was going to put together a munchie basket) and we should get chocolate, which is what we did last year. He maintained that the chocolate idea is to relieve stress, and I’m saying that its the same thing we did last year, we should do something at least a little different.

We argue over that in the truck on the way home, he says I’m acting like a Northern rich snob by bringing big gifts, and that his family isn’t like that. I’m saying he doesn’t understand that you’re expected to give gifts when you stay for a week at someone’s house, its not about showing anyone up, they loved what we brought last time. We apologized to each other and it was over. We started talking about stress, and ended up in another fight over the fact that he thinks I shouldn’t be stressed about going to see his family. He doesn’t understand why I’m stressed about the trip at all.

Why should I be nervous, knowing the fundamental differences between our families? My family drinks, swears, talks loudly and over each other, and is generally informal and completely non-plussed by anything, including just about any topic at the dinner table. His family is proper, doesn’t drink, everyone is quiet and polite, and is very formal, and nothing even slightly improper is every discussed, least of all at the dinner table. I’m the new addition, and everything I say is evaluated, judged, and filed accordingly. Why should that make me nervous?

I’ve always loved the holidays, but this year I just can’t wait until they’re over. We’ll be home from the Deep South in nine days.

Its been quite the day. I can’t believe its 10pm, because the alarm going off at 5:30am seems like a lifetime ago. And I swear this is my last blog design change until my real one is done in a few weeks!

I finished wrapping presents for the family, and while I realized I’m missing one present yet, I’m pretty impressed with myself. Although I would like to kill Snooty Kitty, she ate the bows off most of the presents that were already wrapped. No wonder she’s been retching in our bedroom at god-awful hours of the night. You can’t see it really well, but just to know that those curls used to be long.

Marmot and I exchanged our Christmas presents tonight, as we have plans for most of the weekend and it seemed like such a nice evening. Glass of wine, Christmas music, a snuggly dog…and I got a beautiful bracelet and earrings from Marmot. As much as he drives me crazy, he can make me melt when he puts his mind to it.

I’ve given up on doing any baking this weekend, and my stress level improved significantly. We’re going to hit up Trader Joe’s and Chocolateria Stam for family gifts. I cracked open the caramel corn and found it to be slightly stale so it won’t be sent out. I’m still going to triumph over the holidays and Martha Stewart’s booby trap! I will prevail!

I won a giveaway this week from Dang Gina, a cute little door hanger from TW Creations. So cute, thank you!!

I’d like to mention how much I’ve enjoyed the friends I’ve made on this blog. Ashley @ Germato, Kaitlin @ Ah My Married Life, and Kate @ Newlywed and Unemployed….you girls rock.

And on that note, I’m off to bed….hope you all are having a stress-free Friday evening!

I love Christmas lights. When I was a kid we had a Christmas Eve tradition, where the whole family would pile in the car and drive around looking at Christmas lights, listening to Christmas music and drinking hot chocolate. To me, Christmas lights on a house in the snow on a cold winter evening, that sense of calm and peace is exactly what Christmas should be.

But I’ll be honest, I become an absolute shrew when it comes to putting up Christmas lights at home.

I want them to be all white lights, and the type of icicle lights that actually *look* like icicles that are lit (yes I know that’s so not real!), and no blinking or dancing lights. I would be ok with the netting over the bushes if we have the right amount so that its even (perfectionist much?) and I want the lights that are a warm off-white, not the bright blue kind of white lights.

Marmot had his first experience with Christmas lights last year, with my request for him to put them up on his day off. I came home over lunch to check out his progress and found him standing on the porch ledge with his arms wrapped around the porch support beam like a shipwreck survivor. Needless to say, Marmot didn’t grow up with ice. Add to that his apparently new fear of heights (convenient) and he declared himself to be incapable of carrying on any longer through such hardship.

Which meant that I had to climb up on the ledge in high heels and put the lights up, while he offered criticism guidance from the safety of the porch. This deteriorated quickly, and the whole project culminated with him going back inside where it was warm, and me yelling at him (through the screen door) about where he could shove the lights. And stomping back to work.

We opted not to do lights this year, because we’re going to be in the Deep South for Christmas and all. You know, be green and save electricity.

Ahh, another interesting Thanksgiving with my family.

Marmot and I had an argument on the way to Mom and Dad’s (which exactly what they used to do on the way to my grandparent’s house) and weren’t speaking when we got there. Ah, the holidays.

My poor Marmot is from the very polite South, and my family seriously wigs him out. It starts off with the prayer. My family always holds hand around the table. We never plan it this way on purpose, but my Dad and Marmot always end up sitting next to each other. The first time it happened, the awkward looks on their faces as they so gingerly held hands was hilarious. Now they avoid sitting next each other, but today was classic. They just hooked pinkies, but we all started laughing, including Dad, so the prayer was delayed until the giggles subsided.

And the prayer we had a toast (over apple cider, my Mom is on narcotics for her arthritis) and everyone is supposed to say two things that we’re thankful for. My Mom starts off, saying how thankful she is for marriage (looking straight at my Dad) and narcotics. And there we go.

When you have a medical family, the dinner conversation inevitably goes to bodily fluids. And what happened last time Mom made her ‘famous’ potato salad. We discuss what microbial dangers lurk in badly thawed turkey, and how many ER visits we think there will be from deep frying turkey gone wrong.

The argument over who has to do dishes (I refuse to since moving out) and then we all migrate to the living room. Minor scuffle over who gets to stand in front of the fireplace (Dad won) and we sat around talking, and laughing, making fun, and reading magazines.

Just another Thanksgiving, weird as it was, it was wonderful.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Ok, I have a little beef about this. I don’t like it when people wish others a ‘Happy Turkey Day’. To me, saying that makes it seem like the day is all about food, and nothing else. What’s wrong with Happy Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving isn’t about religion. If you choose to thank a god, your god, or nothing at all, that’s not the point. Its about being grateful for what you have. This is a time to really look past yourself, and whatever may have gone wrong in your day/week/year that you want to gripe about, and the things you want but don’t have, and just be grateful for what you do have. No god required. Its not really about god if you choose for it not to be. But it can be if you do. But taking religion out of it really reduce the holiday down to having a day off and an excuse to eat like pigs?

So that’s my issue. I’ve said what I think, and I’m just going to smile and answer any well-wishers with ‘Happy Thanksgiving’. I’m going to be thankful that my day isn’t just about food- its about my wonderful husband, our families, and all the things in our world that make me happy. I’m going to be thankful, and probably not to anyone or anything in particular.

We have so many things to be thankful for!

-Marmot being able to go back to school full-time…
-Me having a job that brings great stress and many challenges, but also great rewards…
-That Marmot knows how to cook, so I don’t have to…

-An energetic and happy fourteen year old Lab who is our bestest buddy, and a primadonna kitty who keeps us humble in her own little way…

-Target, Sam’s Club, Trader Joe’s, and Sephora…
-We have loving and supportive families, and a beautiful new niece this year!
-That we don’t have to rely on our gardening skills for food…
-Amazon, Netflix, HDTV, and DVR…
-Each other! Its wonderful being married to your best friend…