A little photo shoot just for you, taken on the way out the door for the birthday dinner:
Ok, so I have no idea where I left off, and I'm not going to go back and read my own blog. I cannot stand to be faced with the rambling. I think the last big thing that was happening over here before my hiatus was that I was trying to learn how to parent MyFavoriteKid through his troubles in school, particularly with math. I'm going to tell you all about that for sure, but not today. Today (because apparently venting is an integral part of my emooooootional process *snivel*), we're going to talk about an odd little outburst of tears I had last night.
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TheMostImportantGuy had come to visit for the weekend (as he most often does) but it was Sunday, and it was time for him to go.
Now, let it be known: I hate "The Going" part. Once he's actually gone, I'm okay. I mean, he's missed, but I'm not behaving ridiculously. But during "The Going" ?? Egads it's bad. It's so bad that we even have a well established ritual that is intended to lessen the drama. Right before he heads out the door, he pops a hard-candy into my pouting whiny mouth (sugar free or I'd be toothless by now---we've been doing this for years). The sweetness of the candy and his kind gesture keeps me distracted long enough to be keep me relatively happy until he has left and has some distance behind him. Odd, aren't we. I know.
Anyhow, he was headed out the door last night, and I somehow managed to get quite weepy and clingy. It was oddly over the top. About an hour after his departure I started feeling all sick to my stomach, and that's when it finally dawned on me that it wasn't his leaving that was causing the upset. Something else was off kilter. That is when I realized that what was realllllly upsettting me was the dining room table.
Let me rewind and give you the backstory about this table. I've had this table for a long time. It was given to me back in 1994 as a thank you for helping a neighbor move. I'm not sure how long my friend had it before then or how he'd come to have it. I have always loved this table. It's a drop leaf and folds down into a narrow 2-seater. If you pull up the wings up and it seats 4-6 people. Pop in the additional leaf and it seats 6-8. Solid wood. Worn from much use even before it came to me, but lovely.
As much as I love this table, there has always been a part of me pining for something different. Even before this table, I have never owned a "grown up" diningroom table. I either didnt have the space in my apartments, or I couldn't afford one. And this table of mine, being a hand me down, came with a few quirks. One of the pop up wings is a little loose and unstable, and it also always requited a matchbook (or two or three) underneath it to make it even.
When I moved here to the new house a year and a half ago, I only brought 3 pieces of furniture with me, and this was one of them (I went on a rampage and refurnished the whole frickin' house). I have been bitching ever since I got here that I even though I love this table, I really wanted a new table, I just couldnt find exactly the right thing. What I really desire (and maybe I've been watching too much Barefoot Contessa), is a round pedestal table that expands to an oval.
Well, leave it to the fates. Or mercury retrograde. Or something. As of last week, one of the legs of my dining room table is officially falling off.
Like, the wood split. Repairable, if someone has the skill. But I don't. Repairable if I just brought it to someone with skill, but I decided this was the universe telling me that my ideal expandable round table is now out there waiting for me, and so I went looking again, and lo and behold, there it was. By yesterday afternoon, I had found my new table. I ordered it, and it will be here next week. Huzzah.
Immediately after ordering the table yesterday, I took the pictures you see here of the old table, and I posted them on CraigsList. I offered the table for free, provided that whoever took it promised to fix it and love it and not turn it into firewood. Of course, I got a pile of replies, and by the evening, I had made plans for someone (who sounded like a nice woodworky sort of guy who said he would keep it and use it) to come pick it up on Monday (today).
Okay. So this brings us back to the point in the story where TheMostImportantGuy is heading home and I am snivveling with candy in my mouth. Sorry for not giving you the reader's digest version. Thanks for sticking with me if you got this far. Reward yourself with chocolate, my compliments.
So there I was last night, clutching my stomach feeling like I was going to be sick, and that's when I realized what was really going on. Clearly, I am attached to this old dining room table. Rewind some more, and I can tell you that earlier in the week, I also finally disposed of a beloved bedroom lamp that had been shattered beyond recognition, and it was a lamp that I had since I was 19 and in my first very first apartment. I broke the lamp 3 months ago. I didn't have the nerve to toss it out until last week. And right after I tossed it, the table leg broke. Rewind some more, and I can also tell you that earlier last week, I realized that I am all of the sudden feeling very middle aged. I am in my early 40's, but I have close friends in their 50's and 60's (and then some), and I also have close friends in their 20's and 30's. I can totally see where I am going, and I can totally see where I have been. It's an interesting vantage point. I like it. but I feel very "middle-ish" and I'm not exactly sure yet how this is relevant, but I am damn certain that it is.
Then I start tossing out furnishings I have bonded with big time, and well...all hell breaks loose, and I get all emotional and am crying and feeling nauseous, and it's all over a table that I couldn't really wait to replace.
Ahhhhh, The Dining Room Table. So many parties, and so many stories, and so much laughter, and family times, and making food for people and and and ....
You get the drift. Break out your tiny violins.
The bedroom lamp? The one that I used to drape with vintage sheer scarf so it would cast a lovely romatic glow across my boudior? It's now toast.
Having done a tremendous amount of purging of clutter in the past couple of years, I know for a fact that what I am attached to is the memories, not the lamp or the table. In fact, the more I think about it, I might not even be attached to memories. I think I might just be attached to the feelings these objects represent. And that feeling is intimacy.
Figuring this out is making it much easier to let the representative objects go (replacing my lamp with a new one that casts an even rosier glow has not hurt any...and once this new diningroom table is here, y'all are officially extended an open invitation to join me for dinner so I can make me some new memories. You just come on down now, ya' hear??!)
But going through the whole process of figuring out why I was so upset?? What an interesting little pile of internal research that was last night. And shifting from feeling sick inside to being ready to let go, and doing so quickly (in just a few hours) was kinda fun to watch. I hope I can do it at this speed more frequently.
The punchline to my little story, though?? The guy from Craigslist flaked on picking up the table today. I did all this internal work and finally got to the emotional place where I could really let it go....and the table is still here.
....she's baaaaaack.
I have lots on my mind and nowhere else to put it but here. You'll be seeing me more over the next few days. The dust has settled, and I finally have time to type.
But not right now. 'Cuz I'm knitting and watching Sense & Sensibility on PBS (Yay, Masterpiece Classics!! WooHoo!! I've been watching every Sunday since the run started in January).
Anyhow. If you missed me, stay tuned. If you preferred the silence, well....consider yourself forewarned ;-) I've missed the blog, and I'm happy to be back.
Let's try this again, and see if I get to 10 this time ;-)
Ten On Tuesday
10 Things You're Really Good At
1. Knitting.
2. Buying yarn when I don't really need it.
3. Jumping from irritation to anger.
4. Critiquing restaurants.
5. Cooking and entertaining.
6. Empathizing with other people.
7. Noticing the tiny little things in life that belong on a gratitude list.
8. Putting my foot in my mouth.
9. Creating paper bags full of unopened mail.
10. Wasting time.
..........oh, there is a #11.
Pick myself apart.
Into little itty bitty pieces.
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I wrote this out quickly, and let me tell you, it's pretty revealing in that it is showing my current state of mind. I am very quick to find fault with myself these last few days, I have noticed. I don't particularly like being in a phase like this, but that's where I am, so might as well sit with it for a few and try to find out why.
My investigation started yesterday when I was driving over to the city to see TheScarDoctor. I realized that I have a whole list of things about myself that are slightly bugging me, or that I would like to change or work on (but am not). They were all small things, but once I noticed they were so many, I realized I had this big massive ball of I'mNotReallyLikingMyself right now. Not so good. It's one of the keys to the depression door, and I'm not real keen on stepping inside that room if I don't have to.
My appointment with TheScarDoc was great. It's really interesting how all that self-loathing resides in the body somewhere, and what happens when you can experience the gift of having someone help you move it all around and maybe get rid of some of it. It helps that as a practitioner (and as a person) he's a really uplifting guy. Besides the bodywork, he also really makes me laugh. There is no better way to avoid opening the door to the DepressionRoom but to just laugh yer arse down the friggin' hallway.
Anyhow. Later in the afternoon yesterday, MyFavoriteKid and I had a parent-teacher conference with his math teacher. I think maybe I have mentioned here on the blog that he's having some trouble, but maybe I haven't. Who knows. I can't keep track. Anyhow. Things aren't going so well for him, particularly in math. I'm not going to bother hashing out all those particulars here, but I do want to get to the part about how I ended up feeling about it all.
Mother-frickin' incompetent.
I know in my head that I'm a good mom. I also know, logically, that it's my first time being a parent (just as it is his first time being a kid), and so in my head I have nooooo problem cutting myself some slack as I muddle my way through parenting. But my insides?? Dudes. I'm a mess. I feel stressed and confused by not knowing what to do. I feel like I am floundering and failing. Add to this the fact that MyFK and I push each other's buttons when the homework-shit-hits-the-fan, and then I get angry, and then gets upset, and then I feel worse for being a bad parent and a bad practicing buddhist who gets so angry all the time.
I am not on some sort of downer or pitty pot at all....IN MY HEAD. Too bad my gut does not agree. My thoughts are fine. The emotions? Oy.
I know I am not the only parent who has this situation. I know what help is out there (I also know what help is not, ie TheEx, but that's a whoooole 'nother post). I am on the path to getting help and support, gaining a few new parenting skills, and....just basically finding my way. MyFK and I are communicating well, and we are loving each other, and we are working on our button pushing, even between all the frustration. ON THE OUTSIDE this is being dealt with. This dilemma is is par for the course, we are making progress in the right direction, and all is good.
The OUTSIDES of the situation are fine.
It's my INSIDES I am worried about.
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Sometime last year I signed up to get weekly notifications from Ten On Tuesday, just in case I ever needed 52 bits of blog fodder. Obviously I did not, and preferred to ramble aimlessly with no direction or focus. I never did take myself off the email list though. I just got the weekly email this morning, and since I no longer have to post....wel....I thought I would.
10 Things You Want To Do In 2009 Similar to your new year’s resolution, but more of a “to do” checklist rather than things that you want to do to improve yourself…
1. Visit my grandma up in the Seattle area.
2. Plant flowers or plants in the box outside the back window.
3. Knit another sweater.
4. Travel more in the van.
5. Get a bike (ok, a trike).
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
~ I chose to focus on the word "want" and tried to avoid listing things I "need" to do or "should" do. You know what? I am finding this very hard! I can come of with a list of probably 27 things that I need to do....but it is a struggle for me to do this when it comes to thinking about what I want!! I find this odd. Part of me is happy that I am not wanting for much. Par of me feels very uninspired. Sheeeit, even now that I look at the 5 that are up there, even they have elements of should attached to them! ~
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I have no idea if I will continue doing these weekly throughout the year, 'cuz I'm fickle like that ;-)
I'm kinda thinking I might stick with the Snaps On Saturday thing I did for most of last year, though....or some version of that.
While I sit here doing more thinking about yarn, I might as well tell you about a couple of other things I'm tossing onto my "resolution" pile this year.
I hate calling them resolutions, really. They're more like intentions or goals, and they certainly aren't tied to it being a new year. I think what happens with me is that December is always so danged hectic, non-routine, and gluttonous that I see things glaring at me that need adjusting, but I know I don't have time to do anything about it until the holiday chaos and vacations are over. Make sense?
Anyhow, I already wrote about "less time/money on bodywork, and more time/money on working the body". It's still my plan, but of course I've been sicker than shit since I came up with the lovely idea. No working of the body going on over here, unless Marathon Coughing counts. Oh, well. I'll get there. I did at least meet the other half of the goal. I canceled and/or rescheduled bodywork appointments so that there are less of them, so I'm halfway there. The easy half, true...but I'll take what I can get.
Then there was my second intention to clean out the garage to make room for a bike, the third goal about of learning to spin (which at the moment is scheduling-wise in direct conflict with doing some dance rehearsals...so I have to think about how I'm going to make this work). Then there was writing less posts and reading more blogs (got that one handled...it's successfully in progress).
What I forgot to add to my list the other day is that this is the year I will FINALLY keep my word to myself and to all of you and....
REPLY TO YOUR COMMENTS
(you will find them within the comments section)
I keep saying I'm going to do this, and I do it for a stint, and then flake out again. And I cannot stand how I feel about myself for leaving my blog and your thoughts in a vacuum. It haunts me. Makes me feel icky. My notion is:
a) if I could pull off posting every day for a year, isurely it should be cake to reply to comments for a year.
b) if I am posting less now, this should be even easier.
We'll see how this works out.
If 57 of you post comments today I'm gonna kick yer arses ;-)
Then again, I suppose I'd have to suck it up, because John made it known that it is International de-lurking week through the 10th. So have at it, I guess.
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Okay, then there is a goal/resolution that I made mid-year last year, and I want to keep-on-keeping-on with it this year. I don't think I ever wrote about this here, but whether I did or not, it feels like an important part of continuing the behavior for me at this point is to shout it out loud, because I felt myself slipping a wee bit in December.
Sometime in the late summer I think, I realized that I was feeling anxious every single morning.
Now, I've been prone to occasionally just sort of falling into fight-or-flight mode ever since the accident, and I have really figured out that is usually not an obvious thing that gets the wheel turning.
Well, there was this one morning back then when I started feeling the gears beginning to grind, and all of the sudden I heard loud and clear the background music of my life:
television news, or news radio
I was waking up every morning and first thing popping on the TV news. Not really for the news, but for the weather update and the traffic reports. But I'd get the report, and I'd leave the TV on.
Then, when that 1/2 hour of news was over??
I'd still leave it on!!!
FOR BACKGROUND NOISE (I know. I am not very swift.)
So from say, 6am to ohhhhh 9am, the news would be on...and this is the key....with the same half hour of news being repeated every 30 minutes. I mean, I'd be listening to the same horrific tales about child abuse and murders and the economy over and over and over and over and over and over. THEN!! If I got in my car?? I'd turn on the news radio! Same thing (let's not point at that the traffic always comes up every 10 minutes on the 8's, so it's real simple to get that info and skip the rest. Like I said. Swift.) And then guess what!!! If I was around, I'd catch the noon news, or maybe the evening news, and oh....I would ALWAYS catch a half hour of news during the late night somewhere.
People: I DONT EVEN LIKE HEARING THAT MUCH NEWS.
I think I just like hearing people talking or some shit. I dunno. I never quite figured that part out, but I think mabye hearing people talk makes me feel less lonely or something maybe?? Possible. I dunno. WHATEVER. I didn't waste my time wondering.
So I cut myself off. Since then, I now allow myself a half hour in the morning. I didn't cut myself off cold-turkey, but I probably could do that now, and just get what I need on the internet. I mostly still do the half hour report. But the second I hear a story being repeated? Off it goes. I am now listening to more music, or....get this one (especially you, mom)....I LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF PEACE AND QUIET.
Dudes. My life has changed dramatically. I cannot believe that it took me so long to notice, but honestly, it had just become a habit and a background noise. It just no longer seemed out of the ordinary, and I can see how I overlooked it. But, DUH. Anyhow I saw myself lapse a couple of times last month, and like I said, I'd like to keep my new habit in tact, so I'm brining it back up to the forefront of my mind again, because apparently turning the shit off is not quite automatic yet.
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The last resolution/plan/goal/cockamamie idea I am working with right now is about the yarn, but again....I'm still thinking. I don't think I can come up with a plan around fiber that I can realistically work with until I have figured out what and why I do what it is I do with yarn in the first place (both the working with it and the purchasing of it), and that's the pondering piece going on over here.
Again, more coming soon. I just need to do a bit more reflecting.
Which of course, does absolutely nothing to put the yarn in the direction of becoming any form of knitted item.
Y'all are soooo glad that the 2008 version of Blog365 ended and that I jumped off the bandwagon for 2009. Had I ran with it, you'd have been staring at 4 straight days of kvetching. I kid you not.
I am soooo sick!!
I started feeling poopy last Monday night, and it's been escalating ever since. It has been the oddest cold. I keep hoping that I'll go to bed and wake up feeling better in the morning. Instead, I wake up feeling worse in the morning, but by mid-day I feel like I'm on the upswing. Feeling better of course, I am then able to see the piles of used tissues and empty soup bowls, so I set myself to cleaning up....or let's be honest....embarking on other projects. This of course, makes me feel run down again. By nighttime I am exhausted, but then when I actually lay down in bed and put my head on the pillow, I cannot sleep! The angle kicks the cough up something fierce, even if I prop myself up. I toss and I turn, coughing and blowing my nose all night (I have been coughing so much, I can barely speak--which I am sure have a few people in my life just tickled pink). Then in the morning I get up and do the whole routine all over again. So. Much. Fun.
I've not just been plain old sick, either. Other points of interest involving my physicality this week were flipping my wheelchair over (with me still sitting in it, obviously) and cranking my neck into some twisted knot of doom....and thennnnnnn (you'll love this one) I was closing a kitchen cabinet door the other day and I konked myself in the face so hard it literally cleared up my sinuses. But now I have a headache. It's really something to have a headcold and be blowing your nose all the time when one side of it is all swollen and bruised. Whee.
ANYHOW, even being sick (and mute), I have managed to get a few things done during this last week of MyFavoriteKid's winter break:
* Broke down the holiday decorations, and got them back out into the garage (which is a freakin' mess, and I was going to work on reorganizing that this weekend, but was too sick to be out there in the freezing cold). I usually add a piece or two each year to my holiday collection. This year it was a felted snowman and tree that I bought from Chimera on etsy (yes...I realize I could have made this myself, but really...was I ever going to? Probably not. Did I already have the materials? No. So I chose to support a crafter). This year during the post-holiday sales, I also went on a quest for a Light Up Lawn Deer. You know, the kind where the head bobs back and forth? Well, I went hunting, but no deer. But I did score a moose for 80% off ;-)
* The reinstatement of the semi-annual purge of MyFK's bedroom. He and I used to do this together twice a year. Once in June before his birthday, and once in early December before the holidays. We'd go through every bit of his room and get rid of stuff he no longer used or needed, and we'd also comb through the closet for clothes that were worn out or no longer fit. We'd make a run to the donation place, and then he'd have space for incoming gifts or clothes that would fit. Only problem? We broke from the twice a year tradition when we moved here, and that means we hadn't done it in a year and a half (well, we'd done the clothing....but not the other stuff). His room wasn't a mess really, but there was no way he was going to have room to store anything new, especially bigger things like a basketball and a skateboard, which he got this year from Hannukah Harry.
* I knit a hat. I'm actually spending all of my knitting energy right now completing my last (and sadly long overdue, at this point) PayItForward Project. I am very close (it requires a ton of finishing work), and I will not stray off on other projects until it is complete. It is, however, a project too cumbersome to travel with, and it is freezing cold here (literally), so I started a hat to fiddle with while sitting at MyFK's basketball practices. This is my second hat in this pattern (you might recall the first one, which fit my friend better than myself):
Meret The 2nd (link to my ravelry project page)
All day long I was thinking that I'd make this final post a one liner, and I couldn't narrow it down.
Contenders?
* Happy New Year.
* Sayonara.
* So long, and thanks for all the fish (if you didn't read the book, that will make no sense at all).
* It's going to be strange not posting tomorrow.
* Maybe I'll just keep going.
Thanks to all who followed along this year. I promise, I'll be back regularly.
...but I do have a few intentions, it would seem.
Has nothing to do with it being January 1st, though.
Just some things that are on my mind as wanting to do, and I can never seem to get anything productive done during the holidays, so I put it off until MyFavoriteKid is back in school.
* I intend to spend less time and money on "body work" and divert that same amount of time (and money, if need be) on "working my body". Less PT, more exercise, basically.
* This is connected to the above in some way: I intend on cleaning out the garage. There are things I brought with me when I moved up here that I haven't used since being here (18 months now). They are getting donated. So I have room to park a bicycle. Since it will be a trike, I need the space.
* I intend to learn how to use my spinning wheel. I finally figured out that I hesitate even trying because I am afraid of ruining the fiber. It has finally dawned on me that I can just spin, and if it turns out to be a whole pile o' crap, well...I can just knit it up and felt it. Then it wont look like crap anymore.
* I intend to replace my daily blog-posting (Oh My God...only 1 more) with READING blogs, which I rarely do anymore, and I miss everyone, and I cannot wait to catch up with what y'all are doing 'cuz I am sick to death of listening to myself. But you'll still see me around ;-)
The knitting isn't going so well.
Okay, take that back.
The knitting just isn't going.
What I mean to say is, if I was knitting, it would probably be going fine.
But I'm not knitting.
It's not for lack of desire, it's for lack of time. At times like this I am usually happy to squeeze in a row here and there, you know, a few minutes at a time. I'm always surprised just how far along I can get knitting that way. But for some reason, I am not content knitting intermittently. I think I must be waiting for a long stretch. Sadly, I don't see that happening.
It's funny, but I always forget that when MyFavoriteKid has a break from school, that does not mean a break for me. In fact, it's the opposite. I spend more time with him (which is good), but it's usually too active to be knitting.
Lucky for me one of his new pastimes is a team sport (basketball). I think I see one hour practice pockets on my horizon.
I was about to type, "My grandfather said that all the time." But now that I really think about it, what I really remember is my mother saying that her father used to say that all the time. I'm not sure if I ever actually heard grandpa saying that! I'm not denying he did....I just can't pull up any actual images in my head of him saying that, or the sound of his voice saying those words (he's long passed).
Whatever. Anyhow.
Today has not been so great, so I am going to keep my mouth shut. It's my new anti-complaining tactic. It probably won't work.
Ya' know, MyFavoriteKid was to be off with TheEX for one week of his three week vacation, and somehow turned into only 3 nights. This is the last night, and so that means TheMostImportantGuy and I are trying to squish in all the movies we wanted to go see into a mini-marathon.
This afternoon we caught a Benjamin Button matinee, grabbed a little dinner, stopped back home to check on the pets, and went back out again to see Doubt. I think tomorrow we are going to catch an early showing of Seven Pounds before MyFK gets dropped off. Then it's mommy-mode for the rest of the winter break.
Nighty-night!
Short one. Very cold. Out in the van with TheMostImportantGuy and RileyTheDog, filching someone's wireless. Christmas was good. Out of town visiting TheMIG's family (MyFavoriteKid is off with TheEX for a couple of days. Gifted a few handknits, plus some items purchased either from etsy or local artisans.
Must put on a wool hat now, tuck in, and snuggle :-)
Only 6 more posts after this...
can hardly believe it.
Here's a little holiday story for you :-)
When MyFavoriteKid and I were in Las Vegas, we were returning to our hotel one night, and this is what to place in the lobby.
Me: Santa.
Me (again, getting over excited): SANTA!!!!!!
MyFK: No, Mom.
Me: Oooh, and Mrs.Clause, too!
MyFK: Mommmmmmmmmm, I don't want to say hi to Santa.
Me: So what.
Me: (yelling) Santaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!
Santa: Ho Ho Ho!!!!!!!!
There is no one else in line to sit on Santa's lap. I make a beeline towards him, pop up out of my wheelchair, and throw out my arms for a big fat hug. Santa pops up out of his chair, greets with me with a hug, and the (don't you just know there is money involved) photographer pops up and takes this picture:
Which of course, I buy. 'Cuz I loooove Santa (and 'cuz I'm a sucker), and 'cuz I kinda like to think it's an awesome photo that really captures my love for the jolly ol' man ;-)
Me: (overpriced photo in hand) Santa!! Look!! I bought the picture!! (bringing it over to him). Look how cute we are!!!
Mrs.Clause: Oh, can I see it to?
Me: Of course!
Mrs.Clause: Do you know who I am?
Me: Why, yes! Of course! You are Mrs......ohhhh....MRS. Clause.
Mrs. Clause: Yah. You're darn tootin' I am MRS CLAUSE. And don't you forget it!!!!!!!
hahahahahahahaha
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XO to all, and Happy Holidays, whichever you celebrate (because I celebrate more than one myself!)
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fyi: I need to give proper credit. That dolphin pic yesterday was taken by MyFavoriteKid ;-)
I should have posted earlier in the day when I still had some steam left in me and the laptop battery wasn't complaining to be plugged in.
I am hoping with this post to be saved by the cuteness.
Home. Hooray. Today's leg of the drive was the easiest by far, and that's with rain and high winds. Nothing compared to snow. If this trip was anything, it was a crash course on all weather driving in the van.
I would love to say something about Winter's Solstice.
I would love to say something about Chanhukah.
What I am going to say is that it's 11pm and I'm beat. I'm home, the pets are home, I have a mountain of laundry and unpacking to do, not to mention quite a bit of "elf-ing" (ie wrapping gifts and whatnot) before I take off again for Christmas.
It's good to be home. Merry winter & light the menorah. XO
We left Vegas early this morning and stopped for the night halfway home. The drive out was far better than the drive in, to be sure...but being that I could actually see farther than a few feet in front of me, blinded by snow, it was like a whole different drive.
A couple favorite moments from the day?
We stopped in Baker, near Area 51, and popped into Alien Fresh Jerky.
Maybe 10 different flavors, included Whiskey Jerky, a spike with caffeine jerky, and my favorite: Abducted Cow Jerky.
Another favorite moment of the day was the hay ride with Santa, here, through the RV park. Yes, I know. I find amusement with the oddest of things. I love it when people who travel full-time decorate the dashboards of their RV's. Makes me happy :-)
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So in response to a few comments (all appreciated):
Yes. I did look up the local yarn stores. Before I even departed--hahaha. Didn't make it, though. Probably for the best. There should be several skeins of yarn waiting in the mailbox when I get home ;-)
I had to reread my own post because I cannot believe I actually wrote that flayed open bit---heeeheeee!).
Before even seeing the NapkinSupportComments, I did do the grossed out napkin thing. I grabbed a chocolate mousse at a buffet, and made sure to make a big smoosh on my napkin, and then set it on the table. MyFavoriteKid was completely squicked by that, and has had his paper serviette on his lap ever since ;-)
He still wiped his mouth on his jacket sleeve the other night when he was walking around with an ice cream cone and hadn't thought to grab a napkin. Yay me. More laundry.
Yeah, Vegas wasn't high on my list as a place to visit---especially with a kidlet in tow. It was MyFK that begged me to go!! Turns out we did just about every possible thing there was to do that was kid friendly, and there is quite a bit, actually. One of these days I should post a single list with links just in case anyone else wants to go.
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Ok, I'm off to bed. I'm hoping we get an early start tomorrow so we can get back quickly. The kennel only allows pick-ups until 6pm on Sundays, and I'm hoping to spring Riley, Gaara, and Mr.Darcy tomorrow rather than Monday morning. It would feel strange to be home without them!
