Meandering Maunderings

Not the same thing.

Spent the whole day with the in-laws (parents and sis, bro). Fun conversations were had, as was cake and ice cream (the SIL's birthday as Thursday, the BIL's - hubby's step-brother actually- is tomorrow). Tired now. So in lieu of actual content, I give you dragons.

Good news! Last night I found out that my Bro and SIL are expecting a little GIRL come end of October!! *bounces* I knew they were expecting, but the girl was the surprise bit.

See, they have Baby E (boy), and SIL is kind of a tom-boy type. They have said they hope she likes little boy things, because that's what they have. ;) So I have promised to introduce Little Miss S to girlie things, and Barbie. :) (I still have a HUGE Barbie collection from when I was a kid).

So cool!

Likes to think of itself as the Scotland of the US. To this end- every Memorial weekend they have the Highland Festival.

Picture this- an entire football field filled with people in kilts. With bagpipes, and drums. Playing. This is what I saw today.

Admit it, you're jealous. ;)

The Festival was preceded by a parade- that unfortunately had some rain fall. However, hubby and I did get to see Stepdaughter M, her hubby, and grandbabies B and J. J didn't care one whit about the parade (he'll be 2 in November, fyi, and B will be 4). B didn't like the loud noises- and then we discovered that she was wearing her cranky pants. She was content to let Grandma Anne hold her, but, as she explained- she didn't have to talk! Her mom was asking her "Would you rather be a shark or a panther?" (Dunno where that came from) and B got a VERY stormy look on her face and explained "I'm B!" (well, she said her name). We all agreed that she could be B. She's quite the character. While being so grumpy she had her arm resting on my shoulder and her fist against her cheek refusing to say much of anything. Though, I did get her to watch the Newfoundland puppy (while he was well over 100lbs we overheard his owner say he was still growing- and he had a lot of puppy energy).

After the parade we tried four different places to get lunch. By the time we got to toe fourth ne- mot of the parade people had been and left! Which worked out rather well. M and her crew were not going to the festival- which was disappointing but understandable. J had just about enough of his stroller and wanted to be out and running- and B wouldn't have liked all the bagpipes and drum groups playing in varying spots. So we said goodbye to them and went on to the ground of Alma College.

Kilts everywhere! And people selling kilts. :) Almost talked the hubby into buying one, even just a utilikilt would have been fine. Saw a t-shirt proclaiming "If I wore anything under it THEN it would be a skirt!" which made us laugh. While wandering around I did have to mention that if hubby did get a kilt he would have to be careful about getting up from sitting on the ground... As I happened to see one gentleman getting up from a seat on a hill, and got much more of a view than I bargained for. ;) While I'm not actually Scottish, and neither is the husband, we did have fun perusing all the stuff. I do have a cousin who married an honest-to-God-Scot (from Scotland! now they live somewhere near London) so I looked up his crest/plaid, and that was fun. Did buy a shiny ring with a bit of Celtic knotwork, and a bag that will be perfect for transporting Lucy (my Samsung netbook). Hubby dithered about kilts, and what color he liked. Noting that the problem with getting a kilt is that if he didn't get a utilikilt then he'd want a real one (not acrylic like a couple places had) the whole 9 yards. And then he'd have to get a gillie shirt, and kilt hose, and shoes, not to mention a sporran. So it would get rather expensive. So he's still dithering. I expect an answer to come sometime around the time when we go to the renaissance festival in August/September. ;)

Kilts kilts everywhere. :) was much much fun.

Now am home, feet hurt from walking all over. Did get to see a brief Border Collie demo, which was kind of fun. Doggie herded ducks, and then sheep.

All in all a very good day. But am glad to be home now.

So I haven't really posted anything of substance for awhile now, my apologies. I'm just not really 'here' at the moment, and I'm not entirely sure when I'll be back. The ebb and flow of emotional energy is at a serious ebb at the moment.

Points:

* Thanksgiving was nice, got to see the immediate family- and my nephew, the cutest almost-two-year old little boy in the entire world. No really, he is. Very easy-going disposition, though when he's trying to figure something out he gets this adorable "serious face."

* Car is not so good. As soon as I got to Midland on Wednesday it starting to make this grinding noise (right front side) when stopping, and then when I let off the brake it started again until I had been driving for a minute or so. Then on Thursday when I went to move the car into the driveway- the interior lights wouldn't shut off. I was able to manually turn off the dome light, but the rearview mirror has two small lights on it, and those would NOT turn off. When I drove home Friday night I had to cover them with black electrical tape. *grins* This was a process. The first tape my folks found was old, no older than that. The adhesive was sticking to both sides, but not to much of anything else well. Luckily they found a newer roll and I was able to cover the lights. Oddly, the lights being on didn't drain the battery, for which I'm very grateful. The car is now at the shop, and hopefully I will soon get a call to let me know what's wrong with it.

* NaNo is done for another year. Did get to 50K, as reported, story is not done... Need to talk to locals about continuing writing meet-ups, and the where's and when's...

* don't want to be at work.

Lastly- have some dragons:



EDIT- Car stuff isn't too bad, the light issue is a faulty wire, easily fixed and not too expensive. The grinding is a frozen caliper, and while it's fairly easy to fix, the brake pads and rotors wore unevenly and have to be fixed too. :(

So yeah, there were holidays, they were fun. Christmas Eve was with hubby's family- which meant seeing GrandBaby B (2 years now, for those new to Anne-land) and GrandBaby J (6 weeks). Baby B saw Grandpa and squealed, and headed for us. I caught her first, long enough for a hug and then she wanted Grandpa. Grandpa was the favorite person of the day (which just tickled him to no end). Except during dinner, after she was done with what she had (and was done with sitting on Daddy's knee) she came to sit with me for awhile and get some quiet cuddles. Also got to cuddle J and was successful at getting him to fall asleep. :)

Christmas Day was with my side, and we got to see much of the nephew, Baby E (1 on 12-30). Elder Brother M, SIL B, and Baby E arrived Christmas Eve and stayed until about 6 pm or so on Christmas Day- so there was much happiness. I have pictures (Elder Sis M- will send you some soon!) During present opening Baby E was getting really tired (It was past nap time). He was half asleep on his Daddy's lap when Elder Brother M opened a certain book. He flipped through it and Baby E woke right up, sitting up and grabbing the book so he could look at the animals. We all agreed he much liked the book Auntie M sent him. :) Shortly afterwards he feel asleep and missed seeing the rest of the groovy clothes his Uncle S and I bought him. (can I just say that it's really cool to have a classy children's consignment store nearby that sells good clothes for cheap? Kids all got lots of clothes this year!)

So the days were good. Now I'm back at work and cranky. :)

Hope you are all well.

When I've told people that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday- they have this tendency to grin and talk about food. Now, don't get me wrong- the food is great- but that's not why I enjoy Thanksgiving so much. See, I'm one of those rare, lucky folks that truly likes their family, immediate and extended.

Thanksgiving for me has always meant my immediate family and my dad's siblings and their kids gathering at my parents house. The kids would play, the adult men would watch football, the women would cook, and watch football. When the turkey was done my mom would call my uncle in to carve (no, I don't know why my dad never did the carving, if Uncle T wasn't available than Uncle E had to do it, and I think my hubby even assisted one year- I guess the turkey carver has to be left handed at our house...) There would also be the key ingredient- Laughter.

That's the thing that I always remember about Thanksgiving, the family gathered around the table laughing. So much so that I nearly killed my brother this one time. You know how every once in awhile you manage to execute the perfectly timed zinger- the kind that shocks people and makes them laugh? Yeah, don't do that when your brother has just taken a bite... He started choking and I thought mom was going to have to do the (we're not supposed to call it this but I can't remember the other name) Heimlich maneuver. But he survived, and we haven't actually managed to kill anyone yet.

Maybe it's because no one seems to take themselves too seriously. There's a LOT of good natured ribbing that goes around the table. And yes- it's all good natured. We have a loooong running joke regarding Chow Chow Pickles (I think that's how they're spelled). I'm not entirely sure what they are, pickles in some sort of scary yellow sauce stuff. The kids decided they were actually nuclear waste- and very few of us have ever tried them. The adults all seemed to enjoy them though. Crazy Yoopers that most of them are. Stories would be told about each other, complicated trades would have to be arranged between the kid's table and the adult's table, and through it all there would be laughter.

As the years have passed the group has gotten a bit smaller- aunts and uncles still try to make it most years, though for at least a few years now two of my aunts have held it at their place since Grandma lived there. She refused to go anywhere she didn't absolutely have to go. Cousins have grown up and moved away, or have in-laws houses to go to. And now that I'm married, there's the negotiations about when we go to whose family's house. We've settled on an every other year routine, which should work fairly well- although last year it was just hubby and me since he had to work that afternoon.

So yeah, last year was really very odd for me. I didn't see any family at all. We had the traditional foods- work gave each of us employees a pre-cooked turkey, and enjoyed the time together, but something still seemed to be lacking. I have to say, that after growing up with the horde that is my dad's family- going to hubby's family's Thanksgiving dinner was a bit of a shock. It was just six of us, and so quiet. It was nice and everything, just small.

This year, it's at my parent's house and I'm really looking forward to it. All but one of my siblings and their spouses will be there (and I've mentioned my displeasure to the brother who won't be attending), and several aunts and uncles. So while it won't quite be the same as the old days- there will be a lot of family, good food, and most importantly laughter. :)

Updated sashegrey with the most recent segment of The Librarian- friend's only- so let me know if you want in. :)

( And in grandbaby news )