i got a Christmas card this morning from my first-blog-born Angela and her sweet family, which includes Ian. i even got a most precious picture of her kiddos, Flash and Peanut.

Merry Christmas, Fresh Mama in Guam-a and Pinwheels.

so i need to change the cat litter, which i will do momentarily. and we had the incident last week where i tried to take Minerva to Fort Worth, and that didn’t quite work out. and when i brought her back home, i’d already opened a portable litter tray, so i left it for her to use if she wanted something super clean. she had dug around some but never used it.

this morning i walked into the kitchen, and she cried me out into the garage and looked at her litter box and cried. i said, “ok, i’ll change it.” then i walked back into the kitchen, where the litter liners are. she followed and went over to the portable litter that i’d put in the kitchen for her. she dug around some and then cried.

maybe she just wants to use that one, but wants it in the garage, i thought. so i picked the tray up and took it to the garage (perhaps a phobia about having the litter in the kitchen?), and she jumped right in. then jumped right out and cried. hmm. i poured some of the Tidy Cat in the portable tray, just to see what happened. she dug around and was quite happy to use that kitty toilet.

so it’s the litter. she really hearts Tidy Cat. who’da thunk.

Prochein Amy has this week’s Carnival up, and she got wacky with it (yay for wacky)! there are recipes for Thai Chic on an Italian Platter, Cock-a-doodle-do with Classic North Indian Sauce on a Round Crust Thing, Fried Haitian Monkey Food, and Indian Piquant Relish, to name a few. go see what other wacky recipes are over there, and then go grocery shopping!

looks like i woke up just in time. John Mayer is performing on the Today Show in a few minutes.

UPDATE: Matt Lauer really should prepare better for his interviews. he pretends to know what he’s talking about, but i don’t think he’s turned on a radio since the 1980s.

an upset. :)

the nephew on “Joey” (yes, i shamelessly watch it) is my newest TV crush. lemme describe him for you and see if y’all can figure out why he’s so crush-worthy…

* dark hair
* precious bushy eyebrows
* skinny
* geek
* engineering student
* doesn’t always know the right thing to say to the ladies
* changes any subject into a scientific discussion

i don’t know what it is about him…

to get in your recipes for the 20th Carnival of the Recipes. Prochein Amy is hosting this week, and she’s sure to do a great job rounding up the recipes. so email your links or recipes to recipe::dot::carnival::at::gmail::dot::com. the Carnival will go up tomorrow!

i got a yahoo search hit for “[gr]exy grampas”. okie dokey.

my full-time job is now packing. i’m looking forward to the next one, too, but for now, i’m going to love this packing job. wooooo!

i called Bikermommy on the way home from the game last night and asked if Tim had gone and turned my water back on. she said that yes, he had, and she and Pat had gone over and helped, and they got the water vacuumed out of the guest house, and got things airing out. “and hey, the good thing is, less stuff to move, because a lot of it is ruined.” but it was nice that they’d gone and cleaned the water out and i didn’t have to deal with it when i got home.

then when we were about to get off the phone, she said, “and wash your dishes” in a verrrrry tense voice. “ok. bye!”

so then when i got home and got ready for bed and settled into the couch for nighty night, i pulled my computer into my lap and turned it on.

someone had changed the login name on my computer to “wash your dishes please!!!!”.

teehee.

knowing that you have only 4 hours to work and then 18 days off, after which you’ll start a new job, with new pay, with new coworkers who won’t think you have 3 heads just because you’ve ever heard of the “Internet”. a new apartment, with your sweet sweet boyfriend nearby, a dishwasher, a garbage disposal, 2 bathrooms, Disney World an hour away…

life will be sweet soon.

last night, i had been joyfully taking pictures of Coach Bob Knight every time he yelled (he’s a legend!) for the entire game. and i’d just finished telling Tarina’s brother about my airport fiasco, and this nice security guard came down to where i was sitting.

GUARD: um, young lady, there is no flash photography during the game.

i sunk down into my chair and started apologizing for my little blunder. because in a 42 point game, i’m certainly going to affect the outcome of play. after he walked off, i realized that it was just a gigantic plot against me.

“no guns at airports, no flash photography during the basketball game! they’re all just out to get me!”

warning. big venting trip ahead.

so yesterday i went into our office manager’s office at 3:50, ten minutes before i was leaving, to ask whether she wanted to reimburse me for an ethernet cable i bought and didn’t have a receipt for, or should i take the cable. she chose this time to go over what would happen today, my last day. she brought up the subject of my final paycheck and said that after i entered my final day’s hours, they would calculate my final paycheck.

oh, and they’ll do that the first working day after my last day, which is Tuesday. and rent is due Saturday-ish. she said she’d mail it to me after corporate sends it to her for her review. “so i’ll need a good mailing address for you.” ummm, after next Thursday, i don’t have an address. “then that’s a problem.” yeah, you know what else is a problem? y’all holding my last paycheck until days after the end of the month. so i asked if i could pick it up before i leave town next Friday. “well, they’ll prepare it on Tuesday and send it to me. i have to look it over and make sure that the people who calculate payroll for a living know how to carry the one and got your pay right.” ok, well, can i pick it up before Friday, because i leave town for good next Friday. oh, the glowering at this extra little effort! “i’m sure they can overnight it to me.” well, that’s good, because they’re gonna have to.

then i asked how my last paycheck works. based on hours worked in the payperiod? or days?

she proceeded to tell me how it would work, and she went step by step and very slowly. ok, i’m a CPA, tell me it’s prorated to take out the last day of the month and lemme figure it out. no no, she even showed me how to punch the buttons on the calculator; thank goodness there wasn’t a slide rule handy. oh, and she told me how my sign-on bonus payback would work. they’ll send me a letter thirty days after my final paycheck telling me to pay back half of it, “because you’ve fulfilled six months.” um, actually, i’ve fulfilled 7 months, so i’ll pay back 5/12ths. “well, whichever it is.” no no, let’s talk about it. i started June 1st, i’m not paying back 6 months, i’m paying back 5 months of the bonus (it’s prorated over a year and anything you’ve worked less than a year has to be paid back). “well, they’ll calculate all that before they send you the letter.” so now it was my turn to show her how to count. “no no. let’s calculate this. i’ve been here since June 1st.” i showed her on my fingers. “June, July, August, September, October, November, December. that’s 7 months.” she wasn’t willing to concede and instead changed the subject. fine, they can’t take it out of my last paycheck, i’ll deal with it later.

if i have a last paycheck. so then she got to the part about vacation. “any vacation time you have left will be added in.” actually, i’ve used it all, and in fact, the 20th, when i was stuck at the DFW airport, that’s already going to be an unpaid day. “ok. and since you’re not going to work on the 31st, because a holiday can’t be your last day, you don’t get your vacation accrual for December, so they’ll deduct out 10.67 hours for that since you’ve used it all.” EXCUSE ME? SO NOOOOOBODY IN THE FIRM IS WORKING ON FRIDAY, AND THE PARTNER DIDN’T WANT ME TO COME BACK ON TUESDAY TO WORK ONE DAY NEXT WEEK BECAUSE HE ‘DIDN’T SEE THE POINT IN THAT’ AND AS A RESULT, NOT ONLY DO I NOT GET PAID FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE, NOT GET PAID FOR THE DAY I WAS STUCK IN DALLAS, YOU’RE ALSO TELLING ME THEY’RE GOING TO TAKE 11 HOURS OUT OF MY FINAL PAYCHECK BECAUSE I’M NOT WORKING THE SAME DAY OF THE YEAR THAT NO ONE IN THE FIRM IS WORKING.

i’m quite sure my face was red, smoke was coming out of my ears, and [deleted. it was mean-spirited and ugly.]

and that’s what happens when you work for this firm. you give your notice, they take away your computer and put you at someone else’s desk because they don’t give the tiniest rat’s pinkytoe about you anymore. you’re dead to them. then they wiggle you out of 11 hours of vacation pay when you have put in many more than 40 hours a week since you’ve been there. hmm. how many 60 hour weeks did i have in November? how many 45-50 hour weeks in the other months? and no overtime pay there. so now you’re cheating me out of 11 hours because i’m not working tomorrow because… wait for it… NOBODY IS WORKING TOMORROW!

buncha pinkytoes. now that is the holiday spirit. i think i shall work 4.5 hours today (because if you work 4.5 hours, it’s considered a full day) then come home to start packing. yeah, and i’m wearing jeans. :-O

oh. so there’s more. i was still fuming when i got home, but hey, i was going to the Tech basketball game with Tarina, and that would pick up my spirits. plus, i was on the phone with my funny boyfriend who offered to loan me 5 bucks before saying he’ll give me a buck oh five, LOL.

i changed clothes and waited for Some’in’ina to arrive, and this nice man who looked familiar and spoke no English came to the door. “garage. water.” huh? “your garage, water.” wha? he was pointing toward my back yard and not the garage. “garage. water. garden hose broke.” oh, this can’t be good. i still hadn’t a clue what he was saying. so he motioned for me to follow him. i stepped out onto the porch. wait. who are you? “we roof. garage.” oooooooohhhh, no wonder he looked familiar, he climbed around on my roof a couple weeks ago. ok, so i followed him to my back yard, where four of his crew were standing next to my guest house looking in. oh, and there was water all over my back yard. looooovely.

they pointed at the house and the ground and all that water. i walked past them and into the guest house, and there was water pouring out of a pipe behind the bathroom wall. the guest house, which functions as a storage room for the boxes i never unpacked after i moved here, had two inches of water standing in it. oh joy. i told Frank i’d call him back, and before i could do anything, my eyes filled with tears. those poor roofers. one of them immediately grabbed a broom from my yard (doesn’t everyone keep a broom in the yard?) and started to sweep the water out, probably thinking, “por favor, no grita.”

we all went back to the meter together, as none of us could figure out how to get the water off from inside the guest house. i went back to the house to watch the water, and it turned off! yay! then turned back on! boo!

i called the landlord. he tried to walk me through the process of just turning off the water to the guest house and not the main house too. yeah, too many snails and too much water in my way to get that done. one of the roofers tried. then he walked me through turning off the water at the meter. as i watched one of the roofers start to turn the valve with a screwdriver, i watched the meter go from 4 gallons to 9 gallons in a matter of 30 seconds. the nice man got the water to stop. then he kept turning, and started the water again. we were all yelling stop. finally, it was off for good, and Tim said he’d come out and get it all straightened out for me.

Tarina and i left for the game, because i couldn’t deal with all of it just yet. not enough time for me to convince myself that everything is going to be ok. i’m still not convinced, but i only have 4.5 hours of work left, then i get to focus on other things. more important things.

i miss Frank. really really miss him. and i saw him only 10 days ago, and our record is something like 38, but i guess it’s just the excitement and anticipation of getting to see him every day that makes me miss him more. or maybe it’s because he’s not online and therefore not emailing me, not commenting on my blog, not blogging. though Harvey is doing a great job keeping the funny going over at IMAO.

speaking of Harvey, i have the old Jimmy Stewart movie Harvey on DVD, and I’ve never watched it. Jimmy Stewart is my all-time favorite actor. you know he went to war. left Hollywood to go to war, and that was considered heroic by Hollywood at the time. my, how things change.

that reminds me, i still need to change the name on my SS card. the DPS told me i could apply for the driver’s license with my new name, but it wouldn’t actually go through the bureaucrats in Austin until i changed my name on my SS card. less than a week later, my new DL arrived in the mail, and i still have the wrong name according to Social Security. i should do that before Friday so there’s no hassle with W-2s.

speaking of W-2, that rascal Frank put me through a grueling 2-hour photo shoot with him behind the camera modeling the W-2 t-shirt, among other new IMAO shirts. he still hasn’t even added a few to his scrolling pics on the sidebar, and all i told him to do was make my face not so red, and highlight my roots! i guess he doesn’t want to sell more t-shirts.

speaking of cells, i heart Excel. yes, i’ve mentioned it before, but i’m having fun with GASB 34 conversions and cash flow statements today, and Excel just makes it even funner!! i’ve gotta have something to excite me, right? otherwise, i’ll never make it through today and tomorrow. tomorrow being my last day at work.

i really should start working out again. i don’t think i’ve done that on a regular basis since Sa and i took our 10K training course at Luke’s in Fort Worth. yes, i believe my stress fracture happened in March of 2003, and i’ve been saying ever since that i’m gonna start working out again. but i should probably put it off until March 2005 so i can have an even two-year break. ’cause that would be kewl.

speaking of breaks, did y’all know i’ve never broken a bone? stress fracs don’t count. i think my Bikermommy and my big bro have each broken their collarbones, and i don’t think Sizzle has broken anything. just proves that you don’t have to drink milk to have strong bones. because believe you me, i’ve done my share of fallin’ funny, and i don’t drink the vile cow juice unless it is appropriately masked by chocolate. and that’s just too much work.

speaking of Too Much. i love that DMB song, if for nothing else but the line “traffic jam, got more cars than a beach got sand.” i think i’ve seen that song in concert twice.

so what is the difference between baked potatoes and twice-baked potatoes? i always hear people go on about the twice-baked ones, but i’ve either never had one or didn’t see the big deal.

i have a confession to make. i used to watch Let’s Make a Deal. i feel like i should shroud my face when i tell y’all that. i almost always wanted them to pick door number 2. just because that’s almost always where they’d find the llama or a piece of stale bread.

that reminds me, i have a lot of food to get rid of. i think that’s what costs most when i move. replacing the stuff in the fridge. mainly because i tend to accumulate pickles and pickled things. anything marinated or pickled can most likely be found in my fridge. and in my freezer, Chunky Monkey and Chocolate Almond ice cream. man, i’m hungry. Bikermommy and i are going to Red Lobster for lunch. ha. that reminds me of my trip to Vegas and practicing for my American Idol audition outside the Red Lobster with Tamika, Val and Reggie. good times.

that show always annoyed me. i think it was JJ’s yelling “dy-no-mite!” every five minutes. ok, get a new explosive already!

speaking of JJ. LOST. ALIAS. back to back. Wednesday nights. starting January 5. nobody call me that night. i’ll be watching and snarking. i saw a new preview for it, and Syd took a lime out of Sarkypooh’s mouth. i guess Sark likes limes with his Cokes too.

*sigh* Frank bought me limes for my Cokes when i was there at Thanksgiving. 8 more days. :)

the mountaineer would like to apologize for the length of this stream. she has short-timer’s syndrome.

i just can’t call it by its given name. anyway, Sa and i saw Meet the Parents II Sunday night after worship. i had very low expectations and low hope for the humor factor in this movie. i saw Meet the Parents after every other person on the planet had seen it, and it had been hailed by everyone i knew as the be-all end-all of funny movies, the funniest movie in recent history! so here i was, expecting something as funny as Galaxy Quest or even Zoolander (yes, Zoolander was hysterical), and when i finally watched Meet the Parents, i was not impressed. sure, i laughed, maybe even out loud once or twice. but it was not nearly as funny as i expected after all the buildup.

so i expected nothing from Meet the Parents II, especially knowing that Barbra Streisand was in the movie as Ben Stiller’s ma. but that’s what Sa wanted to see, and she’s my best friend, and i’m just not gonna get to see many movies with her anymore, so i was cool w/ whatever she wanted to see.

it was funny. not Zoolander funny, mind you, but funny anyway. i was a bit uncomfy with DeNiro prancing around in a prosthetic booby, though. but Tim Blake Nelson as a high-strung sherriff or deputy sherriff or whatever really made me laugh. in fact, no one else thought he was as funny as i did.

and my dear best friend, she’s so funny, she was very concerned for Ben Stiller’s character and would make sounds like this: “awwww” and “oh, that’s terrible!” and “that’s so sad!” and “oh no!” she’s funny to watch movies with, because i’m always wondering when she’s going to cry at the comedy. silly girl.

so yeah. expectations-gratitude.

here are more pics from that weekend.

(more…)

Kim of Ramble Strip (which should be one word, ramblestrip) turned 26 on the 26th and listed 26 random things about herself. here are a few, but you should go read the rest and wish her a happy birthday.

I’m an only child. I think that kind of accounts for some of my craziness.

i’m a middle child. i think that kind of accounts for my not being my mom’s favorite.

When I start to get cold, the 2nd toe on my right foot goes numb. None of my other toes do that.

when i start to get cold, i start to get whiny.

I usually require Junior Mints when I go see a movie.

i totally heart Junior Mints, but my requirement at the movies is a pickle. the theater in Melbourne that Frank took me to (twice!) doesn’t even have pickles. we’re gonna have to find another place for movies.

I’m a big fan of alphabetizing stuff.
I realize that makes me kind of weird.

me too. i alphabetize all of my DVDs by title, and the word A counts whereas the word The doesn’t. my CDs are alphabetized by artist (1st name or group name), and each artist is ordered chronologically by release date. i’m weirder.

I try to make everyone I know read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, because it’s such a great book. For me, the beautifully written story inspired a great interest in India’s culture, and the atrocities described made me very very very thankful to live in America. (Again.)

i try to make everyone i know read The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons, because it’s such a great book. for me, the beautifully written story inspired a great interest in Russia’s culture and men named Alexander (* sigh *), and the atrocities described made me very very very thankful to live in America. (this is my first time to live in America.)

I have a love/hate relationship with the non-word “irregardless”. If someone says it to be funny, then it makes me laugh. If someone says it out of ignorance, then I hate that.

sounds about right.

The first Bible verses I memorized were Luke 2:8-14, and I memorized them from watching A Charlie Brown Christmas a million times.

i think the first Bible verse i memorized was Galatians 2:20, because there’s a song about it that teenagers sing, and we would try to sing it faster and faster and never really paid attention to what the words were. but now i pay attention.

I love photography, especially child photography.

i’m scared to give my camera off to a child; they’re such klutzes!

I’m a Weight Watchers lifetime member.

me too!!

i’m tired now. and that, musees, is how you make wishing someone a happy birthday all about yourself.

this is a post i’ve been compiling for a while to chronicle the packing. not so much for great blogging (i can see y’all yawning!) but for me. after all, this is an online journal, i just let y’all read it, right? ;) anyway, i’ll update this sucker whenever i have something to say about the packing. very. exciting. journaling. here.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

today i start packing for the big move. if i think about what got me to this point, i might sit in shock for a few hours, as i’m often taken aback when i think of where i am now, opposed to where i was May 2003.

and. because i can’t afford the shock hours, i’ma put off thinking about all of this till later. i’ll have a big post about my crazy timeline at some point in the future. but for now, i pack.

so Bikermommy brought the boxes over the other night during the CMAs (and no one noticed that i said, “Bikermommy just brought boxes over.” even i didn’t notice it till the next morning.), and they’re my boxes from when i moved to Amarillo. so everything is already labeled, i’m thankful for that. all i have to do is tape them back up and put everything back in the same box. that does make it somewhat easier.

my goal today was 10 boxes, and i got 2.5 done. good progress. :)

Sunday, November 14, 2004

today, Tarina came over to help me pack. sweet friend, she is. we got 8 more boxes packed, and my kitchen is 75% done! at least what’s in the cabinets. i’m already starting to feel better about this packing thing.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

have been working long hours, so today is the first day in a week i’ve done any packing. Something-ina gave me lots of newspapers last night, so i’m good for more packing. only problem. still can’t get into my guest house, so i have a lot out there that i can’t get to.

Tuesday December 28, 2004

oy. how much time do i have left? 10 days? i’m not gonna cry. yet.
ok. so i packed one box (my coca-cola decorations) and then guess what? i ran out of packing tape. so i just spent the last hour, hour and a half, wrapping a ton of stuff getting it ready for packing. i think i made good progress.

Carnival of the Recipes #19 is up over at Food Basics and has been for days! Trudy might be getting lonely by now, so y’all get over there and see what’s going on! i’ll tease you with the following…

Tammi sent in her Grandma’s Apple Dumplin’s… Gullyborg submitted a recipe that was born of sheer boredom and sounds quite good… Kris aka IowaSoccerMom sent in Aunt Bill’s Brown Candy recipe (yum!)… B of Booklore sent in a whole traditional Polish Christmas dinner… and Triticale sent in a fabulous sounding recipe for Jicama Pickles. drool.

go go go! then shop shop shop!

it’s true, jonag is right. i never named my car, just have always called her “her” or “she” or “baby”. it’s not right, and that’s why she didn’t have my back this weekend. i can’t blame her.

so what does one name a car? i haven’t a clue. i’ll take your suggestions…

Jeffrey keeps secrets way better than i do, because i’ve been prodding him for more info about Nicki for a long time, and i hadn’t an inkling that he was gonna pop the question…

and now they’re engaged!! congratulations, y’all! my advice: you live in O-kla-ho-ma, and there’s a reason why the state slogan is “Oklahoma is OK.” i’d give New Mexico a shot if i were you, or the best choice… compromise and meet halfway in Texas.

i didn’t hear about the tsunami until yesterday morning, and now everything i hear just keeps getting worse. the first-hand accounts are so heartbreaking, the families missing their friends and relatives must be in so much pain. the death toll is close to 40,000 now, and there are still so many missing. if you’re a praying person, please pray. and if you can give, please give.

Psalm 23

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever.

i got my battery replaced at Wal-Mart, and they even got my window all the way closed just for niceies. so i shouldn’t have any more battery trouble, and if i do, i’ll know it’s the alternator.

now i’m seepy tired. i need a nap.

btw, all you fellas out there who say i have a wonky vehicle… i’ve had it 4 years, driven it 105,000 miles, and i’ve replaced the thermostat, the tires, the struts and now the battery (1st replacement). i’m not nice to her either, so i’d say she’s a good car.

yes? well, i’ll say it again. i heart Conspiracy Day, too! it’s fun listening to wacky people and their theories.

and lemme just say that at this Texas rest stop, they’ve played 2 Oak Ridge Boys songs in a row (Elvira and Fancy Free), and i heart that. giddy up-a-oom-poppa-oom-poppa-mow-mow.

later, musees!

UPDATE: make that 3 songs, including Bobbie Sue. woooooooo!!!

i stopped in wichita falls to pee. decided to get gasoline while i was there. bathrooms out of order. car wouldn’t start, a nice girl jumped my car (with help from a nice boy).

made it all the way to the rest area outside Quanah. what says the sign on the door? “all restrooms out of order. no water pressure.”

gotta go, i left my car running. maybe there will be a nice bush or tumbleweed by the side of the road.

UPDATE: after waiting in line behind every person in the state of Texas, i was finally able to go in Quanah at the Shell station. hooray.

i’ll be roadblogging from the Texas rest stops later.

Afghan President Karzai Holds First Cabinet Meeting
warns cinnamon and cayenne pepper to put aside differences.

Senate Freshmen Debate Filibuster Rule
debate ends when one freshman has to pee.

and that’s all i have time for. y’all can add your own in the comments, and keep them clean, please. ta, musees!

or so he said in my dream last night. i dreamt that JJ kept emailing me, asking for tips on making ALIAS and LOST better. i kept blowing him off, thinking it was someone else playing a dirty trick, trying to make me feel important. finally, he was going on an awards show to accept the award for Best TV Pilot Ever, so he told me to watch. when he got on stage, he jumped up in the air three times and sang a song called “SarahK is a Stupid Mountaineer and Should Believe Me”. after that i was much more helpful.

so tune in to ALIAS this season. if JJ takes my advice, Spydaddy, Master of the Universe, will be diving through the streets of Zurich shooting dual .45s at Sarkypooh while Vaughn poses with a Desert Eagle on the curb.

conversation with my Papa last Saturday:

PAPA: Say-ruh? do you remember when you was younger?
SARAHK: [pause] um, yes, yes i do remember, Papa.
PAPA: do you remember when you lived outchonder? [out yonder for you non-Texans]
SARAHK: no, not really, i just remember the stories i’ve been told.
PAPA [incredulously]: you don’t remember living there?
SARAHK: well, no, Papa, we moved from there when i was three. do you remember when you were three?
PAPA: well, sure i do. i remember six months before i was born. [makes boxing motions] i was in there saying, ‘lemme out!’

conversation with my Sizzle this morning:

SIZZLE: Sizzle, you have wrapping paper on your butt.
SARAHK: that’s because i’m a gift from God.

this is a long boring post. FYI. the next post down is a super-short one, so feel free to skip to it. :)

shocking, i know, but i’ve been offline since yesterday morning until tonight. it always feels like i’m missing an arm when i have no internet. but it’s probably good that i didn’t ignore my family all weekend. ha. :)

i had a bit of a traumatic time trying to get to Fort Worth yesterday but am all better now. to start the day off, i was actually going to get out of town on time (an hour early even!), but my battery was dead, and there was no one around to rescue me. i finally heard a neighbor start his truck (i realized later it was big biker Paul’s dad) and went and asked for a jump. you have no idea how hard that was to do, introduce myself to a complete stranger. even argued with my Bikermommy over it. “don’t you want to give one of your neighbors the opportunity to do the Christian thing and help you out on Christmas Eve?” “no, Muh-therrr, i don’t.” that’s how i pronounce Mother when i’m annoyed. when i finally got my car started, i left town, with Minerva in the back. i’d left her home alone 3 weekends in a row and really didn’t want to leave her again, was really feeling guilty about all of my recent travel. oh, and it was zero degrees (F) when i left the house. for real.

so she was already upset about being in the car, and when i stopped for gas, i realized i’d left my purse and cell phone at home, so i turned around to retrieve them. getting back on the highway, there was mucho ice-o, and my car slid completely off the onramp. then across the access road, thankfully an empty access road. the car turned sideways and had me headed straight into the field on the other side of the access road, i felt the two left tires lift off the ground and thought, “hmm. i guess i’m gonna learn what it’s like to roll an SUV.” meanwhile, Minerva was freaking out in the back, yelling at me, i just kept apologizing over and over, all the while my feet were off the gas, off the brakes, i was steering into the spin… the tires set back down, we got across the access road, and the car kept going, over the curb, into the field, where it finally slowed. everything was fine, but i felt horrible about my already freaked-out cat actually having reason to freak out. turned the car around and drove back across the road to the onramp and continue on. Minerva wouldn’t look at me, wouldn’t speak to me. i prayed a lot and cried. when i got home, i did the nice thing and left her there, and i’ve never seen that cat so happy to be inside. when i took her out of the car, though, i noticed she’d peed all over everything back there. i couldn’t blame her.

the rest of my trip was without incident, but it’s weird. every time something comes up about death or trauma or danger, that little scene flashes in my head. white snow, yelling cat, apologizing SarahK, lifting tires, sideways slide. very scary.

when i got to Fort Worth, i met IowaSoccerMom and her husband and three children at Chipotle (yay for my Chipotle fix!!). it was so cool to meet one of my blogchildren!! and IowaSoccerMom is just as cool in person, maybe even cooler, as she is in blogdom. her kids are precious, too, the whole family is adorable. ISM gave me an awesome watercolor painting for Christmas, a Texas flag in a silver and black frame. i’ll post a pic later. Sa (essay) stopped by to meet ISM, too.

then last night was the K family get-together at my uncle’s house. we played Mafia for a while, then sat around like the K’s always do when we get together, and sang hymns for a couple of hours. my entire family can sing, too, so it was beautiful. then we did the gift exchange, and i ended up with a great fleece snuggle blanket and a gift card, after my mean ol’ Grampa stole a DVD player from me. i might have stolen it from him first, though. after most people left, i talked to my grandparents and my uncle Possum Preacher (Uncle PP for short, heh) and cousin Cootie. mostly talked about Frank, of course. i’m one of those annoying girlfriends that just yaks about the bf all the time.

stayed at Sizzle’s last night, and shortly after midnight, i opened the card that Frank had given me with his now infamous Christmas present. it was the sweetest thing i’ve ever read in my life, and the best and nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. made me cry and all that. * sigh *

this morning, Sizzle thought it would be a good idea to wake me at 8 a.m. to see Mini-Sizzle open her gifts. um, it’s Saturday and Christmas Day, so i’ma sleep about 6 more hours, mkay?

Mini-Sizzle was adorable opening presents, especially when she opened her two bunny rabbits from Santa, the cutest bunnies i’ve ever seen. later Big Bro came by with his girlfriend and her kids, then Spidade and Stepmo’ showed up with my Grandparents. after they left, i finished making the jambalaya and we ate while watching Spiderman 2.

Spiderman 2 was a great flick, until the end when it had the lamest end to a movie villain ever in the history of movie villains. don’t get me started.

then i came to Sa’s and spent the evening with Sa & Sean-o & their family, except the brief moments when i ran to the movie theater to meet Juan and finally give him his birthday present.

it’s been a great Christmas weekend so far.

Sa’s telling me i have to stop blogging now so she can read my blog. ha.
nighty-night musees.

may God bless all of you, your families and friends.