Teleportation - Oh, How I Long for Thee

Yay!  We are getting visitors!  My cousin and his wife are coming out near Suburbia for a concert and he contacted me to ask if we wanted to have breakfast on Monday.  Of course we want to have breakfast on Monday.  We love having people come out here to visit us especially from Hometown.  See, in case you haven't been along for the whole big blog ride, Suburbia and Hometown are about five to five and a half hours apart.  Apparently this is a vast travel nightmare to most people.  My parents come out about once a year and Hubby's parents come out a few times a year but that's about it (with the exception on major life events like a graduation or something).  Meanwhile we are expected to visit Hometown four or five times a year.  I understand that we do not have a spare room for people to stay in if they come but when we come to Hometown we don't have anywhere to stay either.  Due to allergies, we have to stay in a hotel which adds up quickly.  All I know is that the road isn't any shorter coming from Suburbia to Hometown than it is from Hometown to Suburbia.  But Monday morning we will visit with family on our own turf and it feels awesome!  I'm proud of where I live.  I want my family and friends to see it.  The area has a lot to offer with museums, amusement parks, concerts and other performances, etc.  It'll be interesting to see what will happen this Thanksgiving.  See my daughter will be two to three hours away at University and we will have to drive out there and back Tuesday or Wednesday before Thanksgiving on Thursday.  She has to be back the following Monday.  The dilemma lies in that University and Hometown are in opposite directions from Suburbia.  The Kid has a late class on Tuesday evening so we most likely won't be able to pick her up until Wednesday which would leave us driving somewhere around ten hours on Wednesday to get to University and then Hometown.  There also would be no time for The Kid to spend even a moment at home in Suburbia.  Call me selfish but that is just too much to ask of me.  We are going to have to stay home this Thanksgiving which is not going to go over well with anyone back in Hometown.  Maybe I should have Thanksgiving out here in Suburbia.  I could invite my parents and my brother and his family but I doubt they would come.  Where would I put everyone anyway.  So it looks like it will be a Thanksgiving for three here at Casa de Us.  We have done it before.  Once when I had my gallbladder removed and once when we had the copper pipes stolen from the house we own/rent out.  We'll live.  I just need some ideas of new traditions we can start to do with just us.  I'll make it work.  I always do.  If not, I wouldn't be a mom.

The Great Sugar Rush is Over. Bring on the Dead and the Elves.

Wow!  I totally suck at being a blogonista!  The month of October came and went and I barely shared anything with you guys and gals.  How dare I neglect my peeps like that.  Shame on me!  Happy Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead for those of you who don't speak a lick of Spanish.  We have decided to celebrate this holiday in our house mostly for three reasons - 1) To honor the dead, 2) To have an excuse other than Cinco de Mayo to eat out at a Mexican restaurant, and 3) To create altars to honor the dead and thus (you got it) to have to shop for said materials to make said altars.  We are no way of shape remotely Spanish but any excuse to eat out and shop.  Besides, doesn't it make for a well rounded child to learn about different cultures and their traditions.  Ever though its full of skeletons and such, I like the Day of the Dead much better than Halloween.  But that's ok because Halloween is over and within seconds the Christmas decorations were up in the stores and the Christmas music blaring out of their speakers.  I love Christmas so I don't really mind.  I think that the people who complain "what about Thanksgiving" need to see Thanksgiving for what it really is: Pre-Christmas.  That's right.  It's a time when everyone in the family gets together for a big meal.  Its like practice for Christmas.  Its like a warm fuzzy reminder of all the drama you will have to endure on that holiest of nights and days.  I also think that if you wait until after Thanksgiving to put up your decorations and go all Christmas everywhere, you don't have enough time to enjoy your efforts.  Put up your decorations and do your shopping before Thanksgiving so that come the actual Christmas season, all you have to do is flip a switch and sit back and enjoy your eggnog.  Otherwise, you are rushing to get everything up and everything done and by the time you are finished, it is time to take it all down and pack it all away again.  Totally not worth it!  So I shrug off the fact that we got zero trick-or-treaters this year and pull out my Christmas cards.  I've started my shopping already because its the most wonderful time of the year!  P.S.  Just in case you didn't know, Santa is just like me.  He has OCD too.  He makes a list AND THEN checks it TWICE!  Man, I love Christmas!

Sorry Peeps, I Forgot

So, the last two days I completely forgot to blog.  I was ticked away in my cozy little home with my family of three (six if you count those with feathers) and we just enjoyed being together.  No facebook, no e-mail, no blog, nothing.  And I have to admit it was kind of nice.  While I love my cyber-friends dearly, it was nice to take a break and live like it was when I was a child - computer-less.  We played cards and games and Wii and it was awesome.  We missed our families but had a kick-ass Thanksgiving meal of our own.  We did get some rather good news.  If all goes as planned, we will be landlords by this time next week.  It has me nervous and excited at the same time.  It will be such a relief to have the rent coming in to us, but at the same the house is in such good condition that I'm scared to let anyone else live there.  I don't know why because its not like I'll ever live there.  I didn't venture out to the Black Friday sales.  Just didn't have the energy and was enjoying being here at home too much to leave.  Don't think I really missed anything except standing in line in the freezing cold for a few hours and I'm totally ok with that.  Other than that not much has transpired over the last two days.  I promise not to forget to blog again.  At least until Christmas :)

30% Off Your Sanity

Ok.  So I thought it was cool when someone in the Ukraine was reading my blog.  Now someone in Pakistan is reading it!  That is so cool.  If you enjoy reading it, please take a moment to choose a favorite post and share it on your facebook page or any other way that you may know how to share it (I can be techno-challenged so all I know is how to share it on facebook).  I love knowing that I am reaching people.  Too awesome!  Today I am prepping for Thanksgiving and trying to decide if I am going to venture out to the Black Friday sales.  Most of my shopping is done so I don't really need to go out.  I have just always wondered what it was like to be out in that mass of insane shoppers.  I want to see it firsthand.  All the fuss and craziness all for a cheaper price.  I don't really want to buy anything on the super sales.  I just want to watch the mass hysteria.  And would you believe that you don't even have to wait until Black Friday anymore?  Toys R Us opens on Thanksgiving Day at 10 p.m. with their sales.  Wal-mart's sales start at midnight.  Other stores are opening at 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.  There is no reason to set your alarm to get up when you never get the chance to go to sleep.  Apparently you are supposed to eat your turkey and take a nap so you can get up in the evening and head to the overnight sales.  I wonder what they do in the rest of the world where there is no Thanksgiving?  When is their Black Friday?  Anyone from the Ukraine or Pakistan care to  enlighten me?