I am a: Quirky sysadmin. Geek. Gamer. Comic fangirl. My little space, my home on the interwebs. I blog about personal stuffs, work, various coding projects, and anything else I feel like.

I guess I can’t complain too much. It went better than I expected, but not as well as I’d hoped — if that says anything.

I had been stressing all week over various things. We had no idea until the day before as to whether or not we were going to have Jessie. I really feel for her during the Holidays because we have to “share” our time with her with her mother. Luckily, Jim’s ex decided to have her Thanksgiving with Jessie on Wednesday. She told me it was so we could have her the next day, but I think it’s because she had to work that night. :???: But hey, I’ll take what I can get.

Mom called me Wednesday morning and asked if Jim’s mother was coming with us again this year. I didn’t know because we hadn’t finalized plans with her — we saw no point until we knew for certain where we were going and with/for whom. She then asked me not to invite her. I think my jaw hit the phone … there was honestly no answer I had for that. When I didn’t say anything, she said “Ok?” I asked if there was a particular reason she didn’t want her there, and she replies that it wasn’t that she wasn’t wanted, but with her (Mother) trying to get things patched up between me and Dad, that it would be “less stressful” with Jim’s mother there. I mumbled something and hung up the phone. Honestly I was burning with anger. I was trying to get ready for work, was in the middle of a shower when she had called, and was trying like mad not to “lose it.” I called her back and asked whose idea it was not to invite her and to make a long conversation short, they (assuming both Mom and Dad, but I feel it was mostly Mom) felt things would go smoother if it was just us (me and Jim) there if there was to be any talking.

(Not that Dad did much talking, but I’ll get to that…)

Work Wednesday was a bit stressed … there’s been some unsettling things come up, but unfortunately I dare not go into them here or now for obvious reasons. I will say this much: there is a meeting next week that will determine how much longer I will be working for this company.

We left work early and came home Wednesday. Thanksgiving morning we got up and got dressed to head to my grandmother’s house. Unfortunately we were later than I would have liked, and were the last ones there … which disappointed me because I had wanted to get to speak to my grandmother before the others arrived.

At least the drive down was nice. My parents had moved from their old house (where I grew up) to a nice place in Morris. (I went out to see Mom a couple of weeks ago at the new place, did I mention that?) The new place is really neat, but the drive isn’t near as nice as the one to Corner. Corner is “God’s Country” — it’s all rural and farmland, lots of trees and wildlife. In the spring and fall it’s absolutely the most gorgeous place on earth. We enjoyed the trip down and back to my grandmother’s … Jessie pointed out just about every cow and horse that we passed. hehehe :lol:

I took pictures of my wedding gown and rings with me, so all the family oooh’d and aaaah’d over them and asked me all about our wedding plans. I finally got to meet my brother’s fiancee — very sweet girl, I like her a lot. What’s she see in him? :)

Jessie pouted a bit because she was expecting there to be kids there to play with — I think she had this place mixed up with my other grandmother, who lives next to a couple of my cousins and their kids are near Jessie’s age. Poor kid, she was looking forward to playmates … but I think overall she had a good time regardless. She “found” all of my grandmother’s cats and transported them across her yard. (much to their chagrin, I’m sure! lol) She also played football with a couple of my older cousins, so she had a blast doing that. I tell ya, that kid has a GOOD ARM!

Dad spoke to me for a short bit, so that was good, but it was mostly little chit chat. I showed him pictures of my dress and wedding rings. He asked how things were going, but that’s about it. No in-dept discussions or anything … but then again, I knew better than to hope for a miracle.

My aunt and grandmother kept telling me how happy they were for me and how proud they were. I kept thinking of my grandfather and how I wished that he could’ve been there. He and Jim would’ve gotten along great, and Jessie would have absolutely adored him … I know I did.

We ate a lot of good food (fried turkey, YUM!) and sat around and talked and had a good time. Friday morning Jim left for Best Buy (at 5 am!!) for some “Santa” shopping. Jessie and I got up around 6:15 and left with Mom and my brother to head to the Galleria. Gawd, that place was a mad house! It took about an hour to get parked, but once we were inside the mall, it wasn’t so bad. Jessie had a good time, and her behavior was MUCH better than last year’s trip! (much to my relief I assure you!)

She gave me several hints as to what she wanted for Christmas that weren’t on her Santa list, so I’ll be making a few calls this week to try to find a few things that she had wanted. Jim was a trooper and picked up most of her Christmas while he was out, and I’ll handle the little things and her stocking stuffers.

One of the things she wanted is a kitty from the Build-a-Bear Workshop, so I need to check into those and see about getting her a certificate. If they’re not too much (and I don’t think they are), that will be her gift from me, and she can get it made on one of my/Jim’s many trips to the mall. :)

I was pretty lazy this weekend (other than a cleaning spree yesterday). I spent most of Saturday watching football and cleaning up my website. Last night I sat down and finally finished the holiday theme for my site — I’ll turn it on Friday. I couldn’t bring myself to do it last night … after all, this theme is still new! :mrgreen: