Disjointed...
...is what this post is going to be. The four-day weekend is always disorienting and we're still in the midst of Major Family Issues so I'm not at my verbose best.
Thanksgiving itself was wonderfully low-key. The cook (ie me) wasn’t rushing anything and with nobody due but the immediate in-house family the Ducklings and I made a leisurely day of it and served at five. I thought about doing a run-down of all the stuff we made but then decided that would be pretty dull…so I’ll leave you with the secret to my creamed cauliflower: fresh cilantro.
Friday was the day I saw footage of terribly young soldiers in the field enjoying their Thanksgiving meals and every single one of them was thankful "to be alive." That was heartrending and sent me into a rant about the wrongness of the Entire Iraq Mess but then...THEN...the news channels all showed footage of the "Black Friday" shopping fiasco with people literally running into stores as soon as their doors were opened. The juxtaposition about killed me.
What is wrong with us?!? One show said that the average individual will spend nine hundred dollars on holiday shopping. Even when one takes into account that the news shows have to promote the people paying for their advertising and therefore have a big "buy-Buy-BUY" mentality, that seems a startling amount. An insane amount.
Our country's consumerism makes me the sickest at the holiday season. Even Sam-the-Atheist thinks a big birthday party in the dead of winter is a great idea, but since when is any party supposed to be about the presents?! Hobbits, of which I am also fond, give presents to other people on their birthdays so I can see how that might get tied to a nice guy like Jesus, but I really don't think He would like the way things have turned in post-millennial America. Whatever happened to "It's the thought that counts?"
The competition to get the Newest Hottest Gizmo always confuses me because there are, after all, TWELVE days of Christmastide. My kids have known for just years that if they can't/don't get what they want under the tree on Christmas Day we can always work something out in the early parts of the new year depending on how much they really wanted the item in the first place. They have blessedly not become hugely about the "stuff" of the holiday in the first place; I wish I knew what particular thing we did to cause it. I also wish I knew why other people go ballistic to get The Exact Everything On The List All By Christmas Eve. It's a holiday season after all.
In other family news, MIL is moving out in the spring and we’re getting Youngest Duckling some counseling. No, they’re not related events. Aside from both being sources of stress, that is.
Best SPAM title of the entire four-day weekend: clandestine cheeky delphinium. The imagination boggles!
Best new information of the day: MIL has to stay at least another week in Florida because the older sister with whom she’s staying just damaged her right wrist in a fall and therefore needs someone not only to drive but to care for her husband who has had Parkinson’s Disease for the past fifteen years and was No Picnic before that.
Worst new information of the day: our Pathologist’s Assistant just gave notice and will be gone as of 12/31.
Obligatory Fiber Content: I stalled out on Wintergarden, which surprised me. First one day went by last week that I didn’t work on it, which then became a second…and a third...then out of the blue I decided I needed to finish off a baby blanket instead. So I did that and still didn’t pick up my two-color knitting. Just wasn’t up for it with all the Other Stuff going on in the house.
I did the strangest thing instead: went back to crochet. Haven’t done any in years. I had enough indestructible acrylic leftover from the first baby blanket to make another baby blanket but didn’t know how big so I knew I wanted to start from the center out…when alluvasudden the words "double crochet like a big granny square only solid" popped into my head fully formed. So I got out a crochet hook and over the holiday weekend produced another baby blanket to compliment the first one and was surprisingly pleased with the results. Pictures someday if I remember to take them…life doesn’t seem to get any less chaotic.
Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has an impressive group of men at his back. I watched his collapse on the news channels the other day and he was completely OUT but they managed to get him off that stage still vertical and with a minimum of fuss. As I said to HBF "they managed to smooth over fucking complete heart block! MAN I wish we all had staff so loyal and cool-headed!" I could be wrong, but when HBF told me he was admitted "for twenty-four hour observation" I said "yeah and a pacemaker" so I’m not surprised by this news: http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=202505510&p=zxz5x6zy6
Best discovery of the long weekend: Ron White’s kid sister Shea’s blog over at MySpace. She’s a hoot (and a holler.)
Thanksgiving itself was wonderfully low-key. The cook (ie me) wasn’t rushing anything and with nobody due but the immediate in-house family the Ducklings and I made a leisurely day of it and served at five. I thought about doing a run-down of all the stuff we made but then decided that would be pretty dull…so I’ll leave you with the secret to my creamed cauliflower: fresh cilantro.
Friday was the day I saw footage of terribly young soldiers in the field enjoying their Thanksgiving meals and every single one of them was thankful "to be alive." That was heartrending and sent me into a rant about the wrongness of the Entire Iraq Mess but then...THEN...the news channels all showed footage of the "Black Friday" shopping fiasco with people literally running into stores as soon as their doors were opened. The juxtaposition about killed me.
What is wrong with us?!? One show said that the average individual will spend nine hundred dollars on holiday shopping. Even when one takes into account that the news shows have to promote the people paying for their advertising and therefore have a big "buy-Buy-BUY" mentality, that seems a startling amount. An insane amount.
Our country's consumerism makes me the sickest at the holiday season. Even Sam-the-Atheist thinks a big birthday party in the dead of winter is a great idea, but since when is any party supposed to be about the presents?! Hobbits, of which I am also fond, give presents to other people on their birthdays so I can see how that might get tied to a nice guy like Jesus, but I really don't think He would like the way things have turned in post-millennial America. Whatever happened to "It's the thought that counts?"
The competition to get the Newest Hottest Gizmo always confuses me because there are, after all, TWELVE days of Christmastide. My kids have known for just years that if they can't/don't get what they want under the tree on Christmas Day we can always work something out in the early parts of the new year depending on how much they really wanted the item in the first place. They have blessedly not become hugely about the "stuff" of the holiday in the first place; I wish I knew what particular thing we did to cause it. I also wish I knew why other people go ballistic to get The Exact Everything On The List All By Christmas Eve. It's a holiday season after all.
In other family news, MIL is moving out in the spring and we’re getting Youngest Duckling some counseling. No, they’re not related events. Aside from both being sources of stress, that is.
Best SPAM title of the entire four-day weekend: clandestine cheeky delphinium. The imagination boggles!
Best new information of the day: MIL has to stay at least another week in Florida because the older sister with whom she’s staying just damaged her right wrist in a fall and therefore needs someone not only to drive but to care for her husband who has had Parkinson’s Disease for the past fifteen years and was No Picnic before that.
Worst new information of the day: our Pathologist’s Assistant just gave notice and will be gone as of 12/31.
Obligatory Fiber Content: I stalled out on Wintergarden, which surprised me. First one day went by last week that I didn’t work on it, which then became a second…and a third...then out of the blue I decided I needed to finish off a baby blanket instead. So I did that and still didn’t pick up my two-color knitting. Just wasn’t up for it with all the Other Stuff going on in the house.
I did the strangest thing instead: went back to crochet. Haven’t done any in years. I had enough indestructible acrylic leftover from the first baby blanket to make another baby blanket but didn’t know how big so I knew I wanted to start from the center out…when alluvasudden the words "double crochet like a big granny square only solid" popped into my head fully formed. So I got out a crochet hook and over the holiday weekend produced another baby blanket to compliment the first one and was surprisingly pleased with the results. Pictures someday if I remember to take them…life doesn’t seem to get any less chaotic.
Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has an impressive group of men at his back. I watched his collapse on the news channels the other day and he was completely OUT but they managed to get him off that stage still vertical and with a minimum of fuss. As I said to HBF "they managed to smooth over fucking complete heart block! MAN I wish we all had staff so loyal and cool-headed!" I could be wrong, but when HBF told me he was admitted "for twenty-four hour observation" I said "yeah and a pacemaker" so I’m not surprised by this news: http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=202505510&p=zxz5x6zy6
Best discovery of the long weekend: Ron White’s kid sister Shea’s blog over at MySpace. She’s a hoot (and a holler.)
posted by SamD | 4:58 PM
1 Comments:
As always, support from a kindred spirit is most appreciated.
I've pasted that link and intend to read it today...I used to have the Guardian on my favorites list and may have to put it back.
I think my boss is taking the departure of the assistant far worse than I am.
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