Guess who's back in town...

Well, back from Connecticut. Back from vacation. Back from Christmas and New Year's.

Can I just say, vacation is exhausting. After a week I was so glad to be getting away from being cooped up with family. I love my uncle and aunt, I really do, but lord have mercy, they planned every waking minute of that week. Add in the fact that I also had *no* cell phone service in their house (thereby no way to call queenofalostart to plan an escape route) and I was feeling royally trapped. Me, my grandmother, my uncle, my aunt, three cats, one dog, and two birds. In one very small house. One very small *cold* house.

So I'm breaking it all down into four posts, because that's how much it will take to cover everything from the last 12 days.

Now I have to go to the doctor's office. Yay. First day back at work, and I have to go to the doctor.

The pain, the pain.

Is it bad when your heartburn refuses to respond to Mallox, but does respond to all natural gelatin fruit snacks?

*whimper* I don't want another malady. No more illness! But damn if I probably don't have acid reflux.

***

Wanna know my Christmas haul? Do ya? Do ya?

Probably not really. But I'm going to tell you anyway.

*g*

I got only one thing I wanted. One. A Swiffer Wetjet. Yes, the cleaning supplies I get, but not the Johnny Cash CD.

But the surprise gifts were decent. I had resigned myself a couple of years ago. My family asks for lists. They demand lists. They give lists in return. I follow the lists. My sister follows the lists. They? Do not follow the lists. Sometimes it means getting things that will inevitably be put in the yard sale pile (since they don't understand my tastes), sometimes they surprise me by stumbling on something I do like.

This year there was better stumbling.

- Denim and black knit sweater/jacket thing. Nice biker look.

- Black and red reversible rain hat. My grandmother's doing. Don't ask.

- The Swiffer Wetjet

- An off-white knit top, kind of a skiing look to it.

- An electric toothbrush. The other grandmother. I didn't ask. We all got one.

- Gift certificate to Hobby Lobby. Huzzah!

- Gift certificate to Cinemark (which was used the next day on Return of the King).

- Mr. Wonderful (and he says great things like "Here honey, you take the remote, I'm happy just being with you").

- A watch.

- $150 gift certificate to the school bookstore for school books this semester. Yay!

- Dress pants that were one size too small. *g*

- A red and black hussy top. Thanks to my sister of course.

- Gift certificate to Barnes and Noble.

- Sage & Citrus Yankee Candle (can't stand S&C, so it goes to the grandmother).

- A puzzle.

And the absolute best gift of all...

- From my brother-in-law I got Dale Earnhardt Jr. salt and pepper shakers. *snicker* They're cute.

Movies

Now for movies I've seen since Dec. 23rd. Short post, but thoughts will be under cut tags.

( Return of the King )

( Cheaper By The Dozen )

And I saw Ice Age. Cute. Didn't make me squeal with joy, but cute. Especially Scrat.

Vacation

They're actually making me work. Don't they know I'm supposed to be updating folks on the glory that was my vacation?

Bastards.

***

You know how people often need a vacation from vacation?

Yeah. That would be me. Let's just say, until tomorrow when I can go into detail on the good things and the truly horrifying things that happened, here's the quote of the week, the one thing said that horrified me, caused my 80-year-old grandmother to nearly have a heart attack and pretty much shocked everyone present.

The following was said by my aunt's great-aunt who showed up for 20 minutes on New Year's Day. Just to clarify, I'm related by blood to my uncle, who married into this family (although the great-aunt seems to be alone in her opinions). And this came after a very uncomfortable political discussion.

Aunt Lois to Gran: "So, do you have many blacks in the South?"

Me: "Uncle Mike, someone, I need out!"

And aren't you just anticipating the rest?

Oh!

And I also want to say that I adore swordnmace. Kick ass! It's kick ass!