Gah! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! We did, but nothing on Thanksgiving Day went the way I'd thought it would. It was all good, yes, but different.
For starters, we ended up painting the ceiling before going down to Mom's. Yes. I said we painted the ceiling on Thanksgiving Day!
The dumplings were almost made by the time I got down there. I was kinda floored, not understanding why they'd started so early. I didn't ask questions, but just jumped in helping do what I could. Later it came out that Mom had told all of us 6pm but had in mind (and told dad) 5pm...but forgot to inform the rest of us Good grief! Is it any wonder I'm a basket case most of the time?!??!
So, we had a good time, but Dad vows never, ever to have Thanksgiving so late again. Seems his digestive system gave him a good talking-to afterwards. Urgh.
Mom was wiped and basically didn't go anywhere for the next two days. *sigh* I hate it when she does that. She'd also tried a few new recipes, which is unusual for her, and most of them kinda flopped. Not horribly, but she was pretty torn up about it and had to warn everyone what was "awful". Sheesh!
{WARNING: RANT AHEAD} We didn't get home til about 11pm because the boys started a M0nop0ly game as soon as the table was cleared. My inlaws love board games. My family pretty much doesn't. We never played games much when I was little because it was nearly impossible to keep my sister focused enough. Even when she was old enough to play the games, due to her epilepsy, she just couldn't stay focused, so we always just kinda pretended to play games. That pretty much ruined me for being very competitive or even agreeable to most games.
I especially dislike long drawn-out games. I get SO tired of waiting for the M-game to be over when it inevitably gets dragged out at Christmas at the inlaws!!! Every one of that family plays like it's the real thing. Drives me absolutely nuts!
This time, though, it kinda made me mad. The area where the dining table was set up is kinda over in a hole to itself anyhow. So here they all are, my guys, hubby and the inlaws, and they're all bugging the snot out of me to play.
I did for awhile, but had to leave for a bathroom break. When I came back, Mom was hunched over the sink trying to do dishes with her back hurting. I jumped in and started helping her. When they hollered that it was my turn, I told them I was busy!!!! When Tommy realized what I was doing, he took my turn for me and they didn't yell for me again.
Mom kept shooing me away, but I wouldn't quit til everything was put away and washed. Then we sat down in the room beside the big game room and talked some. At some point, they needed me to come make some decision about my assets and such. Apparently, I'd amassed quite a sum and a couple of red-hot properties. Since it was obvious that I didn't want to play anymore (like me saying I don't want to play in the first place wasn't clue enough!?) they wanted me to liquidate. After a lot of begging and such from Tommy, I divided up my money and properties between the boys, and gave Tommy the $60 that was left over. He wasn't too happy and later blamed his losing the game on me.
Anyhow, it's not like the inlaws are very socially graceful people anyway. I mean, sometimes it's hard to figure out how their minds work. Like sending me that birthday bouquet the other day...after 20+ years of ignoring my birthday altogether?!?!? Just WEIRD! So then when Tommy joins in and drags the boys with him instead of visiting, it kinda burnt me up. I mean, we had all talked about Sis's boyfriend coming with her, but they couldn't even come up for air long enough to say more than Hi and 'Bye, let alone visit with Mamaw or my parents. It just seemed terribly rude to me. {END RANT}
*sigh* I'll get off this subject before I get upset again.
Back to the rearranging....on Friday morning, we didn't something we'd never ever done before! We went to one of those after-Thanksgiving-day sales!!! Yep. Tommy, Casey and I got up at 4 in the morning and drove to W@lm@r+!!! The boys had seen a tool box they wanted to get their dad for Christmas and it was in that big sale. Corey was going to have to work and didn't want to get up that early, etc...and there was no way I was going to attempt to go with just Casey and myself, not after how my sis described the pushing and fighting in past ATD sales! I was afraid by that time!!!
So, we told Tommy about it and he was willing to go. He didn't seem to understand the concept of "The early bird gets the goods" and we arrived with like 5 minutes to spare. He let Casey and me out at the door when we got there and saw all kinds of people running into the store. We went straight back to tools to find a whole gang of people all bunched around FIVE tool boxes!!! I just about freaked! I guess the lady standing next to me saw my expression and said, "They have more in the back and will give you a ticket to pick it up." Sheesh!
Tommy came in just before the melee started so I hurried over to the other side of the store to get in on another great bargain. Turned out it wasn't nearly as ferocious as Sis had let on...but then again, I wasn't anywhere near electronics or toys, which are the main areas of Sale Madness. I heard reports of toy-throwing and name-calling.
Good night. I've heard it all now.
We got home and piled back into bed. Later we got up and got Corey off to work and started on the bigger room. We'd moved everything except a china cabinet out on Wednesday night, so we were ready to start on the walls.
It took us most of the day to get it done, but we did. EVEN the trim! We also went ahead and painted the kitchen part of the wall. The middle wall of the big room runs right into the kitchen and there's NO good place to break it since the doorway of our bedroom sticks over into the big room by about 4 stinkin' inches!
We got in bed at about 12am that night. Saturday morning was more of the same. At this point, my feet were protesting loudly, but they weren't swelling. After rubbing them down with straight peppermint oil and a quick foot bath, I had them quieted down enough to start getting busy.
Tommy already had the paint tape up and was getting the floor ready for wax and buffing. We got that done about 5pm and started moving the biggest part of the furniture in. I found some furniture mover jiggys at Wm@rt the day before and those things are lifesavers!!! They moved the two 6-ft bookcases and the double-wide 6-ft cabinet fully loaded!! We took the computer and components all apart and cleaned them. The piano was the killer. Tommy and Corey LIFTED IT and carried it into the hardwood room. Sheesh! I'm just glad Tommy didn't tear his back up. Corey never even complained of being sore, but Tommy is feeling the after-effects. Thankfully ibuprofen and menthol patches are keeping him from being immobile.
I absolutely love this color and if not for being unbelievably tired from the effort, would happliy paint the rest of the kitchen and the other room and hallway this color!! And we may do that yet!!
As it stands, the paint in the front room was lots worse than I'd hoped. Since we had the walls almost completely covered with furniture, it was hard to tell. But it was plain to see once we started moving stuff out of there. That room has to be painted.
*sigh* I would be happy to do it the same color, especially since the open arched doorway joins the two rooms and connects to the hallway, but the guys are against it. So, I'll probably go a few shades darker and tell them to suck it up! Tommy thinks he can get the ceiling done tomorrow night, then I can work on the walls and trim on my own. Well, except for the middle wall which is 12ft high.
The carpet is horrible, but sadly, it's not much worse than I figured it was. GAG! It took staring at it in broad daylight for Tommy to even take notice. Forget that I've been telling him for years that it was horrible. NOW he says We need new carpet. Sheesh.
But that will have to wait. For now, it'll be all we can do to buy the paint for another room! I just don't think I can stand it til after Christmas, though, so we're going to jump in and tackle another room.
That's all for now. I have tons and tons to do to finish up things that have been moved into this room (including the computer!). Bookcases to clean and sort, cabinets to organize, and garbage to tote off. Gah! Not to mention the unreal mountain of laundry that's accumulated in the past 4 days. ARGH!
What? Pictures?? Yes. I have pictures. Just be patient. I'll have to get them uploaded and show them to you all at once...or maybe I'll put them up on flickr and post the link here.
Just gimme time!
Thanks for all the well-wishes on the rooms and the Happy Thanksgivings. :) Hope you all had a blessed holiday too!!
~hugs~
