Happy Thanksgiving!

Well- Happy Thanksgiving weekend anyhow. :)

Hope yours was nice. Ours was quiet and full of tasty treats which we were able to eat - a little. Colds weren't completely gone, nor are they now, but at least I didn't have to set the box of tissues and a candy bowl of Ricolas next tot he cranberry sauce, as I joked. Mind you, they weren't far away...

We didnt take many pics, but maybe you'll like these. Also bday ones & latest cute kitty



I don't do the Black Friday thing. I'm out in the country, and the local ads did not inspire extreme efforts, especially given I'm still recovering from aforementioned bug and end of the month sales on after 2 birthdays & a holiday are always poorly timed for our finances anyway... We spent a little time talking about it and I am not all that happy with the whole concept. I admit this upfront as I am not so sure my negative opinion hasn't been affected by the fact that these events have never even been remotely convenient for us. So you can take these ruminations with that grain of salt.

It seems to me that planning these big sales events on the next morning past Thanksgiving would tend to cut into the holiday in several ways. There would be those who are visiting from out of town who would lose those hours to visit while this shopping goes on, unless they belong to that select minority who enjoys chit-chatting in crowds and queues. There would be those who would at least be tempted to end their visits early on Thanksgiving (or shoo away relations) so they can rest up for these early hour sales, and may be surly if family stays 'too long.' They might excuse it by saying they want to get these Dear Ones even better presents at that half-off discount, but wasn't the present thing all about enjoying and appreciating each others company? If you are the type to dread shopping but can only afford what X wanted when its dirt cheap between 5-9am (supplies are limited) - you might spend the whole day dreading that next morning. Will I manage to get one? Will it get ugly at the store? How early do I have to be there to ensure they don't run out (its so WRONG of merchants to brag about a huge sale of an item to THOUSANDS and then only send like 3, 5, 10 to the store! The limited early hours thing is bad enough!)

Why on Earth do these merchants insist on pushing into our holiday? Why couldn't they wait until Monday at least? Okay, thanks for your patience on my latest growl.

Tune in next time while I wonder why no one is considering a possible connection between the Somali pirates who attacked the Indian Navy last week & the 'unknown terrorists' who are using the same sort of weapons & arrived in the same sort of speedboat in Mumbai this week....

Updates

Wow... I let my blog languish much longer than I'd intended! This entry probably won't be very long either as I am /still/ fighting with a nasty cold. Feels like I've had it forever, but its only been a few weeks we've been host to the Genghis Kahn of cold viruses. Yucka!

That's a lot of what has kept me too busy/disinterested to do a lot of blogging. I don't like coughing on my keyboard. Its hard to clean. Also its hard to concentrate with a full load of Nyquil on. lol

So...what has been happening? Two birthdays in the family, both of which went very well. They loved their ice cream cakes & regular cakes & prezzies :D

We made a bigger deal than usual out of our son's bday. Usually its the other way around - in a way. Its not that we never tried to make his bday as big a deal to us as his sister's, its just that Becka's comes first and its always been easiest to put the decorations up for her and leave them up for his big day ~a fortnight later. It may look just as good to the family generally, but he finally let on that his birthday celebrations often felt slightly....recycled.

So this year he got his very own decorations. Took hers down and specially got a banner/ribbon/balloon pack, put on a nice tablecloth, and deliberately made a bigger deal about how much we looked forward to the day & sharing HIS cake etc. One of his presents was a small trunk with an antique map texture on it...looked very pirate-y- and we put all the presents we could inside it. The effort was well worth it! Despite still feeling pretty rotten, DS obviously had a great time.

He had two reasons to feel a bit under the weather, btw. He had the cold invading his life, yes, but he was also recovering from a small bit of oral surgery. He had the first followup visit right around his birthday, and it left his gums very sore. Thankfully we had already planned egg drop soup and some other soft Chinese dishes for the big night, and very soft cake. heh

So, yep, we're hanging in there..and trying to prepare for Thanksgiving despite the colds we're all still fighting. Turkey is thawing in the fridge and all that. Hopefully at least one or two of us will be up to cooking the lovely food we have planned.

I think the unseasonably cold weather, and rapid changes in temps are making it tougher to beat the bug completely. But soon, we will, I hope!

Seems like one or two at most manage to get completely well at any given time. Grasping this reality, I stumbled out with our son to see Madagascar 2 on a good day for him. I had this feeling he wouldn't be up to it on the big day, and I was right. Fun movie, btw, graphics, and especially pacing were much improved from the first effort. The storyline was reasonably involving, but it suffered from everyone knowing the gags already. The penguin sequences could have been longer too in my totally biased opinion. LOL They are the funniest penguins I've seen in awhile. Oh- the other really good penguin movie was the the one DS got for his birthday, "Surf's Up." That one is surprisingly good. It would have been decent even if it hadn't featured all those adorable penguins. btw - right after watching it again, we happened to play an episode from season 2 of the Muppet Show and saw Chicken Joe again! He was the sheriff in this silly little Wild West skit.


Other than that, I am working on my crochet - hoping to finish that blanket I started for Tom during all those hospital stays. I got it finished to a width and length that worked well in the hospital beds (with sides up). That's a bit small for a regular bed, so I've been crocheting all around it, slowly expanding it. Seems to take forever, but it should last well once its done. Its a dense weave. I was too tense to do anything looser. heh

Other than that, I have played a bit of the hidden object stuff, read a few cozy mysteries, and prayed often. I am craving some hot chocolate and time with my latest mystery, so I guess that's enough up time from me for now. Take care, friends.