What a week!

It’s Monday, and it’s back to work…and that stinks! I don’t feel like I had a holiday at all.

I had a big list of things that I wanted to get done last week before Thanksgiving, and I think I did 3 of them. I came back from Michigan with a hurt back. I swear it was the bed in the hotel (it was a Hilton, mind you) that jacked me up. Anyway, the middle of my back was killing me, and I couldn’t stand up for more than 10 minutes before I was in terrible pain and had to lay down flat on my back. Luckily, we had changed Turkey Day dinner to my MIL’s house, so I didn’t have to worry about getting the house ready for that.

I struggled through 3 days of work (all right, I’ll admit to it…it was really 2 ½ days because I left early on Wednesday), made my jello salad and bought the snacks for Thursday, and then it was Thanksgiving.

We had a great Thanksgiving Day at the ILs. We ate turkey and mashed potatoes and jello….and some people ate stuffing and sweet potatoes, but B and I NEVER touch that stuff – yuck! B’s brother and fiancé came from Colorado and it was fun to hang out with them. My other BIL was with his ILs, so it was kind of quiet…no kids. Thursday night we headed back to our house to watch the Chiefs beat the Broncos – much to the dismay of my BIL and fiancé…so sorry!

Oh, funny story about the bread for Thanksgiving dinner. Apparently, B and I were supposed to bring it, but I claim I was never told that…so we show up in Small Town, KS, on Turkey Day with NO bread. MIL asks if we have it and B and I just look at each other and then at her and say “No”…well, she thinks we’re playing some sort of joke on her, so she just laughs until she realizes we’re serious. The little grocery store they have in town is closed for the day, so we have to call my BIL who is still driving down from Colorado and ask him to find a grocery store somewhere. He ends up finding one so we had cheesy garlic Texas toast for Thanksgiving dinner…at B’s request. Disaster averted!

Friday we slept in while maniacs like my SIL got up at 4am to hit the stores. B had to go to work, so Kim (the fiancé) and my BIL and I took our time getting up and getting breakfast, and then we headed out to shop at a nice leisurely pace. We still got some great deals, but we didn’t have to wait in line for hours and hours. I even had time to start dragging out all of our Christmas decorations and the tree was up by dinner time! When B got home from work, we all went out to Italian food …and that’s where the good weekend ENDS…

Somewhere between the restaurant and home I lost my Irish Friendship ring that I got in Ireland this spring. It wasn’t very expensive, but I loved it, and it reminded me of our trip. Besides that, neither B nor I got ANY sleep on Friday night because he was sicker than a dog! He woke up at 1am with big time stomach pain…he spent most of the night moaning and groaning on the floor of our bedroom…until he puked at 5am…then he felt better for a few hours so we got a little sleep…until the next puking episode. Poor guy, he felt so terrible, and I couldn’t do anything for him. We thought at first it was food poisoning since it came on so quickly, but his mom and dad had just had the stomach bug so it looks like it was the flu. His bro ran to the store to get some remedies to help him, and Kim and I went out shopping again. By the time we got back, B was feeling hungry, so I went and got him some chicken noodle soup and saltines.

Saturday night we got a lot more sleep. We were in bed by 10pm and didn’t get up until 9am Sunday…and there was only one bout of moaning and groaning through the night. Sunday, B took his spot on the basement couch again with football on the big screen, while I went to the in-laws for lunch and to say goodbye to the Colorado gang. After that I attempted to do some Christmas shopping, but I got so frustrated with the way the roads around some of the stores are set up that I gave up and went home. There are a couple of strip malls in Wichita that front the freeway…and there are only a couple ways you can get to them. You can come in from behind them or you can drive up the frontage road – which only goes one way – in front of them. Either way, you’re never quite sure where you’ll pop out, and if you’re too far west of the place you want to go, you have to turn around and try it all over again. What the heck??

I actually was quite productive last night after I got home from the horrible shopping endeavor…I paid all the bills, cleaned up the kitchen, got some more Christmas stuff up, worked out, and put away the laundry…all so I could go to bed and wake up for work this morning…isn’t it the life?

I do have wonderful things to look forward to this week, though…Friday I leave for CA and my annual Buddy Weekend. I can’t wait! Now, I just have to make sure I don’t get the flu bug that B had…