A Message From The Ketchup Advisory Board

{Or, how I spent Thanksgiving with my families.}

Thursday morning, I went to my older stepsister's house (older as in "older of the two" - she's 26) to have Thanksgiving dinner with my dad & his family. Surprisingly, it was an uneventful day. When I say "uneventful", I mean that there were no long-sublimated frustrations exorcised at the dinner table. No "could you pass the turkey" coming out as "thanks for fucking up my life, dad!" :)

It was a house full of people, lots of adults and little kids. I think my year-old nephew Braden had the right idea - he sat in his high chair, stripped down to his diaper and socks, eating his dinner. My stepsisters' two month old nephew (by their half-sister) Eli also was onto something - be really darn cute and doted upon by relatives for making the slightest sound or gesture.

After having watched a couple of X-Files episodes - which yes, did have the Smoking Man in them - and eating as much food as one would eat in at least a day, in one meal, it was time to move onto my mom's house for the remainder of the day.

At Mom's house, there was fresh turkey with all the trimmings. Yes, I was very very bad and had a bit of food there, too. A family my parents go to church with had joined us for dinner, so Taylor got to play with one of their kids, while the other kid got to sit with us and be doted upon for being a darn cute year-old girl. One of Taylor's friends was also there with us - she was tolerable the first night, but by the next day ... well, I'll wait to tell that story.

At least with mom's dinner, there wasn't any tension, and everyone seemed to get along relatively well. The kids stayed in the basement and wreaked havoc - although after the visiting family left, I ended up watching the Rugrats Chanukah Special with my sister & her friend. They managed to get along with each other, and were decent towards me.

I spent the night on the living room couch with the new family cat, Snickers, sleeping at my feet. Snickers is a pretty female cat with brindled coloring - black/brown/orange with a cream-colored underside. In the morning, my mom & stepdad went to pick up a family Christmas present, a 12 week old black Labrador named Libby.

While the parents were on that errand, Taylor and her friend got the brilliant idea to pelt me with rubberbands, potato chips and stuffed animals while I was lying down in the living room. I decided to move elsewhere, hoping to relax. Instead, while lying in the family room, I was pelted with loose change (which I kept) and cat food. I was LIVID at this point, and since I couldn't exactly punish them, my yelling at them did nothing at all.

By the time my parents came home with Libby, I told them what happened. Taylor has been grounded until next weekend, and her friend was promptly sent home. Also as punishment, Taylor had to clean out the cage Libby would be staying in. The cage was outside, filled with fallen leaves - not the prettiest sight.

Anyways, after that debacle, I did decide to stay another night - if only to hang out with Libby and spoil her a bit. Libby is a purebred black Labrador (with AKC papers), with a "blocky" head, and an "ambusher" stance. One of a litter of 13 pups, with big paws and a lethal tail that could thwack your legs out from beneath you. Also, it seems like Taylor wants to turn her into a lap dog. Ah yes, a 75 lb. lap dog. :)

Snickers still slept at my feet, and when she wanted to be petted, she'd get in my face, purring and meowing. So yes, I have more animal friends at my parents' house. Annabelle being the first of my animal friends, with Snickers and Libby having become my new friends.

We should all be so lucky to have such loyal friends. :)

Wiped Out Up The Street

Besides being tormented by my sister and her friend (for no reason, besides existing, apparently), I got scratched up a bit by their next-door neighbor's overexcited dog, Jake, and today, I tripped over a curb up the street from my place.

I stood on one side of the fence, with Annabelle (a Maltese/Yorkie mix) running about, barking at Jake and Sandy (Jake is a yellow Lab, and I'm not sure what Sandy is exactly), while they looked at Annabelle like, "meh - you're an appetizer." When Annabelle left, Sandy stood up on her side of the fence, and allowed me to pet her. Jake wanted to get in on this, and unfortunately, he wanted to hold onto my arms with his paws, which resulted in his scratching up my left arm in a couple of spots. No blood drawn, but still no fun either way.

Then, today, I decided to walk up the street to a Deli to get a Pastrami on rye. Crossing the street, I mis-stepped, and tripped over the curb on the side of the hospital, landing on my hands and knees, my right side taking the brunt of the fall. Nothing's broken or sprained - just bruised and sore. I got up, brushed myself off, and trouped onto the Deli. When I got home, I ate lunch, took a few Advil, then went down for a nap.

Now, I'm just going to take it easy, and hope that I can get to church tomorrow morning. Even if it's with a little help from Advil.

The Ornament

I forgot to mention that when I gave Taylor her Spongebob Square Pants ornament, she went ballistic. I knew she'd like it, but you'd have thought that she won the Lottery with how she was running around the house screaming. :)

Book of Questions - Week 2

Yes, it's time for a few more questions from the Book of Questions - Love & Sex. Same as before - questions are numbered according to their numbering in the book, and my answers are behind lj cuts.

(15) If you were sick and feeling miserable, would you rather be by yourself or have your partner with you? Why?

( right here )

(62) How did you find out about sex? Can you think of a better way to have picked this up?*

*question modified from original wording

( right there )

(120) Assume you are to be blessed with one lover you adore and one soul mate you can talk to about anything. Would you rather have these be two separate individuals or one and the same person? Why?

( no, try here )

(197) Have you ever answered or written a personals ad? If so, are you glad you did it? If not, have you ever toyed with the idea?

( perfect )