Busy times

It certainly seems as though sometimes we have absolutely nothing going on and other times we can’t even catch our breath. The last two weeks have been very busy for us. Let me flash back to two weeks ago. Friday night we were sitting around and decided that we’d like some company and conversation with someone other than just us. So we called up Chris’ sister Sue and scored an invitation to visit her and the hubbie and kids. We popped over just as they were finishing dinner and we conversed, played with kids, got the tour of the basement and workout gear, watched some tv, and promptly stayed until almost midnight.
Saturday I got up in the morning and went to help Danielle move to her new crib. We got my truck stuck in a snow bank, so well in fact that it needed to be winched out. I got treated to lunch at the Northampton Bueno y Sano too.
In the afternoon my cousin Bridget came over to drop off a xmas gift and to see our place for the first time. We ended up sitting around gabbing for well over an hour (which tends to happen just about every time we see each other).
Next up we had Chris’ other sister, Sandy, over for dinner with her boyfriend Dave. I whipped up a taco dip and chips for an app. We had some steaks, roasted potato wedges, peas, and bread with garlic and olive oil for dipping for dinner. My grand idea for dessert ended up sucking pretty bad, but at least I know and I won’t live wondering “what if I had tried that recipe that sounded so cool”. I baked up some brownies, cut them into four pieces, cut out a perfect round in the center of each, filled the empty round with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, doused each plate in 151 proof rum and lit them on fire. Looked cool, tasted like burnt, crusty, rummy crap. We ate some of the brownie centers that I’d scooped out though so not all was lost.
After dinner we were having a great time and Sandy and Dave invited us to go out with them. We hit a local watering hole and sang some karaoke and saw some old friends from childhood. I must specify that I drank ice water with lemon while we were there, and still proceeded to bury her car in my 2nd snow bank of the day. It looked like a good hill to drive down, I just couldn’t tell that it wasn’t plowed until I was too far in. Getting it out wasn’t so bad. Since Sandy is a regular there she just said the word and a few dudes came over and pushed it right out.
Sunday morning started out with grocery shopping with Mom. Then I came home and made breakfast for our overnight guests. After I cleaned up from that it was time to throw together a chicken pot pie for our impromptu pot luck at Gram’s. That sure was a crowd: Uncle Bob with Aunt Pat and cousin John, Rie and Dave and Missy, Roseann and Norm, Gram, Mom and Yoda, Sarah and Ger, Susie with Dave and Amanda, Chris and I. Everyone made a dish and brought it to share. More food, talking, visiting, and enjoying each other’s company and then it was time to head home to bed.
Monday night was a trip to Costco after dinner. Tuesday I had to make the starters for two loaves of spent grain bread. Wednesday I had to make the loaves of bread and bake them plus help Teagan (our niece) out with a school project that was due Friday. Thursday we had a visit with Rie and Dave, then took a trip to Cortina tile to get some ideas for our backsplash for the kitchen. Friday I took half a day from work. I had salon appointments for waxing and a hair cut in the early noon, then the rest of the day was for shopping and prep for Saturday. I threw together a deli platter and a veggie platter and baked up some fresh cookies.
Saturday we got a visit from Shaun, Sue and Emelia. It was super-cool. Like us, they don’t have too much down time and besides that they have a tot to think about when traveling. They came down to Gram’s place in the late morn’ and we got a crew together. There were xmas gifts exchanged, and tons of pictures taken, foods consumed, lots of talking done, and just an all-over great time. When it was time for them to head back to NY we packed up our stuff and headed over to my in-laws to visit with Chris’ step sister, Chris.
Chris and her hubbie had traveled down four hours from Lincoln, NH. They too had not made it on Christmas day and were coming to see the fam for a bit. Chris’ parents ordered a pizza and we sat around and gabbed for a good couple of hours. A small group migrated down to the basement, where Teagan lives, and played a few good games of Wii bowling (to the point where Chris had a very sore arm on Sunday morning). At about 9:00 we said our goodbyes and mosied on down the street to Spoleto restaurant where I had my dinner for the evening. Then we came home and fell into a deep and appreciated sleep after a long and wonderful day.
On Sunday I woke up with a sore throat and chalked it up to a day full of talking. When the runny/stuffy nose started in I knew it was not that simple. Mom and I went up north to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods to grab some grub for the week. By the time she dropped me home I knew I was sick. Chris and I hurried up and got our spare (and non-working) snowblower loaded into the truck while I still had energy, and headed over to Bob and Tammy’s house (its new home) with it. Bob, Chris and Dave went down to the garage and got that sucker working in just a couple of hours and with only minimal blood loss on Bob’s part. As the hours passed by I got weaker and more tired and achy.
We came home at about 3:00 and I threw dinner into the oven and collapsed on the sofa in a heap of bundled warm clothing and blankets and began to fight off a fever. When it finally broke at 8:00 I felt better and much less achy. I spent almost all day Monday sleeping. Tuesday I slept considerably less and felt a little better. Wednesday I thought that I was cured, and then I woke up this morning and knew that it had all drained to my chest which feels very heavy and my throat is raw and scratchy again. WTF? I just want to be healthy and go to the gym and have my pants fit so that I can feel good. I’ll get there, I just like to whine a lot.
Today I had a dentist appointment for a routine cleaning and annual x-rays. I found out that I have a new cavity and was not surprised when they showed me where. There is a gap between my last two molars where food constantly gets stuck. I try to keep on top of it with floss, but it wasn’t good enough. I’ll go back in a week to get it filled. After I left his office I finally stopped in to the orthodontist’s office to schedule a consultation. I have far too many stress fractures on important teeth, and have chipped my front teeth a few too many times for comfort lately. The damn things need fixing for functionality. I’m consulting with a doctor that my dentist recommends who did his kids’ teeth. We’ll see what he has to say.
This weekend holds plans for dancing with Shanna and friends to celebrate her 29th birthday and dress shopping with my sister-in-law Sue for the company holiday party for where our husbands work. Hopefully I’ll be back to my normal self by then. Enough whining now, back to healing….
J