Busy as a One-Armed Paper Hanger

I feel like I’ve hardly had time to breathe this last week. So I guess it works out pretty well that I’ve had a nasty cold preventing me from doing just that.

On Thanksgiving my mom and I set out at about 9 am. The drive was easy and mostly traffic-free. There was at least a gas station open whenever we stopped for a bathroom break and we stopped for the night in Staunton, Virginia and had Thanksgiving dinner at a Cracker Barrel. We finished the drive to Spartanburg the next day and checked into our hotel, which was beautiful and luxurious and probably would have cost us quite a bit more if we hadn’t been part of the group there for the wedding. We had dinner at my cousin (first cousin, once removed) Clay’s house, another beautiful place. He’s definitely not hurting for money, and it was good to catch up with all my dad’s cousins and my second cousins. Somehow I’d forgotten how much time had passed. Five years is a long time when you’re talking about teenagers. Even the youngest is in high school now and most of them are graduating and going on to college. Charlie and Missy even came by after the rehearsal dinner with Jennifer and Dustin, Charlie and Megan, and Amelia and her friend Colleen. Walt and Jeannie Kay brought two life-size cut-outs of Barack and Michelle Obama, which caused some interesting discussions, as I’m pretty sure even among the Shills there’s a pretty even split of Republicans and Democrats. Only Charlie was willing to discuss his low opinion of Obama. Everyone else kept pretty mum on the subject.

The wedding on Saturday was beautiful. They had it at Walker Hall, an auditorium at the South Carolina Schol for the Deaf and Blind. It was a gorgeous location and the altar was up on the stage in front of a soft green velvet curtain. My cousin Erin tripped on the way up the stairs, but that was about all that went even a little wrong. The reception was across the hall and partly out on the balcony over a nice rolling lawn bordered by pine trees. Like our wedding, there wasn’t much in the way of dancing except for Jennifer with first Dustin and then her father. I saw even more cousins and met even more of their spouses. After the bride and groom departed for their honeymoon in Savannah, most of us went back to the hotel for a family party at the sports bar. We pretty much had the place to ourselves and it was a lot of fun. I spent a lot of time with Amelia and Bobby and his wife Erin. Aside from Jennifer they’re the closest to my age and probably who I’m closest to, as both Charlie and Wendy were in the habit of sending their kids up to visit with us Connecticut relatives in the summer. And Amelia is especially at that age where she doesn’t really feel quite at home with the teenagers anymore, but isn’t quite an adult yet. William and Daniel are too, but they were always more reserved and I’ve never really spent much time with either of them, so they were happier with the younger group sitting at a high pub table watching the Georgia game.

We started the drive the next morning at 4:30 (!) and would have gotten to Milford around 5 pm, but we managed to hit the New Jersey Turnpike just as the Jets game was getting out. Awful. It added an extra 3 hours to our drive, almost all of it spent between the last toll in NJ and the Stamford line.

Last week Kim had told me that I could come in at 11 to get some extra shut-eye. I got up at 6 anyway and did the laundry, and when I went in at 11, Danielle told me that they didn’t really need me. So I opted to come back home, since I wasn’t feeling well anyway. So I really started the week on Tuesday. Gina and I have had a full house so far this week and I see no reason why today should be any different. Nap is taking it’s toll on both of us, since our kids have come back from their breaks unable to stay asleep more than an hour and a half. We do, however, alternate who takes the first lunch break, so that one of isn’t stuck with 6 perky toddlers every day. Today is my day for second lunch. ^_^

In other good news, Alan’s first pay and BAH has come through. Just in time for the threatening phone calls from Carmela to start. Yippy skippy. So before work I’m going to drop the rent off at their house and she can bugger off. It’s also nice to get all the bills taken care of at once instead of portioning them out. The second group of monthly bills will all be due around Christmas, but I can take care of it with my next paycheck and Alan will get paid again on the 15th. We’ll even be able to buy Christmas presents this year. It’s such a relief!

In the meantime, I have lots to do. We have a CPR/First Aid training on Saturday, plus a birthday dinner for Zach. On Monday I have Epi-Pen training, and Thursday is our Holiday Party. We also have a Secret Santa. I got Gina, so I definitely lucked out on that.  And in just 15 days I’ll be picking Alan up at Bradley! Yay!!!!

Well, that’s about all I have the energy for. There’s garbage to be taken out and lunch to make. TTFN!

~Liz