11.29.04
Thanksgiving is over and now we�re into the home stretch for Christmas. One down and one to go. I still can�t believe how fast the time is flying by.
The trip was good, even if it did take us 8 hours to drive the usually 5-hour trip home. I was able to see the family I wanted to see, including a few guilt-visits (you know, to that one aunt that you always promise to visit but never do). There was just the right amount of requisite family angst, including an angry phone call from my mother on the drive home that I �pressured� my little sister into staying an extra day and now she is driving home in bad weather and you-are-just-like-your-father, trying to get her killed, I suppose.
We didn�t do much outside of the eating (French silk pie, mmm), oh, and the shopping.
Ack. The Shopping.
Now, I have made it a rule in years past to stay as far away from malls and other shopping outlets as possible the weekend after Thanksgiving. But this year I needed some shoes, so I gave in.
Oh, my good laws-a-mercy.
Do you ever wonder about that thin line between social order and complete anarchy? Go to the mall the Friday after Thanksgiving. I never thought I would live to see a sight as sad as respectable Oprah-loving grown women reduced to knife-wielding thugs over the last faux-fur trimmed sweater at JC Penny. What kind of sick person decided to come up with the sale prices that exist only between the hours of 6 and 8 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving? What is going on here?
And yet, you cannot help but get caught up in the discount euphoria. I dare you to try.
I went to Michael�s--MICHEAL�S (and you KNOW how bad my Martha Stewart delusions are, right?) and my head nearly exploded right there on the spot. Do you REALIZE how much stuff--beautiful, wonderful, incredibly unnecessary STUFF--that I got for LESS THAN 40 DOLLARS!?
People, it was 40% off and then I got AN ADDITIONAL 25% off on top of that because I was there before noon. Head. Exploded.
I wanted to frame my receipt.
And you just get in this sick frame of mind where you will end up spending hundreds of dollars that you don�t have on things that you probably don�t really need simply because of the illusion of all the MONEY YOU ARE SAVING, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS USUALLY COSTS??!!? WHY DIDN�T I REALIZE SOONER THAT I NEED MY OWN PERSONAL VIBRATING FOOT BATH! AND SO DOES MY MOTHER!!
Sigh. Next year I�ll have J hide my wallet beforehand.
:::
So here are a couple of the ultrasound pictures. I have conveniently labeled them to aid in the deciphering. My belly has exploded overnight; whether from the turkey or the baby, I�m not sure, but I�ll try and get a picture of that up soon.
Yes, that little guy is really inside my body at this very moment. Crazy.