Happy New Year! Today is a great day because it's Friday and The Weeknd's new album, Dawn FM, was released today. I've been listening to it all day and love every song so far. The Weeknd really can't do any wrong!
The Christmas break went well and was fun. Ollie flat out refused to eat his calming treats, so he was in distress the whole car ride down to my mom's. He did end up barfing near the end of the trip but because we hadn't fed him that morning, there really wasn't much to clean up.
On the 23rd, we stayed at my mom's and had the standing rib roast dinner, which was delicious. Somehow I got in charge of the meat - usually, my mom does it, but she had lost the recipe she usually uses. I found a recipe that looked good and it turned out great. I also somehow got put in charge of carving the meat (even with 2 men around!), and I must say I did a pretty good job of that as well.
On the 24th, we hung around at my mom's most of the day because Nick's mom wasn't feeling that well and up for visitors just yet. We had a snack fest at my mom's with everything you can think of - cheese and crackers, smoked oysters, ham ball, chips and salsa/dip, veggie tray, mini quiches, mini crab cakes, shrimp ring, pasta salad, deviled eggs, wings, pigs in a blanket...yeah, it was a lot! We did end up going to Nick's mom's house around dinner time and even though we were stuffed from all the snacks, I made room for half of a perfectly grilled steak, courtesy of Nick's stepdad. Yum!
On the 25th, my sisters came over to my mom's house and I made our usual Christmas breakfast of scrambled eggs, grits, bacon, and cinnamon rolls, complete with chocolate milk (why not?). We then had a fun time exchanging presents. The one person I didn't get a present for and who didn't get me a present was Nick! I was so busy getting gifts for 15 people (11 of them being for Nick's family) that I never got around to thinking of something for Nick and he just flat out didn't get me anything. He says he definitely wanted to but just...didn't. He is not very good at planning and executing tasks. Meanwhile, Amber's husband got her several wonderful, thoughtful gifts include a beautiful pink sapphire necklace and earring set, a stylish floral diaper bag, and, best of all, a wooden sign he made himself with their baby boy's name on it. Amber had been toying with the idea of naming the baby Max but he wasn't 100% on board. The sign he made said MAX, confirming her choice for the baby's name. Very sweet.
Later that afternoon, we went back over to Nick's mom's house to celebrate with his family. Nick's stepdad made a standing rib roast and I will concede that perhaps his was even better than mine. We had a great time eating good food and drinking many drinks. It was actually very warm on Christmas day (like in the upper 60s, low 70s), so I was wearing a tank top, shorts, and flip-flops LOL. Only in the south! There was definitely no "white Christmas" here.
On the 26th, Amber made a homemade soup out of the bones from the rib roast dinner. She's a great soup maker! She doesn't even follow a recipe, she just kind of throws things together. This soup had rice in it and was delicious. We also had grilled cheese with it. YUM.
Later that night, we met up with Nick's childhood friend Patrick and his wife Sarah who were passing through town. This is the couple whose wedding we went to in NY in 2019. We met up at a restaurant on the lake and sat outside, ordering drinks and appetizers. I truly love this couple - they're both just great people and fun to be around. Sarah actually told an interesting story about a house they used to rent and how they thought it was haunted. They rented this 1950s era brick house a couple of years ago and strange things kept happening in it. For example, Sarah said a couple of times she would turn off the living room light to go to bed and later come back out to find it on again. Weird. She also said that when she was working from home one day, she heard a door shut down the hallway and no one else was home and the heat/air had not just turned on (that sometimes creates a pressure change that can cause partially open doors to shut - I've seen it in my own house). Another time she had a stack of papers sitting on the table when they simply just fell to the floor as if someone had brushed their hand over them. There was no draft or any possible way the papers could have fallen. Then one time she was blow-drying her hair in the bathroom when the bathroom light went out - the bulb wasn't blown and the fuse hadn't tripped. Then Sarah dreamed that she was supposed to meet her mom for lunch but the house wouldn't let her leave. Weeks later, Sarah actually WAS leaving the house to meet her mom for lunch, but the keypad entry lock wouldn't lock - she was on the phone with her mom letting her know she was going to be late because "the house wouldn't let her leave"...as soon as she said that, she remembered her dream. All of these weird things added up to them breaking the lease on their house early. Spooky!
We came back home on the 27th and poor Ollie meowed the whole way home and barfed again. We really probably shouldn't torture him with traveling anymore...poor kit. Immediately upon returning home, I came down with a pretty intense cold, courtesy of Nick. His cold started before Christmas but was wrapped up within 5 days or so. We both tested negative for Covid. I was sick pretty much the entire second week of my time off from work! I used up boxes and boxes of tissue blowing my nose and I coughed and sneezed a lot. I even had to take this past Monday off from work because it actually flared back up after I had been mostly good for a couple of days. I am finally 100% better. What sucks is that we must have passed the cold to my mom, who STILL has symptoms, almost 2 weeks later. She hasn't been anywhere for 12 days! I feel very guilty for making her sick. I guess these colds and stuff do still exist.
Gotta go for now, will update more later!
1:44 p.m. - Friday, Jan. 07, 2022