Pros and Cons

My holiday weekend:

Cons

• Sis had mild fevers off and on all holiday weekend, which meant we cancelled all of our plans and stayed home. This made us all cranky, since we had already been homebound since Monday night.
• My mom had a violent bout of the stomach flu. Or is it something else? She sounds awful.
• My cat swallowed plastic, maybe. But watching him (and her) made us stressful and reminded us of when Morgan was sick.
• Knowing I have to say goodbye to Miss T today. And having her actually leave, after knowing this day would come for more than a year or so now.
• The drama surrounding Thanksgiving and the absolute failure of the few techniques my minister suggested for addressing it. I'm not so hopeful about the rest of the holidays.
• My computer has been touchy and not working well at all, which means I haven't been online much. Mama's been running scans but can't find what's wrong. So, if my internet presence is intermittent, that's why.
• The house, after our being locked indoors for 6 days, is a pit.
• My stress eating for the last 4 days because of all of the above.
• Even today's sermon at church on World AIDS day was sobering and saddening, as is all the news coming out of Mumbai. Big problems, no viable solutions. While these certainly put my complaints in perspective, my sense of being unable to help only saddens me further.

Pros

• The kids loved seeing Ma, Gong, and Goo, and really enjoyed eating on Thanksgiving.
• Catching up on a season's worth of "The 'L' Word." I just love that Shane character, even if she is a trainwreck. Ooooh, and I love the actress Marlee Matlin, who played Jodi, even more. Bette's a bitch for cheating on her. Such television fun! I'll be sorry when the show ends after next season.
• Baked brie and poached pears in chocolate sauce.
• Watching football with the kids on Friday. We missed the UT-ATM game but saw some of the red team (Arkansas) and the yellow team (LSU).
• Going through the Christmas decorations and getting excited about the next holiday. We even put up several of the stuffed critters and other decorations.
• Choosing buttons at the craft store with the kids to put on their stockings this year--Sis chose white bunnies; Bud chose a baseball and a bat. I got a cupcake. Mama got an armadillo. We put new buttons on each year to represent us that year.
• The Christmas music CD Mama made for me, with my new favorite song "All I Want for Christmas" (or, as I call it, "I Don't Want a Lot for Christmas") from the movie Love Actually.
• Our minister's support and suggestions. And just her loving personality.
• I loved playing in the snow with the kids and Mama this morning, then having hot chocolate and popcorn.
• Having an intellectual discussion analyzing the documentary My Kid Could Paint That with Mama last night. More on that soon.
• I have some supplies for my upcoming craft projects after a trip to the craft store. I'm hoping to sew up a blanket this evening.
• My birthday is in less than two weeks, and we also have two Christmas parties in that time period, plus a birthday playgroup. Something to look forward to.
• Spending these 4 days with Mama, even if they have been hard.

That about sums it up.