i ended up walking and it was hot! it said only 70 degrees on the news tonight, but i swear it was hotter than that! i walked to the main drag and went through a little shop that always has cool stuff sitting outside when i drive by. it used to just be crafts, but they’re more into home furnishing and decor now in the rustic, country look: distressed wood pieces, rusted metal sculptures, decoupage stuff, that sort-of thing. pretty cool, but pretty pricey; i can’t imagine a place like that lasting very long in this town. i stopped by a couple of the thrift stores along that street, too, which were, for the most part, filled with other people’s unwanted junk. i did see a pretty cool shelf set which sat on top of a dresser. i was actually a plain old set of book shelves, but had shutters on the front, so you could close them if you were tired of looking at all your crap. i really liked that idea, and will be working on doing that with my own shelves, if and when i find them.

i can’t explain where the grumpiness came from today. at first i thought it was the pms, but i’m at least a week away from that, so i can’t figure it out.

i guess i haven’t mentioned how the family thanksgiving went, yet, have i? well, it went. the whole thing seemed terribly rushed! mom and i picked up my grandparents, and headed up to my aunt and uncle's house. the bird was already being carved when we arrived, and we'd barely got there when it was time to sit up and eat. the whole event was rush, rush, rush! hurry up and sit down! hurry up and say grace! hurry up and eat! hurry up and clear the table! hurry up and eat dessert! hurry up and sit in the living room to visit! by the time we’d arrived at their house, to the time we were finished and sitting around in the living room watching the football game was exactly 1 hour! i managed to get some dark meat - my fave - a small amount of stuffing, green bean casserole, homemade cranberry sauce (yum!), sweet potatoes, and salad, but never had a shot at seconds. probably a good thing, considering i‘m trying to lose weight, but i was planning on pigging out on thanksgiving, and being good the rest of the time. sigh! my aunt and uncle have a foreign exchange student from latvia living with them. i wonder what he thought of the whole thing? here we had a chance to share a holiday with a boy who’s likely never heard of thanksgiving, and we just rush through it at full speed, and it’s all over. hopefully he learned the true meaning of the holiday at school, but it’s possible he’ll come away thinking thanksgiving is just a regular hectic family dinner, but with good china and crystal wine glasses.

maybe we’ll relax a little more by christmas. we’re having that at my grandparents’, so it should be more relaxed. they like to chat a lot with the grandkids during meals, and really didn’t get a chance to do that this past thursday.

cheers!
hez