Well, we survived Thanksgiving. Had lunch at Copelands, which was mobbed, even though we opened the place. One man behind us in line was muttering about how you never get your money’s worth at buffets – turns out he was seated near us, and the dude was on his third plate by 11:10 (the line opened at 11:00). Evidently he took it as a challenge. The food was ok, but truthfully, I actually missed my own cooking (and a lot of you know that I’m not that great a cook). We decided that for Christmas, we’ll pick a couple of our favorite dishes, throw a turkey breast in the crock pot, then eat at home.
Did the whole Black Friday shopping thing. It actually wasn’t that bad – either that or my taste isn’t that trendy. Worst lines I found were at the Vera Bradley outlet (ok… I’ll get in line for that) and at Coach (there was nothing in there worthy of me waiting in a line wrapped around the building in the cold – went back the next day and walked in with no wait). Most disappointing part of the trip was upon checkout from the Sleep Inn when the new manager told us that they would only have one pet friendly floor in the future. Serious mistake, considering all the dogs I saw around there!!
On the way home, I streamed the Tech-UGA game on my phone… while we were stuck in traffic behind an overturned semi. Took us 6 1/2 hours to get home (normal time is 3 1/2). Lost the feed, then ended up listening to the Bulldog announcers on satellite radio, who rather disgustedly announced “Georgia Tech wins”. That was cause for much rejoicing!!
Last weekend we moved all the furniture I’m taking from Mom’s house down to our storage unit. I dissolved into puddles if you looked at me during the week – I was so dreading the task. Mom’s caregivers Johnnie and Charlotte came to help – those ladies have been such a blessing to me – they’re just a part of my family now… Mom’s neighbor Quillian has been there for me, and Johnnie’s son in law Ricky brought his friend Eric, who thank goodness had worked for a moving company and knew how to secure furniture in the truck I had rented. I was amazed at how quickly Ricky and Eric moved things and got them all secured in the truck.
As the house emptied, it became sort of surreal… I can’t recall the last time I saw those spaces without anything in them. I know it’s going to get stranger as it goes. I’ve got probably a couple of more days of work up there before I schedule the estate sale that will totally empty everything out. I figure my best course of action at that point is to leave the state the weekend it’s going on. Nothing good can come out of me being there.
So now we’re trying to get ourselves ready for Christmas, and I’m trying to get the business ready for tax season. Finding joy in the Christmas season has been difficult for quite a few years now. I’m hoping that being able to attend services on Christmas Eve will help this time.
To all of you who have sent me messages of support – thank you so much. I appreciate knowing that you’re there. I hope to get this blog back to it’s usual silliness in the new year. 🙂
Baa Baa Knit Stitch 
Comments on: "Survived phase 1…." (1)
The trip obviously did you some good, Dahlin’ you sound like more like yourself. Turkey breast is our preferred bird! God bless Stove Top, dressed up with some onion and celery for crunch it isn’t half bad. I can empathize with the traffic, radio sports, restaurant holiday, and parental house closing too. Keep Calm and Knit On.