I wrote the following entry on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, but I never posted it. It’s been that weirdly busy with work, family, food, more family, and more food. So, in honor of Turkey Day passing, I thought I’d go ahead and post it anyway, even if it is like a really bad flashback. It’s my blog, after all, so whatever.
They say that you should start with a positive, give people the negative, then end with a positive. I don’t know who “they” is, exactly, but I’m going to try it to see if it helps buffer my complete lack of enthusiasm today – just a few days before a day of thanks and gratefulness for all that I love.
I had oatmeal for breakfast. In a mug. (That was the positive. Yep.)
I’ve been working for about 10 days straight now, with a day of tailgating thrown in that mix somewhere. It was the final, and coldest, tailgate of the year. I couldn’t even enjoy bloody marys...that’s precisely how cold it was. My once robust and caffeinated “I love my job so much” attitude has now been secretly replaced with the Negative Nancy Blend of Folgers’ “I am wondering why I took a salaried position to work 20 more hours a week and ultimately get half the money I made before I so stupidly listened to everyone telling me that salaried positions and 401Ks are for grown-ups and Daisywriter, you’re a grown up now” decaf thoughts. My mortgage payment went up without notice a few weeks ago. And, I can’t wait to see what Obama wants to take on top of that in 2009. I’m already stretching and limbering up to assume the position. I've always had a love/hate relationship with money, and for more than one reason this week, Mr. Money and I had some major tension going on behind the scenes.
So, this morning, I had my oatmeal. I did so in a very hurried, frantic manner, apparently, because it wasn’t until around noon today – a mere 5 hours later – that I realized that a huge hunk of dried up oatmeal was in my bangs. Just sitting there in all its glory, being thoroughly enjoyed by the three people I had meetings with, since it was lodged in the most conspicuous portion of my hair. It wasn't a little piece of oatmeal, mind you, but rather a nice chunk. And not one single person pointed this out to me. No one. Crickets chirping here. Oatmeal in my hair, people. I look like a homeless crack head alcoholic who just vomited in her own hair. Nice...really.
And, to top that all off (yes, there’s more), my Argentina trip was cancelled. That business class ticket (with the really big, comfortable, reclining seats) just flew right on out the window and my dream of a 2008 South American half-day adventure has been squelched. Because of safety issues. Safety shmafety. I mean, let’s get real - like someone would want to kidnap a homeless crack head alcoholic with dried-up puke in her bangs. As if.
So yeah. That was where I ended. Pathetic, huh? Which is why I shall do what I intended to do days ago and end on that positive note. Despite my bitchy attitude last week, I am still grateful for many, many things in my life, and I'm still the "glass half full" gal. As tradition calls, I shall provide my yearly notation of all the things I truly am grateful for, providing that uplifting exclamation point.
My Thanksgiving 2008, “I’m Thankful for” List
•My husband. I didn’t have one of those last year at this time. I like him.
•Dunkin Donuts’ coffee and flatbread sandwiches
•My backyard view
•My Jessica Simpson black stiletto boots
•Indiana sunsets
•Rock and roll – it’s not dead yet and still legal
•My stepson asking me for help with his English.
•My stepson actually listening to me when I help him with his English.
•Tailgating and bloody marys
•US magazine – fluffy, mindless, fabulous reading on a lazy Saturday afternoon
•My university teaching gig…the kids completely outweigh the fact that I’m sorely underpaid
•The MockDock
•A 5 am alarm clock in the shape of a brindle Great Dane nose
•An office with a door
•The stars at night (you can see more of them out in the country, you know)
•My new fashionably chocolate brown Carharrts (the one gift I know I’m getting for Christmas)
•Sephora. God bless Sephora.
•My new Venus, even if it does have a huge, gaping new scratch in it
•My stepdaughter’s friends telling me that I look 28, even though they have no idea what the difference is between 28 and 37 at their age. I take what I can get.
•The back two acres – cleared so I can see the new colt in the pasture.
•Michigan Avenue and the rest of that toddlin' town - only 3 short hours away
•The Bargersville flea market on a Sunday morning
•My fabulous Polish slippers
•Tito’s vodka
•Imitrex
•Time
•Target…I really could live there.
•Democracy
•Indiana sunsets
•Shamwows. I don’t even have these yet, but they’re friggin GENIUS.
•Old, snoring dogs
•My best Nashville bud's boyfriend....home from Iraq, safe and sound
•Online Christmas shopping
•Family Guy
•New friends, and old friends that have become new again
•My Kohler, extra-big soaking tub
•My books
•My intellect
•My memories
•My health
•My friends
•My family
And there you have it. Another year of stuffing myself full of too much food, fun, and festivities with family galore. I didn't drink ANY VODKA this year, so I consider myself both classy and certifiably insane.
Thank God there's plenty of time to make up for my lack of Thanksgiving sins at Christmas.
