Thanksgiving at Home

This year (or I guess last year now) I decided I was not so interested in having Thanksgiving with my family. Ahem. My sister and I aren't really speaking (ok, not at all), my mother went on vacation for her Thanksgiving, and I don't remember what my dad was doing, but I wasn't interested in that either. I thought about maybe spending it with friends or going to Utah to be with my friend's family, but eh... I was just "over it." My therapist said that it sounded like I needed some space from everybody after a few overwhelming months and that that was fine if it's what I wanted. And it was! I was totally happy with my Thanksgiving experience and really don't regret it at all. I spent the day home alone with my dog and two cats and I think we went to the dog park too.

As far as food goes, I got carved turkey and mashed potatoes from Jack's Urban Eats, my favorite cafeteria-style restaurant here in town. I made my mother's stuffing recipe, and decided.. eh... Vegetables? We can just skip those.

So here is our Thanksgiving dinner. The kitties and the doggie were all VERY VERY EXCITED over our gourmet, vegetable-free meal. My plate is the big one on the left, the two empty looking bowls have turkey in it for the cats, and the full bowl up front is the dog's kibble mixed with turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes.

Everybody was SUPER STOKED.

I have since cleaned my house up slightly since these pictures were taken. But only slightly. After all, I am still hoping the crew from "Hoarders" will come clean for me and I have to keep up my image as totally disgusting.

Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving

Don't worry... the nest had already been long abandoned and the eggs were frozen solid! Tootie thought they smelled delightful though!

November in Oregon

In November I went to visit my Mom in Oregon for just over two weeks. It was hard. I hard a hard time being around the men in my family and had to have a "coversation" with my mom about it before I came to visit about not being touched or hugged and despite that I still have some conflict with her about it. Since she has been with her partner/common-law husband/signigicant other she has started praying by holding hands with everyone at the table. This is a problem for me. First, I don't pray this way. Also, it forces me to pray with them. Additionally, it draws huge attention to the fact that I can't bring myself to touch Tony's hand while we pray before the meal. I cried at the table twice before my Mom finally realized how upset I was over it. And this was with Tony sticking up for me. Once we got past this it was pretty smooth sailing though.

Granny got Amelia a mirror.... okay she gave me her mirror but Amelia really liked it. What can I say? She's a girl!

I also gained 17 pounds while I was there. My mom got me off the turkey sandwiches and I had constant stomach aches the whole time from the dietary changes. I spent a good chunk of time running to the bathroom after every meal in agonizing pain, and yet I somehow still gained 17 pounds from my mother force feeding me. (Guilt-feeding me? "You have to eat more! It's not healthy to eat like that!" Mom, I can't fit into my pants now!)

My cats came with me on the trip which was 9 hours each way in the car and it went pretty well. They had fun and they got to see snow for the first time. Amelia was NOT a fan of my mom's dog, but Tootie and Buck were doing tricks together after an hour of knowing each other. ("Sit!" Amazing trick for a cat, huh?)

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Look at those happy feet!


We used the next two on Christmas cards. I did the camera settings and my mom snapped the shots.