November 29th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

It’s the morning after, and I’m so tired and I’m so sore, my hair even hurts. Thanksgiving is a LOT of work!

I had planned on eating at six last night, and I think I did pretty well. We were only about fifteen minutes behind schedule, and I only forgot one thing. We sit down at the table, four people short of who I thought was coming, and my husband asks, “Where’s the stuffing?” Dang it! The one thing I didn’t have prepped because it only takes a few minutes and I didn’t want it to take up oven space. So, while everybody’s dishing out, I go make the stuffing. DISCLAIMER: I used to actually make stuffing and it would take quite a bit of time to make, but everyone loves Stove Top, so I figured stuffing was one corner I could cut and not feel guilty about it.

So, stuffing crisis averted. We all had a yummy meal. I broke out the containers and divvied up all the leftovers, so everyone walked away with another Thanksgiving dinner, including leaving enough home for the four of us. I loaded the dishwashers once, started doing the remaining dishes by hand, my daughter unloaded the dishwashers, I loaded them again, and then finished the last dishes by hand.

It is mind blowing how many dishes get used for Thanksgiving. Before dinner, all of the dishes I had used to prep the food where already washed and put away, several of the pots were washed, and the turkey roaster was washed. The four loads of dishes were just the plates, glasses, silverware and serving dishes we used.

Now today, I get to put all this stuff away…yeah. For the holidays, like I’m sure many people do, I pull out the good china, so all of that needs to be packed away again. I also use my aunt’s pots to prepare, so they need to get stored in the basement again. The folding tables need to get dragged outside and the furniture needs to be put back in place. (We don’t have a dining room, so our Thanksgiving dinner takes place in our family room.) The floor needs to be mopped, the vacuum needs to be run, and then I get to drag all the Christmas stuff upstairs because tomorrow we are having our tree decorating party. Just shoot me now…please.

Other than going to the grocery store to pick up some stuff I need for tomorrow, I am NOT Black Friday shopping. My daughters, on the other hand, are out with their grandmother, aunt and cousins at Jersey Gardens. My son PJ and his girlfriend Alex are out, God knows where, shopping; and my husband is off to work, so he’ll be out in the mess as well. No thank you. What about you? Are you braving the crowds?

One last funny story before I close, I took the dog out this morning just as it was getting light out. I heard a strange noise and I looked up toward the sound. Directly overhead was a navy and red hot air balloon. It took a minute for Colby to spot the balloon, but when he did he went bat guano. He was wagging his tail so hard his body was literally shaking, and he was barking his head off. (I’m sure the neighbors just loved that at 6:30 in the morning.) Colby wanted to get at that balloon in the worst way, and I had a devil of a time getting him back in the house. My dog is such a nut!

Okay, I’m off to Ireland. I have less than 1,800 to go, so I’ll probably be finished today. Even if I finish today, I will still post one last chapter tomorrow for you to read. I want to thank you all again for reading as I wrote. I don’t think I would have made my NaNoWriMo goal if you hadn’t been.

I hope you have a fabulous day. Safe and productive shopping if you are out there in the insanity. And, Happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was to spend a wonderful day with your family. I hope you all took me up on my challenge!

Your Next Challenge is:

 

Tell a little something about you and the holidays – what makes them special for you, a tradition you’re pretty sure is only done by your family, you’re little holiday secret, whatever you’d like to share.

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

November 26th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Good Morning! Yesterday was partially productive.

I wrote over four thousand words, so that was good. The reason I was able to write so much was because we got a really late start on cleaning the family room. The plan was I would write until my daughter, Dani, came home from school around noon. She would take a break and eat lunch. Then both daughters and I would tackle the family room.

Since my uncle is now coming to Thanksgiving again, and he has horrible allergies, we have to do a thorough cleaning. I’m talking everything has to be taken off every shelf and cleaned, the walls need to be wiped down, every piece of furniture needs to be moved and vacuumed (even the bottom of the couch). Every candle needs to be capped so no scent escapes. No air fresheners can be used. We practically need to sterilize the house, so it is A LOT of work, but it’s a heck of a lot better than having to call an ambulance again because he’s having a severe asthma attack.

So, back to why we didn’t finish the family room. My mother came and picked up my oldest daughter, Lys, yesterday morning at ten. When she was here, I told her she couldn’t keep my daughter out all day because I really needed her help. My mom told me she would have Lys back by two. Perfect, an hour later than I had planned, but still doable, because I figured it was a two hour project if all three of us worked together. We’d be done by four, and I’d get a break before I had to start cooking dinner.

This also worked well for Dani, because she was so tired when she came home from school, she got to take a nap until two. Since the house was quiet with Dani asleep and Lys out with my mom, I got to write for longer than I had planned. I came to a stopping point, the end of a chapter, and I look at the clock. 2:45, and still no Lys, so I send a text. No reply. 3:15 I call. No answer. 3:30, I call again. Again, no answer. At this point, she’s an hour and a half late and I can’t get a hold of her, so I’m thinking they got into an accident, because that’s how my brain works.

Five minutes later, Lys calls and says they are at Kohl’s. Needless to say, I am not able to keep the displeasure from my voice. She apologizes and tells me they will be home soon. Dani is still asleep on the couch, so I wake her up, and the two of us begin on the room. She helps me drag an old chair to the dumpster, which I had been planning on pitching for months, but never got around to doing and be darned if I was going to spend half an hour cleaning it if I was just throwing it away. Then we disposed of a ripped up desk chair as well.

The next thing on my agenda was to break down Colby’s cage and get it moved into Dani’s room for the holidays. There was nowhere in the family room to keep it where it wouldn’t be in the way. I begin folding up the crate, and Dani tells me she didn’t realize I had planned on moving it right then and she needed to go and make room in her room for it. Off she goes, leaving me alone in the family room. I look at the clock. 4:15. Still no Lys.

My phone rings, it’s my girlfriend Karolyn. I feel bad, because she had to listen to my five minute, without taking a breath, rant over not being able to get the room cleaned and how inconsiderate my mother was for keeping my daughter out when she knew I needed help. Karolyn listened, commiserated, sympathized, and like any true friend does, she got angry on my behalf, and then told me an even worse story about what happened to her, to make me feel better.

At 4:45, I hear the beep of my mother’s car alarm in the driveway, nearly THREE hours after when I should have been hearing the beep. I end my conversation with Karolyn, so I can glare at them when they come in the door. Now, I wasn’t going to say anything, because I really do hate confrontations, but they were sure going to know I was not happy. Then my mother makes the unfortunate mistake of telling me not to be mad at Lys, “they were having fun”. That’s when I lost it.

I told her I wasn’t mad at my daughter. My daughter wasn’t the one driving. My daughter wasn’t the one who had it explained to her how I needed help. My daughter wasn’t the one who promised to be home by two. Then, instead of just apologizing and being done with it, my mother has the nerve to point out that I was the only one cleaning, implying that if Dani wasn’t helping then why should Lys be required to help. That’s when I blew my second gasket, and set the record straight.

What fries my cookies is, my mom doesn’t think she did anything wrong. She freaks out when she’s entertaining for nine on New Year’s Day, and my husband and I do a large portion of the cooking for that day, plus my mother has a cleaning lady who cleans her house before the party. Wouldn’t it be logical to think I stress out a bit before an event, and any deviation from a set plan causes me a whole lot more stress, especially when I have to do all the cooking myself and I don’t have a person to clean my house for me?

Anyway, what’s done is done. I can’t change it, so as of right now, I am over it. Today, I will write until noon. Take a lunch break when Dani gets home from school. Then the three of us will tackle both the family room and the living room. We should be able to get both rooms immaculate by 4:30 – 5, and I can take a half hour break before I have to start dinner. Barring any unforeseen setbacks, I can get back on schedule and be able to breathe again.

On that note, let me get to Faerie Tale Queen. I hope you have a terrific day, and happy writing!

 Your Last Challenge was:

 The Black Friday experience…

Once every four or five years, I decide to brave the crowds and go shopping on Black Friday. Then, when I return home, I vow NEVER TO DO IT AGAIN. It is complete insanity, the lines, the traffic, the parking. It’s an unmitigated nightmare, but the one thing about Black Friday that disappoints me most is the attitude of the people.

Just the day before, they were gathered around a table with their loved ones giving thanks for all the many blessings they have in their lives, and on Friday their bodies are overtaken by trolls. They are mean. They are nasty. They are self-possessed. Tell me, is that 20% off video game worth you banging your cart into another person and then cursing them out for being in the way?

After the third time I utter “Merry Flippin’ Christmas to you to!” is when I usually give up and call it quits for the day. Black Friday is the anti-Christ as far as I’m concerned. It brings nothing but bad will and disdain. Sure it would be nice to finish up my Christmas shopping, but I think I will wait and do it next week, during the week, when there’s a chance of getting a stranger to smile back instead of sneer.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

November 25th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Good Morning! Well, the 4:00 am thing didn’t exactly work out for me this morning. I drank entirely too much caffeinated sweet tea last night, to be able to fall asleep early enough, to be able to wake up at four. I think I hit the snooze button at least five times before I actually got out of bed.

We all went to my son’s house yesterday. He and his girlfriend Alex hosted the Dallas vs. Giants football party this time around. Let me tell you, sixteen people in that tiny Cape Cod is an experience. There were people everywhere. It was a noisy ruckus, with a lot of yelling and laughing, and for the folks watching the game, even a little bit of cursing… on both sides. It was a house divided almost equally of Giants fans and Cowboys fans and Food fans (several were there just for the food and family and could care less about football). It was nice not being grossly outnumbered for once, but I didn’t even watch the game. For some reason this season, when I watch, my Giants lose. Unfortunately yesterday, I poked my head in to sneak a peek at the end, and well, y’all know how that turned out…

While all that rowdiness was going on in the living room, Alex was running around making food, serving food, cleaning up food, making and serving more food. I kept asking if she wanted help and she kept saying, “No, it’s ok. I got it,” but you could tell she was getting tired. She and my son had been busting their butts for days preparing for the party. I finally managed to nudge her out of the way so I could at least wash some dishes for her.

I get it. I remember what it was like when I hosted my first parties when I was young. I wanted to do everything, but then, with age I came to realize some of my guests actually felt more welcome if they were allowed to help when they offered to help. Did it really matter if the carrots went in the wrong section of the cru de te dish or if the cheese was in squares instead of cracker sized rectangles? No, it didn’t, and when I realized that, parties went a lot smoother. Helping made my guests happy, and it helped me. When Alex gets a few more parties under her belt, I’m sure she’ll come to the same conclusion. In the meantime, I just keep offering to help, and do the dishes when she’s not looking.

I spent quite a bit of time chatting with my son’s friend Mike’s girlfriend Ashley last night. I had met her briefly in October, and she seemed nice, but we didn’t really have time to talk then. Well, we did last night, and she confirmed my first impressions. She is nice. I’m glad Mike has found a great girl, and I’m glad we get along with her. This is especially helpful since my son informed me last night that Mike and Ashley will be joining us for Thanksgiving.

Actually, I’m thrilled they’re coming. I’ll confess now, I was kinda depressed when I thought I was only hosting Thanksgiving for nine this year. Heck, I could have nine for dinner on a random Tuesday night. There’s nothing special about that, and Thanksgiving should be special. So, now with Mike and Ashley coming, arrangements made so my aunt and uncle are now coming (my uncle had shoulder surgery and wouldn’t have been able to drive), that brings us up to thirteen. All I’m waiting on now is to hear if our friends Barb and John are coming. If so, that puts us at fifteen, and for me, makes it feel more like a holiday. True it’s half the number I used to host for Thanksgiving, but I’ll take it.

So here’s the game plan I came up with for the next three days. I get up early, do my blog while my daughter gets ready for school, write like a fiend from the time my husband leaves for work and my daughter comes home from her half day at school, then me and my daughters tackle one room each day – family room today, living room tomorrow, kitchen Wednesday, which will leave only the bathroom to clean on Thursday. If I stick to this plan there is a slim chance I may hit the 50K. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

I hope you have a great day and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

 This year you are able to go home for Thanksgiving for the first time in many years. When you get there, things feel just a little off…

 

From the moment I boarded the plane this morning and during the entire drive from the airport, I could barely sit still, which I’m sure made me one of the guy I was sitting next to on the plane’s favorite person. I’m sorry, but I was so excited. It has been years since I have been in the position to be able to come home for Thanksgiving. Either money was too tight or things were just too crazy at work and I couldn’t get away; two years, I wasn’t even in the country during Thanksgiving.

I’ve seen the family over the years. I’d meet up with them during my travels or they would come and stay with me for a few days, but this was the first time in forever we would all be under one roof.

As I pulled up in front of my parents’ house, the first thing I notice is my dad painted. For my entire life, we have had a white house with blue shutters. Now we have a blue house with white shutters. My folks are getting wild and crazy in their golden years. Dad’s going to get a kick out of the fact I had to double check the address to make sure I had pulled up in front of the right house.

I gather my luggage, headed inside and stop in my tracks. Gone were the beige walls, gone was the shabby furniture, and what replaced it looked like it had been torn from the pages of Country Living. The transformation was astounding. Maybe this isn’t the right house.

“Honey your home!” Mom squealed and wrapped me in a fierce hug.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

The Black Friday experience…

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.