Merry Christmas!!

I'm not really sure what to type about, but I guess I'll just mention the thoughts as they come up. First: My oldest nephew-turned-brother has gotten very chubby. He has leg hair, armpit hair, possibly chest hair, and sometimes can be stinky. He's wearing a 2XL in mens!! And very little of it is muscle, let me tell you. :( It's not good for him!! My sister told me that Chance had a near mini stroke or something a while back, and no one told me. HE started having chest pains while I was there, and his mother was sending him into a panic attack because she was freaking out and causing him to freak out way more. So I stepped in, took him to the living room sat him down and asked if he had drunk any water that day. I knew he'd had two sodas (Because he'd gone to the movies with us, and his mother had just given him more soda), but he said he didn't have any water. I told him it was likely because he's dehydrated that his muscles had started to seize up, and he needs to drink at least 2 big glasses of water a day. He went and got some water, calmed down, and about then his mom came back with my mom, and even Papa emerged from his cave. Mom took charge and asked what happened, and between the two of us we explained that he felt a tugging near his heart that was probably due to dehydration.

Now for the honesty: I'm not sure if it's dehydration. I remember having that sensation when I lived there, but I never felt like it was important enough to mention. I think it could be the smoke he's constantly inhaling just as much as it could be dehydration. But I KNOW that freaking out, grabbing his shoulders, and raising your voice at him about "What's wrong? Where does it hurt? MOM!!" is not the way to treat someone that's already scared and confused about what's going on. I could wish that my parents would straighten up, stop smoking, and monitor his food intake a little more, but the chances of that happening are so low, even I wouldn't bet on it. I just know that if they could do that, he would be much healthier.

Second: My younger nephew Kay, is still super cute, but he's even more desperate for attention and love than he used to be. He rough-houses a bit (and always ends up on my injuries), he still likes clothes and shoes (and his mom derides him for it, but not as much as she did before), he's still quite obedient (though he argued with Hubby about Hubby not being someone he had to listen to), and he hates going to sleep by himself (but his mom still tries to make him do it). He slept with us on Christmas Eve, and boy does he snore!! I got in bed, he started snoring, and I was aghast. 'Did they seriously give me ANOTHER snore-lax???' is what I first thought. As you all know, Hubby is an incredible snorer. Well, I got lucky. Kay slept turned toward Hubby for most of the night, and just stuck his butt in my face (bleh). We were all happily sleeping until 8 a.m. when my sister got tired of waiting for the kids to wake up and went to wake them up herself. She's over 30!! Hubby and I were leaving that day, and wouldn't have been able to take a nap even if we wanted to!!! And her stupid ass comes in and wakes us all up because she didn't want to wait!! What is WRONG with that woman? Well either way, we were all up at eight, and opening gifts. We took a bit of video of everyone saying Merry Christmas and then put the video down. I helped Papa hand out gifts, then settled down to open ours.

Let me see if I can remember what we got. A mini-cupcake baker, a cake ball baker (think takoyaki), butterfly sconces, butterfly soap, 8 pairs of chopsticks, chinese hanging things from the Olympics, insulated reuseable bags, and socks. We probably got more, but those were our shared gifts. Momma got Hubby a box of butterfingers (And I like the box a lot- Can't wait to use it), and a valet box for his keys and stuff. I don't remember much of anything I got besides those things.

After that, Momma started yawning and said she was going to lie down for a while. That was at like 9. Hubby and I got hungry, and ended up eating cake and stuff for breakfast. Kay joined us and he and I had chocolate milk with our cakes. Then Chris (my sister) put a gross movie with nudity and stuff on, and sent Kay to OUR room with his DVD player to watch his new spongebob movie. Hubby and I packed up and put everything in the car (Hubby did it, so it's pretty disorganized. I'm itching to go rearrange it, but it's raining outside), and I sat with Kay and played with him for a while. Next thing I knew, it was 12, and we had planned to leave around 1. So I went to wake up my mom and found that Papa was ALSO napping (he snuck in. Poor guy. He's so lonely cause Momma won't sleep with him cause he keeps the room too hot). I  tried to wake up Momma, but she just said "Okay, Bye" so I was like, screw this. I texted T to see if he ever got into town, and found that he was waiting for us.

So we left, but poor Kay, he was asking if we would take him to the park. It was too cold, and we were leaving, so I said no. I feel really guilty now. I mean, we took him to coffee and the car wash, and Food Lion, but we didn't do that much with him. I wish I could have done something special with him like we did with Chay when we took him to the movies with us. And then Kay wouldn't let me have a nice picture on my phone of him. I have some good video though. :( Still sad.

Then Hubby reminds me: We still have to drop off the pot that Grandma gave us to to give to Ninny. So we stopped by, and I handed it off and we went to visit T. It was a really short visit (cause we were already running late), but it was great to see him. Then we had to swing by and pick up the candy we'd forgotten that Momma got for Hubby's parents. I feel like the two couples are very similar and would get along really well, but possibly inspire each other to be even more religious and forbearing than they already are, and so I want to them to be friendly, but I'm scared of it at the same time.

Oh, speaking of religion. Miss Mimi called on Christmas Eve with her mom (via three-way), and because she was rude to Nana and she'd had a bad day, she started crying. So we got on with Mimi, her foster mom, her real mom, me, and Momma. We all talked with her, got her calmed down and knowing that we're all trying to get her, we all love her, blah blah blah. Then the wench said something really religious, and I merely said "Well, I'm not Christian Mimi." and she went OFF. "What do you MEAN you're not Christian?? How do you expect to get me when you're not a Christian?! Do you KNOW what you're saying?! Blah blah blah." so I had to answer her, right? "Look Mimi, it took me years to come to the decision to not be Christian, it isn't right to discriminate against me because I'm not, Hubby is still Christian and can take you to church if you want to go, and just because I'm not Christian doesn't mean I'll stop you from being one." Then Mimi made some joke about me preaching and her and her foster mom laughed while I was still sitting there offended.

Let me expand a little on our Christmas Eve dinner. My siblings sat in the kitchen talking about the Bible and how Christians are supposed to be, and in the living room Mom said something about "Do you know what Cin forgot to say in her prayer/blessing/dinnerthing?" I was joking, and I said "Merry Christmas?"and Mom looked at me and said "Not Christmas. It's Christ's Birthday. See, this is why I'm thinking of getting rid of all the presents and stuff and getting back to doing Christ's work." .....and I just sat there, because I didn't want to be the one that ruined Christmas with drama. Mom knows I am athiest/agnostic/whatever the hell others would call me. She has said something to the effect of "I'm scared for your soul because I know you're going to hell" to me before, and we don't discuss it much beyond that, because all we can do is agree to disagree. If I'm wrong and Christians are right, I don't want to be the reason Momma's soul is condemned, but I refuse to believe in their silly and outdated notions. Especially not Paul's (the disciple that was the most devoted).

So when Mimi went off on me like she has some right to, I got angrier than I needed to, but I still don't think I said anything wrong. For her to laugh at my opinion really annoyed me. And to have to listen to my sister tell me that I can't tell people stuff like that or I won't get Mimi REALLY annoyed me. What does being religious say about someone's character??? The Holy Crusades were just sanctioned killers going off and killing anyone that dared to have a different opinion! Some Muslim interpretations say that other religious orders are to be killed immediately or they will lose their access to 'heaven'. The Jews believe that their messiah hasn't come yet, but I don't think they'll ever find someone to believe in. The Hindu's believe anyone born outside their sects is automatically below them and doomed or being punished for previous offenses and treats them accordingly. Is it fair to judge someone without knowing anything about them? I don't think it is, and yet most religions do exactly that. I would rather meet someone and if I'm going to judge them at all, judge it based on their character and their actions, not some religious notions they believe or disbelieve. Live and let live. Jeez.

I don't think the judge should base his decisions on my religion or lack thereof. Let him base it on my character, my job or lack of, my financial situation or distance. There's lots of little things that can weigh against me, but to hold religion against me is worthy of a lawsuit.

Ugh. My face is getting chapped, and I need to put lotion on, but I didn't really bring any besides my work stuff. Un-happy...

But anyway, we drove for 2 and a 1/2 hours and got to Hubby's parent's place. We came in, helped skin carrots for dinner, and opened gifts. :D We got two $25 gift cards to Cheesecake factory as well as a LOT of random chocolates. We also got a card with money, which is always helpful. Then we all took a few things and went across the street to Aunt Mary's house. We had roast beef, carrots, caesar salad, and dinner rolls/bread as well as a baked potato. It was yummy. We got some more money from her, and gave her coasters and doggy treats.

Then we came home and played card games and trouble. His mom had the most victories, and we had cake and ice cream before we took showers and went to bed. Overall it was a nice Christmas and I think we both were very relieved and happy to see our families. We hope yours was as nice as ours was. :) Happy Holidays!

Once again feeling down

You know, as soon as I come off of the steroids, I generally start coughing again, getting nausea, headache, fatigue, and just general bad things start happening inside my body. Whatever I've got, my body isn't fighting it off. So it would be great, Ms. Doctor peoples, if you could figure out what the hell it is, and assist with recovery.

I'm honestly beginning to dread the idea of our trip. Getting there, being with everyone? AWESOME. Being in a car for 12+ hours when I'm already feeling shitty? Plus a cat? Plus poor hubby having to deal with my not-feeling good AND when I get loopy? It just seems like a bad idea. But we're agreed to go, and everyone is expecting us, and I really want to see everyone, so I'm gonna eat lots of zantac and excedrin and see how that works out for me.

Today Hubby and I got a lot of errands done. We mailed off some things, cashed my check, I bought hubby's Christmas gift, we went to PT where they worked me hard, ate at Masala Wok, and still had time to go home and drop off our rent check and leave a note for one of the workers about receiving pregnancy massage.

I got my results back from my practical exam on Monday. I had points taken off for my biomechanics (Doing things that aren't good for me), and points taken off for not keeping my client from talking. ....She only made a comment about moving, and that's because she had scratches and bruises all over that I had to ask her about, so I didn't rub oil into them. I don't feel like I should have had points taken because of a 30 second convo, but the comment was that it's my responsibility to keep my client quiet, so I'll quietly take it. A lot of people made nineties and stuff  this time so I feel less self-conscious about making a 96. Last time I made a 98. And we got our progress reports. I have an A- in physiology because of a homework that I turned in incomplete (I'd forgotten to do the last page), but otherwise I have straight As and A+s. So I'm doing pretty well.

Today and tomorrow we're reviewing our notes and stuff because the Monday we come back, we have a written exam. It's good, because I can take my notebook on our trip and study in the car when I'm not driving.

Tomorrow I'm going to be doing all the laundry, washing dishes, loading the car, and packing up everything so we can just get up and leave Friday morning. We're gonna take a cooler with snacks and drinks with us, so maybe we won't have to stop as often, and it won't be as bad. I'm worried about Maya, but I'll be damned if I'm walking the damn cat again. I got SOOO many strange looks when we moved her down here. And it's not like she used the restroom or ate anything. I'll stick a bowl with some water in her cage thing when we stop for gas and see if that will settle it.

Here's a pretty cool video Hubby and I watched. http://www.danoah.com/this-is-how-you-make-a-family-christmas-card  I thought it was really cute and kinda cool, in a weird way. I don't think I could do that, but I applaud them for managing to.

Hubby needs to get to bed, so I'm gonna try and sleep too. I haven't been sleeping well lately, so I hope I can just fall asleep and stay out this time. Sweet dreams everyone!!

Cold Feet + Cutie Honey

I have terminally cold feet with our hardwood floors. Reb insists his wool socks will fix it. Hence:
Me: What do I win when these don't work?
Reb: It doesn't matter because they're gonna work.
Me: So I can have anything since you're absolutely confident?
Reb:.....NO! 'Cause your body has mysterious ways I can't comprehend!!
Me: *chuckles*

Damn straight. 

I'm gonna win. I know it. My feet aren't going to lose to a pair of nifty socks. They still feel like ice. 

Hubby was SO CUTE YESTERDAY! I went out early in the morning to give and recieve massage from a friend. He came tumbling out of bed to say goodbye to me before I had to leave. He was weaving on his feet, pouting, rubbing his eyes and yawning. SO ADORABLE!!! 

Then I was out shopping and waiting to hear a reply from him. His eventual reply? "Loneliiiiii. Oh, so lonelyyyyy. I have no bo-dy " so I hopped in the car and came home immediately. He grabbed me as soon as I came in the door and held on tight. 

"Where were you? I missed you. I was so lonely! Where did you go? Why did you leave me?" Hug hug hug, pout pout pout. I laughed, and held up the food. "I brought you chicken! Don't you want the chicken?" And he was all "I want Runa! Chicken can't replace Runa!" and I laughed again. "Chicken isn't replacing me, it's..... supplementing me, to make up for being so late! Here, what about a Butterfingers?" And he pouted some more, but I finally got him settled down on the couch and he's eating the food and he looks down. "It's cold." (I had gotten the food an hour or so ago) Looking down, pouting, and refusing to leave my side to heat up the food was so incredibly adorable. He's too cute!! 

Yes, I recognize that the signs of an unhealthy co-dependence are forming, but it really shouldn't have the ability to escalate very much beyond this level, considering we're about to take a long road trip together (And I get loopy after a few hours in a car), and after that I'll be looking for a job AND attending school. So I'm just enjoying the unhealthy yet oh-so-delicious lovey-dovey feels. 

That's all. I just wanted to gloat. BTW-It's been over twenty minutes and my feet are still cold. I think I've won this damn bet. 



Teehee.

Friends!

Since everyone else (well, almost everyone) has been posting on this subject, I figure I may as well post a little bit too. I actually can't comment on ppl's blogs so I have to send personal messages to each poster. Hubby gets skype messages, Fourth gets facebook messages, and caitlec get emails. I'm sorry to inundate you with messages like that, and if it becomes a bother, I promise I'll stop as long as you let me know. I'm terrified of being a bother, but I think you all know that by now.

Hubby said the other day that that part of me was one that had never changed, no matter how much time passes. And it's true. I can't stand being seen as a troublesome person to others. At least not on my own behalf. This makes it difficult for me to make friends as well, because it's so hard to know what will be considered unwanted attention or questions. I pride myself on being able to see when others are uncomfortable or in pain, but that doesn't always mean that I know what the reason for the trouble is, or if I can ease it. And it's difficult for me to understand simple solutions to problems. An easy example: The plug-in for my computer is a little far from the couch. I unplug my computer so I can have it on my lap, and because the battery is wonky, my computer will just die when it's ready. Hubby asked why I didn't move the couch closer to the plug in, and I honestly don't have an answer beyond: I never thought of it. The same sort of problem occurs when I try to talk to people.

There's the people that will good-naturedly listen to my thoughts and rambling, and I feel happy that they listen, but I worry that they dismiss my words because they see me as less interesting than others. There's the people that will listen to the beginning of my words, and then change the subject or interrupt me because my thoughts have triggered some of their own and they would prefer to talk about that. There's the people that will listen to me, but I have to listen to them for FOREVER before it's my turn, and then my turn is over so quickly as to not even have counted. I worry that these attitudes mean that my conversation is just a placeholder in the dialogue and not something that others really have any interest or care for.

When I think of these things, my voice freezes and I find it so difficult to talk that I actually end up just silently listening. One of my favorite taciturn heroines quotes that I think of when this happens is: Someone has to listen to all that talk. I think it's fascinating to see people's interactions and subtle domination or subjugation of others in simple conversation, and I know I can hold my own, but I don't want to. I don't enjoy battling and sparring with words, and making witty repartes with others that cause wounds or hurt feelings. I like conversation where everyone can say what they're burning to say, but also respect each other enough to listen to what they're saying. I'm not sure that's a common situation outside of formal debates though.....

I often find myself at a loss of topic for conversation as well. Any ready-made conversation starters you could suggest would be nice.

I like talking to Hubby. We talk a lot more than I feel we used to. Sometimes we can have pretty long conversations and I end up pretty surprised by how long we've been talking. Well, he's brushing his teeth now, which is the signal that he wants to go to bed, so I'll stop here. Good night!

Counting Stars

I love this song. :) It's a little religious, but it's also easy to ignore those implications and it's so fun to sing it. Especially if you just belt it out. Hubby laughed at me for it, but I enjoyed being able to sing the whole song. Now he's singing it too. Lol!

I like chocolate milk. I've had three glasses tonight. I also had a piece of eggnog bread (I made it) that was okay. It was a little too salty, but that might be because I had an end piece. Yay needing to eat every twelve hours so I can take steroids that mess with my body and make it so much more difficult to be comfortable in my skin.

I mean, it's bad enough that I'm STILL gaining weight, but to have my blood pressure soaring (140s/90s) and my muscles constantly feeling really tight and on the verge of cramping really sucks. I'm steadily blowing up, and Hubby is steadily dwindling down!! Argh!

Today is my niece's birthday. I talked to her for a bit, and as it says in hubby's blog, it was a frustrating experience. I really just wanna know whether to get rid of this bed or not. It'd be nice to be able to use that room for my massage practice (since we'll be moving before we ever get her) but it's also true that furniture is expensive and I'm rather attached to that bed. I've slept in it a total of four times when Hubby pissed me off too much for me to sleep in the same bed that night. I don't understand how wives kick their husband's out of bed. It doesn't work when I try it. :/

I took a fun little personality test that fairly reflects my views and feelings about situations. http://www.ipersonic.com/type/DI.html
It's interesting and a new way to take a personality test. I'm always on the fence with things, so having multiple statements and just going with the one that has more statements I agree with works better than 'Pick A or B, based on your understanding of yourself and the meanings behind A and B'.

I made eggnog bread, but I think I should have added rum after all. Here's the recipe. http://oneperfectbite.blogspot.com/2013/12/countdown-to-christmas-simple-and.html#.UqIqavRDv7E It's not bad, but it needs a little tweaking in my opinion. I'm gonna make some pumpkin bread for the couples to go with their gift cards.

It's kinda hard to believe that in a week we're leaving town and going to NC! We really have to work out when we're going to meet with A, and C, and Rozy! If we can. I hope we can. We need to cement the details out, but it's so hard to get ahold of people!! I guess we'll swing it by ear, but when we start visiting friends during the time when we stay with my family, I start to feel a little cheated, especially since I already have so many family members to meet with(3-5 houses to visit), and Hubby only has two houses, and they're right across from each other. It's nice that we can stay with my family on the way in Alabama, but I'm really worried Hubby is gonna wanna erm, 'get it on' there and I'm totally not comfortable with that. On the plus side, we can finally use our air mattress and Mom will set us up in my old room so we'll have a bit of privacy instead of being out where everyone can see us in the living room like we were last time.

We also both have dentist appointments next week. And we're picking up our photoshoot pictures to send out Christmas cards. They may be late. :/ I hope they're not but you never know.

I think I'm gonna go now so I can egg Hubby into either moving the furniture with me (at 1 a.m. The neighbors will love us), or screwing with me. We have a lot of fun just purposely messing with each other. Hubby is unfairly cute nowadays.

Mmm. Yummy cinnamon buns.

We bought a dozen frozen cinnamon rolls months back, and I've been working my way through them two at a time every since. Sometimes Hubby would make them for me, and sometimes I would make them, but the general consensus was that neither of us could make it without burning the damn things. Today was the final pair (and I don't think I'll be buying them again. Way too much trouble for medium deliciousness and they don't cook in the same times), and I finally made it without burning them. How? I cooked it for 13 minutes instead of the 15-20 minutes they suggest. It was yummy, but overall I think they take up too much space for too long for me to want to buy them again.

I've been thinking about getting Mimi a lot lately. Taking care of her, raising her to be a smart and independent young woman, cooking meals for three instead of two.... It's been on my mind. And I'll admit, I'm looking forward to it. It'll be so nice to have a third party help you eat something. There's lots of things that I love, but just don't make because I'll be the only one eating them and that's lonely and sad. It's just one of those things that happens when you and your partner have different tastes.

Oh, but speaking of tastes, I made Tonkatsudon yesterday! For those trying to remember, it's pork cutlet rice bowl. Breaded and deep-fried pork loin chops cut into slices and laid over white rice with tonkatsu sauce over it. I also made some grilled brocollini to go with it that was wonderfully salty and garlicy.

I think I need a nap. I'm done with this post. Sorry it's so short. :X

Ooh. This song gives me the chills. I like the original and this cover of it. I hope you like it too. :)

Trading Significant Others

It has begun. We have begun trading our SOs now to get our OMs done. Translation: We have begun offering our significant other's bodies to each other in order to get enough outside massage forms completed.



We started it on Saturday. E and his girlfriend R came over and we worked at the same time, trying to finish in one hour exactly. We went over by 5 or so minutes though. I really need to work on getting my time down. >.< It was very educational though. E told me today (when I asked) that she didn't have any extra advice, and that she raved about me knowing what I'm doing.
E worked on Hubby, who seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. His legs went numb at one point though. A little strange. I'll let him expound on it if he wishes.

Afterward we went out to Applebees to eat together. It was nice, and I ate a lot. After that, on our way to get bubble tea, I called my mom back and found out that my cousin who was older than me by one year died in a motorcycle accident that day. :/ She also told me not to tell my siblings, but since she told Ninny, they found out the next day anyway. So of course all of them called me to let me know, because they figured I didn't know either. I'm not stupid: I played along. We'll have to send flowers and a card to the funeral. I'm not going myself. We really weren't close.

When we got home, I was coughing so hard that after I took my medicine, I actually ended up throwing it back up. Twice. Bleh. So disgusting.
I have to take my medicine every twelve hours, with food. It's incredibly ironic that I have yet to actually be hungry when I have to take the damn stuff. So I'm just forcing myself to eat a good enough amount that I won't get sick from adding antibiotics and steroids to my body.

I still can't really speak loud or long enough to be communicative, so my class today (Titled: Communication) was rather ironic. Still, it was nice. ....Nice and long. Tomorrow we're back to doing Hydrotherapy. I believe it's the herbal wrap, the facial, and the cold water treading tomorrow. So many materials, for so short of a lesson. I've been finding that I don't particularly enjoy receiving these lessons, but I do enjoy giving them. Particularly the cold water bath, where I take a freezing cold rag to my partner and wipe them down. Then trap them in the sheets until they get warm again. Sounds like an evil plan, doesn't it?


Some big bang for your buck: