How I Spent My Five Day Break

Day One:  Thanksgiving
Like most Americans, I spent Thanksgiving/Slapsgiving feasting on a cornucopia.  First up, at noon o'clock, we went to Keisha's grandma's and enjoyed her wonderful homemade stuffing, which she elects to only make this one day of the year.  Everything else there was also made from her own hands (save the sweet potato casserole Keisha brought), and as always, everybody was stuffed by meal's end.  Afterward, the menfolk all headed down to the garage and sat around and talked while the womenfolk stayed in the house to look through sale bills.  Up came a vicious rainstorm, and 'ere long the pitter patter on the tin roof had us all a-sleepy.  I finished my current Wired magazine and had a bit of a rest.

At four o'clock came my family's feast.  I really wasn't too hungry, but there was plenty of wonderful food, so I had to help myself again.  Mom's specialty is pineapple baked ham, which was amazing.  There we all congregated in the kitchen and living room and spent a rainy, sleepy Thanksgiving evening together, filled with holiday bustle, conversation, and football.

Finally, I got my little red car back, which had broke a month ago due to a faulty starter.  With it, I returned to Stewartland and settled in for a night of Fallout.

Day Two:  Black Friday
To be a good husband, I told Keisha that she should go to bed early and I would run to Wal-Mart at midnight o'clock to pick up the few things she wanted from there.  Besides, it had been snowing, sleeting, and raining, so there probably wouldn't be too many people out.  She acquiesced, and after three hours in the Mojave Wastelands, it was time to head out for a quick run.  I was naive.  There wasn't a single spot open in all of the parking lot, and folks were walking across the street just to get inside the sacred grounds.  So I headed back home and said I'd go out in the morning and look while she shopped elsewhere.

Well, there weren't any "steam mops" left at 9:00, so I went back home and played more Fallout.  Actually, I cleaned for about an hour or so, ate lunch, read some of The Desert Spear, and then sank into Fallout.  Keisha got home about noon thirty, and then we put up Christmas decorations for the rest of the afternoon.

Day Three:  Lazy Saturday
We wanted to spend a day doing nothing productive.  Part of me enjoyed this idea, but part of me didn't.  Still, I agreed, and we got up about 8:30 and relocated to the couch.  Keisha fell back asleep.  I played Fallout until lunch.  Then we finished off Season 3 of How I Met Your Mother (one of the funniest shows out there that I'm loving and wish I would've started earlier).  Then Keisha made some homemade bread and I made a homemade broccoli soup.  Then we finished off Season 1 of Battlestar Galactica and soon it was bedtime.

A perfect, lazy day, though we did give the dogs a bath and clipped each of their nails.  So, maybe not completely lazy, but still, close enough.

Day Four:  Church Sunday
Praise band practice at 8:15 went well for not having normal practice on Wednesday.  Sunday School at 9:30 was interesting, too, where we continued our discussion in Matthew (currently Chapter 8) and talked about prayer and faith and Jesus calming the winds & waves.  Church church, 10:30, was a great time of worship (I think our church is slowly coming to grips with worshiping a Creator that's deserving of worship) and a message that stepped on everybody's toes.  Afternoon was some cleaning, BSG, Monk, Fallout, and a nap.  Keisha had some Sherlock Holmes stories she wanted me to read aloud, so I started "A Scandal in Bohemia," where she fell asleep and I lay there and unsuccessfully tried to nap for an hour.  Then night church continued the study of Philippians.  Afterward, the Community went bowling, where I did surprisingly well (117 and 120 something).

Day Five:  NPD Monday
Since business has been a little slow with the ole MLC, we've dropped to 32 hr work weeks while we wait out the storm.  At first a little nervous (I mean, I'm essentially getting a 20% pay cut for the time being), I've been reassured by many people that this'll pass and things'll improve.  So yesterday was my second No Pay Day.  Keisha and I went and bought groceries, which took most of the morning, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon deep cleaning the kitchen and living room.  Since we're not making as much, I've re-evaluated our budget and we're trying to work on spending for practically everything, including groceries and meal planning for the week ahead.  So far, so good.

Alex & Rachael came over last night, where we cooked some tacos and sat around and ate and communed.  Then the ladies did their thing and me & Alex played some banjo.  Soon it was bedtime, and the pouring down rain made me sleepy.

I got in some reading over the break, plenty of video gaming, some movie watching, and some television season viewing, most thanks to Netflix and friends.  There'll be a review or two or three over the next few days, and I'll be checking through my Google Reader backfeed to get caught up.  Now, onto December.