back again... at least physically... maybe not mentally

Mentally, I'm on complete overload. Systems have shut down. I'm a total ball of nerves and I'm beginning to truly freak out.

Okay... backtracking... Thanksgiving! We had a great one in Missouri even though I spent the actual day lying in bed or on the couch at my parents' house trying not to throw up... again. I managed to miss dinner at my grandmother's house... but I was so queazy that at the time, I didn't care where I was as long as I was lying down. Here's my PSA... never attempt to piece together a meal with packaged foods found in a convenience store somewhere in Oklahoma. Better yet, do not let your dh choose those foods on his own.... beef jerky and trail mix is NOT a well balanced meal!! Yikes!!! The reason for this eclectic meal was that we waited over an hour at a well known pizza chain in a very not well known town in Oklahoma for food that never came. To be fair, they brought the kids' food a quick 45 minutes into this wait, but our food never came. It was 7 pm and we still about 4 hours of driving ahead of us, so we decided that since the kids were fed, we would go on and take our chances.

I was feeling better on Friday so my mom and I went on our annual Thanksgiving weekend shopping spree. No, we don't fight the crowds at the mall or show up outside Target at 5am... we usually hit Talbots, which thankfully in their town is not in the mall. My mom likes to buy me clothes for Christmas and my birthday (4 days after Christmas)... but she knows me well, and knows that if she gives me money to spend, I won't spend it on myself. So, she takes me to Talbots and a couple other local stores to shop. I had absolutely fabulous luck at Talbots! I may have to post pics later. I ended up with two new pairs of pants, three sweaters and two shirts. And I have to say, I love every piece we picked out.

Well... since I was still a bit queazy and mom has a broken foot, we cut our trip short and headed home right after lunch. We ended up having several hours to ourselves once we got there since the guys (Jeff and my dad) took the kids golfing with them! I'm sure that was a sight to see! Apparently Clara filled the basket on the cart with golf balls and then would ride in the basket from hole to hole, sitting on her *eggs* and clucking like a hen.

Saturday was the big dinner with my mom's family... I think there ended up being about thirty people there. The kids had a blast! The weather was great so they played outside all afternoon. The cousins spent a lot of time all piled on the golf cart playing Silver Dollar City. Sometimes the golf cart was the parking lot tram and they would drop kids off and pick them up. Other times, the golf cart was the steam train ride.... one would person would drive, one would hang on the back doing the commentary, there would be at least a couple passengers and then one would be off hiding to jump out at the "train" just like the train robbers during the ride. You've just got to love kids with imaginations!

We got back on Sunday night and since then I've been freaking out about this whole thing. I get worked up about the Christmas season regardless but throw a move into the mix and its about to send me over the edge! Oh well... tonight Jeff and I are going to sit down and make one great big gigantic "to do" list and then divide it up and work our way through it. Right now I'm so overwhelmed I can't start anything... hopefully dividing it up into manageable chunks will help.

Well... the kids are asking to play a game, so I should run... hopefully I'll have pictures later!