The Inmates Run the Asylum

Full house at my Aunt Jo's for Thanksgiving today. Aside from the usual crowd of me, Carrie, Dad, Aunt Jo, Nancy, Jake, and Papa, we also had Aunt Ruby, Uncle Harry, and cousin Chuck.

We watched the replay of a Cubs game from July and part of a replay White Sox game before we flipped over to the football.

The spread of food was fantastic and massive. We got a lot of leftovers to bring home, including a whole gooseberry pie. Uncle Harry and Chuck impressed Carrie by the amount of food they put away. We are a good eating family. It's just how we roll. Sideways, on the floor by the time it's all said and done.

After Carrie took Jake's phone and texted back and forth with a couple of his friends and I got off the phone with my sister, the table was cleared and the cards were brought out. Carrie, Aunt Jo, Jake, and I played several hands of Spit, as is our tradition. Aunt Ruby and Chuck both said that the game goes too fast for them. Papa agreed and said it he didn't like to play because we never let him have a turn.

Speaking of Papa, he was in good spirits today. Ate more than I've seen him eat in a while. He has a new dog since Sam died a few weeks ago. Her name is Emma and she's a real sweetie. He bought himself a Kindle. No, don't wait and let someone get it for you for Christmas or anything. Silly, Papa. At least we know that Amazon gift cards would be a good gift for him.

We stayed later than we usually do, but it was a good time.

I'm thankful for my family. They drive me crazy sometimes, but they're good people.

I'm thankful for my friends, too. You guys are rock 'n' roll 365 days a year and I appreciate you, even if I don't say it enough.

Other things I'm thankful for: my cats, our service men and women, anyone that had to work today, the Cubs, the Bears, laughter, having a roof over my head, having a car to drive, Twitter, my superpet Roscoe on Facebook, Halloween (movie and holiday), the Beard Twins, NaNoWriMo, Spit, sleeping, etc., etc., etc.

Speaking of sleeping, I plan on doing it well tonight. Good luck to anyone shopping (or working retail) tomorrow.

In case you haven't heard, the Governor's race in Illinois is so close that it's practically tied and there will be much counting done in order to determine the winner. So, it could be a month before we know the outcome.

Personally, I think if it's a tie, then they should treat it as a tie. Have co-governors. Come on, it's a brilliant plan. Think of the reality show that would come of it and the revenue that would generate. Illinois would be out of debt in no time and the world would be entertained. It's worth the embarrassement the residents of my state would have to endure. Really, it's a small price to pay.

And at the end of their joint term, we can vote on which one should be indicted. Good times.

In non-politics snark related news, I got a phone call this morning from the Howlin' Mad Smurf. She babbled something at me and then hung up. I called back, hoping to get an adult and got the Hobbit instead. I asked her what Smurf had said and she told me that Smurf just wanted to remind me to come for a visit tommorrow.

Then smurf got on the phone and told me about their new cat. Then she gave the phone back to Hobbit, who declared the conversation over and hung up on me.

I have no idea if my mom knew that this was going on, but I have to admit, at the time I felt like I'd just been prank called by a 6 and 5 year old.

I'm just saying.

It turns out I got a little sun at the reunion yesterday. I've never been one to tan and unfortunately due to my lazy nature, I really haven't gotten out in the sun often over the past few years. I'm to the point now that I'm not so much white as reflective.

Anyway, I ended up getting just a touch of pink on my face, chest, and forearms. Really makes the freckles come out.

But my poor, fish-belly white, fat upper arms are pink approaching strawberry. They clearly got the worst of it since they see about as much sun as my legs, which is to say, little to none.

Still not the worst sunburn I've had and actually, it's really not bothering me too much, which is nice.

I'm not the prettiest thing in the world, but I'm definitely more attractive when I'm not blistering and oozing.

I'm just saying.

I was going to post this yesterday, but I forgot, which is kind of fitting because I should have posted this in June, but I forgot.

It's been over a year since I quit smoking and I'm happy to report that I have yet to turn into one of those bitter ex-smokers. You know the ones. The ones that lecture their still-smoking friends about how it's terrible for their health and how they're all going to die and how soooo much better they feel now that they've quit. The ones that do that quaint little coughing and waving their hands in front of their faces if the smoke gets too close to them (or not) instead of politely pointing out that your smoke is in their breathing space. Yeah, I hate those people and I'm so glad I didn't become one.

That said, I still miss smoking. If it didn't cost anything and didn't kill me, I'd still be doing it. I still dream about it. But I won't start again because I don't want to have to quit again.

I'll just pine for it and drown my pain in my other vices.

I decided to buy a Lotto ticket today. Why not? It's not a huge jackpot, but it's more money than I have. I don't want to be greedy. And I'd put it to good use.

I'm hoping the Universe is listening.

Anyway, I stopped by Big D's, my local drive-thru liquor and milk store (no lie...it's mostly liquor, but it also has the grocery basics...and shirts with the town name on it if you really want to advertise) to pick up my ticket because Big D's has a reputation for selling a lot of winning tickets. The woman who waited on me was old enough to be my grandma (in my family, probably my great-grandma).

She called me ma'am.

I'd say it's official. My days of getting carded are over.

And my eye cream is clearly not working.

Still no Internet. The company that was supposed to hook us up yesterday couldn't hook us up. Couldn't be done. So, we were left high and dry. We're trying another company now, but there's no word on when (if?) we'll get hooked up.

So, yeah. The bad luck from June continues into July. Terrific.

I've been posting to Twitter via text, so if you want to keep up with my bland daily life (and updates on when I'm getting Interwebs), you can follow me over there. I'm KikiWrites.

In other news, the neighbors were playing music in their garage last night, which usually bugs me because they have questionable taste, but last night, I really enjoyed the selection. Like I told Carrie, they were playing songs that I hadn't heard since college.

Second round of college, to be precise.

When you've been three times over the span of a decade, it's good to pinpoint which round when using it in relation to time. I'm just saying.

My dad got a blanket for Christmas that he put on his "bed" (Dad sleeps on a sleeping bag on the living room floor...yes, he has a bedroom...no, I don't know). It's a really nice, soft, fuzzy thing that depicts a deer in the forest.

McGee is particularly fond of this blanket and likes to sleep on it. However, she blends in with it to the point that unless you see her pink collar, you don't know she's there. Dad's accidentally sat on her a couple of times because he couldn't see her.

Just now he asked where she went because he couldn't see her laying on the blanket. I told him to look for the collar. It took him a second, but he found her.

The military should be jealous of such excellent camo. I'm just saying.

So, I have problem skin. Honestly, I should probably go to a dermetologist about it, but I don't have the money and dermetologists don't take chickens in trade and even if they did, I don't have a chicken, so it really doesn't matter.

Anyway, I've tried various different lotions and whatnot to help ease my condition and some have worked pretty well, but I'm always on the lookout to try something better. The other day I decided to give cocoa butter lotion a try. It's supposed to be really good stuff. Women with stretchmarks swear by it and though that's not what I'm dealing with, it is supposed to be good for the skin problems I have.

What I didn't realize is that it would smell. It's not a bad smell or anything, but I'm used to using lotions that have no fragrance. This smells very sweet. And it doesn't really fade. I put it on yesterday morning and I could still smell it when I went to bed last night. And every time I got a whiff of it, it reminded me of something that I couldn't quite place.

Today it hit me.

I smell like a basket of Easter candy, minus the fake grass.

While that's not necessarily a bad thing, it does make me crave sweets more than usual.

And it's just kind of odd smelling like a holiday. At least for me.