Scratching Post

Been debating a certain tattoo for ages. Literally years. Had today off of work (tomorrow too) and decided to at the very least price it out again as it had been a while. They had an opening. I have a tattoo.

It’s super simple and will mean very little to anyone not my family. And yet I hesitated for so long partially because I did not want to deal with my mother’s response given how she reacted to the first one I got years ago. Finally figured I’m a grown ass woman and can do what I want.

So, yeah. Got my tattoo. Technically two of them as there’s one on each arm.

So E signed us up for LA Fitness tonight as a surprise. Apparently they do an assessment of your physical standing and such - mandatory - when you begin. I believe I will set new lows for their numbers. With my bad wrists and worse shoulders? Planking it should rock. The step test should feel great on my knees as well, though that I'm far more used to. I have absolutely no idea what an "overhead squat" is though.

Sigh.

Did I mention I screwed up my shoulder again this weekend? In new and differently painful ways?

It's for the best though, and I know it. I need to get in better shape lest this whole wiggy joints thing controls my life. I had a friend at work that was a personal trainer for the same place and he said they are decent people willing to work with you and guide you to what you should and should not do. I guess I get to find out how much is should not versus how much is want not, huh?

June 25, 2005 - November 16, 2014

I'd say something noble like he's gone off to join the hunt or something like that, but he was so blessedly stupid he'd try to make friends with the big thing with the cool antlers.

They no longer think it was rat poison, or at least just rat poison, but they have no idea what it actually was as they had never seen anything like it before.

Family just had a Nerf gun shootout. Best part is each and every member stopped by to re-arm me, not knowing I was the one who shot them.

They have multi-shooters, I have a single shot (seriously, it's adorable and looks like the Noisy Cricket from MIB). It's only fair, really.

I love my son. Really I do. Let me recap since Thursday as we prep for CONvergence (he's one of the heads for the Teen Room).

"Did you make signs advertising the Teen Room?"

"Crap, no, I forgot!"

Rush around. Rush around. Get some quick and dirty ones done.

"Um, honey, the guy who does all the official artwork for con just posted a ton on Tumblr."

"Oh, yeah, saw that. Cool."

"You know, while we were rushing around would have been a prime time to tell me you knew he was making these..."

"What, I'm supposed to remember everything?"

Head desk.

Here's the link for the images, if you are interested: Teen Room Posters. The guy is rather awesome and also is a professional comic book artist.

Thank you for the b-day wishes!

Took Friday off from work, slept in, and played at the comic store. Saturday we went to Pagoda by our old house and had their most excellent roast duck for dinner. Sunday we went out with wolfie74's cousin who I share a b-day with. She is visiting from Colombia for a year and we took her to La Colonia as a surprise - she seemed to love it! She's been a bit homesick and kept raving about how the food was done the right way. Bonus of being the only place in MN where we can find Colombiana to drink.

Ooh, and wolfie74 got me really awesome hot chocolate and a little soccer dude (because our boys were at one time little soccer dudes) and a little Natasha with guns as presents. Too cute, really.

( Pics below the cut. )

We spent the last week in Cancun on vacation, the 70-80 degree temps a sharp contrast from the single digits and negative temps of MN. Friday was wolfie74's birthday and she really wanted to spend it somewhere with sun, water, and sand that was not behind clouds, frozen, or used for traction on the ice.

( Thursday )

( Friday )

( Saturday )

( Sunday )

( Monday )

( Tuesday )

( Wednesday )

All in all, a pretty good trip. Beautiful sites, excellent food, awesome weather. We didn't hit the hugely touristy spots (everyone assumes you want to go to Coco Bongo and Señor Frogs, which are huge Spring Break places, but not for us) but still had a good time.

[GIMP and iCloud are not playing well with each other (actually, iCloud is not playing well with itself either after the latest iOS update), so the pictures turned out a bit large. Because of this, I am tacking them on at the end behind their own cut instead of within the main text.]

( Pictures )

Remembing Thanksgivings of days past...

The time we made pemmican and wild rice in protest (my partner is part Native and the entire family was feeling quite political about some things going on in the world).

The time I nearly slugged my sister.

The time my uncle with Alzhiemer's was finally himself again because he recognized the antique furniture from his parents' farmhouse mixed with his mother's recipes. It was one of the last times he ate on his own without excessive prompting.

The first time my sister's now husband celebrated with us and didn't know what to do what that much food and one tiny plate. Or when, while he tried to load up said tiny plate, my 75 year old aunt asked him if they had big meals like that to celebrate where he was from and he said, "No, not in England, no ma'am."

The time both sides of the family came and we filled three banquet tables, a kids' table, two couches, an inset bar, and people still overflowed to the kitchen. My mother thought she over-estimated for the lot as there were still two pans of potatoes and a pan and a half of stuffing that hadn't been brought out yet. Then the twins came and we ran out.

The time in Catholic school where they rewrote the Thanksgiving day play because they told us to dress like we did for our real celebration and I wore jeans. They added a line that I needed to go change because the alternative was that they were going to say I was the help. Yes.

This year, it will be just the immediate family, wolfie74's mom and cousin. However, being the chef she is, she's made a crap ton of food and keeps making more "just in case." We even dug out my grandma's old box of recipes so that she could make the traditional farmhouse dressing for her cousin to try. We'll see how it goes over? Currently no one is wearing socks or shoes and Eldest is in shorts because he can.

This is not really a big holiday for us spiritually or emotionally, but there has always been a time set aside for good food and family, if nothing else.

For now, I need to go take Benedryl because her mother just arrived and the smell of Febreeze and Downy is overpowering the sage.

Going apple picking with the fam today, as is our usual tradition. May post pics later, if I remember to take them.