Sunday, November 29, 2015

Thanksgiving weekend recap

Bullet points seem appropriate for this post, so here goes:
  • My mom came to my house for a visit from Wednesday-Friday and then went back to her house with hubs and me on Friday evening.  It was a nice visit, but I'm glad to have my house to myself again.
  • At no point did my mom bring up IVF and only briefly brought up adoption before I shut her down on that topic.  Maybe she'll finally get the message that those two topics are off limits?
  • My mom and I went Black Friday shopping.  For the most part it was fun.  We scored some pretty good deals!
  • I used to think that the exclusive club of parenthood was the most annoying thing ever.  Now I wonder if the exclusive club of grandparenthood is worse.  Or at least equal.  More than once, while shopping, I had to endure my mom striking up a conversation with a fellow grandma (can I coin the term "granzilla" here?).  It was so absurd that it didn't even bother me.  Or, more accurately, it did bother me, but I didn't let it hurt me.
  • I am happy to report that Thanksgiving dinner wasn't a debacle.  Around 40-45 people ended up coming.  There was plenty of food for everyone and it was excellent.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.
  • I cooked probably 75% of the food.  From scratch. With little help.  
  • I was overly optimistic in thinking that I could get through this family event without consuming alcohol (my family aren't big drinkers and you aren't supposed to bring alcohol to the facility that my mom rented).
  • Thankfully, unlike the state that I live in, you can purchase alcohol pretty much anywhere in the state that I grew up in.  Like gas stations.  Conveniently, there was a gas station next door.  This particular gas station also sold corkscrews.  Which was a good thing since I was smuggling alcohol into an alcohol free facility and took the liberty of assuming that there would be no corkscrew in the facility's kitchen.
  • The selection of wine at gas stations is as bad as you might imagine.  Still preferable to no wine at all.
  • Being seen drinking a glass of wine is an effective deterrent that seems to head off family planning questions.
  • It wasn't terrible.  I'm glad it's over.  I'm thankful we don't have to do it again until next year! 
In all seriousness I have so much to be thankful for.   I wrote a list of things that I was thankful for  last year and those things still hold true in 2015.  But for this year, I'd also like to add that I'm thankful for all of the friends that I've made through blogging.  Honestly I never thought anyone would read my blog or that I would stick with it for this long.  But I'm glad that people read my ramblings.  Blogging is kind of like therapy for me.  I'm also thankful for hubs' job situation and that he was brave enough to leave the field he's always worked in to pursue another opportunity.  If we had kids there is no way that he could have done a complete career switch without commuting financial suicide, and I am so proud of him for taking the plunge.  My life isn't perfect, but I do have a lot to be thankful for, and it's good for me to sit down every once in a while to take stock of all of the good in my life.
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14 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 29, 2015 at 11:08 PM

    This post sounds so content. I'm happy for you that you made it through such a potentially sucky holiday so well!

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    Replies
    1. BentNotBrokenDecember 1, 2015 at 7:23 AM

      It is contentment, mixed with exhaustion and relief. :)

      Delete
  2. KlaraNovember 30, 2015 at 12:42 AM

    Happy to read your latest post!
    xo

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  3. MaliNovember 30, 2015 at 5:25 AM

    Lovely!!!

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    Replies
    1. BentNotBrokenDecember 1, 2015 at 7:25 AM

      At one point over the weekend when things got a bit stressful, I actually said to myself "Mali always says these things usually go better than we imagine them going."

      Delete
  4. loribethNovember 30, 2015 at 8:35 PM

    So glad you made it through! Happy Thanksgiving! :)

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    1. BentNotBrokenDecember 1, 2015 at 7:25 AM

      Thanks! Though I think the US needs to change our Thanksgiving to October like Canada's! :)

      Delete
  5. AnonymousDecember 1, 2015 at 6:33 AM

    Wow, Thanksgiving seems to take some planning of major logistical proportions. Sounds similar to our Christmas celebrations with the Boxing Day Sales to follow on the 26th.
    Do you celebrate Christmas on the same scale as well?

    I’m new to reading these blogs but am so thankful I started. It’s very therapeutic to hear others with similar stories to mine, to feel a connection with the person choosing to share their very personal stories, so I am very thankful that you blog.

    Glad to hear you made it through Thanksgiving relatively unscathed!

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    1. BentNotBrokenDecember 1, 2015 at 7:31 AM

      Christmas isn't nearly as much madness, mainly because hubs and I put our foot down last year, set boundaries, and stuck to it. We spend a weekend around Christmas with my family and a weekend with his. This year we are also going to hub's grandma's side of the family gathering the weekend before Christmas this year (a bunch of Italian-American, 2nd and 3rd generation, Catholics, so infertility is super fun....). But we spend actual Christmas at home with just hubs and me, our tradition that we started last year.

      I'm glad to hear that my little corner of the blogosphere is meaningful to you. When I found blogs, first Pamela's, then Lisa's, then Loribeth's, Mali's, and Klara's, along with a few more, I was like "I found my people!"

      Delete
  6. AnonymousDecember 1, 2015 at 10:57 PM

    Oh Lord! You have my sincere sympathies for your Italian gathering. I’m Catholic and hubby is from the Mediterranean and is a much more traditional Catholic than I am, which brought its own set of issues when researching and going through infertility treatments.
    Just make sure you have your glass(es) of wine on hand!

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    1. BentNotBrokenDecember 3, 2015 at 6:17 AM

      They're not really super strict Catholics, and beyond growing up in Catholic schools hubs isn't either (thankfully because I'm not even a little Catholic or religious), mainly they just lack a sense of boundaries when it comes to asking questions about reproductive plans. And the Italian part means they are always loud and he has a huge family. LOL. At least with a bunch of Italian Catholics there is always wine on hand (usually homemade and strong).

      Delete
  7. AnonymousDecember 2, 2015 at 1:34 PM

    * If you ever need to turn your Mom over to me for a lecture on how IVF does not solve everything, do feel free.
    * Granzilla should become an official term (My Mom is from Indiana and hates it when the mid-western ladies discuss how many "grands" they have).
    * You continue to show a consistent determination for that which matters in life - self-care, self-respect and wine.
    * I have never cooked for 45 people. I'm in awe.

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    Replies
    1. BentNotBrokenDecember 3, 2015 at 6:21 AM

      Thanks! I might take you up on your offer to educate my mom about IVF. She assumes that it's financial and has offered to pay, even though the financial side (while obviously a consideration) wasn't even in the top five reasons we didn't do it.. Glad you like granzilla. Feel free to use, or even to share with your mom. :)

      Cooking for a bunch of people isn't too terrible once you get your system down (and provided that nobody fucks with it by trying to help). One of the perks of ADHD is my ability to manage a whole lot of balls in the air simultaneously.

      Delete

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