A Solitary Holiday

So...... I worked at both places last night, and feel like I wasted the whole day.  There were not enough guests for me to stay at work, so I was sent home early.  I made a drive to the bank - it's 32 miles away - and felt only a little accomplished.  I came home to a small Christmas Eve get together, but came downstairs with my bottle of Bailey's to watch a Christmas Story with the dogs and cat.  I feel so settled when they're sleeping nearby.  I thought I had lost my phone last noght, but found it this morning under the passenger seat of my car.  All we needed was a little daylight, as my brother and I were out there at Midnight looking for it.  I loved watching them putting the kid's new bikes out for them to find.  I did the honors and emptied Santa's cookie plate by feeding them to the dogs.

The family of off visiting my sister in law's family, and I'm still watching the Christmas Story with dogs sleeping nearby.  Sweet.  I have to work at the hotel tonight, and that should be pretty solitary as well.  We only have six rooms booked tonight.

We are having our Christmas dinner Monday afternoon, and I'm so excited for it.  Our cousin is hosting it at the Fraternity House where she is a house mom.  The boys are gone for the Holidays, so we will have a huge kitchen and dining room at our disposal.  My sister and her husband are coming up from Dallas, so we will have a great time!

There was a family party at Grams' place Thursday, and that was also Dad's birthday.  The four of us had many laughs.  Everyone else here had some sort of flu symptoms, so they stayed home.  We were so full of candy and crackers, that no one wanted to go out for a birthday dinner.  I took Grams for a haircut, and took her to Wendy's for a baked potato, her favorite.  She kept asking where we were. 'What is this place?'  'How did you know they had baked potatoes?' 'Is this Wendy's?'  Stupid Alzheimer's.

I love these kids!

So, my niece and nephew don't have school today, it's some sort of teacher in service day, I think.  Can I just say these kids in Catholic school get a crazy amount of days off?  Don't even get me started on how many early out days they get.  I sometimes pick them up to help out, and I did forget to get them once.  It was an early out day, and I about died of embarrassment when my brother came stolling in with them.  I can only imagine my expression, as he just glanced in my direction and said he's forgotten, too.  The kids laughed it off, but holy cow, I felt bad.  The niece and I were going to make chocolate covered popcorn, but for some reason, the popcorn kept igniting in the microwave.  It was her idea to make it, by the way.  I used a few of her craft popsicle sticks and made them each a little chocolate pop with sprinkles.

We just returned from a trip to Subway, and they are settled in for a few cartoons, and we're going to play Uno after I post this.  A call came in from my Food and Beverage Director asking me to come in to work for a 'voluntary' meeting, but he made it pretty clear that I am expected to attend.  He know I have the children, and asked me to bring them.  We'll see if I'm ever invited to another one!

They were flawlessly behaved!  I settled them in to a table with an assortment of crafts and sodas, and the nephew listened in to the meeting and would make comments to the owner as he conducted the meeting. "Wow.  Really?  That's cool."  They were well received.
I had warned them repeatedly not to spill their drinks, and each time the niece would pick up her soda, I would turn in her direction, and she would pause and wink at me as she took each sip.  She kills me.

I was taking her to the movies each Saturday morning as one of the local theatres offered free showings at 9am.  I loved as she would tell the grown ups around us to lower their voices.  She was better behaved than most adults.  How sad is it that my best freiend is a six year old these days?

Wow. Just wow.

So..... A text from Alan accusing me of being evil and having no soul for not responding to the divorce papers.  I responded that if he had a soul, he wouldn't have sued me for fraud.  He came back with his mom is dying, and don't make this any worse.  I quickly called him and said I was walking in to work, and I did not need his distractions.  I called him after my lunch shift, and stated I had nothing but love for his family, and I want only to think we can potentially be cordial to one another at some point.  I asked him for a grand or two just to get me in to an apartment and let me get some bedding and kitchen stuff.  He almost sounded agreeable, but said I had to run it by the attorney, but I realize now I should have asked him to run it by his attorney.  That was Monday, and the lawyer told me he would ask Alan about that amount, but he thought I had a snowball's chance in Hell of getting any help from Alan.  Today is Wednesday, and I haven't heard anything from anyone.

My mother is law.  She also has spots in her lungs, and is having side effects from Vicodin.  She is smoking pot, and is eating like a stoned teenager, much to Alan's chagrin.  It breaks my heart that she is essentially considered a goner.

Today at work, I foolishly left my server book next to the register while I ran eight separate checks for an eight top.  As I walked off, one of my coworkers stole my money.  Thankfully, I didn't owe any cash to the restaurant, and still managed to make five whole dollars today.  As I said earlier on Facebook, I think the Universe realized that person need the money more than me.  Don't get me wrong; it still sucks ass.

Lastly, I cut my hair!  I had over five inches cut, and I have layers and bangs.  One of my coworkers from the hotel asked her daughter to cut my hair as a boost for me.  I drove several miles out of town to her house, and she is a true pro.  It took almost two hours for her to cut and correct the dreadful style I was sporting after a trip to one of those walk in places where they charge you to dry your hair.  I still probably gave her the same amount I would have spent in the salon, but I also figured this was money she didn't have to collect from the salon.  I came in, and my nephew just stared at me.  He knew something was different, but couldn't figure it out.  The niece loved it, as did my brother and sister in law.  They're all awesome.

Nothing of Substance

This has been an uneventful week.  I toured another apartment on the next block; the niece and nephew could walk over there, I suppose.  If I stand in the driveway of the apartment, I can see the back of this house.  The bright yellow swingset is visible as well.  It's more than I really want to spend, but it has a back yard, and it's immaculate.  I've moved in to a few places over the years, and have had to do lots of cleaning.  Not here.  Two full bathrooms, washer and dryer hook ups, and a dishwasher and garbage disposal.  I just don't know.
 

Today is Holiday decorating at Grams' place, and I will head over there before I go to work at the hotel tonight.  The Hillbilly Buffet is in full force, and I dipped my foot in the pool last night.  I did not eat a guest's leftovers.  I brought home a guest's leftover prime rib and fed it to the dogs.  There were actually two ladies that did not finishe their prime rib, and they did not want to take it with them.  My halo is shining much brighter to the dogs, that's for sure.

I was damn near giddy to get home last night so I could catch Top Chef All Stars. It lived up to my expectatations for egos and cooking alike.  Just so it's known, I can't stand Stephen or Marcel.  I know the producers keep those arrogant chefs on to attract viewers.  I wish CJ or Sam were on this season, as opposed to Dale or Mike.   Just my two cent's in the event Andy Cohen starts reading this sad little blog.