Long weekend update

For a weekend I was planning to take easy, I did nothing of the sort. It is now the end of the weekend and I feel like I need a week to recover.

Normally, I end up working Thanksgivings. Somehow, just randomly, my schedule rotates to cause me to be working nights all weekend. Normally, if there is nothing family related that will take me out of town, I just work it. One year, I came home from night shift at 5:30am, threw the turkey in to cook and woke up at 2pm to make the rest of the meal.

This year, I was invited to meet The Guy's family. For the first time. For Thanksgiving. So, rather than showing up hungover from night shift, I decided to book off some shifts. My plan was to lounge about all weekend, cleaning house and playing with the dogs. Twas not to be.

Instead, Friday Ky and I took the dogs and travelled to N.Battleford to visit Grandma. It rained the whole way up, so we took a lesson from last year's debacle and Ky drove while I sat in the back and kept Maddy trapped in her kennel. Grae and Mel were driving in from Red Deer and Lyn was planning to join the group on Sunday.

Visiting Grandma was fun as always. She fussed about and fed us copious amounts of bad things "I've got to have cookies somewhere" and all the while suggested we are all too chubby. We listened to Grandma tell stories and we sat around and did puzzles. (Actually just one. Hardest freaking puzzle ever. I suggested we should burn it as soon as we finished it. Grandma's comment was that someone somewhere would enjoy it, so she wouldn't suggest burning it.) I slept a lot and walked the dogs with Ky through the fields and they all rolled in deer poop. (The dogs... not Ky)

I left early from Grandma's to come back in time to prepare to meet the parents. I was nervous as all get out. I kept asking The Guy what I should bring for them, but his response was "I don't bring anything." Yes. But you are the son. And thus you are expected to be useless. I am the son's new girlfriend. Bringing a hostess gift is just a way not to look like an ingrate or a skanky twit he just happens to be hanging out with and will be replacing by Christmas. I finally settled on a Saskatchewan lily hybrid potted plant. She was pleased. I think.

The whole day went pretty well. We watched football (bletch) but we won, so everyone was happy. We had appetizers and things and then settled down for a big turkey dinner and pumpkin pie. It was all quite pleasant and fun. His family is a little crazy, but in a really good way and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. His Grandma and I got chatting and she invited me to the old folks home for lunch one day. I took that as a good sign.

This has turned into a bloody novel. For that, I apologize. For all of you who made it to the end, what the heck are you doing? This was dull as tombs!