"Splitter"

So I have talked about my family in Iowa, but I do have a step sister in Chicago..... when she and my sister were in college, She got the name "Splitter". I thought it was because she was thinner than everyone, but found out it was because she"split" a pair of pants.... literally down the middle, since they were too tight. It was kind of ironic since she has wore clothes that were too tight on her since moved out of my parent's house. I'm not sure if she thought of herself as a specific size and didn't want to move up to the next size or what. But her tops are always just little too snug or wear pants the her undies could be seen in. But that is just a little back ground on her.... let's move to this past weekend. As everyone knows A.B. is getting married at the end of Dec., so The Mother has to approve what everyone is going to wear. Even though we range in age from 25 to 32, she still thinks we need to have some fashion help. So in some of my past blocs I have told you that I did find an outfit for myself, got it approved and so has Rands...... now we come to my step sisters. They were told to bring home what they thought would be a good outfit for the wedding and what they thought they wanted to wear...... also The Mother asked myself and Rands to bring over stuff too, since we both have dresses and dressy outfits in various sizes. Which was not a problem, I have about 6-7 and Rands had 3-4. So we ( Mother, Rands and I) thought we would be set, since surely there would be something there for them to wear. We were wrong! Jump to Thanksgiving night.... The mother annouces after dinner we are doing a fashion show. So all us girls head upstairs to either help dress or get dressed. Suzy comes down first in a skirt that just is not right, so we start letting her try on stuff and quickly finding out that she is not going to fit into anything we have,. Yes she has lost weight but no enough for the stuff we have brought. So The mother asks what she has at home still and it is decided that she will wear black pants and we will find her a top at the mall. Now moving over to "Splitter" who puts on her dress and Rands and I look at her and think there is no way The mother will approve it.... she ooks like she has basically poured herself into the dress.... she goes down stairs and within minutes she is back and excited. The Mother actually approved it!!! No way, we thought, so we head down to see what is going on. The mother is first confused because she thought that "Splitter" was going to try other stuff on..... but as we inform her..... she approved the dress...so "splitter" wasn't trying anything else on. So I also said....I really think some dress pants I have would look better... and The mother agrees. So "splitter" comes downstairs and The mother says" Your sisters think you would looks better in something else, why don't the try somethings on" To which "Splitter" freaks out, she starts crying and she storms out of the room. We are talking about a temper tantrum... like a 2-year old..... and she is 29. It was crazy..... we were all stunned.. .to say the least. But then we all thought... "hey if she wants to looks like a sausage in a dress... go for it... we were just trying to help" So when I post the pictures from the wedding and you wonder why someone didn't tell the one in the middle that she needed a bigger dress.... think back to this blog and you will know why.

Turkey Day

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and in my family we eat all day,plus relax in our comfy clothes or at least we have starting doing that in recent years. Growing up we went to my grandmother's house every year. We would drive in on Wednesday night after school, then Thursday morning my sister, brother and I would be up early to watch the parade. Everyone else would get up later and then we started making stuff to for eating. It was a little more of a formal Thanksgiving, so it involved getting dressed up nice, but the eating all day thing was still enforce.... We would start out about 1-2pm in the afternoon with appetizers. There was dips, crackers, meatballs, little hot dogs, and then a bunch of Jewish food.... like gribaness, egg and onion. There was drinking and talking going on.. it was great. Then about 6pm we would have the main meal. There was everything from turkey to goose, from homemade cranberry sauce to green beans, and 2-3 different pies. You always were fuller than full. As we got older,The mother and her sister started trading off who would do thanksgiving.... so it would rotate from IA, to IL depending on who's house we were at.... still the eating all day continued. But then us kids got to college and started to move in different directions, plus everyone else was having a hard time getting to the same place for the day. So we started going to The Mother's friend's house. It was a big meal, with a bunch of people.... people who really didn't have anywhere else to go...... we would eat and then play games..... but that got old quickly, since it just wasn't home. So about 5 years ago... we made a decision that we were going to start doing low key Thanksgivings. Everyone would come over to The mother's house in their p.j. or sweats.
So as i said before yesterday that is what we did...... I got to the house about 9 to start watching to parade..... everyone else start showing up soon after and the cooking started for our first meal of the day....... we always have a big breakfast... there were biscuits and gravy, eggs, bagels, kippers, donuts.... if you wanted it... it was there. Once we were done eating that.... The mother started making the "snacks" , she made meatballs and little hot dogs......there was chips and dips... too..... that was to get us thru till dinner. We watched a movie and then it was time to start making dinner... the bird was already cooked, the stuffing went in the oven... then there was peeling of potatoes, making yams.....taking out the cranberry sauce.. homemade of course.... she made green bean casserole. it was great. As you know I have been on this diet... kind of... so I think I eat more then I have eaten in the last 6 months.....but still it was the best. I just hope I still fit into my dress at the end of Dec.....

Holiday Stress

So we have gotten to the holiday season and let me tell you that it is going to be a very very busy one. So on top of dealing with the Skinny's issues and normal holiday stuff, there is A.B.'s graduation, plus wedding stuff. SO this is what my 41 days will look like :

5 Furloughs with Skinny
5 Wednesday Family therapy sessions
3 nail appointments
3 Christmas celebrations ( God Forbid his mother and father could celebrate together this year)
2 waxing appointments
2 bridal showers
2 birthdays
1 hair coloring appointment
1 MahJong Hanukkah
1 Family Hanukkah
Disney on Ice
1 graduation and party
1 rehearsal dinner
1 wedding
( and a partrage in a pear tree)

That is only the scheduled things, to add to this wonderful time, The cake guy has decided that he wants to come into town the week before the wedding. So that means, we have to entertain him for the week. We did suggest that he might want to pick a different time, but he really wants to come. So we will be moving him around from place to place to sleep. Plus we want to do something cute for the rehearsal dinner, so I need to make up a cute poem. Big L.'s mom wants us to help make 1000 cream cheese mints and the Mother wants help cleaning her garage. Now I still have my normal stuff to do like cleaning , laundry, dry cleaning, WORK, working out, and maybe even sleeping. Once Jan. 3rd gets here I will be happy to see slower times.

The First Furlough

Yesterday was Skinny's first furlough.... and it went well, it was a little strange for him to be home in the beginning since it was quiet and he could do whatever he wanted..... but still it was nice. We hung out and watched TV, took a nap,cut his hair, and I even cooked a big dinner. It was great having him home again, it was almost like he never left. He was shocked to see how clean the place was and how big the place looks, now that all the clutter is gone. I told him that now it is clean, it is going to stay that way. I'm sure it will be easy, since he is only going to come home for the weekends. I was kind of surprise how easy the furlough went, we had the phone by us the whole day and not one check up call. Skinny thought that was because he was only out for the day, probably once he gets overnight stays, they will call the check up on him. Hey whatever we need to do so he can come home, we are willing to do.
So we talked a lot and next weekend, when I thought he would be on a retreat all weekend, the Fort changed their minds again and have decided to give the guys furlough time, so that means Skinny will be able to come home for a couple of hours on Sunday.....we really thought that since he was sick last week, he wouldn't get time, but since it is only a couple of hours and he will be at an AA retreat the rest of the weekend, they are going to "reward" him. The next time he is checking on now is Thanksgiving...... they ( the Fort ) is being very vague about the holiday, but Skinny and I decided if he can't get 24 hours out and also get approved to go to my parents, then we will just wait till the weekend to have him come out. So we will see what happens with that. Starting the first weekend on Dec thru the end of the year, we have something going on... or should I say I have something going on and would like to have Skinny there..... but I also know that he won't be able to come to everything. So we have narrowed it down to 2 things... family Hanukkah and A.B.'s wedding. I guess we will see if he can get the time off.
It seems weird to have to plan my weekends around all the activities I need to get done and now all the things that go along with Skinny coming home. Hopefully every furlough will go as well as yesterday did.

The final dress decision

So the decision has been made, but it was a 4 day process. Like I said before I had gone through all my dresses and decided which ones I thought I looked good in, plus narrowed it down to 3 choices. Then on Tuesday I hauled them all over to my sister's place to have a "fashion show". But before we did that, she needed to find shoes and a shawl to go over her dress... so we were off to the mall. We found her shoes, cute little flats in brown with a bow, then checked a couple of places for shawls, we found a few things that would work, but ended up deciding she had something at home that would work better. but in the process of looking for stuff for her, I ended up trying on some dresses... we found a few that looked good, but I didn't want to buy anything unless I really needed it. That meant leaving the mall and heading back to her house empty handed. I tried on both black dresses and the navy dress, she liked the short black one, but I thought the navy one was better, but since I trust her opinion I figured I would take the dresses to The mother and let her make the final decision. I went home on Tuesday obsessing about it, I really didn't want to the wear the short black dress.
As luck would have it, I had the day off yesterday, well I was supposed to have 2 doctors appointments but one got cancelled, so I had a free afternoon. On a whim I headed to the mall, Von Maur specifically to see if I could find something better to wear for the wedding. There was actually a good selection, I found about 6-7 dresses to try on....and all of them were each under $100.00. So off to the dressing room I went to try them on....2 looked horrible on me, then 2 others looked alright and the last 2 looked great, now which one to choose? the $80 one or the $20.00 one? $20.00 it is, but I was still a little unsure about what size to get, so I got the dress in 2 sizes. Next off to see my sister and mom to get the final approval. I wanted this all done, since I don't want to stress about it anymore.
Once I got to the office, I tried both on for my sister, she thought the smaller sized one looked great from the front, but a little tight in the back. The larger dress looked good all over, but was a little too big in the top, but that was an easy fix... once I would go to the tailor. Now to see the Mother. She actually agreed with Rands. the bigger dress looked good and I now just needed to head to the tailors for a little nip and tuck on the dress and we were set.
By 3:30 pm yesterday I was totally done with my dress issues. Now I just have to decide on what shoes to wear, how I want my hair done, if I should wear a sweater or wrap with it. I guess just part of the issues are solved.

Which dress to choose?

Since everyone knows I love clothes....everyone knows I have a ton..... even though a few weeks ago I hauled out 10 bags of clothes and shoes to the Salvation Army, I still have a full closet of clothes. So in that closet I have a ton of nice dresses... everything from suits to sun dresses to fancy party dresses, hey I even have a dress that is fully sequined. Now the reason I bring this up, my brother is getting married at the end of the year..... as you know this was kind of a hurry up thing, since there is a baby on the way. But I digress.....so normally I would go out and get a new outfit/dress for the occasion, but since I have been losing weight I can actually fit into a lot of the dresses I have, and since I have only wore most of them once, plus is was years ago, I'm pretty sure I can find something to wear. After I got home on Sunday from dinner, I walked into the closet and started my search, I pulled every dress out to see which one would fit the occasion and MY BODY. First I put on a short black dress, but made me look like a box, 2nd dress was a cute long red one I got from my sister, I tried to put it on and couldn't get it past my chest, no good! On to more black dresses, first is the one with netting and a brooch, it was a little big, but I don't want it too tight.... so I put it to the side till after I have narrowed down my selections. Next was the black dress with red flowers and shoulder wrap, it fits But with some panyhose it will take out all the "bumps", it goes to the side. next is the black dress with rhinestones.... it is a snug, and it's just not right for the wedding....now I thought I was out of dresses, till I went back in to the closet and found the outfit I wore for my sister's wedding, I would love to wear it again, but Big L's colors are purple and Navy, the dress was platinum, so I put it back. Then I looked one last time and found the dress that I thought was purple, but is more of an iridescent navy.... perfect!... now will it fit? I pulled it on and thought I don't look half bad....actually I look kind of nice in the dress....with some cute shoes and a shawl I would be all set. Now most people would think everything would be decided, but NO.... there is still one more step, showing my sister and/or The mother.... they would have the final approval of how the dress would look or which one looks best on me. So that mean I will be hauling 3 dresses to my sister's tonight for a "fashion show." Hopefully the one I like will also be her choice.... but really any of them would be fine. At least I don't have to shell out any money for the outfit.

One more week....... I think

So it has been 40 days, 7 hours and 38 minutes since Skinny was a free man.....and was at home. Now that he is back to work that is going to change....he starts qualifying for furloughs. To qualify for a furlough you have to work at least 30 hours a week. So since this was his first week back he has or will have worked 32 hours this week. So we thought he would get his first visit home this weekend......it would only be for 12 hours but it was better than nothing, not to mention better than sitting in the Fort's community room with other people. But we were wrong.... you see with all the rules they have about furloughs, there is one more. The week goes from Thursday to Wednesday... which to me and the rest of the real world, is screwy. Then again we ( Skinny and I) have to go by the rules he is given. So following that rule, Skinny had only worked 17 hours by Wednesday night. So that means no furlough this weekend and in turn I'm stuck home alone all weekend, trying to find things to keep me busy and not thinking about him. I have counted the days, cleaned our place from top to bottom, reorganized every thing from the pictures, to towels to dishes...... now I have to come up with stuff to due for the next 48 hours. Every Friday for the last month or so, I have written a list of stuff I need to do over the weekend, so I can keep myself busy.... but it is getting harder and harder. My life is not that complex and not the interesting. The mother tells me to get involved in activities.... now that I have a lot of free time, I'm thinking I should have..... but then again next week Skinny will be coming home and my life will start getting back to normal... well kind of. So it is one more week of waiting..... then he will be home.... unless they find some other rule he has not followed. I guess we will see...... cause this waiting patiently is for the birds.