What I learned over Thanksgiving

1. I make lots of wonderful rich foods. I should not make them all at once.

2. I totally love Daniel Craig as the new James Bond. Best Bond movie ever.

3. Even if it seems like a good idea while watching The Big Lebowski, I cannot drink White Russians. I've had this revelation before, but I think it was a couple of years ago. It had apparently been long enough that I forgot. I am too damn old to be drinking anything much other than wine, and even then, only with care.

4. Sleepy-Voiced Sister and her husband are the Best House Guests Ever. Not a single complaint.

5. Kouros, despite being small, needs his space. After 5 nights of guests, he begins to show his dissatisfaction by clawing the carpets all night and knocking stuff off the table to make people wake up.

6. Sleepy-Voiced Husband, after a night of this noise, begins to declare loudly that he hates that damn cat, and makes plans to barbecue him.

7. I can knit stockinette in movie theatres without looking and it turns out pretty darn well!

8. I need to be more physically active again... this whole lounging because I want to be hibernating thing is getting to me. Time to move more.

9. We have absolutely GOT to get out of this damn town and move back to the Twin Cities. The more I looked at everything while taking our guests around town, the more I realized this place has very little of what I want for my life, and I can't take it anymore. Really, staying here is bad for us. My next priority is to ramp up the job search and get us out of here within 6 months. You heard it here first, folks.

I'm glad I got all my holiday over-consumption and idiocy out of the way early. Now I can enjoy the holiday break in December when we go visit family, because I'll have my wits about me and I won't overdo. I feel like I have a Thanksgiving-over. It's like a hang-over, but it takes more than a good night of sleep and an antacid to fix.

I was listening to Cast-On this weekend, and Brenda's essay really hit home for me. She was talking about how her physical surroundings often need to transform to reflect her inner changes. I've been feeling weighed down by our circumstances. I need to dump some of this load. I've been feeling the need to cull and downsize our possessions. Get rid of the junk. Lighten up so we can take off when the opportunity presents itself. Great revelation to have right before Christmas, when people want to pile stuff on you, but there you go.