wordinista (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wordinista) wrote2005-11-26 10:05 am
wordinista) wrote2005-11-26 10:05 am
Entry tags:
Post-thanksgiving post
*flops over*
Well, I managed not to get sick for Thanksgiving; Wednesday I felt a little icky, but apparently beat illness into submission with... well, it certainly wasn't rest and fluids. Wednesday I promised to meet Tora-kun for lunch (something I almost never do, so it's a treat -- he was basically alone in his office, and he knew the day was going to be crawling by), and I had to go pick up our friends' Jack Russell terrier. Sounds easy, yes? It is, until you consider that Tora-kun's office is forty minutes in one direction, and our friends' home is thirty minutes in the other direction. We live smack in the middle of these two destinations. So I drove forty minutes south, had lunch with Tora-kun, and then drove upwards of an hour and a half north (counting for traffic) to get Marley.
By the time I got the dog, it was edging on 4:30, and getting perilously close to afternoon rush-hour. Actually, I think everyone in their brother got off early, so "rush-hour" started around 3:30 or 4:00.
So what did I do then? I stopped forsome crack a pumpkin-spice latte for the drive home.
I got home and... *thinks* ...actually, I just started cleaning up around here. Tora-kun got home not long after I did, and we hung a set of curtains (to hide our cluttered little Florida room, and the litterbox in it), and tidied up a bit more. Then I started on the brine for the turkey. Turkey went into the brine, and I got to bed around midnight, and didn't have to get up until about 8:00 or so. (Turkey is only supposed to soak for six hours, but my dedication to the holiday doesn't include hauling my ass out of bed at six am. So it got two extra hours.)
In the morning, I started on the pumpkin chiffon pie (recipe courtesy of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
evilpuppy last year), and when Tora-kun got up, I pulled out the bagels, cream cheese, and lox I'd been hiding. (It's my favorite breakfast, and happens to be easy as hell to put together.) We had breakfast and watched the Macy's parade, and then around 11:00 I started working on the turkey. I got it into the oven by around 12:30 or so, and then I got a little time to relax, so I got a shower and waited for Mom to let me know when we'd start bringing over the china (which is actually mine, but I have no place to store it yet).
The turkey came out around 2:00, and then we started bringing the side dishes over from Mom's (next door). We ate by 3:30, and the turkey was as big a success as it was last year. (However, in my memory, the turkey was better last year. I thought the white meat was a bit dry this year, and I suspect I misplaced the thermometer in the breast. But everyone loved it, so I may just be remembering last year's turkey fondly, because it was my first.)
After dinner, Mom and I cleaned up and split the leftovers, and I got a quick nap before we had to head on off to Tora-kun's parents' house.
Now, a little back-story is necessary here. Tora's mom is... a real piece of work. Since I'm still in a bit of a snit over some of the shit she pulled this year, I am not ashamed to call her a selfish control-freak with the maturity of a twelve year old.
See, she wanted us to come to dinner. She told us this a week before Thanksgiving. Mom and I have been planning this since August. No fucking way was I going to change my plans at the last minute for anyone. So she asked me once, then she asked George a second time. Then, in a certain letter inside of which was a check for Tora's part of his inheritence (his grandma passed away last year), she hand-wrote another plea for us to come to dinner. Inside of a letter that held a check.Hello, bribe? So we needed a day or two to strategize on that one, because tacky move? Yeah. She didn't give us a chance to strategize, because on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, she called Tora and asked if we got the letter. I was thisclose to calling that woman and giving her a piece of my mind, but Tora asked me not to, that he'd handle it. And he did. And she was mad. So Tora was like, "Yeah, we should really think about going over there for Christmas dinner to make up for this."
It really pissed me off, though, because in the eleven years we've been together, I can count ten of those years where we bent over backwards to appease her plans. Some years we ate two dinners. Quite a few years we asked my mother to change the time of Thanksgiving dinner to some absurdly early hour. Some years the two of us split up, and he had dinner at his mom's place, and I had dinner with my family. For three years in a row, my mother had Thanksgiving dinner on the following day. So, forgive me if I'm less than willing to jump through hoops this year. We told her we'd come over for dessert and that we'd be there around 6:30.
When we got there, we got a chilly greeting (I won't even call it a welcome), she didn't get out of her seat, didn't so much as mumble "Happy Thanksgiving," and when we asked how dinner was, her reply was, "We had a wonderful dinner." And nothing more. In fact, she went out of her way to make us feel about as unwelcome as humanly possible. At 10:30, she went to bed.
On the way home, Tora and I decided that we would not be having Christmas dinner with her if she was going to ignore us all night and be in a general snit. (She wouldn't even LOOK at us.) We decided we'd spend Christmas Eve with them (like we always do), and we'd spend Christmas Day here, with a possible trip next door to Mom's house. Last year we tried making everyone happy, and ended up eating two Christmas dinners -- the day after, I was sick in bed, unable to keep any food down.
I am so pissed at that woman right now. And I'm almost positive she thinks I've got an iron grip on Tora's short and curlies, and THAT'S why he didn't come to Thanksgiving dinner, because I boss him around liek whoa, and he never gets to make his own decisions, because BUNNEH WEARS TEH PANTS.
Except it's nothing like that.
So, at least we had a fun dinner over here.And a better-tasting dinner, because Tora's mom? Not the best chef, yo.
Yesterday, however, was awesome. We sacked out on the couch and watched movies, and I got him to watch the six-hour BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries.
The WHOLE THING.
And he didn't fall asleep once.
WOOT!
I don't know what we're doing today, but I'm relishing my victory in the P&P arena. (Particularly since one of the things he said while we were watching was, "I don't see how the hell they could've boiled this down to two hours.")
XD!!!!
Well, I managed not to get sick for Thanksgiving; Wednesday I felt a little icky, but apparently beat illness into submission with... well, it certainly wasn't rest and fluids. Wednesday I promised to meet Tora-kun for lunch (something I almost never do, so it's a treat -- he was basically alone in his office, and he knew the day was going to be crawling by), and I had to go pick up our friends' Jack Russell terrier. Sounds easy, yes? It is, until you consider that Tora-kun's office is forty minutes in one direction, and our friends' home is thirty minutes in the other direction. We live smack in the middle of these two destinations. So I drove forty minutes south, had lunch with Tora-kun, and then drove upwards of an hour and a half north (counting for traffic) to get Marley.
By the time I got the dog, it was edging on 4:30, and getting perilously close to afternoon rush-hour. Actually, I think everyone in their brother got off early, so "rush-hour" started around 3:30 or 4:00.
So what did I do then? I stopped for
I got home and... *thinks* ...actually, I just started cleaning up around here. Tora-kun got home not long after I did, and we hung a set of curtains (to hide our cluttered little Florida room, and the litterbox in it), and tidied up a bit more. Then I started on the brine for the turkey. Turkey went into the brine, and I got to bed around midnight, and didn't have to get up until about 8:00 or so. (Turkey is only supposed to soak for six hours, but my dedication to the holiday doesn't include hauling my ass out of bed at six am. So it got two extra hours.)
In the morning, I started on the pumpkin chiffon pie (recipe courtesy of
evilpuppy last year), and when Tora-kun got up, I pulled out the bagels, cream cheese, and lox I'd been hiding. (It's my favorite breakfast, and happens to be easy as hell to put together.) We had breakfast and watched the Macy's parade, and then around 11:00 I started working on the turkey. I got it into the oven by around 12:30 or so, and then I got a little time to relax, so I got a shower and waited for Mom to let me know when we'd start bringing over the china (which is actually mine, but I have no place to store it yet). The turkey came out around 2:00, and then we started bringing the side dishes over from Mom's (next door). We ate by 3:30, and the turkey was as big a success as it was last year. (However, in my memory, the turkey was better last year. I thought the white meat was a bit dry this year, and I suspect I misplaced the thermometer in the breast. But everyone loved it, so I may just be remembering last year's turkey fondly, because it was my first.)
After dinner, Mom and I cleaned up and split the leftovers, and I got a quick nap before we had to head on off to Tora-kun's parents' house.
Now, a little back-story is necessary here. Tora's mom is... a real piece of work. Since I'm still in a bit of a snit over some of the shit she pulled this year, I am not ashamed to call her a selfish control-freak with the maturity of a twelve year old.
See, she wanted us to come to dinner. She told us this a week before Thanksgiving. Mom and I have been planning this since August. No fucking way was I going to change my plans at the last minute for anyone. So she asked me once, then she asked George a second time. Then, in a certain letter inside of which was a check for Tora's part of his inheritence (his grandma passed away last year), she hand-wrote another plea for us to come to dinner. Inside of a letter that held a check.
It really pissed me off, though, because in the eleven years we've been together, I can count ten of those years where we bent over backwards to appease her plans. Some years we ate two dinners. Quite a few years we asked my mother to change the time of Thanksgiving dinner to some absurdly early hour. Some years the two of us split up, and he had dinner at his mom's place, and I had dinner with my family. For three years in a row, my mother had Thanksgiving dinner on the following day. So, forgive me if I'm less than willing to jump through hoops this year. We told her we'd come over for dessert and that we'd be there around 6:30.
When we got there, we got a chilly greeting (I won't even call it a welcome), she didn't get out of her seat, didn't so much as mumble "Happy Thanksgiving," and when we asked how dinner was, her reply was, "We had a wonderful dinner." And nothing more. In fact, she went out of her way to make us feel about as unwelcome as humanly possible. At 10:30, she went to bed.
On the way home, Tora and I decided that we would not be having Christmas dinner with her if she was going to ignore us all night and be in a general snit. (She wouldn't even LOOK at us.) We decided we'd spend Christmas Eve with them (like we always do), and we'd spend Christmas Day here, with a possible trip next door to Mom's house. Last year we tried making everyone happy, and ended up eating two Christmas dinners -- the day after, I was sick in bed, unable to keep any food down.
I am so pissed at that woman right now. And I'm almost positive she thinks I've got an iron grip on Tora's short and curlies, and THAT'S why he didn't come to Thanksgiving dinner, because I boss him around liek whoa, and he never gets to make his own decisions, because BUNNEH WEARS TEH PANTS.
Except it's nothing like that.
So, at least we had a fun dinner over here.
The WHOLE THING.
And he didn't fall asleep once.
WOOT!
I don't know what we're doing today, but I'm relishing my victory in the P&P arena. (Particularly since one of the things he said while we were watching was, "I don't see how the hell they could've boiled this down to two hours.")
XD!!!!
Awesome
See, this is why we only tend to have one big family get-together a year over here... that one alone is quite enough to keep us in feuds for the course of the coming season. Why seek out trouble with a double bill?
To be honest, the movie P&P is worth seeing. Keira Knightly is unexpectedly good, which took me aback a bit. They tend to dispense with the comedy but concentrate on the romance, and the settings and costumes are beautiful. Admittedly, they are a bit anachronistic but I suppose they wanted to differentiate from the BBC version.
That said, there's much to complain about - Mr. Wickham has about three minutes of screentime, Lydia and the mother are very flat compared to the TV version, and Mr. Darcy is a bit of a charisma vacuum.
That said, I really liked their take on Mr. Collins. That was kind of cool. And Mr. Bingley and Jane were cute - Jane was believably gorgeous and sweet. And I preferred their Eliza Darcy. The Bingley sisters were just the sort of horrible snobs that slouch past you on the tube everyday, but not quite as charismatically nasty as the eldest Miss Bingley in the TV version. Lady Catherine was fun.
So, no, not perfect, but certainly not a waste of money. Infinitely better than "The Brothers Grimm", which I nearly walked out of this week.
Re: Awesome
*rolls eyes*
My familial interactions went smoothly, so that's something at least. Honestly, she's a big part of the reason I want to move out of the state. I'm really certain by now that she just dislikes me and the only way I'll ever "redeem" myself in her eyes is by having a baby. My revenge will be to raise said fictional child in another state. :)
I just don't know about the new P&P. I seldom go to the movies anymore, because the experience is just such a hassle, and people seem ruder than ever these days. I've heard mixed reviews about it -- some people say that the new Darcy is a dud, some say he's better than Firth. You're the only one who's commented on the lack of Wickham, and I find that interesting.
Someone mentioned that it's too Bronte'esque in its broody moor shots, and that also makes me wrinkle my nose.
What I'll probably end up doing is waiting for it to come out on DVD. That way I can watch it in my PJs and fuzzy slippers.
In short, it feels like a movie I "should" go see, rather than one I really want to see, and since I really WANT to see "Goblet of Fire," I'll probably go see that first.
Of course, stranger things have happened, and I may find myself at the mall with some holiday shopping to do, and a couple of hours to kill near a cinema. ;)