We Gather Together ...

So the Barger household had a busy turkey day. Both my sisters and their families (with the exception of a bro-in-law and a nephew who both had to work) came down to Southern Indiana for the holiday. We were gonna go up to Indy for the weekend, but then since dad was in the hospital, they came down. (And much to my cowardly lion's dismay, the three nieces and sister Ha slept at my place.)

Wednesday evening, I left work early, since both bosses were gone for the weekend, and I had OT I could sacrifice, and I went out to Wadesville for dinner with the 'Rents and Ho and her family. The meal was deer stew (bro-in-law Tom procured the main ingredient during hunting season last year) and homemade biscuits (with Ho's homemade elderberry jelly), and now that I'm thinking about it... why didn't any leftovers come home with me?!? Humpf! Natalie and I drove back to my place in order to be there when Ha and her two daughters got there. After the initial greetings and dumping of baggage, we were off on the ubiquitous snack run. Since I had instructions to pick up some last minute items for the next day, we hit a Schnucks in lieu of the usual Walgreens. I have to say that wandering thru a store with gaggle of giggling teenage girls (Sorry, HO2.0, you're still a teenager!) is quite the experience for me. And much like the pain of childbirth (or so I've heard), the pain of it disappears quickly and I blindly go forth for snackage with them each time they stay at my place like I don't know how insane it's gonna be. Sigh.

And one of them, as I'm deciding what flavor of Smirnoff Ice to buy, states quite loudly in the middle of the store... "Will we get to have some of them??" To which I responded... "Why, no, Strange young person! You're a minor and the legal drinking age in the great State of Indiana is 21, and you will not be legal for a couple more years." DUH! Goober.

Back at my place, we settled down to watch Stephen Colbert's A Colbert Christmas - The Greatest Gift of All. Oh, look we're standing under the mistletoe. Well, this is awkward. tee hee!

Thanksgiving morning, I awoke and made the pumpkin pies, as my daddy says I make the best pies, and we were off - over Pigeon Creek and thru the trees to my parents' house we went. My and the sibs' plan was to make the dinner with as little stress and effort on mom and dad's behalf. And although we had to have mom make the dressing so it would be her usual FANTABULOUS dressing, I think we succeeded. Ho2.0 set out the gnomes' traditional Thanksgiving meal, and I do not have the pic from this T-day yet, as the pics were not taken with my camera - but a pic of a previous year's gnomes' thanksgiving is on the right. Once the gnomes had been taken care of, the rest of us chowed down.

Thanksgiving is a time to count your blessings, and (with the exception of Sophie and Gizmo, who couldn't make it for the festivities) sitting at that table were a big part of my blessings. I've been blessed with albeit weird, but loving, family and friends, a warm home, a good job with bosses who respect me, and more than what is necessary for my survival. One thing I was not grateful for was the migrane that hit me before the evening was over.

So when we made it back to my place, Ha and the nieces watched Casino Royale in preparation of our plan to go see Quantum of Solace the next morning. And while I, like every other red-blooded woman in the world usually wouldn't turn down an op to see Daniel Craig in the nude (even if he is being tortured at the time,) I drugged myself down and hit the sheets. But that just meant that I felt all the more ready to drool over him the next morning! Ho made the comment that the first time saw him without his shirt on (in Casino Royale) she had a hot flash! Here would be my opinion of Quantum of Solace: I enjoyed it very much. You really need to watch Casino Royale first, as this movie literally starts where the first one left off.. which is unusual for a Bond movie. And I agree with Ha that he could have had his shirt off more. And these movies are decidedly less campier than, say, the Roger Moore James Bond movies - which I grew up on, BTW, so for me, Roger Moore WAS James Bond. I know there are those who say Sean Connery is the best. But I grew up on Roger Moore and HE was James Bond to me. Now, (well, after Casino Royale, actually,) I can clearly state that Daniel Craig IS James Bond. Whoo ... I'm having a hot flash just thinking about it!

Anyway, after the movie, after lunch, after doing the dishes, Ho and Ha, et al., packed up and headed back to Indy. I'd had a very enjoyable time, but I was happy that they left, so I could go home and cuddle with my kitties, and not have to hostess. And I know mom and dad were exhausted by the time I left their house, but they had a good time too. Now we can relax some until Christmas.

On the Road Again

Day One - 9/20/08:

So my friend Donna moved to Charleston, SC last year, and she told me I was welcome to come down and stay with her if I wanted to come visit Charleston. I made the momentous decision to do it. First I found super cheap airfare, flying from Indy to Charleston and back for $181. Of course I had to drive up to Indy, but that only takes one tank of gas, about $60, and that was much less than what I saved by not flying out of Evansville.

Once I'd bought the airfare, I have to admit to being nervous about going. Not the flying part, I'm ok with that, although I did make the mistake of watching all the History Channel's shows about 9/11 the night before flying out. Yup, that was a mistake, but no. I was nervous because it'd been a while since I'd spent any quality time with Donna, and what if I got there and we hated each other?

Anywho, so Friday (Sept. 19th), I packed my bags in my little red wagon and drove up to Indy and spent the night at my sister Holly's house. She drove me to the airport on Saturday morning and I was off.

Ok, another bit of background... our family keeps gnomes. We travel with them, we give them as gifts. Well, Friday was Donna's birthday, and she had a new home/apartment in Charleston, and she was letting me stay with her, so I decided she needed a gnome. The only concern was getting the gnome past security... (see, I didn't want to have to buy him a ticket.) So, dateline, Indianapolis International Airport. I'm in the security line. I take off my shoes, which fortunately didn't smell too bad since it was early in the morning. I put my Ziploc baggie of liquids, shoes, and carry-on bag (with gnome safely tucked inside) on the belt to go thru the scanner. As my carry-on goes thru, I see the two guards looking at the picture and pointing. One of them hits a button, a light goes off and the machine starts beeping. She asks, "who's bag is this?" I hold up a hand, knowing that Gnorm has got them suspicious. She tells me that they're going to have to run it thru again. Ok.. While it's running thru the second time, the other guard whispers to the first one that it's a garden gnome. I say, "yeah, it's a garden gnome." He comes over to hand me my bag and we had a nice chat which led to his telling me that this wasn't the first gnome he'd seen. Whew! One gnome thru security - one hurdle down.

After a short layover in Cincinnati, I arrived in Charleston International Airport. Now, this airport, considering it is an "international" airport, really isn't all that big. Sort of the same size as Evansville's airport, but the place in the food court sold me the tastiest, thickest Oreo milkshake I'd ever had. It was wonderful. I got the milkshake because my flight got in shortly after 2pm, but Donna didn't get off work to come pick me up until 3pm. So I bought me a magazine and a milkshake and watched people while I waited.

While I was waiting for the milkshake, some woman who obviously worked in the airport was there too, waiting for her coffee. We chatted and she mentioned that I was coming to visit Charleston during a "cold snap." I mentioned this to Donna when she picked me up. She laughed and said that the people down there all think it's cold - (it was in the 70's.)

I'm happy to say that my concerns about me and Donna hating each other were unfounded. The minute we saw each other, it was like no time had passed at all! Whew... hurdle two over..

She took me by Hairy Winston - the pet store where she has a part time job. Despite a decided bias in favor of the canine, rather than feline, populace, it was VERY nice. Me and Sophie and Gizmo had recently had our 2nd Anniversary together and I bought them a nice toy as an anniversary gift. I also got myself a new friend... I call him Big Blue. Technically, he's a dog toy, but he's SO cute, and upon bringing him home, both Giz and Soph have played with him.

Where was I? Oh, so after a wee bit of shopping and meeting Donna's peeps, we went to dinner. Since I'd only had an English muffin and a milkshake all day, I was hungry. We went to Coconut Joe's and sat on the balcony overlooking the ocean. The breeze wafting in was wonderful. And my Jerk Chicken was pretty good, too!

After dinner, we went to Donna's house. She lives in a downstairs apartment of a two-story house, one block from the ocean, on Isle of Palms. And the best part is the screened-in porch. We sat out on the porch for a couple of hours, just talking and enjoying the breeze. Thus ended day one of my whirlwind trip to Charleston. BTW, Donna enjoyed receiving a gnome. Although I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm weird... but then surely that wasn't exactly news to her, right?