Last night we had one of the nicest and most enjoyable dinners I have had in a long time. G-man and I took my daughter and her Soldier Boy husband out to dinner at a Thai restaurant. Sonny Boy came along as well. I don’t know what made the dinner so enjoyable. It may have been due to the fact that for the first 30 minutes of the meal we were the only customers in the restaurant. Or it could have been the nice waitress who spent a lot of time at the table talking to us. Or it could have been the wonderful Thai food which we all love so much. Or it could have been the new dish we ordered, the whole fried fish with ginger sauce. That was some darned good fish. We all had a little bit of it, except G-man who had a lot of it. And I do mean a lot. Even after we had all picked the fish clean he picked up the carcass and was hunting for shreds of meat. It was like watching a cave man. Actually it made me a little tingly watching him pull the cave man routine on the fish bones. I am a very sick woman, I know.



Here is the interesting thing. After dinner we all came back to our house and were sitting in the front living room chatting when suddenly there was a knock at the door. I go to the door and answer it and it is the self proclaimed faith healer neighbor. And guess what she has? My holiday cookbook! It was just yesterday that I mentioned in my blog that she had not returned it since she borrowed it 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. And suddenly she returned it. And even odder was her comment. She said she saw the cookbook laying around and thought she’d better bring it over because she figured I would want it to make some of my holiday cookies. Now how did she know I was making cookies? I wonder if she has found my blog? I certainly hope not. But you know what, if she has found my blog, tough shit. I tell the truth in my blog and if she can’t handle the truth about herself then tough shit. I really don’t think she has found my blog though because I don’t think they even have a computer. We are talking about people that can’t afford cable TV or even heat. So the odds of them having a computer and internet access are slim. It was odd though, eh? You know what I think it was? She saw the strange car in the driveway and came over to see who we had over here. They had driven Solider Boy’ mother’s car and the faith healer neighbor didn’t recognize that car so she had to get the scoop. How rude is that to come over to your neighbors house when you every clearly see that they have company. She has some nerve that’s for sure. If it had been anyone else I would have welcomed them inside and shoved plates of cookies at them. Eat, drink, be merry. But because it was her I just kept her standing at the door.



Since I posted my daughters picture at the top if today’s post I should clarify something. She was born with the most beautiful shade of red hair. As she got older her hair became more and more beautiful. Total strangers would stop her and comment on the beauty of her hair color. She hated it. When she was fifteen she was staying in Maryland with my mother for a bit. She flew to Indianapolis and when she got off of the plane I screamed. Not in joy but in horror. She had dyed her beautiful red hair black. It didn’t turn out black though, it came out this horrible mud color. A day and $90 later she had her pretty red hair back. I thought she had learned. Over the years she has become addicted to blonde hair dye. I can live with that. It’s a color that suits her well, although red is more becoming. When I saw her on Sunday what I didn’t mention to ya’ll is that she has been hitting the hair dye again. The dark hair dye. The horror. I can hear my mother groaning now even though she is 700 miles away. She remembers the mud brown hair. And yes Mom, it is similar to that. Kids….. Do they ever learn?

Tonight is Lil Miss’s Christmas play at school. I am so excited about it. I haven’t been to a Christmas play since my oldest two were in elementary school. This will be a real treat. In one way I am looking forward to it. I mean nothing says Christmas like a child’s Christmas play. But in another way I am dreading it. Not only is there the fear of crowds, but there is also the worry about seating arrangements. Because of my bad back I worry that I will have a hard chair to sit in and it will make my back worse so I will have to walk hunched over when the play ends. I tend to think about things too much and worry about them before they even happen. Silly, I know. And then there are the other grandparents. Lil Miss’s mother’s mother. As my mother likes to call Lil Miss’s mother’s mother – the narrow minded truck driver. She doesn’t drive a truck, but she looks like the sort of woman that you would imagine a female truck driver to be. She’s a nasty piece of work. And her long time live in boyfriend is no better. He is slow. And I am saying that in the nicest possible way. He really is…slow. If you know what I mean. He is about 10 years younger than Lil Miss’s other grandmother and he does whatever she tells him to do. Which is usually stuff like make me fried chicken while I sit on my fat ass or rub the corns on my feet. You get the picture. I picked up Lil Miss one time and he asked me to see the cat. Yes, he wanted me to see their cat. I saw it and he clapped his hands in glee and said “kitty”. I am telling you the man was in the special class at school. Don’t make me spell it out any further. Where was I going with this? Oh yea, it will be a pain in the neck to have to sit with them. It will be an uncomfortable night. But seeing the pleasure on Lil Miss’s face when she realizes all of the people whom she dearly loves are there will be worth all of it. That little girl truly puts a song in my heart.



And speaking of the little dear, yesterday afternoon she was one of Santa’s elves. She was making toys for Santa to give to good little boys and girls. She told me that the teddy bear she was sewing was for a special little girl named Lil Miss (insert her real name here). I was Mrs. Santa Claus so being the elf she had to bring her work to me for me to approve of. And she did a fine job. She especially enjoyed using the glue gun to put the bears eyes and nose on with. She is going to be a real crafty sort of girl. Here she is 5 years old and already has sewn her first teddy bear. She is accomplished.