Thankful It's Over

Thanksgiving was less than thrilling this year. Apparently I am the fat, ugly, smelly cousin who no one wants to hang out with. So instead of getting to sit on the couch and enjoy such classic movies as Bring It On with my cousins, they all fought over who had to sit next to me. And not in the "I want to sit by her." "No I want to sit by her!" kind of fighting. They REFUSED to sit NEXT to me. I thought the girl who was unlucky enough to arrive last was going to die from all the huffing and puffing and sighing and rolling of the eyes. And no, they didn't even have the decency to hide it. Children.

My parents also took Thanksgiving Day to tell me that my dad is losing his job. He's being forced to retire early because of budget cuts from Hurricane Katrina. Yep, the 59-year-old handicapped man who has been a chaplain at the wretched prison for 15 years is being let go. My dad thinks it's more personal than that because the warden basically hates him, but whatever. The point is that my parents are getting heartily screwed over in this deal. And if a certain bill passes in the legislature, then he'll be forced to leave next month at only half the normal retirement pay. And my parents have been planning on my dad retiring when he was 65. Soooo.....how are they going to make house payments? I don't know. It makes me so angry and so sad that I can't hardly stand it. I feel so bad for my father because he's poured his heart and soul into his job and now for it to end like this...it just feels so wrong.

So the "Mom Cry Count" was up to 5 by the time I left and my Dad was depressed the whole time. It was just rough overall. I knew it was going to be bad without Grandpa there, but geez louise, I wasn't expecting THAT. My aunt seemed to be doing okay because she refused to sit down and think the entire time. Ha! Good to know that my denial tendencies run in the family.

So in honor of a sucky Thanksgiving Day and in an attempt to lighten things up on this here blog, I've decided to steal from Myles and make an Un-Thankful List.

Un-Thankful 2005
1) Hurricane Katrina
2) Death
3) Errant hairs on my chin
4) Tom Cruise
5) Coldplay
6) Spam (the food and the internet variety)
7) Gnats
8) Luke's long-lost daughter on Gilmore Girls
9) Snow
10) Screaming babies

And just for good measure:

Thankful 2005
1) My family (the ones that sit by me, of course)
2) BGF
3) Anne
4) DVR
5) Parsnip (my dog, not the veggie)
6) E-mails from old friends
7) Yogurt Burst Cheerios (Strawberry)
8) The Dixie Chicks
9) Reese's chocolate dipped peanut butter cookies
10) iTunes

Now, before I let you think that the holiday was all doom and gloom, the good news is that Friday was better. My mom, aunt and I went shopping and I got some really cute pink sweaters that will match my pink and grey Roos in an adorably, make-you-throw-up-because-I-match-so-well kind of way. I'll have to wait till Christmas until I get them because my mom footed the bill, but I'm okay waiting. It's always nice to know you've got good presents waiting for you under the tree. I also got to facilitate my aunt and mother's very first trip to Olive Garden. And boy, do they love the salad and breadsticks. They ate TWO BOWLS of salad and 4 helpings of breadsticks. Plus their entrees. I'm not kidding. How anyone in my family does not weight 300 pounds is beyond me.