Walking Backwards

Ugh, I'm sick to my tummy. Despite what some may suspect, this is not a hangover upset stomach. I think the five days of overeating super-rich foods that I normally only indulge in on special occasions has finally caught up with me. Well, at least it was fun getting sick. Let me give you a run down of my gastronomic adventures this last week. First, after my mom's plane landed on Wednesday she wanted to go out to eat (my mother does not eat at home). We went to Texas Land and Cattle Company and I had a Caesar salad, a filet steak with cabernet peppercorn sauce, steamed spinach and a baked sweet potato. All that, all by myself. Then came Thanksgiving, which was fabulous, thanks for asking. I made a huge turkey (which we only ate half of), mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, yeast rolls, meringue and streusel-topped sweet potatoes, raisin apple stuffing, a pecan pie, and a pumpkin cheesecake. Annie brought a green salad and cranberry relish. Friday, we ate leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner and had Chinese food for dinner. Saturday, we drove to Houston for Tyler's birthday party and had to stop for kolaches and pastries on the way. We ate a ton of birthday cake and typical party food at the party, but still managed to eat barbecue after we arrived home. Sunday, we had potato and egg tacos for breakfast and then my mom took us for a big dinner at Pappadeauxs. One Greek salad, a cup of crawfish bisque, and two crab cakes later, I feel like I have been hit by a truck. My tummy is not too keen on letting anything else into it. I am probably going to spend the rest of the week before my surgery detoxing my body from the massive amounts of fat, salt, and starch that I have spent the last five day consuming. Lots of water, lots of green tea and lots of steamed veggies and whole grains. The funniest and most ironic moments during this gluttonous period was when, shortly after Thanksgiving dinner, we were sitting around watching Super Size Me and feeling very self-righteous. After all, we don't eat fast-food, we'll just eat ten-times the amount of all the good stuff.


Other than eating, we did do a lot this week. Thanksgiving was fun. It was very laid-back and casual. I was amazingly un-stressed the entire time. Everything went off without a hitch and nothing burned. We got to be with so many of the people we loved and had great conversation. I got to spend Hosea's first Thanksgiving with him and his parents. Nicholas was a charming little guy the entire time. He went around to everyone and said "Give me five!" after dinner, slapping everyone's hands whenever they responded to his request appropriately. He also started calling my dad "grandpa," which my dad was thrilled at. Everyone left after about three hours because we all have other families and other houses that we have to make an appearance at. Clean-up took no time at all and my mom, my brother, Nicholas, Joe, and I settled into the couches for a night of watching documentaries.


Saturday was my nephew Tyler's first birthday party and we had to go, of course. We drove in with my mom in the afternoon (she was visiting my aunt that day) stopping at my favorite kolache place along the way. We always stop at Hruska's every trip we take to Houston. Its a little gas station that has its own bakery and cult following. My mom loved it too, even though she didn't know what a kolache was. The party itself was mostly adults and Nicholas wasn't feeling great, so there wasn't much excitement. Getting to see Tyler and more of Joe's family was wonderful, though. He has gotten so big, I am amazed every time I see him. He also got an amazing amount of gifts. I don't feel so bad for not getting him anything now, although I'll make it up to him when Joe gets a job. Good thing our Christmas shopping was almost done before the paychecks went away.


Sunday, my mother took my brother and I shopping. Joe stayed home with the little man to grant us a peaceful and quick shopping experience. Now, you must understand that my mother is not what you would call financially responsible or even financially reasonable. She isn't getting me what I want this Christmas (a Tar*get giftcard) because she thinks that I do something foolish like spend it on things my family actually needs. She doesn't understand that I would much rather have her buy me a month's worth of groceries than a winter coat in Texas. That being said, it was rather fun to go out and buy things that I wouldn't have even remotely paid for myself. We started out at Academy and found Converse sneakers for both Travis and I. This is an amazing occurrence because I have the world's smallest feet. They just don't carry men's size 3s. We then went to a bunch of other stores and bought stuff; Ann Taylor, Kohls, Burlington, Gap, etc. The best of the day had to be Marmi. I got a pair of dark red leather, knee-high boots. Talk about impractical, but I love them. My family probably thinks I'm insane. Travis was bored out of his mind for most of the day, but we all enjoyed ourselves I think. That will be the last time I set foot in a mall so close to the holidays, however.


I certainly have rambled on for a bit, haven't I. Well, my mother is gone now so I don't have to keep a steady stream of dialog up and its a hard habit to break. I'm sure my next entry won't be so long. I hope everyone out there in diary land had a great holiday.