Sometimes, Melissa runs her legs. Sometimes, she runs her mouth.

Tag: thanksgiving

2008 in pictures (the person ones)

And so it begins

I got a gym membership for Christmas but didn’t fill out the forms until January 1st.

Breezy loves you.

This is Breezy the most awesome dog in the universe. I spent last New Year’s day at her house. She’s a party animal.

Max in the sun.

Max, my pretty pretty kitty, got murdered by two Rottweilers while enjoying the outdoors. Seriously, they were trying to eat him. They cracked his spine and broke one of his legs off at the hip. The leg was hanging on by the skin. My town really needs to enforce its leash laws better.

The backup bridesmaids Pt. 2

I went to my friend Tiffany’s wedding in Tulsa. We were known as the “backup bridesmaids”

Big scary.... cougar..

I met Bellesouth and Debbie at the Tulsa zoo. Unfortunately, I was so excited by the animals I didn’t get a picture of us. LOOK that Cougar. There’s no fence. NO FENCE!

SNOW!

It snowed in March. That is creepy enough to get a mention and picture here.

more greek folk dancing

I went to Greek Food Fest and had gyros and watched some folk dancing. It was fun.

Canned tomatoes

I spent the Fourth of July at my Grandmother’s house. She was canning tomatoes. She always keeps a garden.

Hillary Rodham Clinton

This was an Obama rally on the steps of the capital. The special guest was Hillary Clinton.

Team Fabulous 2008

Race for the Cure with Team Fabulous. That is a fun group of women, y’all.

STOP THE WAR IN MY RACK

These were some great guys and this sign still cracks me up.

The lovely Kennett sign

Went to Kennett Missouri to campaign for Obama. Also stopped by Tennessee to have dinner and beer with Kevin.

STRIKE! NO!!!!

My friend’s son celebrated his 10th birthday at the bowling alley. I got to come along. I got conned into serving the ice cream. GAH!

The whoopass is being dispensed right about now

This is the County Clerk and the Chief of Police getting into a heated argument over why he can’t close the parking area of the fire station for a training exercise on the same day the fire station is being used as a polling place. Oh it was craziness. This was also in Missouri.

Me at the finish line after picking up my goodie bag

I ran Craig’s Jingle Bell 5K.

Hunchback of Vino's.

DMZ 20 year reunion show at Vino’s with Matt Besser. Good times.

Christmas Dinner

Christmas came and went. That’s the food. NOM NOM

There you go. While there were ups and downs, it seems to be a good year.

Totally awesome videos.

In the past couple of weeks, I have been sent videos from Youtube and other sources that are just amazing for one reason or the other. And now I thought I would pass on this awesomeness to you.

  1. Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel of “How I Met Your Mother” Sing “Confrontation” from Les Mis on the Megan Mullally Show. Any commentary I could give beyond this mere description would spoil it for you.

  2. Phillip Martin tipped me off on this one. One Hundred movie spoilers in five minutes.

  3. The infamous Sarah Palin turkey slaughter video from everywhere. Yeah you’ve probably seen this one but LAWD!

  4. This is about Christmas and buying stuff. Good stuff. (Not to be punny. Well okay I meant to be punny but in an ironic way. Who am I kidding? I’m a cheesy girl) from Advent Conspiracy. Special Shout out to BELLESOUTH who sent it my way. Okay she posted it on her blog.

  5. From MTV via Ta-Henisi Coates, another reason I love Obama.

    I’m not sure wordpress is going to let me embed this video so here is the static link HERE

  6. The Cartoon Network rickrolled the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. This will take years to get old. If I been awake and saw this play out, I might have busted my head on the floor from falling out of my chair laughing so hard.

  7. Pamie posted some tween drama.

Food, family, and gifts

When I was a child, the tradition was to spend Thanksgiving with my father’s parents at the family farm. It was a potluck style Thanksgiving dinner (served at lunch time) due to the fact that my father is one of six kids. Of course, one of Dad’s sisters had five kids of her own. The meal had at least twenty people. The farm was completely rustic with a wood stove,
stove;
a well since there was no running water thewell; and an outhouse the OUTHOUSE. It was decorated in this rustic farm house style that decorators try to mimic. kitchen.

Then my Mamaw died and my Pappaw got Altzheimer’s and the tradition died along with her. Years of sibling rivalry and unspoken grudges came to light during the settling of my Pappaw’s “estate” and the tradition is definitely dead since the likelihood for people to sit in the same room isn’t happening anymore. Maybe later but not now. So our small nuclear family has our own Thanksgiving dinner and invites my Mother’s mother and we have a grand old time.

This year my grandma had a cold and stayed home. We still had a grand old time. My brother invited the evil one (let’s just say she and I don’t get along) which caused some bad feelings but I took a nap and woke up refreshed and happy. Also, I was pleasantly relieved that the evil one had eaten and left already. This wasn’t intentional but some surprisingly good fortune. I am surprised that no one in the family woke me up. Apparently, they didn’t want the drama of good versus evil ruining their turkey and dressing.

And so it goes.

The dinner itself was a traditional southern Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, cornbread dressing, pinto beans, greens, Lemon Ice Box pie, pecan pie, sweet potatoes, and this dish my Mama calls Dorito turkey.

Dorito turkey usually has chicken in it but this is how we get rid of the leftovers. It’s a “southern” delicacy.

  • One can of rotel,
  • a bag of Doritos (nacho cheese but it originally used the now discontinued taco flavored chips),
  • cream of mushroom soup,
  • cream of chicken soup, Velveeta,
  • a bunch of shredded chicken/turkey.
  • Mix up all the can goods until it looks like vomit.

Cut the velveeta into cubes. Layer chips, chicken and velveeta in a pan. Pour liquid mixture over it all. Bake in oven until bubbly. (I think its’ 350 degrees but honestly I don’t know) Good times.

My Mama hasn’t learned that we don’t need the huge turkey anymore so we have pounds and pounds of cooked turkey leftover. It was nice to hang out with the fam and talk trash. They are funny. My Dad then went outside and toyed with tools in that stereotypically “real man” way.

That evening my brother and I had some quality time by going to see Twilight. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t like it either. I forgot how much of the story was from Bella’s point of view and was the equivalent of a “voiceover.” This movie didn’t have any voice overs so a lot was lost in translation.

I did see Quantum of Solace earlier this month and it was more like a Bourne movie than anything else. There were no sex scenes or snazzy gadgets. How can you have a Bond movie without sex scenes and snazzy gadgets? But Daniel Craig is great eye candy so I’m not screaming a rant about wanting my money back.

I also made a deal with my Mother that if I woke up and stood in line at WalMart, I would get the Garmin GPS for Christmas. I wanted one anyway but it was half price. I promised that she could wrap it and put it under the tree. I also promised that I would jump up and down and do a happy dance when I saw it. So I got some cash from her and set my alarm.

Now people around here in this small town, or even this relatively small state for that matter, mention that places are crowded all the time even when they’re not. Maybe this is where my New York/DC experience gives me a different perspective on the ideal. I will say that the local Walmart at 5:30a.m. was bona fide crowded. The parking lot was full to the gas station in the back. It was a constant dodging of other people in the aisles. I went to the food portion of the store (which was empty because very few people were interested in groceries) and made it to electronics. OH the line of people wanting Playstations, Wiis, and whatnot was huge but in line I stood. I got a paperback from the nearby book station and waited. [NOTE: carrying a book in your bag and reading it when you wait in line or anywhere else is how “city folk” handle crowds. Most people who have a subway commute are reading the paper or a book. Try it. It will give you something to do rather than be impatient.]

So I got my Garmin and got out of dodge. I did run into an old friend and chatted away. I got back home around 6:30 and went back to sleep. I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination.

As I was eating, My mother says, “Missy I got to tell you something.”
“What”
“[my Aunt] was in line this morning too. She was getting one of those Garmins for Grandma so she could give it to you for Christmas.”
“Oh. So this means there are two Garmins. You want one. You can have this one.”
“No I don’t need one.”
“but . . . but… I got up at 5!”
“I know but it would be easier for your to take yours back rather than [your Aunt] to take hers back.”
“okay.”

So a phone call was made and I’m back to Walmart to take my Garmin back.

The plan is not to tell my Grandmother about any of these shenanigans and when I open my present, I am to do a happy dance, hug and kiss my Grandma, and tell her it was something I always wanted. She will be all happy that she made my day and that is really what Christmas gift giving is all about: making other people happy.

Thanksgiving thanks.

Bellesouth decided to send out some Thanks for Thanksgiving and I’m copying her because it sure seems like a good idea. Bellesouth is smart. Also, I am a little intense and bitch a lot so I need to let people know that I am grateful for stuff. I mean I did win a book that retails for 60 bucks. Hey 40 bucks of free money from an ebay buyers is still SWEET!

  • I’m thankful for my family. Sometimes I want to slap them upside the head for being stubborn or passive aggressive but they are ultimately very supportive, kind, considerate people. I love them very much.
  • I am thankful for my friends. While I don’t think I have that many of them, I am grateful for the ones that I have. They are gold, just like Ponyboy.
  • I’m thankful for running. It keeps me fit. It gives me focus and considering that my quadraplegic cousin Rick couldn’t walk for the last thirty years of his life, it’s something that I shouldn’t take for granted. (I’m thinking about the Duck 10K and the Jingle Bell 5K)
  • I’m thankful that African Americans who were alive to be beaten by the police for wanting to go to school or eat at a lunch counter are still alive to see the United States of America elect the first African American President. (and one with a funny sounding ethnic name, no less).

    No one can ever take this away from you or me. This might just be the most historic moment that I have been able to witness. I am glad that I was a tiny part of it by volunteering for the campaign.

  • I’m thankful for facebook and myspace which lets me get back in touch with people I haven’t seen in years. It’s interesting to go back to your roots and see how far you’ve come. Also, I got to go to a fabulous Halloween party out of the deal.
  • I’m thankful for the opportunity to be in a profession that looks at the things wrong with the world and makes efforts to change them. Every day is a challenge and is an opportunity.
  • Lastly, I love my pets. No matter how bad things get, it reminds me that there is a world out there and that some things out there in the world need my attention. The cats need food and a changed litterbox no matter how crappy my day went. There’s something in there that inspires me to keep on trucking.
  • Oh and these turkeys

    Thankful turkeys

    are thankful that they are not being eaten.

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