Turkey @ MindSay

Dixie currently feels:

Explosive

 

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White rabbits!

 

Yeah... That's supposed to bring good luck if it's the first thing you say on the first day of a month.

I don't know if it applies to specific months, or one specific month...

 

March is the month with my favourite month name.

I mean, how cool does it sound?

 

MARCH.

 

Although, white rabbits was not the first thing I said today.

The first thing I said today was:

 

"...And we'll get your ears through."

 

 

You're probably thinking: "...WTF MATE."

Well, that's what I said to Gina as I was putting her collar on.

 

She doesn't wear a collar in the house - she only wears it when she's outside or on a lead.

She has big floppy ears, and they'd gotten trapped underneath her collar.

I said that to her gently as I tried to free them.

 

 

 

This is Gina - laid on my parents' bed.

 

She was laid on my bed earlier, when I was cleaning my room. Cheeky cow.

 

Gina isn't our pet - she belongs to a friend of my parents.

They're away in India, so we're looking after her - as we often do when they go away.

 

When we do look after her though, she doesn't eat anything for the first day or two - but once she's accustomed herself to the surroundings, she'll eat something we put down for her.

If we let her eat anything from our hand, or from a plate on the floor - she'll be sick.

 

My parents took her to my nan's earlier - and apparently she was sick on her rug.

 

We were looking after Gina in Christmas of 2006 - and we'd put down a plate of turkey for her.

She ate it as fast as is actually possible - walked about four metres, then chucked it straight back up infront of the front door.

 

It didn't look much different to what it looked like before she'd eaten it.

 

 

When both of my parents are at work, I take Gina for a whizz on the field behind our house.

I've been asked by two of my friends why she squats to pee.

 

Quite simply - because she's a girl.

If you didn't know that - female dogs, or bitches - don't cock their leg to pee.

It's just like us female humans, we don't have a penis to direct our urine spray, so we have to sit or squat.

 

Whizzing in a forest is the worst for a girl - if you ever have to pee behind a tree or a bush in an emergency resort - you have to keep your balance, make sure you don't dall down with your arse in a pile of leaves and dirt - and you have to hold your trousers and pants back, to make sure you don't pee on them.

It's also a common accident to pee on one's shoes.

 

So boys - spare a thought for the females, who cannot aim their yellow expulsion.

 

I liked looking at the snow once Gina had whizzed on it when I took her for a walk on the snow-covered field last year - with a former friend of mine.

 

It was difficult for us both to stand up on the icy pathways, and I was suprised that Gina actually wanted to stay out in such weather - she doesn't like rain, wind, or fireworks.

 

I sat with her one night on bonfire night when we were all around my mam's friend's house for a party.

I was a little afraid myself - mainly because Gina kept looking like she wanted to bite me, although I just wanted to help.

 

 

 

 

Here's an extreme close-up.

- Taken by Adam, this afternoon.

 

Unless you really dislike dogs, I bet you can't stare into her eyes and not say "Awww!"

 

Go on. Try it.

Dixie dares you. :P

 

 

 

            I’m back after taking a little break last week to study for exams and combat the flu.  I passed all my exams and redeemed myself for that disastrous last semester at ECU ten years ago, and now I have only a slight cough I just can’t get rid of.  To celebrate my success and semi-recovery, Angie and I ventured to Raleigh Sunday for an afternoon of theatre.

            We went to Theatre in the Park for Ira David Wood’s annual one-man performance of Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory.  It was a very touching story, and I believe that it was the best theatrical performance I have ever seen.  Since we’re only a week from the day, I thought I’d pull up a memory or two of my own.

            Believe it or not, spending Christmas Day at the police department isn’t that bad.  I spent six of the eight Christmases I was employed with the TPD sitting there in the dispatch center.  Aside from actually being expected to work on Christmas, it was a rather enjoyable day that I could spend the bulk of reading or watching TV.

            Sometime mid-morning, the whole squad would gather in dispatch to exchange gifts with our sergeant.  The first call of the day never came in until around 4, when someone who’d been hitting the booze all day finally had just enough to foul everything up for me and their family.

            I really loved Christmas when I was little.  I always hated kids who insisted there was no Santa Claus, and I still do.  Adults who “don’t want to lie to their kids” are even worse.  I remember being in a church service once when the preacher’s wife proclaimed that Santa Claus did not exist, and then proceeded to assault our ears with her rendition of “Mary Had a Baby.”  I briefly questioned the existence of God, let alone Santa Claus, after listening to her caterwauling, but then I came to my senses.  I don’t think God minds Santa Claus if you keep him in proper perspective.  You’re in the minority; get over it.

            I’ll have you know Santa Claus came to my house every year, and one time there was some red fur on the wood in our fireplace where he had torn his pants.  He left numerous apple cores and orange peels behind on the table where I’d put them out for him.  He even left me a nice letter once explaining why he wasn’t able to leave the toy I’d asked for as proof of his existence for a little jerk in my class.  So what if Santa’s handwriting resembled my mother’s?

            Shame on me, I hated it when Christmas fell on a Sunday and we were expected to go to church, but I did always enjoy the Sunday night services before Christmas when there was a church-wide carol fest.  There were special numbers in addition to congregational singing, and one little girl in my class played the Air Force song on the piano.  Puzzling to me also.

            My family always had our big dinner on Christmas Eve, and then we’d open one gift before going to bed.  We’d get up Christmas Day, open the rest of the presents, and then have country ham biscuits for breakfast.  Sometime after noon, we’d visit the grandparents.

            When I was little, Santa Claus filled a stocking for me at my Granny Lewis’s house too.  She always had a table full of ham and turkey, and every dessert imaginable.  In later years, as the family swelled with in-laws, she just cooked a huge pot of vegetable soup and a few desserts, but truth be told, after stuffing myself with ham and turkey on Christmas Eve, just a month after doing the same on Thanksgiving, the soup was a welcome relief.

            This Christmas will be different.  I’m going to Sparta to see how the in-laws do it.  It’ll be my first Christmas away from Tarboro since 1992, and my first away from home ever.  I went to Sparta a few days after Christmas last year, and I was able to take part in one of their traditions that was right up my alley: going to the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, to see a Christmas play.  Last year we saw It’s a Wonderful Life, and this year we’ll take in another version of A Christmas Carol.  It should be fun.

            Since I’ll be away, I’ll just wish you a Merry Christmas now...and thank you for doing the same.  Don’t wish me Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings.  It’s Christmas.  Have a merry one.

 

© 2007 by J.D. Lewis

Yesterday, The Husband, The Demigoddess and I spent Thanksgiving with Environgirl and her mom and Torridgirl and her mom, MamaJo.  Egirl's mom, Ms. Ruth hosted the dinner at her house. It was very nice visiting with her again. The food was wonderful and I ate myself into a semi-coma.

 

The desserts were out of this world!  I made a pecan pie, Egirl made a fabulous lemon pie and Tgirl baked chocolate chip w/ walnut cookies.  Egirl's mom made two cakes and made her world famous sweet potato pie. I LOVE Ms. Ruth's sweet potato pie!!!! We had a great time watching the Law & Order marathon and Ms. Ruth's favorite soap opera Passions.

 

MamaJo is a sweetheart! She and Torridgirl kept the Demigoddess thoroughly entertained even though they claim it was my kid who kept them entertained.  When they were leaving, my kid was doing the old "grab-hold-to the-ankle-while-pleading-'No'" routine with Torridgirl. They looked so cute hugging on one of the group pictures in the slideshow below.  

 

It's only Thanksgiving, and there are already Christmas decorations in the city. And Duane Reade started selling Christmas stuff the day after Halloween. It's a bit crazy, but now that Turkey Day is done with, I'm ready to get in the Christmas spirit.

 

Thanksgiving, by the way, was awesome. My grandmother hosted it this year, and we had so much food. 2 kinds of stuffing, spoon-bread (Better than corn-bread), a vat of gravy, green beans, corn, soup, ardichoke dip, the list goes on.

 

And the dessert! Oh, oooooh the desert, friggin orgasmic. My grandmother made an apple pie with cranberries and nuts, and a whole crapload of homemade whipped cream on top. Then we had napolean (Not quite sure how to describe it, but it was amazing), and chocolate cream pie, and mountains of homemade cookies.

 

My family is awesome, I love it when we all come together. Me and my dad did more bonding, I think our relationship is definetely improving. He's fun to be with when he's in a good mood. And my brother and sister are home for the break, so that makes it all the more awesome to be in my house.

 

And guess what? OMGFLIBBERGIBBER! My brother brought the X-Box home! AAH! And he's leaving it here because he can't concentrate on schoolwork! So I'm going to have Mass Effect, Assasin's Creed, Guitar Hero 3 and Halo 3 all to myself till Christmas! *Dies*

 

 

Oh! And I need opinions. I'm thinking up a new name for my new mindsay. What do you think of...

 

AppleHeadInc. or Apple-Heads-Annonymous

Here are the first set of Thanksgiving Pictures!  And one picture thrown in for atticsmouse!

 

1.  DeLaney and Coltin messing with their new to them sparring gear!  Thank you Kym and Mike!  The kids are enjoying the gear!  So much they loaded down with it this afternoon and let all their cousin's hit at them and then loaded down their cousin's the same size with it and hit them!

 

2-3.  My kitchen table set for the older kids.  Using my Wedding china, I picked a really common pattern so if I found any similar pieces I could add to it!

 

4-5.  My dinning room table set for the adults.  Using mainly my Blue Willow China that was my great granny's and granny's.  Now that Blue Willow China is so expensive and antique, I thought I would let you all know that our grandparents and great grandparents mostly got their sets from their grocery stores!  I shit you NOT!  This set of mine is a combo from both my grandmother's and they were freebes for buying so much groceries each week!

 

6-8.  Up close picture of my Blue Willow China and my good silverware that I recieved from my Granny (my mom's mom) for my Wedding.  I tried to get a decent picture of the B engraved on the stem.  All 13 grandkids and 7 of the step grandkids recieved a set for their Weddings.  Even the kids who aren't old enough to be married and the ones that aren't married have sets!  Their parents recieved the sets when Granny moved into her apartment, then the nursing home before her death.

 

9-10.  This is the metal table with my Wedding China and my mom's good silverware.  I told her to NOT to bring Great Granny's because my sister would throw a mega fit if she did!  When my mom deciedes to pass her things on, I get the set on this table and my sister get's Great Granny's to go with my mom's good china, since I got granny and great granny's china!

 

11-12.  This is an up close picture of my Wedding China and my mom's silverware.

 

13-18.  These are various pictures of things sat out and cooking before everyone else brought their goodies and food for the fest!  The picture of the pie that looks like pumpkin is actually the sweat patatoe pie that I made for my dad!