Let’s see… Tuesday the 22nd was my brother’s birthday. I bought dinner for him that night as well as for my parents. The total wasn’t that bad. I don’t remember Wednesday at all. Thursday was Christmas Eve. Dad got to take off at noon that day. We went to the grocery store and got some things needed for Christmas dinner and dad bought a gift for my eldest brother.
Christmas day both my parents were home. It felt like a Sunday to me. My parents went to church and then the rest of the day was just piddling around. The only difference from it and a weekend day was that Christmas music was playing and dinner was being prepared.
Things changed around four when the cooking was finishing up though. The only ones here on Christmas was my parents, my brother and me. My eldest brother couldn’t make it. My sister was supposed to come on Christmas Eve, but she wound up getting sick and also had to work on Christmas.
Well, what family was here ate turkey, ham, corn, mashed potatoes, rolls, some sort of sweet potato recipe and cranberry sauce. I just ate the carbohydrates minus the sweet potatoes. After that the dogs got some turkey and so did the cats. I let my cat also have some ham.
Well, I worked on cleaning the dishes after that while the others put away food. When such was accomplished we decided to open presents. So we all gathered round and my brother was the sorted as usual… unless of course my dad decides to do it.
My dad got some rewrapped gifts. One was a speaker my mom bought for herself one year. The other was a Zune player he got for her last Christmas. Yes, we are poor. From my brother he got a set of pajamas and from me he got a little truck that was themed with black lab retrievers.
Mom meanwhile got a gift for a friend. It was of an angel. She then opened my present, which was a cardinal-themed music box. After that was her present from Dad, which was a pendant from James Avery. Her ultimate gift was the computer dad and I bought. She felt bad for giving Dad recycled gifts and burst out crying over the fact that we got it for her when money has been so tight this year. It was all good though.
My brother Travis got two gifts. I got him a razor/mustache trimmer and that is what he wanted. Mom put a small note i a box that said she’d get him two pairs of jeans. Such is necessary since shopping for him requires him to be there to get the right size.
As for me, I got a blanket to put on my bed and a hoodie that I asked for birthday-wise.
Well, after all that my brother and father worked on setting up Mom’s new laptop. I watched some, fiddled on my own computer some and watched TV during this. Mom got the sewing room ready so she could keep the computer I there.
Dad went to bed around eight. My brother finished up perfecting Mom’s computer around nine and left after that. Mom fiddled with her computer and I went to bed in between the time my brother left and she went to bed. Such was again around nine.
Saturday… It was pretty normal only I didn’t have to get up to get groceries with my dad. I was dead to the world until around noon. Yes, I was that tired.
Anyway, at one or so my eldest brother his girlfriend and her parents were supposed to come down to celebrate Christmas since they couldn’t come the day before. Throughout the week we had been cleaning up the place more than usual and my mom was getting some anxiety attacks. Earlier this month she got a prescription from her doctor for anti-anxiety pills to help her out these past months.
Well, in the end my brother and his girlfriend didn’t bring her parents. They brought her sister and a mutual friend. I didn’t socialize much this time around and often hid out in my room. There wasn’t much space for everyone to be together in the same room anyway.
My brother got us gifts. He gave my mom a book, my dad and CD and my brother a DVD of music. For me he got a book. It is the graphic novel version of Neverwhere. That was cool. I hope to read it at some point when I have the energy and will for it. Yeah, I’m tired.
Anyway, we ate a late lunch around one-thirty or two. Rice from the box had been cooked – Spanish flavor – and my parents had ordered tamales and enchiladas earlier. With chips and dips for appetizers, we all ate a pretty good meal. Since there wasn’t enough room at the dining room table, my brother and I volunteered to eat elsewhere. I had cheese enchiladas and rice. It was good.
After that I got to cleaning the dishes and the others gathered in the living room to talk and such. when done cleaning I sat in there with them for a while, but soon enough retreated to my room. The time I came out our guests had just left. There were more dishes for me, so I tackled them. My eldest brother did forget to give my parents something though, so when he dropped by briefly I hugged him goodbye. Then I finished the dishes.
I don’t really remember the rest of the night after that. I think i went to bed around twelve though…
Sunday, my dad woke me up at eight-thirty. Today we’d be doing out grocery shopping. Well, I got up, took a shower and ate breakfast. When that was done we left.
The list was shorter than usual, to my great relief. So, we got the things on Mom’s list. My dad apparently had another list as well… he was going to make a meat pie. I lack interest in that.
Well, we finished shopping, went to the checkout line and waited for things to be rung up. I saw a Salvation Army donation stub, so I added three dollars to that. I’m a sucker for the SA.
I was pretty out of it during the whole expedition because I usually require two more hours of sleep than what I got. I think when I sleep my mind goes into over drive – hence all my dreams. So, when I sleep it brings up millions of dreams to get rid of all the crap from the day before. So, when I haven’t had enough sleep, it means my mind still needs to get rid of subconscious crap. Therefore, when putting up groceries came to an end… I collapsed and slept.
I woke again around one, played on the computer and did some chores. My dad helped me make some fries via the oven. I ate that and just fiddled the rest of the day.
Anyway, I’m still out of it, so I am ending this here. Sigh, holidays drain me… Whoo.

My dad woke up this morning to find our refrigerator died. Later it was found out that the home warranty didn’t cover it. We still have a dead refrigerator. Computer, TV and now the fridge… All of this occurs in one month… Sigh.

Friday I woke up briefly to eat breakfast and do a bit of chores. My legs were bloody stiff, so walking was awkward. Later, I wound up dosing. I’m not sure what the time was when we left, but we hit the road for a town not too far away from where we live and there my mom would treat me to a meal and we’d shop a bit. Well, she’d shop a bit. We stop by there each December so she can get some Christmas shopping done.
We stopped by a quilt store… I think it was called Linen-n-More, a place called Hen Feathers, crossed the street and checked out as store called The Back Porch, after that we went to Remember Me, Too and a shop called Grasshopper and Wild Honey. When Mom got all the things she needed, we head back up the street and then ate lunch at a German style restaurant called Der Lindenbaum. I got my birthday meal of German potato salad and my mom got her helping of soup and salad. After that, I mentioned making gingerbread cookies this year. I’ve never had them and we’ve never made them… so we stopped by a place with a German name that translated to “The Kitchen”. It was a particularly big place! We managed to find cat and boy cookie cutter shapes and Mom got some sort of nut thing. After that we headed for home.
Once home we unpacked the few bags and settled down a bit. At four I had an appointment to see Wynne. We left for that soon enough and it was basically small talk. We left around four forty-five then and stopped by a store so I could get myself some more water and Mom got herself some popcorn. We got back home around five then.
Dad came home after that and we settled down in the sewing room. I learned earlier in the day that my sister was going to stop by to stay the night. Yes, she would arrive back from Hawaii.
Well, soon enough she arrives. She unloads and then shows us some souvenirs she brought back as well as talks about how her trip went. I was tired, so I didn’t pay much mind.
After that it was decided that the night would become a movie night. Yes, that was what the popcorn was for, but my sister made some homemade kind for us. So, once we got the DVD player all set and the popcorn was cooked we went to the living room and watched The Sandlot. I hadn’t seen the movie since forever, so I caught onto some things I didn’t back when I was a kid. It was pretty okay.
When all of that was over we went our own ways. Mom and I cleaned up the mess my sister left from her cooking. After that Mom headed to the sewing room again to watch some TV and my dad went to bed. I followed his lead. I was tired and by then my legs were dead.
The next morning I got up to eat some breakfast. My legs were killing me. Walking on hard concrete at a considerable pace Thursday and then walking on concrete sidewalks Friday… my calves were tense. I decided it was now time to resort to heat since massaging them last night didn’t work.
So, my mom produces a heating pad for me and I make use of it. I of course wind up falling asleep again. It is eleven thirty when I wake up again. It is time to get groceries. I get up but my legs are stills tiff and my dad sees me stumble/hobble. It is determined… going to get groceries would be troublesome. So, I stayed home.
I ate some lunch then and did some chores once that was accomplished. I spent the rest of the day mostly in my room. I did help put up groceries when Dad got back though.
Around four my sister was taking a shower and screamed about cold water… I was out of it, so I didn’t really pay attention. There was more yelling from her later. I found out she intended to leave for somewhere, claimed she told us and needed a map to find the place. Dad tried to print the map out from his computer but something was wrong with the printer. Well, this put my dad in a sour mood so they “fought” and then my sister just left. I spent more time in my room.
Within the hour from then to six, Mom washed the dog, my brother came over and he and Dad started watching TV and I fixed myself some dinner and cleaned dishes.
I went to bed around seven because functioning was really difficult by then. I woke again around ten or so and have just been piddling on the computer. Whoo.

Well, Thursday was quite a day for getting lost. My mom and I got ready early morning… we took our showers, ate our breakfasts and got things ready. We left around a quarter after eight and hit the road. I had gotten around five hours of sleep the night before, so I dozed off. When I woke again, we were in the location we were supposed to be… My mom just couldn’t find the mall. You can’t blame her either, the roads were named more than once and trying to get onto an overpass highway that an underpass we are coming in on was almost impossible and the mall lacked a sign that stood out. Basically you had to turn into a small drive and when you came to the end of it was the sign for the mall… no sign for the highway. Oi.
Okay, so we get the mall. It is fifteen minutes past my mom’s appointment, so we figure she’s been booted off. Well, we look for the salon. We entered into the upper level, so we had to get the lower and after a bit of searching we got the hair salon and to my mother’s luck, they took her.
Well, since I had never been there before, I figured the hour in waiting, moseying about wouldn’t hurt. I found the GAP, but the jean prices were… well, I’m sure they were normal for them, but I was leery. I later found the Bath and Body Works and I managed to get my sister and my brother’s girlfriend their gifts. After that it was time to return.
I had five minutes left until my appointment so I simply dropped my stuff by my mom, who was getting her hair highlighted. I talked with her a bit and soon enough I was called.
I got my hair washed and then met Jillian. I am bad at explaining what I wanted, but she apparently understood because she cut my hair pretty damn well. With a few adjustments in the end, I was soon out of there. I bought some shampoo since I haven’t done that in a long time and left her a tip. I was bloody surprised at how much my haircut cost. It was the cheapest it has ever been for me in a long time.
Well, I grabbed my bag, left the shopping stuff with my mom and headed out again since she would still be a while. I looked for stores that went beyond necessity that time. In the end, I found they had no bookstore! That was sad. They had gift stores for pens, calendars, crystal and customized gifts… they even had Earthbound – I had no time to check in there though. I found no bookstore.
I did find a Hallmark store and looked around for the novelty of it. I saw a lot of redbird/cardinal things and thought my mom would like to look at them. Looking at the time then, I decided to see her progress. Upon my return, she was just getting out of the salon chair. She got some hair supplies and paid for her haircut. We then headed out.
It was around one thirty then, so we stopped for lunch. Across the way from the parking lot area we chose was a Mexican restaurant. We ate lunch there. Mom and I got an enchilada and tostada combination plate. She had a spinach enchilada and I had a cheese one. We both agreed their enchiladas were superb and likely the best we ever had. The rice was pretty good too, but I like flavored rice to be it bit milder. The tostada wasn’t that bad either. Anyway it was a very good meal.
After that we had two hours we could kill. So, we went back to the mall. I told Mom about some areas. After getting an idea down as to where we needed to go, we stopped by a department store to get me some jeans. Mom bought me two pairs for my birthday. After that we looked to see if she could find a 2009 bear – a Christmas tradition. Mom couldn’t find one, sadly. We then looked for a Swarovski shop and she browsed a bit. They had nothing that really suited her though… and I doubt we had the money for that either.
We then looked for a calendar shop we saw mentioned on the directory. Finding the place we went in and my mom bought herself an Irish Setter calendar and got a Labrador Retriever one for my dad. With those things checked off, I showed Mom the things in Hallmark. She got an ornament and a snow globe… Alas, the snow globe got broken later on. We were leaving a bathroom and she was switching her bags around. She thought she had the bag holding the Hallmark stuff around her wrist. It was not around her wrist. The bag fell and the Snow globe broke. Luckily the globe itself didn’t break. The porcelain/ceramic/whatever base did. So, we have a globe without a base. I took the globe and stuck it into my bag for safe keeping then.
After all of that we decided to leave. Ironically, despite all the places we went to, the mall was still a maze to us and even with the directory we got lost. We’d be near an area, but with how the place is constructed, you think an area should be closer than it is. It was very annoying… So, we spent a good time trying to figure out how to get back to the place we parked. Well, we finally found Eye Master’s which was a store my mom remembered seeing as we came in… Finding that we found our exit.
It was around three thirty to four then, I think. Well, we had just as much trouble leaving the place as we did entering. Mom went up one route, realized she was supposed to go the opposite way, got on that route, had to go the opposite way again, but likely a different side… We got out of there maybe around five. Sigh… Well, once it was determined we were on the right track again, I dosed off.
I’m guessing the trip was smooth sailing after that. We stopped two times… one for drinks and another to fill up the car. Eventually we arrived home. I think it was around seven by then, but I am not sure…
Anyway it was quite a day.
The rest of the evening was spent watching television. I was surprised Mom even wanted to watch, but I obliged. We watched Law and Order, Bones and a CSI: Las Vegas. We both ate dinner during this and things mellowed down.
It is now a little after ten thirty. I plan to go to bed soon, but will wrap up some of the gifts I’ve managed to get this year. The only person I have left to get a gift for is my brother. I plan to get it this weekend.
Anyway… tomorrow I’ll be busy again. Mom plans to take me out for a meal and then she will do a bit of Christmas shopping. After that my birthday will come up this weekend and I need to check with my mom on when I’ll be seeing Dr. Wynne… My brother’s birthday will be coming up soon and before you know it Christmas will be here. Boy what a month! Sigh…

Well, nothing much comes to mind for the rest of last week since I was bedridden most of it. It might have been Friday or sometime later during the weekend, but my sister took a trip out to Hawaii. She stayed there for the length of maybe a work week.
Saturday morning, I found my computer wouldn’t turn on. My dad took a look at it… in the end it was likely the power supply or the motherboard. Well, trying to track down the right parts for it seemed a hassle and the RAM to it was the minimum my processor required, so my computer ran slow. Therefore, after my dad and I got groceries, we stopped and got me a new computer. My dad and I spit the cost. Later when he gets my mom something, I’ll split the cost of that with him.
So… Saturday was mainly spent on getting my new computer fixed to how I wanted it as well as restore all the things I lost on my own computer. Yay for backup drives. Still, it has Windows 7 on it, so it took a bit to get used to it and there are some things about it that still are a bit odd to me, but I’m getting better.
After that I collapsed and slept for four hours. Now, I’m not quite sure, but it might have been that evening or Sunday evening when my mom and brother went out to get a new TV. Yes, the TV we had was dying on us… but it was twenty years old, so it held out well. So yeah, the TV my mom bought was a bit cheaper than my computer. I commented that getting Christmas gifts this year seemed unnecessary.
Sunday… I really don’t remember it. I did see how the new TV worked though… it was interesting. I don’t see what is so amazing about HD channels though. Well, okay, I can, but there are drawbacks in regards to how the channel will show up color wise. One was basically all yellow. Bleh.
Monday to the end of this week my mom has off. So, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday she has been off so far. Despite I’ve seen her this past week more than I usually would, I still didn’t see her much. why? Because it is only recently has my head finally felt near normal again. Yes, the surgery to get my wisdom teeth out had lasting effect pain wise. I believe today was the first day I was able to get through the day with no aid of mild pain relievers. I did sleep quite a bit still, but I can say I’m doing good now.
Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be getting up early and such. It will be haircut day. The trip to the place should be a bit shorter than usual… like thirty minute to an hour… I’m not sure… either way, it will still be a decent length trip. Also, we’ve never been to this mall before, so we will have to get “acquainted” with it. It will be odd. I’ll also be with a stylist I’ve never met before… I can only hope she cuts my hair right.
Well, nothing much comes to mind, but then again… not much comes to my mind these days anyway. Paying attention sort of… no longer occurs in me like it used too.
Anyway, While gone tomorrow I’m hoping to get a present for my sister and my eldest brother’s girlfriend. Add in the hair cut and the gift I intend to get my other brother… That will hopefully only be in the range of two-hundred. There is also the mortgage… so that will be about seven-hundred… and then there is helping my dad out with getting my mom’s gift… that might be nine fifty… Groceries…
Sigh… I’ll be cutting it close this month… Good luck to me. *Crosses fingers*