What a difference a week makes.

Happy F.A.T Day eveyone! (the Friday After Thanksgiving). It's been a week since my last post, so I guess I'll go backwards.

TODAY:
It's nearly 2 pm, and I'm still in my pajamas. Not hungover. Just lazy. The U.T. game comes on in a bit, and I guess I'll sit my big ass on the couch and watch it. Or maybe not. I'm sort of brain dead for no apparent reason. I have no Thanksgiving leftovers (damnit), so of course, I'm craving a turkey sandwich and some stuffing more than you can imagine. And a bloody mary. I could handle one of those. But the reality of it is that I'll most likely have popcorn and a beer or two. Lame City, U.S.A.

THANKSGIVING:
Mom got here about 3:30 on Wednesday. Man, was it good to see her. She brought a bunch of old photos of my grandmother's she'd discovered when her stepfather passed away a couple of weeks ago. My mom and her sisters went over to his house to clean out the little bit of stuff of my grandmother's that remained there (she died in 1999), and found this big bunch of photos from their childhood, most of which I'd never laid eyes on. We went through them, and they're so wonderful. My grandmother was a stone cold fox in the forties. My grandfather was very handsome. And my mom was simply adorable as a child. It was so nice to look through them with her. We went to an early dinner and then watched "Elf," which neither one of us had ever seen. Very funny. Will Ferrel is such a ginormous goofball. Just thinking about him makes me smile.
Thanksgiving lunch at the Driskill was pretty damn sweet. They had this amazing "buffet room" set up next to the mezzanine where all the dining tables were set up. Tons of salads, meats, sides and desserts to choose from. I think the best thing I had was this miniature apple struedel pie. It just tasted like the holidays. We ate until we were blue in the face.
Mom kept getting calls on her cell phone from the nursing home that Roy has been moved into. They moved him on Tuesday, so he has been even more disoriented and aggitated than usual. Mom had hoped to stay until tomorrow (Saturday), but decided to leave today when she got a call last night that Roy had tried to get out of bed and walk on his own (something he hasn't been able to do in 5 months). He'd fallen and was banged up. And they were having difficulty getting his ventilator hooked up. So she left really early this morning to get home and see about him. I'm upset that our time together was so short, but I understand her wanting to go take care of things. Such is our lives now.

VEGAS:
The trip to Las Vegas was fun, but pretty low key. The weather was cold and rainy most of the time we were there. We casino hopped, gambled, drank, ate, shopped and people watched. We didn't go to the Liberace museum (dang it), but we had a full couple of days of going and doing. We ate some good food: RA Sushi and Zefferino's were the two best. And I lost every cent I took to gamble with, which sucks. I even hit the ATM machine...twice...thinking, "surely my luck is going to change," but alas, it didn't. Even though I tried slots, craps and roulette, at a variety of casinos (everything from the Bellagio to the Frontier) nothing was working for me. Oh, and we saw 9 brides cruising around in their wedding gowns during our trip. Very surreal.

ADOPTION:
Well, it's on. My flight to Vladivostok is booked. My travel Visa application is in D.C. I leave for Russia on December 12th--a little over two weeks away. To say that I'm freaking out is the biggest understatement ever. I am on an emotional roller coaster like I've never experienced--one minute, excited beyond belief, the next, crying because I'm so terrified. I can't believe I'm having to take this trip by myself. I'm not sleeping worth a damn, and my stomach is constantly upset. I know it's all going to be worth it...a real character builder...an experience I'll never forget. But still. I'm losing my mind with all of the preparation that has to be made for this trip, and then once I get back, the preparaton for the baby's arrival. It's like super-turbo-hyper pregnancy.
My God, I can't wait to lay eyes on her.