Hateful Eight(-y million dishes)

Had five days off and it doesn't feel like it.
Hosting family (dad's attention span has gotten worse), then tornadoes and sick husband - really it feels like I spent the days washing dishes and running errands.

I didn't go out to watch the skies this time - it sounded like the cold/warm air line converged right over the house in the strangest cacophony of thunder I've ever heard (even in other tornadoes).

Watched in on the news and alerts on phones seemingly coming right towards the house... I mean there's no amount of hiding in the bathtub that can counter winds strong enough to rip houses off their foundations and toss cars around like toys 20 miles away from your house....smh scary.

Not that we were going anywhere that day anyway. Jamie got the norovirus - nothing you can do about that either...just keep forcing gatorade/liquids, use disinfectant and hope I don't get it. It's still strange to me how different Jamie and I are when we get sick. He wants to be catered to and loved. I'm a snarling misery and will snap at anyone that dares come near me. 

Did finish the Hathaway series - yes good!
Saw The Big Short - another (eye opener) good one. Great acting. Was forced to sit in the front row cause it was sold out. .
I lasted about an hour...it made me sick. (Well the movie's premise made me sick too Again...I don't understand how that was allowed to happen. ) but sitting so close made me sick so I stood in the hallway and watched. 

Going to see Hateful Eight "in a special screen" ...(whatever that means) tonight. Lets see what Tarantino craziness ensues...sometimes it's a little much.

Re-read KHiggins, In Your Dreams, in anticipation for her new one tomorrow.

Then we're doing our NYday open house party. Oy....more dishes.

Really though...honestly I'm not going to complain about being able to invite friends/family over to a house that's still standing and provide them with food and drinks and find out how they really are in person, when other (many) people aren't as blessed or able. So I'll shut my mouth now. Later. 

Round 1 - (the Mother round) of family Christmas time came and went.

We walked around DT Dallas, cause why not. It was nice outside. It's changed a lot down there.
Then Jamie made her get emotional seemingly out of no where - especially cause she's not an emotional person.

Apparently she has some regrets on her parenting.

It's strange...ours isn't anywhere near what it seems everyone else's mother/daughter relationship is
Now that I'm older -  I see how that's not altogether a bad thing.
It just is what it is.
I don't see any need to look back and have regrets. Besides I'm turning out pretty good I think.

Regardless... (besides that) nobody got upset - overall I call it a success.

Round 2 - (the Father round) starts tomorrow.
Then round 3 - The Inlaws. We'll see.

Just finished the 3rd book of LKleypas' Hathaway series. The first two were better but I'm still really enjoying it. I'd like to read more about the Romani people mentioned, interesting...

In a Reckless mood!

slowly *awkwardly* back out

So yes - adding NAMI for my list of donations. Everyone should know about them. Even a little help is better than nothing.

It's not just mental illness though...somethings in retrograde or something...
Walked into the bathroom at work this morning to find a lady sobbing.
I slowly *awkwardly* back out telling her "I hope you're ok and I'll leave you alone".
She tells me its alright, for me to come in - like I'm gonna pee in the middle of her sobfest!

Oy.
And so Christmas time round-up begins tonight with my mom coming into town...we'll see how that goes. I think she's already in a mood cause we're not going her way.
I just think 3 times in a year to Houston is more than fair.

Bought and reading Lisa Kleypas' Hathaway series - liking it so far.

mental health is an issue

It can't just be me noticing that this time of year exacerbates mental illness symptoms?

I'd never dealt with serious mental illness until the last year or so.

It's a constant roller coaster of emotions. Right now? - honestly all I want to do is hog tie her and haul her off to get help that she obviously needs.

Psychotic episodes are "heart attacks of the brain", waiting it out isn't going to work.Shrugging shoulders and saying "I don't know what to do." solves nothing. 

There's a connection to the National Alliance (?) of Mental Illness... it might be a lifeline?  we'll see...

"Perhaps readers would be surprised to learn that one in four American adults experiences mental illness in any given year. That's 61.5 million people, with about 13.6 million of them experiencing a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder. Take into account all the loved ones and friends impacted by someone with a serious mental illness, and you begin to have a real feel for just how many people are living with the effects of mental illness."

different kind of hold

another book lull. And really I think I'm in a job lull too.
I'm just worn out on the business of advertising thing. I've been in it too long.

I don't think I've ever seen it this bad in the market anyway.
Maybe cause we're heading into an election year? Maybe people are tired of the status quo?

Really though.... if I never hear these words again:
competitive rates, ROI, rfp, immersive feature, target placements, low hanging fruit
I think I'd be ok.

I wish I could get paid to read romance novels.
or I could be a romance author's social media gal! That'd be fun!

Speaking of fun. My Christmas card is getting rave reviews. I knew it.
Jamie still doesn't like it - he always wants nice and neat and pretty.
Maybe not always though...he did marry me. HA.
I just get so bored with pretty and... "sameness" all the time. boring boring boring.

Saw Chris Knight on Friday. Good friends, good times, good show -  as always.

Been a long time that I heard someone new (not sure how new he is) that I liked.
Found it in Cole Risner...the opening band - he's got, what sounds to me,  like a slight Whiskeytown sound. I dig it.

you led me the wrong way

plans to visit the UK next year are dwindling - flight rates are ridiculous.
AA was advertising "cheap flights to London!"
...umm no.
I keep itineraries to what we paid for Ireland and Spain. No way are we paying double.

I'm gonna hang on a bit but I can't wait much longer before we have to make the decision to change plans. Such a  bummer...I have it all planned out.

And so...we saw "Spotlight" and like Jamie said..it's like we got through watching a movie on the holocaust or a world war.

I remember hearing about this story when it broke - still...I had no idea the magnitude of abuse.
I'm disgusted and, not that I've considered myself Catholic in a very long while, but I remember some good things about being raised Catholic. It makes me sad.

and really though...it's one thing those that do horrific/contradictory things in the "name of their religion" for whatever selfish reason.
It's another when those that are ordained to represent a religion, corrupt it insidiously like that
and then are internally repetitively assisted in doing it!
oy..i'm depressed just thinking about it.

Finished reading Ward's Blood Kiss - I liked it!! loved that it was just two story lines with all the other characters appearing peripherally. It read much better.
I've started on a sci-fi one...slow going but not because it's bad -  think it's just cause i'm still stuck in Ward's book.

In a Micky&the Motorcars mood

Lucia in the sky (or Dallas) w/ pork chops

Lots of conversation over meals this weekend @ Whiskey Cake, Smoke, Lucia and Blind Butcher.
Lucia was really good!
Will we go back?...probably not.
They didn't serve cocktails, Italian food lands lower on our list of "go to's" and the pork chop was better at Blind Butcher. Still...good! just not sure it's worth the difficulty to get in? And definitely a wiser choice to uber to Bishop Arts district. Parking is even worse than I remember.  

we met up with one of Jamie's co-workers. Just turned 30, single gal...and on a meat only diet cause she said she'd gained 15 pounds over a year.
This was basically her expression:

well....welcome to the club honey! Yet another life lesson no one really tells you about.
Gals...beware ages 28-30 - your body's metabolism hits a bitch zone like you wouldn't believe. 
Pretty much everyone I know has this same story to tell.

Jamie found a "skirt" (non-skirt) that he'd bought me at one of those "sexy stores" a very long time ago. He wouldn't let me throw it away - I had to show him how it wouldn't even go over my hips anymore. ha!

Oh well I can still hold my own....I'll let him keep it for the memento. 

Also, I find it so interesting how many single girls and how few single men I know?
Where are they hiding? Seriously?
I told her if I was single my best guess would be to go to hockey games more often - less of a chance to find pansy ass men there in my opinion. What do I know though...I think women are ruining men with unrealistic expectations and men are ruining themselves by letting them. 

Finished a Tessa Dare book - When a Scot Ties the Knot -  another one that was just ok. Lost interest in another of hers real quick.

I'm about a quarter of the way through Ward's newest BDB Blood Kiss. Good! - it's like the older ones.

i'm irate

I'm in a mood and I can't decide if it's all the mass shootings, my family driving me crazy about Christmas already or last night my husband (nonchalantly) saying he's still kept contact with an ex-girlfriend.

The shootings (...and perhaps it's because I was raised with guns in the house AND I'm from Texas where pretty much the majority of the people I know own guns)
I can't help but think that if some of those people had guns to protect themselves the crazy people shooting at them wouldn't have had free reign to terrorize to that extent.

Then another side of me thinks about what a dutchman said to me over dinner in Amsterdam a couple years ago. 
He said "Can you tell me why Americans have guns? Why do you have to kill people to protect yourselves?" and it wasn't so much the question as an eye opener that a big part of the rest of the world can't fathom anyone ever resorting to that violence. It does make one wonder why. 

Moving on...Christmas is already a problem. It drives me bonkers the odd "perfect family" expectations and guilt weirdness that happens for a mass marketed "holiday". Wasn't Jesus Christ purported to've been born in the Spring for cryin' out loud!?

Then my husband - he looked at me like he was baffled that I might take exception about him communicating with his ex-girlfriend.

Honestly... I think he's an intelligent, caring, thoughtful man.
He'd never run around on me - but for the life of me I can't understand how asinine he can be some times!? Or maybe not asinine...maybe... unthinking about how I might feel says it better.

It's not even him I worry about - I know women. I am a woman. They're a million times more devious than men.

This calls for Old 97's...cause I'm irate

Oh and I finished Sweet Ruin. She writes a good story (as most always). Never got bored. Loved the leads. 1 of the 2 authors I'll pay $15 for an ebook for. $15 though...!!! ugh... *smh*

new orleans travel and yum and love

New Orleans. ahhh NOLA ..."My heart is, and ever will be, yours" 

The fact remains...I keep thinking that I'll get tired of it but it never happens.

we got caught in a whirlwind of food and (mostly cocktails) hop around old and new of Uptown/Quarter/Frenchmen's St. -
Old 77 Hotel / Compere Lapin for Jamie's cocktail love affair (thanks Zach and Abigail, our barkeeps). Didn't realize that Nina from Top Chef is the head chef here. She should've won. Good feel we'll be back again.
Cane and Table - good old-timey feel in here. Cocktails well crafted (thanks Sam!). Got a bit more of the tourist vibe though...maybe with it being across from the French market?

Mr. B's cocktails yes (thanks Brian). Their bbq shrimp fell down our list this time though. Looking across the street, the Carousel bar was madness. Everyone's caught on looks like - No thank you. 
R'evolution, French 75, Kingfish (thanks Adrienne) met expectations. I'm officially over mezcal drinks though.
Annadelle's Plantation in Covington across Pontchartrain. Old school southern fare. Good!

And by the powdered sugar on my face (and most everywhere else)

I deem New Orleans Coffee & Beignet (mm doughy goodness) AND Cafe Beignet (light crispyness yum) MUCH better than Cafe du Monde. I'll never go back there again. Cafe du Monde is dead to me.

Not mean though...more like this...(cause it still is pretty good). 

Liuzza's by the track though...holy moly...even better shrimp poboys than we remembered.
Love. I mean...love LOVE.

speaking of love. My dad called me the other day asking what I thought about him asking his latest girlfriend to marry him. He used words like "i'm getting older", "we're good together"
Nothing about love but...well I guess after all his rollercoasters of relationships there comes a time where caring and contentment is enough.
I'm not sure why he asked what I thought...I just hope that he's happy.

before I forget.....
Sarah MacLean's The Season - usually love the childhood friends to love but this time not so much - she's gotten so much better at writing stories since this book.
G Showalters - The Hotter You Burn - ...the whole "rags to riches because of the playboy who falls in love and saves me" is just bleh. Don't think I'm going back to this series...I'm putting all my patience in with her LOTU books.

Kresley Cole's new one is out today....I'm going to buy it but...I'm not as excited as I used to be. I think after seeing her at the rt convention I'm a little less crazy about her. I bet she was exhausted. (I was after 2 hours no way could i do a full week)....but still.

and so today is Giving Tuesday. I hope I know people who gave today. It makes you feel better...it really does!