Finally, Some Good Stuff!!!

I am very aware that for the past several months, this blog has been nothing but doom and gloom and all kinds of bad news.  Because, in case you didn't read the last post, it's been a really shitty 5 months.

Today's post is not like that at all.  Today's post is full of good things!!!!!  :D  Let's get started, shall we?

My son is with me.  He moved in with me last week.  I've missed this kid a great deal, and now he's back with me, under my roof, under my protection.  I am not going to go into details as to why all of a sudden he had to move back in with me, because it doesn't really matter.  All that matters is that he is here with me!  His birthday is the day after Thanksgiving, so there is extra reason to celebrate.  He requested a red velvet cake for his birthday.  I better get on that.  Also - BONUS!  One of his best friends from high school is now in the Army and is stationed at Ft. Hood which isn't far from me.  He messaged him last night asking if he could come to visit over Thanksgiving as he's got 4 days leave for the holiday.  I'm so glad that he'll be able to come over and visit and that my son will get to spend some time with his friend.  Believe me, I fully understand why friends are important.  Fully.

I am going to see the Phantom of the Opera tomorrow.  I'm going with my friend Denise.  It's a FANCY LADY DATE!  PotO is my favorite musical and I've seen it live a few times, even once on Broadway.  Denise is not a huge fan of musicals in general, so I really appreciate her going with me, since Scott is not a fan at all and wasn't down to go.  We have really great seats for the 2pm matinee tomorrow.  She's fetching me at 11:15, we are headed into downtown to have lunch, see the show, then have a very fancypants dinner afterward.  I'm so excited!!!!  :)  

I am going camping again this weekend.  Because I've been possessed by an alien or something.  I have always claimed that I hated camping.  I've come to realize that it is most likely due to one bad experience as a kid.  When I went over Halloween weekend I had so much fun that I actually came home and bought a damn tent (hahaha, Scott and I set it up in the living room to make sure we could figure out how to set it up....and I'm not going to lie, I kind of wanted to just leave it up as a fort in the living room.  Because I'm still12). We are going to the Renaissance Faire - it's the second to last weekend of the country's largest and best Faire, and the theme this weekend is 'Highland Fling' which is all Scottish themed.  Since Scott is very Scottish, he's very excited to be there.  I ordered him a kilt, but it didn't fit.  Boo.  I didn't have time to get it returned and get a new one in time for this weekend, or else he'd be going full Scottish to the Faire.  He will be still full Scottish (because he is actually fully Scottish), just with pants (and underwear) on.  LOL  

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, my life long hetero partner, Becca, is flying down to spend a week with me.  I am beyond excited about this!  Her and I have both had a really awful year.  We need a week to just love on each other in person.  While I am very excited to see her for any reason, I'm extra excited for her to be here because of the reason she's coming.

MUUUUUUUUUUUSE!  Muse is kicking off their American tour dates with a show here in Houston, on December 1.  I love this band.  And you should too.  LOL  We have great seats (which, for what I paid, we should be sitting in Matt Belamy's lap while they play for pity's sake) so it should be a great show!

 This is where I would have embedded a video of my favorite song of theirs, Butterflies & Hurricanes, but every single one I tried to embed is blocked in my country.  WTH.  Click the link and watch it on Youtube.  :) 

December marks the beginning of my birthday month.  Yes.  Month.  When your birthday falls just 8 days before Christmas, it is all too often just forgotten.  Hell, there have been years where I have forgotten it myself.  Not this year.  This year has been one of the worst I've ever experienced and I recognize that I am lucky to have another birthday this year on Earth, as too many of my people don't have that luxury.  So, it will be a month of celebrations.  Please do contact me for my birthday wish list if you'd care to send a gift!   (hahahah, that was a joke.....maybe)

Christmas is coming!  I do love the holiday.  I wanted to decorate my house on Nov 1, but again this year, like in years past, Scott wouldn't let me.  LOL  I love the holiday for the typical reasons, but there is one other really awesome thing about Christmas for me.  My company shuts down between Christmas and New Years.  That means I get a week off, paid.  It is the BEST.  We are a government contractor (I work for a company that makes airplanes, and it rhymes with "going") and since our customer is shut down, we do too.  I'm not going to lie, part of my stress about potentially being laid off was that I wouldn't get that vacation time somewhere else.  Many ask how we do this, how do we get this paid time off and not have to use our personal vacation time.  It's because we do not take what I call bank/post office holidays.  Presidents Day, Columbus Day, etc.  Those little one day holidays that shut down the banks and post offices.  We don't take them through the year - we save them up and take them all at once at the end of the year.  My ex works in a bank, and he always gloats about having those silly little one day holidays off.  He doesn't gloat when I'm off at the holidays.  For the first time in forever, I believe that Scott will be able to take that same time off work (he's got vacation time he HAS to take), so we can go somewhere.  I'm thinking a run to Corpus Christie for a few days.  It's not a far drive from here.  :)

I made brioche bread this weekend.  From scratch.  And it turned out WONDERFUL.  I've never been good at baking.  I can cook anything and I'm damn good at it.  But baking?  Not so much.  Cooking recipes are kind of a suggestion.  You can change it up as you go along - add more of this, or less of that, to suit your tastes.  Baking is a formula.  You MUST follow the recipe exact or it just doesn't work out well.  I'm much more of a 'coloring outside the lines' kind of cook, so I've historically not been too successful with baking, except for a few absolutely safe and simple things.  So, I took the challenge with brioche.  I've never, ever cooked with yeast and yeast is very persnickety.  You have to bloom it JUST RIGHT.  You have to give it sugar to eat or it won't do what it's supposed to.  I was successful!  I made one loaf and have enough in the freezer to make two more.  I'm very pleased with myself.  If you are interested, here is the recipe I used.  For the record, it calls for 6 ounces of butter.  That is 12 tablespoons.  TWELVE.  It's worth it.

Okay, I think I'm done spewing rainbows and glitter everywhere.  I'm just SO GRATEFUL to have something good to report instead of the recent parade of shitty things. 

The Unbelieveable Suckfest That is 2015 Just Keeps On Rolling

Since my last post, I've lost another dear friend to Heaven and have had some very private and fairly substantial issues with one of my kids. 

Seriously.  This year needs to quit.  Just stop already.  I'm over it. 

My sweet friend Jill, who I met online and had the absolute honor to meet in person, suddenly passed away several weeks ago.  Turns out it was congestive heart failure.  Her sister (they lived together as Jill was helping her sister raise her kids) came home from work to find Jill slumped over her desk in her room. 

Again, like Catherine, rather than dwell on her death, I want to dwell on her LIFE.  Jill was a grammar nazi.  She was a writer.  She was lover of great classic fiction.  She had completed her bachelors degree and had moved on to her Masters program in romantic literature (I think....).  She was writing a childrens book, and editing a book for our friend Cher.  (FYI, Cher was asked to finish the book Jill had started - she was verklempt and honored at being asked to do this)  She was absolutely obsessed in love with her niece and twin nephews, spoiling them rotten - but being mean Auntie Sue when she needed to.  She was a quiet person, preferring to sit back and observe everyone around her.  She was smart, she was witty.  She was hands down hilarious.  I miss her terribly. 

In a weeks long group discussion thread on Facebook Messenger with all the people who love Jill (affectionately referred to as The Family), suddenly, one of the group came up with many, many photos of Jill from a phenomenal house party in Kentucky 6 years ago.  It was seriously the best party I have ever been to.  As I was scrolling through the photos, I was stopped cold in my tracks, wind knocked out of me. 

That is Jill in blue behind me, I have my hand on Catherine's shoulder, and to my right is Laci (yes, my shirt says "Loud Bitch" - and yes, there is story behind that).   

In this one picture are two of my very dear friends, both of whom passed away this summer/fall, both of whom were way too young (in their 40s).  I still can't even wrap my brain around it, I really can't.  Since June, loss experienced by me or my friends/fam (framily) numbers 7.  SEVEN.  This number wouldn't be shocking if I was, say, 75 years old.  I'm not.  I'm 45 years old.

So, since this year has truly and thoroughly sucked for so many people, I created a Facebook event - a virtual party for New Years Eve, so we can all get together, chat, laugh, and try like hell to create some positive mojo for 2016 as we give 2015 a giant and collective middle finger. 

We have all had it with your bullshit 2015. 
We are over it.   Bye Felicia!