Good Bye In-Laws

D's parents arrived (with a splash, if you read that blog!) on Wednesday December 17, and have been here ever since. They left Friday (Jan2) morning to head back to the midwest until their next visit, possibly for M's birthday next year.

The snow and weather situation made their visit a bit frustrating as we were all snowed in for essentially 2 weeks, then by the time we could get out and about, we were all done and ready to head for the hills.

Don't get me wrong, I love my in-laws, but being in that close of quarters with ANYONE for that long will make you stir crazy. Perhaps had we been able to get out and do, well, ANYTHING, things would have been less strained, but as it was we made the best of what we had.

New Year's Day was their last day here, so we decided to spend the day together doing whatever. My plan was to park my buns on the chair and cross stitch, but we all know what happens when we plan for something...

M slept till 10-11, so I did as well (bummer, I know!), then we headed over to Mom's house to see what was going on. D and his parents were reviewing the pictures from his trip to Poland in May and Mom was getting ready to go to work at 2 (an unfortunate shift of 2-11:30 on New Years Day). After we got there, the Poland pix were finished and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was put on to watch. D got his Indiana Jones hat, and his Dad has one as well, so they intermittently wore their hats, or allowed M to wear them (several cute pictures were taken and may be posted if I get to it).

Mom had written out the instructions on how to make the saurkraut and pork for dinner (I've never made it on my own as Mom has always been around to do it), so as soon as she left for work, I began. M did not want to help out, so I was on my own, which was perfectly fine with me! I got the pork seasoned and seered and in the pan along with the saurkraut, and all went into the oven for 2 1/2 hours.

My plan (again, here I go making plans!) was to have dinner at 5:30, then take Mom a plate for her 6:30 dinner break. Well, dinner came out of the oven just in time for me to put it on the table and hit the road with Mom's dinner while everyone else was eating. The look on Mom's face made this well worth it! Saurkraut and pork is a traditional New Year's Day dinner in our house - not sure if it's a Polish thing, an Italian thing, or a random family thing, but it's our tradition and the idea being that eating it will bring good luck for the upcoming year. Mom had asked me to leave her a plate in the fridge so she could at least have a bite before midnite. As far as I was concerned, that was unacceptable! Thus, the plan to deliver her dinner.

Upon my return from the dinner drop-off, I sat down and ate my own dinner. D was kind enough to have only eaten some of his own dinner the first go round, so had some to eat with me. Everyone else had moved on to dessert, though, which D kindly (or not so kindly, depending on your perception) asked them to wait to eat until I was done eating. I had very little appetite as I'd been feeling pretty sick all day and was fairly wiped out in general, but did get my saurkraut and pork in so 2009 should rock! Unfortunately, the pork didn't rock so much - I thought it was quite dry, but for my first try it wasn't too bad. Next year it will be better...(because hopefully Mom won't have to work and will make it again!).

After dinner I was sent home as I needed to get to bed. I'm not sure if I've covered this, but my previous sinus infection decided to morph into a heinous cough which was wiping me out. Between my "dates" with M, and the holidays, I hadn't gotten in to see the doctor for it so was just pushing along as best as I could - and not doing so bad, actually, but was ready to pass out by the time I finished dinner, thus the sending home to bed.

On the 2nd, we got up early and went over to say goodbye to the in-laws. Their plane was leaving at 12:05, so they were leaving at 8ish to allow for time through security (D's dad takes a little longer with his Parkinson's and such) and a little shopping at the airport. As soon as they drove off, M headed back up to bed, I laid on the couch, and Mom got ready for her doctor's appt. I managed to get an appt at 11:15, so got a nap before I had to go to that. Luckily the doctor wanted to avoid more antibiotics at this time (although she wrote me an Rx for some just in case) and has me doing some sinus flushing and such. Effective, yes! Fun, not even close!

Thus ends the 2008 Holiday in-law visit. All things considered, it wasn't too bad, but I'm still planning on writing a screen play about it! :)