Croquet and Alcohol - the two do not mix

I kept reading and re-reading my blog this morning wondering where the sorrowful post I put up yesterday had gone. Then it dawned on me that I started a post, never finished it and then commented on Mel's. I literally spent a few hours wondering what had happened to it.

So, Thanksgiving day and the greater part of Friday were great, the rest of the weekend left little to desire. I love our family, my side that is. We are warm and loving and can handle our alcohol without getting ridiculously stupid. Plus my brother C and I play a wicked game of croquet.* We ate all the requisite T-day food and drank wonderful concoctions of Cranberry vodka and 7-up and had the BEST whipped cream ever. My dad's boss and his family came and he made the best whipped cream - cream, Kahlua, nutmeg, Cinnamon - yummmmmm.

We were back to my parents house by 6:30 and all of us( us, my parents and my kick-butt auntie and uncle I never get to see) were trying to figure out how much longer we had to stay awake. What a sad bunch. Friday my mom and aunt and I spent the morning shopping (it was my first Black Friday as a shopper and it wasn't too bad. We only had to leave one store because it was a zoo), had lunch with my SIL and headed back to my parents house where the boys were up to no good. They had stopped at BevMo! (! was not my idea, it's in the name) and bought a bunch of cordials. When I opened the front door all I could smell was booze! It was hysterical.

My MIL had Friday off, but being in retail and it being very SLOW for her right now, she thought she might have to go in. She was going to call us to let us know what the plan was. So it's three o'clock and we still haven't heard from her. Mr. Sparky called her and she asked where we had been! She had been waiting for us most of the afternoon!! So a few deep breaths and a shot of Strawberry Pucker and we were off for a night full of drunken MIL's, weird fiance's (her's) and some very jet lagged gay men. It was interesting. Let's just say all we did the whole time we were there (besides me partaking of some adult beverages) was clean and work. That's all we ever do over there. But I digress. All in all a good time was had and we left by 8:30.

That evening I got a phone call from our elderly neighbors saying our dogs were out and we needed to come home. I told her we were in Phx and even if we did come home (it takes two hrs to get home) the people watching our dogs would get them. She told me she would call animal control if we didn't get it taken care of. So I told her fine, let me call the neighbors watching the dogs (whom I was told they did not know and did not approve of. what?) and if I couldn't get a hold of them to call Animal Control. I got a hold of the dog watchers and they took care of it. Saturday, we got a call saying the dogs were out again. This time it was from the dog watchers and they were saying our elderly neighbors were standing in their driveway yelling at them saying they were going to call the cops. It's not like we just let our dogs run nilly, or haven't tried to solve the problem of them getting out. We just have really smart dogs.

So Sunday morning finds us not going to church(which we probably really should have) and putting up an electrical fence all the way around our property. It really wasn't that bad, it only took a couple of hours and was really easy. We humans can barely feel anything, but the dogs, oh boy the dogs, they can feel it quite well. Personally I think they are being wussies. It was a little heartbreaking the first time Jax saw two little girls walking by and jumped up on the fence. He cried so loud I wanted to cry. But then I got over it and neither dog will go near the fence. Hence they will no longer be getting out of the yard. Unless they learn to fly, then I will need to be put into a padded cell.

So all in all, it really wasn't a bad weekend. A lot has been going on in the home front. Mr. Sparky and I are having a lot of problems, mostly stemming from this stupid academy (He graduates next Friday!!) and some pre-existing issues we both brought to the marriage. So tomorrow night we are meeting with some friends (he's a pastor) to discuss some of the issues going on and hopefully get everything straightened out. I love my husband, but we are in the deepest pit we've ever been in and it's scary. I want to be really happy again, it's just going to take a lot of dedication and work from us both.

I have another post about my mom that I started Tuesday and hopefully will finish it soon. Poor thing has had a very tough couple of weeks.

* I played horribly. It might have been the drinking, by that time I had had quite a few Cranberry vodkas and 7-up's. Usually I am quite the little croquet-er.