Thursday, November 22, 2007

A difficult night

Spouse decided to cook the turkey on Wed night, keep it in the fridge overnight, then warm it up in our roaster oven on Thanksgiving day in order to keep the oven available for baking the side dishes and biscuits, so I helped him prepare the 22.5 lb. turkey and we had it in the oven at 8:00.
Wed night Spouse's oldest brother Frank and his friend Liz arrived around 8:30. After seeing the house for the 1st time, they walked a few blocks to have a bite to eat and a few drinks. Frank is a functioning alcoholic so after having been at work all day and then driving here, I'm sure he was "ready" to get his buzz on.

Liz is quite a piece of work. Frank and Liz dated about 20 years ago. She wanted to marry Frank so badly that she bought her own diamond engagement ring and showed it to everyone (including the family) and told them she & Frank were engaged! This was news to Frank. Sometime later they stopped dating and Frank moved on to other women. Despite this, Liz still feels like she's Frank's wife so she invites herself to our family holiday celebrations. One year she showed up on Christmas eve without Frank and then asked if she could take a shower before joining the rest of the family, since it had "been a few days" since she'd bathed. Now that's class.

When Frank & Liz returned from dinner and drinking we sat in the TV room and talked for a while. Frank decided that whiskey before dinner, red wine with dinner, and a beer after dinner just wasn't enough so he fixed himself a martini while we talked. Both Frank & Liz consider themselves more intelligent than most people, despite the fact that both are over 50 years old and neither of them owns a home. Frank doesn't even have a checking account. He pays his rent in cash. Frank reads a lot, which is likely what makes him feel more intelligent, and Liz was once an attorney. Unfortunately she stopped working for more than 10 years and squandered her inheritance on cars, jewelry, a fur coat, and multiple trips to the farthest corners of the world. I'm guessing that's what makes her feel more intelligent. But since the state finally seized the waterfront home she inherited and now she rents a room in the basement of a house in a crappy neighborhood, you can imagine the stimulating conversations we had while waiting for the other family members to arrive.

At 11:45 Spouse's sister Mary arrived with her husband Eric and their 3 kids, ages 15, 12, and 10. The 2 youngest are boys, and like many others that age, they are very loud. So from the time they got here until the time we all went to bed at 1:30 am it sounded like a 3-ring circus was going on. Do parents just get used to this kind of noise? I can't imagine any other explanation.

Meanwhile Frank continued to fix himself martinis, only he decided to leave out the vermouth and olives, preferring to sip straight vodka from his martini glass. I wasn't paying attention to how many he had, but when it was time to hit the sack he didn't bother to put sheets on the bed or even undress. He just passed out on the bed, fully clothed.

About an hour later (I was still awake, unfortunately) we heard a significant thud that awakened Liz who was sleeping in the room next to Frank. She got up to check on Frank and found him on the floor. He'd fallen out of the bed, so she helped him back in. This happened again later.

I had a terrible time getting to sleep Wed night. My mind just wouldn't stop. I wasn't worried or nervous about anything, so even my inability to get to sleep became fodder for my racing brain. Spouse kept snoring, mostly due to his cold, so I tossed and turned. At 3:10 am I woke Spouse and told him he had to try harder not to snore, as he was keeping me awake. His snoring improved but it did not help me sleep. At 4:15 am I went to the bathroom and took a generic form of Tylenol PM, hoping it would help me get some sleep. Shortly after returning to bed Spouse asked me why I wasn't sleeping, for which I had no answer.

Then around 4:30 am Spouse snuggled up to me, and his hands slowly caressed me. 'Is he serious?' I thought to myself? Not that I was opposed to his advances; just surprised by the timing. Maybe somehow he knew what I needed, for not long after we finished I was finally asleep. Then again, it could have been the Tylenol PM.
We were awakened Thurs morning by the stirrings of family members at 8:30 so we got up. I figure I probably had about 3 or 3.5 hours of sleep.

Drag Queen name of the day: Penny Tration

2 comments:

cb said...

so your hubby gave you a 'sleeping supository'. Hmmmmm. NICE!

Anonymous said...

Thanksgiving at casa Truthspew is never messy like that.

However this year it may get interesting. You see, there's a guy who lived with us for a few months until I finally threw him out. To me he is persona non grata.

He's nominally Keyron's friend. So just a couple weeks ago I noted he starts calling more, hanging out with Keyron more, etc. He's worming himself into an invite.

Now normally I'd be ok with this, but he tried to put the move on Keyron which is what lead to him being thrown out the last time.

I told Keyron quite pointedly that he is NOT invited here for Thanksgiving and for Christmas we're heading to NC so he's on his own.