Condensed Soup.........NOT!

My plan is to create a condensed soup journal.  Praying for success.  Laughing, who am I kidding!?!?
Sam drove us in my geezermobile to his Dad's new home.  They previously lived in a very nice, ok ritzy subdivision.  Now they live in a very very ritzy neighborhood.  Want to have a generous sense of humor ---- think of their gorgeous new place as a suburban palace.  It is grand.......very grand.  Tasteful decor in soft shades of ivory, cream, taupe.........beige is the preferred color of choice ---- gentle soft tones throughout. Beautiful finishes, everything is super sized.  I was given the full tour save the rooms upstairs.  It is quite the place.  Most of the ceilings are two stories high.......with 11' archways........the hall is 6' if not wider.  Lots of hardwood flooring, italian tile, granite, oak, large island in the kitchen, double ovens, stainless steel everything appliance wise. Tons of upgrades.  Everything is sparkly and gorgeous ---- reminds me of a mediterranean resort.  The italian tile flooring extends well beyond the incredible screened in porch.......it runs along the whole lower back yard and encircles both sides of the home as well.  There is an upper terrace of beautiful landscaping that has a gate somewhere that leads one down to the river.  Whooooooeeeeeeeeee. 
The front of the property has a regular driveway and a second circular driveway...........very va va va voom ......with a very pretty stone walkway.  The words style and panache come to mind. 
The master closet was insane.  I walked in the door and sang........AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH, like the heavens had just opened up.  It has shelves, cupboards, drawers, plenty of space to hang and store every manner of shoethings and clothe things and personal delicate things and jeweled things and handbag haven heaven.........it has two entrances and an ironing station.  It is well, it is freaking awesome to tell you the truth.  If I could have gotten that closet in my trunk I would have taken it across the border and added it to my imaginary secret hide out.  In my secret heart of hearts.....it is girly girl storage awesomeness.  LOL. 
Before Sam came, I asked God to help me all day long.  To help curb my emotions and thoughts, to help me not feel foolish things like jealousy........I love my sanctuary don't get me wrong.  I love it and I appreciate it.  Can you feel the but coming?  I can.........I saw that big deep soaking tub with jets and wished to be able to have a way to take a bubble bath again.  I tell myself someday and I say it is ok, you have a great shower chair pilgrim, it's alright.  You have hot water, you have a whole lot to be grateful for. 
My home is like the miniature doll sized version of nothing nearly so grand.  I'm chuckling, it is more than enough for me.  My ex shared that when his wife was out of town last week the size of their new place freaked him out, he spent the majority of his time in the recliner watching TV in the bedroom.  I told him it would get better, once all of us cleared out after a big day of entertaining, he would be just like his Aunt Marjorie.  She used to always say she "was glad to see us come and GLAD to see us go." He will adjust to the size, the more they entertain the smaller it will become........ok, maybe in time.
Thinking back to our first couple of places way back when........a lot has changed.  Cept that when I downsized I actually downsized...........still laughing, they super super sized.........mercy!
Now beyond all that.......we had an insanely amazing choice of goodies and treats.  A dazzling display!  There were seven members of his wife's family present.......but the majority yesterday was his side of the family.  Let's see......Grandma, Grandpa, Brother, SIL, their child, Sister, BIL, their two children, our two hosts, Sam, moi...........who am I forgetting?  Not sure. But yeah, I guess there were twenty or more.  Frank makes deep fried turkey, it is off the hook.  I don't like turkey, but I like Frank's turkey!  He brought two kinds, regular and cajun style.  So tender, so delicious!  A big platter of ham. Tons of side dishes.  Let's see:  mashed potatoes & gravy, sweet potato souffle (this stuff is INcredible, if you don't like sweet taters this will change your mind, it is crazy good)
Watched two new sweet potato souffle converts stand over it with spoons workin' it, even after professing that they hate sweet potatoes, they could not stop eating it. (one was a football playing teen boy.....he was so happy!)
There was broccoli casserole, corn casserole, a cranberry jello ring mold salad (must be a shorter name for this!), rolls, a rice egg dish with bacon (interesting & different), fish free sushi (one SIL is from CHINA, she makes the coolest stuff!)......green bean casserole of course.....stuffing, what else?
Big pitchers of lemonade, sweet tea, unsweetened tea and of course water. 
Desserts.......oh my!  Pecan pie, peach cobbler , pumpkin pie, cowboy cookies (wahoo great!), fudge brownies  ummmmmm, crumb cake .......whipped cream........caramel popcorn with cashews & almonds, tiny roasted peanuts......they are roasted with salt and sugar, yummy savory sweet combo --- also a tradition of dear Nan from China......they are way smaller than my pinkie nail.  oh yeah, there was homemade candy.  don't know what it is called, but you take a mini pretzel, top it with a caramel rolo, slide it in the oven for about 3 minutes, pull them out and top each soft chocolatey treat with a pecan........they are soft, sweet, chocolatey savory deliciousness.  WoW, I only had room for one, but somehow lol, 4 more made it into my goody bag to bring home.  If you don't like Rolo caramels you could easily use Dove with caramel too.  The thing that takes the most prep time is unwrapping the individual Rolos!  quick p.s. pretty sure she brushed each pecan with caramel sauce too.......yummmmm.
I know this is a long and for some perhaps a very tedious list, but from my side of life it quite the deal.  I rarely eat out, even at home I rarely eat more than two or three different tastes on a plate at any one time..........this was like waking up on a cruise ship just in time for the oooh la la buffet.  I took a small spoon of pretty much everything ---- DID NOT make across the clean plate club finish line.  Felt like I was gonna explode.  Young Riley insisted that I try one of those crazy good caramel pecan pretzels........which I did ---- felt great remorse that I could not eat more. 
I enjoyed the home tour, the weather was perfect.  I spent a lot of time catching up with family, my favorite fun of the day was playing with Riley.  She is my ex hubby's wife's sister's daughter......got all that?  She is ten or maybe 11.......has a brother named Kyle and I kept trying to rename her Kiley.......oops, good grief.  Riley is a star pitcher on her baseball team and full of spit and vinegar.  We got on like a house on fire.  She is crazy about Sam, so I guess she was extra curious to see what Sam's Mom was like. 
We ended up sitting at the grand piano acting like silly idiots.  Neither of us can really play anything, but I like to mess around and so does she.  I sang for her........gospel to country to soul to you name it, did accents..........and silly voices (think cartoon character voice-overs).  She told me I was "scaring her" ........she was giggling the whole time, rolling her eyes, wiggling her eyebrows and trying to tickle and poke me in the ribs. 
I told her how a gas station owner used to give free candy to whoever could do the best laughing hyena laugh, so she whipped out her phone and had us listen to the hyenas in the Lion King in order to prepare for our own contest.  She called more kids over and got them involved.........our very own laughing hyena laugh off.  Kyle and Arin showed me how to play with one app.  (think it was called "bad photo booth")  8 year old Arin used a picture of himself to age himself by 40 years.........trippy!  Took a pic of his slim Mom and gave her triple chins, she chased him and tickled him silly!
I would speak like someone from England and Riley copied me, I pretended to be Lupe from Mexico City and she mimicked that too.  I played Heart and Soul, chopsticks and she did too.  She is fun to play with .............I miss play time with people. Cutting up, letting off steam.  Sam & I talked about it later........most of us as grown ups tend to not play as much anymore, we're too reserved or sophisticated or shy, but kids tend to be more open, curious and love to laugh. 
I need to laugh so this was some really great medicine for me.  I do a terrible accent from India (she agreed, it's BAAAAAAAAD) but my french accent is pretty ooh la la........then I did takes on different southern dialects..........Riley and I bonded.  She said I bet you never get bored..........that really made me laugh!  Logan & Kyle and Arin kept dropping in to hang with us........the guys watched football. 
Had a great talk with Grandma, Jim wants me to come to the Transiberian Orchestra event at their church on the 16th, warned to go early for best seating (Jim plays a mean electric guitar)......caught up with Chelsea.  She lives downtown ATL now and has a great job head hunting for law firms.  She gets to travel some now.....she just got back from D.C.  Caught up with former sis in law Cindy.......we had a long heart to heart.  I could feel the waves of tension rolling off of her.......it was a good talk I think.  I love listening to her voice, she has a soft Carolina accent........the oldest sister Naomi wasn't there......she talks the same way only super fast.......like a death defying roller coaster........Cindy talks slower and has more of a drawl.  When Naomi talks I try to figure out how she can say so  much with out ever needing a breath.......that is an art!
Ran out of steam on the drive home, wasn't surprised, I played hard!  Sara got off work and went to her in-laws for turkey dinner and we were planning to go, but I was too worn out.  We came here and it took me awhile to figure out how to get out of the car.  I know how to do it, but my body doesn't respond well, everything happens in s l o w   m o t i o n .  It took me awhile but I made it into the house, the shivers were taking over.  I sat under a blankie in the living room.....Sam had the big football game on.  I can be tolerant, polite and self entertain but I do not enjoy watching sports much for long.  Sam made it interesting for me.  One team was trouncing the other team, so he told me background stories about the players that were very interesting and heartwarming.  I told him I couldn't "talk football", but since he made it so interesting I could "listen football" now and enjoy it!  LOL. 
I am hoping to get to see Sara for a bit tomorrow, but if not, soon.  I am pretty wiped out.  Been super cold, body temp running lower than usual, usual CFS flu like symptoms.........can't function very well physically.  My eyes are freaking out.  Wake up with stuff in the corners and on my lashes.  Between my impaired system, going outside and good old Sjogrens's I don't know which way is up.  Have a funny rash on my face.........I don't have lupus, but it looks like a butterfly rash right now.  It is a come and go thing.  I have been tested a lot of times, but the results say no.  My body is so confused.
I watched the Great Gatsby last night when I couldn't sleep.  I had forgotten pretty much the whole story line ......... it's over the top, but I liked it anyway. Cept for the ending..........gotta take the good with the not so good huh!
Long ramble I know..........if you made it to the bottom of this mountain of a journal there is free hot cocoa with your choice of miniature marshmallows or fresh whipped cream!  Blessings on you and yours, praying for things that play on your heart..........hugs!