Bearshorty's musings

I'm on the train back to Long Island right now. I had to go in to work today because we don't get Thanksgiving Friday off and I didn't work long enought yet to take my leave time. So I woke up at 5:50 this morning, washed quickly, pumped, gave a bit food top up to Olivia, hug my poor sick with a cold sad Tanya, and then my father in law drove me 2 minutes to the station for 6:53 train.

It took longer to get to Manhattan that the train schedule said but I was still at work by 8:40. And I got to leave early at 2:10 today. We could leave an hour early today, plus this was true on Wednesday too but I didn't know it and left on time then, so an hour earlier from then, plus extra 30 min from lunch. I was going to get Indian food for lunch and enjoy my rare lunch where I don't bring my turkey sandwich from home. But this morning my mother in law gave me raisin bread with cream cheese to tide me over and I also bought breakfast of 2 egg omelet, home fries and toast this morning once I clocked in at work. Then Larisa, who came in today after all, gave me an apple cake. So I was so not hungry for lunch and didn't want to waste Indian take out enjoyment. There was so much delicious food yesterday for Thanksgiving and with leftovers today, there will be big dinner again. So I skipped the food part of lunch and left 30 min earlier. (I take first half of lunch to pump). And good thing I left when I did as I just made my train. The next one is in an hour, so everything worked out.

Yesterday we packed and were out of the door by 9:20. I always get stressed before we have to travel because there is so much stuff to keep track of. I made a list this year, which helped some. We made good time with no traffic, and even stopping by the train station so I could buy my ticket for today in advance, we were at my on-laws at 10:30. Olivia was starring at the unfamiliar place since we didn't travel with her except for my parents this summer.

We spent a very pleasant day except Tanya really didn't want to pose for a family picture. She wore a very pretty blue dress while Olivia wore a white dress. And when Tanya did cooperate, we realized that Bear didn't bother to shave, or comb his hair or change into something other than his Aruba pirate shirt. By the time he shaved and changed, she wasn't cooperating again. Hopefully I can salvage something from my father-in-law's camera. I was really hoping for something nice enough for the holiday card.

John and Laurie (Bear's brother and his girlfriend ), came around 3 30, while Olivia napped. She woke up around 4, ate, we changed her diaper, so she was a happy baby for our Thanksgiving dinner at 4:30. There was so much deliciousness. Turkey, of course, mashed potatoes, yams, gravy, corn, broccoli, stuffing, green bean casserole. And so yummy. And for desert later there was apple pie, pumpkin pie, brownies, cookies and my cranberry/orange muffin bread (I made that with Tanya's help on Wednesday night as my traditional Thanksgiving contribution). I just had the apple pie with chamomile tea, while Tanya had 2 cookies. Then it was time for me to take Olivia up for her dinner and bedtime.

Olivia slept pretty well in the pack and play. She had trouble in the beginning falling asleep because she likes to roll unto her stomach to sleep and I put on her the blanket-bag thing that's for babies since it's much colder in Bear's room than at home. It's hard to roll in that thing. But once I helped her rotate herself she was out and only woke up twice to eat, which is good for her. Tanya was thrilled that she got to sleep next to me and my hair. (Bear got the basement bed with the cats).

We are staying in Long Island until Sunday. Tanya has a cold so it's not as much fun as it could be but we will make do. And I don't have to grade anymore so I could be more social when I visit.

So this year I was going to get myself a new iPod for Thanksgiving. My old one was from 2006. Little 4G green nano. I loved it very much but it gave out last year. I was going to get 16G Nano 7th gen last year but didn't to my regret now, since they were discontinued this year. I was considering used but decided against it. So it was to be 32G iPod Touch 6. I even gave my Dad $200 so he could check in Costco. (This is coming from my birthday money from my grandparents). But the more I read about it the less happy it was making me. The battery life is supposed to be terrible since it is pretty much a phone without the ability to make regular calls with a lot of apps and pretty big to carry. I just want something to play music. I don't need camera or any other apps. My old trusty iPod could hold a battery for a few weeks. The current battery life on Touch is just ridiculous, not even a day, and so is the price tag. My Dad finally went, "do you want my blue 4G nano, since I don't use it anymore." He got his in 2006 like me, but he used it less, so it still works. He charged it to make sure it still holds the charge and it does. So now I can listen to music again and I will hold off on the iPod purchase and just use the little one. I really didn't want to spend $200 and not be happy about it. And it wasn't on huge Thanksgiving sale anyway.

So instead I decided to finally get one of the DNA testing kits as a present to myself. I decided on Ancestry one since it is more aimed at genealogy and I'm not really interested in health info. Three of my grandparents are very Ashkenazi Jewish, so I'm not expecting surprises (especially since I carry Tay-Sachs gene, which a very Jewish genetic defect to be a carrier in). But my grandmother grew up in an orphanage and I always wondered about that. She is probably Ukrainian/Russian but I'm curious. Bear has German, Czech, some English, French and Russian ancestry, but he doesn't care to know much about it. But I thought it would be fun for me to do.