Parting shots (again), it must be the holidays

We're leaving for Grandma Diane's house for Thanksgiving today. I REALLY should be packing. I can't wait to see my mom and dad and sisters and especially sweet Sophie Gene. I don't think my bro is going to be there, but I'm not totally sure. It'd sure be great if we could all be together, it's been awhile since that happened, which feels a little weird, considering we used to all be together probably once a week for a long time.

Madeline brought home some interesting books from her first grade reading room last week, and I'm not too sure what to make of it. They were, "The Trojan Horse, How the Greeks won the War" and "Pompei, Buried Alive". OK, is it just me, or do those titles not seem quite appropriate for first grade reading. I know it's challenging to find things that are at her reading level, and not above her head, but 'Buried Alive'?? It just seems a little too intense. She and Clark read them, and talked about them, and about how those things happened a long time ago, and that she didn't need to worry about any volcanos in Albuquerque, but I'm bordering on resentful that I didn't get to chose when to have those kinds of conversations with her. I know I'm being overprotective, but still. Am I crazy here?

She also went to the dentist last week. The day after parent teacher conference. Two cavities. Shit. That'll put a damper on the good report festivities. I tried to play it off, because I know she was pretty disapointed, but hell, I was a little disapointed myself. Not particularly suprised, but it will be a pain in the ass (for her more than me) to get them drilled and all. We also found out that her two upper lateral adult teeth are not there. Yeah, not there. They are the two that are next to the two front teeth. The dentist recommended that we definitely keep her on our dental insurance, cause she will use it. I guess they used to use braces to try to move the back teeth forward in these kind of cases, but now they put her in a retainer with fake teeth on it to serve as spacers, and then put in implants at 18. A retainer. Until she's 18. That really does suck ass.

We had a really nice family weekend. Well, some of it was family, some of it was me hiding out from the family. I spent most of Saturday on my own, which was really nice. I had to go acquire a 'morning after pill' after an embarrasing snafu Friday night. (How could I FORGET that I was unable to refill my b.c. rx this month? Stupid me. TMI? sorry) Anyhoo, it is nice to know that one can get such a thing without a doctors prescription in New Mexico, if need be. After that, I took myself to Harry Potter. It ROCKED. I am a pretty huge fan, but fan blindness aside, I thought it was still awesome. And totally worth standing in line for over an hour. I'd like to see it again on the big screen without having to stand in the line, but I'm glad I got in on opening weekend. Everything was a suprise, and some of the imagery was even better than what I had imagined reading the book, and THAT is tough to pull off. Sunday, Clark made a lovely breakfast, and then we went to the zoo for the afternoon as a reward for Madeline's good report from her teacher. It was cool, and we made it a point to hunt down a few of the things we hadn't seen before, like the koala, and the seals, and the naked mole rats. Naked mole rats are cool. After the zoo, we went out to dinner at Frontier, and then home and early to bed. Nice.

OK, really, really must start packing now. Think I can do it all in 2 hours? Me neither.

Happy Thanksgiving! I may try to post on the road, hopefully with pics, but who knows. Safe travels to anyone who's travelling, and happy turkey making to anyone who's not.