Mother was in a very good mood today, we talked on and off for hours.  I was really supposed to go spend a night over at Caleb's house, but it just wasn't working out that way. I was supposed to do other stuff as well, but again, just worked out the way it did.  I was glad I spent as much time with mom as I did tho. She;s up there in years and as my manager pointed out to me, you "never know".  A rather morbid warning but a necessary one. I got plenty of visiting in, but it was limited between my house, Caleb, my mom and the limited engagement yesterday with the rest of the family.

It was a good trip.  I'll simply state that now. It was worth the time coming out here, it was  worth whatever it cost me in money, it's something I should have done last year at the latest.  Somehow I'll have to find the motivation to do it again without letting more than a full year pass. Mom doesn't get a lot of company, I think she more prefers being alone excepting seeing family.  She did her best to get this Thanksgiving together, which she repeatedly thanked me for helping her.  She clearly did not have the wherewithal to do all that work by herself.

The jalapeno poppers were a true success once again. I've come up with a slightly different recipe using Cayenne pepper.  I've not seen one using it in the recipe but I can tell ya jalapeno poppers without extra added kick to it, at least to me? Bland.

Mom put on a cool looking cap at the moment before I loaded up into a Lyft car and left, I snapped a photo which I'll be putting onto Facebook later. Directly after that she started tearing up : ( Not a bad thing I guess but hard to leave like that. The Lyft driver was this cool lady that I had 25 minutes worth of interesting conversation with  At the end, she said she really only does Lyft to have social interaction with people, she didn't care about earning money.  That was a first! Hadn't heard that from anyone before. 

Well I"m at the airport. I showed up early, I had no idea what it was going to be like getting through security the day after Thanksgiving.  The line was short. The wait after I put my stuff into the containers to go through the xray machine was ridiculous. They just stopped everything.  We waited so long I finally asked them what the wait was for. They just stared at me. Louder: WHY ARE WE WAITING HERE? WHAT IS GOING ON?  Started at me again before dude operating the conveyor belt said there is something in a bag they have to check.

I just stood there and stared back at them. Not my bags, I have nothing illegitimate in them, why hold everyone else up? But the apparently thought it was my bag.  A police officer finally showed up and then they asked whose bag this is? ALL of them staring at me, simply because I had the audacity to ask them what the hell was going on.  The young girl next to me said it's mine.  I continued staring at them. Did they think a stare down was going to intimidate people?  Or that it's even necessary? I asked in a normal tone of voice at first, respectful as well. When they just gave me a look, that's when I upped the ante.

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Weird.  I left the place I was sitting at and went to the gate area and they were already boarding.  it was more than half an hour before flight departure so I thought that strange.  The other thing I didn't know or didn't remember is you have to check in 24 hours in advance.   I was asking the ticket agent about why I kept getting basically the end slot of the entire boarding to get on the plane? 

Well whatever.  I ended up in a middle seat - again.  The only good thing that came out of that is that it was up near the front of the plane, getting off the plane was much faster.  Arriving in Dallas, I determined quickly that I was going to drive home and not waste another night of hotel money.  Grabbed a cuppa at Starbucks at the airport and drove 85 mph the entire way back.  I always find it interesting how you catch up to other vehicles and then suddenly they are speeding up and trying to get ahead of you - for what reason?  No freaking clue.  Just the games people play out there. 

And I'm home.  Interesting trip.  Not sure what the next trip is, but it's not going to be to Phoenix, don't suspect.

I got nothing from my manager for this weekend. That doesn't necessarily mean I won't, but at least I'm assured I"ll have nothing going out tomorrow.  I need a recoup day and just get my head back into being out here.  Dogs were happy to see me but were acting strange.  I've been gone a lot lately.  Maybe they start considering the other house their home?  I dunno, but they're here, Addler is on my bed, almost a pouting face. 

So, allegedly Cyber Monday is going to be as good as black friday.  I haven't seen the ads yet and I have looked.  I did not stop at any Walmart in Dallas as I had surmised I might do.  That because of what I saw at Walmart in Phoenix, everything that was "good" was gone before we got there, which was within an hour of the start of the big sale.  I just thought a waste of my time, I'll wait for Cyber Monday, if that doesn't produce anything, I'll just move along.

My room? Weird.  Someone clearly had been sleeping in here but just strange that all the sheets felt wet all over. Even the ones in my clothes hamper.  I think it was just very cold in here and the illusion of wet.  I switched my sheets back on it, I ain't sleeping in someone's else's stuff, whatever stuff that may be.  I also stepped on the scale. 213.  That's the end of the day, not the beginning.  I suspect my weight in the morning may be a pleasant surprise. Or at least no higher than when I left off.

Final countdown to leaving mom's house and heading to the airport.  The "dreaded" Thanksgiving dinner turned out ok.  I mostly just kept my mouth shut and laughed at stupid jokes and made myself as invisible as possible.  If something was going to start, it wasn't because of anything I said.  My oldest brother did not show up with his customary 6 pack of beer in a cooler, which was quite strange.  I've never actually seen that before.  Mom says he's cut back on his consumption. I guess.  He's 5 years older than me meaning he's approaching 60.  Better late than never, when considering drinking too much alcohol.

I will freely admit that I had 2 glasses of wine yesterday, but not at the family get together. Only one inlaw was drinking and dang if you could't smell the liquor from 5 feet away in that glass. Everyone else abstained.    I got out of here after it was over - we lasted together all of 2 hours, which is typical - and headed to my house in Phoenix.  They had wanted me to come over yesterday but I got too  busy.  I was waiting for Caleb to contact me so I figured I to wait at my house and visit.  Lynnette - a non -drinker - had decided to have some Corona's for the holiday, I pulled out a small bottle of Merlot and drank 2 large glasses and dumped the rest down the sink.  I saw no reason to keep it, I didn't want to get drunk and they weren't having any of it so get rid of it.

I got to sit there 2 plus hours visiting with them.  Bought Lynnette some sort of device that gives electrical impulses to relieve nerve or muscle pain, not sure which.  That was my Christmas present to her.  What I'd really love to do is come back here without telling anyone but my friends on a weekend and visit them and bypass family.  I saw family, now it's time to visit friends.

It's Friday, I won't be back to Dallas until 8:00 pm, 2 hour drive home and a stop at a walmart for the heck of it on the way back.  I dunno if I'll even go home tonight.  I could just as easy stay at a cheap hotel overnight and come back in the morning.  I have no idea what my manager is going to arrange for me for work, if any, this weekend. But tomorrow is out of the question, Sunday at the earliest.  I don't really want to go back to work until Monday, but if she dumped me with something Sunday I'd just take it and eat it.  I need the miles and the work.  This last paycheck was awesome, but next paycheck will be pathetic if I don't get at least one good run in and a shorter one.

Meanwhile, my gut is still decreasing.  Mom has an old scale so it's hard to tell exactly my weight and even if it's accurate.  But somewhere between 204 and 208.  But the results in the mirror are definitely showing even more now.  Abs starting to show through fat.  Long way to go, but still very encouraging.  This is why I really tried to stick to this diet even during the eating holiday.  I'm definitely sticking with it til Christmas.  Then? Just depends on where my weight and fat levels are.  At some point I'm going to want to go on a sugar fest and consume ice cream and choco pie.  But hey, I resisted for Thanksgiving and I didn't think I would make it through this week on this diet.

I had bacon and eggs for breakfast, when I get to the airport I'm going to have something there, whatever I can find to tide me over til I get to Dallas.  I'm making no decisions about what I'm going to do when I arrive in Dallas until I get to Dallas. I was out to 1:30 am last night, far too late but it was worth it, but I'll be tired today.  Driving home after getting there may not be very appealing. I could just stay another night at the hotel I have my vehicle parked at.  It's just too early to tell, I'd rather drive home and sleep in my bed tho.

Meanwhile I was texting my friends at the house, they had a big get together yesterday with lots of people there.  But as with me, she is also ready to resume a normal schedule. I'd like to spend a couple days home.  I have been on the run for 2 weeks running.  And then a nice trip to Brownsville and wait for 3 days again haha. 

EARPLUGS!!! I finally remembered.  Got them packed in my notebook bag that I carry on to the plane. I want to be able to shut out as much noise as possible if there are babies and young children flying, as with several of the last flights that I have been on hearing them crying and whining and carrying on. 

And I also thought of a present for myself instead of the elusive TV: buy all the part on Cyber monday to rebuild my desktop computer.  New everything: Motherboard, processer, power supply, DVD player, hard drive.  Just reuse the old case since it's in great condition.  I've gotten my use out of that thing, it has served me well but it's 6 or so years old and it's time to upgrade. This would be the perfect time of year to do that.  And maybe get a 32 inch monitor.  Or just buy presents for everyone else and skip myself this year? I dunno. 

Well, enough of this.  I was online looking at flight departures. Apparently some flights are being delayed. I'll assume in snow/weather conditions in the Northeast, my flight is still showing on time.