Friday After Thanksgiving

So it's the day after Thanksgiving and I will admit that I ate so much carbs yesterday at lunch that I fully intended to spend today recovering. Except that I had Johnnie at least through the morning and I was thinking I wanted to maximize whatever time we had today since I was not likely to see him the rest of the weekend. And that was perfectly ok. It IS Lisa's turn sick or not. I'm sure she missed him like I would have had it had been me without him all week. And so Johnnie and I would find ourselves at iHOP this morning having his favorite pancake breakfast and me having my spinach mushroom omelette. He has imprinted on iHOP too and I was glad since we can now have TWO breakfast places we could frequent. And then he spent the rest of the morning with his art project from yesterday, which was to paint the foam remnants from the THINKBOOK I just got delivered and make a shoe rack out of it. I can't wait to see what Lisa says when he brings it to her house later LOL LOL. And while doing all that he was his usually bouncy dancing self <see pic> regardless of a brief 5 minutes when I lost my temper yet again because he spilled the water color water all over the table. I mean was he careless? Yes he was. Did he make that big of a mess? Not really NO. So why did I blow up and do a Lisa? Because I need to learn not to blow up and do a LISA that's why. Because I know there's that part of me that wants to be in control all the time, furious that it has lost control. Fortunately I was quick to offer an apology minutes later and Johnnie almost nonchalantly waved it off as if he knew it was coming and as if it was a matter-of-fact thing to do that all he had to do was wait it out. My lesson here is to recognize when I'm about to go into that mode FASTER and QUICKER. And BEFORE I lash out. I mean I KNEW there would always be a risk of him spilling something wasn't there?  Even when I tell him to be careful. He's just a kid being a kid. And that he was back to being the Johnnie in the 2nd picture LOL LOL. Could it be that I was irritated that I don't get to see him the rest of the weekend? Certainly I felt a bit of an emotional hole when I dropped him off at Lisa's. ALTHOUGH I think Claire the dog missed him the most and was quickly into her humping-his-leg self not even minutes after seeing him again.  I could swear that dog is male not female! Of course I did read that female dogs do that as simply another mode of play and that it is perfectly normal.  And so it was that I dropped Johnnie off and wished Lisa well for the rest of the weekend. I had brought Panda Express lunch for him and chicken soup lunch for Lisa so he would be good to go at least through today. As for me, what did I do the rest of the day? I would have liked to have taken a nap... but I didn't. I would have liked to have cleaned the house... but I didn't. I would have liked to catch up on my journal... that I did. That and I realized I still had a 6-lb turkey breast sitting in my fridge. That was my emergency plan had I not gone down to San Diego for Thanksgiving. But now I have this huge piece of meat that I know I have to cook today or tomorrow at the very latest. I opted for today. It took a few hours to roast actually but it did turn out awesome, nice and juicy. Gee I wonder what I'm going to be having to eat the next couple of days> LOL. I even did an impromptu turkey sandwich a la Bristol Farms for dinner. Cranberry sauce and everything. Noting that it hardly made a dent in the pile of meat I carved from the turkey breast. I did manage to reflect some more on the Thanksgiving that was and noted to myself that I got the trip to San Diego and got to see my family with Johnnie just as I had put out there to the Universe.  I also note that with Thanksgiving behind us, we now focus squarely on the Christmas holidays. There is going to be lots of merry-making and events to be sure starting next week even. That also means that the end of the year is fast drawing to a close. Still not too late to focus on some of the things I wanted to accomplish this year. YES the stock market dump put a damper on my accelerated plans to retire. But then again maybe I need to learn NOT to depend on the whims of the stock market. I need to remind myself that I can LEARN ANYTHING and nothing is stopping me from doing that right now. I reminded myself that my retirement was contingent upon replacing my job income and that I can create that now. STILL. I also did reflect on the observation of how everyone was in my family was aging but hey for at least this Thanksgiving, we did have a full crew. SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL for to be sure. Today I was thankful that despite being Thanksgiving week I was already up to 440 active minutes and it's only Friday. Gonna make my usual activity indicators pretty easily I'd say. And then I spent the night binge watching FALLING SKIES, an old sci-fi series from 2014. I remember watching it back in the day in the Lindbrook apartment. All pre-Johnnie of course. I did recall that 2014 Thanksgiving when we met Feifei for the first time before Thanksgiving and then going to Maui and springing the news that we were about to become parents to Kalani and Joy. It's been a minute huh? I enjoyed that little brief bit of time travelling and then went to sleep late. That's what happens when Johnnie isn't around. I guess I'll have to sleep in tomorrow...