My sister is sad and disappointed.  She wanted to do Thanksgiving this year, and invited all of both sides of her family.  She was all excited about having the family under her roof and has been working very hard to make everything perfect.

            Now she finds out nobody’s coming.  The significant others of both my cousins turned her down, meaning my cousins won’t be there, or their kiddos.  My aunt decided to go through with a surgery she has to have by the end of the year because she’s in so much pain all the time (a spur on her spine they have to saw off by going through her throat), so she and my uncle won’t be there.  My sister’s mother-in-law might come.  My brother-in-law’s siblings have refused.  The only people we know for sure are coming are me, my parents, my maternal grandparents, and one of my sister’s best friends.  No one from my Dad’s side would’ve been interested, so she didn’t invite them.  I wish I had friends I could take.  Heck—I wish I had a boyfriend I could take to show my grandparents I’m not such a loser in my non-academic life.  I’d gladly take the misery of having my significant other face the craziness of my family if it meant I wasn’t odd man out.

            Not that I want a boyfriend, mind you—not after the last two did the exact same thing to me.  Not that I want friends, given the track record there, either.  But family is family and I really want to support my sister.  On Mom’s side, it used to feel like family was everything.  Trouble happened, and you dropped everything right then and there to be supportive.  Good things happened, same thing.  Now it feels more like individuals are too interested in themselves to be a part of things.

            Of the group, really my aunt has the only decent excuse.  Thanksgiving won’t be the same without her and my uncle—they kind of make the party.  But she needs this done.  And I really hope it works.  And I really hope it won’t damage her voice despite the chance.

            I just wish there was something I could do…

            Am glad I’m not working out at the barn today.  Extreme wind and very cold.  Am not going to get into the meeting and mess I’ve had to deal with the last two days; I’ve already complained enough and it seems a lot of what I use my LiveJournal space for is complaining anymore.

            Mom’s going through another friendship breakup this week; somebody she knows through her business has been saying untrue things about her because she was mad Mom charged her for the work she did for her.  The lady wanted it for free and is now claiming to everyone Mom “cheated” her.  She’ll be real nice to my Mom’s face, then stab her behind the back to customers and Mom’s friends who frequent the place.  Mom is going to stop using the place as a drop-off point between her and her customers.  She had thought using the place (the other lady’s business) would be beneficial to both; it was convenient for her as a drop-off so everything would be in one place and she could just go a couple of times a week when in town to get the customers’ projects, and to the store owner because Mom always directed them there for supplies.  The owner thinks that’s not enough and expected Mom to do her stuff for free on top of it, and everything has degenerated.  Mom’s setting up a drop-off point elsewhere now because of the two-faced problem she’s getting and is no longer going to support the store.  She said she had no idea using it as a drop-off was a problem for the owner because the owner was always nice and never said anything about it.  She only learned about the situation through a friend of hers and was deeply hurt.  I got so mad I wanted to storm in there and ask the woman what the hell did she think she was doing, why does she feel she can take advantage of my mother and try to ruin her reputation instead of talking to her.  What right does she think she has?!

            I got all of my Christmas shopping done this past weekend, save for Dad and my brother-in-law.  I know what I’m getting Dad as a gift; I’m just waiting for the infusion of my next paycheck (won’t get that until next Wednesday.  I don’t know what I’ll do as his ornament, though.  And I’ve no idea what to get my brother-in-law.  I warned Mom that I was expecting packages so she wouldn’t lecture me on going on a spending spree again like the last time.  I also told her she is under no circumstances to open any of them (she started going through my mail this summer) because hers would be coming as well.

            Cassie decided to stay in last night and sleep on the bed with me.  I kept waking up when I had to move my feet to avoid kicking her off the end.  She and Athena both have this habit of when they hear Dad get up and go to work (his alarm starts going off at about 6; he doesn’t leave until 7), they think I should be up and at ’em as well, especially to put them out because suddenly they really want to be out.  Usually Cassie will give up if I ignore her, but not Athena.  So I’ve gotten into the habit if they’re in overnight I get up and throw them out when Dad’s in the shower.  Technically I’m not supposed to have them in…but Mom’s always asleep by the time I go to bed, and she’s a hard sleeper in the morning…and it’s my room…and my cats…and with the colder weather Mom really hasn’t said anything.  She still says when I move back out I have to leave Cassie because she couldn’t be without her.  I find this quite amusing because she hated her when I first got her.  Now they’re quite good buddies.

            I’ve been browsing e-bay looking for ideas for something fun to give my brother-in-law as a joke on top of his gift; I remembered he liked Grimlock from Transformers.  I found a mousepad, one of the very nice Titanium Series die-cast figures, and a T-shirt that’s kinda 80s retro on the front with an off-center pic of Grimlock, and on the back it says, “Me Grimlock kick butt!”  I may choose one of them as a joke.

            I’ve also been looking for my favorite Transformers characters’ action figures that look like their G1 series selves.  Hasbro is currently releasing its Transformers Titanium Series, in which the characters are die-cast in robot mode (no transforming feature), and another type I really like: the Universe Legends.  And the last is their new series Universe Classics, which appear to be complete re-releases of the 80s G1s.  I want original G1-looking Hound, Jazz, Mirage, Optimus  Prime, Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Sludge, and Swoop.  I’d also like to get a Beast Wars Dinobot and an Armada Scavenger.  An all original, complete Hound on e-bay costs $80.  The new Universe Legends is $5 to $10.  Depending on how the Animated series goes, I’ve grown rather fond of certain new versions of old characters as well (which explains the Prowl and Jazz on my shelf currently).  Sheesh.  Dreams, dreams, dreams.  This is one of the problems that happens when stories and shows you loved as a kid are re-released, added to, and collectible-making is improved.

            One of the things that’s great about my best friend of 16 years is the fact that he knows and accepts all of my little eccentricities and tends to humor them for fun.  He’s enjoyed over the years providing me with the Star Wars bounty hunter figures (mostly Boba Fett, but I’ve got the entire original figures for all of them), and getting me T-shirts with Fett on them.  He’s also gotten me Legolas shirts from Lord of the Rings.  And he’s sort of fluent in Transformer, but hasn’t done anything along that line because he’s not into it like we both were for Star Wars.  We can talk fluent Aliens and Predator (and the two combined), Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, among other things.  I talked to him on the phone this past weekend; it was nice to catch up again.  I never get to see him because he’s so busy and lives in Kentucky.

            Cassie has moved from the bed to my towels now.

            Well, I’d better go eat lunch and check the mail.