Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a good Thanksgiving and continued weekend.  For Thanksgiving we went over to Joe's grandparents' house (where his aunt and uncle - siblings, not a couple - also live).  I was honestly a little bit nervous about it, as it was primarily a traditional Italian meal instead of old school Thanksgiving.  But holy hell was it good.  Joe's grandma is actually Sicilian, and she makes her own red sauce, meatballs, and cooks sausage links in it too.  It was amazing.  We had that over Penne with a side salad and a side of turkey.  I had two helpings of pasta and meatballs (and sausage) and didn't really give a crap about the turkey.  It was glorious.  Joe ate himself to the point of severe discomfort.  Maddie at a bunch as well.  It was a good time, and we enjoyed getting to spend the holiday with some family. 

Another Thanksgiving "happy" was that we went for a run that morning.  We got in a 3.25 mile on THANKSGIVING DAY.  I definitely felt good about myself after that.  I've felt good enough lately to go ahead and buy new clothes.  As I've mentioned, I completely sorted, donated and sold off a bunch of my stuff before the move, and even a bit more since our arrival here.  Total de-clutter mission...Joe even has more clothes than I do right now!  Anyway.  I hit some of the Express and Gap sales (online) and am really excited to see how my stuff will look on me after it arrives.  New body, new hair; it's time for some new clothes.  Boom.

Where I'm struggling is in the new friends department.  It does get lonely here, and I'm not one who is great at putting myself "out there."  That said, there aren't really even that many ways to even do that.  My FB mom groups are kind of duds.  I've asked Joe's family about any friends with kids our age.  Joe's coworkers either don't have kids or do but live an hour away (what a commute!).  I've gone to the park more regularly but pickins are slim.  I just really don't want to be friends with the 500lb mom who is chain smoking right next to where our kids are playing.  No thanks.  There are no mommy and me classes here (that I can find).  Most all of the kiddie classes listed around the community have an age limit of no younger than three.  Still holding out for gymnastics @ 18mos, and I'm very hopeful that we can all (Maddie + parents) make new friends there.  It's tough out here, y'all.  And right now I really need friends who "get it" what with the insane screaming/meltdown phase we're in now.  Joe is my sole friend here, and that's a lot of pressure on him.  Oh well.  I at least have a old lady tea/lunch I'm going to on Dec. 8!  They may be older than my own parents, but it'll be nice at least hanging with some gals outside the house!  And eating little sandwiches with the crust cut off.  Yes.

But alas, the Christmas season is now upon us, and we have family coming into town next month, so I'm excited for that!  Joe too, as it is his mother, brothers and their SO's.  I guess his family really is mine now if I'm this excited to see them.  Or it's just that lonely here.  ;-)  But speaking of Christmas, Joe is outside beginning the process of hanging lights on the house. The plan is to just kind of hang today and hopefully later go look for a new mattress.  Joe ran four days in a row last week, so he's definitely taking the day off from that.  Yep, he's starting to run again.  He does my smaller runs with me, some interval speed runs by himself, and just Friday did a long, 8.5 mile run.  Very proud that he's getting back into it!  I had my longest run here to date of four miles yesterday.  It seriously is a confidence boost to go further.  I love it.  I've never run like this before, and I never thought I could.  I hope I keep it up, though.  Just at the end of August/beginning of Sept, I was only running three minutes at a time, and now here I am a few months later, going for 35-45 minutes.  Feels SO good.  Now if I could just find some mom friends!