~Thursday~ I was up at 7:30, and I took Nala for about a 20-minute walk, during which she both peed and pooped. Such a good girl!
I left her at 8:00, and once home filled the hard-boiled eggs with the mixture I had prepared yesterday. I once again started off with the wrong shaper on the Pampered Chef decorator gun, which makes it so hard to squeeze the egg filling out. There are two that basically make the same design coming out, and the thinner one would work great for icing, I believe, but for the egg filling, I really need to use the larger one. I figured that out about halfway through and switched them.
Robert and Joe arrived at 9:00, and we got on the road to my sister Vivian and her husband Jeff’s shortly after that. Not at all thinking, evidently, I hopped on 40 East (perhaps a little on autopilot due to my recent trips to Jacksonville), and it wasn't until I was at the intersection of I-40 and I-95 that a "Where-the-fuck-are-you?" thought struck me.
With a quick suggested correction from Joe's GPS, we look 92 (I think it was) over to 95 to 301 and back on track onto 264 East. Ridiculous.
We arrived at 11:00 instead of 10:30 as we had hoped, and mom and dad actually beat us there by about 10 minutes. Mom was getting around beautifully, all things considered, and as always Vivian's decorating was impeccable—with this year's theme being pumpkins, gourds, and nuts. (Oh my!)
I forgot to take a picture of the table all set before we "tore it up," but I did get these pics:
Flowers
The Centerpiece
Just desserts!
Thanks to Vivian and Jeff for always opening up their home and hearts to me, welcoming my friends and loved ones, and for keeping some of the Portuguese cooking traditions going for our family!
We took the direct route back to Raleigh, and as soon as i dropped off Robert and Joe at my house, I headed over to Jen’s to let Nala out. She was a good girl and “held it” for nine hours.
We went for a nice walk, and she did everything dogs do—which included, but was not limited to, peeing, pooping, and scent-hunting for squirrels.
I left Nala at about 7:30, knowing she’d be okay until I got back sometime around midnight or 1:00.
Back at my place, I had a two-hour nap before heading out to Flex to met Joe at Trailer Park Prize Night, where it was pretty crowded, but not really as much as I thought it would be.
Bob was there too, after having put his guests to bed, who are going to get up early tomorrow morning for some Black Friday shopping.
“Trixie,” one of my least favorite drag queens of all, ever, was in the show, so I wasn’t there much after it started.
Once again, Nala was a “good girl,” and she got a homemade doggie treat in the shape of a turkey that Bob had made for his dogs, with a few extra for Nala. Thanks, Bob!
Needless to say, she gobbled it up.