Tiredness...

Very tired. Feel like I was dragged through a cobblestone street by a team of bison on stampede. Ugh. The kids were "ok" well except for the nephew's excessively high pitched screaming. I could've done without that.

Maybe the worst part of the experience was fighting with the iPod for Mother. The lights worked, iTunes showed the songs stored but there was no damned audible sound! Something obviously went wrong during one of the times the install crashed on Windows XP. I was starting to dream of the lanyard as a noose! Finally it worked after doing a "reset to factory settings" and she's listening away. Clearly Apple has work to do to make it more bulletproof and Microsoft can **** itself sidewise with a bail of razor wire. A pox on that company.

This was more emotionally taxing than changing the Transformer I'd gotten my brother into the robot form. That was tedious. It wasn't "hard" it was just more complex than expected, the modern instructions SUCK and I was a bit too cautious on what was a moveable part and what was not. Sometimes those joints are very stiff and need some decent muscle behind them to move. Who decided this was a suitable toy for ages 5+? I say it's too complex. However, the thing is brilliant! Very attractive in both forms. I got it specifically for the car state and because my brother was also a Transformers fan growing up.

The food was... well not as greasy as some years. In fact the biscuits were giant croutons by the time the SIL remembered them in the oven. Oops. I ate some of them anyway. It was almost like old times when mother used to good. Everything had to be mummified right from the oven: mashed potatoes, meats, mac-n-cheese...

I'd only eaten a blueberry muffin today. I filled up on carbs: potatoes, breads, stuffing. The dehydrated turkey. The green beans were canned! CANNED! Sure they were store-brand but they were C-A-N-N-E-D. Frozen is the only suitable non-fresh veggie form. Canned! I wanted to cry for these poor once organic, now metallic things. They didn't harm anyway. Didn't stay for desert in case fog was thick on the journey back to the zilla's cave. Some cookies were given as a parting gift. The SIL was embarrassed they turned out so flat although she assured us they tasted fine. I've used that recipe before, in my uni days. They'd go pretty flat. I used to use a recipe from someone but since he committed suicide it just hasn't seemed right. That and I can get pre-made cookie dough inexpensively (Nestle Tollhouse in the tube, not those break-and-bakes which use a different formulation) and get a fine, consistent cookie. I like to freeze the dough roll and then cut it (a benefit of good german knives), package and all into "coins" giving me around 16 or so.

The SIL's brother's son might be a Jew but the kid, apparently, has no concept of his roots. He "gets" Christmas but not Hanukkah. Pity. Jews have a very rich history. He's probably 5 by now.

Will write more as time allows. I'm on the verge of collapse.