Day 40

I took a pregnancy test on Thursday morning.  Negative.  Not even a hint of a line.  Which is fine, because I wasn't necessarily expecting to get pregnant immediately after surgery.  But where is my period????  There have been no signs of it whatsoever.  After doing a bit of reading, it seems reasonable to assume that it will take 5-6 weeks after surgery before it starts.  I'm now one day short of 5 weeks past surgery.  So maybe my period will start soon?

My Thanksgiving was pretty good.  We got up early on Thanksgiving morning and drove 25 minutes east to pick up my mom, who wasn't ready (I didn't expect her to be, especially since there was no traffic at all so we got there early).  I helped her finish packing, D changed the battery in her smoke detector because the beeping was driving me nuts even though she apparently couldn't hear it, and we piled into the car to drive 45 minutes west to my sister's, where my sister and I spent the day cooking and cleaning for 11 or so people, half of whom are from Italy.  Since my brother-in-law is from Italy, we often end up with all of the stray Italians in the area at our holiday celebrations.  My mother HATES sharing holidays with non-family members, especially those who are not American.   Perhaps I haven't mentioned it yet, but she was insisting on my husband and I spending Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day with her.  I told her we'd spend all day Thanksgiving and Christmas with her, but D and I had to work on Christmas Eve, and we'd be having dinner with his family.  So she suggested he go to his family and I go to her house.  Ummmm, yeah.  I shut that idea down right away.

In case you couldn't tell, my mother is DIFFICULT.  For Thanksgiving, my sister spent quite a bit of money on an organic heritage turkey, which my mom basically said was a waste since it wasn't that good.  She also said that "if it wasn't for the drug cartels, we should just take over Mexico since they have better beaches than we do".  And when one of the Italians asked her if she was from the town where my sister lives (which is a VERY NICE town, and most people in the area can't afford to live there, although it's not as glamorous and exclusive as the town where my mom used to live), she was offended.  Now, she lives in a similar town, but last year she moved from what was probably the most expensive town in the area, full of huge houses and gated communities and local celebrities, and she's still upset about the move.  So instead of telling the girl where she actually lives, she said, "well, I used to live in GB, but before that, I lived in S" which happens to be a small town in Silicon Valley that is also very expensive, but not exactly the most expensive place in Silicon Valley, and isn't exactly well-known.  No one who is from outside the area has ever heard of these places.  I can guarantee that someone who is from a different COUNTRY will never have any reason to know the names of these towns, much less be impressed by how rich and important my mother must be to have lived in them.  She couldn't even admit that she lives in the nice town she does, for fear that someone might think she consorts with commoners.  My poor sister had to put up with her overnight, since she's gotten to the point where she can't drive anymore.  I felt so bad, but I just can't deal with her for long periods of time.  Like half a day.

My husband and I spent the rest of the weekend doing maintenance on our house.  Owning a house is a pain.  Owning a 35-year-old house with a flat roof is even more of a pain.  We now have a leak in the bathroom ceiling.  We're probably going to have to hire someone to fix it, as soon as it stops raining.  I'm hoping it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Oh yeah!  I found my wallet!