Today is the day before Thanksgiving. I decided to get things done to make sure that Thanksgiving is the best I can make it (before I have to trot to work, that is. Damn you Black Friday!). I cooked the ham and melted the glaze on top (dad went cheap this year because it was on sale) and made the pinapple cassorale for tomorrow. I also made dinner tonight. I cleaned the downstairs once and the kitchen several times. I was feeling good. Then dad got home.

I swear he tries to ruin my good moods. Instead of how great the house looks, he talks about wanting to clean the dining room. It was cleaned Sunday, it doesn't need it. He complains on how I put up the swiffer and that the sink wasn't pristine after cleaning the dishes for the fifth time in two hours. Want to know what he's done to prepare for Thanksgiving? He bought apple pie. Pretty much that. I've done all the shopping and prep work thus far. I made sure we had veggies for tomorrow to go along with our taters. And all he can say is, "Be sure to clean the sink out better next time."

To make tomorrow even more stressful, his girlfriend will be joining us. Now, don't think I don't like her. I do. She's a nice person. I greatly admire the fact that she's run her own business for years, pulled herself up and made something of herself. However, she does grate on my nerves. Her family moved to the US when she was 13, so she's been here for about 50 years, yet she barely understands English language or American culture. If she drops something on the ground, she will stand there for ten minutes whining about what happened and asking us what she should do, instead of just cleaning it up. My sister once commented, and I agree, it's like she acts like she's five around us. We get that she's probably nervous. After all, my sister and I are very important to my dad and we most likely come first in his life, but that's no reason to still act so childish around us. We've done all we could to welcome her into our family. Heck, my sister and I are getting her Christmas gifts this year (and we did so last year) to show her that she's welcomed here. And yet, each time either of us are around her, she just acts dumb. And I know she's not dumb. No one can own and operate their own business for 30 years and be dumb.

I'm really not looking forward to this. I have to leave dinner early anyway to get ready for Unholy Friday. I swear, if she acts like she doesn't understand the concept of leftovers one more time, I'm going to scream. No, seriously, we had her over for dinner once and she thought she had to eat all the food we were making, and it took 15 minutes to explain that we were making extra to have the next day. It's called leftovers.