Ahhhh, vacation

I am finally settling into vacation mode. It's a vacation without any money, but it doesn't cost me much to lay on the couch in my reindeer pajamas and blog in between naps. Good times. Husband is playing with his playstation while I nurse my headache. Headaches are guaranteed when I drink a glass a red wine too close to bed time. Oh well, it was worth it.

My new meds are wreaking havoc on my body. The reduction in Effexor with the addition of Zoloft has been a true assault on normalcy, not that I had a lot of normalcy left these days. The change in meds reminds me of the time when the doctors and I were desperately exploring all of the different mood regulating chemicals out there in an attempt to reduce the amplitude of my mood's sinus wave. During that time, I would nap in my car in the middle of the day, just to make it through. All of the med changes simply wiped me out and reduced me to a groggy fragment of myself. It's not nearly as bad this time around, but I am definitely spending extra time on the couch with the sandman. Hence, the two hour Christmas Day nap.

I made it through my weekend with the in-laws. My new approach of zero expectations works well. OK, I do have one expectation...I expect them to irritate me beyond control. Expectation achieved! My mother-in-law is aware of my bipolar disorder. I really don't know what possessed me to tell her, but I did. Ever since then, all of the gifts I get from her involve padding around in my pajamas. For Christmas I got four sets of pajamas, just from her. Apparently, mental illness for her involves a lot of well matched pajamas. Oh, and they come with color coordinated slippers. Message received... When you are crazy, don't leave the house, don't get dressed, don't get out of bed. No problem, that I can do.

Her second offense was equally subtle. This requires some background knowledge. For husband's birthday, his sister bought him the 6th season Simpson's DVD set. Husband and his sister have a thing going about the Simpson's that I think is cute. Whatever it takes to connect sounds good to me. Unfortunately, the Simpson's 6th season is in a different package than the rest of the other seasons that we own. Luckily, other fans must be as anal retentive as I am, because inside the box they give you instructions on how to send away for the normal non-Homer head box as a replacement. Yes, I am sick and thus I really need my DVD boxes to match. So, husband, not realizing that I didn't want to reveal ALL of my crazy tendencies to the in-laws, made the mistake of telling his mom about the replacement offer and how his crazy wife needs the boxes to be the same. Now it's important to note that the later seasons are offered in either the weird plastic box that drives me nuts or the normal version, unlike the 6th season which was only offered as one version, the weird unmatching one. For Christmas, husband received the 9th season from his mother and I will give you one guess as to which version she gifted to him. Yep, the fucking plastic Lisa head case. Since I was in the Christmas spirit, I figured I would give her the benefit of the doubt and said, "Oh, you couldn't find the other version, huh?" Her reply with a cackle, "Oh no, the other one was there, but I thought this one would be more funny because I knew it would bug you." Yes, she even admitted it, right to my face. Ugh. I will revenge this one, but it has to be equally subtle. The war is on now.

Christmas day was peaceful and restful, just what I needed. We enjoyed a made ahead breakfast casserole, yum. Then binged on pistachios, goldfish crackers, and a shameless Asiago dip. Good stuff. Dinner was cocktail shrimp followed by a dessert of homemade chocolate truffles. We didn't eat the special one though. The one that husband insisted I make. Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo. We are so proud of it that it is pictured here. Why have kids for your Christmas pictures when you can have a truffle shaped like a poo?