I just want to escape….
Life is exhausting. I just don’t know how single moms handle it all. My hats off to all of them out there.
I’m going at this all on my own here. Ryan is never around. I need to start planning my weekends so I can have something to look forward to.
My head is filled with a million things that I have to do. I’m constantly missing appointments or forgetting things even when I’ve remembered earlier that morning.
My to-do list is pages long. Anytime I get somethings done off of it 5 more things pop on it.
Simplify… it’s just something I can’t wrap my brain around.
On a positive note, I loved going to Ryan’s work Christmas party. It was so, so, so much fun. I was being my goofy, silly, bubbly self and people were amused.
One of the young guys there looked like Ricky Martin. He had come up to me and was being so charming that I began to make fun of him for it. I told him he looked like Ricky Martin and that if he wasn’t careful girls would throw themselves at him.
So we are at the part of the evening where everyone introduces themselves.
Ryan says, “Hi! I’m Ryan and I run the shop in High River.”
I say in a monotone, depressed voice, “Hi, I’m Joanne and I’m Ryan’s wife.”
People started to snicker.
“Oh that came out wrong didn’t it? Sorry, let me try that again.” I say grinning.
In my perky, hyper, full of energy voice I say, “HI! I’M Joanne and I’M RYAN’s wife. Ohhh, and he’s all mine!! Grrrr…..” And I wrap my leg over top of his lap, grab his inner thigh and pull it towards me making my little growling noises while I grab his shirt and yank him towards me as well. Everyone roared laughing. It broke the ice and set a precedent for what introductions are suppose to be like.
One of Ryan’s mechanics went next. In a very bubbly, loud voice (mocking me) he announces, “Hi! I’m Jon and I work for RYAN!” The crowd erupts into laughter once again….
And so continued the introductions going around the circle. Everyone altering and changing their introductions but making them very funny and orginial.
A few of my fav’s that I remember:
“Hi! I’m Steven and when I grow up I want to drive a service truck!”;
“Hi! I’m Ralph and I work for Sir Cam.”;
“Hi! I’m Julie, I’m Jeff’s wife and I like to spend his money.”
“Hi I’m SaraJane and I’m Paul’s wife and I’m his babymomma.”
It was very humorous to say the least. Now once we got to Braedon (Ricky Martin Look-a-like) he says, “Hi! I’m Ricky Martin…..” but before he could go any further I jumped up and screamed and ran over to where he was sitting and threw myself at his feet, reached up and pulled on his arms, grabbed his shirt, touched his face and hair and screamed, “AAAAHHHHH RICKY!!! I LOVE YOU!!! I LOVE YOU!!! Can you shake your bon bon for me? I LOVE YOU RICKEEEEEEE! AAAAHHHHH, it’s Ricky!!!!”
Everyone was shocked for a second then burst out into laughter when they realized what was going on. I was killing myself laughing because he was shocked at my reaction to his statement. Once he recovered he got up and did a back flip in the air.
It was just so much fun and an absolute riot. I love it when people are silly and play around. I hate stuffy Christmas parties and this one was laid back and relaxed.
We played the gift game next. How it works is that there are are bunch of gifts in the centre of the room around 70 gifts, one for each person each worth around $100 + or -. You can pick a gift from the middle or you can pick a gift that someone has opened already. There are no steal backs and a gift can only be fought over once each round. Ryan got his toothbrush that he wanted.
He saw Gary open it and he exclaims, “I want that!”
Gary says, “If you steal this away from me, I will love you forever!” He begins to blow kisses across the room, draw a heart over his heart and bat his eye lashes… it was so, so funny.
When it was finally Ryan’s turn he did take the fancy rechargeable toothbrush from him.
“I think you owe Ryan a kiss now Gary.” I blurt out grinning, my eyes dancing with mischief.
Gary runs over and pretends to give Ryan a kiss on the cheek.
“Thanks man! I owe you one!” He whispers into Ryan’s ear.
I was a little disappointed with the results, hoping that he would have gone a little overboard and planted one on his cheek or something for a good laugh…. ah well… not everyone is motivated for the reaction as I am.
The remarks about the gifts, the stealing of gifts back and forth was comical. It was very fun to watch everyone open their gift.
I picked a bag that was in the centre. I was curious as to what was in a bag that wouldn’t fit in a box. I was wonderfully rewarded for my curiosity. I got a gorgeous white Columbia ski coat. It fit me perfect. I love getting things that I would never buy for myself, but always wanted. This was something that fit the bill exactly. I’m always too practical and would never buy a white coat for myself. I love them, but worried about getting them dirty. Now I finally had one AND I didn’t have to buy it.
I was worried that someone might steal it from me during the game so I warned everyone to keeps their paws off my coat and that I’d fight till the death for this coat. I then put it on and wore it the entire time. I could tell that girls were eyeing the coat but the white scared them off because they were worried that it would get dirty or they wouldn’t look good in white.
I owned the coat. I was pumped out of my mind at the end of the game that no one wanted to steal it from me. Lots of women came over after commenting that they liked the coat and wanted to take it, but the fact that I was wearing it made them not try to steal it from me. Whoo hoo! My plan worked! I totally would have made a big production out of it if they would have anyway. 
For the first time in 4 years of going to that Christmas party I finally got a gift I loved. It is such a gorgeous coat. I just have to go find some ski pants to go with it.
At the end of the game there were a bunch of extra gifts in the centre so you could exchange your gift if you didn’t like it. There were some exchanging going on and everyone was happy with their gifts in the end. It was a fun night with a great meal and great company.
I went to bed exhausted and very content over my treasure.