Camp Waterloo Day 2

I’ve been home since Monday now, and today was my second full day. I spent some time this morning hanging the Christmas cards around the kitchen arch. Then, we straightened the house, my mom made a cheesecake, and my dad and I fixed the stove in the kitchen so it’d stop smoking up the walls. I started a blog for the Christmas adventure. I had hot dogs for lunch, which I love, and then proceeded to make chocolate chip cookies for the household. Nikki arrives home in a few hours, so at around seven I will begin making Brussel sprouts and sandwich steaks for dinner.

Meanwhile, Mom and I are going to have tea and then play bananagrams, until she and Dad have to go to the holiday party.

It’s been a good 2 days.

Introducing: a cousin, AJ!

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So friends, as most of you know, I have lots and lots of family. And they don’t leave CT much, except on very special occasions. But one of my very own cousins (well, as I explained to Jeff, my mom’s cousin’s stepdaughter, so technically my second cousin by marriage, but we’re all cousins in the Iannucci family) has moved to LA! So last night, Jeff, Bec, and I went to her improv show, and went to find her afterwards. Jeff said, “So…do you think she’ll remember you?” And I laughed, and said, “Well, I should hope so!” He was wondering because he knows that our family is so big, but let me tell you, the funny thing about our family is everyone remembers everyone. It’s pretty crazy.

Then I tapped her arm, and she screamed like we all do, gave me a huge hug, and immediately introduced me to her fiance. It was a lovely greeting, and we couldn’t stop hugging and loving and meeting and greeting, and then we all went to get a drink top catch up and spill what had happened since the last time we saw each other under happy circumstances, nearly 2 years ago, or so.

The lucky thing with family is that they are your family, so no matter what, it’s never awkward.

When we parted, AJ said, “Now I feel like I belong.” And it’s true. She does. Now some of us Iannuccis have migrated to another coast.

What a good night!

Dream Post: 1

I’ve been having these dreams that are kind of crazy, and so I’ve decided to start keeping track of them. Here goes.

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Last night, I had a dream:

I was in my house (like my parent’s house) and there was a plane flying very low over the house. It came in for a crash landing in our backyard, and in the distance the highway appeared (even though there is no highway in our backyard.) I felt nervous, but the plane landed OK, so I was hopeful that the person was OK. I went out to the backyard, with my phone so I could call 911. So then, this old deranged man gets out of the plane, and starts shooting at my brother and I with a gun that shoots like a machine gun but is more like a rifle. (I obviously don’t know that much about guns.) So I freak out and start dodging behind trees. My parents come out and they are also dodging bullets, and I am trying to talk to 911, but they are not picking up, and also when they DO pick up, they are in India–because the calls are being outsourced. So I am like, “OK well can I talk to someone in the US?” and then I get disconnected. Meanwhile, night falls and my dad has locked the deranged old man in the computer room behind a table. I am still ON HOLD with 911, and when I finally get through to someone, magically there is a party raging at my house. (Like, what?) And so I am yelling that I am trying to get an ambulance out to my house to get this man (apparently he needed an ambulance) and they ambulance gets lost on the way out, so 911 and I are trying to map where the ambulance is. Then, the road in front of my house turns into a four-lane BUSY road (it is only two lanes, and NEVER busy) and the ambulance starts doing turns and doughnuts to get to my house, like they are having fun and don’t care that I need them to get this man. Meanwhile, this man wakes up, and is trying to get out from under the table. And the party is still raging on, and my parents are NOT concerned.

Then I woke up. WHAT?! And this isn’t even as weird as the time I had a dream regarding people who were representing different species of dogs.

Where does this come from? I think the following items contributed to the dream:

1. Jeff got his car stuck in the sand this weekend at the beach, and we had to call AAA to tow it, and I had no service on my phone while I was trying to call him. Meanwhile, every time I called I got put through to Michigan, where my cell phone’s number is from, instead of California, where we live.

2. I was reading “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman last night, which starts in India and discusses outsourcing.

3. I saw Slumdog Millionaire this weekend, which was set in India.

4. I called 911 this week when I saw a motorcycle accident, and I was put on hold.

5. I watched the tail end of The Matrix the other day.

6. The airplane crash into the Hudson river last week.

So great, I have a reason for parts of THIS dream. Hopefully the rest of them are that clear….