Thanksgiving is in the books, and it went pretty well for everyone involved, even the cats. The stray that we've been calling Tiger now has a new home, and a new name, Ozzy. He stayed in our garage for a couple weeks altogether, which I felt bad about because he really wanted some attention and meowed just outside the kitchen door a lot. But he was filling out and seemed much better. Laura got Thomas to agree to take him, on the condition we could get him checked out before we did. So on Tuesday I took him to the vet and he got some shots and checked out for feline leukemia and FIV. Clean bill of health, except for just a few fleas and some ear mites, which we got a treatment for. So he was all set, and we started letting him into the house a bit after that. Which Iris and Ruby hated. But anyway, we got things all set to take him with us to Pennsylvania. We left town on Wednesday (I took the day off so we could leave early) with the cat carrier placed on top of the cedar chest (which we're also unloading on Laura!) in the very packed van. Alex drove us all the way to the state line, so 90 good minutes of driving there. Tiger/Ozzy did not like the carrier. He spent the entire 8 hours on the road yowling every few seconds, sometimes while sprawled on his back. We tried putting a small litter pan in there with him just in case but he turned that over and scattered it all right quick, same with the water dish when we stopped. So we were glad to get there. Laura's friend Jen from Chicago was visiting her as well. We had pizza upon arrival, then a few rounds of King of Tokyo. Thursday we did the standard turkey & everything else dinner, and then Christmas. We got Thomas a copy of Azul, which everyone loved and we played over and over again for the next couple days. Laura got some wine from Tippy Creek. I got some work gloves and a new spatula for the grill, Beth got some jewelry, Alex got a GameStop gift card, Nat got some makeup stuff and Missy some art stuff. And Ozzy got a new home. He seemed to be settling in pretty well. Friday we all went out to see "Ralph Breaks the Internet" which we all liked a lot, then went out to dinner at a hibachi restaurant and billed it to Mom. We made some plans for the Arizona trip next year to scatter Dad's ashes, and played more Azul. Saturday, we took everyone out for breakfast at Eat 'n Park before hitting the road again. With much more space in the van without the cedar chest, and much quieter without an unhappy cat. We had to leave Saturday, because Alex had work on Sunday.....while he was at work, I went to FW to visit Mom since I hadn't seen her in a while because I've had such a cold. Not much out of her this time. She wouldn't get out of the chair she was in, and didn't act like she recognized me. Visiting her is getting harder and harder, she just doesn't interact in any real way any more. Laura thinks I go visit her more often than I need to, which might be true, but I still want to see her.