Weekly Wrap-up - October 4

Hannah left to go home this week. I started putting the house "back in order" this weekend, but I really miss all the crafty stuff in my living room and my BFF cousin hanging out to talk to and watch trashy reality TV with. I do, however, think that Lucky is happy to have her pillows back on the hearth. She has laid there so much since I got it put back together.


John was still in Austin working for the State Guard this week. He loves being down there. Maybe some day they will have the budget to hire him full-time.  On Saturday, they had the change of command and John was glad to be there for that. General Rodriguez actually gave him a shout-out in his farewell speech for his work on the toy drive.

After the Changing of Command, John was coined by the Senior Enlisted Advisor of the Texas Military Forces.

Jacob had two tests this week - he now has a 104% in his history class. (It's a history professor, not a math professor LOL!) After a rough start in his online web programming class, he got an 88.5% on that test. He had some problems doing the online class where all you do is learn out of a book (like his father, he is a visual, hands-on learner) so I am tutoring him, means I am learning HTML code, too. Watch out people - I may just start designing websites. (Who am I kidding? When would I actually have time for that??)


We got a wonderful thunderstorm on Thursday. Ok,  not so wonderful for the person in Frisco whose house caught on fire because of lightning, but wonderful because September was one of the driest in history and we're already in a drought with Stage 3 water restrictions. I was at work at SLA in my little office in the center of the office (no windows). Larry and Amy were out so their doors closed and I didn't even know it was raining! I saw an FB post by my friend Brenda where she had videoed the storm at her house. I hurriedly opened Amy's door and it was SO dark - seemed almost like night. I stood at her window and watched the golfers try to get undercover, the rain come down in sheets, and the trees blow like crazy. I had watered our backyard tree the night before. The last time I watered the tree it also rained. Looks like there is no raindance at my house - just water the tree.





John was at the Austin mall on Saturday and saw this site. Please Dillards, let us get past Halloween before the Christmas decorations go up!!!






We ended the week with a very special event. Janice Scott was the librarian at Jacob's elementary school (Curtsinger). She is one of the sweetest, most gentle ladies I know. He absolutely adored her and I know that is where his love of reading was really sparked. This year Frisco ISD opened Janice Stahley Scott Elementary School!

 Jacob and Ms. Scott

Jacob and Ms. Boyce

We went to the dedication today and saw so many of my old Curtsinger buddies and some of Jacob's old teachers, as well as his principal Debbie Boyce (couldn't ever be a better one!). It was a very nice ceremony, and never the one to crave the spotlight, in true Janice Scott fashion, she was humble and praised the students and staff of the school as well as recognizing a gentleman who was there who had served at the Battle of the Bulge (90 years old). We toured the school, visited with people, and were amazed at the size and the technology. Not surprisingly, the book fair groupies Renee (and her all-grown-up kids Kate and Tony), Jenny, Kathy, Margaret, and me pretty much made a beeline to library where we visited and expounded on how huge and nice the library was. As Jacob would see things, he would say "back in my day..." (i.e. "Back in my day we didn't have projectors in the ceiling - our teachers wrote on those plastic sheets that were on those projector machines that you had to keep focusing." "Back in my day, we didn't have big flat screen TVs that they could do presentations on." "Back in my day, the computer lab was in the middle of a pod, not in a class of its own.") It was a nice day and made me realize how much I miss the times back at Curtsinger. But time moves on and seasons change so we just need to feel blessed with the life that we lead today.

Weekly Wrap Up - September 28

Best news of the week - Mom got out of the hospital on Tuesday and is feeling much better. Their little doxie Sandy was very excited that she was home! (Dad said hyperactive Sandy just moped around while mom was gone.)

Back in Texas, us gals went out for Bingo on Wednesday night. Kim was the big winner with a $500 pot on the pull tab Bingo, but we had a fun time anyway. Not much time for socializing while the games are going on (they move fast!) but the ride there, the ride back (Elizabeth and I did our pumpkin trip and stayed for only the first session) and lengthy at-home visit with E were great. Also so good to see Kim and Tracy since we haven't been getting together much lately. Even Shawn "Red" was there so I could say hi. We will definitely go back. Won't be regular weekly players, though, since it's a bit of a haul to the place, but it was well organized, easy to find, non-smoking, and just a fun time. (And now I have my very own dauber!)

Since it was drill weekend and John was still in Austin, we took Jacob down for drill and enjoyed a weekend vacation. Hannah stayed to go along and we went to the Pecan Street Art Festival. There were several fun vendors, lots of food to choose from (fried gator, pie pan shrimp, snow cones, corn dogs, funnel cakes, etc.), and lots of the "weird" that is Austin.

Hannah never meets a stranger.
This guy had very cool art from car parts, propane tanks, etc.

It was a king-size corn dog for me for lunch! 

Of course, the first few bites burnt the roof of my mouth, but it was still yummy!

A group was marching around with American Flags and guns. Very respectful and very peaceful. Behind them marched a TOPLESS older lady chanting "More boobs, less guns on 6th Street." (Picture was taken but not sharing that one on my blog LOL!) One guy looked her up and down and said "More guns!" Love that we live in America where each side can show their support in peaceful protest. :-)

That evening, we picked up Tasha (daughter of a good friend - attending UT) and her roommate and we went for dinner. John and the girls had gone to hopdoddy previously and he said it was really good. We decided to give it a try. We pulled up, saw the line and the girls said it was "a short line." Really? This is short? EEK! We did it anyway and it was worth the wait. While in line, they took orders for shakes for us and WOW was my shake (Carmel & Sea Salt) awesome! Jacob got chocolate (shocker!) which was probably one of the best chocolate shakes I've ever tasted, Hannah got the nutella & chocolate pretzels - quite good. John got the raspberry & white chocolate - not bad but my least favorite.

We stayed at the Travelodge that John stays at when he does not stay on Camp Mabry. The room is huge - two queen beds plus a couch that folds out. 

Not sure what Jacob's deal is about his feet hanging off 

the bed but he does it at home, too.

 John wanted to show us around Camp Mabry.  We visited the Texas Military Forces Museum which is on Camp Mabry.  They have made many changes to it since we were there four years ago. They've got some great stuff and the new parts are really nice.

Next up was a tour of Building 32 and the office that the boys work in.

Jacob showed us his "chair" that he works at, 

although he is up and around a lot.

 This is the "big" room that the J6 shop works in on drill weekend.

 While we were there, the monkey cousins Macy and Marlee got to meet 

Manny, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Texas Military Forces.

Czech Stop on the trip home - Kolaches to go!

Before Hannah left town, we went to Red Lobster with our good friend Kathy Corry to celebrate Hannah's birthday since she would be back home on the actual day. (WE MISS YOU, HANNAH!!)

Weekly Wrap-up - September 21

It's been a busy week! Keeping plenty busy at work (two jobs now - one doing regular work and playing some catch up, and the other just busy as we move into full gear at the new office).

I started out the week with an early doctor's appointment on Monday. Nothing of concern - just wanted her to check some spots on my face that I forgot to mention to her in my check-up the week before. All looked good to her but she gave me a dermatologist referral to do at my convenience.

John ended up being called to Active Duty in Austin until the 30th. He got there the first day, worked, went out to dinner, went to check into his hotel and told that they did not have a room reserved for him! The not-so-polite desk person said they had been talked to about the room but no one gave payment so no room unless he paid $300. He was out on that so he slept in his office and let the PTB make heads roll the next day.

On Wednesday, Lucky went in to have one of her teeth, that was cracked, pulled. She ended up having two teeth pulled (upper right molar - the chewing tooth - and the lower left tooth behind her canine). She also had another cracked molar - opposite side - so bone chewing is not only out for the two weeks for her mouth to heal, but pretty much forever! She will not like that - she loves those T-bones she gets once in a while and won't be able to enjoy the chew bones she steals from Maestro! We have to soak her food in water to make it soft for her but even the night of the surgery, she gobbled it down. They said she might not be hungry - HA! Have they met the 17.5 pound chunker? She looked pretty rough when we picked her up but she has been doing fine - a few coughing fits but not bad overall.

Also on Wednesday, Hannah, Elizabeth, and I loaded into my car to go play Bingo with Kim & Traci. Luck was not on our side, though! Just as we got past McDermott on Coit, our friend Danielle called and she and her daughter Tessa had been in an accident! We turned around and headed to Rolater & Custer where her poor Nissan kept them safe but was totaled. Tessa was quite the trooper during the whole situation.

On Saturday, we had the NYAC crop. It was fun that Hannah was here to join us and several of the peeps were able to make it. Tessa even joined us for a while in the morning to help setup, "take roll call," craft, and make special little gifts for a few of us. The crop day ended unexpectedly early. We go until 9:00 but Hannah and I were driving home by 8;18. Nothing in particular - just an early evening for those who attended. No complaining from us - we went home, unloaded, put on our PJs, and watched a few shows.

When we ran to Michaels and Tuesday Morning that day with the peeps (a NYAC day tradition), Darren called and Pender had broken his radius playing soccer!! No activity for him for a month.

On a bad note on this otherwise relaxing Sunday, Dad has to take Mom to the hospital at 3:00 a.m. She has been sick for a few days, saying it was just her sinsues, and when she was throwing up in the middle of the night, Dad decided it was no longer time to just let it ride. They got the ER and checked in, they took her back, checked her and was given some medication so she wouldn't throw up. It was than 8:00 a.m. before they got into an examining room! A FIVE HOUR wait! That's just craziness! Her sodium was low - which is a recurring problem with her and she's been hospitalized for it before. Her oxygen was good, though. They did admit her to the hospital so that they could start an IV treatments for the sodium. She will be there for probably a couple of days. They have to bring her sodium level up slowly because if they do it too fast it can affect the brain. When I spoke to her in the afternoon, she was hoarse and not happy to be in the hospital again but resigned to the fact. Wish there was just some magic pill that she could take that would keep her sodium levels normal!

Otherwise, it's Sunday "Relax Day:! Hannah and I had decided earlier in the week that today would be PJ & trash TV day. We had BACON for breakfast, have watched a few 4 Weddings and Say Yes to the Dress, Hannah is working on her current craft project (decorated wedding tray), and I've done a few household things at a nice leisurely pace. Nice to have a "down day."

Spaghetti Squash!

Well, yum yum! I finally got around to trying spaghetti squash. It was not exactly what I was expecting but I like it! I did not expect it to be kind of sweet. Talk about hard to cut open, though. Wowza - thank goodness cooking was easy! Tried some different things with it (butter & parm, marinara, seasonings, etc.) and so far my favorite it to eat it with just some Cotija cheese on it. The sweet and salty has nice flavor. Can't wait to try some "real" recipes with it! (We'll see how the boys take to it...or not LOL)

The boys are home!!

 I'm so not a good selfie taker!

YEA! My boys are home early! John always likes to surprise me and this was a good one! They were supposed to be home from Missouri on Wednesday. I had talked to John a few times today - just the normal stuff - he said he was going to visit Matt & Stacy, etc. So I'm in the kitchen with Kim while she cuts up veggies to go with the cilantro lime chicken for tonight's dinner and I see some movement in the backyard. I wonder in my mind what it is but assume it's just the leaves on the branch blowing. Suddenly the door opens and they boys come rushing in saying, "When we heard you were hurt, we jumped in the van and rushed home!" Uh, yeah, right. Let's see, around 3:30 I sent them the picture of the blood on my finger from where I cut it while while replacing the shower Jacob's shower valve and replaing the handle. It is now around 6:30. Somehow, I don't think you made that drive in 3 hours LOL! They did make good time, though, managing the trip in about 9 hours - one stop for gas. Love my boys, and although I got a lot done while they were gone, I'm glad to have them home!

Teresa the great repairwoman! Only one injury reported.

New Lights - I hate them!

So, they finally got around to finishing the streetlights along College (right outside our house). I was not happy when they first started putting them in but even less happy now that they have turned them on! It's like a football stadium in my house - so bright! We will have to sleep with the door shut to the living room - which I hate. I like having our doors open. I feel sorry for Jacob since his room will be pretty brightly lit with one of the new streetlight's blazing onto the front of the house. I guess one advantage is that our porch is much brighter now. We used to turn the porch lights on but because they were on the outside of the wall, there wasn't much light on the actual porch. Now no one should have any problems walking out our door to the house. Oh, and we won't really have to turn on the back yard light since another "wonderful" light brightens up that area quite nicely. Ugh! The cost of growth in Frisco. Had I known now what I knew then about how our little corner would evolve (no parking in front, ugly signs, bright lights to disturb our sleep), we would not have let Jacob have "the cow house". 

 The part of College where the lights have not been turned on yet.

The lit up part - no one should complain that they can't see!!

Great Sunday!

Whatcha doing today? Happy to say that we are Scrapbooking, yes, we are! I'm finishing up the journaling in Jacob's Scout album. Hannah is working on various projects at the "cutting island" and at the "toddler table". (She says, "You've heard of the short bus? I'm at the short table." LOL! My hubby brought in the table for her when she got here - but he got the table that I have that starts out for toddlers and can adjust up for adults - but she liked it in the toddler position). Wonderful, relaxing and fun Sunday. 

Oh, and John is cooking for us! Smoked ribs for lunch and smoked brisket for dinner!

Another reason I love him (or put up with him)

So I'm working on bookkeeping in my office. John opens the door and comes through the room. As soon as he opens the door, I hear him start singing Beaches of Cheyenne which is playing on my Pandora. (Love me some Garth, although is favorite sing along is Hank.)

Although we have a bit of differences in music (most of the time we like the same stuff - the only way we really differ is he's more into hard metal and I'm more into dance music), we are still pretty doggone compatible in that area.

Several times this week and last week, I knew what he was going to say before he said it - or knew what he was thinking without him saying a word.

So what is love? Isn't part of it just compatibility and the comfort in knowing each so well? And sometimes it's almost scary how well I know that man!!

And have I mentioned that he makes me laugh? 

Let it snow!

SNOW! View at 6:00 this morning.

Yep, DFW got our 3rd snow this winter. Well, the first one doesn't really count because it was just a light dusting overnight.  The 2nd one was on Christmas day, while we were in Missouri, of course.

Since the transmission went out of my car yesterday (UGH!) I was already planning to ride in with John. It was nice and snowy and slushy when we came in, but being from Missouri, it was no big deal to us.

Many of my facebook friends were upset that they had not cancelled schools. Really? In Frisco, we have community school so most of the time you are driving no more than 2 miles to a school to drop your kid off. And by the time schools started, it was much more wet than it was when we left at 6:30. Looking at the traffic map on the local TV stations showed warnings all over the metroplex of slow moving traffic and a few accidents. Radio said that it was a 3 hour commute from Sherman to McKinney on Hwy 75. Poor sheltered native Texans LOL! This would be almost like driving in summer for Missouri folks!

TX State Guard - Toy Collection

John joined the Texas State Guard in 2010 and last year and this year he has actively participated in collecting toys around Christmas for their Young Heroes of the Guard program. This program provides toys (generally stuffed animals) to children in hospitals.

To get toys, John offered anyone playing in Drop N Aces bonus chips if they brought in a toy. The response was overwhelming! John's goal was 400. We collected 755!!! Have I ever mentioned how awesome our DNA players are?! Because our van was broken down and we didn't have a way to transport the toys to Austin (where John is stationed), Don Sears, one of our DNA players, offered to drive John down there. They headed out around 6 a.m. to make the trip.

I'm sure that CVS next to Irving El Chico loved us because every Sunday, you would see a small parade of players headed over to CVS to pick up a toy to get bonus chips!

The Nativity

So what is required in a nativity? Baby Jesus, of course. Second most important is probably Mary, followed by Joseph, the Wise Men, shepherds, animals and an angel. Well, bless her little heart (all of you from the south know what's coming next), one of my poor friends is not quite up on her nativity lore. She asked her man how to set it up and he said it didn't matter as long as Jesus was in the middle. So as we were shopping for scrapbooking stuff, I told her I would help her get it right when we go to her house. Notice from the gap in the picture that there is one vital, female item missing. Oh, well, at least she has baby Jesus!

And what about collecting nativities? I have a small collection of nativities that I love. One of my favorites is my snowman nativity. So what do I see on facebook today? A blog listing the worse nativities. (Can we say zombies and bacon/sausages on saurkraut, please?) Ok, it's all fun and laughter until I see MY snowman nativity on the list. HEY NOW!!!! http://whyismarko.com/2011/27-worst-nativity-sets-the-annual-growing-list/

Buffalo Wild Wings - Our Home Away From Home

Who knew from our first impression that BWW would become our favorite food joint? When John and I first went there, I was not all that impressed with the queso (although I immediately fell in love with the pretzels suggested by our server) and John said the wings were ok. Well, just keep going back and something will grow on you. Now we go at least once a week by ourselves for lunch or with friends. It is a favorite hang-out spot after we go to a Tornado game and we go for lunch nearly every time John heads down for drill on Fridays. John used to be a Hooters man (double dipped bentley's please) but I was never that keen on it. Glad that we found somewhere that we, and our BFFs, like so well!

Our usual crowd consists of John, me, Kim, Sherry, Buddy, and sometimes Gene for lunch (or any combination thereof). We went there to watch the 2011 FIFA women's final soccer match (US against Japan) and poor Kim sat by Buddy and got beat up - everytime something happened, he would fling his arm in her direction. We watched one of the 2011 World Series games there (TX Rangers against St. Louis Cardinals - with John wearing his cardinals hat and Pam, Greg, and all other tables around us wearing their Rangers gear). We've hung out and played video poker against each other. We've watched the MMA fights. (Well, I've diverted my eyes from a lot of those - hard to watch as they get blackened eyes, broken noses, and blood running down their faces. There are enough TV screens that I can watch some trivia, poker, or a football game.) We've enjoyed the mild weather on the patio. We've just sat and talked for two hours.

It's kind a like Cheers in the fact that there's a couple of servers who recognize us. I don't know if that's a bad thing or a good thing! Our server today (who knows John's order of the mixed sauces) has nicknamed John "Cupcake" because John was lamenting that I didn't bring him one of the cupcakes that Barry had brought by the office that morning. He teased John that he couldn't give him the military discount because his name is "Cupcake"!

We love the soft pretzels. Jacob even "got stuck" going with us for lunch after his Collin College tour, and found that he really likes the mini corn dogs, and my french fries. John's alternates between bone-in and boneless but his favorite sauce is the hot BBQ mixed with hot. (One of the servers suggested mixing them one time and now that's his order.)

Reader, Reader, can I find a reader?

I love having a reader for a son! I was an avid reader when I was growing up. Jacob struggled with reading when he was young, and I despaired of him being "a reader> However, after Reading Recovery and Title 1 in school and me reading to him for years, one of his favorite pasttimes is now reading.

We have read several books and series together and now he is finishing up the Eragon series that we started many years ago. The new (and last) book was out and he could not wait until his birthday or Christmas to get it, so I got it for him before we left to go to Missouri for Thanksgiving.

Now instead of getting on his computer & checking Fox News before he goes to school, he is reading the 800+ page book.

I was always in trouble for reading during classtime when I was in school but I haven't gotten any complaints about him. Does that mean that he follows the rules, he's just better at hiding it, or the teachers are so excited to have a student quietly reading in class instead of mouthing that they don't complain?

We are visiting John in Del Rio. On the drive down, I truly understood what I've heard people say - Dallas is not Texas. The vegetation is different, there are long stretches of harsh nothingness, many ranches, cactus, and even deer (although they are the size of big goats LOL).

We were driving along between Junction and the turn off to Del Rio and I was looking at two horses at their trough in the field beside the road and then realized there about 20 deer there, too! I whipped the rental car into a u-ey and went back to take a photo. Although most of the deer scattered, I got some individual shots and I got a picture of a representation of Texas - the two horses at their trough surrounded by cactus and the tumbleweed.

Yesterday we went to Seminole Canyon and took the guided hike to see the Pecos River Style cave paintings. Again, the starkness of the landscape was beautiful in its own way, but it was hard to imagine this early man eeking a life out of the harsh terrain. The people who created these cave drawings were nomads and no tribe has claimed them so there is not much known about them or their lifestyle. Assumptions can be made but there is no certainty since there are no decendents to share their stories and lifestyles. The tour guide was happy to share with us some 3000 year old poop - although only one kid was interested in holding it (and it wasn't Jacob). She said that from this they could reconstitute it and could tell what the diet of these people were - mostly vegetation and they were protein deprived, but there were sometimes grasshoppers or other small bugs and animals. Guess you get it where you can!

In the evening, we went to Dottie's house. Dottie and her husband who is a deputy sherriff, have meals for the group and it just happened to fall on this weekend. I got to meet almost everyone that John works with and we got to watch Dottie feed the deer. It was amazing to see these deer trained to come at nearly dark when they hear the corn hit the metal bowl. They would come right up close to Dottie. Looking at her feeding the deer, seeing her 4 dogs and the many cats, you can tell the she has a very giving heart. One of her cats was proportioned to what I would expect Garfield to look like in real life!

Classes

What were your favorite classes in school? What class(es) would you like to take now?

Of course I loved Art class with Mrs. Catlett. (hey, another C) She really turned my life around.

I liked humanities with Mrs. Carson (wow, C again)

One of the classes that I think helped me most to prepare for college was Expositions with Mrs. Packer. Even though she seemed a bit scattered sometimes, her emphasis on getting the details in your writing helped me to be the only person in the incoming Freshman class at Columbia College to test out of English 1. Mrs. Braun told me that my scores were very good on the grammatical test but all of the faculty was very impressed with my essay and the detail in it. (As I look around this room.... All of the students were all in the cafeteria testing and I wrote about specific people, i.e. Will North Dakota farm girl Darla be able to handle the homesickness to be the first person in her family to graduate from college?) Another fun thing about the class was playing "Dictionary", the original version of Balderdash. The person who had the dictionary would find a word in it and then write the real definition while the rest of us made our own up, just like Balderdash. Wish I had translated that class game to the money making commercial one!

I HATED math. Thank goodness we were only required to have one year of math for my graduating class (the requirements upped the next few years). I took Algebra with Mr. Baylor. I don't know how I ever stayed awake in that class.

I think I could have liked science, but it was so much about memorization (those periodic tables) instead of learning how things worked or why.

Win some Thickers

Wanna win some Thickers? Check out this gal's contest.

http://thisscrapperslife.blogspot.com/2009/10/thickers-giveaway.html

The Battle of the Gately Boys

My crazy boys (that would be husband and son). They love to torture each other. It's like having two brothers rather than parent & child.

Tonight's torture topic was exercise. John thinks that Jacob should get exercise by trying to escape Dad as Dad tortures him. Lots of yelling goes on. Lots of laughing goes on. At least it's in the privacy of our own home instead of picking on each other at the mall (which always happens if I take them both with me. Maybe that's why we never go to the mall!)

One Word

USING ONLY ONE WORD:
Not as easy as you might think! Now forward, change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to send back to the person you received it from!
Where is your cell phone? Purse
Your significant other? Couch
Your hair? up
Your mother? Missouri
Your father? Garage
Your favorite thing? food
Your dream last night? none
Your favorite drink? milk
Your dream/goal? health
Your hobby? books
Your fear? death
Where do you want to be in 6 years? family
Where were you last night? Rodriguez
Something that you aren't? thin
Muffins? blueberry
Wish list item? peace
Last thing you did? ate
What are you wearing? sloppy
TV? John
Your pets? Lucky
Friends? many
Your life? boring
Your mood? tired
Missing someone? Yes
Drinking? water
Smoking? yuck
Your car? Van
Something you're not wearing? shoes
Your favorite store? Walmart
Your favorite color? Blue
Who will resend this? unknown
Where do you go to over and over? work
People who email me regularly? Groups
My favorite place to eat? TXLC
Favorite place I'd like to be now? chair
People I think will respond? Flyfriends

Black Friday 2008

Couldn't sleep night before. Didn't get to bed until after midnight. Up at 3:30 a.m. sicker than a dog (nausea). Listened to my aunt gripe at my cousin about her driving all the way to the store (about a 30 min drive). Got to Walmart about 4:30. The only thing I really wanted to get that day was a kitchenaid mixer that WM had for $130. When I got there, there were 10 mixers and about 20 people already standing there waiting to grab. I stood around, chatted for a while, evaluated my chances of getting one without being killed and decided that with the carts and people blocking my way, there was no way on earth that I was going to get one of those 10 mixers at 5:00. I went on and got other stuff and met my cousin at the checkout line.

After surviving the long checkout line at WM, we headed to Target. Arrived before they opened. The gal who ended up in line behind me to get in was one of the close ones to the mixers at WM. Asked her if she got one - she did...for her friend. But the little old lady who had been standing beside her - who was the first one to get there at 3:30 - did not get one because "She was too nice. Everyone just grabbed them from around her." Hello holiday spirit......

After Target, we hit radio shack & gamestop in the mall (Target is in our mall back in MO). Then we got breakfast (my aunt with us for the first, and last, time and she has to have breakfast - and it did help my stomach a bit) then to Toys R Us.

While my aunt & cousin stood in line for an hour and a half at TRU to save $9 (yes you read that right - $9), I parked the car (I had let them out at door), came in to check where they were (already in line), went shopping next door at Circuit City, came back, browsed around TRU, visited them, went back and bought more at CC, browsed TRU some more. You get the idea! LOL! I had a 10% discount gamers card at CC - we could have gone next door and bought the two items (Rock Band 1 and Wii Animal Crossing City Folk) for only $9 more. Had my aunt known that, we would have been there (she hates being in line and money really wasn't an object with her) but my cousin was determined that her 20% off one item coupon at TRU was a much better deal.

Oh, and I took over driving once we were in Columbia. My aunt never complains about my driving and my cousin's driving was making me even sicker.

Anyway, after that wonderful morning, we headed home and I went back to bed. I would say my black Friday was the worst part of the whole holiday. No money, sick, only about 10 items on my list, etc. I usually get all of my shopping done on BF, but it didn't happen this year.

And thanks for asking...........LOL!

Thanksgiving 2008

We're back from our thanksgiving in Missouri

We had an awesome t-giving - up until I was sick on Friday. Didn't stop me from going shopping, though! But once I was done with the early morning shopping, I was in bed for the afternoon!

John's brother Danny from Chicago came down with his son Zain - first time we've seen him and he's 5 years old! He's a very cute and very polite young boy. He was a sheer joy! He started when the arrived on Wednesday screaming in fright about the dogs – Lucky and John's brother's dachshund Sandy. (They had gone to a friend's house once who had two great danes – who eagerly jumped up on him and freaked him out.) I told him we get him over his fear of dogs. By the time they left on Saturday, they had adopted a dog from someone on the parking lot at Walmart (whom Zain named "Noisy Quiet Love"), determined that was not the right dog for them, took it to the humane society and got a dachshund instead!!

John's other brothers were there for t-giving day (well, not the two that we've disowned) and everyone got along great. Ate, played some PS3, played some football, shot some guns, shot a longbow that Danny brought down, etc. His sister and her hubby were supposed to come but John & Danny were at their house on Wednesday night and there was a lot of drinking and Wii playing going on. So sis & BIL ended up too sick for t-giving - hangover LOL! But John spent a good amount of time over at their house on the other days, so I'm sure they got their fill of him.
John did not get to hunt, but one of our friends got a deer and John went over and helped him skin it and cut it up (the meat processors won't just take the whole deer anymore - you have to bring them just the meat and they will grind it and make sausage, jerky, etc.) Anyway, we will get some of the meat when we go back up there at Christmas.

Not only did I get to visit with my cousin and best friend, but I also got to visit with the gals from my old office that I was so close with. One is leaving the office, another got married in August and is pregnant! The things I've missed out on! (If John doesn't get a job and we end up moving back to MO maybe they will rehire me!)

Of course Jacob's cousin Blake spent the entire week with him. And the boy who was his best friend in 1st grade (Joseph) came out and spent a day with us. (We try to get them together over the summer when Jacob is there visiting, but it just didn't happen this past summer.)
John, his BIL (Chief of Police), and I took Jacob and Blake down in the woods and taught them how to properly load, handle and fire John's 22 handgun, S&W 40 and his 223 rifle. Jacob enjoyed it and looks forward to some more shooting lessons with his dad.

A visit home would not be complete without some sort of auto repair by my dad! LOL! I was losing water so he determined that the plug on the radiator was bad so he had to drain that replace the plug. While investigating the "belt squeak" that has been going on since March, he determined that my alternator as making noise and could possibly go out, so he replaced that – we figured better to be proactive and do it now then get back down here to TX and have to pay a mechanic to fix it. Of course, that cut into the already tight Christmas gift funds.

I rested a lot, read a few books, and enjoyed food, family and friends. It was probably one of the best thanksgivings I've had in years!