A Thanksgiving Reflection

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday because it is a time for me to reflect on all the things that I am thankful for and it is a time to tell all of those people that I am thankful to have in my life.....just that.

We have come a long way since last Thanksgiving when we were bundled up in coats and boots heading to our sister church in Somerset to help serve people at what had become our family Thanksgiving tradition. For 11 years we have gone into St. Pauls' United Church of Christ and helped the Salvation Army serve not only homeless people but people who have fallen on hard times and people who just don't want to be alone.

Jacob was 3 when we started helping the Salvation Army and boy has he come a long way. The first year we did it, Jake was more of the entertainment than really very helpful. He was an adorable blue eyed, very blond haired little boy who walked from table to table talking to all of the little old couples, families with children, and the occasional person who had arrived alone because they had no one else to share the day with. Now don't get me wrong...he did occasionally go to the dessert table and wrangle a piece of pumpkin pie back to the little old man who had asked for a piece, but overall....he was our talker. He would just sit there and talk to them about whatever popped into his head....of course, at that stage of his life, a lot of the conversation revolved around Buzz Lightyear and Woody!

As the years went on, he progressed to helping seat people, to getting their meals for them and then eventually he settled on helping his dad at the door. They would take peoples coats when they arrived, hang them up, and then retrieve them when they left. Jake and Bob have walked more than their fair share of little old ladies to their cars in the snow! :-) This is a tradition that we are very sorry to give up this year. It almost seems like it isn't even Thanksgiving because we are not trudging through snow to do something that started out as a way to help people but ended up enriching our lives more than we ever thought possible; when you put yourself out there for other people, what you get back in return is far greater than what you can ever give out.

As the years went by, we saw new people for us to get to know, we saw regular customers who wanted a moment of our time to reminisce, and we saw the tragedy of loved ones who didn't make it another year. Nothing was sadder than when a man or woman would come in for 3 years straight with their spouse of 50 years only to see the day arrive when one of them came in alone. It is those moments that make you thankful for the many blessings you have been given.

So as Thanksgiving comes to an end, I want to take the time to thank all of you who are a part of my life...whether it be a family member, a friend, a loved one, someone I have only recently met, someone I have known for years, someone I see or talk to all the time, someone who is sporadically in my life, and even those of you who are no longer active in my life. Thank you each and everyone for permanently leaving your fingerprints on my life because without each and everyone of you....I would not be who I am today.

So take today to value those in your life and remember those no longer in your life. Because we are just the sum of our relationships...both good and bad....and without those people, we could never become all we were meant to be.

I love you all very much and today is the best day to let you know that because you are what I am thankful for.

Gobble Gobble Everywhere....But I Don't Have $52.00 To Spare!

So this is our first big holiday in Costa Rica and I have to confess....turkey is my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal! The smell of the house filled with turkey and stuffing and potatoes and cookies......yum!!

I'm not one to plan for the Thanksgiving meal...always been a last minute girl with all the turkey arobics in the kitchen sink to loosen its frozen legs....so why change my MO for this year? Big Mistake! Because if I had been paying attention, I would not have had to throw together a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner of steak, roasted potatoes, corn, and cookies. (Cookies ALWAYS make it on the list!)

So 3 days before Thanksgiving....that is a record of preparation for me....and I am standing in the grocery store with Jacob looking for a turkey. We find chicken...we find steak...we find porkchops....we find hamburger.....no turkey! When we finally get to almost the end of the aisles....we find a freezer with turkeys...yay!!

I tell Jacob to open the freezer door and pull out the smallest turkey that is sitting by the door....there are only 3 of us after all....which he does and hands it to me. I realize the turkey is prestuffed as are the other 2 smaller turkeys. Looking back at the freezer I realize that the next smallest turkey would feed an army of 20 so I decide to take the prestuffed one.

As I am getting ready to put it in the cart....I see the price....$52.00!!!! You heard me right....$52.00!

Now I REALLY love turkey and did the math on how much it would cost us per meal...figuring in the sandwiches that follow the next couple of days (I REALLY LOVE THE LEFTOVER TURKEY SANDWICHES!!!) but even I cannot justify a $52.00 turkey. So back in the freezer it goes and we slump our way back to the meat section to pick out some steaks for dinner. What are you going to do?

Now all I have to do is convince Angie, Julie, and Tim that chicken with rice and beans is a totally cool Christmas meal!

Maybe those $52.00 turkeys will be on sale on Black Friday.....wouldn't that be nice??

Photo Montage's

Check out these two Photo Montage's my son did....one for his girlfriend and one for his best friend!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV0dB-OyiE8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmUm2sgUK7c

Just copy and paste to enjoy them.....They are great!!

NaNoWriMo 2010

Well...it is that time of year again. Time to plant your butt in that chair, turn on the computer, and create that masterpiece novel you swear is inside of you!

Okay....even I cannot keep a straight face while writing that! Let me rephase that, using terminology that actually applies.........................................

Well, it is that time again. Time to drag yourself to the computer, force yourself to sit down, and type a whole lot of nonsense in an effort to complete something that sounded like so much more fun than it is actually turning out to be!

Don't get me wrong....I ALWAYS start with the best intentions. I am always very excited and thoroughly motivated to accomplish this task every November. At least I start out that way. Then the 7th of December rolls around and I am looking at 7000-8000 words and wondering...."Where the hell is this story going?"

Of course the month of November explains 2 of the 3 novels I am currently working on.....not counting this new one that just started the beginning of this November! In case you lost count....that will make it 4 almost finished novels I will have to juggle!!

Now I am a week into the novel, with all of these TOTALLY WEIRD people/voices in my head...telling me all of these strange things, and I am trying to figure out how to make it into a story people would be willing to pay money for! (Or at least not want to throw themselves off the nearest skyscaper after reading it!!)

And then there is the feeling that you will never be able to finish the story by the end of the month, and even if you do....does it even make any sense. Now I know the whole point of NaNoWriMo is to inspire you to just commit yourself to time devoted only to writing....no editing allowed...and hopefully create something that you will be able to turn into a coherent novel to be sold at a later date.

Do you even know me???? What do you mean....don't edit? What do you mean....just write what comes to mind???? What do you mean.....just get it out on paper????

Yeah....and why exactly do I have my shrink on speed dial? Oh that's right....I actually signed up, voluntarily, to do this NaNoWriMo thing....with out being forced at the point of a knife. Yeah....that's why they are on speed dial!

But enough ranting and raving...apparently Stormy (the voice in my head who is the main character of this newest...hopefully to actually be finished novel)just found out that the dead body they found in her brother's closet....after he commited suicide....is not the first dead person to have come in contact with him.

Sigh.....this is going to be a long night!

Why can't I ever have voices that talk to me about love and rainbows and unicorns?