Thanksgiving In Pictures

We flew to Michigan to visit my folks for Thanksgiving.  We were in first class on the flights that had a first class, so the long trip was bearable.  Our flights went well except for the one between Chicago and Marquette.  We circled Marquette's airport hoping for the fog to clear.  When it didn't, we deviated to Green Bay where we spent the evening at the airline's expense.  The flight left the next morning and we finally got to my parents' at 11:30 am on Friday--25 hours after we left Corinth West.  My sister Linda flew in from Florida on Friday evening and it was really good to see her. 

My sister and I cooked the Thanksgiving dinner and my mom made the pies.  Everything was absolutely delicious.  We left the day after Thanksgiving so no Black Friday shopping or leftover turkey for us.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I will let them recap our Thanksgiving Vacation.

Grandpa and Katie drawing

 After his stroke, my dad had to use a cane for a few months.  Katie always manages to find it and use it like a microphone.  Here she is singing her heart out with her eyes closed.

Grandma reading to Katie

Katie and I making stuffing Thanksgiving morning.

The cooks--Me, Mom, Linda and Katie

 When we first got to the U.P. there was no snow.  However, Thanksgiving morning the sky let lose.  Rick tied a rope to our old metal saucer and hauled Katie around my parents' yard.  Katie giggled so hard when they went down a little hill and screamed with delight when she fell out of the saucer.

 Rick needed a break, so here I am lugging Katie around the yard

 Rosy cheeked, bright eyed and with numerous layers of clothing.

Stuffing our faces with the traditional Thanksgiving fare.

Here's Katie in American's Admirals Club in Chicago O'Hare--another perk that makes traveling with a child easier.  We were in the kids' room and Katie got to watch airplanes take off and land.

We are safely home and we breathed a sigh of relief to find everything in order at Corinth West.  I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving.  Now stop playing on your computer and get working on Christmas!

Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder

We are out of here tomorrow morning for a week at my parents' house.  I am looking forward to seeing my folks, but it will not be a rest and relax vacation.  There is always so much to do and so little time.  Anyway...Happy Thanksgiving!!

Another Journey

This evening at 8:05 pm I completed another journey around the sun--my 45th--which always causes me to reflect on the past year and on my whole life.  Boy, what a long, strange trip it's been!  Once again I can say I enjoyed this past year more than the previous year.  Life just gets better and better.  Perhaps life seems to get better when in reality it is my attitude that gets better.  What used to tie my stomach in knots and stress me out to no end just doesn't anymore.  The situations that get my attention are the ones that will matter for years to come.  If I am not going to remember it on my death bed, then spending more than a minute worrying about it now is a waste of time.  When life is challenging, I know that it is a fact that "this too shall pass."  I no longer worry what other people think of me or worry about keeping up with the Joneses.  I don't put a lot a value on material things since at one point in my life I lost everything but my cat and my car and I still survived.  I have learned to forgive because I realized that holding a grudge was more damaging to me than the other person.  All in all, the years have taught me what is truly valuable; what true happiness is; to look at the big picture; and that life is incredibly short.  I believe in "dancing like no one is watching, loving like I've never been hurt, singing like no one is listening, and living like it's heaven on earth."  I close with this request:  Dear God, I have had a blessed life and forgive me for my greed, but I ask for another forty-five years to keep dancing, loving, singing, living; growing old with my husband, and watching my daughter grow into a woman.

Book Of Memories

Looking back at the last few posts, I realized that this blog is not enlightening or thought provoking.  Sometimes I rant, but usually tone it down.  Perhaps that is the result of living in a liberal, politically correct and diverse community for 13 years.  But in any case, I often have to remind myself why I blab about the mundane and daily activities that probably leave readers yawning with ennui.  I write this blog for Katie.  I found a company online that will take your blog, print it and then bind it so it basically becomes a book.  Since I am not a scrapbooker--tried it, didn't like it--I want a book that we can give to Katie that documents her early years.  Also, when Katie is a grown woman, I want to be able to look back and remember her as a child.  So the point of this post is that sometimes my blog is downright boring, but please be kind and remember what my ultimate goal is, a book of memories for Katie.

Little Miss Dangerous

Today was a cleaning day and Katie helped; however, cleaning with Katie is dangerous.  I washed the walls in our guest bathroom and used a sponge mop to do so.  At one point, Katie got a hold of the mop and proudly announced that she was helping.  Two seconds later she accidentally whopped me in the head with the sponge end of the mop.  There I stood with Mr. Clean dripping down my head.  Then I had the step-ladder in the bathroom so I could reach the high corners of the room.  Katie moved the ladder so one leg was on my foot.  I didn't get a chance to say "Ouch" before she started climbing on it.  Her forty pounds of weight really hurt my foot.  About twenty minutes later I was wiping up juice that dribbled on the kitchen floor when Katie crashed into me while driving her Katie Kart and for good measure she ran over my foot when she backed up.

There were a couple of other accidents created by Katie that resulted in me getting hit or smacked.  However, because there were so many I began to question the accidentalness of her actions.

Katie also suffered due to her incoordination.  She tripped and ended up between the legs of the step-ladder; tripped while getting in the golf cart and ended up on her hands and knees on the cart's floor; catapulted off of her hoppy-horse and hit her head; and got smacked in the cheek by something--I wasn't in the room at the time.  Yes, it was a dangerous day at Corinth West.

As for the pictures below, yesterday Katie received a package from Rick's Mom and Dad.  In it was a hat and matching purse that they got at a Cracker Barrel.  Katie loves her new accessories and was happy to model them for me and you despite her somber look in the first picture.

Below is a picture of my Scentsy display that I set up for my Scentsy Parties.  I decided to go with a burgundy and gold theme.  It looks much better in person when it is not set up in a burgundy-walled room.  If you are interested in hosting a Scentsy party, just drop me a line.  You can click on the link on the right rail towards the bottom to do so.  Speaking of Scentsy, I had a party last night with a fellow MOPS as the hostess and it went really well.  Like with all things, you try to think of every possible question and scenario but invaribly a situation that you never considered will pop up.  Real life experience is always the best teacher and I learned where I need to further tweak my presentation.  And a big THANK YOU to Dianna for hosting the party.

Til later.........

One More Indication

Here in West Texas I often see work horses in trailers.  They are saddled up, ready to start their day and patiently wait for their riders to finish their biscuits and gravy in the local diner. Sometimes I'll pass these horse trailers on US277 and one thought always comes to my mind.  I wonder what is going through their minds as they zip down the road at 70 miles an hour.  Are they bewildered by the fact that they are going so fast, yet their legs are not moving?

Why, you ask, am I posting this topic.  Well, because we among cotton fields and cattle ranches, when I need to go to the store I have to travel a minimum of 10 miles and 35 miles if I want to go into a "big city."  I mind tends to wonder as I go from point A to B and since moving to Texas I noticed I tend to ponder things weird things, such as what the work horse is thinking; why one cotton field looks fluffier than another; whether a field is irrigated or not; will I be eating that cow some day; and so on and so on.  I guess this new random thoughts are another indication that I am becoming a Texan.

Dewar's Worthy Close Call

Today Rick worked down at the shop (Quonset Hut) on his compressor.  Shortly before dinner he came up to the house and asked me to grab a spotlight because he needed help with something.  Something about his demeanor seemed off, but I just got a light and headed outside.  Once outside he told me that he was cleaning up his tools and was by his work bench when something lunged at him out of the corner of his eye.  He jumped aside and the rattlesnake missed him.  Rick grabbed a shovel and whacked its head off.

(Stating the obvious here.)  Rick's heart was racing like an Indy car on the last lap.  He had been back and forth to his work bench all day.  Who knows how long the snake was in the shop, but it must have just slithered over to the work bench.  Earlier in the day, Katie was down at the shop "helping" Rick when I went into Abilene.  She typically is not allowed into the shop and never at night, but still.....it gives me chills.

After we deposited the snake and its detached head into a garbage bag, I thanked God for protecting Rick once again from a rattlesnake.  The first thing Rick did when he got into the house was pour himself a DeWar's.  The occasion definitely called for it.

Tinkerbell and Cool Cat

Oh how I have been remiss with posting on this blog.  Halloween has come and gone and I have yet to post pictures of Katie Trunk or Treating.  Yes, I wrote "trunk".  Here in the boonies we are not able to go from house to house, well we could but would only get to two houses before it got dark.  We took Katie into Stamford and we went around the town square Trunk or Treating.  Various businesses and people park their cars in the square and hand out candy.  It's rather an efficient way to do it.  After going around the town square, we headed over to Orient Church of Christ for more candy begging.  Katie managed to fill up her Tinkerbell bucket and was quite content with her loot.  Now for the pictures.

The other day Katie wanted to wear her sunglasses while swinging on her Wee.  When I asked her why is stated that the sun makes her eyes burn.  Here are pictures of the cool cat swinging.