Thanks

It has become tradition to gather on the Sunday before Thanksgiving to feast with my Dad. Just before dinner, we all take a turn to express gratitude for something in our lives. I wanted to say “48 – 24,” {Go Utes!!} but felt it was inappropriate after hearing others give thanks for employment, food, family, and new running shoes. Since then I have been thinking a lot about what I am grateful for. Here’s my short list:

G: I love G. He is a great husband. I know he tries so hard to keep me happy, even when it must seem virtually impossible.

Family: I have a big family. I have four parents*, in-laws and a zillion siblings. Sometimes it is overwhelming, especially during the holidays, to have so many families to choose from and no way of being with them all at the same time. I was complaining about this fact once to a friend who reminded me that there are many people who are alone during the holidays and I am lucky to have so many options. She is so right. I am lucky.
*We are not polygamist.

Home: We may not have the biggest house or the nicest yard on the street, but to me my house is a mansion. Dorothy was on to something – there is no place like home.

Food: This year is a rough year for many families who are doing their best to get buy. I have heard of more food drives than ever for people who can barely afford to eat. It really makes me think twice before I open my pantry chuck-full of canned goods and groan about having nothing to eat.

10 Fingers: I have played the piano basically my entire life. I actually wanted to take piano lessons. It is something I’ve always enjoyed and have found pleasure in doing. My Mother told me once that God gave me a special gift. While I've always thought I was an ok pianist, her comment gave me a greater appreciation for my talent and willingness to share it with others.

There are so many little things too. For example, you have no idea how happy I am that the city added an extra lane on Beck Street to relieve the rush-hour traffic, or that Brooks Fabrics finally hired me as one of their hemstitchers.

May we all take an inventory of the blessings in our life and say a prayer of gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving.

Pandora

My new favorite love of all time is Pandora. Music of your choice whenever you'd like. My current "station"...Chicago. I get songs from Chicago, Boston, Journey, Elton John, Phil Collins, Toto, REO Speedwagon - REO SPEEDWAGON! It doesn't get much more mullet than that! I love it!

You can plug in any song, artist or key word and it will pull up any mix of similar songs and play on and on at no cost, totally commerical free! Try it!

Please Sun, Just Set

WARNING: if you are a die-hard Twilight fan I suggest you stop reading now. I’m about to exercise free speech and you might not appreciate what I have to say. Read at your own risk of being offended.

Last year my Mom and I made trip to Boston to visit my sister. While we were there my Mom started reading a book from my sister’s bookshelf called Twilight. Up until that point I had only heard of the book. My sister had given me her review. I wasn’t terribly intrigued by the subject matter so I never read it. My Mom finished the book before our four-day trip was over. Every spare second she was reading, reading, reading. I asked her what seemed like a question with an obvious answer, “Are you enjoying that book?” Her response was shocking. “No, not really,” she said. “The writing is terrible and the author goes on and on for pages describing what could be said in a paragraph…but I can’t put it down!” I’ve heard the same complaint from many, but they continue to remain faithful readers of the series. I wonder how books so poorly written can be so captivating?

Then came the movie announcement. Twilight frenzy and mayhem ensued. Every family blog in the country had a “Days until Twilight the Movie” counter on the side bar. This movie was to be the greatest hit since Harry Potter (another frenzy I could never understand. To this day I have not read more than the first 40 pages of book one. I did see one of the Harry Potter movies though. I slept through most of it). Then tickets went on sale. The faithful were scrambling to get in opening night. Ooh, the midnight showing – I’m there! Everyone wear your prom gowns!

STOP!!!!!!! This is out of hand.

Today while at lunch I sat with several Twilight lovers who were very disappointed in the movie. The bottom line: the book was better than the movie. Wow, if the book is as poorly written as everyone says how did the expectations for the movie get so high?

I just simply can not/will not get on this bandwagon. I don’t want to hear about the books or low-budget movie anymore. The word twilight has become as obnoxious as Sarah Palin. In fact, both of you can disappear together. The election is over. Go away!

You Look Tired

I swear at least once a day for the last few weeks somebody (each day is a different somebody) has told me I look tired. I look tired? Hmm. That's nice. What else is on your mind? Does this dress make me look fat? How about my hair - is it kind of flat, wet bird-ish? I've been a little slacker on my workouts. Tell me about my cankles, please.

Memory Lane

I recently invited myself over to my brother's house so he could burn some pictures he had taken recently to a disc for me. While he was in his picture files, I noticed he had pictures from many, many years ago, like pre-digital age. I want to post all 500 of them here because they're that much fun, but instead I'll just show a few random favorites:This is one of my all-time favs. This is G and I while we were dating. We took a trip to Mexico with my family and this picture was taken in the airport. Poor guy caught a Mexican bug and came home really sick. I'm surprised he married me after this trip. This is from that same Mexico trip as mentioned above. Here's my mom, sissy and me. My sissy reserved the Yacht Sylvester, with Captain Richard and his crew Jose. We went snorkeling, where most of the family was stung by millions of baby jellyfish, and fishing, where the only fish caught was a giant garbage fish. Everyone was pretty sea sick too. It was fun.
Here's John and Josh at my wedding. Yes, John is wearing my garter and Josh is embarrassed for him.This is about as a good a family picture as we can muster. I think this was taken when we were having a farewell party for my bro who thought he wanted to move to Florida. He drove there, decided he didn't like it and turned around and came home. Or wait, was this our farewell party for someone else?
Here's G and I again many years later. Isn't he so cute? He's funny too.

The Original Circus Animal

Did you hear? The maker of these iconic waxy sprinkled animal crackers went bankrupt and abruptly closed down. No thanks to our great economy and the increased cost of butter, milk and wax it takes to make these little puppies, err, elephants and camels. These crackers have become a cabin-weekend staple for me. Had I known my last cabin visit would be my last taste of childhood goodness, I might have thought twice before snarfing them down. To remember my old friends I bought this t-shirt. You can get it here. I'll probably never wear it, but I thought it was fun and the store says it will send a bag of animal crackers with it, while supplies last, of course. That's all I really want.

Post Election AH-HA

The other night G and I were discussing our thoughts on Barack Obama's 30 minute infomercial. While we are both Obama supporters, both of us expressed uneasiness on the tone of the ad - particularly where he focused on Americans facing tough times, barely getting buy, and Obama making promises for a better life. Populism, if you will.

Today Oprah Winfrey invited several respectable guests on her show to discuss the campaign and the election results. I was moved by what David Gergen, CNN senior political analyst (who has remained amazingly neutral during the entire campaign), had to say about Obama that really brought it all together for me. Gergen was reflecting on how Obama, in the last several weeks, has been lowering Americans' expectations that change is going to happen instantly. It's not going to come quickly and we all must realize that our new president is inheriting the worst economic mess since Franklin D. Roosevelt. He said, and this is what I loved, "Roosevelt's genius wasn't about bringing instant change. It took a good number of years to bring us out of the valley, but Roosevelt built a bridge of hope over the valley for many Americans and it made the times easier, psychologically, to get through. That's one the challenges for Barack Obama - to build that new bridge of hope to take these masses of people supporting him to make these forces of hope for the longer haul." I think this statement is right on. I don't think Obama is promising the world to those who are down and out, but he is trying to build that bridge of hope in American minds so we will all pull together to get our country back on its feet.

Coolio

I don't know what it is about this song, but when it makes it rounds in my disc player, I always press repeat to hear it again. Maybe it's because it reminds me of this kid I went to high school with who was a wannabe gangster, but his 6'3, skrawny, blonde, white-boy butt just didn't quite fit the part. Crank up the bass and enjoy the beat.

First Anniversary

Since G and I have no reason to really stick around for Halloween (no kiddies to take trick-or-treating and no invitation to a costume party...pity party...), we spent the weekend at the cabin. October marks our one year anniversary as cabin owners and there are few things I've learned along the way. Here are just a few of those things:

1. Take a jacket whether its January or July. It always cold at the cabin.

2. Before entering the shower, always check for large spiders.

3. Never watch, listen to, or be in the presence of the movie The Strangers or any other scary movie. You'll forever be afraid of what's out there in the darkness.

4. As comfy cozy as flannel sheets are in the winter, only use cotton sheets on the beds. You'll be waiting all day for flannel to dry in the laundry when you're trying to go home.

5. Car rides make you hungry. On the way up, stop for dinner, or at a minimum, a Diet Coke and a bag of Doritos. On the way home, stop for a Diet Coke, PB&J and any other unhealthy snack you can get your hands on.

6. Always be on call to help with laborious projects - whether its hanging "the dish" in sub-zero temperatures, digging a fire pit, leveling the ground, trimming trees, building horse shoe pits, or building and hanging window coverings, G always has a project in store and you get to help. Get ready, next summer you're all invited to help restain the cabin. Yippee!!

7. Hopefully all the appliances work when you get there. It's always a crap shoot.

8. Have a good time. Relax and enjoy the quiet.