Surprise!!!!

I am grinning from ear to ear. Hub as been up in northern Michigan (upper peninsula) deer hunting since Nov. 14Th. He is in a cabin in the middle of the woods.............at the end of a dirt two track at least 6 hours from anywhere. There is a lot of metal, ore, etc. in the ground there so most cell phones do NOT work. Hub has one of the few that works on occasion there and was able to call home a few times. But being on a cell phone, it cut out a lot and garbbled his words, so it was not always easy to understand him or carry on any kind of or lengthy conversation with him. The most cell phones can do up there is offer some reassurance that all is well and everyone remains healthy! And that is important!

Last night, I was surprised and delighted with the early arrival of said hub! He wasn't due back until Friday evening! Wow......it's like getting an early Christmas present! Now, I knew that I would miss the man............I guess I didn't know just how much I had missed him until I saw him! Although he returned without a deer........I, his "dear", was waiting for him!

Now, I'm not one of those woman who can not survive without having a man around. After all, I survived for years, raising my three little ones alone after their daddy died. Not that it was fun, but I know I can do it. So, a short trip deer hunting doesn't represent a huge problem for me. Of course there are those times when he is gone, that something goes wrong and it becomes my job to deal with it instead of having him here to handle it. Or those rare occasions when I want something done that I am unable to do physically 'now rather than later' and am forced to wait upon his return or hope one of the boys will happen to stop over. Yet, knowing I can survive without a man is totally different than not wanting to be alone without the 'man I love' around. If I had a choice, he would deer hunt close enough to home to sleep in our bed every night. But, that's a problem for another year...........he's home now and I AM GLAD!!!

What is wrong with Texans?

As most of you know, I visited the beautiful state of Texas in early October. I stayed with one of the dearest and nicest Christian gals living near Dallas. She is a single mom raising two beautiful little girls, one with special needs. I found her charming, kind and very loving despite some problems she had while growing up herself.

I had met her online almost a year before I went to visit her. With sending e-mails back and forth, reading each others blogs and talking on the phone we formed a bond. I was excited for the opportunity to fly down and spend some time with this beautiful single mom who was struggling and trying her best to cope with all the normal stuff of being a single mom, plus the extra that comes with 'momma-ing' a special needs child. While there I informally adopted her as a daughter and her girls as my grand daughters. And they fit into our large family very well. Everyone is happy.

But recently my 'daughter' in Texas has been ill. With a very bad sinus infection. Now anyone who has even ever had a very bad head cold has some idea of what a serious sinus infection is like. She has been so sick and she has been all alone. She has no family there. Not even any close by she could call on. She even had to drive herself, with a fever of over 102º for several days, to a clinic for medical treatment. Her girls were gone for the entire week with their father. So yes, that was some easier not having to deal with active children when one is sick, but being as sick as she was, she was unable to find one person who would come and help her. Not even ONE who would make a trip to the grocery store to bring in some soup, pain reliever, juice, etc. that a sick person might need.

To my thinking, we as Christians need to reach out to people who need help. She attends a church and I would have thought that some of them might have stepped up to the plate and accepted a chance to show others about the love of Jesus.

Is everyone so wrapped up in their own lives and families, that they can't spare an hour to help a sick single mom? Or a quick phone call to check and see how she was doing? Or is the entire church family also sick with a sinus infection and therefore unable, instead of unwilling, to give of themselves. Where would we, as Christians, be if Jesus was too busy to give of Himself. He gave the ultimate.........His life to pay for our sins! And a Christian group in Texas couldn't find it in their hearts to help.

I'm from the state of Michigan..........and where I live family is important too. And yes, we get busy and wrapped up in our own things too........but when someone we know needs a little help because of illness, our community, not just the church, pitch in and offer what help we can. It may take several different people to fulfill all the needs of the ill person, but many hands make light work. Are the people of Texas that much different? I find this situation appalling. Maybe 'everything in Texas is bigger'.......except people's hearts!

Black Friday!

So, how many of you actually ventured out to the stores yesterday? I have NEVER gone shopping the day after Thanksgiving and I don't have any plans to change that. You see, I'm not normal. I don't even really like shopping, so going on a day when there are even more people in the store than usual would make me crazier than I already am!

I like to take the weekend after Thanksgiving to slowly and methodically set out my Christmas decorations. Amber is here this weekend and I think that is what we will be doing starting today. Yesterday she wanted to bake. We made Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.



We would have had over 4 dozen, but when I put one of the cookie sheets on the counter to cool I must have not set it down right and the entire cookie sheet fell onto the floor spilling it's contents across the kitchen floor. I was surprised and angry for a split second and when I looked at Amber, her eyes were so big, that I just started laughing! She glanced at me, as if I had finally lost it, and then her eyes lit up and a big smile came to her face and we stood there laughing! I didn't think about taking a picture of it until it was all cleaned up, and Amber then asked me 'aren't you mad?' I told her 'no' those things happen and I thought it was funny.........she said 'me too, but I didn't want to laugh if you were going to be mad!' Actually it was a good thing......I won't be eating near as many cookies and we have a new 'memory'!

Nothing fancy, simply..................

have a very 'HAPPY THANKSGIVING'!

Thanksgiving is approaching..........

UPDATE: Tuesday, November 20 - Went to the doctor this morning, have sinus infection and ear infection. Received a perscription for Zithromycin and should begin feeling better in 24 hours. I WILL be able to attend Thanksgiving and naive's home after all....without infecting anyone! YIPEE!!!!




and I am feeling crummy. I started feeling like a cold was catching me last Wednesday when I was at the doctors office for my annual physical (as if that isn't bad enough)! By Friday, I was positive it had caught me and wasn't about to let go.

Over the weekend, it got steadily worse. I am coughing and that hurts my throat and my head. My head feels as if it will explode with every cough and every time I try to blow my nose. My headache won't go away and my back hurts. My voice is almost gone. Do you have any idea how hard it is for me not to be able to talk? Almost impossible!

I had an appointment today for a bone scan (preventative care) and asked the receptionist if there was a chance I could see the doctor too. She said that they are double booked already and the office will be closing tomorrow at noon for the Thanksgiving holiday and won't reopen until Monday, the 26Th. She did say, that if they have a cancellation today they will call me. I guess that's better than nothing, but I wanted to be feeling a little better by Thanksgiving and I CERTAINLY don't want to give this to the small grand children or anyone for that matter!

Keep your fingers crossed that I won't still feel this way in a couple days!

That time of year again............

and hubby has gone to his favorite hunting spot in the Upper Peninsula! He left last night and won't be home again until November 30TH or December 1ST. SIXTEEN DAYS! And this from the man who hardly managed without me while I was only gone 11 days in Texas! Much different when it's someplace he wants to be! I will miss him, but he does deserve his time away doing what he enjoys too.

This is a difficult time of year for me though. First, he is always gone for Thanksgiving. And although I have a lovely celebration with the kids and grand kids, not everyone is always able to gather for one of my favorite holidays. Second, this is the time of year that my first husband, Dave, passed away from cancer after only 8 years of marriage. In fact, today is the actual anniversary of his passing. For those of you who have lost a loved one because of death, you understand what a difficult day this can be. Not that I won't be fine. I really have gotten over it........I mean it's been 32 years today, and life goes on. My life has and has been completely full and good. But I still wonder sometimes .........what might have been.

My Friend! God Bless You on your journey........

I just received a very sad e-mail from my dear friend's sister. My friend passed away on November 5th. She moved to Chicago over a year ago and I hadn't seen her since, but we kept in touch.

I knew she hadn't been feeling well, but she didn't tell me how sick she was. Maybe she didn't even know. She had been having severe pain in her legs and she finally went to the hospital to have it checked. They did some testing and found a mass in her chest, three tumors on her spine and lung cancer. Before they could do anything for her, her lung collapsed and her kidney's failed.

Her mother, sister and her children were with her when she crossed over into heaven.

Please keep her family in your prayers.

Rest In Peace, Mary Ann

A Mix........

Grandparents Day at the school went great! It was scheduled to begin at lunch time and grandparents or a special person were encouraged to bring a lunch to share with their little person. He had told me that the evening before and asked if I could bring Mickey D's. I did and we enjoyed eating and talking together. There was a paper on his desk with questions on both sides for him to ask me and write down my answers. Most of the questions were about what school was like back when I attended and how different was it today. Some were questions about subjects I liked, what I played out for recess and what kind of lunch I brought to school.............I didn't take a lunch to school. Back when I went to elementary school, they were all neighborhood schools and the kids lived close enough to walk home for lunch every day! The above photo is courtesy of marcia.ashley

Amber did end up coming down this weekend. I had to drive up to a city called Wellston and pick up Doug. He had been working there all week and we both wanted to go and watch Amber play in a basketball game in another little town called Walkerville. I had to leave at 6 AM in order to get to where Doug was and turn around and drive back to where Amber was going to play. She asked her daddy if she could come back with him and if he could take her back to her other Grandma's in Cedar Springs on Sunday. He said sure, so she came back with us. She went to her Dad's home and spent the night and when it was time for her to go meet her mom, her dad, for whatever reason, couldn't take her so I had too. I asked if she had everything she came down with and she said yes, so off we went.

After arriving, she decided to look through her backpack and discovered she DID NOT have her basketball jersey or her hooded sweatshirt with her name on the back. I told her I would make sure she had it before Saturday's game at 11AM. Went to her dad's the next day..........looked through the dirty clothes pile and sure enough, I found it. Brought it back here, washed it and quickly ran to the post office to purchase a priority mailer and sent it to her overnight mail.

I spoke with her on Tuesday and she now has everything that she thought she had before leaving her dad's! She said "everyone should have a MEMA"! Ah, if all of life's problems were so easily handled, eh?

Grandparent's Day at school!

Tomorrow, November 2nd is the annual Grandparent's Day at one of the grandson's school. This is something I have gone to every year since he started school. Yes, he has another "Grandma", but he always asks me to come. And I always say "yes"! I never want to miss an opportunity to spend time with any of my grandchildren...time is too short and I want to build great memories and strong bonds with them all!

This year it is only for an hour ~ during the lunch hour ~ so I will call him tonight and find out what he would like from Mickey D's, and go and have lunch with him. It seems as if every year, there is at least one of his friends who, for whatever reason, does not have a grandparent there. He always tells them that they can join us! Shows a lot of compassion for a young boy of 10, and I am proud of him for doing so! He attends a charter school and the kids come from differing walks of life and the diversity is great!

This is his last year for this event. The upper grades don't do this..........just the lower elementary classes. But it won't be MY last year! His younger brother begins school next fall and it begins all over again!