Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so today I wanted to reflect on a few things that I have been thankful for this past year.

  • My JobI am very thankful to be working for a great little family business. I have worked there since last February and I have loved every minute of it. The business continues to grow and so does my responsibilities and my paycheck!
  • My 2 Daughters – I am thankful for my 2 daughters, even though they have given me a run for my money this year. They are the reason I wake up and get my butt moving every morning! Did I mention that means getting up at 4:45 to have my coffee, make lunches, sign papers, make breakfast, take them to school… No really I am still thankful for them
  • My HusbandAs rough as it has been with my husband the past few years, I am still very thankful for him. Despite his illness of alcoholism, he is still a very loving person deep down. Hopefully one day soon he will realize that and stop drinking. 
  • My Friends I am very thankful for al my friends, old and new. I hope that each and evryone of you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

 

May you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Question Of The Week

Question of the week: Do you say “I love you” to your family?

 

I say “I Love You” all the time to everyone in my family. Whenever someone in my family goes somewhere or if I am ending a phone call they always get an “I Love Ya” from me. I have done this ever since I was I kid, I guess it is how I was raised. My kids, no matter how old they are, get an “I Love Ya” every time I drop them off at school and to be honest I think they like it when I do.

What brought this to my attention was the other day my husband was talking to his mom on the phone and he said goodbye to her and then hung up. I don’t think I have ever heard his side of the family say “I Love You” to each other. He has no problem saying it to me or our kids but I have never heard him say it to his parents or sisters.

I know for a fact that the last thing I told my mom when she passed away was “I Love Ya” and I feel better for knowing that.

Hurricane “Party” Time

Just yesterday we were out on our boat in Galveston Bay. We thought it was funny that one of the lakes on the bay had it’s flood gate closed. We thought they did it for low tide or something. Boy are we stupid! They closed the flood gate, so we found out late last night, because Tropical Storm Edouard will be making landfall Tuesday morning! It might even turn into a hurricane.

So today I went and topped off my gas tank, went to the store and bought the essentials and came home and cleaned all the tubs so we can fill them up tonight. This afternoon we will have the fun of moving everything off the patio and throwing it in the garage in the 100 degree heat of course! I have even told our elderly neighbor a few doors down that we will be more than happy to come help her with her crap stuff as well.

I went to the store nice and early this morning as to avoid the panic. I love to see what people stock up on for storms. I grabbed my normal water bottles, batteries, toilet paper, canned meat and a few junk food items for the kids. I saw one lady buy 4 gallons of milk and a bunch of yogurt. Boy is that going to taste good once the power has been out for a few days!

I have been through my share of hurricanes here but my kids have been lucky and really don’t know what they are in for. During Hurricane Rita we went to my in-laws and stayed up all night with the booze flowing and the karaoke machine going. That is what they think of when we say a hurricane is coming. We will sit this storm out in our own house. I have already told the kids they will be camping out downstairs tonight. They think that is awesome! Yeah it’s party time! We will see what they think of it come tomorrow morning! We will see if they still think it’s party time!

Four Days of Roughing It

We are back from our summer vacation! We had a really good time. It is funny to see how the kids behave camping as they get older. For a matter of fact it is funny to see how we grownups behave camping as we get older!

Meal time went very smooth this time. I think it went smoothly because the girls actually helped me out this time. We planned very simple meals, for brunch we had scrambled eggs and bacon and the dinners consisted of chicken breasts, steak, hot dogs with a canned vegetable on the side.

For dessert we of course roasted marshmallows and one night we even got daring and made s’mores! The down side of roasting marshmallows is that my youngest daughter does not like eating roasted marshmallow, so she is my designated roasted. Then we always have the great marshmallow debate! My husband and my oldest daughter take their good old time and gently toast the marshmallows until they are a golden brown! My youngest daughter and I say a good roasted marshmallow is one that you catch on fire and blow out and then eat all burnt. Burn, baby burn!

Most of our days we spent swimming in the lake. The oldest one did pretty well, but doesn’t care too much for the way the bottom feels and she doesn’t like the idea of swimming with fish. The youngest one and myself on the other hand put on our goggles and swam out to the grassy areas and searched for the fish! My husband spent his time trying to catch the fish which did not work this trip. Fishing was not good this time!

One day we rented a canoe for a couple of hours. The oldest one does not like canoes so she stayed back at the cabin. The three of us took off and covered a big part of the lake. I did figure out that I really need to work on my upper body parts. My arms were killing me the day after!

This time camping I let my girls have a lot of freedom. This was the first time they got to go hiking alone. I think they enjoyed the time away from us evil parents. Hopefully this will help them stop fighting so much but I am not holding my breath!

Yesterday we made it back and the first thing we all did was jump in the shower. Four days of just rinsing off does not smell pleasant! My youngest daughter and I “cheated” as my oldest called it and we washed our hair with some shampoo that was left in the shower house! We said that it was a gift from God and it would be wrong to not use it!

Well after 4 days of roughing it we are all back to normal now. My oldest daughter is back to having the phone as a body part, the youngest is watching tv and playing her gameboy, my husband is back to work and I am of course back on the computer!

The Dinner Table Discussions

My family has this strange tradition called eating dinner together. Yes, I know, it is a bizarre unheard of thing these days. We all sit down at the same table, at the same time and eat a home-cooked dinner made by me, not Colonel Sanders. Believe it or not we even talk to each other at this strange tradition called dinner.

Last night we started talking about politics. To this topic my 8 year slumps down in her chair and my 15 year old tries to avoid any eye contact with her father. Then the dreaded happened, my husband turns to our 15 year old, high school freshman, daughter and asks her what she thinks will happen to our country after the elections this year. I could tell by the look on her face she had no clue what he was asking her, so I made a joke stating that unless Miley Cyrus was going to be named President these kids really didn’t care. At least I got a laugh out of my 8 year old daughter who was still slumped down in her chair! Luckily, somehow this saved my older daughter and my husband ended the topic with a “That is what is wrong with our country these days” remark. What I should have said was, “When you were a freshman in high school did you stop selling drugs and listening to KISS long enough to care about  what would happen to our country after an election?” Now that would have lead to a real funny discussion that I’m sure the girls would have loved to got in on!