First real snow

Well, here is our first snow of the season. We haven't gotten nearly as much as my sister in Colorado, but it will slowly accumulate. The day pictures are from this morning. That snow all melted. But as you can see from the evening pictures it is coming down again and sticking to the ground.

The light pictures turned out a little blurry, but it was my first try taking night pictures with the camera. I like that you can see the snowflakes, though. At least you can the general idea of how it looks. I still think some lights on the roof would be nice. Maybe next year.

Decorating

Today we decorated for Christmas. We have 2 trees; a 6-foot tree and a smaller tree that fits in our bay window. The one in the window has white lights with silver and gold ornaments. The bigger tree has white lights, red wooden-bead chain, and a variety of ornaments, some are homemade by the kids, some handmade and given to me and some figurines. It amazes me each year how much I have accumulated. I love finding new things and adding to my collection. I have some neat pieces that I really love and some that I wonder why I still hang onto.

We were a little disappointed, though, while putting our outside decor up. The snowflakes that we had up last year got destroyed because of all the snow and ice that stuck them up in the eaves trough. And, for some reason our penguin decided not to light. Brian even had it lit in the house before he took it outside, but something went wrong. We still put it out. It still looks good during the day.

Brian's girls had to leave early this morning to go with their mother so Koree helped me do most of the decorating and Brian got the outside lights ready. Ty as usual, played Xbox. So far, he is still home tonight too. I think I will see more of him throughout the winter, because most of his friends are out for basketball, so they are busy. We picked up an application for him to work at the local grocery store. I hope he gets a job soon. He needs one, so I don't have to keep forking over money for gas, concert tickets, etc. Good thing gas is down to $1.67/gallon.

Well, now I am in the mood for the holidays. The lights are all lit and I have scented oil warming with holidays scents. And the first winter weather advisory is now being forecast on the news. I'm glad I convinced Brian to put out those lights today or it would have never gotten done.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.

What am I thankful for:

A loving God
My health
a roof over my head
plenty of food on the table
someone who loves me
good kids
a place to work
a car to drive
friends who care
and a close family with lots of nieces and nephews to love
and many other blessings too numerous to mention

Love you all!!!

Mrs. Thomas

Ok, so no, we did not get married. We were waiting as people were filing out of church this morning and an older lady member of the church says to me, "Good morning, Mrs. Thomas!". I guess I just kind of blushed and said good morning back to her. Then, I looked at Brian and he just grins and says, "Did she just say what I think she said?" haha, very funny! Well, I guess it is not the first time that something like that has happened. Another member of the church, who happens to be from Wadena, has know Brian's family for years, and is a neighbor to his parents asked one morning how "the Thomas's" were doing. Brian thinks it is a sign. Maybe it is. I don't know. Time will tell for sure. I am in no hurry to make that leap again. I want everyone in this family to be onboard before we make that commitment. Because, this time around I want to be 100% positive that I am making the right choice because it is supposed to be forever.

Saturday

Well, I was thinking that I don't have quite as well an organized plan ahead as my sister, but as I am organizing my thoughts to post this, I guess maybe I do. :) I also have a spontaneous significant other and my well thought out plans for the day can be subject to change at a moments notice.

First things first though. I wanted to make a post on here and then organize the stuff I am watching or selling on ebay. I have already purchased some Christmas presents/stocking stuffers, so am proud of that. I usually don't start shopping until after Thanksgiving. I do this because I think that I would buy way too much if I started earlier. I would forget what I have already gotten or see something else that I think would be good too.

Then, I will do a few things around the house that I have neglected this week. Probably throw in a load of laundry, wash my bedding, scrub the bathroom, and hopefully also vacuum.

Our plans for the day are to drop off the cookie dough that people ordered from Heather. We got most of it delivered last night, but 3, we didn't catch at home. We are hoping to take care of that today. Then on to do some Christmas shopping/browsing. And, of course, get some groceries before the kids come back next week. I've been keeping things pretty well stocked lately, so we don't really need alot of things, just staples mostly. We have found that we go through about 6-8 gallons of milk on the weeks that they are here. Luckily, we have a grocery store in town and we frequent that at least once a week for those kinds of things-bread, milk, sometimes meat too. Their meat dept. isn't too bad. But, I wouldn't want to buy my bulk of groceries there (much too expensive).

We will need to get back by 6:00 pm too. We got a call last night from friends inviting us out for supper. It is funny how life can come around full circle sometimes. We have started socializing with my best bud from high school and her husband more lately. We kind of drifted apart when I was married, despite the fact that she is married to my ex-husband's first cousin. Well, now that he and I are no longer together, we have started spending time together again. She and her husband ride with us and we have gone out to eat with them a couple times now. Besides that, anytime she and I have seen each other we have always been able to talk on and on.

Well, on to ebay. I keep getting interrupted in this post by emails from a buyer that is asking questions about one of my listings. I hope she buys. It is good to find a home for all this inventory that I have had. I'm glad someone can use it.

Our Thanksgiving Plans

I'm not copying my sister, really. I was originally planning on posting my Thanksgiving plans, but she beat me too it. Sister-in-law, Peggy, asked a couple weeks ago what our plans were and I said we would have to get back to her. as I didn't know for sure what the kids' other families were planning. Our other sis-in-law had said they were going to be out of town, so it would just be our two families. We went ahead and asked his Mom if it would be ok to ask Matt and Peggy's family to their house for dinner. Then, we thought we could head over to their house to watch football games. In the meantime, Tony and Amy's plans changed. (imagine that)



So, the plan is that on Thursday, we will head to Brian's parents for dinner. His mom cooks everything. She makes awesome homemade buns. Everyone hangs around when she takes them out of the oven and then we eat 2 or 3 while they are still warm and the butter is melting out of them. She makes her own yummy beans too. They are light in color, maybe white or navy beans, have a sweet sauce on them and she crumbles bacon in them. She also makes mac-n-cheese. I think my brother-in-law would like that. There will, of course, be the usual turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy. She also usually makes a coleslaw or some kind of salad to go with it. And the pies....she make awesome pies and a pumpkin dessert. Even picky KJ loves her apple pie. She even shared the recipe and I made a couple once. They were gone in no time. I think she ate at least 3 pieces of it.



Then we will head to Tony and Amy's later in the afternoon to play cards and eat supper. I know we will be stuffed, but I'm sure we can make room for more. I'm glad it turned out this way, because I do like to cook for everyone. I too, will most likely make "the beans". My kids like corn casserole and I will make these awesome sausage stuffing balls that I got out of Kraft Foods magazine. Peggy got the turkey and I'm sure Amy will do the rest. I like that we do it like a potluck, so no one gets bogged down with everything. I think Brian's mom enjoys doing it all herself.

I am glad to see that I did not lose this post. The power went out as I was proofing it. I would have hated to try to type it all again. Thank goodness for the autosave feature.

Well, I was going to type that I'm not sure yet what my kids will do for the day. They are with us next week and their Dad will be going to his girlfriend's family's for dinner. His mom will have theirs on the Sunday following. So, I will let them choose. I know they will want to come along to Uncle Tony's place. And, I will let them go with their dad on Sunday. Brian's girls will most likely come with us to their grandparents, they love her food. We won't know until the last minute what their mother plans for them.. Another one of the frustrating things about her. She usually has to see what suits her best at the moment. (Jules, I think you could probably come up with some actual psychological diagnosis for her) Usually she picks them up after they eat and takes them to her sister's house. Sometimes, they barely get to eat before she shows up and it is too bad, because they really don't like going to her family's place. Hallie would rather play with Tony and Matt's kids. She loves playing with Jayde. But, I guess we need to give her time too. I prefer to let the kids choose.

Mom you should be getting pics of the kids in the next couple of days. We sent them yesterday.

Rerun

Yet, another busy week ahead. It is becoming a rerun, playing the same over and over. I worked yesterday. Am off today, but KJ has a basketball game this evening. First we have to go to the dentist. And, somewhere in there, I have to get the ingredients and make snacks for her confirmation class which is tomorrow after school. That should be fairly easy. Then choir practice in the evening, and work until 8 on Thursday night. Then the weekend begins. Sound familiar? Do your lives ever feel like reruns playing over and over again? I'm sure sometimes they do. Same boring life, same scene playing again and again. I like change and look forward to something that breaks up the humdrum of everyday.

I was just telling Brian last night, how I can't believe that I have been working at the clinic for 4 1/2 years now. I made it past the first 1-2 years without thinking it was time to move on and find something new. That is a record for me. I can't even believe that we have been living in this same house for 2 years. I don't think I have lived in any one spot for much more than that. I still like to look at the local real estate web sites and see if they have anything that I would like. Am always thinking of my dream house. I do love the location where we are at though and maybe someday.........we can build a dream house here. Or.....do like Brian thinks and wait for the neighbors to die and try to buy theirs. heheheheh! Just kidding.

He and I have been together about 2 1/2 year too. But, we keep having the same reoccuring nightmare. Just when we think things are going well with the kids, something happens to screw it up. And, it always seems to have something to do with his ex and his kids. I pray for guidance with this alot. You all know how I love kids. I love mine deeply. I love all my nieces and nephews as if they were my own, but I am finding it very hard to love his children. Maybe it is just the resentment I have toward their mother. Or maybe it is just that they seem to me to have more of her traits than their fathers. I don't know!!! It drives me crazy. I love him, but somedays I hate his children.

Right now the problem is Heather. She is 14. She is failing 3 out of 4 of her classes. Last year she was doing fine, mostly B's and not below that. I asked KJ what she thought was the problem, she said it was like she just didn't care about anything. I can tell that in the way she likes to keep her portion of her room and the way that she likes to shirk her duties when her father asks her to do dishes or other things to help out around the house. It frustrates me. We took away her phone for the week or at least until she gets her grades up. And that is a constant battle, because her mother calls one night saying how Heather has got to call her boyfriend, because he is going nuts not being able to talk to her. Who is the parent here?? So, Brian lets her and supposedly she broke up with him. I sure hope so. Then the one night when KJ and I were gone to one of her games, Brian made supper. There was a huge pile of dishes in the sink and they were still there when I got home. I find him on the couch and her on the computer. Are you kidding me?? So, of course I do the dishes and then ask him why she couldn't have done the dishes while he was making supper. Apparently, he asked her twice and she just ignored him. He yelled at her for being on the computer too. Right now, as I type this it sounds like nothing, but at the time, I am furious.

Then on Sunday morning he gets a message from his ex that Heather needs a new winter coat and proceeds to tell how Heather is afraid to ask, she had to buy Hallie one and she bought Heather's shoes and blah, blah, blah. Always so negative and defensive. No wonder I can't stand her. Anyway. Hallie really didn't need a new coat, she has one here that still fits her and is still good. Plus, Brian still pays her child support, so technically, she isn't really paying for those things, he is. Duh!

Sound familiar, yet another rerun. Please pray for me, for them, or wherever you think it is needed. I have tried praying for guidance in dealing with this, but I'm not having any luck.

Concert update

Ty had a great time. He made it home safe and behaved himself. Our prayers worked. The ding-dongs did stay in Cedar Rapids with the brother of one of his friends (at his dorm/apartment). The concert was in Cedar Falls!! They might as well have just come home. Duh!

Rock concert

Today Ty is going to his first rock concert. He asked me about a month ago if he would be able to go. Well, other than the ghost riding episode, he is basically a really good kid. Sometimes he makes lapses in judgment, but he could be so much worse. I said yes. I think at first he thought I would absolutely say no, because he made the excuse of how KJ had already gotten to go to a concert. I laughed, because after all, it was only Hilary Duff. I don't consider that a real concert, like the one he is embarking on. I told him that didn't really count. Besides, she went with her cousin and their friends, with their friends' mother and grandmother. Ty's will be a bunch of teenagers, mostly boys at a real rock concert. And, most of us know what goes on at rock concerts. Sex?, drugs, rock and roll!! But, with him I am not really too concerned. And, he assured me that someone else would be driving this time. Which, brings me to another worry.....someone else is driving. Aaahhh!! What if they are not a good driver? What if they get reckless with a car load of other boy teenagers and besides that it is snowing today. So far, at least it is not a heavy snow, just spitting a little. But, the pavement is still wet.

Then he also proceeded to tell me that they may not come home tonight. They may stay with someone in the city in which they are going. Again, I am torn. It would be safer, because it will be late, but where will they be staying? It might be at someone's dorm room. Will there be a party there? Will they get into trouble? Again, at least they will be in one spot and not on the road. So, many things to worry about. So, I will say my prayers again and wish for him to make good choices and stay safe. I hope you all will too.

Mom

I couldn't title this one 'Grandma' like the last one, 'cause I know that would confuse you. My memories growing up with Mom.....how can I keep this short and pay due tribute. Obviously, I was with her the longest of the 4 of us. But, because I had a brother born so shortly after me, I didn't get much of her to just myself. :)

I remember that she worked alot and worked hard to provide for us. Don't be offended Mom, but I feel like we kind of grew up together, a little, because you were so young when you had us. I remember the first time, as a young teenager, when you told me how I came to be, and just how young you were. I think I did something to make you mad. Probably some teenage attitude. And, you let me have it. I think that was the beginning of us being closer and how I came to share almost everything with you. I think I have gotten to that point with my daughter too, and I hope to continue that friendship.

I remember Dad being gone alot on "stayaway". Once you got us up to either say goodbye to him or to wake us up to see him when he got home. I don't remember which it was. But, I do remember being in my pajamas and being sleepy and it was dark out. Before the younger 2 were born you used to get everything ready for us to go camping on the weekends. Did you know back then that you would be doing it all the time??

I guess at the oldest, I remember things alot different than Juli, because she was the youngest. I remember you being at work and me doing alot of the chores around the house to help out. Oh, how I remember those lists. Now that I am a mom too, I realize just how much those lists had to help you out. And, I feel guilty that I didn't put more effort into it. I didn't know!!! I appreciate it so much when I can delegate jobs and can relax when I know I don't have to do it all.

So, anyway, MOM, Happy Birthday! You really did teach me alot by setting the examples that you did. I love you!

Grandma

Had our company employee appreciation party on Saturday night. It was fun, we hardly ever get to do it because it is so hard to get that big of a place to agree on what they want to do. We usually end up spending the alotted money on pizza at lunchtime toward the end of the year. Those of us that were interested decided it was time to take over and plan something. We decided to go local and go bowling. So, we had a big pizza and bowling party. Unfortunately, only 25 of about 50 employees showed with spouses and significant others. But, that just made it more fun. Who wants to have a bunch of party-poopooers there anyway.

So, let me get to the reason for my title for this blog. One of the employees ended up bringing his little girl along with his wife. She really had alot of fun and I enjoyed watching her. On a previous night, I got to enjoy talking with another friends' grandkids. I suddenly got that motherly twinge that some women get with kids. Or may it is just me, because I can relate to kids so much better than adults. Probably because they don't intimidate me the way some adults do. I just love the way their little faces light up when I talk to them and treat them like they are important, because of course, they are. I have decided this twinge is different than the one I used to get when I was younger and considered having another child, because I decided along time ago that I wasn't going to be having anymore children. At least not biologically. No, this was a maternal instinct of another kind. For years now I have enjoyed the company of my nieces and nephews and loving them as if they are my own. Now I think that I am ready to advance to a different level, as grandmother. But, don't get excited, I am not going to be or planning on being one anytime soon. I just am ready for when the time comes. I am looking forward to the time when I can look into the face of another newborn and know that I was and will be a part of that little person's growth and love. And, I can spoil them and then send them back to their parents and not be tied down to them 24/7. :)

And, maybe that time will be sooner than I think, at least as a step-grandmother. As Brian and I advance in our own relationship, I could possibly be step-granny to one of his grandchildren in a nearer future than my children will be procreating. And, that I can handle better than I have been handling being stepmom to his children. Probably because this time I will be starting out with them as newborns and that to me is easier to grow into, rather than starting out with them half grown.

Crazy Days

I can't think of anything to write. That is why I haven't blogged all week. My life this week has been fairly boring. Unless you call the crazy work week I have had unboring. The last couple of days have just been the kind of days where you just have to laugh, wondering what else can happen. These usually are reserved for full moon days. I know that is probably a myth.

So, anyway, the last 'how many' Fridays we have had a shortage of doctors, at the clinic that I work. For some reason, none of them seem to want to work Fridays and then we end up with about 2 out of 9 providers working. Well, of course, that makes our jobs as nurses and receptionists that much harder. How are these 2 doctors supposed to see every patient that wants to come in. We do the best we can, but then you end up with the ones who don't make appointments ahead and just come in and expect someone to fit them in or treat them without being seen. This makes for some really ornery nurses some days, because they are the ones that have to triage them and decide which ones we will work in now and which ones can wait until later at urgent care. Then there are the ones that seem to show up just when you think you have worked to capacity and have a laceration or fracture and you know they definitely have to be seen. And, not just one will show up most times, there are usually 2 or 3. It's really bizarre. Then you add the babies who decide to be born at the most inconvenient times. That leaves you trying to work in the patients from one doctor to another doctor, because the original one has to go deliver that baby. Then to top things off, after you have turned people away because the schedules are full, someone has the nerve to not show up for an appointment. Now isn't that frustrating, you could have seen someone else in that time frame. I guess I could go on and on with the stories.

But, don't get me wrong, not everyday is like that. There are days that go smoothly where everyone that needs to be seen, is seen, and everyone shows for their appointments. And, we really do like to put the patient first. It is just those inconsiderate ones that make your day frustrating. Especially the ones that are in the frame of mind that they are the only patient that a doctor has and that they are the only ones that have serious health issues. I don't want to belittle their ills, but they should realize that there just may be someone else sicker than they are and those patients made appointments ahead of time. And, the doctor or nurses are not just sitting around waiting for them to call or come in.

Well, that is enough of my venting. I guess I had someone to talk about after all.

Silent sideline coach I am not

Ah, have I mentioned how hard it is being the mom of teenagers?? I think so, many times. Today, was one of those days, but in a different way than usual. Koree had her first basketball game for the 8th grade season. I really do enjoy watching them learn and grow and play. But, the first game or two can be so frustrating as they relearn the ropes. Well, her team has about 20 girls on it, so of course, not everyone can see most or all of the playing time. Luckily, the coaches she has had realize that they all need to play to learn their potential. Well, she did get some time in, but it is hard to watch her making what I feel are airheaded mistakes. I think though that once she is comfortable again, she will do fine. Just as she did in volleyball. Did I mention that she got voted "Miss Endless Effort" again by her volleyball teammates?

As I was saying, it can be very frustrating as a parent seeing the mistakes that they are making and not being able to really do anything about it, other than wringing your hands and pulling your hair out. So, for now I will be a silent sideline coach and I hope that their real coach sees that these girls really really need to start shooting practice and ballhandling and a little less running killers. I remember the days when I was playing and shooting and shooting and shooting. But, the good news is, the other team was an equal match. We won, by 2 points in double overtime. So, the torture lasted longer than usual. Oh, the agony. I know just how my own mother must have felt all those years ago.

November 1

So, after an interesting Halloween......wow. On, Thursday night, I worked late and Ty wanted to go to a haunted house with 2 carloads of his teenage male friends. Scary, huh? He stopped by and got some money from me and I proceeded to tell him to drive extra careful and be home early, all the usual mom stuff. After all, he has only had his license back less than a week. Around 10:30 that night, as I lay awake worrying, I decided to call him to be sure he made it back to town safely. They were on their way. Then I get a call from Brian around 11:30 as he is on his way to work. Apparently, he heard it on his scanner that someone was following 2 carloads of boys with their "hands" hanging out the window. He tried to call Ty, but he didn't answer, so I called him twice. Luckily, he calls me back, because he knew that I and/or Brian would be calling him. Meanwhile, I had been praying constantly, waiting to hear from him and worrying that he would lose his license until he turns 18. He states that they had passed a car, that apparently did not like it and that person(s) proceeded to follow them closely with their bright lights on. The boys apparently were getting angered by this and threw one of their POP cans out at them. Well, the person decided they needed to call this in and reported that they were following a car load of boys who were throwing BEER cans out the window. The boys were in luck though, because they were familiar with the deputy on duty and he followed them to the house they were staying at and they told their story and he said everything was ok. Good, I am thinking that maybe my prayers were answered. So, that is the beginning to my story.

Next day after getting home from work, I decide to connect with the kids and get an itinerary for the evening. Ty is planning on spooking kids at a haunted house put on by another high school student. This sounds like fun, but I encourage him to let someone else drive for a change. I don't need anymore worried nights and really don't want him to have anymore temptations to get into trouble. As I am on the phone, I am looking out the window and notice that someone has driven through our yard, making some deep ruts that I can see from the house. So, of course, I question him about this, thinking he may know something about it. He says no, and I think nothing of it.

The weather turns out to be beautiful and I got off work a little early, so Brian and I decide to take the motorcycle out for a little spin to enjoy the weather before trick-or-treating. We head out of town going past the portion of the yard that has been driven through and realize that whoever went through the yard had slid going up it, nearly missing the utility pole in the yard and that some front end damage and alot of grass has to be stuck in or around the tires. We decide that we will do some more investigating when we get back. There are some college boys that live just down the street behind us, so we decide to go by there and check out their cars. Only one is home and that is clean. As we head back down the street to go home, we see that our neighbor lady is out sweeping her porch and we get another view of the yard. We realize that whoever went up the ditch had to be going quite fast and has not only dug in the yard, but has ramped it landing about 10 feet further in the yard, then swerving into the neighboring yard and narrowly missing their house and just inches from taking out their deck. In fact, some of our sod was laying on their sidewalk. Now we are really curious and the neighbor guy gets home about this time and he isn't too happy about the fact that someone narrowly missed hitting his house. He works at a car repair shop and inspects the damage to our yard and figures that whoever did it must have some front end damage.

We take Hallie to the town Halloween party and she hooks up with a friend to go trick-or-treating so we decide to do some investigating, still not so sure that it wasn't one of Ty's friends who thought they were being funny. We checked all their cars and don't see any sign of damage or grass. After, I finally hear back again from Ty, he comes to the same conclusion that we have that it has to be the college kids next door. He also informs us that they like to have parties at a house in the country down the road from us.

Well, today we had big plans to rake up leaves and also to burn the pile of branches and twigs that have accumulated in the back yard. Had a big bonfire. While we were out there, Brian did some more looking around and sees that whoever did the damage must have actually fallen asleep because they started out across the street at another neighbor, went off the road there, swerved and just missed our mailbox across the street and then entered the ditch in our yard. Scary, huh? Hopefully, we or the sheriff's department can figure out who did it. (we did notify them)

So, anyway, we got the yardwork done, peeled potatoes for tomorrow's Norwegian meatball dinner at church, and are now just being lazy. The weather is turning cold and we are watching Iowa get beat by Illinois. KJ has gone to help Kal babysit their little cousins. Ty and his friend Schori are here waiting for me to get off the computer so they can get back to Xbox. Brian is sleeping and his girls went to a wedding with their mother. Oh, and I did make a big pot of chili and some beer bread to go with it. YUM-O. I think I will go back to reading my book and curling up by the spaceheater.