Friday, November 26, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know it is the day after Thanksgiving but my family is all coming today.  It was the only time everybody could be here except for Robyn.  We knew she & Andrew were not going to be able to come this year.  Robyn has to work (it is Black Friday). 
I have been thinking about all I have to be thankful for.  It is easy to focus on all the things you don't have or have lost, but there is so much I have to thank God for.  I have a loving family (we don't always get along, but we always love each other), a wonderful husband who puts up with me when I tell him that he's "doing it wrong".  I have four great kids, four great "kids-in-law", and three (& 1/2) terrific grandkids.  I have a roof over my head, food on my table, a job that I love (most of the time), and a God that loves me no matter what!

Speaking of the roof over my head, our new roof is almost finished and the front porch will be finished in about two weeks.  I can't wait to hang Mama's porch swing up and sit there to drink a cup of coffee in the morning while I watch the sun come up.  I have waited for this porch for 25 years.  God does answer all prayers.  Sometimes the answer is "yes", sometimes "no", & sometimes the answer is "not yet".  Twenty-five years is a long time to wait, but I figure He was just trying to teach me patience.(not my strong suite!)

Like I said, everybody is coming to my house for Thanksgiving today.  We used to eat Sunday dinner at Mama's every Sunday, but after she died, we couldn't keep it up.  Now we get together three times a year.  Memorial Day is at Linda's house, Fourth of July at Martha's and Thanksgiving here.  If everybody comes we should have 39 people here later today!  The turkey and ham are in the oven, cheese balls are made, cornbread is made for the dressing, I'm also making mama's banana pudding.  Everybody is bringing something so we should have lots of food!

I am the only one awake right now and am enjoying the quiet, but in a few hours this house will be filled with the people I love.  We are a large and LOUD bunch but I am so thankful for them.  I can hardly wait!

Time to check the turkey!  I LOVE my life!!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Ramblings of a Scattered Mind!

Well, for somebody who is NEVER sick, I have missed more days of school in the last month than in the last nine years!  It seems I can't get my blood pressure under control because I can't find a med that doesn't make me cough like I'm going to cough up a lung!  Now I have Bronchitis & Laryngitis!  I can't talk AT ALL.  Dr ordered total "vocal rest" so it can all heal.  I couldn't go to school Friday and I hate missing school!  I am keeping the kids up to where they need to be, but it's hard going back after being out because it takes three days to undo the damage of one day with a sub!  I am going to go tomorrow if I have to use sign language!  I still can't speak above a whisper.  At times I think it gets a little better but when I try to talk, it makes it worse again.  I'm going to TRY not to talk at all today & see if that helps it heal faster.  I still have to have my formal evaluation and it has to be done before Thanksgiving.  I'm not really sure what difference it is going to make.  The same idiot that did it before is going to do it again, but hopefully by now he has learned the difference between an overhead transparency and a computer PowerPoint presentation.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we were supposed to get a new roof and a front porch before Thanksgiving, but it is beginning to look like that isn't going to happen.....again.  I have been trying to get a porch built on this house since we moved into it, but every time we get the money, something comes up.  Now we have the money but can't get our contractor to get back to us with an estimate.  I said several years ago that I was determined to have a front porch on this house before I died.  One of the things that ran through my mind while I was having a heart attack last year was that I was going to die without getting my porch after all.  It may sound strange for that be something you think about when you think you may be dying, but having that porch has been a dream of mine for almost 25 years.  It makes me sad to think that I may not get it this time either and no one seems to understand how important it is to me.

On a happier note... We went by & spent some time with Malinda and Vivienne Friday.  Vivienne is growing up so fast!  I can't wait until she is old enough to spend the night with us.  I love it when the boys come for a week in the summer, but they are getting older now and I'm afraid that the days when they look forward to giving up a week of their summer to come here are soon going to be gone. Jonathan will be 15 in a few weeks and Noah just turned 12.  The time has gone by so fast!  I hope Vivienne will have cousins close to her age.  I remember when I was a kid how much fun we had when Auntie & Uncle Shoffer would come home on leave.  All the cousins would get together at Ma's house and ramble all over the place.  We were so lucky to have that.  I want my grandchildren to have the kind of memories I have of spending time with cousins who were also my friends and a grandmother who allowed us to be silly.  The things we got into!!!  But, that's another story for another day!