Time to Eat

Ok these people in Eagle River Wisconsin put some corn out for the deer to eat during the snow and cold of winter and I think they got more company than they wanted. Click the picture to enlarge it and see what you think.

I have a question for everyone out in blog land. Jerry and I aren't the type to complain to other people or restaurants or stores we just mumble and grumble to each other when something is not done right or there is a problem. Ok our neighbors (we will call them the Cranks) are pretty nice people but there is a rule in our neighborhood, in the bylaws that you are not to park you car on the street. They own a car lot in the town over and it is them and his parents living there so there are always 4 or 5 cars over at their house. The problem is they don't park any of them in the garage but do park 2 in the driveway backed in ready to go out the next morning. So that means 2 or 3 get parked on the street Every night. The problem comes in that all the neighbors around them have complained and asked them NOT to park in front of their houses and the Cranks don't park in front of their own house so now they park in front of our house with their big SUV's and so no one can see our Christmas decorations which Jerry worked hard on putting out in the yard. Would you
A) call the Board of Directors and make a private complaint
B) park your car on the street in front of their house hoping they get the massage
C) park your vehical in front of your own house so they can't for a few days hoping they get the message
D) talk to them and tell them you don't want them parking in front of your house

The other neighbors that talked to them about the parking were called some really bad names but they did move their cars but now none of them even speak so talking to them would be my last choice (I could try and make quite Jerry do it).

Birds In the Back Yard

Ok I have been playing around and messing with this thing and I think I have a little of it figured out as far as posting some of my pictures anyway. Dot I got your message and am getting a new digital camera for Christmas so will then be able to do my pictures from there........hopefully. This picture is in our back yard, a zillion birds started flying over at once and I had to get a picture of it. You will have to click on it to enlarge it. All those little black dots are birds. See that is why I want a good camera for Christmas cause hopefully you will be able to see then that those are birds, not clouds or a dirty picture.

Problems With Posting Pictures

Well I didn't make 1,000 thing to be thankful for but really 143 is more things than I though I would come up with. We are on the way to the Christmas farm to find our Christmas tree. Will be back later.

Hey can anyone out there in blogland PLEASE tell me how to get back to my original blogspot? I can't post pictures from my documents like I use to do so I signed up for that Picasa photo thing and it moved all my pictures over there and now I can't get or don't know how to get that and beta to merge so I can post my pictures from there.

Got the Wii

Saturday the family went up to Best Buy's around 6:00 PM and didn't leave until 9:30 Sunday morning. No it wasn't a weird experiment we were doing; we were waiting in line for the new Wii. It was cold, I mean really cold and at times we got a little testy among our family but we endured and got 3 Wii's. One for each of my boys and one for my best friend (her son didn't get one in the line he was waiting in). We were number 39, 40 and 41 in the line we were waiting at and our store ended up having about 80 of them. Seems most Wal-marts and such only had around 20 and a lot of those were pre-buys and the Target across the street from us had 0 of them.

Our line stayed orderly and the fact that it was mostly 16-26 year olds I was impressed with their behavior. The worse thing they did (which I didn't consider to be bad; just dangerous, but that was probably my mama instincts coming out) was to put a person in a buggy and then have races pushing them up and down the parking lot. Several of those buggies got turned over but luckily no one was hurt or not badly. Anyway Jerry and I have decided that this is the last year for the all night camp out lines, we are to old so next time one of the kids want one of those hard to get gifts they will wait in line and we will stay at the nice warm motel across the street and bring them coffee and donuts the next morning. Some brought tents up there and put up, we had just brought sleeping bags and chairs, a few only had the jacket they wore and I know they froze. Anyway when we got home Sunday we crawled into our warm beds and slept most of the day. Onto the list.

115. For the beautiful sky this morning.
116. For sleeping blankets.
117. For gas stations that stay open all night; coffee and bathrooms.
118. To see that a group of about 130 young people can hang outside all night and not be up to mischief or trouble.
119. To have gotten 3 Wii's.
120. That tomorrow is the last day of school before the Thanksgiving holidays.
121. That none of us got sick Saturday night from the cold.
122. For the nice person that brought up these jugs of Starbucks coffee for everyone Saturday night (didn't even know you could buy coffee in jugs).
123. For a nice warm heater in the van so we could take turns going out and getting warm.
124. For the fact that later today my house will start smelling like pumpkin and pecan pies.
125. That we are two gifts closer to being done with our Christmas shopping.
126. That today we will go out and find our Christmas tree and start decorating.
127. The fact that Jerry just brought me a nice hot cup of coffee.
128. That Michael will be off work after tomorrow so the whole family will have the next 5 days to spend together.
129. That Michelle won Pea's chocolate contest, even though the chocolate would have been delicious I would have gained 10 pounds just smelling it I'm sure. It looked that good.
130. That Jerry starts his vacation today.
131. That I slept really good last night for a change.
132. That today's laundry is already half done.
133. That turkey day is only 3 more days away.
134. That I have my list made out for Thanksgiving cooking, what do get ready early and what will cook on Thanksgiving Day.
135. That the internet is working again, it was messed up most of Saturday.
136. That we have a full tank of gas because I just heard gas prices went up.
137. That we are staying home this Thanksgiving.
138. That I am feeling better.
139. That my best friends daughter is getting married to the guy she loves in 6 months and her husband is retiring at the end of this month and she isn't going totally crazy yet.
140. That we went to the store today and got some Christmas decorations to put outside.
141. That the heater works because it is cold outside.
142. That there is nothing good on TV tonight so I can go to bed early, I am so tired.
143. That I only have 857 more things to come up with.

More of List

Well I wasn't feeling good yesterday afternoon nor today, think I picked up a stomach virus from the neighborhood kids. Some afternoons we watch several of them when their parents can't get them after school. Anyway now I am WAY behind on my list so I need to get busy. Oh before I get started Prayers please for a family up here, their son Cody was killed in Iraq last week. He is 19 and graduated with Michael and his brother (Ethan) and Matt are friends. His brother Ethan is just so hurt and sad right now. They had a memorial at the school Monday and it was so sad. Cody was a big part of the band and choir when he went to Gordon Central and the band played a really sad song that had everyone in tears and then the choir sang a song that Cody had done for a competion while at the school and placed Superior on. His whole family was there and hundreds of kids from the school quitely lined the football field and adults in the blechers. Just seeing the sorrow of the family just broke my heart and convinced me more our boys should be home. They are only dying in Iraq and WHY??? Even if they start the draft back up I Will Not let my boys go. Cody joined the reserves after high school so he would have a way to go to college and now he will never go to college and I don't know how long it will be before his brother and best friend will feel like getting on with their life. I just wanted so bad to go over there and hug them all, it is so hard to see someone in so much pain and you can't do anything to relieve that pain. That is the first time I have been to a memorial or funeral or anything where someone so young died and the first Iraqi death that has touched so close to home and this is a very small town and I hope I never have to go to another one. Maybe I am wrong but this war just seems so much like Vietnam, like we are leaving American kids over there to get killed and that we can not change anything. They hate each other over there and us being there is not going to make them start liking each other. It is not our job as Americans to heal all the worlds ills. Ok sorry about that, Monday was just so emotional, maybe because those boys are the same age as my boys and my boys are so very close to each other that if something happened to one the other would be lost, maybe forever. On to the list.

85. I am thankful my boys are not in Iraq nor going to Iraq.
86. That Jerry is on vacation 32 days out of Nov. and Dec. starting the 18th of November.
87. That we have the money to get my kids what they want most for Christmas this year without having to put it on a credit card.
88. I am thankful for my friend Joyce.
89. I am thankful Dot told me what a blog was and to start one.
90. I am thankful we got rain today (but would love some snow God).
91. I am thankful Matt is going on a college tour with his business class Friday.
92. I am thankful for the quiteness of the house at this hour.
93. I am thankful for the beautiful birds that eat from our feeders in the summer.
94. I am thankful my dad is feeling better.
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95. I am thankful my mom understands us wanting to stay home this Christmas.
96. I am thankful Pea is having a candy give away contest.
97. I am thankful my boys are very best friends.
98. I am thankful Jerry takes such good care of me when I don't feel good.
99. I am thankful for nice warm bubble baths.
100. That Jerry and I like to watch the same shows on TV for the most part.
101. That we curl up on the couch to watch them.
102. For our 5---4-wheelers even though we have no where to ride them over here
103. That we could sell them for a couple of golf carts that we can ride over here.
104. That Lacy loves her drama class.
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105. That I have a dozen good books to read in my bedroom.
106. That I got a really funny, sweet card from Tina Saturday in the mail.
107. That I got a very sweet card from Donna in the mail today.
108. That my bills are now all in the mail and paid for this month.
109. That Einstein's foot is finally well, that's my cat.
110. That Hemmingway has finally quit being so fussy to the other cats. (Matt's cat) and even though he is a boy I swear he goes through PMS every month. The cat not Matt.
111. For my beautiful bird book Jerry bought me this fall, I love looking at the pictures and reading about the different birds.
112. I am thankful my neighbor is giving me a peanut butter pie tomorrow.
113. I am thankful I have chicken and dumplings on the menu for tomorrow night

114. I am thankful my mother in law taught me how to make her dumplings
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1,000 Things to be Thankful For

I was visiting over at Connie's last night and she is doing 1000 things to be thankful for by Thanksgiving so I have excepted her challenge to see if I can do the same thing. Even though I am thankful for an awful lot of people and things 1000 is an awful lot to come up with so I hope I can make it. And even on my down days it should give me something to look at and be thankful for and be happy about. I only have 12 days to do it so that would be about 84 things a day. And these aren't in any special order, just as they come to my head because if they had to be in a special order of importance I would be constantly having to go back and change the number of something.

1. Jerry (my hubby)
2. Michael (my oldest son)
3. Matt (my baby boy)
4. Lacy (my only girl)
5. my new house
6. my neighbors
7. my best friend Susan
8. my e-mail friends
9. my sister Sharon
10. my mother
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11. my dad
12. my nephews
13. my son Michael's girlfriend Christy (his future wife)
14. being married to a wonderful guy for 24 years
15. being lucky enough to pick the right guy the first time
16. my friends from the GA porch
17. my friend Barbara from CA
18. being able to always be a stay at home mom (even when the money was tight sometimes)
19. being able to cook Thanksgiving dinner
20. being able to stay home this Christmas
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21. my 4 cats
22. my counselor Ellyn (cause she helps me see things in a different light)
23. my fireplace that we will be burning this winter
24. food in my fridge and pantry
25. Jerry working for IBM, a really good company to work for
26. Michael having a job as a Tech. for the school district where he graduated high school
27. Matt doing so excellent in high school
28. Michael doing so excellent in college
29. Having 3 kids that really love me
30. The box of pecan caramel candy sitting on my desk that I take one from every day
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31. The fact that God has hung in there with me through some tough stuff and hasn't given up
32. The belief that my kids are generally happy kids and have had a happy life so far
33. That my taxes are paid for this year
34. That the developers wanted our property bad enough to give us what we were asking
35. The memories of my great grandmother who loved me more than life
36. My step mother in law Ruby, a wonderful, loving, kind lady
37. The person who invented Pizza and the fact that you can go buy a large one for $5.00
38. Oh yea, for my computer
39. The fact I have 3 people living in my house that can fix my puter no matter what I do to it.
40. My father-in-law Linton even though he is in heaven now
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41. The fact we all had time to say good bye to him and let him know we loved him
42. Knowing Jerry loves me and always calls me Baby
43. Jerry doing the dishes for me last night
44. Cook books because I love to cook and try new things
45. Not having any really pickey eaters
46. wood for the fireplace now that is is getting colder outside (48 degrees right now)
47. watching the leaves fall from the trees and dance around the yard
48. rakes so we can make piles of leaves to jump in before we clean them up
49. having a GBI agent live next door to me (makes me feel safe)
50. having friends that send me funny e-mail jokes
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51. nice warm blankets for these cold days
52. nice warm robes also
53. my TV so I can watch the Falcons and Sunday football
54. coffee to wake me up in the morning
55. living in town again, I so love where we live
56. the fact that I have 3 healthy kids
57. Matt's laugh, it is one of those laughs that can always make me laugh
58. Michael's kindness, he is the most kind person I know
59. Lacy's strong will, it is a challenge now (for me) but will help her in life (I think)
60. Thanksgiving--the time for family to be together and eat, talk, laugh and watch football
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61. The fact I have nearly half my Christmas shopping done
62. The fact that Jerry works from home (telecommutes) cause I love having him here
63. My mother-in-law Margie
64. That the Cowboys won today
65. That Lacy is getting off her crutches tomorrow
66. That Jerry gets paid Wednesday
67. That my check from the insurance company finally came in
68. The new corn casserole recipe I fixed tonight that was really good
69. The fact that we have a brand new box of kleenex cause my nose won't stop running
70. That I can go to bed when I come up with 14 more things to be thankful for
71. That Lacy rides the bus to school in the morning so after breakfast I can go back to bed
72. That I got most of my laundry done today
73. That Jerry and not me has to give the cats a bath tomorrow
74. That my neighbor gave me some Amish Friendship Bread batter yesterday
75. That someone (?) posted about this really cute gingerbread cookie basket for Christmas
76. That gas prices have come down some
77. That Michael just got his car paid off this month
78. That my life isn't near as chaotic as my friend Debbie's always is
79. That I don't need chaotos in my life to be happy
80. That I understand and except my childhood now better than ever before
81. That I have my budget made out for Christmas
82. That I have bought all my Christmas cards and have half of them addressed
83. That we got the candle wax out of the carpet and just have a little red stain left
84. That I only have 916 more things to come up with that I am thankful for

Good night every one, reckon you are all in bed by now. Didn't get many blogs read today with all the football so will catch up with everyone tomorrow.

This is screwed up I know but i am testing it anyway. This is the vehicle my dad is now driving.

A Test to be Taken

I was over at Barb's and she had this test on her blog so I decided to take it. I usually don't put much faith in these kind of test but I must say this one does describe me fairly well. Especially the conscientiousness part I am sad to say but sometimes I really do need a push to get things done. And the openness to experience part is pretty much me also. So go take the test and see what it says about you.

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion. You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party. Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences. But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have low conscientiousness. Impulsive and off the wall, you don't take life too seriously. Unfortunately, you sometimes end up regretting your snap decisions. Overall, you tend to lack focus, and it's difficult for you to get important things done. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism. You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic. Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy. Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Contest Everywhere

Reading my friend dot's blog I find there is a contest at http://homeiswhereyoustartfrom.blogspot.com/ Jennifer's 100th post to win a subscription for one year to a magazine or a $10.00 Starbucks coffee gift card. So go on over and give her a visit.

Also Jennifer at http://wilson-six.blogspot.com/ is doing a contest where you can win a custom notepad, she makes these herself and has another site set up displaying all the stuff she makes at http://jdesigns-momof4.blogspot.com/ she has some nice stuff over there and Christmas is coming up so go check it out.

Well I did the hard thing this evening. Our family sat down and talked about the trip to Texas and how each felt about going or staying. I really wanted to stay at my new house for Christmas, Michael really wanted to spend Christmas with Christy (his girlfriend of 2 1/2 years) because they have never gotten to spend a Christmas together. Matt didn't care either way (he wanted to do both but since he isn't magic or anything he couldn't do both), Lacy wanted to go to Texas but Jerry also wanted to stay home this year because if we (he) were (was) going to decorate for Christmas with all the outside lights and such he wanted to stay home and enjoy it. We voted and it was decided to stay home this year sooooo I called my sister and told her, she wasn't to happy (but I think she thinks she is still going to talk us into coming down) afterall she still has over a month so she let it go after a few minutes of argueing. Then I told my mom and wow she understood us wanting to stay home our first year in our new house but said Christmas wouldn't be the same without us there. I will e-mail Ruby (Jerry's stepmom) tomorrow and let her know but I really feel she will understand and Jerry gets to tell his mom. And I am just so happy we are staying home this year. I will miss the big gathering of family but boy will I love starting our own traditions here, we will keep some of the traditions we have always done but will start a few new ones that we will keep in place for when my kids get married and start having kids. Good night all and hope you are sleeping well.

A Reason For Yesterday

Thank you all for the comments on the last post. It was more I was just really upset with all the grandparents but I am over it now and starting right after this Christmas (and starting this Christmas if I have enough courage) we are going to start our own traditions instead of spending half our time on the road every Christmas and summer when no one ever has time to (in 9 years) come up here for graduations or vacations or anything else. And I have decided I am going to be the type of grandma that my kids step-grandma has always been, one that sends Valentine Cards with a dollar or two saying "Tell you mama to go buy you some ice cream", sends birthday cards, e-mails, calls and talks to on the phone if any of my grandkids live far from us and if they live close I am going to love everyone of them and hug and kiss them to pieces. But I am going to always treat them all the same because I don't want any of them to ever feel not good enough for my love.
Now on to other things. Did you all get that message today to move to google thing? Well I thought I did but heck I'm not sure what I am doing yet because it seems I am on the same blogger I was always on except I can't seem to post pictures now. This blog world sure confuses me sometimes. It is late now and I think I am going to head to bed. Since blogger was down for what seemed like the entire day I will catch up on reading everyone's blog tomorrow.

A Question For You

It has been a busy last few days. Lacy fell on her roller blades Saturday and stayed in bed the rest of the day plus Sunday. We figured she was just sore and wanted a little extra attention but this morning she was still complaining so we took her to the doctor and he gave her pain pills plus put her on crutches and said if she isn't better in 5 days they will have to do an MRI on her leg and hip, soooooo I am going to put the roller blades away and say someone must of stole them. She skates pretty good on them but tries to do these big hills or goes way to fast and has fallen really bad about 6 times now so enough is enough. We would have taken her to the doctor sooner but Lacy has always been like the little boy who cried wolf so you just don't know when to act where she is concerned. Any how here is a picture of her on crutches.
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And here is a picture of her in her Halloween outfit.
I finally took a picture of some of the fall colors on our block but only one turned out good, so I will try in the next few days to get a few more. Gee I can't wait until Christmas when I get myself a good digital camera. Anyway here is the one that turned out. Ok I have a question for you grandmothers out there and I would appreciate a really honest answer. Do you treat your grandkids differently? Like if one set of grandkids live closer do you give them birthday cards and presents but forget the ones that maybe live futher away? Do you attend all sports games and big moments for one set and not even attend high school or college graduation for the other set? Do you treat one set better or love one set more maybe because you loved that son or daughter more? Jerry and I do get along with the boys better but that is because Lacy is so arguementative and wants everything done her way but we still love all 3 of them just the boys are easier to love plus we spend the same amount on each child for birthdays and Christmas and still give each child time and attention and celebrate each time a child does something good but we just see so many grandparents that treat their grandkids differently that we worry would we do that some day, could we treat the future grandkids differently and if not then what do you do to make sure you treat them equally? How do you stay close to the grandkids that don't live close? Do you treat the grandaughters better than the grandsons or vice versa? Answers please.

A Day In the Life

Well Halloween is now over and so even thought it is early I am going to go ahead and start getting my Christmas stuff out a little at a time since we are going to be in Texas for Christmas I want to be able to enjoy it some before we leave. We had a lot of trick or treaters come by for Halloween and gave out lots of candy even though we still have some left. Thankfully I bought candy that I didn't care much for and just the kids like so that way I am not tempted to eat it. Lacy went to a Halloween party at the church down the street but did more talking to her friends than trick or treating there so even she didn't come home with hardly any candy. We sat outside on the front porch and passed out candy because everytime we would walk in the house another kid would come by so it was just easier to sit out there and hand it out. Anyway we had this skelton candle out there that dripped blood (red candle wax) when it was lit and Matt was helping me carry everything in around 8:30 and heck if he didn't end up accidently spilling the red wax all over the carpet going up the living room stairs. I know he felt really bad so I tried not to fuss. I looked on the internet and it said to put paper towels down and a warm iron, the problem is we looked everywhere for the iron yesterday and couldn't find it. I know it is still in a box in the garage somewhere but where......only God knows so today I am going to have to go buy a new iron because I have to get that red candle wax out of my off white/cream carpet. It is cold here this morning, 43 degrees and is suppose to only get to about 60 today and then get really cold tonight so I think we will light the fireplace. Matt is still looking for a job and I am getting really depressed helping him look or taking him out to put his resumes in. I am proud of him for not getting down about it and he is getting much better at doing interviews. We went to a job fair the other day and the good thing is a number of employers told him as soon as he graduates that he has a job with their company but that isn't helping him now. You would think that someone knowing he can get a scholarship by getting an office job would go ahead and let him work part-time but guess it doesn't work that way in the real world. He has put out over 250 resumes at this point. We don't even know where else to go look for an office job anymore so I have told him he may have to just settle for a grocery store or fast food job and at least he would be making money for college and a car. That depresses him more than all the job hunting, not getting the scholarship just because he can't find an office job. Well I have plenty of housework to do today, laundry, clean the bedroom, bathrooms and figure out what's for dinner so I will chat at ya'll later.