What DOES This Say About Us?

I just saw the news article about the 34 year old temporary Wal-Mart employee that was trampled to death in New York as he went to unlock the doors for Black Friday. The news conference stated that there were approximately 2,000 people waiting to get into the Wal-Mart. They actually broke the doors in as they forced their way into the store.

This has made me sick to my stomach.

My oldest stated that he wonders what this incident says about us as society.

My mother used to like to go to big sales like this with my father when they still lived in KY at the Belk's store. I have never enjoyed it. I remember them taking me once when I was home on vacation and I was frightened by the crowd. I also remember a time when Raymond and I went to a free concert to see the Judds. We were extremely frightened by the crowd and all the pushing; Raymond was holding on to my hand as hard as he could because he was afraid I would be knocked down. We never went to an event like that again.

I do not shop at Wal-Mart unless I am in a city where that is the only store available, like when I vacation in Arkansas, and I have no idea what specials they had going today, but nothing they had on sale was worth a man's life.

"GiGi to the Center Counter"

When we were shopping at Half Price Bookstore today they called "GiGi to the center counter." It startled me because my mother went by the name of "GiGi" ever since her first grandchild was born.

Made me feel like she was there with us.

It was a nice feeling.

Black Friday

We very seldom leave the house on "Black Friday" but today we made an exception.

Half Price Books was having a 20% off everything sale from 7:00 a.m. to 10 a.m. The first 100 customers would get a shopping bag (recyclable) and a $5.00 coupon. We decided last night that we did not want to get up and try to be in the top 100 since we wanted to go to the big store in Dallas. Instead we got up and left the house at 8:00.

We arrived at the store at 8:45 and each went off in our own direction. I hit the quilting, mystery, Christian fiction, and fiction/literature area, while the oldest went for comics, dvd collections, sci-fi, and novelty items. The youngest is very picky and went for computer programming books, games, comics, and cartoon collections. The youngest was not very successful today, but the oldest found some cool things, and I was able to get a couple of books I had not been able to find in previous trips. We were done by 9:40 and were sitting trying to look up a book at the library before I purchased it when an employee came by and gave us each $5.00 coupons. Yeah! We then went to check out line, because you had to be in line before 10:00 to get the discount, and the line was very long.

While in line there was a group of people interviewing shoppers for publicity bites. They chose a woman a few feet in front of us, and then a woman a few feet behind us. My oldest said that they seemed to be targeting young, pretty women. I thought it was interesting because there were people there with shopping baskets full that they were not interviewing. Just as we almost made it to the check out counter, we were chosen for pictures, an interview, and sound bites. We were glad to pose (even though I hate to have my picture taken). We answered a few questions, all said 20% off at the same time, and gave it the thumbs up. It was fun. After signing the releases, we were all given $10.00 gift cards. YEAH!!!!

We all checked out separately so that we could use the $5.00 coupons, and the oldest went ahead and used his $10.00 gift card because he had purchased the most expensive items. We all left very happy and with some great bargains. I was even able to get a gift for a very hard to buy for person for less than $4.00.

On the way home we decided to hit Target for a sale I was interested in on an expansion pack for a board game. They did not have the expansion pack but they did have a different version than the one we have on sale so we bought that to combine with our game. We also picked up a couple of dvd's on sale. Batteries were buy 2 packs for $9.99 each and get a $5.00 gift card, what a great way to get ready for the holidays.

Then it was off to Joe's Italian Bistro for lunch and home.

Once we were home we played a couple of board games and watched one of the movies we purchased.

It has been a good Black Friday.

I did notice however that even at 8:00 a.m. when stores were still having so early bird specials going that the stores were not that crowded. There were plenty of parking spaces every where we went, and at all the places we passed, even at the mall. The boys and I took note, and we will have to make sure all of our favorite charities get their usual donation and extra, if we can, this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So far it has been great here.

Our Thanksgivings for the last few years have consisted of staying home, staying in our pj's, eating simple, and playing games all day.

This year is basically the same with a little twist.

The oldest came home last night around 6 and soon after the core group of his friends arrived. This made the evening so wonderful for me. The youngest is welcome in that group now as he is old enough to hear most of what is said by the college boys. They sat in there an played games, laughed, and carried on for hours. I went in some time after midnight for our usual game of "Apples to Apples." We like to play that game in the early hours of the morning because it is funnier then, and pretty darn bawdy. I won because I was lucky enough to keep drawing the trump cards in this group, such as "duct tape." After I won we just kept playing and telling stories and laughing. At one point we were all laughing so hard I actually felt sick.

The boys left around 2 a.m.

Now during the evening I had a craving for IHop hot chocolate and offered to take them all in town, but it the vote turned it down because they wanted to keep playing the games. After the boys left I mentioned to my boys I was still up for IHop. They were both up for it so off we went. We got there around 2:30 a.m. and decided to just have breakfast, which we did, with hot chocolate. When we got home I opted to go to bed and read and told my boys they could stay up as long as they brushed their teeth first. Since we had already had breakfast they could sleep as long as they wanted.

I fell asleep pretty quickly and I awoke at 1:18 p.m. I got up and went outside to find it was a glorious days. I sat on the swing and read awhile before checking on the boys. They were up and I invited them to come out and sit with me on the swing for a while. We sat and talked for about 20 minutes before we decided to play "Yahtzee-Free for All" on the picnic table out by the new turtle pond. It was a lot of fun and so nice to be outside.

After losing at "Yahtzee"(which I usually do with this new one), I told the boys it was time to go in and make the pumpkin pies. The youngest made the crust, the oldest did the filling, and I rolled the crust, and readied the pies for baking. Then the oldest and I played "Quirkle" while they were baking.

The oldest and I just finished having our grilled burgers and baked beans. Pie will come later.

We have gone through the Black Friday ads and decided we would still be better off ordering most of the gifts from Amazon. In fact, we just ordered my oldest's Christmas gift. My shopping for him is done.

My youngest still has a December birthday and Christmas to figure out. We pretty much know the basics of what he wants, just not the specifics. All in all we decided we did not need to get out on Black Friday so yeah!!!!

I have also spent part of the day remembering those that are no longer around our table. I hope that Raymond is proud of me for how I am handling the boys and their issues. I hope Mom is happy being well again and seeing Dad. I miss them to the point I think I could just lie down and never get up again, but that is not what the expect of me, so I will go on.

I hear another game starting up.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my extended family, friends, and anyone reading this post.

Turtle Pond Open for Business

The turtle pond is open for business. It is not done, and won't be until we can get it all planted in the late spring, but it is habitable. I just wish Winnie Hall was here to enjoy the extra space.




Chompy tries out the rock stairway.

It is Enough to Make me Worry ... A Lot

Here are the facts. My dad had Alzheimer's. My mother had Alzheimer's. My mother's mother had what they called hardening of the arteries that lead to dementia, but that was at a time that we had never heard of Alzheimer's, so who knows. So I figure, I will have Alzheimer's.

I do brain games every day. I read. I make sure I get some exercise each day, but probably not enough. I make sure I try to learn something new each week. I do everything I have been told to do to try to keep my mind going, but I know that some day my mind will start slipping.

Unfortunately, my mind seems to be slipping a lot lately. I have lost my van in a store parking lot each of the four times I have gone out by myself in the last four days.

Monday I couldn't remember how to use my vegetable chopper. I had to get the youngest to come and show my how to use it, and to tell me that I actually did not have one of the parts.

I find these lapses very disturbing, and they worry me.

Now I will admit that each time I went out shopping I was pretty preoccupied when I got out of the van and went into the store, and maybe I did not pay enough attention.

I also haven't used the vegetable chopper in almost a year, usually the oldest does the chopping. In fact, I never did use it a lot, so maybe I can excuse that one, but still...

I am going to have to start paying more attention.

Fatter, Fatter and Fatter

I just keep getting fatter, fatter and fatter.

I have gained 20 pounds since my mother died.

No excuses. Just facts.

Every time I put a bite of food in my mouth I am aware of it.

I think my biggest problem is I have started drinking soda again. I started it to keep awake during the day when I was dragging from some nightmares I was suffering from after Mom died.

I weaned myself off again for a couple of weeks but then the heartburn started. I always need cola when I have heartburn.

Then I tried to wean off the sodas again, but by then I was hooked to the caffeine again. Now I am dealing with the headaches in the mornings.

At least I am not keeping the drinks in the house. I am just picking them up once in a while when I am out driving past a Sonic. Hopefully I can be completely off them by Christmas.

I guess it would help if I drank diet colas, but I think they are evil. In fact I think all that artificial sweetener stuff is evil.

I am disgusted with myself. I need to get a grip.

I'm getting ready to go to TOPS, where I know I will have another gain tonight.

Things I must do if I am going to start getting thinner, thinner, thinner:

1. Back to using my Nutrition Assistant
2. No more colas
3. Refuse to get depressed over the situation
4. No new clothes. New clothes just encourage the weight to stay. My clothes are uncomfortable now and remind me that what I need to do
5. Move - I must move more
6. Real meals. It is hard for me to get inspired to make real meals for myself, so I eat easy

I know what I need to do. I just have to do it.

I don't like being so fat.