Two Days Late......

and more than a few dollars short, I might add. My family has been sick with ear infections and bronchitis. Not wanting to expose me, we all decided it would be the smart thing to just post-pone Thanksgiving. You can do this with a tiny family like ours. No one is flying in from another state or making long haul drives from miles away. We are all right here.

So tomorrow is the big day for us. Tonight I am baking pies and tomorrow morning I will put two turkey breasts in the oven. Cooking a whole turkey is just wasteful for us as no one likes the dark meat. My family is feeling much better and everyone is looking forward to a good meal.......cooked by yours truly. After dinner we are going to watch "How to train your Dragon" and "Toy Story 3".

This morning I got up early, made a nice cup of coffee and got online in my flannel nightgown to take advantage of Black Friday. It was cold with snow flurries outside.....and the wind was whipping around pretty good too. I can now proudly announce that I have my Christmas shopping done. I found some killer deals and had some great coupons. At one place I saved over $60..... that's with their own coupons, plus promotional coupons I downloaded. I have to admit, though, that a lot of things I wanted to buy were sold out and it was early! Not anything "Barbie" was left at all but I did snag the Rapunzel and Flynn dolls. Also found Tinkerbell and two of her fairy friends. I was thrilled over that as my one granddaughter is really into Tinkerbell right now.

So.....we're late for eating turkey but it will still taste just as good and our feelings of gratitude for what we have.....be it ever so humble, are just as heartfelt as it would have been on Thursday.

Hope everyone's holiday was a good one and a safe one. I'll be back.............. (keep smilin')

Sound off.....

I wasn't going to bore you with this, but then got to thinking.....I'll just bet there are a lot of people out there that feel exactly the same way I do about this. Let's see.

I had noticed a certain toll-free number on my caller I.D. a LOT. Sometimes twice in one day. Yet no message was ever left on my answering machine. A few times I was here but I won't answer toll free calls or unlisted or 'caller unknown' so left it to go into the machine only to hear a "click". Then I became curious. Who in the hell is trying so hard to get ahold of me, yet won't leave a message. I made up my mind to answer it next time I got one.....I knew I wouldn't have to wait long.

A few days ago, I received one. When the phone rang, I nearly killed myself to get to it so I could see who was calling. Yep, there it was, same toll-free number. I answered it on the third ring only to be disconnected. That did not set well with me. The next day I received another one and again could not make it until the third ring and was again disconnected. My curiosity was killing me, I must admit....although I was fairly certain it had to be a solicitor. I wanted to answer it for no other reason than to tell them off. How fast do they think an old lady can move, for cryin' out loud.

Yesterday I received one and this time I was right by the phone and got it on the first ring. The wind was blown out of my sails when she announced that she was from "(I'll hold back the name)" Well, I certainly could not tell her off....not a charity, although a lot of them have overstepped their bounds on some occasions. I did not tell her off but was rather curt. I have never given to this particular charity. Matter of fact, I'll tell you that I do not give to charities unless they are non-profit. I want 100% of the donations to go to the cause; I'm not paying someone's wages. I'm sorry, but that's how I feel. Check out what some of these executives of certain charities obtain in wages and you'll see why.

Anyway, she was quick to say that she wasn't asking for a donation. The scenario here is that they send you 20 informative brochures, donation cards and envelopes. You are supposed to stuff these, put postage on them and then TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR FRIENDSHIPS by sending these to all your friends and neighbors. It further irritated me that she had my name and address. I hate it that we no longer have privacy. They have you in a fail-fail situation here. I would LOVE to know what IDIOT came up with this hair-brained idea. First of all, that's a lot of work. Secondly, when your "friends" receive these, they are ticked off for sure because now they have to send money or look bad in the eyes of the whole neighborhood. They don't even want to get around you for fear you may ask them if they've sent anything in yet (and they haven't). This is a HORRIBLE idea. I was quick to tell her that No, I do not participate in anything like that, thank you very much, have a nice evening.

I get so much more out of buying a winter coat for a child, or being a secret Santa for a family or saving the lives of 20 dogs and cats. How about you?

Faith pays off.....

I went to the mailbox today to find a package from Microsoft. They did it! They sent me the Microsoft Word Program. Exactly like the counterfeit one I had purchased except, of course.....THIS one isn't counterfeit. Boy I sure hope they catch those crooks!

In the meantime I'm soooooo happy to have my Word program back.....I have really felt lost without it....even though Open Office is darn close. I'm just used to using Word after all these years and that's what we use at work.

I have really been neglectful but there hasn't been much going on. My daughter and her whole family got sick with a variation of the flu called "echo virus". I have stayed away from them all this time because I don't want to get exposed to it.....its miserable.

Its 45 here now and raining pretty good. It's supposed to do it all night long. The guy who does my leaves showed up tonight and got them all picked up. He just beat the rain which is a good thing. With 26 trees in my yard, most of them oak, you can just imagine how many leaves there were.....they were mid-calf deep on me.

I have my turkey in the freezer.....actually its two turkey breasts. No one in my family cares for dark meat so buying a whole turkey is wasteful. Making two turkey breasts suits us perfectly and there is no waste. I keep one and give my daughter the other one. They both fit nicely into my large roasting pan. If its stopped raining by tomorrow, I may go and get the rest of the fixings for our dinner. My co-worker is on vacation that week and I will have to work the day before Thanksgiving. I wonder if we will have snow.

Hope everything is ok in your corners of the world. I'll be back in a couple days......in the meantime, keep smilin'.