Waterloo Thanksgiving

Ashley and Travis hosted a family Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. It was a wonderful holiday. Jay, Dale and I arrived on Friday so that we could enjoy more time together and I could cook with Ashley. I loved cooking a Thanksgiving dinner with Ashley for the first time. It may be the last. She was quite grossed out by the raw turkey, especially when I pulled the neck from the cavity. Dale was a big help in the kitchen with cooking and photography. We cooked, ate, laughed, played and enjoyed each other. Travis got out the guitar hero and the boys had a good time with. We all had fun with Mowgli. I absolutely loved it when my kids were little, but having adult children is also wonderful!

Thanksgiving in Mason City

My sister, Sandi and her husband Dale hosted Thanksgiving on Thursday. Cindy and her entire family were there also. It was a great day to travel so it was easy to make the two hour drive up in the morning and back home in the late afternoon. We had a good time together; eating, talking, laughing, making Christmas cookies and watching football. Yes, we made cut out sugar cookies right after we cleaned up the Thanksgiving dinner mess. Sugar cookies have become a tradition with the girls for lots of holidays. It was nice to get to see nieces and nephews that I get to see so seldom. I am again reminder that "the kids" are no longer children!

Grateful Heart

Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday of mine. I love the family, food and the meaning. I am grateful for so many things. The people in my life are at the top of that list today. I am thrilled to be celebrating the holiday with both of my sisters. This weekend will also bring another big Thanksgiving celebration with my kids. I will miss my brother and his family. My tradition for many years was to spend Thanksgiving morning cooking with my brother while the rest of the family relaxed or slept in. Now that our kids are no longer kids and I moved to Des Moines, the tradition has changed.

I thank God for each of you, my friends and family. I am grateful to have been blessed with so many wonderful people in my life. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Time to visit Mowgli

I am so excited!! We are going to visit Ashley and Travis for Thanksgiving. Jay is coming too so we will have a family holiday and a family first! Ashley and Travis are hosting the big Thanksgiving feast!
These photos are from our last visit when we did a photo shoot. Ashley had worked on the ideas and set up. I shot with her camera and Dale shot with his. These images are from Dale's camera. Aren't they a cute family? Mowgli is a great puppy and I am looking forward to seeing him too!

Drake Men's Basketball

Sunday afternoon Dale and I headed over to the Knapp Center for a basketball game. This is our third season following the team but our first game this year. We enjoy so many Drake activities but I especially love to watch basketball. Last year the Drake men's basketball team were true champions. They won lots of games and titles while having an amazingly high GPA. I was consistently impressed with their sportsmanship and personalities. Some of them graduated but others have returned this year to play with some great new recruits. It was a very good game today. Drake won. Since last year was so successful, the games are often televised. Although I will watch them on TV, I much prefer to put on my Drake sweatshirt, drive over to the Drake campus and cheer as I watch the games. It's funny, but I actually do feel like I get to know the team and the players. My first season it was so fun to watch Dr. Tom Davis coach. The next year was amazing with his son Keno Davis as head coach. There is a new coach again this year so that will add more excitement too.

November Snow

We had several hours of a beautiful snowfall this afternoon. It's so pretty in November. It's new and exciting. I took a very short walk to find a few good shots. The flakes were so big and wet. I guess the first snows will always remind me of a childlike excitement. I felt it when I sat at my desk at McKinley Elementary in Mason City just waiting for 3:15 so we could run out into the snow. I also felt it when my kids were little and we would rush out to see if there would be enough to build a snowman or a snow baby if there was not enough for a full sized creation. I still have the box of hats, mittens and scarves for building snow people.

This cardinal and his mate were flying around in the bush that was heavy with snow. I had to zoom in to get close enough so the photo is not as clear. That's the trade off with my little point and shoot digital camera. He was beautiful to watch so I thought it was worth including him on my blog.

Bargain Gasoline

Who would have thought that we would ever get excited about gas prices and consider $1.72 a bargain? I can still remember when the gas pumps did not have enough digits to read more than $.99 a gallon. I guess that was a very long time ago. This spring we saw gas for $4 a gallon. Today we are paying less than half that price. We are fortunate in this part of the country and especially lucky here in Des Moines. As much as I travel around the state, it seems that Des Moines has the best gas prices. We have seen a constant decline over the last couple of months with the exception of a brief increase about two weeks ago. We are back to prices being lowered a couple of times a week. With all the issues in our economy, it is very nice to feel like something is a bargain. At the gas pumps I am often pleasantly surprised at the total price. That's a wonderful improvement over the shock that I felt when it would cost more than $50 to fill my little Honda.

Occupational Therapy

Sixteen days after breaking my arm, I had my last occupational therapy appointment today. I think I graduated, but the doctor will decide that when I see her next week. I had six appointments with instructions to do my exercises six times each day. I did work hard, but I doubt that I got in six full sessions on more than one or two days. I have a pulley hanging from my door as you see in the photo. I also have standing, sitting and laying down exercises. We have been working on mobility and flexibility of my wrist, elbow and shoulder. I have come a long way in two weeks. I have great range of motion now, but it does hurt when I turn my wrist a bit too much. There is a constant ache which is worse at the end of the day. I still use a heat pack which really helps with the soreness from the major bruising. I have never seen that deep shade of purple on my body, but it is fading. No, I did not take a photo of the bruising. It was too gross, even for me! All in all I am thrilled at my healing and so grateful that my body has cooperated with the mending process and occupational therapy. But. . . everything seems to take much more work now with one weak limb. Getting dressed in the morning is exhausting. I find myself impatient until I remember it has been just sixteen days!

Why Not Vegetables?

Gorgeous vegetables, aren't they? The colors are bright and intense. They are crispy, fresh and healthy. But I would rather have a brownie. I would prefer fudge. I would choose a Dove chocolate. Why did I not get healthy taste buds? Why have I not been able to establish long term healthy cravings for gorgeous colorful vegetables? The reds, greens, yellows and oranges are beautiful. But I must prefer brown. Brown is the color of dirt, dog poop on my shoes, mud and sewage. It's also the color of brownies, fudge and chocolate! I know my body and health should be yelling for these gorgeous vegetables but more often I hear my taste buds screaming for the fatty sugars of chocolate. I am not ready to give up my sweet cravings but I am thinking about it. I like vegetables but they are not my preference. Today at work a grateful family member brought the staff an amazing homemade fudge with walnuts and dried cranberries. I had a piece or three. I don't think I had a vegetable today. Tomorrow is a new day!

Early Sunrise

The time changed this week. The sun rises earlier but I do not. I wake up earlier than I should but I love my sheets and I love my bed so I linger, pray and allow myself to go back to sleep and enjoy the luxury of a slower morning. I have not set my alarm clock all week, but no doubt my body will adjust and I will start sleeping later and needing my alarm clock again. This photo is about two years old. It's a sunrise over Blue Heron Lake at Raccoon River Park near my home. I guess I must have had more energy then. I have not been tempted to crawl out of my sheets to photograph the sunrise recently. I could blame my broken arm, the discomfort and the need to work on my occupational therapy exercises but that would be an excuse. I actually printed a copy of this photo and put it in my bedroom. Now I can see a sunrise every morning and still stay in my cozy comfy bed just a little bit longer! I guess I am not much of an early morning person even after the time change.

Duck Boot

This boot has been in the family for years. It was a birthday gift to Ashley from a good friend. She also had a very cute yellow rain coat to match. She wore the boots as she joyfully stomped through puddles of rain water or muddy fields near our home in Mason City. Several years after she had grown too big for the boots, I found plastic glasses just the right size to fit into the boots. I filled them with soil and planted flowers each spring. I learned to fill the foot of the boots with rocks so they were not top heavy. One year when a boot blew off the deck in the wind, I decided to wait till the next day to retrieve the boot. Sadly it was gone, must have been taken by a neighborhood dog. Now there is just one duck boot, but each year I replace the soil and plant something to decorate my deck or patio. The boot makes me smile and remember the joy of a little blonde Ashley stomping through fresh rain water on Field Road.

Closet Cleanout

I admit it, I am a yo-yo when it comes to weight. The last couple of years I have been on the climb up. When I lost sixty pounds, I cleaned out my closet as advised and got rid of the clothes that were too big. When I started gaining the weight back, I wore snug clothes, then I gained more and bought new clothes. The new summer clothes got shoved in with the smaller clothes. Then I bought new fall clothes and added to the closet. I finally moved some tight clothes to the guest room closet as I became more sure that they would not fit again in the near future. Last week I finally admitted that the smaller clothes were just taking up space with very little hope for use in this season. I got a box out of the extra storage garage and labeled it "too tight." No reason to sugar coat this. These clothes are just too tight for my body. I pulled blouses, jeans, jackets and pants off the hangers and filled the box. I did get some exercise hauling the heavy box to the garage, not my "car garage" but the extra one that's filled with Christmas decorations, He-Man, beanie babies, china and all the other things that do not fit into my two bedroom home. I hope to pull that box out when the clothes fit again, but the truth is that many of them are probably more likely to head to the local Goodwill either because they are too worn or won't fit again before they look very outdated. One more box added to my overflow and one more defeat in the war against extra weight. I never thought I would be a yo-yo, but its my reality. Now I need to find the route back down, again!! The good news is that I have more room in my closet and more empty hangers now.

Celebrating Kelly!

Today I got to celebrate the 50th birthday of my dear friend, Kelly Jo! I celebrate our friendship too. Kelly and I have been friends since junior high. Our friendship has been a blessing to me and I was thrilled to be invited to her party today. It was wonderful to see her sons, grandsons, husband, sisters and many family members. Thirty-eight years ago we enjoyed rollerskating, boys and the jukebox in her basement. Over the decades we have shared life as we experienced marriage, motherhood, divorce and grown emotionally and spiritually as we gained the wisdom of women who learn as we age. We have discussed life and shared joy and tears. We agree that this is a wonderful age! Happy birthday, Kelly Jo. I thank God for our friendship!