the day before in my case.  Tomorrow will be my big meal and I have been cooking up a storm.  Still last minute things to fix in the morning.  I have forgotten what work it is to cook a big meal.  If family can’t come right on Christmas Day then I am going to serve Pizza Hut.  No dishes, no leftovers.  :-)

It is gorgeous here today.  Sunshiny and 40 degrees.  When I got up this morning it was low 20s and there was some ice on my back steps frozen from the snrizzle (snow/drizzle) that we had yesterday.

Tonight is the lighting of the Christmas tree at the end of Main Street downtown.  It is a huge tree that snarls traffic and tomorrow afternoon is the Christmas parade.  I doubt if I will attend either one.

I have been to workout this morning and to the post office and the store.  Hardly anyone working out this morning.  I guess they were all shopping black Friday.  There is no way that I will fight the crowds like that to save a few dollars.

I hope you are all geared up for a great weekend.  Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth 

(Edgar Albert Guest, 1881-1959)

It may be I am getting old and like too much to dwell
Upon the days of bygone years, the days I loved so well;
But thinking of them now I wish somehow that I could know
A simple old Thanksgiving Day, like those of long ago,
When all the family gathered round a table richly spread,
With little Jamie at the foot and grandpa at the head,
The youngest of us all to greet the oldest with a smile,
With mother running in and out and laughing all the while.
It may be I'm old-fashioned, but it seems to me to-day
We're too much bent on having fun to take the time to pray;
Each little family grows up with fashions of its own;
It lives within a world itself and wants to be alone.
It has its special pleasures, its circle, too, of friends;
There are no get-together days; each one his journey wends,
Pursuing what he likes the best in his particular way,
Letting the others do the same upon Thanksgiving Day.
I like the olden way the best, when relatives were glad
To meet the way they used to do when I was but a lad;
The old home was a rendezvous for all our kith and kin,
And whether living far or near they all came trooping in
With shouts of "Hello, daddy!" as they fairly stormed the place
And made a rush for mother, who would stop to wipe her face
Upon her gingham apron before she kissed them all,
Hugging them proudly to her breast, the grownups and the small.
Then laughter rang throughout the home, and, Oh, the jokes they told;
From Boston, Frank brought new ones, but father sprang the old;
All afternoon we chatted, telling what we hoped to do,
The struggles we were making and the hardships we'd gone through;
We gathered round the fireside. How fast the hours would fly--
It seemed before we'd settled down 'twas time to say good-bye.
Those were the glad Thanksgivings, the old-time families knew
When relatives could still be friends and every heart was true.

********************************************************************************************************************************************

On this Thanksgiving day I am giving thanks to God for all of the many blessings I have received, and for my family and my friends. A special thanks to God for the friends I have met on spaces.  I have enjoyed getting to know you all and you have a special place in my heart.

Beth

and I went out in the rain and went to workout.  My doctor appointment for today was cancelled because the doctor is sick.  It has been rescheduled  for Dec. 11.  Now I have appointments for Dec 1, 10 and 11.

I cleaned the beans up a few days ago and this is the way they look today.

If there will be one good thing to come out of my moving it will be getting away from my lovely bean tree.

A couple of my buddies from the fitness center.  The gal on the right is in her mid 80s.  She had a stroke several months ago and as part of her therapy she walks on the treadmill 30 minutes every day but Sunday.  She is adorable and always has a lovely smile for everyone.  The young man is great guy.

This guy is precious.  He is at the stage of his life where he has so many decisions to make one of them being whether he should get married or not.  Should he finish college or keep looking for the perfect job.  He is one of the workers at the fitness center.  Even at the fitness center I am a mother figure.  You know what, it is kind of nice.

I hope Thanksgiving is a truly blessed day for you.  I will be baking pies tomorrow and eating on Saturday when my kids will be here.

Beth 

Yesterday I spent half an hour talking to my neighbors (Annie and Bill) a few houses down the street from me.  Bill was my husband’s best friend for many years.  He just got out of the hospital a week ago after having surgery for lung cancer.  I called to tell them that I had made a hard decision, that I was putting my house up for sale in the spring and moving to the city my daughter and son in law live in.

This has been one of the hardest decisions of my life.  Just the thought of leaving behind this house that I shared so many years with Jim and that we raised our children in has caused me to shed copious tears.  I will hate to leave my wonderful neighbors.  As I was in the clinic to see a doctor last week I stopped by to say hello to my neighbor (she works there) catty corner across the alley from me.  She told me again that her husband would be over to take care of snow removal for me and not to worry about it.  Even my new neighbors have turned out to be super nice.

Yesterday was a bright sunshiny day.  I made a trip to the big city to Target and to Sam’s Club.  I bought a rotisserie chicken at Sam’s.  They are so good.  I also bought a couple of Christmas presents.  Today is windy and very foggy and I just heard a forecast that we may have snow for Thanksgiving.

Fortunately for me I can take my blogging friends with me when I move.  Thank heaven for that.

I hope you all have an extra special week.

Beth 

copyright ~ Julie Larson

I love this cartoon.  People, people!  Julie Larson is a genius.  I think her cartoons are awesome.

I am just home from workout and I didn’t want to go again today but I forced myself and did the whole workout.  The only thing that I have done differently the past 6 months is work with the fixed weights so the doctor and I agreed that is a factor in my better lab results.  It is truly amazing what exercise can do for your health.  If you can’t do anything else, just get out and walk.

And…guess what?  The sun is shining for the first time in 5 days.  I can’t believe it.  This afternoon I will have to get the rake out and tackle the beans.

I hope you all have a great weekend. 

Beth

just rollin’ along, singin’ a song.  I am just home from my doctor appointment with the good looking kidney specialist.  He kind of smiled today, a bit like Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory (love that show by the way)!  Several of my counts were  abnormal but the really important one had come down 4 points since lab work done last June.  The doctor was happy and so was I.  He is a very thorough doctor and before I left he called me honey and said he would see me in a year!!!!  Now, I have been going to this doctor for over 10 years and he has never smiled once and definitely never called me honey.  Made my day I tell ya! 

I stopped by Meijer and picked up a turkey and the rest of the stuff I need for my Thanksgiving dinner.  We are having it on Saturday after Thanksgiving and I have a ham and a 10 lb turkey.  Of course it is not Thanksgiving without green bean casserole.  I love that stuff and I only have it once a year.  My daughter is bringing pineapple upside down cake, salad and hot rolls.

After Meijer I stopped by Cheddars and had chicken tenders, broccoli cheese casserole and cole slaw.  I brought 5 chicken tenders home.  They were huge today.  I have never had chicken tenders any place else that is as good as Cheddars.

Still raining here today.  I have hopes for a brighter tomorrow.

and it is a good one.  Why in the world do the big, heavy, sweaty guys use the fixed weight machines right before I am ready to use them.  Yuck!!!  I don’t seem to mind so much when the young good looking sweaty guys use the machines right before me.  LOL  I wonder why that is??  One of the mysteries of life. 

I am just home from workout and for some reason today it  pooped me out.  I persevered though and did my full workout like a good little lady.  Then I had several errands to run.  Tomorrow will be a busy day as I have an appointment with my best looking doctor.  Unfortunately he rarely smiles and tends to be a bit on the grouchy side. 

Wishing our friend Toodie a happy birthday.  Toodie, eat a piece of cake for me with lots of frosting and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Never watch the Bucket List on your birthday.  It is too sad.  I remember when I watched it I cried a bucket of tears.

Gotta go now as it is about time for The Young and the Restless.  Only an act of God or a doctor appt make me miss it.  Then I have to watch it on the Soap Channel.

Beth 

and I wish I could be in Hawaii.

I doubt it will happen in this lifetime though so I live vicariously through the photos that Bill and Karen sent me from their trip. Perhaps I will be reincarnated as a bird of paradise pictured below.

I had my raincoat, and shoes on and was all ready to head for the post office and on to the grocery store.  Nuhuh, no way am I going out in that pouring rain.  I have all day long to get to town.  I am hoping it lets up some in a few hours.

Whenever it does clear off I have a solid blanket of beans on the ground.  At least several thousand dollars worth.  I even bought a new rake a few days ago so I have something to look forward to. 

I hope you are all having a great week.  It has been solid rain here for the last 3 days with at least one more day to follow.  I shudder to think how many inches of snow that would have been as we have already had almost 4 inches since Sunday.  Look for the price of all corn and soybean products to go up.

Hugs 

Beth

Yes, life is short and I am trying to psyche (sp?) myself into remembering it.  Many things going on in my life right now. 

I think you might remember my cousin (in Michigan) Audrey’s grandson Nate.  The poor little fellow has had heart problems since birth.   He was due to have a heart cath and it was discovered he had pneumonia.  He is recovering from that and the heart cath has been rescheduled.  Please remember this brave little guy in your prayers.

I have several more doctor appointments facing me this month and next.  I am sure not looking forward to that.  I am praying the weather holds out with no ice or snow.  I 57 is bad enough when the roads are clear.  My last appt this month is the day before Thanksgiving.  How bad do you think the traffic will be that day??  Anyone wanting to come along and go with me is welcome.

It is pouring rain this morning and is very windy with a temp of 42.  I will make myself go out in it after a bit to go to the post office and to workout.  Then I think that will be it outdoors for today, barring an emergency.  Well, I might be persuaded to go to the library if a good book comes in for me. 

Enough gloomy thoughts for today.  So now Ms Toodie, I am looking on the sunny  side of life.

Hugs and

Beth

  Beth

'If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy .
'And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.'
'If you woke up this morning with more health than illness .... you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day .'
'If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.'
'If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world. '
'If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare .'
'If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.'
Ok, what now? How can I start? If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a good day and don’t forget to count your blessings.

and I say that because I went south on 57 this morning and returned home safe.  I saw the fuzz writing a good morning note to some unlucky speeder.  I noticed 2 farmers in the fields picking corn.  There were still a lot of corn and soybean fields that were untouched..  Very unusual for mid November. 

Yesterday I went with friends to O’Charleys in my big city.  Loaded potato soup and half a club sandwich with their yeast rolls that are delicious.  I really do prefer Cheddars though.  It was nice though to get out and enjoy the bright sunshine and temps in the mid 50s.  Today is a carbon copy of yesterday and I am enjoying it tremendously.

I received a DVD from my brother and sister in law with over 700 pictures of their trip to Hawaii.  I haven’t even begun to look at them all.

This one is the sky taken out of the airplane window.  I think it is cool  I am not fond of flying so this is as close as I want to be to this view of the sky.

This looks like fun.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  Stay safe and be happy.

to my brother Bill.

You really looked tough in this picture.  ‘Nam was a tough place to be, but you were tougher.

Your first picture taken when you joined the Air Force.  You were just a kid not yet out of high school.

Karen, Bill, Beth

Hey little bro, I remember the day you were born.  I was 8 years old and I wasn’t very excited to see you.  It just meant more work for me and for Rae and Ebby. We had to take care of you because mom was so busy just keeping the household together.  Despite everything you turned out pretty good.  Despite everything, yes, because Rae and I weren’t old enough to take good care of you so we did misplace you every now and then and you did get dropped a time or two.  LOL

Now you have Karen to take care of you and for that I am thankful.

Love ya little bro.  Happy Birthday!!  I hope you have a zillion more.

Love 

Your sister Beth

Prayer for Veterans Day

We ask for blessings on all those who have served their country in the armed forces.
We ask for healing for the veterans who have been wounded, in body and soul, in conflicts around the globe.
We pray especially for the young men and women, in the thousands, who are coming home from Afghanistan with injured bodies and traumatized spirits.
Bring solace to them, Oh Lord; may we pray for them when they cannot pray.
We ask for, echoing John Paul II, an end to wars and the dawning of a new era of peace,
As a way to honor all the veterans of past wars.
Have mercy on all our veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq,
Bring peace to their hearts and peace to the regions they fought in.
Bless all the soldiers who served in non-combative posts;
May their calling to service continue in their lives in many positive ways.
Give us all the creative vision to see a world which, grown weary with fighting,
Moves to affirming the life of every human being and so moves beyond war.
Hear our prayer, Oh Prince of Peace, hear our prayer.

****************************************************************************************************************************************

I found this on the internet and there was no credit given.  I think it is the perfect prayer.  Thank you to the author.  I wish I had your name so I could give you credit.

My personal thanks and gratitude to all of our veterans.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Thank you to my Jim and to my brothers, Ruben, Bob and Bill.  May God Bless you all.

and nothings’ shaking’ but the leaves on the trees (and the beans).  It is windy and very dark outside, maybe some rain today.

I had another profitable run to our little local IGA store:  3 boxes of Chex cereal, 4 packets of Chex seasoning mix, 4 lb bag of sugar, 5 lb bag of flour, 1 box of Betty Crocker potatoes, 3/4 lb bag of pecans, 2 lbs of bananas, 2 lb bag of brown sugar, 2 cans of carnation milk, and  1 can of tuna for a total of $16.41.  I guess you can tell I am stocking up for my holiday baking.  I will be making Chex mix for my son as he loves it.  I also have real butter for it.  Oh shoot, I forgot the pretzels. 

For some reason I am not in the mood to do anything today.  I even skipped my cardio workout for today and the beans are still laying on the ground.  I think I will wait a few more days and get my little friend Annie to come and give me a hand.  I am sure she could use some more Christmas money.

I am still plowing  my way through the book I am reading.  It is getting  better as it moves along.

One bright note for tonight.  This is NCIS night.

Beth 

and I have been out and about already this morning.  First to the post office, then to get my hair cut, then to workout and finally out to pay my water softener bill.  I love having bills that I can pay in town.  This is such a small town that I only live blocks away from everything.

My beautician works out at 6AM every day.  She told me I should start working out then because that is when the fun happens.  One of the doctors in town and one of the lawyers are really wimps when they workout.  Of course they can afford the personal trainer.  She told me that they holler and complain all of the while they are exercising.  Don’tcha just love beauty parlor gossip??  It is always told in fun and never anything malicious.  However, even to see the fun, I have no intention of going to workout at 6 in the morning.

My yard is covered with beans again.  If the bugs aren’t too bad this afternoon I may go out and take care of that, by raking this time as my lawnmower needs gas and I really don’t want to buy anymore to store over the winter.  The squirrels are really enjoying the beans so maybe I should wait a day or two. 

Beth 

the lady bug beetles or whatever they are called are so thick   I didn’t venture outside this afternoon.  It is impossible to keep them out of the house.  The minute you walk outside they are all over you.  We have had  a couple of hard freezes and I thought that would take care of them, but no, every time the sun comes out they come back to life again.  Oh well, I will probably be wishing for this kind of day, lady bugs and all in another month or two.

I had a first happen today.  My new neighbor brought me my lunch, a delicious casserole portion and some French bread.  Usually I am the one giving.  I was really touched.

I can’t seem to get interested in my new book.  I don’t think it is nearly as good as Lisa Jackson’s previous books.  Or maybe I am just getting pickier as the years pass.

My sister is going with my niece Dee and her husband to Johns Hopkins for a follow up appointment regarding the liver transplant that my niece is needing.  They are leaving Tuesday morning.  We welcome all good thoughts and prayers for them for a safe trip and for good news from the doctor visit. 

I hope this new week is a good one for us all. 

and I am thoroughly enjoying it as I know it won’t be long till the snow flies.  I am ready for that.  I filled a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a lid, full of ice melt and it is ready on my back porch.

I have the vacuum out and I have finished everything but the kitchen.  I had to stop and fix some spaghetti with meat sauce for my lunch.  It was good but now I don’t want anymore for a while.  After my lunch digests I will finish the kitchen, mop the floor and clean up my mess from cooking.

My new neighbors are busy as beavers today working in the back yard.  I visited with them for a few minutes and they seem very nice.  They have removed the clothesline and are cutting down the apple tree.  That is good because the apples don’t taste good and the squirrels get them and bring them on to my back porch to eat.  They wanted me to have their telephone number in case I needed anything this winter.  I was very impressed.  I met the dogs and they are very well behaved.

I have been reminded of a lesson I learned long ago; never judge a book by its cover.

Time for me to get off my bottom end and finish cleaning so that I can sit down with the new Lisa Jackson book I got at the library this morning.