My Definition of Busy Used To Be Different

Lately, I feel like I am habitually behind on everything. I seriously don't remember ever being this busy in my entire life. Thing is, once upon a time, I thought I was busy. It was nothing like what I have felt in these past few weeks. And to top it all off, I have been having a rather difficult time getting into the holiday spirit which is in a large part due to how busy and overwhelming this year feels (and the fact that as a result of holiday hussle and bustle several people lost their lives on Friday).

We had a nice enough Thanksgiving holiday. My father and his mother visited for the long weekend. My 90 year old grandmother was having a very difficult time breathing and had forgotten her medicine at home, on top of that my father, her caregiver (if you can call it that) was not very considerate of her...at all. Her hearing, eyesight and mind are almost gone and he treats her like a small child who keeps asking "are we there yet". We all did the best we could and survived the weekend. What a difficult balancing act family can be. On one hand I love my family and get excited when they are coming to visit but sometimes, after they get here, I count the minutes to their departure and then I wind up feeling guilty afterwards.

One of the most endearing things I witnessed this weekend is the flowering friendship between our children and their nephew, the X-man, who is 8 months their senior. On Thanksgiving they were basically playing hide and seek behind furniture at my aunt's house and it reminded me of playing that same game in that very same house with my cousins 20 years ago. It's a trip to live vicariously through one's children. On Friday, the three of them were chasing one another around on the Little Tikes cars at our house and by Saturday Bailey had developed what her father calls a 'cousin crush' on the X-man, for she followed him everywhere at his house. Our children try to walk like him and he gets down and crawls with them.

In case you were wondering, some of us did go shopping on Friday. Actually, some of us skipped Thanksgiving dinner entirely to set up camp outside of Best Buy on Thursday afternoon. Then some of us brought hot cocoa and doughnuts for those crazy enough to stay outside all nate in the late November cold weather for other people's gain. What do I mean other people's gain? These particular people waited outside all night to gain tickets for laptops for other family members. Gosh they're sweet, and I hope some of you liked the cocoa, and thank you. Some of us were waiting outside of Toys 'R Us at 4:15. And some of us, well we slept in with the kids. I will let you all figure out who did what. I know lots of people don't agree with the Black Friday shopping, but I really enjoy the experience. I love having a plan and I love shopping, so it's like Black Friday was invented for me, however, I wasn't the one who camped outside of Best Buy in the cold.

Ward was a tremendous help on Friday afternoon preparing dinner. He peeled vegetables so that I could keep my fingers, he diced, he chopped and fried and washed pot after pot. It was the least stressful of all the dinners thus far, after seven years maybe we are getting a knack for this. Everything was ready at 6 p.m., when our invitations said dinner would begin, our guests however, some of them were not here until after 6:30. My aunts and uncles and even a few cousins (who had never seen the kids) made it by and with over 20 people here it was one of the most uncomfortable dinners we've had. The 'turkey' bread was a hit however and was gone long before I ever thought of taking a picture of it, sorry.

I have some real stories to tell, and how I wanted to get some blogging time in over the weekend, but I will have to wait until tomorrow because I am far too busy to get into them today. But I hope each and every one of you had a happy thanksgiving and are gearing up for the holidays.

-june

Gearing up for...Turkey Day?

Have you noticed recently the new name pegged with the fourth Thursday of November? More and more people are referring to it as 'Turkey Day'. I know it's a harvest celebration in which we focus mainly on food but 'Turkey Day', really? Is it really the only day of the year when the 305 million of us in the United States eat Turkey? People hate when Christmas is shortened to Xmas, well I hate when Thanksgiving is slanged Turkey Day, maybe it's the vegetarian in me.

Despite our reluctance to acknowledge this Thursday as Turkey Day we will be having our annual Black Friday/No Turkey Thanksgiving Dinner with a twist this year. We will be having turkey,

not a real Turkey, but a Turkey nonetheless. Ward is so excited about it, can't you tell?

In the spirit of Thanksgiving we will also be reading this wonderful short story to the children about a group of students who visit Farmer Mack Nuggett and his eight Turkeys who are about to be made into Thanksgiving dinner when the children get a better idea. I don't believe this book is 'leftist crap' or 'anti-farmer' as many amazon reviewers suggested. It is a light, funny, make believe story that is a nice twist on Thanksgiving, especially for vegetarian families like ourselves.

Oh, and let's not forget some of the things I am thankful for today:

1. Sunshine.

2. Naptime.

3. Coffee.

4. My Nikon D80 and all the things I have been able to record with it over the past 8 months.

5. Washing machine and dryer. I can’t say that I love them, but can you imagine life without them?

6. Bubble bath, good books and an hour to myself.

7. My wonderful husband who does everything for me and who turns 34 today.

8. Being able to stay home with our children.

9. That my mom, dad, brother, sister and mother-in-law called me yesterday.

-june

I'm Thankful. Very, very thankful.

I haven't had a lot of things to post about this week. I have been chasing around two foot tall treasures and busy at nap times with holiday planning with a very busy four day weekend coming up ahead. I have had several ideas but before I have a had a moments chance to post the thought has escaped and I haven't chased them down.

However, this morning we were having a lazy morning with Banana-Pecan waffles and coffee for us and regular waffles and milk for the kids when I thought about the holidays coming up and how much Thanksgiving is just brushed over, at least in my famiy. It just feels like any other day most of the time, like we are just pushing through so that Black Friday and Christmas can be upon us. I want to take back Thanksgiving, give it some meaning.

So for the next few days I am going to focus on all of the things I am thankful for, little or huge, in no particular order, starting with:

1. Ward, Cooper and Bailey. Thankful seems like such a small word for how lucky I feel to have these people as my focus, my center, my core.
2. My friends and family. I won't take time to list everyone, you know who you are.
3. Our roof. And by roof, I mean our shelter, our home. We have a roof over our heads that we often take for granted when we really shouldn't, especially in a year when Americans are losing their homes at all time records. And yet many of those people are still far more fortunate than millions of other people in the world, without a roof or shelter of any kind.
4. Bread and cherry coke.
5. That my Father who turns 70 tomorrow is still alive, that his mother, who turned 90 in April is still alive and that my maternal grandmother who is 80 can still keep up with us at Potomac Mills.
6. That I am finally a mother.
7. My children's laughs.

Ok, I could go on and on, and I probably will as the week progresses but I have to start thinking about dinner and grocery lists so I should log off. But I encourage all of you to take time this week and reflect on all the things you are grateful for.

-june