My 30 days of Thanksgiving!

#1 - I am thankful for toilet paper. I can't imagine what I'd have to use if someone hadn't invented that little gem.

#2 - I'm thankful for portable DVD players because they can be used as a weapon of peace during a 3 year old's meltdown.

#3 - I'm thankful for a husband who doesn't want to change me and likes me just as I am. Well, except he wants me to have porn star boobs.

#4 - I am thankful for Pepsi. It makes me feel guilty because it's bad for me in so many ways but I still love it. That just shows how strong I am, that I can overcome the guilt for the pleasure.

#5 - I am thankful for spinach. It is one of the few foods that I know neither E nor G will eat (willingly of course) and therefore when I buy it, it will still be here when I want to eat it. So as long as I keep spinach in the house I'll never go hungry.

#6 - I am thankful for awesome neighbors. They have lots of grandchildren of their own yet they treat my G like an extra grandchild and that makes my heart smile. Even though we didn't get home in time to go trick or treat at their house (he'd be their own TOT'er) they still over a pumpkin cup filled with candy and a little dracula doll the next day. Since both of G's grandpa's are dead and the other two are busy living their lives it's nice to have pseudo grandparents so close to him.

#7 - I am so very, very thankful that God saw fit to skip G when He was handing down the osteogenesis imperfecta. If he hadn't, I'd be dirt poor just from paying the emergency room bills because this boy of mine is insane.

#8 - I am thankful for ibuprofen. Why oh why does this boy have to be so flippin' noisy? He's noisy for no reason other than to be noisy.

#9 - I am thankful to know this early that my sister will be spending Christmas with us. Now I have another reason (other than G) to make our holidays extra fun and lovely this year! I have all sorts of ideas and the supplies to accomplish things, I just need to find the time :)!!!

#10 - I am thankful for snow (stop laughing, it's true). I love watching it fall, it calms me like nothing else ever has. There's something to be said for that serene blanket of white covering everything overnight...especially the dog poop.

#11 - I am thankful for the men and women, active duty and not active duty, who serve in our Armed Forces. Thanks to them I sleep a little easier at night knowing that my country is protected, even if it seems like all we do is send them to other countries. I think the reputation alone of the United States Armed Forces is a deterrent to those who might come here and do us harm.

My husband was in the Navy and then in the Reserves for many years. My little brother was in the Army and was sent to the middle East. I have three male cousins who are currently serving and uncles and older generations who served.

And I'm unspeakably thankful for the families of the servicemen and women. Wives who birth and raise babies by themselves while their husbands are serving and missing so much. Mothers and Fathers who pray for the safety of their offspring each and every night. I can't imagine being in their shoes and am glad that I will never have to imagine what a military life is like.

#12 - I am thankful for power outages. Okay, I'm being sarcastic here but since another one interrupted my work flow last night and within the last week I feel the need to address them. Not only do they screw with my work at really inconvenient times but they also make me worry a little extra. For starters, what if it takes several hours for the power to come back on? It's going to get cold in this house in that time. Yes, we have a gas stove just for these instances but we keep it turned down as low as possible for a few reasons. First of all, it doesn't reach G's room anyway and secondly the couch sits right next to it. I don't want my couch melted and I don't want my G to be a popsicle. So the power outages can suck it.

#13 - I am thankful that E's office is here at the house. When he stays home on duty to get reports done he usually just has G hang out with him in the office and they let me sleep in. Want to know what I hate about E's office being here at the house? Skunky weed. Whenever he seizes dope he locks it in a cabinet here in the office until he can transfer it down to the main office for processing. It has to be in a locked container for chain of custody purposes, not because he has to worry about me sneaking a toke.

#14 - I am thankful for having a warped sense of humor. I say things that some people take offense at but I laugh at and that's alright by me. You can't please all of the people all of the time anyway, right? There's nothing better than a good, deep guffaw over something that almost no one else is laughing at. And I'm doubly thankful for having friends/relatives that are equally twisted or who inspire my humor.

#15 - I am thankful for photography. Not mine, it drives me crazy, but just the field in general. It's my one hobby, the one thing that I have for myself. I love that I can look back at almost any day in G's short past and see a picture of him just as he was on that one day. Oh the memories I have stored on a hard drive, backed up on a hard drive, backed up on external media backed up on online storage. Don't roll your eyes, I've spent $1000 in data recovery in the last four years, I've learned my lesson the hard way.

#16 - I am thankful for God. In all ways, in all of my life's ups and downs, He never lets me down. When I screw up, He forgives me. When I need someone to talk to, He listens. When I need comfort, His words soothe my soul. He makes me want to be a better person and He gives me the guidance to do that.

#17 - I am thankful for Despicable Me. I don't know which is funnier, the movie itself or watching G act things out and say things from the movie. It is the one movie that no matter what any of the three of us are doing we'll all stop and curl up on the couch to watch it and laugh together. It never gets old and it's such a nice break from watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

"Yes, yes, I went to kindergarten, I know how the alphabet works..."

#18 - I am thankful for my crockpot. It makes me appear to be a really good cook so it's kind of like my partner in crime. What no one seems to understand is that all I do is gather up the ingredients and throw it into the pot, the pot does all the work. Sometimes I wonder if I threw dog poop, some mesquite seasoning and some veggies in the crockpot, turning it on low for the entire day, if I can pass it off and have E declare it, "DELICIOUS." Don't worry, I haven't done that, yet...or have I?

#19 - I am thankful for the internet. I have met some interesting and wonderful people via Al Gore's amazing idea. These are people that I can confide in, laugh with and counsel. And make fun of. Some of them I've met in real life and some I never will but when I talk about them I say, "My friend XYZ..." And then the interwebz allows me to keep in touch with my extended family. Life happens and we kind of get busy doing our own thing but thanks to the internet I still feel part of my family.

#20 - I am thankful for Benedryl. You think I'm going to say because I can give it to G to make him sleepy don't you? Well, this time you're wrong (besides, I give him the all natural remedy of melatonin when I need to drug him because I'm just that caring of a mom) because I am talking about me. Not only does it help me when I can't sleep (not only does it make me sleepy when I shouldn't be sleeping) but it also helps with my allergies, well sometimes it does. And it's cheap when purchased in large quantities.

#21 - I'm thankful for boobs. Not only are they nice to look at, warm to cuddle up to and fun to play with but they helped me nurture and grow my healthy little giant boy.

#22 - I had something flippant to be thankful for today until I read about a friend's niece who lost her fight with cancer yesterday. She was a month shy of turning 18 and she had given birth to a baby boy about a week ago. Therefore today I'm thankful that the monster that is cancer isn't very prevalent in my family history. I'm also really, really thankful that I'm here each day to watch G grow and change and just be him. So many wonderful moment him and I have had over the last 3.5 years, moments that this sweet girl will never get to have with her son thanks to cancer. I hope to be a crotchety old woman and be a thorn in my son's side for a long, long time to come. God rest your soul, sweet Jenni and may God bless your son with the kind of love that you would have showered upon him if you were here.

#23 - I'm thankful for quickies. Hey now, we're parents of a 3 year old and without quickies we'd probably grow to hate each other and divorce. And no one wants that because it's expensive and it gets ugly and it fills the coffers of divorce lawyers. Besides, we all know I'd win the war of name calling and I'd take G and run away to Libya. Or maybe a more friendly country with no extradition, I haven't thought that far ahead yet.

So to avoid all that, we make sure to slip a little bow chicka bow bow every once in a while to stay healthy. I'm just gonna set that down right *here* and walk away now...

#24 - I am thankful for my son. He is everything I never knew I wanted and he gives my life meaning. Because of him I get to love in ways that are boundless and endless and bigger than I ever knew existed. Today he called me a dorkfish and instead of being offended I laughed and thought to myself, "Oh well, at least I'm passing some awesomeness on to the next generation." Way back when, when I would ask my dad what he wanted to be when he grew up he would always answer with, "Your dad." I get now what he meant, nothing I have done or will do in my life is more important than loving this child.

#25 - I am thankful for Ed. He loves me for who I am which cannot be easy. He has been at my side for all of my memories, happy and sad, for the last 10+ years. This marriage thing is HARD but he has stuck through it so far. I chose to give him my heart and he's tried his hardest to protect it. He is my best friend.

Oh!!! and he turns on the fan in the bathroom when he takes a dump...well sometimes.

#26 - I am thankful for DVR. I don't know how I ever made it 33+ years without knowing about DVR. I love fast forwarding through commercials. I love setting it and then forgetting about it and then finding something and thinking, "Sweet! I wanted to see that!" And there's some kind of strange satisfaction from deleting a show or movie that sucked. Or from "accidentally" deleting football games. Sorry honey!

#27 - I am thankful for my sister. When she's around and I fart, I can blame it on her because no one's going to look at the girl in the wheelchair like she's disgusting for letting one fly. And I am thankful for her because she loves my son like crazy (or pretends to, I'm not 100% sure) and she loves talking to him on the phone even if she can't understand 90% of what he's saying. She makes me remember to be thankful for what I CAN do in life instead of wallow in self-pity over what's difficult in my life. And because she seems to think I'm cool, even when everyone knows I'm not.

#28 - I'm thankful for sign language. I can throw up a sign for almost anything and E understands what I'm communicating to him without either of us having to verbalize it. This comes in extra handy now that we've got a 3 year old parrot living in the house. Or maybe instead of sign language I should say it is charades that I'm thankful for so I don't offend anyone who knows ASL or teaches ASL or knows someone who uses ASL or knows someone who knows someone that knows someone who uses ASL. Because I don't know that flipping the bird is ASL approved?

#29 - I am thankful for Amazon Prime. UPS just had to come all the way out here to deliver...G's $5 Thomas spinbrush toothbrush. Bwahahahahahaha!

#30 - I am thankful for crime. Yep, you read that right. Crime is job security for both me and E but I am only thankful for it as long as it only a/effects the idiot committing the crime. As long as people are speeding down the highway, crashing into each other, driving off the road, driving while intoxicated, toting marijuana to the hot springs E will have work to do and a paycheck. As long as there are drugs, Mexican gang bangers, CPS and bad/stupid cops to generate IA's, I'll always have work to do and a paycheck. Who says crime doesn't pay?

Mother of the damn year right here.

Oh I forgot to mention something and I don't feel like editing my post.

You know how you're never supposed to leave you child/baby in the car by itself? Come on now, admit it if you have done it. Well today after I picked up our lunch at the drive- thru I drove around to the other side of the building which is a gas station. I set G up with his lunch and I told him I'd be right back, I was going inside to get a soda and daddy's chew.

I went inside and on my way to the soda fountain I thought, "Well I might as well go to the bathroom while I'm in here. So I ran and did that really fast. Then I got my soda. Then I stood in line at the checkout behind some wench in a leather fringe jacket counting out her pennies. I picked up the chew, paid for my purchases and went back out to the car. As soon as I opened the door I saw G's face. He was beet red and covered in tears. I thought he was choking but he started crying right away. "Momma I go pee pee. I go pee pee." What? Oh I'm so sorry, kiddo, you need to go or did you already go in your pants (he hasn't had a real accident in months and months)? "I need go." So I hurried around to his door, opened the door, took his lunch and set it down and unbuckled him as fast as I could. I carried him and ran in the door and took him to the potty. As soon as he started to go he let out a big sigh and said, "Oh dat better."

I felt/feel like such a jerk. Here I am taking care of my own needs, thinking to go to the bathroom myself AND breaking a cardinal rule of parenting, don't leave your kid in the car alone. Seriously, I know better than that but sometimes it's just easier to leave him in the car for a second while I run in. Getting him in and out and in and out and having him pull on my arms is tiring. But safety comes first and I blew it.

To recap our day in town...

We went to town today, just me and G. "Poor" E had to work. Likely story right?

First of all, a big bottle of Naproxen Sodium, even the generic Walmart brand, is kind of spendy. That irritated me. Secondly, I walked right by the bell ringers with donation buckets and felt guilty doing so but I didn't have any cash or change on me. Thirdly, the Ben & Jerry's pumpkin cheesecake ice cream is all gone. I had a bad feeling that once Thanksgiving was over no one would give a hoot about pumpkin anything and I was right. But the Breyers guy was there stocking the freezer so he was kind enough to point out that Breyers does have a pumpkin ice cream still. So I got that instead. It'll be missing the graham cracker swirl but hopefully it's good. If not I might slip into a deep, dark depression and mourn my loss. And lastly I took G to the little salon there inside the Walmart. Because apparently I don't learn my lessons very well. I took him there like a year ago and the girl butchered his hair. This time I specifically said, "I don't want that girl," and pointed (surprised, actually that she still worked there) and asked for a stylist who is known to be good with kids. G is now sporting a nice high and tight and looks like he should be in the line at the recruitment office. Funny how it ended up like that since I told her, "I am growing out the top, I just need it cleaned up around the back and over his ears, it's too long there." She tried to blame it on G, telling me, "Well he moved his head." No shit, sherlock, he's 3.5, what did you think he was going to do? It's still kind of cute but when we came home I had to fix it some by cutting some long pieces in the back bottom. Who knew I'd have to finishing cutting hair that I'd just paid to have cut?

We went to the mall to pick up my Black Friday online order. The dudes there took for.ever and it took three of them to read my receipt and get the merchandise and then write down each item number by hand on a sheet so I could sign for it all. Oh my. An older lady in the back office felt bad for me because G was throwing a mini fit at having to stand around and not break stuff. So she said to G, "Want to come into my office and pick out a toy?" Well gee, that's an easy question to answer. Turns out it was all leftover employee motivation promo stuff so G left with one of those things that you shake from side to side to make it clap. Yeah, that's for that ya old blue hair.

I need to start remembering that G is always watching and listening. I was getting frustrated with the warehouse monkey's I was waiting on and I muttered something and G looked at one guy and said, "I will punch you in the junk." Thankfully that guy apparently doesn't speak 3 year old-ese so I got away with telling him that G said this place (i.e. Sears) is full of junk. And then secretly I laughed and in my mind played out a scenario where I released the beast (i.e. G) and he walked up to the dude and landed a right cross to his groin.

Before the annoying toy giving blue hair had come out of her office G had been whining and crying. Since I'm not big on beating him in public I was tickling him because no one, not even the supremely pissed off G can cry while giggling. Another old lady (I won't call her a blue hair because I don't feel the need to pay her back) walking by said, "I love hearing laughter like that. It's been a long, long time since I had little ones in my house doing that."

When we finally left Sears we headed towards home.

There is a field of bison/buffalo on the highway into town and I always want to stop and photograph them but it's never been "the right time." Which is my way of saying that E is driving and when I ask him to stop so I can photograph them he just says, "No!" Or they're too far from the fence. Anyway, since it was just me and G and I hadn't dropped dead from exhaustion yet I pulled off the highway, put on my longest lens (that isn't saying much) and went to see them. You know that who addage of they're more afraid of you than you are of them? Totally applies to buffalo because before I got even remotely close they stood up and took off. Jerks. I still snapped a few pictures. I wish I could go on the property and get up closer to get some detail in their faces but I'm not about to go inside the fence and I don't know the owners so that's a no-go. I need to make friends with a bison farmer. Or raiser. Or lover? What would one call someone like that?

I stopped at McDonald's and got us some chicken nuggets and french fries. And lots of hot mustard sauce because G loves that stuff. After I put gas in the car and got us lunch we were driving down the road. For some strange reason as we were driving down the highway I noticed something in the road ahead of us. As I got closer I saw that it was chickens. On the highway. G saw them too and he asked me to stop so he could catch one and pet it. Yeah, right dude. As we drove by them G help a chicken nugget up to the window and yelled at the chickens, "See dis? Do you see?" I guess we don't have to worry about him going all PETA on us someday?

He fell asleep for the majority of the ride home, which I was afraid would happen. I'd happily let him skip an afternoon nap if he'd just sleep later than 6:30 am but if he's up before 8:00 am he has to take a nap during the daytime or we fight with him to keep him awake until bedtime from about 4 pm on.

I stopped at the historical site at mp 171 and took a wintery shot of a shot that I've taken a few times already. Here's the seasonal comparison :) Yes, I had a different lens each time. Maybe I'll get smart and actually use the same one each time and try it again!

Gobble, gobble!

Yesterday G helped E make pumpkin pies to take to dinner at the neighbor's house today. Little did we know, G loves the pumpkin pie filling. Mr. "I only eat enough to barely give my body fuel to keep running" could not get enough of the pie filling. I wonder if he'll eat any of the actual pie today though.

They were so cute working on the pies together. :)

Daddy's big hands and G's little hands, so cute!!!

Beating the eggs.

Pouring the eggs in is lots of fun!

Do you think maybe they're having some fun together.

I thought pumpkin pie was kind of an acquired taste so I was surprised that he was eating it by the forkful!

They're both rocking their long johns!

I love that G wrapped his arm around E's shoulders to let me get a picture of them.

Even though E worked we still got to celebrate the holiday thanks to our neighbors/friends Ron & Ruth. Ruth is a great cook so I love it when we get invited to her house to eat; not only because her food is great but because that means I don't have to cook! I didn't feel like cooking a big turkey dinner this year so E was going to do it. Maybe we'll save our turkey for Christmas.

Ruth is a great cook. The turkey was mouth wateringly moist. She said she poured a can of chicken stock in the pan and then put a stick of butter on the top of the turkey, she said she saw it on TV. Whatever it was, it worked well! The stuffing had walnuts in it, which I wouldn't think I'd like but I did. I had no idea there was nuts in it and when I took my first bite and had that crunch it was an unexpected surprise. She made the green beans that I love, the ones you make in bacon grease and onions. YUM. The only thing that G ate was a piece of pumpkin pie. Well and Ruth was able to trick him into eating a hunk of turkey in order to get a marshmallow. Can't tell that woman is a grandma huh? :D

"Mommy, wets go now!|"

Well that answers my earlier question about whether or not he'd eat the cooked pie. He ate an entire piece all on his own!

G's vantage point of Daddy and uncle Ron, who's demonic nature is showing through!

I love it when he takes pictures!

We were chillaxin' in the massage chair. He only wanted to be in it so that during the percussion type part of the massage we could make a noise and listen to it make us sound funny.

Tryptophan haze...

G loves uncle Ron! And he loves Harley the dog. Ron is a grandpa of many and if he treats his grandkids anything like he treats G then it's easy to say that they are some lucky, lucky kids.

Time to go home! G packed his "packcack" with some of his trains and coloring books, etc. I like this portable playtime thing.

We stayed for almost 4 hours and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The only thing that would have made it better is if we had come home to the smell of turkey but you can't beat the deal that we got!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Another G first

Little cutie pie thermal unders/long johns! They are size 6/7 and a little bit big and I had to safety pin the waist to tighten them!
He is a major nail biter. I don't know where he got that from or when he started it but oy.
I took G out to break in his snow shoes. I was shocked when, after struggling to get them strapped to his feet, he stood himself up and walked away like he'd been wearing snow shoes all his life. He's amazing. Once I got him off the compact snow and ice and into the deeper snow in the yard he was a little more challenged but in true G style, he tackled the challenge with gusto. He quickly learned how to get himself back up using his poles as leverage and then he learned to let go of one pole and take the other pole in both of his hands and give me the end of it so I could pull him up. Then he figured out how to kind of roll over and get on his knees and then just get himself up from there, etc.

I had to remind him more than once about how snow shoes don't go on the concrete/blacktop since it was warm today and the ice and snow started melting early in the day. After quite a little workout he started to ask me for a piggy back ride home and then he asked me to carry him. I made him walk, for two reasons, #1 it's good for him to learn how far he can go before he gets tired and #2, he's almost too heavy for me when he's buck naked so I can imagine he's another 10+ pounds heavier with all his winter gear on. Can you imagine it? Weakling me carrying jumbo G on hardpacked snow and ice? Yeah, that wouldn't end well.

I'm looking forward to getting G and E out in the woods to go snow shoeing now that I know G can handle himself. It will have to be a relatively short hike until G can build up to something more but it's still going to be loads of family fun. And the best part is that we've still got six months of snow left to shoe in!!!