A late in the year favorite thing...

an awesome silver sharpie!!!! You wouldn't even want to know how many things I've labeled since buying it to write on the back of a photo frame (which it was a pro at too)! Now I'm starting to sound like an advertisement, but really, it's pretty much the most fantastic writing tool ever!

*Photo taken by me.

I may have missed my calling.

Perhaps I should have been a private investigator. I can scour the web for information like I was born with research tips embedded in my brain. Although, I am not so consumed with myself to think that I got this way all by myself, I realize that I inherited most of these traits from my father. Because he, too, should have been a private investigator. Maybe then we would have a family business centered around finding out all the little, grubby details that one pays people to learn. But in reality we are just nosey inquisitive.

There's a certain thrill I get from searching for information and going from one step to the next in learning the full story. Therefore, anytime someone has an inquiry I take it upon myself to learn as much as I possibly can about that inquiry whether they ask me to or not. Often times, these inquiries don't even want to be answered by the person inquiring...they're just momentarily curious. But not to me...to me they came into my office, sat down at my private investigator desk and filled out a request form listing pertinent details that are required for me to begin my search.

Unfortunately, I am not the best spy. I stink at being inconspicuous, it's just a fact and I've learned to accept it. For instance, when Mr. Ski and I lived in our first home the neighbors across the street had a very explosive relationship. One night, Mr. Ski and I were out on the front porch and heard them yelling and even saw some belongings come flying out the front door. I decided that if I got a little closer I could possibly hear what they were yelling about (there's the nosey inquisitive aspect) so I crept to a tree in our tiny yard and stood behind it while slowly peeking around it every once in awhile trying to see and hear more of what was going on. Mr. Ski loves to make fun of me for this one, because as he tells it the tree I was 'hiding' behind was way thinner than me and definitely did not conceal me as I thought it did. Case and point....I am not good at being stealthy, but put me behind a computer with some of my favorite resources and I will search the web until I produce as much information as your my little heart desires.

A Tree Tragedy

As you may know, I commute to work. It's a hour drive (one way) and it's one I've been making for almost 5 years, so I'm pretty familiar with the scenery. Once a year or so the highway department sends their tree crew out to sheer back the median and shoulder woods. It's a two step process:
Step one: Cut down the trees. They use a machine that just lays the trees down in a single, perfect very long row.
Step two: Chop up said down trees. They then bring in a wood chopping machine and shred all the downed trees into tiny bits of mulch which they leave on site.

So how can I turn that into something entertaining...by imagining those trees as things with emotions and feelings, of course! So with that in mind something like this occurs to me: Those poor survivor trees. Not only do they have to witness their friends and family being mowed down and then chopped up, now they are also forced to stare at their remains. It's a tree tragedy, I tell you!

You know, if trees had feelings and all.


(I blame part of this piece of my imagination on the movie "Fern Gully" for it was that little fairy, Crysta, who made me realize that trees hurt too! It was also that little fairy that kept 5 of my cousins from ever viewing that movie. Poor things. I bet when they hit 18 they rushed out to see all the movies they weren't allowed to watch growing up...starting with the cartoons!)

Something worth noting...

Just because you own a Minny* Cooper it does not mean you are required to drive like you're in the Italian Job.






*Misspelled intentionally.

Thankful

There's a lot of thanks going around these days, which is great but wouldn't it be cool if people did the thankful statuses every day of the year?! Because really as long as we're breathing we should be thankful.

As you will see, I have a lot to be thankful for:

-My husband. Wow. He's my best friend. He is an incredible man who loves me with no boundaries. (As he vowed to me on our wedding day. Which is another thing I'm thankful for; a husband that keeps his promises.) I am so thankful for the marriage we have and because of our beginning we have always had pretty stellar communication skills. I love that we can talk about anything and everything. We always make elaborate play lists for road trips yet we never listen to them because we often go several hours just talking with no music necessary. So on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for my rock, my hero, my best friend, my protector, my confidant, my soul mate, my everything, my Matt. I love you more than words can describe.

-My family. We're fairly large (There's Mom and Dad, my 3 sisters, 3 brother-in-laws, 3 Nephews, 2 Nieces, 2 Dogphews, our Grammy, Ma and Pa, and several aunts, uncles, and cousins) so family gatherings are always a little packed, a little warm (one of my brother-in-laws wears shorts to every holiday family gathering) and a lot of fun. There is an amazing amount of love and support amongst us and I must admit that it's pretty comforting to know that no matter what there are at least 19 people in my corner. So on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for my family who has never done anything but love, accept and support me. You all are precious to me.

-My friends. They are pretty awesome. I've never been the girl who has scores of friends but instead a few very close friends. This pattern has rang true through adulthood and while I have several acquaintances there are only a few friends that I have a close bond with. These friends are the type that no matter how long it has been since we have talked we are able to pick right back up where we left off. So on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for my friends, I truly cherish them and I'm not quite sure where I'd be without their friendship.

-My home. It has a roof, heat and food in the fridge and keeps me safe from harsh weather. I realize how fortunate we are to have these things as there are so many in this world who go without all three. So on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for my little, gray house.

-My job. When unemployment is higher than it has been in decades, I am grateful to be employed. My employer is fair, flexible and easy going and my job is not nearly as stressful as some of my previous occupations. So on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for my job.

-Joan, my car. She may have over 263,000 miles and need a new coat of paint on the hood but she gets me from A to B with little to no issues. She's trusty and reliable even if she squeals and moans from time to time. So on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for a vehicle to take me to work and to the grocery and wherever else I may want to venture.

-My Health. On this date I am a mere twenty days away from the 12 year anniversary of my open heart surgery and I am so ridiculously thankful to be alive with a strong, healthy heart. Because without my health I wouldn't be able to enjoy all the other things that cause me to be so thankful for my life. So on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for life, breath and health.

-The Armed Forces both past and present. I am so grateful for their sacrifice for our country. Without them our country would be a different place and I will never be able to say thank you enough to the men and women who protect us. So on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for our Veterans.

-Freedom. I have the freedom to say and write whatever I feel like saying or writing. When I think about the millions of people in this world who are persecuted and prevented from saying or writing how they feel it makes me sick to my stomach. So on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for the freedom to choose my words.

I'm pretty sure I could continue adding to this list for the next 10 days. But I'm going to have to stop here because I must try and get a few hours of sleep before another day of cooking tomorrow today.


One more thing: considering I started writing this post around 2:45am I do have to say that at this moment in time I am pretty grateful that my mom and grandmother always did the Thanksgiving cooking because I had NO IDEA how much went into preparing the feast. This is my second Thanksgiving cooking dinner for the two of us, the first year went over pretty well and I am hoping that this year will be no different.

Happy Thanksgiving!

One word: CUTE!

When I saw this:
I immediately thought of this:




The puppy is not mine but when I saw its innocent,little face and precious pigtails it immediately reminded me of this picture of my sister from a ski trip she went on earlier this year. I have received confirmation from my beautiful, beloved, big (older, definitely not bigger) sister to post her picture on my blog and she is also aware of the content but has yet to see the comparison picture. Can't wait to hear what she thinks!! :)



*Photo credit for the adorable shih tzu goes to myfunnypics(dot)org

Friday Fragments

Oh, Friday Fragments, how I have longed to get to this day for your fragments. If you've never heard of Friday Fragments you can head over to Mrs. 4444's bloggy space Half Past Kissin' Time to read all about it and learn how to post up your own fragments! Trust me, it's fun stuff.

~I am very pleased to announce that Mr. Ski and I have been smoke-free for ONE YEAR AND TEN DAYS!!! It has been quite the journey, a lot faster and slower than I expected it to be but all in all I am so glad we decided to give up smoking. Do I miss it? Yep. But I also miss my childhood and you couldn't pay me to go through middle school again. I guess you could say I never want to have to quit smoking again so that will keep me motivated to keep quit! We are very proud of ourselves and looking forward to doing something fun with the money we saved.

~I had to 're-home' a pretty scary spider yesterday. I usually don't kill them since they eat bugs but it was right under our power box outside and I didn't want that little bugger laying eggs in my power box! No worries, I didn't kill it just moved it with a stick.

~Fred, the cow, who had a starring role in this post must have been busy over the last few months. I noticed today that there were a ridiculous amount of darling, little calves laying in the shade. Hopefully, they weren't all conceived in front of the school bus. :/

~Finally, I want to give a shout out to the Packers. I am so proud of you guys!! 4-0!!! That is incredible!!! Big thanks to Mr. Ski for helping me see the cheesehead light, because in the last four years I have learned their history and fallen in love with their teamwork, heart and dedication; I now will forever be a Packer fan!! GO PACK GO!

Hope your weekend is happy!