I’m delighted to announce that my oldest sister’s youngest son is now a dad! I have 13 nieces and nephews. As a group they have now made me a GREAT aunt seventeen times! And there’s one more headed our way in May. I can hardly wait to meet the newest member of our family! I guess you could say we have a lot to be thankful for.

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The cat is sitting at my elbow. The dog is across the room, snoring, and Dear Husband is watching the Nova on the Earth’s magnetic field. It’s been a long day, and I’m thinking about bed.
I was going to sleep in this morning. I wanted to get up at 6:30, but Defer arfed me up at 5:40. I figured I might as well get up and get going. Mother was hosting a group of ladies who were making fleece hats for cancer patients, and I had a dental appointment at 1:15. My niece and her boys joined us for dinner, and DH had a hair cut at 6:00. It was a busy day.
I began with a few loads of laundry, and while that was perking, I cleaned the kitchen. We readied the table, and I boiled a pot of multi-colored rotini. As it cooled, I put dishes away and started chopping veggies.
I cut up red pepper, broccoli, julienned carrots and pepperoni, and added it to the pasta. I threw in some cherry tomatoes and poured part of a bottle of Paul Newman’s Light Italian dressing over it. A quick toss, and it went back into the fridge to chill.
Then I cut up veggies for minnestrone and put that on to cook. I had cartons of red raspberries and blueberries, so I rinsed and mixed them and put them in a crystal dish. Last, I sliced some banana nut bread.
My mother had planned to make tomato soup with roasted red pepper for her guests. She also made oatmeal cookies. I thought she might appreciate the pasta and fruit to round out the meal. I set a pot of Iced tea to perc and went to get dressed for the day.
My periodontist is happy with my new crown, so my visit was a good one. I don’t have to see them for another six months.
My niece and her boys joined us, and we chatted about everyone’s week. I added mozerella to the pasta. I think the boys were underwhelmed by the soup, but were too well mannered to say anything. Besides, garlic bread, pasta, fruit and cookies seemed to fill in the chinks.
All in all….it was a typical day. Not the kind of thing you hope to read about here, but a slice of my life. I need to get a different life (sigh).

Christmas season 2003 has opened. Today I received my FIRST e-mail from Jamie trying to finagle some sugar crisp. Of course, she said Q14 (her son) needed them.
Riiiiiiiiiiiight!
I’ll think about it Jamie. It’s possible. *S*

I’ll be away for a few days. Dear Husband is going to take a day off, and we’re going to take Mother to Indiana to see my youngest sis and her family. They’ve just lived through the home renovation from HELL and I’m eager to see the changes that have been made.
My mind is still on gardens, cleaning, and preparations for Thanksgiving. Each year I try to stave off Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving…..but I had to send a request for a wish list, and an invitation to Cookie Day already. Mother has her Christmas cards all addressed!
A good friend sent an e-mail, asking if we were booked up for December, and could we set a date to meet for dinner. I discovered, that if you didn’t count the last weekend in November, we have a grand total of FOUR weekend nights left before Christmas to book that dinner. WOW! Where is the time going??? I think we should have a communal post where everyone gives their absolute best time saving tip for Christmas.
Well…I’ll check back on Sunday, when we return. I hope you all have a great weekend!

One of my sisters forwarded an e-mail with these pictures. Given the horrors we have seen, I wanted to share a kinder view of our soldiers.
This is the message from the originator of the e-mail, Amy Dunavant:
Sometimes in our everyday life we tend to forget what’s going on elsewhere in the world and that the brave men and women of the service are just like you and I. They have family and friends back home who love them very much and are praying for their safe return.
Hope you pass these on

Yesterday I wanted to write about Veterans’s Day. I knew that many of you would have messages on the subject, and that you would say what I feel, most likely better than I could say for myself. So, I chose to visit other blogs and read your tributes rather than writing one of my own.
Last night, one of my nieces brought her two boys to dinner at our house. The oldest boy is 14 and his younger brother is 9. I couldn’t resist the chance to talk to them about why they had had a day off from school. We talked about what Veteran’s Day stands for. I tried to help them tie the people in their family to the wars they may have read about.

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