Thanksgiving is coming. I’ve already started making lists of what needs to be done. Twelve of my family have said they would be here, and there’s the potential for up to 18 more. I know for sure that the rest won’t be able to attend due to distance or other commitments.
This morning I was pondering the subject of flowers. When you set a table with china, I feel you need to finish the table with some sort of floral arrangement. I have this brochure from a local greenhouse that is advertising Thanksgiving arrangements. The prices for what I could use range from $39.95 to 69.95. I definitely have two tables, and am likely to have a third, and I want an arrangement for the foyer table.
Somehow, it just seems WRONG to spend that much money on flowers when so many people are doing without this year. It would be lovely to just be able to pick up the phone and order, and have one more thing taken care of, but I don’t think I can do it.
When I was a teenager, I took classes in flower arranging. I know the basics, and I know that I can put together simple arrangements and bouquets. I think we will still have flowers, but we won’t be ordering them. I plan to use ceramic pumpkins, and ornamental gourds, candles, and a few flowers.
What I save is going to be given to the local mission so that people who would otherwise do without, will be treated to a full Thanksgiving dinner. It’s not a hardship, and I’ll feel a lot better about it.

I have developed some habits that might be so bad as to be classified as an eating disorder, and I’m trying to make some changes.
I have forgotten what an appropriate portion is. Rather than serve myself some potato chips when I have a sandwich, I’ll take the entire bag with me to the table.
I have taken to wolfing down my meals. Rather than leisurely enjoying each bite, I chomp and swallow with the goal of getting to a clean plate. I finish dinner and I’m still hungry because my stomach hasn’t had the chance to recognize that it is full.
I am addicted to salty food. I really need to make a change here because I can see the effect on my circulation.
I’ve been skipping breakfast and eating between meals.
Now that I’m thoroughly embarrassed, I’ll tell you what changes I’ve made.

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I’ve been watching the light the last few days. We’re trying to adjust to being back to Central Standard Time, and I’ve used the time change to make an adjustment to my sleeping hours.
Dear Husband goes to bed at 9:00 (barring long World Series games!), and I’ll align my sleeping times to his. But, I’ll stay up a night or two to read, and then blogging calls to me one night and office work the next, and gradually I find that I am off schedule by as much as three or four hours. Morning becomes an agony rather than the pleasure it should be, and I rush to make it to exercise. It’s particularly hard on Elegante Mother, who needs a regular schedule, and plenty of time to get where she’s going.

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Yeah…I know the Sox won the World Series last week. I’ve been meaning to write about it every day. Eighty-seven years. Do you believe that the White Sox had to wait 87 years to win another World Series?
I watched all four games. The second one, the one that went fourteen innings was amazing. How could a game be SO slow, and SO dull, and have SO much tension?? After midnight, it was a fight to keep my eyes open. The fourth game, they won by the only run batted in the entire night.
Lest you think I’m complaining, I’m not. Congratulations, guys! You earned those wins, and the right to bask in the sunshine of long awaited success.

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Why is it that blogging ideas only come to me when I can’t write them down???
I draft wonderful opening lines when I’m in the shower. Sentences roll out of my mind when I am driving, or when I have gone out of the house without a notebook or pad of paper. The perfect idea for a blog entry bursts into my brain just as my pen goes dry.
Last year, as I drove through central Illinois and Indiana, I had a hand-held tape recorder with me. Everything I saw on that trip was grist for the blog when I returned, and I managed not to tape over any of the information.
But, it’s hard to keep the tape recorder to hand. I need to make a fanny pack for it, or an Amish pocket. I wonder if Dear Husband will object to me murmuring into the recorder in the middle of the night?
Wouldn’t a tape recorder/digital camera be the perfect gift for a blogger?
How do you all keep those ideas in your mind until it’s time to write???

When you tell someone that you blog, do you get funny looks? Do they sidle away from you, or put a little distance between you?
Until very recently, I have been the only person in my family who blogs. I’m not sure what they think I’m doing, but none of them, when faced with the fact that I blog, has ever asked me about it. It’s rather like they are trying to spare me; the less they know about it, the less they can be forced to disclose. I think they assume it’s something illicit, or dirty. At best, they wonder how I can possibly waste my time this way. And, some of them believe that it’s inappropriate to put personal thoughts where anyone can read them.
I suspect that if I had told them I was journaling, they wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with it. At any rate, I’m certainly glad that my youngest sister is joining me in the blogging world. I’ll let you know where to find her when her blog is up and running. Welcome aboard, Sissy.

I was chatting with my youngest sis yesterday, and discovered that my blog has become a visual aid. She’s teaching English, among other things, and this summer she decided that she would use blogs in her classroom to promote writing skills and communication. One of the techs in the school system found a blog site that allows the kids to venture out to see the world of blogs, but prevents that world from coming in to visit them. I applaud protecting them from spam and unsupervised adults as they learn their way around blogging!
At any rate, Sis showed the class MY BLOG!! She used it to show links, and layout, and possibilities. I’m delighted that I’ve become a visual aid! Go to it kids!

Dear Husband hears oddly. It’s difficult to describe his condition, but he will hear something and his mind immediately seeks the pun or the homonym that might grow out of it. I should add that he usually goes for the quickest, easiest, least polished pun that he can find.
Tonight, as we were getting dinner, I mentioned that Elegante Mother and I had gotten our flu shots today. He asked if that made us floozies.
He had the temerity to repeat the question to Elegante Mother.
He’s still living. It’s just amazing….