Our Christmas Tree

Well, Thanksgiving is now over, so that means it's time. We get to gear up for my most favorite holiday, Christmas!! We got our tree and put it up this weekend. I already got the x-mas decorations all out on Friday, so now the house is looking all festive and full of holiday cheer!

Oh yah, Toby and Lilly were so busy watching what we were doing, and trying to play with everything while we decorated the tree. When we were done they zonked out, hehe, tuckered themselves right out :-)

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Some more news. Tomorrow I go to pick up my mom, so that I can drop her off at the airport on Tuesday morning. All so that she can fly up to NH and drive down with....Kathy!!! That's right....Kathy will finally be moving down here with us!!! Yeahhh!!! Can't wait to see her!

Unusual Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year for me was obviously different. Being down south, this year has been full of firsts. Our first Thanksgiving down here was great though. Cortney met up with Mike and I at our house, then we proceeded to my parents house. Where Aunt Jackie and Uncle Corey and their three youngest waited for us along with Beepa. Dinner was delicious, full of conversations and laughs. Then after a long walk around the neighborhood (with no coats, it was in the 60's!) we came back and all settled around an outdoor fire. I wish we hadn't had to leave. Don't get to see everyone as often as I would like, since we don't live as close as we used to. But I know one thing that I was definitely thankful for that day, my family. Hope everyone else had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Funny

If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?

Pilgrims! (buh-dum-bump-ching!)

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In the week before Thanksgiving Mary-Jo asked her class of 9 year-olds to write a paragraph entitled: 'What I am most thankful for on Thanksgiving Day'.

All Joe could write was: 'I am thankful that I'm not a turkey at Thanksgiving.'

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Thanksgiving Divorce

A man in Phoenix calls his son in New York the day before Thanksgiving and says,"I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.

"Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screams.

"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the father says. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her.

"Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this,"

She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "they're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way."

The Internet Still Amazes Me

As some of you may know, my mother-in-law Mary moved back to NY a couple of weeks ago. After living here awhile she decided that she missed her friends and her church, so she found a job and a place to live up north and off she went.

She wasn't able to take all of her things with her, so she asked us just the other day to try and sell what was left behind. So yesterday afternoon I thought, I'll just pop the stuff up on craigslist.com (same place I found our dog Toby) with some pictures and see what happens. I thought, give it a couple weeks or so and we might get some people that want to buy the stuff.

I was in complete shock, within less then five minutes of posting the first thing for sale (a desktop computer, kinda old, but works good) I had an email from someone that already wanted to buy it. I got non stop emails all night, and still getting them this morning. Last night, a nice couple came and bought the computer desk and chair, loaded that up and they were gone! Not too long after that, a gentleman came and bought the computer. No haggle over price, within minutes cash was in our hand and that bedroom was getting more empty. We couldn't believe how quickly and how many responses we got, and are still getting. The most expensive thing was a beautiful bed she is selling, I have already gotten half a dozen people that want it. Just goes to show I guess, that craigslist can work! Alot better then I ever thought it would! Now I just gotta keep Mike away from it, before he keeps trying to sell stuff of ours, hehe.

Do You See, What I See?

I was reminded today that Christmas is just around the corner. This wasn't by the stores, which have had Christmas stuff out for weeks and are already playing Christmas music. It wasn't by all the commercials that are on now, reminding you to start shopping either.

While washing some dishes today, I looked up and out my kitchen window. I actually stopped what I was doing, and watched in aww. I saw snow drifting every which way in my backyard!! In North Carolina, in November?! I couldn't believe it. It didn't amount to anything, in fact if I hadn't witnessed it, I would of never known it snowed at all, since there isn't a speck outside now. But it gave me an instant feeling of warmth, family, and Christmas. I hope that we get some snow down here for the holidays!!

Speaking of holidays, I better get my kiester going and rummage through my recipes, so I can make something to bring for Thanksgiving!

Firsts

Our first fall in North Carolina...

When the sun is just right, it looks like our backyard is glowing! :-)

Our first fire in our fireplace! It was small, but toasty. :-)
Toby really enjoyed it!

Long Night In The ER

Well, we had a bit of a health scare this week. Mike has been having some chest pain off and on the last couple weeks, and being the man that he is, ignored it and went about his business. He, like most men, hates going to the doctor, and goes on a very rare occasion. But Tuesday he had all the typical signs of a heart attack (minus the cold sweats). He still refused to go to a doctor, until a nurse where he works checked his vitals and she detected an irregular heartbeat. So that set us off to the emergency room yesterday. We arrived at about 3:30, and it was a longgg night from there.

First they ditched me in the waiting room (since they are in the middle of constructing a new cancer ward, the ER is cramped). After more then two hours with no communication to me, I of course asked someone what the hell was going on! They immediately brought me back to a cramped little room where they were holding him, and several other people. While a doctor and several nurses sat around looking at one computer screen, oye! Then two hours after that, they call us, we thought, good..maybe we can see a doctor now, nope. They went to do a second EKG, until, they read the paperwork and discovered he already had one done, erg! I also pointed out to her that they already did an x-ray (as Mike had informed me earlier) so they didn't try and do that again also. Discovering that, they sent both of us back out to the main waiting room, again. Were we sat for 2 1/2 more hours. Being 3rd on the list, didn't mean much.

Finally at about 10 pm they bring us back to a bed, out in the hallway. Then after 3 more hours of seeing the doctor, then the nurse, then the doctor, and then again the nurse (I don't know how the two of them kept missing each other, but they did, and obviously were not communicating). Since the doctor said the EKG was good, and the x-ray was good. It didn't point to a heart attack (thank goodness, BIG relief! even though the triage nurse also detected an irregular heartbeat when we arrived), so they wouldn't need to take blood. Then a minute later the nurse has him hooked up to a heart monitor, and sticks him with an IV and takes 6 vials of blood. What the hell?

The important thing is, that Mike is ok. They aren't really sure what happened, but glad we are sure that he is alright. The chest pain is slowly getting better. We didn't get home until 1 am, and the poor dog was elated to see us! I realized last night, I wish family was closer, I hated being in the hospital alone, and I am sure Toby would of appreciated someone stopping by to take him potty and maybe give him some dinner.

I did meet alot of interesting people last night though, hehe. Very thankful Mike is ok, that scared me half to death.

The Election

Wow, I don't have to mention what a historic election 2008 was. I was elated to see Obama win the presidency. One thing I found funny though with North Carolina's presidential popular votes. We came out with a tie!? 50% for Obama and 50% for McCain. To be technical, Obama won with 0.29% more votes, but geeze, talk about cutting it close! We were the only other "gray" state on the US map on the news this morning, us being "undecided" and all, hehe. Anyways, congrats to Senator Obama, now let's see what he can do! :-)

Colors

Just some more leaf peepin':

Our Halloween Down South

Our Halloween was pretty uneventful...although we got alot more trick or treaters then my mother. We got a grand total of...count 'em...one trick-or-treater!! She got none...hehe, so we were pretty proud of our 1. I guess trunk-or-treating won out. But we had alot of fun watching our scary movies! Next year we will throw our own Halloween party, since the little kiddies won't come out to play. :-)

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Off subject, but today we voted. Hurray for early-voting!! Not as much of a line. Glad that is over and done with!

Also glad the leaves are changing more and more everyday. That is something we were in fear of, loosing our "new england fall". But we aren't missing it a bit, the leaves are just as colorful down here, they just change later in the season. As you can see:

The berries on our holly bush are starting to get red!

Around our neigborhood:

I can't say it enough...Hurray for fall!!