I am behind on starting on my Christmas shopping. I have asked several family members what they would like for Christmas. I get the usual answer of “anything”. That makes it hard for me to shop for a person. As a person gets older, we all have our share of dust collectors and don’t want to receive a bunch more. It would be nice to receive a present of something we like. I saw a website with replica watches. It is unbelievable the savings on the price of a replica Rolex that I would be able to buy for a family member for Christmas. I believe I found the perfect gift for him.

I want to thank my readers a Happy Thanksgiving! Whether you are eating turkey, ham or whatever family favorite, may your time with your family or loved ones be a blessed one. We look forward to spending time with my youngest daughter and her husband. This is their 1st Thanksgiving as a married couple. They do have to go to his side of the family’s dinners, too. I know they are going to feel like stuffed turkeys by the time they make their rounds.

I pray my oldest daughter will have a wonderful Thanksgiving too as she is so far away. As does my mother, brothers and sister live far away too.

I have been watching the stock market lately with the failing economy. A friend told me this would be a good time to buy some stock while the prices are low. I know that certain stocks can only go back up to a very decent investment if I plan smartly. I can purchase through online trading some of these stocks. My Mom who is very smart in the stock market has already given me some tips about which ones to buy. She told me about Warren Buffet and how he made his billions. I will be reading up more on Warren Buffet.

My niece from Mississippi called. It was exciting to hear from her. She and her two sons have been busy driving her oldest son to a new school in a different district, karate lessons and play dates. Her husband travels a lot and fixes farm equipment. When he is home, he is busy around their home and land. He has to buy cattle supplies before winter sets in where they live. He is one busy man which does not have much time to spend with his sons like he would like to. I miss getting to see them. Hopefully by next summer if not before then (due to my mom passing away) I will get to see my niece and her family.

As I listened to the pastor today in church about being more thankful, I realized just how much I have to be thankful for. I am able to walk, talk and breath. I am alive. I have a home though I have a mortgage. I have transportation. I have a family. They have jobs and no layoffs. I have my 5 cats who love me and I love them that they are all getting well. I have the Lord in my life and He loves me as I love Him. I am blessed with friends who love and care about me as I do them. I am blessed that my brother in law is healing from his recent surgery.

In today’s economy, so many people are forgetting to be thankful. I myself forget some times to thank someone who has done something kind for me. May we all remember to say “thank you” to everyone including our family members that do kind things or bless us. To remember what the reason for Thanksgiving is about, sharing a autumn harvest feast and gathering with family and friends. Most of all we need to reflect and be thankful for what we have.

Woke this morning thinking what a great day it is going to be. WRONG! Within an hour after getting up, I was asked if a family member could use my van to go to work which is out of town AND take their vehicle into be repaired. I had planned on relaxing and getting some housework done today. Taking it pretty much easy. My body has been yelling at me lately to slow down again. I want to take care of myself day.

After the family member left for work, I made myself a nice breakfast of scrambled egg, a slice of bacon and whole wheat toast with Smucker’s Sugar Free Peach Preserves. As I sat down to eat this lovely meal, I received a panic call from the family member telling me that I needed to call AAA and have my van towed. I asked if the van was in an accident and it wasn’t. A hose or something under the hood blew and all the antifreeze and water leaked out, so the vehicle would not run. He was upset that he had to walk about a mile to use a pay phone and was going to be late for work. I put my breakfast on the counter and went to get dressed in warm clothes, because the wind chill was 17. I had to scrape the ice off the windshield of his truck. I had to warm the truck up for a few minutes. I called a towing company to meet me at the van. When I got there, my family member was clearly upset at how long he thought I should have gotten there sooner. Geez, give me a break! I was going as fast as I could and didn’t even get to eat the nice hot breakfast I had made. No word of thanks for coming to rescue me or calling a tow truck ahead of time to save sitting and waiting for it considering he gave me bad instructions as to where exactly he was. The tow truck driver must have figured out somehow the van was another mile down the road than where I told him to go.

I rode back with the tow truck driver to the service station across from my home. One other thing that I did before leaving home to meet at the van, was to check if okay to bring the van directly to them to work on it. So I was able to go home while the van was being repaired. It ended up costing me $107.81 to have the mechanics replace a heater hose, clamp and 2 gallons of antifreeze. The mechanic informed me that the block is rusting on my engine. It seems I keep sinking money into this old van, but can’t afford payments on a new vehicle. It is a no win situation.

It cost over $350 to repair the truck also today. The wheel bearing welded itself to the wheel rim. It seems to keep raining and pouring on us financially. I could let the stress get to me and affect my diabetes. I will keep trusting God to keep us afloat. I am thankful I have a warm home, a roof over my head and food to eat.

My oldest daughter is still not working since she left the bookstore. I have been concerned that she will go through her money quicker than she has planned. I advised her to look in jobs in marketing since she has sales experience in retail. She told me she is putting out her resume to a bunch of different companies. She already has an interview this week. I know she will do well in her interviews because she has had to hire employees before in her previous position.

My youngest daughter has decided to buy diet pills to help her lose weight. Since she and her husband have different taste buds and planning different meals with both of them working and she is going to college also, this will make it easier for her. She is concerned about the cost and how effective the diet pills will be. I advised her to check the different brands available and talk to the pharmacist about the active ingredients and side effects. She knows I have been concerned about the amount of weight she has gained in the past months can lead to diabetes.

We made the trip to Michigan with minor difficulty. As soon as we walked out the door on the house, it was snowing heaver. The roadways had not been salted or cleared. The interstate that runs through our county was not salted or cleared either so the roadway was slick. We drove very slow and carefully with our emergency flashers because large semi trucks were going faster and then sliding in a fishtail. We saw several vehicles go off the road on the opposite direction. There was no place to turn around safely for many miles between exits. We do not have a cell phone so we could not call the state troopers. I did watch to see if anyone was stopping that was behind the vehicles that slide off roadways to assist them till we were out of site. I didn’t see anyone stop. It is sad to feel that no one cares anymore for a fellow motorist.

After we crossed our county line the interstate had been salted and the snow cleared even on the other roads we had to travel. It was like that all the way to my brother in law’s house and then to the hospital. It is so nice to have a state and other counties be more responsible than our county. It took us over an hour more to go up to Michigan than when we returned because of our county.

We were so surprised to see my brother in law sitting up in the hospital bed and smiling. He said that the surgery went very well and the bile was drained out and the nurse was going to remove the bag. The surgeon came in and told him that he was going to let him go home. I stated a loud WOW! The surgeon told us that since Ed was doing so well and knew what needed to be done at home, should be no problem. That if there were any problems that arose to call him.

After getting my brother in law home, his adoptive parents invited us to eat with them before we left to come back home. They served Stouffer’s vegetarian lasagna, whole wheat dinner rolls and pumpkin pie. I have never had vegetarian lasagna. I was pleasantly surprised with the taste. I opted out of eating the slice of pumpkin pie. I didn’t want to have a high blood sugar while driving home at night as it affects my vision.

Our visit was lovely even under the circumstances. We promised to come back soon. My brother in law will be out of work till some time in January. I know he will be going crazy sitting around home so much. He does have a lot of electronic gizmos to keep him occupied. He was sad when we had to say goodbye, but we could tell he was getting tired. His dad went to go get his prescription filled for the antibiotic as we left too. We pray he keeps doing so well after being so sick with the bile that had built up in his system that is now drained. He will have to continue to eating a special diet low in fat as the bile duct is to remove the fat from his system.
I am glad to be home. My own body is still tired from traveling so much in one day.

I received a phone call today concerning my brother in law going to have a surgery today after all. The surgeon decided that an external tubing to the liver to drain the bile had to be done for Ed. He is so weak and sick. His speech was very slow when I did get to speak to him for a few minutes. We are definitely driving up tomorrow after a few hours of sleep tonight. I have to check weather maps for the road conditions to the hospital or his adopted parent’s house. They have been getting lots of snow already. Last night they got 3 inches. The last time I was in Michigan, it snowed the entire time we were there. In the area we stayed at the motel, the roads were kept cleared.

I am packing an extra set of clothing and my medications just in case of an emergency stay over. Being a diabetic, I always have a plan when it comes to packing all my medications especially the refrigerated insulins. I keep ice bars frozen in the freezer to pack in a small cooler and my Medport bag. Since the weather is colder and only planning on being gone tomorrow, this should work out. If not, then I go to plan B, which is doubled freezer Ziplock type bags carried with me. Then I buy a bag of ice for the cooler and put my refrigerated medications in the doubled freezer bags to place of top of the unopened ice bag. I made the mistake of opening the bag of ice one time and my medication were in one freezer bag and somehow when the ice started melting, water got in the little bag. I am very careful with cleanliness and safety with my insulin bottles. So I should be all set to leave on the trip as soon as a family member gets home from work and gets some sleep before driving in the dark.