Thanksgiving 2008

Wow, it is really going to happen, we are actually having Thanksgiving Dinner in my hotel room--it is a open doubled sized room which I like better than a bedroom and living room suite.

It was so nice having all the wonderful side dishes that everyone brought--so much better than one meal at the Black Angus and that is it--the turkey was not that great, too bad about that but as Maria says, "the turkey is the least part of it" so true.

It was so nice having Maria and all the Valko kids here for Thanksgiving--this has been an especially lonely deployment. I don't know what I would have done if Michael hadn't been here to go out with on Saturdays.

Thanks Valkos for all the good food and fun on Thanksgiving...I had to go to bed early, work the next day at 7 AM but they let us out early at 1:30 and I enjoyed seeing Grass Valley again and the charming city of Nevada City with Maria and Matt.

Loved this Spinach Dip of Melissa's and the ramaki of Michaels--sooo good.

Maria's creamed corn was fantastic as always and she made lots! And her new recipe for yams was really good too.

And Melissa's new way to do pumpkin pie was delicious.

It was all very good except for the turkey...

It was a beautiful drive on Saturday through Auburn, Sierra Valley and Placerville's Apple Hill with Mike and Maria. I had the best apple turnover I think I have every eaten. I have a very special memory of buying apple turnovers at the Bakery in Glendive as a child and teenager and having the flaky crust get all over your clothes...always looking for some as good. These were. Nice Thanksgiving, nice weekend. Thanks kids!

Remembering Richard

You can tell the value of a man by the way he treats his wife, by the way he treats a subordinate, and by the way he treats someone who can do nothing for him.-- Ken Babcock

12 Years...

It was twelve years ago tonight that Richard and I flew into Reno for Thanksgiving and Maria came down to meet us. I still have very vivid memories of that early morning on the 25th and the days that followed. It was also Thanksgiving time that my brother passed away. Not a good time for me.

I also realized that I have now been single longer than I was married. We were married for 37 years. I was single the first 26 years of my life and now 12 more. I don't know what that means or why it is signigicant, I just noticed it, that is all.

I was also thinking today of all the different places I have had Thankgsiving. Let me see how many I can remember.

Ogden, UT---Glendive, MT---Orem, UT---Provo, UT---Big Bear, CA---Pacific Beach, CA---La Jolla, CA---Sacramento, CA---Fort Worth, TX---Rancho Bernardo, CA---Susanville, CA---Lake Almanor, CA---Baltimore, MD---Galveston, TX---Phoenix, AZ---Las Vegas, NV---El Cajon, CA---Carlsbad, CA---Knotts Berry Farm, CA Have I missed any??? Of course, I can't remember how many at each place...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, FAMILY, I LOVE YOU ALL, WHEREVER YOU ARE. I wonder what Richard and John are doing!

And where in the world have you spent Thanksgiving?

Another Weekend in Sacramento!

A few weeks ago I saw a lady "threading" at the mall. I remember Meagan had told me about it from one of her trips. This weekend I went back looking for her and couldn't find her. I wanted to get my face threaded. You can have just the eyebrows or whatever but I wanted the whole face. I asked a few people and finally a lady in JC Penneys knew which store she was near...and she has her own little store inside now!

I really like it. Only takes about 10 minutes. I can see a few she missed but looks good. I can see I will have to take a monthly trip to Sacramento Roseville Mall!

They have also opened a huge other side to the mall with a huge food court. I chose Rubio's Fish taco but couldn't find a place to sit. Finally a lady beckoned to me, she was alone also. A former realtor, widow living in Roseville. Had a very interesting visit with her and she is 79. Then when I walked into Macy's a lady selling perfume caught me and chatted. She was 71 and telling me what a great age we were and how beautiful I was, ha. (Remember she was selling perfume.) At any rate it was fun to have somebody my age to chat with for a time.

Saturday I had two dates. Mitch was here, too and Mitch and Matt kindly went to the Harvest Festival with me, food wasn't that great but we finally ended up at a movie and it was good. Enjoy having such neat grandsons to go out with! Michael said he would do the stuffing and an hor dourve for Thanksgiving and something else...anyway we, Maria and children, are all getting together in my hotel room. Should be fun, I have a big room!

Oh, yes, I finally broke down and used my 20% off in Macy's and tried some new jeans and tops. Problem is I can't tell blue from black so will be interesting to see what they are...

What Do I Do For Fun?

Well, the gauntlet was thrown out. What do I do for fun?

On first thought, I couldn’t think of any fun I have…but on second thought the things that make me smile or laugh or just feel good. That is my fun…and here they are – in no particular order.

Phone calls with my daughters, sisters, son, grandchildren, friends…very enjoyable.

Having ‘one on ones’ with my grandchildren and great grandchildren: From spending hours with Kelsi, getting acquainted with Kate, having dates with Michael, watching Mitch play, learning how to use Skype with Amy, talking to Craig, chatting with Kelley, movies with Tanner, walking with Sarah, playing games with Jacob, zooing with Jimmy, doing the mall with Lea, having Meagan visit or traveling with her, working with Matt at my home, visiting with Kristi on the phone—all of my one on ones with my grandchildren are great fun to me.

Reading the blogs of my daughters and grandchildren…love being a part of their lives that way.

Sharing stories and memories with a willing audience. Lately it has been the little Filipino gal I work with. Sometimes a few minutes break from work is telling tales about ourselves. She said the other day, “I love hearing your stories.” She’s half my age and very kind to me.

Enjoying a movie with buttered popcorn, hot tamales, and Dr. Pibb. I am in heaven when I indulge like that.

Having a good pedicure…need I say more.

Watching a greal musical or good music show. Tonight I am enjoying the Country Singers…

Being immersed in a truly enjoyable book and read it day and night till I finish.

Cleaning up the yard…yes, that is fun. Cleaning the house is not!

A really romantic movie, a really sad, moving movie, a movie that makes me laugh. Movies have always been great fun to me from the time I was 5 or so.

Listening to my favorite music…

Watching an exciting football game…

Dancing around the room…

Having some cute guy say funny things that make me giggle or laugh out loud…anything that makes me laugh out loud is good.

Notice there are not many things I “do” for fun…no sports, no activities, no exercise, no crafts, no cooking, no sewing, hmmmmmm...

High School Musical

That was the best time I have had in a long time. What a great movie--very, very enjoyable. Would love to see more like that. It was very nostalgic for me as well--the attitude they had toward life was the attitude we had for life back in my school days. Great music, great dancing, so nice to see young people positive about life, and full of life without any profanity. Kudos to all the makers of the film. When you go, be sure and stay for all the names and music at the end. So many people involved in the making of that film. Hope, hope they make more. This was definitely the best of the series. I could see all my fantastic grandchildren dancing around in the film. Life is good when we see the joy in it.

On Voting!

I did get to vote yesterday by absentee ballot. I didn't know if I would be able to with this traveling around...

Earlier in the week I had received a card from my Plumas Registrar stating that I had recently registered as a Democrat and questioning if I had moved. I immediately wrote them a letter about my experience. I told them that:

After being in Texas and arriving in Sacramento I saw a voter register person in front of WalMart and told him I needed to get an absentee ballot but I lived in Plumas County and what should I do? (I should have known better, these guys are just paid to get registrations and probably know nothing about what I asked) Anyway he said to just register here and he would take care of it. So I did. Anyway I also told the Registrar that I had certainly never registered as a Democrat.

Surprisingly I received a call from a lady at the Registrar's Office and they said they were sorry for my experience but they would send a ballot right out and to get it back asap. And yes, the Democrat box was checked by someone!! They also said if I wanted to change that I would have to register again before the next election.

Anyway I felt like a really important person instead of just a number that they would give me that kind of attention to actually call me at the office and send a ballot! Yesterday I went out for lunch and saw this written in a community newspaper:

"This has seemingly been the most antagonistic and violent campaign period in our lifetime. From stolen signs from people's front yards, to vandalism, to beatings by opponents, Americans have faced a stress-filled two years of a barrage of accusations from all parties and a relentless television schedule of pundits points of view that has given the voting public more than we need to know, and very little of what "we need to know."

And isn't that so true!