Things aren’t quite the same at our house. We took dh to the airport recently. We hugged goodbye and I tried to remain stoic as I climbed into the car and drove off. I could not cry. Tears threatened, but they did not fall. Tears can cause my eyes to sting and then I can’t see; that is not good for driving.

We came home and pursued school. I put airflight tracker on the pc and we tracked dh’s flight.  It's nice for the dc and I to be that much more connected to him, to know when he takes off and lands, and everything in between.  We can see which states he flies over and what storm systems he has to avoid.  If he calls later to say he has a delay due to weather, I can tell him exactly what the weather pattern is and where it is going.  Then he lands, and after that we move on.    

It’s not the same. No one to expect home and talk to. One plate less at dinner. The entire bed to myself. Waking myself up in the morning. Trying to get up out of bed and start the day without anything to look forward to. Well, that’s melodramatic. I try not to think about it. I start the morning in the Word and prayer. I tear myself from the bed to awaken the dc. I force myself to pursue the day. There is plenty to do to keep me busy.  My parents have long felt this is my best therapy for when dh is gone.  They feel I get too overdramatic about things.

I really have nothing to be depressed about. He will come home!  He calls every night! We have cell phones that allow us to talk daily from across the country, for this very reason. Although I am not a gadget person, I am thankful for this one. They are expensive and are rarely used, but they are priceless when he has to go out of town. The dc are teen agers now and that is a big help.  I am thankful for their daily presence in my lives.

He calls at night. We have good chats. We talk about how much crazier the traffic is there than here. We talk about the pond he found to take a walk around. We talk about how he pigs out on free food for lunch, then thinks about his waistline.  Then he eats soup and salad for dinner. The dc catch him up on the day. This is very good.  They go to bed with smiles on their faces. When he tells me goodbye, he tells me he loves me. Then the tears well up in my eyes again.

Praise God, I have much to be thankful for. Even so, things aren’t quite right around here.

…I married the man I met on my doorstep, with scissors in his hand! Having a flare for the dramatic, this is how Curt informs people of our first meeting. Then he leaves me to tell the rest of the story! LOL

I was a college grad, ready to start teaching 5^th grade. A friend from college, Lori, also a first year teacher, had just moved in to a new apartment with me. We had no sooner settled in when a friend from college, Chris, called and invited us to single’s prayer and praise night at his church. That’s where I first saw HIM. Not that he ever came to meet me.

About a week later, while I was cutting out pictures for my classroom bulletin boards, Chris and the rest of the prayer and praise team came over to visit. They saw my cut outs and took over! Where were more scissors? They all thought that cut outs was the hottest thing since the latest techno gadget. That evening all of my bulletin board pictures were cut out!

Lori was not prepared for this, so she decided to invite the gang over another night…just to cut out her bulletin board pictures. They asked if they could invite Curt. Who’s Curt? A good looking hunk from the base with muscles. Okay, so this is all I had to go by when HE came to the door, with scissors in his hands. Oh, that was Curt! I remember him from Prayer and praise night! He never did come to meet me. And I was too shy to go and meet a guy.

He used to call to the apartment, but I was never certain he had the right girl. After all, roommates named Lori and Laurie can create confusion. (There is a difference in how our names are pronounced. Lori rhymes with story and Laurie rhymes with starry night.) Our parents were always confused. They never knew who they were talking to on the phone. The guys (mostly just friends) had interesting ways of calling us up. Pat was really nervous and would say, "Lori? Laurie? Laurie? Lori?????" Chris knew right off the bat which one we were…."Helloooooo Laurie?????" he’d say. Curt would call and start talking. How did he know he had the right one??????

Chris could not get through on the phone one time, because Curt and I had been talking. When Chris found out that Curt had never asked me out for a date, he went to work on a blind date. He and Pat called Curt and told him to show up at my apartment after church. Chris and Pat told Lori and Pam. Lori relayed the information to me. Now this is the best date I’ve ever been on! The guys planned this (Chris and Pat). The girls didn’t have to do a thing but be ready at our apartment. The guys stopped at Bill Miller’s BBQ and purchased take out, picked us up and took us to a state park for a picnic lunch. We settled down to eat brisket, cole slaw, potato salad and bread with no plates, napkins or utensils. There were no cups for the ice tea! So the guys went around to all the picnickers asking if they had any extras we could use! ROTFL!!!!!

I’m not sure what ever really sealed the deal, because Curt probably took me on 2 dates. We went on a date tonight. His mom generously gave us some money for our anniversary. This was enough money to enjoy a 5* restaurant at a 5* hotel nearby. We left the kids alone watching movies. Dd chose "The Aristocats" which was always one of her favorites from toddlerhood. After that, ds had "Magic Schoolbus" episodes I had taped years ago for backup. (Was he trying to score points with the teacher???) We have never left the children home alone while on a date. Being ages 15 (tomorrow) and 12, and being that we’d be 3 miles away and had our cell phones, we left them to watch movies.

We had a good dinner at the type of place where they seat you, pick up your napkin from the table and spread it across your lap. We had a silverware issue tonight. They kept laying extra silverware in the center of the table and we didn’t know what it was for. Turned out we used our regular fork for the salad and the salad forks were taken away, unused. Later we ordered a dessert sampler. One of the items was chocolate soup in a little skinny glass. We were drinking out of it, but we didn’t feel that was right, because the soup was a bit thick. Finally I tried the spoon they gave us right before the desserts were placed in front of us. What do you know?! It fit! What a concept!

Three doctor appointments Thurs and Fri on top of trying to do school resulted in our getting behind. Nevertheless, the kids and I went outback Fri afternoon to prune and bag last years plants, to prepare the garden for winter rest. We came close to a freeze the weekend before which has turned our leaves a lovely range of orange, red and yellow. We moved mulch out of the way in a couple of beds to lay down columbine and bluebonnet seeds in hopes of a gorgeous spring. I was e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d! My muscles a-c-h-e-d!

Sat morning dh and the kids got to work on decorating the outdoors with Christmas lights, while I returned all the medieval feast and bathroom remodel items that weren’t needed. Then I attempted to conquer my Christmas shopping. By 4pm I came home wiped out! I went upstairs, laid down and fell asleep! Later, DH woke me up to ask about dinner and I told him and the kids to go on out and enjoy themselves. Having woken me up from a wonderful slumber, I laid on the couch with the cat and caught up on reading for next week’s school. When the family came home, we snuggled in for a Christmas movie.

I bought this movie a few months ago, mainly because our church adult, teen and children’s choirs joined with the dramatic team to do "Christmas Shoes". We were all involved. My children sang and did some bells. I sang and helped with costumes and administration, mainly with the children’s choir. My husband did the sound booth. I don’t listen to the radio much (not since my volumnous son entered my life) but when I first heard the song for this play, like everyone else, I cried. I had no idea how we’d get through the program with dry eyes. It took weeks and will power to get through the music. Well, last night we settled down to watch the movie and before long my husband was running to get the kleenex for us! After the movie we were talking about the beautiful message of love and family. Meaningful thoughts were swirling in my brain; I was planning to blog about profound things!. However, little did I know something was about to happen…

Shortly after we got the kids to bed, our neighbor rang the doorbell at 10pm. There was a rattlesnake in our yard. DH joined 2 other men to conquer the snake. If I wasn’t so petrified, I might have enjoyed watching them from the upstairs window. Our yard was lit up with Christmas lights. Our neighbor turned his headlights onto our yard. DH set out his flood-lights. Then they used their long rakes and brooms to flush out the snake. A while later they came in, never having found it. Our neighbor decided he would not decorate the outdoors for Christmas with that snake on the loose! I couldn’t blame him. Personally, I decided that my gardening days were over. I was ready to hang up my rake for good! In fact, I was prepared to spend the rest of my living days inside the house! Earlier I had been trying to talk myself into going outside to bring in the Christmas packages from the van, from shopping earlier. I was thankful I had been too tired to do that!

I’m not sure what I dreamed last night, but it wasn’t exactly serene. I managed to force myself into the garage to get into the van for church…I didn’t hear any rattles. After church and lunch I barely managed to stay awake and took a nap. When I woke up, I saw our neighbors out putting Christmas decorations out. I figured between sunlight and safety in numbers, I had hope. I safely managed to switch a couple of wreaths, put twittering birds on our front door wreath, and lugged in the Christmas packages from shopping yesterday. A gardening friend at church assured me that more than likely, I won’t have a problem. A few other friends mentioned the same.

So that was my weekend. My muscles are wiped out! I did a lot of sleeping. I did a lot of hiding! Strangely enough, my kids spent a lot of time outdoors today, hich is highly unusual for them. I guess I am the only one who is really rattled!

I was recently tagged by  icecastle. I wasn’t sure what I would write about.  In fact, I've had 10 days to think about it. But reading kellieann 's blog this morning somehow gave me some ideas. In fact, I am also thankful for these 7 random things.

By the way, the rules are as follows:

Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.

Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.

Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.

Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1.  I’m not much of a random type of person. Maybe that is why I had a difficult time thinking of 7 things for this tag. I am more of a sequential, and for that I am thankful. I’m afraid I would be extremely confused about myself if I were a random. I work better doing things sequentially. Therefore, being sequential is the first random thing about me…with 6 sequential things to follow, as they have happened...

2.  I am thankful for my refrigerator. After all, it stores ice cubes, ice cold soda, and ice water which I desperately crave in our hot Texas summers. I also appreciate it in our hot Texas autumns. I was able to preserve all of our pumpkins and gourds until we were ready to use them. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teacupsinthegarden/414466/

The big pumpkin survived for the end of October pumpkin carving. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teacupsinthegarden/417071/

The gourds and sugar pumpkins survived for our recent Medieval Feast table decorations and pumpkin soup bowls. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teacupsinthegarden/429732/

3.  I am thankful for the colors of autumn…not that we have much of that type of thing going on outdoors in Texas. Here’s a peak of the extent of our autumn this year. I have cut back most of my flowers for their winter rest. However, due to the warm autumn, many are making a fresh comeback…

Like my blue plumbago…

And my favorite roses…

We are especially thankful for our trees. When we bought this house 7 1/2 years ago, there was nothing in the back yard but dirt. Now we have over 10 trees in our backyard alone. When they were planted, I could easily reach the tops. That is no longer true. For the shade and beauty we are thankful. Also, we were extremely selective in the varieties we planted because of how they show color throughout the year. Sadly, the warm weather has not allowed our trees to peak to their fullest, not that they peak like the northeast.  However, one might be surprised at how much of a peak we can have in Texas. Nevertheless, here is one of the few leaves in our yard we are thankful for…

Because our autumn is not quite so vibrant in our yard as in those further north, we try to make up for it indoors. Now that dh is finally done with the bathroom remodel, I spent 2 days before Thanksgiving dusting and pulling out the autumn décor, to enjoy for the next few days!

The gourds from the feast are piled into the basket centerpiece...

I nearly forgot about these flowers that were stored in the garage...

These are the flowers I bought this year that sat in bags for a few months.  Having no time for a formal arrangement, I quickly stuck them in the basket in the sets they came in the morning I prepared for our Medieval Feast.  I think I like this better than the fancy arrangements I labor with...

Our lonely little ball I thought looked so cool in the store a few years ago...

Our candles...

Finally, our decorative plate I got on sale this year...

4.  We usually go to my parent’s house for Thanksgiving, for which I am thankful. However, we are sad that we miss out on the smells and tastes of the holiday. So this year ds helped me to roast a turkey and make all the fixings the day before Thanksgiving. I was a bit stressed for time since we had a doctor appointment in the afternoon, while the turkey needed to finish roasting. Throughout the day as I’d baste the turkey, ds kept oohing and ahing about the turkey. We had extra stuffing for lunch and he loved it for the first time. When we left the house at 245pm, I turned off the oven, but left the turkey in the oven. The turkey had already been stuffed, the giblet broth had been made, and the cranberry sauce had been prepared. That was about it! How long would we be gone and would we have dinner at a decent hour? Also, how would it taste? We came home over an hour later, the turkey was done, and we got the mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, salad and pie done by 6pm. Everything was delicious! I was thankful for a great meal and for my family’s help in preparations and clean up.

This morning I had help again with breakfast, which I was truly thankful for. However, we had some trouble. Although I followed the pumpkin muffin recipe, when I dumped them out onto the cookie rack, they sort of exploded! These super moist mini muffins needed an extra long time to bake! The hash browns stuck to the frying pan, so of course when I reused the pan to fry the eggs, the eggs stuck too…and dh is picky about the perfect egg. Nothing looked pretty for breakfast…but it was certainly edible…and the family declared everything delicious! I am thankful they appreciate my efforts! =)

5.  We were thankful to be together as a family. DH was not overseas. The bathroom remodel was done and even the leaks have been fixed! We are usually so busy most of the year, holidays are a special time to be together and play games. I used to win all these games. Now I usually lose them…to my 12yods. I am thankful that my son, who was born a preemie and has been eyed closely by health professionals since the end of my first trimester of pregnancy, is smart enough to out think even me! ;)

He won at Rumikub before we left for my parents …

Then this evening we stayed up late after our movie, to play Mexican Train. DS held the lead until the end, when DH finally won!

6. I am thankful for Mexican food! I was very careful about how much I ate for dinner, but by the time we came home, I was hungry. I prepared some chips and peach salsa for my evening snack. If given a choice of where we eat, 9 times out of 10, I will pick a Mexican restaurant. I am thankful to live in a great city with great Mexican food!

7. I am thankful I can cozy up with my family (and kitty) to enjoy some favorite movies together. I am unusual in that I have to schedule these movies according to season. The night before Thanksgiving we always watch a tv movie with Maureen O’Hara called "Cab to Canada" based on a true story. A elderly lady in Los Angelos hires a cab driver to drive her a little further north, then a little further north, until they finally reach Canada. It’s a warm yet funny movie, which ends on Thanksgiving day. On Thanksgiving night we have to watch "Miracle on 34^th Street" because it starts on Thanksgiving Day and shows the old fashioned Macy’s Day parade. We do not enjoy the modern Macy’s Parade. We are not interested in all the talk and Broadway shows. Therefore we don’t even turn on the tv anymore, but start playing games. I think our favorite part in the movie, of course, is the final scene in the courtroom.

If sharing 7 random things about yourself is something you’d be thankful for, then consider yourself tagged! =)

The kids talked me out of doing school on my birthday. They wanted to play games instead.

So we did! It was a lot of fun. Well, except for the fact I lost most of the games! There used to be a time when I won games. In fact, I used to win most of them. No more. My 11yos wins nearly every game we play. But there is one game I still owned….Scrabble! That was my choice for the day! We break a few rules. The dictionary is allowed at any time (by the kids). At the end, we pool all our left over letters and work together to find a way to fill in the puzzle. It’s more about the process than the points. We opened the game with each of us laying down 5 letter words. Then poor dd was stuck mostly with vowels the entire game so she was not able to make very large words. Nevertheless she managed to rack up a fair number of points. She also managed to use her Q near the end in "aqua". Happily, I was in the lead the entire game….until the end. DS did it to me again! Near the end, he placed his tiles for the word "vizier." Do you realize how many points that is? The Z is worth 10 points, the V is worth 5-8 points (we forget), then he placed it on a triple word score, got 33 points and took the lead…and won the game! I must say I had mixed emotions. I lost again. But my 11yos came up with the word "vizier" which he learned in school last year! How cool is that? This was the best game we’ve ever played together. There was only 1 tile left, "J".

After Scrabble, we played Mexican Train. We each won a few rounds, but in the end, ds was the ultimate winner. Oh well. The process was fun anyway! And they got a little vocabulary building, spelling, logic, and math into the day!

After going out to dinner, we came home and watched my all time favorite movie, "Anne of Green Gables!" Everyone in the family loves the movie. DH keeps quoting lines from the movie right before they are spoken. As he always mentions, they have some great one liners. I love seeing this movie with fresh eyes every year. This year we are studying the Medieval Ages. I am reading aloud "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table" by Roger Lancelyn Green to the kids. I have only ever known the story of Arthur pulling the sword out of the stone. I’ve heard of Camelot, Guinevere, Lancelot, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Holy Grail…but never have I known the stories behind them. The other day I read aloud the chapter about Sir Lancelot and Elaine. When we read about how Lancelot scorned Elaine’s love and she died of a broken heart, and drifted in a boat, we had ah-ha moments! That is the scene Anne acts out with her friends in the movie when her knight in shining armor has to rescue her! And then I understood why the poem, "The Lily Maiden," was read by Anne at the beginning of the movie, setting the poignant tone of her plight. We thrilled to see and hear those scenes again with fresh understanding and deeper meaning. Then as the beautiful score plays and the credits roll, while Gilbert tenderly walks Anne home, I can dreamily go to bed with a heart full of deep thoughts to ponder.

We typically do a lot of work around here, so I try to offset that by doing special things for holidays and birthdays. On the weekend on or nearest my birthday, we usually go to one of the nearby little towns to enjoy the day shopping and eating somewhere special. DH was going to be busy with the bathroom remodel and visiting a co-worker around lunchtime, so he would not be able to join us. Also, he wanted me to do some shopping for the new bathroom. As soon as the bathroom is done, he would like me to decorate it and be done with it. So the kids and I ran errands and swung by Gruene for a little fun.

Gruene is a charming little German town that became a ghost town in the early 1900’s. In the 1970’s, individuals bought some of the old buildings and restored them to become restaurants and shops. Gruene is now a thriving little town enjoyed by many.  http://www.gruenemansioninn.com/ Here is the web page for the bed and breakfast which is now housed in one of the original mansions of the founders of the town.  There should be links to the rest of the town.

Of anywhere I’ve ever eaten, the tea room in this little town is my favorite. http://www.riverhousetearoom.net/index.html The chef has won state awards for her cooking. Men even enjoy coming here. The chef has found a wonderful blend to please both men and women. My daughter and even my son even enjoy coming here to eat! Even though my birthday would actually be on a school day, the tea room has limited hours and is about an hour from our house. Saturday was the best day to go.

It was a lovely day. A cool front had come through, pushing out all the humidity. We enjoyed eating outdoors under the trees.

A kitty made instant friends with the kids…

In fact, she decided to make herself at home...

After eating, we did a little shopping. At the one store, ds spent some time talking to the cashiers. They asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. I knew what was coming! He has a passion to become president of the United States! While he was soliciting votes, dd and I went into the back of the store to look at tea stuff. Eventually we made our way back to the front again, and now the ladies were putting together a pink package for him. One lady ran to the back for a pink bow, while he pulled out his money. I went to the counter to make a purchase and they asked if he was my son. When I said yes, they said he was a really nice boy. They asked if the girl was my daughter. When I said yes, they assured me they just knew she was nice too! Then they told me all about his interest in being president and they knew his first name but that was all. As we left they asked for his full name. He clearly stated first, middle, and last name and they looked at each other, got big round mouths and exclaimed…"even the name sounds presidential!"

Now that a few votes had been collected, we were off to do more shopping and see some pretty flowers...

We have another Puff the Dragon in our family. Over two weeks of coughing and my husband is now diagnosed with bronchitis. He and my son have been sharing war stories about tight chests, wheezing, crackling and using inhalers/nebulizers. I remembered yesterday that I had a stethoscope in storage since his toddler days when he had RAD. Using some tips from a friend, I listened to everyone’s lungs. Everyone sounded great except my husband. However he had to compound the problem by not breathing, then by making loud noises. He did this on purpose to give me a hard time. Finally I could hear the difference between good lungs and lungs that need some treatment.

Since ds sounded good, I expected our follow up at the base Friday to go like a charm. Well, part of me worried because I got the same doctor who diagnosed him with allergies in the beginning. To our surprise a man called us…the husband of the first doctor. I gave him the medical history and explained the civilian doctor diagnosed him with ear infections, sinus infection and walking pneumonia. This doc got angry with that diagnosis and said it was only allergies. In exasperation I gave him "the look" and he backtracked.

Then he told me to completely change up ds’ usual allergy meds. After some doubtful questions from me, he said to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Apparently he thought these allergy meds were new.

He reviewed the entire health history; that takes a while with ds. Some good things were that he suggested we have an inhaler with us at all times just in case. I like that because when ds was a toddler, he was on several inhalers, up to 10 asthma meds. When he was phased off of all but zyrtec around age 3, I worried what we’d do if another attack popped up. Now all I have to do is renew the script yearly with a doc. Well that’s if the doc agrees to it in the future. Sigh.

The other thing is to repeat a lung capacity test. DS had a couple of types a few years ago. The one test showed some lowered lung function so they gave him an inhaler and then he did worse. Puzzled, they chalked him up as being different (which my kids and I definitely are! We always amaze the doctors for not fitting into the norm) Now I’ll suggest we wait longer after the inhaler to see if the lung function improves, because that is how it seemed to be with my ds during the walking pneumonia.

On the funny side, while waiting to see the doc, there was a little one year old girl who took a liking to ds. He was trying to read his literature book but she kept flirting with him. Finally he told her to put her shoes on. She had trouble getting the first shoe on so she stood lopsidedly in front of him, pointing at him. He gently fixed that shoe and put her other shoe on her too. With delight she gave him a big smile and walked off. He was relieved to get back to Beowulf.

After a long wait at the pharmacy, we began our short drive home. Everyone on base was getting off work at 430 pm and I sat on the main road in front of the hospital for nearly 20 minutes, barely inching ahead. Finally we covered the rest of the 7 miles in no time. Entirely exhausted and disgruntled from the afternoon, the first thing I did when I walked into the house was grab a couple of pieces of dark chocolate. Ahhhhhhhh!