Thanksgiving Day

Today is a day when 90% of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. The age old question is posed "what are you thankful for?" and again, 90% say "My family." I've heard varying answers, but that is the most common. Most also spend time with said family today. Now, this is great, unless you belong to a huge family like I do. In which case you celebrate Thanksgiving early, so everyone else can go to their respective families. That being said, the DH and I had the day to ourselves. I've said in the previous blog that my days to come would be busy, and today was no exception. Planning and preparation cannot afford a holiday. So today we did several things, although it seems the mess now is bigger than when we started.

1: Found all of the Christmas decorations and got them sorted into their appropriate room.

2: Did some minor decorating with what was imediately available, or easy.

3: DH drained the hot tub and got the pipes drained out along with the pump. All that is left is to blow out the small amount of water that is left and then cover the entire tub.

4: Used our 30 ft. flag pole as a guide in making a 'christmas tree'...only to realize we need bigger lights. (that will get re-done tomorrow)

5: One of the 6 trees assembled. It still needs 'fluffed' and decorated.

It doesn't seem like much, but other little things had to be done in order for those things to come together. I had to move pieces of furniture to another room, rearrange furniture to accomodate the trees, take some everyday things down in order to put up the decorations, etc. I can feel the stress creeping up on me, and it shows its ugly face in the form of fatigue. Whenever I begin to get overly stressed, I just want to sleep. Today after lunch I couldn't function at all, so I slept solidly for an hour. I didn't want to get up, but had to. And my poor DH is catching my 'frustration'. I get on him for standing around and doing what appears to me as...well,....nothing. Poor guy, but I guess like most men, he is just lost as to what I want done, so he figures as long as he stands around and makes himself available, he is safe...WRONG. To all you men out there....DO SOMETHING. You see your significant other working on a project, you know what needs to be done, so DO IT. Don't wait for them to ask, JUST DO.

Ok, that mini rant is over. We have decided to try our hand at shopping on Black Friday. Personally I have never felt a need to participate in this event, but there are a few things we still need that will be on a 'can't pass it up' sale. So we will have our tired asses at JCPenney tomorrow at 4am. ugh. Then its off to WalMart at 5, and either K Mart or Target at 6. The plan is to be home by 8am. Gawd I can only hope. I still feel like I have so much to do! It just seems overwhelming because I want it all done...NOW. I've only got 2 more weeks to get this place ready for the Open House. Not to mention I'm still working on the stuff for when we leave.

Which reminds me....the Open House. I have decided to go a bit against the grain (although just a small bit) and make a Christmas CD. Just music that will be playing in the background for the 4 hours people will be here. Yes, it contains Christmas songs, and the traditional ones at that. But the small twist is they are all from the Big Band Era. Yep, swingin' baby! I just love Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Tommy Dorsey, Nat King Cole, and Glen Miller...and lets not forget Burl Ives!! So I composed a 45 minute CD with all of these great singers for a really up beat, swingin' Christmas! I also purchased 3 other CD's that have the traditionals on them as well, so if I put them all in the player on 'shuffle' I should have a great mix. While I was searching out the music, I downloaded some regular swing tunes that I might make into a CD as well. Lately I've been listening to a channel on Sirius satellite radio called "The 40's on 4"....they play all of the Big Bands, plust some of the 20s and 30s. Its actually been quite a nice change from the same songs played over and over on the radio. Of course the DH thinks I'm losing my brain, lol. Sometimes I wonder if I'm suffering from some sort of past life regression in my subconcious. I mean, how many 37 year old women do you know that actually WANT to listen to that music? Yeah, I've always had extremely eclectic taste in music, but I think this tops the list, lol.

Ok, so now that I have rambled completely off topic, I'll release you all from this boring blog. I hope those of you who celebrate it had a great holiday, and for those that don't, I hope you just had a good day. And what am I thankful for? Many things....our military (especially the K9 units out there!), my DH, my son and step son, the opportunities I've been given in the past, and all the ones to come, my health, and the few friends I do have, thanx for not bailing out on me! <3