| leatherman's log |
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November 2009 |
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| Week One: |
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Of course, to catch up on
everything since the last time, you'll need to start by going
backwards.
So please, start off by reading the update from
October Week Five |
| The Curse in Remission |
You should probably remember that I've
been joking about "the curse"
the last couple of months. No, I don't really believe that there is
a curse on my life; but enough odd, strange, bad things happen that
I definitely have to wonder about it sometimes.
Of course, being a curse, it's a fickle thing and while sometimes it
seems to be winning ,
at other times it seems to be on the fritz and good things
actually get to chance to break through and happen.
The end of October was one of those times the curse was just too
tired to work.
(maybe it's got low t-cells too.
  ) |
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| Just as October ended, and my meds ran
out, the UPS driver stopped by with a package of meds! WooHoo! Wow!
The right meds, on time, no delays, no problems. In the words of Mr.
Burns from the Simpsons, "Excellent!" |
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Well, I still haven't seen that damned
"termination notice" from Ohio Jobs and Family Services in my
mailbox yet (so I can get approved for SC food stamp benefits and a
medical card), so the curse
hasn't totally given up it's evil work; but I did get a call from
the Health Dpt. in response to my letter about that appointment
fiasco last month. After
a very nice apology for the incident,
the agent also gave me an explanation for the problem. He's one of
those "weekend warriors"
and was away last week in some sort of military training exercises
(he's in the National Guard,
I think). Instead of postponing all of his appointments for a week,
some over-zealous office worker continued scheduling clients and
sending out appointment letters.
Goodness, I almost feel bad being upset that some government
employee was actually doing their job "too well". |
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| He seemed sincere in his apology
which, of course, I accepted. Though we hung up on good terms, I did
get in one last jab when I pointed out that although I appreciated
his time and effort in calling to say sorry, no one was still paying
for the gas it cost me. |
| Leftover Ohio Tidbits |
Though I can't say for
sure, it appears that my ex-roommate may not have appeared in court
recently. The writ of restitution from the magistrate was approved
and the case has been transferred over to a Judge now. I'm guessing
that means that John didn't show up to appeal or plead guilty
to the first hearing, so now the issue will have to actually go to a
trial. A trial date has been set for Dec 14th. The rather ironic
piece of news with this legal proceeding is that the writ of
restitution also ordered a vacation (and not the good kind!) of the
premises. An "order to vacate" was provided to bailiff for service,
meaning a sheriff is going over to the house on Nov 6 at 9:30 to
physically evict him.
Wouldn't you know it though, John just finished moving out not that
long ago. |
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Since I still hadn't heard any news
from Ohio about my case being terminated, I picked up the Magic Jack
phone the other day and called up there. It was a good new, irksome
news sort of phone call. On one hand, my case is finally closed.
On the other hand, they didn't think I needed that termination
notice, so they didn't send one out.
 When
I asked why not, the lady's reply was "can't they just access my
case to find out?" When I then asked, "So you mean someone in SC has
access to the OH database?", her reply was a muted, "Ooooh." Of
course, she had the letter that I had written (asking to close my
case, send me a termination notice, and to fax it to SC); but
nothing but closing my case had actually been done. Supposedly a
letter is on the way to my house now.
I've decided that since I can't trust them to actually follow
through, that I'll give them a call every morning now, until I
finally get my copy of the letter in the mail. (Of course, I don't
believe that they'll be faxing this letter to the SC health
department; but I'll handle that as soon as I get my copy.) |
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| However, in my phone call with the
Ohio case worker, my evil side did get a little bit of a pleasant
surprise. I was very politely, and won't be writing a bitchy letter,
so I didn't get any glee that way. You might remember back in
May when I didn't get food stamp
benefits at the start of the month and found out my case had been
linked to John's. Well, though Jim and I couldn't get married in OH
and share benefits, for some reason, they still have mine and John's
food stamp/Medicaid cases linked together. (Even though my letter
clearly stated that I had moved to SC and that John had remained up
there with his family in his hometown). During my chat with the case
worker about my letter, I found out that since our cases were still
linked that John's food stamp benefits and Medicaid case have also
been "terminated". |
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It's not perfect justice, but at
least, he'll get a taste of the troubles I've had to go through,
when he realizes what's happened to his benefits and has to go back
with all of his paperwork to re-apply to get reinstated. And it gave
me a good laugh
and an evilly happy feeling. |
| Southern
Autumn Yard Work |
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Fall in the South, doesn't mean the end of the bugs and wildlife,
like it does up North. While they've already experienced some icy
morning in Ohio and that spelled the end of many a bug, down here
colored leaves are still on the trees, and bugs are everywhere. I
have no idea what this is crawling across the back window of the
car. I had just taken off my headphones and leaned against the car
for a minute to rest from working out in the yard. I hear a weird
noise and at first thought it came from the car when I leaned
against it. However, after a moment I found that is came from this
"thing" flapping it's wings and buzzing at me! |
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| MouseOver either Picture for CloseUps |
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| After some rainy and
cooler weather last week, the temp have rebounded into the
upper 60s and the sun has been brightly shining. Of course, even
though I've been suffering with some serious joint aches, it was
time for me to do some more yard work. Bringing out the ladder,
wagon, and Jim's nippers, there were plenty of dead and broken
branches that needed to be trimmed out of the apple tree out back
and the two pears trees in the front yard. There were also plenty of
downed branches and old exposed roots from tree stumps scattered
through the wooded front lawn. |
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| Even though it's Fall, and
that means falling leaves, there isn't much to rake around here.
That's because when you're living in the woods there is no reason to
rake! LOL In the front yard, there were only a few leaves to rake
into a pile under the pear trees. Of course, in the pictures from
last month, you could see there's not much too rake in the back yard
either. Back there is really only the deck and Mom uses the leaf
blower to take care of that. To be honest, the only place that
really has needed much raking is the driveway. |
A fine Fall desktop wallpaper from me
to you
a pix of South Carolinian Fall leaves on my deck
To save this picture, right click and save it to your computer
Then right click on your desktop to change your wallpaper to this
image. |
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| Devil Dog |
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| No, these aren't pictures of Aries on
Halloween possessed by an evil spirit.
If you look closely between his paws, you'll see that he's clutching
a chew stick "treatie". That evil glint in his eye isn't bad, it's
probably just camera-flash reflection.
Or it's his love for the treatie that Mom gave him shining through.
Obviously the boyz love for my Mom is growing as they spend time
together. And the "treaties" that she gives |
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| Actually, these pix of Aries are just
an excuse for me to comment on the dogz. The antibiotics that they
got prescribed by the vet have been working very well. The two
younger spaniels who had quite bad ear infections, which are all
cleared up now, thanks to their meds. Many of you know about how
much the boyz love those small powdered doughnuts. (Yes, I know
those are probably bad for them; but in doggie years they're all
over 70 and if they want some doughnuts, well, that's why they have
me.
)
For the last few weeks, I've been hiding the meds for Aries and Zeus
in the doughnuts and so far
no one has been the wiser. It's actually been kind of funny since
every time I pull out the pill bottle, they've been gathering
around. Not because they like the pills; but because they know
doughnuts are on the way. |
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| With the doggies' ears getting so much
better, and them getting so shaggy on top, I'll need to break out
the clippers and give them all haircuts on one of these nice weather
days coming up. |
| Finally! |
| Nearly three months after I informed
the state of Ohio that I would be moving and to close out my
Medicaid and food stamp case, they have finally closed my case and
sent me the termination notice that I have needed to start up these
benefits down here in South Carolina.Right
after I opened the envelope I scanned the notice and made copies. I
emailed a version to my clinic case manager, and shoved a copy into
a bulging envelope filled with forms (the stack my case manager put
together for me), scanned IDs, statements of income and all that
stuff that should make the health department in SC finally
happy. |
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Tomorrow's big activity is to get to
the post office to get this information off into the mail. Even
though I'm not challenged by blizzards, travel still isn't always
easy even down here in the South. First, being down here means I'll
have to wade through the pouring rains left over from Hurricane Ida.
Although it's close to the same distance as Canton to here, as it is
from here to the Gulf, there are no mountains and a lot of flat land
between here and the Gulf. So all over, the South takes the brunt of
many hurricanes that hit the US. Then just living in the country can
be a challenge. Hopefully, the nearby bridge won't be flooded out.
It's not like living in a city where you can just cut a block over
to avoid something blocking the road. But I'll get those dang papers
in the mail, if I have to swim them to the post office.
 Which
wouldn't be as bad as you think considering we're still having
daytime highs in the 60s and 70s yet.
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| Hopefully (if the curse
allows
),
within a week or two, I'll have a couple of appointments with the
different part of the SC Health Department and finally be all
set up here. |
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Week Two: |
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| State Parks
and Nature Trails |
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I haven't had any park
pictures on here for quite some time now. While we were having
another stretch of nice weather, Mom and Dennis stopped by a couple
parks the other day and brought home some pictures. I don't think
I'll be able to get to these parks while all the Fall foliage looks
good (rain is moving back into the area - and it'll be a lot of rain
leftover from the hurricane) so I'll share some of Mom 's pix until
I can get some of my own. |
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| While in Canton, the park
I frequented the most was the McKinley Monument Park honoring the
late President William McKinley (25). Down here in
the south, this area was home to three Presidents (Andrew
Jackson (7), James K. Polk (11), and Andrew Johnson (17)). There's
some controversy as to whether Andrew Jackson was born in NC or SC,
as it was in an area called the Waxhaws that straddles the state
line. With the way that the NC/SC state line runs zigzag all over
this area, I'm not surprised about the discrepancy. Why one of my
brothers and his family lives further south than I do, yet they're
living in NORTH Carolina, go figure.
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Regardless of whether the President was actually born, the Andrew
Jackson State Park is located in South Carolina right at the state
line. |
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The home where Andrew Jackson was born
MouseOver to see the Reflection in the glass door
(That's my Mom!) |
| Springtime in the Happy
Woods |
| It's quite a change living down South
and living out in the country. Even though several housing
developments are nearby, we really can only see the neighbors when
the trees have lost their leaves. Though I don't roam around in the
buff doing yard work or anything, it's nice because when I sing
along too loudly with my mp3 player, it doesn't disturb anyone. The
trees don't seem to mind too much either. Just look at them -
clearly they are happy trees. |
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After all the years I spent up North, sometimes it's hard to tell if
it's really Fall or not. I'm used to most of the leaves quickly
dropping from the trees, then very cool, rainy days moving in for a
few weeks before changing to cold days with snow clouds, and then
the snow and Winter.
Here in South Carolina, Fall has dragged on for months with temps
still going into the upper 70s every few days (between bouts of
rain) and have only rarely dipped into the 30s at night. Actually
it's been so nice that not only has the grass continued to grow but
the rose bush has new buds and the azaleas are putting out small
blooms! |
SPECIAL CloseUp of Fall Foliage Flowers
MouseOver to find the flower, Click on the flower for the
CloseUp |
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There are still plenty of signs of Fall though. I've been raking
leaves off the drive and lawn nearly every other day. And the holly
bushes are a rich dark green and filling up with berries turning
from pale to dark red. |
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| Can you see the preying
mantis in the pictures above? I hardly did and nearly raked him up
with the leaves off the driveway the other day. MouseOver the
pictures to get a CloseUp where you should be able to pick him out
from the leaves and sticks. |
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MouseOver CloseUp |
Directly out from the front picture
windows is this ornamental maple. Through the last few weeks, we've
had a front row seat to watching it's leaves deepen into a dark red
before bursting out in a flaming blaze of red. It was definitely at
it's most beautiful after golden yellow leaves had dropped onto it
from the neighboring tree. It's fiery red look emblazoned with gold
flecks. MouseOver this picture to see how beautiful it was for
several days. |
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However, over the course of a week it began to lose more and more of
it's leaves as it succumbed to Fall's chill. |
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| You can hardly see the maple in the
picture now that it's lost almost all it's beautiful leaves and is
just a bunch of thin branches until next Spring. |
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Week Three: |
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Miscellaneous |
| For the longest time
(literally months now), I've been trying to get a decent picture of
Mom's dogs to post to show everyone. If you have pets, especially
more than one, you know how hard it is to get "good" pet pictures.
So quietly, I sneaked into the living room the other
afternoon, while Mom and her hubby, were out at a Bridge tournament,
and finally got a picture of all of her dogs lined up peacefully
napping on the sofa. |
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| Jack, Rudy, Sunni, and
Baby |
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| Since things have still
been growing outside, I noticed that Mom had a patch of lemon balm
plants that had grown outside of the herb garden area. My OhioMom
had also had this herb; but I've never heard of anyone using it for
anything. So I harvested a bunch of it that my Mom was growing and
googled up some recipes. |
| Unfortunately, I was really pleased
with my results. The lemon balm air freshener spray was fine
the first two days and then lost all odor after that. These pictured
lemon balm sugar cookies were only just okay, although
spreading on the lemon balm orange cream cheese spread did
help out quite a bit. I don't know if these things would have turned
out better with lemon balm harvested earlier or at it's peak. I have
all winter to find some more recipes though and I'll try again next
year. |
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MouseOver Scary Special! |
I know I had promised some pictures of some steam clouds a while
back; but I just never seem to remember to take my camera with me in
the car when I'm going places where I would see the clouds.
Actually, I had nearly forgotten about taking the pictures, until I
got this calendar in the mail the other day. It came from the
Catawba Nuclear Plant just down the road. Such a pretty calendar
with appropriate pictures each month -
AND emergency evacuation plans!! |
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The Charlotte area is special enough to have not one but two nearby
nuclear power plants. The Wm. B. McGuire Nuclear Station
built at the Cowans Ford Dam, is located near Huntersville just 17
miles N of Charlotte; while the Catawba Nuclear Station (the
second largest generator of nuclear electricity in the United
States) built on Lake Wylie in York County is about 22 miles S of
Charlotte |
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I read through the evacuation plans and have already forgotten what
"zone" we are living in (thank goodness the calendar will still be
hanging on the wall then if something would happen in June or July.
 )
I do remember though that if we do get the warning to flee, we're
supposed to go to the center up the road at UNCC - not so much to
keep us safe; but to scrub us down if we've been contaminated!
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| Using the Magic Jack phone
to chat while seeing each other over webcams is a great way to stay
in touch. Of course, adjusting the lighting for my webcam while I
was chatting with Carolynn (Randy's mom) was much easier after
removing the lamp shade. |
Wearing the lampshade on my head was just a place to get it out of
the way. |
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I got some new pictures from Carolynn recently. When she moved in,
the deck off her bedroom had not been built yet, neither had a porch
been put on the front yet. Recently (before it gets too cold and
snowy up there), her brother came over and helped up a nice big
deck/porch on the front. Not only does it look a lot better; but
Carolynn says that it's a lot easier getting into the house now with
bags in her hands than it was when there were just three steps
heading up to the doorway. |
Back in Sept |
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| Happy
Thanksgiving! |
| Now that I'm finally back
with my family, I'm having to fit into their traditions. So on
Thanksgiving Day proper, Mom, her hubby, and I will be going with
Nana out to eat. My two younger brothers and their families will be
heading over to their respective wives' parent's homes for the
holiday. We won't all get together until Sat night, when we'll have a
"breakfast for dinner" party. MMM quiche, hash brown
casserole, baked apples, sausage, biscuits and gravy, fresh fruit,
French toast casserole, mini-muffins. It was an excellent array of
yummies! |
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| Once again, after you get
passed the indians, pilgrims, parades, and turkeys, we've arrived at
one day of the year set aside to reflect on the things that we can
be thankful for. Personally, I can't imagine that any of holiday,
even Christmas, can truly measure up to the "positivity" of this
holiday. One of the best ways to fight depression and stress is to
think about the actual good in your life and not to dwell on the
bad. |
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Of course, that's easier
said than done. Though as always I am very thankful to see be here,
alive and kicking, nearly seventeen years after getting that
HIV/AIDS diagnosis; I didn't get to this point without some
emotional damage. I've very thankful to be out of that miserable
situation that I was in up in Ohio for those last few months; but
I'm not very thankful that I lost part of and left behind the rest
of my OhioFamily. I'll
still never fully understand the reason behind why Joyce and John
turned against me so hatefully. Of course, I'm slowly coming to
grips with that, but getting over things like that takes times, and
once in a while (like on a holiday) it comes back to mind. |
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| What I'm least thankful
for this year though is that we have come up to the second holiday
season that I'll be spending without Jim. Not a day goes by that I
don't think of him and miss him dreadfully. Though things are
working out in my life with my move back to the Carolinas, I would
give anything to have Jim back and to be in Ohio with him.
Unfortunately, as I already learned from losing Randy, I'll never
really get passed these feelings of loss. To this day, I still miss
Randy and I miss Jim so badly that it still hurts quite a bit. |
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This year, though I'm not thankful to be spending the second batch
of holidays without Jim
or the first away my OhioFamily, I am thankful to be back where it's
warmer and no blizzards
 ;
thankful to have a great Mom who would keep me and my boyz from
being homeless
 ;
thankful to be out of that miserable situation in Ohio; thankful to
be within a 30-min drive of all my family members; thankful to be
reconnecting with cousins, classmates and friends; thankful that the
Catawba Care Coalition could get my scripts refilled while I was
still waiting on paperwork from Ohio
;
and just arriving in the mail today, I'm thankful to finally see my
SC Medicaid card. (now if I can just get the food stamp issue worked
out by Christmas, then I'll be thankful that I've moved and finally
gotten completely 100% settled into SC
 ) |
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| Happy Turkey Day to all of Y'all!
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Week Four: |
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Thanksgiving Holidaze |
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While Mr. Kitty laid out in the yard (which had been
raked clear of leaves just yesterday though you couldn't
tell it now) soaking up the sunshine on a crisp 60
degree day, Mom put up a few holiday decorations in the
windows, while we worked out what to cook for the family
get-together later in the week. |
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Nana gave Mom part of her Christmas gift early so that
Mom could use it for the holidays. Maybe you've seen the
commercial for this baking pan on TV lately. It has a
divider piece that allows whatever you're baking to
already cook into separate pieces. When the baking is
done, you set the pan on it's special stand, pull out
the divider, push the edge section of the pan down and
Voila! You have a display tray with the pieces already
cut. |
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We tried a pan of cornbread first and it worked really
well. Then we tried brownies (which the pan is actually
intended for) and those came out nice and yummy too. I
can see that we are going to have fun with this pan. We
even have a good idea for using this pan for the family
Thanksgiving gathering this weekend. |
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Thanksgiving Luncheon |
| Coming back to the Carolinas
has allowed to to reconnect with a lot of people, not
only in my own family; but friends from school and the
old neighborhood. Instead of meeting up for brunch
sometime this month, as we have been doing the past few
months, my friend Jack invited me over to his house for
a luncheon. |
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| Can you believe
that I actually forgot to bring my camera??! Thankfully
one of Jack's friends is a shutterbug herself and did
remember to bring her camera along. In the long run it
worked out rather nicely for me, as I finally got to be
IN the pictures rather than behind the lens taking the
pictures. |
That's Jack on the right, his
mom on the left, and their friend Gloria in the middle.
While I really did enjoy the meal, Gloria really added
to the conversation to result in a very fine time.
Since Gloria was so gracious to take and send me pix
that actually had me in them for a change, I returned
the favor by helping Gloria to be some of the pictures
herself. |
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Though I hearh a few tales
about him (all good of course), I had never met Jack's
long-time partner, Alfons until this luncheon. And what
an interesting man. Several stories he told were made
all the more funny just by trying to discern what Alfons
was saying due to his Germanic accent. Of course, before
the meal he was proudly showing off his new
microwave/convection oven like a giddy child on
Christmas morning |
| Lunch consisted
of grilled ciabatta bread, a meat and cheese tray, a
veggie tray, yummy dill potato salad, and Gloria's
marinated veggie salad. As I said the food was delicious
and the conversation even better. |
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| Since there's
another holiday next month, Jack and I won't be going
anywhere for brunch again; but we do have much better
plans instead. Bright and early on Christmas morning,
Jack and I will be heading down to Myrtle Beach! That's
right! After nearly 25 years, I'm finally going to see
the beach again and I can't wait. Jack makes an annual
Christmas trip to the beach for several days and invited
me to come along to use one of the spare bedrooms in the
penthouse condo where he normally stays. Since Christmas
is on a Friday, we'll be staying through the weekend and
returning the following Monday. |
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| Of course, I'll
definitely be remembering my camera for that trip. After
so many Christmases with snowy pictures, it's going to
be very awesome to have pictures of the sand and surf
this year. |
Two Thanksgiving Day Meals
and I'm stuffed! |
| This
Thanksgiving, I can definitely say that I was thankful
for food! For lunch, Mom, D and I went with Nana and had
their traditional Thanksgiving Day meal over at the
Cracker Barrel restaurant. Boy what that good - and
filling. We all got a "child's plate" that consisted of
a slab of turkey, dressing, gravy, sweet potato
casserole, biscuits and cornbread, and for dinner a huge
chuck of pumpkin pie topped with streusel and whipped
cream. |
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| After spending a
few more hours with Nana and then returning home to rest
up a bit, we headed back out and over to the J. Bivens
family house for a feast of food. Although the family
had been up early that day participating in the "Turkey
Trot" (the local race), they still had time to come home
and whip up some delicious food. |
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Since Lisa cooked up most of
the food,
Jon served it up and got most of the dishes
washed up as the evening moved along. |
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Lisa had a stack of annual
family pictures
for me to pick out which ones I wanted. |
Jackson and Lilly-Bell |
Riley |
| Some of the "wild
life" over at Jon and Lisa's house
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| We'll be meeting
up with my other brother this weekend, so it was okay
that we didn't get around to seeing them yet. However, I
do wish we could have had a bit more time in the day to
have caught up with my cousins. Since moving day, and
visiting my Aunt Ann just a few weeks ago, I've been
talking with one cousin (Terry) and trying to catch up
to her sister (Laura). Laura lives down near Myrtle
Beach and was up for a few days and maybe I could have
caught them all together; but things just didn't work
out. But Terry doesn't live too far away, and I do have
plans to go to the beach for Christmas, so with a little
luck, maybe I can finagle a visit or two with them soon. |
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| Unfortunately,
there was some bad news with the cousins though this
Thanksgiving. While Terry was out the evening before
Thanksgiving, her house was robbed! Thankfully, no one
was hurt (well, not physically; but for sure
emotionally) but quite a few things were stolen. Having
been through a few burglaries myself, I sure understand
the way she felt when she got home to find stuff gone.
But, like you have to do sometimes, Terry was a "big
girl" and went back out of her house the next night and
back to the classes she's taking (studying to be a
teacher). |
The Bivens Thanksgiving Get-Together
The Annual "Breakfast for Dinner" Party |
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Donny and Angie
put the finishing touches on the gravy while their two
girls, Kayla and Allie, look on.
You can see Jenny and Jon there in the back of this
picture |
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Even with nearly
everyone milling about in the kitchen, there are still a
couple of us Bivenses missing from these pictures.
Though I see Jon and Donny, Lisa and Angie, Mom and
Dennis, Nana, Kayla and Jenny,
Allie has slipped away, and of course I'm behind the
lens.
I think Jonathan and Jackson were out in the backyard on
the trampoline. |
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Mom and I used
the pan Nana had given her and we brought spinach quiche
and southwestern quiche baked up into cute little
couple-bite-size morsels. I definitely tried a little
bit of everything from the spread and that ended up
meaning that I had a HUGE plate of food - and with only
a few bites of everything. And it was allllll gooooood.
MMMMmm |
| We even had entertainment with
dinner. After all the moms put a stop to the rubber band
fight going on in the house (which was between all the
kids including the three biggest kids - me and my brothers, none of us acting
our ages
), Jon entertained us with rubber bands on his face. |
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Ah, Thanksgiving back at home with my
family |
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