Season of Giving

Today feels like a Friday. Most likely because my oldest is out of school today, and my nephews are here to spend the night. Hubby will be getting off work early and will head home to help get the house ready for our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow.

This is my favorite time of year for many reasons. It always begins with the start of school to occupy the kiddos and college football. My Sooners are having a really bad, injury plagued year. I know we can't win them all, but this hasn't been a fun year to watch. The excitement continues on though with most of our family birthdays leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This year we will spend the first part of Thanksgiving day at my aunt's house with her family. Then we'll head home to have our own celebration with my brother and his kids. I have NEVER EVER wanted to torture myself with Black Friday and it wouldn't even be an option this year.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and good thoughts. I'm feeling much better and getting around pretty well. The rash on my face is still visible but just looks as if my face is a little flushed. The Rheumatologist has diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia and is testing for an underlying illness. While he believes that I have arthritis, he's feeling optimistic that it's not Rheumatoid Arthritis. I have an appointment today at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation for more tests for the Lupus.

Even if I wasn't dealing with illness, I have so much to be thankful for. My family is a huge source of comfort for me. My boys are well behaved and have become protective of me. My husband hates to leave me to go to work, and is willing to get up at 4am every morning and work his patootie off for us. They will be leaving next week to start the next tank in California, but we are so fortunate that he even has a job in this economy. My mother has had a few episodes with her health problems from battling cancer, but she is celebrating another year cancer free.

Yes, God has truly blessed us. We have a warm, safe home with a table full of good food. We were fortunate enough to buy food for three other families to make sure they are able to have the same meal we're having with leftovers to enjoy for another week. We will even prepare the meal for one of the families because she admitted to not knowing how to cook. Of course I'll have a plate ready for our homeless alley guy, Gary. He'll eat well this week for sure. Things are tough right now for so many families. I can only hope that we spread some of our good fortune as far as possible and it makes a difference somehow.

As for my writing? I'm trying to decide which story I'll submit to my chapter's contest for the members. I'm thinking it'll be my contemporary category romance, but lately I've been working a little on my historical. I have a couple of weeks to decide.

In the meantime...I hope you guys have a very blessed Thanksgiving!

Silence...

Awwww...the house is so quiet. Except for the dog's collar jingling when she scratches at those pesky fleas. Man. We have four dogs and having a really hard time getting rid of the fleas this year. We've never had a problem like this. We usually bathe the 3 little dogs in our utility sink and the lab mix outside. But Mom decided to graciously offer to take Possum to the groomer since I'm having health problems. Well...she came home with fleas. Not my Mom. Possum. ;)

Hubby started back to work after having his five day break, and man-child is headed off to school. Little man is still zonked out, snoring quietly. Isn't it amazing how peaceful and sweet they look when they're asleep? LOL. Give him another hour and we'll be dealing with breakfast and getting his schoolwork started.

Until then...I'll work on a beta read for a friend. As soon as we finish little man's homework, hopefully I can work on my chapter. Is everyone enjoying the change in the weather? Are the leaves beautiful where you live?

Have a productive day and happy writing!

Happy NaNo!

I know, I know. I'm a little late. NaNoWriMo officially began on November 1. I signed up, but my WIP is my first manuscript that I wrote during NaNo in 2007 and needs a complete rewrite. I have a chapter and a half revised and will use suggestions I received back from judges in the FAB contest to tweak a few issues before I move on. I found out that I came within 3 points of being a finalist. I had thought seriously that it was time to put this ms away for good...methinks it just earned itself another chance. Anyone else participating? What are you working on?

You guys would be proud of me...I've been able to get up and around the last two days and got out of the house. Hubby took me to dinner last night and I was actually brave enough to go grocery shopping with Mom at Walmart. Thank you so much for your encouragement, love, and support. I'm still hurting but can at least get out of bed and my recliner by myself. I absolutely HATE feeling so independent. I gave in last Thursday and went to the hospital. They gave me something to help ease my symptoms until my appointment on the 20th with the specialist. I've been a good girl and increased my daily water intake and decreased the amount of crap I usually inhale. As soon as the pain in my hips and back ease up, I'll slowly start exercising to a yoga DVD I have. We've decided to sell the building so the hot tub is on hold until we move. I checked with a gym I used to go to and they have water aerobics I can try.

Well...little man did better with his new glasses than we thought he would. The frames lasted a whole month before he found a way to break them. LOL. I talked with the doc office today and they may be under warranty. *sigh* It didn't come as a surprise but it's amazing how well behaved he has become with the loss of television and video games. So much so that we've decided this is a great time to set a higher limit. I take full credit for allowing him to pretty much have no limits. As long as he got his homeschool work finished, he was allowed to watch or play unlimited. Bad Mommy. He hasn't argued or given me a hard time the last two days so it has given me the incentive to set higher limits. We had fun today and started preparing our materials for planned Thanksgiving crafts. Hopefully we'll get dinner and shower over early tonight and keep the newly scheduled bedtime. If I can be strong and committed...I should have plenty of writing time tonight. Yay me.

Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend!!