Thanksgiving

Well, Thursday was Thanksgiving! A wonderfully deliciously relaxing yummy day it was! I was at church in the morning. We had Stanley Fox from Pleasant Valley as our speaker. I had not heard him for a long time, maybe never. I had heard him talk at Christian Aid Ministries as he is involved in that big time but I don't know that I ever heard him actually speak at a church. He is good! He is charismatic for a Mennonite and I LOVE that! :) He gets loud and paces around and is very expressive with his hands and face as he talks! Gets your attention and keeps you from sleeping!:) LOL! And he doesn't apologize for the Word and he says he didn't come to be nice but to preach the unwatered down WORD! And, you know the Word is not always nice, but it is ALWAYS truth! So anyway, he challenged us how being thankful is not not an option or suggestion, it is actually a commandment from God! "IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF CHRIST JESUS CONCERNING YOU!" So, there we have it, no excuses! He also asked how can a Christian go around perpetually grumpy when they have Jesus inside them? Surely it's next to impossible! For if you have Jesus inside you, the joy is gonna HAVE to come bubbling out! So he said if you're one of those normally grumpy people, you had better figure out if you even have Jesus inside you and if not, then do something about that!:)

After church, I went to a family gathering. My dad's side always gets together at Hahnstown School on Thanksgiving Day for lunch, and often the leftovers for supper. Not quite everyone was there this year, but most of em were. Turkey, fillling, noodles, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, pickles, and then a table of all kinds of sinful desserts! YUMMY! But, I was a good girl and didn't eat any desserts, just a few pieces of candy. Well, here's the rest of the story.....I was too full from all the hot stuff I ate, so there's a reason I didn't eat dessert! LOL! So, I hung around there til 3:30pm or 4pm. I looked at the fliers for Black Friday to see what I would want to shop for! I always keep my tradition of shopping on Black Friday! Seems there is always something I think I need! And, somehow I always end up with things I don't need! Sigh!

After I left the family gathering, went home to change clothes. I had actually left that early because I had planned to pick up my friend Junise and hang out with her. I was going to pick her up and go visit and old lady that I haven't seen in a long time and then take her over to a friend's house to give a backrub. Junise is really good at backrubs. But, alas! She forgot about me and when I called her to tell her I'm ready to come get her.......she didn't answer.:( So I had to cancel my other plans and tell them we're not coming. Oh, I wasn't bored though! I don't know how to get bored when I'm home! It was perfect timing for me to change the house over into Christmas! So I spent a few hours doing that! Now my house is pleasantly festive! Nativity scene is out and Christmas greenery and snowmen and lights and candles and fake snow and my little winter village and little people figurines! Looks nice, if I do say so myself! And, I was going to go to bed in a decent time since I was to get up at 3AM to shop on Black Friday. But do you think I could sleep? ARGH! Of COURSE not! So very annoying! Whenever I know I gotta get up early, I can't sleep early! So I tossed and turned and finally went to sleep at 11 or so.

4 hours of sleep is not very cool! I was not very smiley when the alarm clock went off! It's good I live alone so when I wake up at that hour, I don't hurt anybody! LOL! NO ONE dares cross over me when I am up THAT early! LOL! So I was ready by 3:30AM to shop but I had to wait on my sibs as they came 10 min. late! Late people are my pet peeve! Oh well, we got to the mall in time. My main goal, first and foremost was to get a vacuum sweeper that was normally $459 or something like that...it was on sale for $219. I love the Dyson Vacuum. I think Rainbow is superior to anything but since I can't afford that, Dyson is next best. My roomy Sharon has one and I loved hers. But since she is getting married, I will need my own in a few months! So Sears opened up at 4AM and I marched back to the vaccums and bought one! There were only 4 and they told me later they had all 4 sold in the first 2 hours they were open! So it pays to be an early bird! It is the same model as what we have as far as I know. Same number but a little different coloring, which I'm okay with. I didn't take it out of the box, didn't think I have to til I have my own place, but perhaps I should just to make sure it's okay! So after that, I paraded after my sis while she looked for specific items. That was new for me, as usually Dad and I are the ones who need things. But after my sweeper, I didn't need anything big, just a few small things I wanted to check out but didn't have to be in a hurry! Suddenly it was time to head to Staples as they open at 6AM and Dad wanted like 3 things there. I tried to persuade Jeremy since he has his license to go there with my car while I stayed at the mall. Hey, it was a privilege that he never had before, to be trusted to drive my car! Never thought I would offer that to him but I did! And.....he didn't take it! Argh! I thought he would be thrilled but he refused to go alone. So, I had to let Sarah at the mall since she was in a long line with some stuff she wanted. I didn't want anything at Staples, it was all stuff for Dad and Jeremy is good at picking that stuff up. Men are pathetic at finding stuff but he is better than me when it comes to Dad's things cause he knows what it looks like and approx. where to look for it. Me, I have no idea what category it comes into or what it's even for so it's hard for me to look for that stuff. I actually got something then while we were waiting in line. Jeremy had a number keypad for Dad that you hook up to laptops that don't have that extra number keypad on the right hand side. I always regretted mine didn't have one. So, now I will have one! Then we went back to the mall after a long wait in line. I felt more free this time though, cause most times I'm so worried we won't get all the things we wish to get because of wasting so much time in line. This time I didn't need as many things so it was alot more relaxing for me and I felt not so pinched but like I could mosey along and not get really mad at all the people. After we got back to the mall we ate breakfast, which was 7:30 or 8ish. I ate Chinese, but they must have been low on veggies....I love crunching on their half soft onions and peas in their fried rice but....alas! There was like only 2 pieces in my rice and maybe 4 onion pieces. Hearbroken!:( And, I never try anything breaded because I don't eat skins or fat/gristle as it is too fattening and not worth the calories. But, this time I tried their orange chicken because the sample she gave me was so good. Alas! My plate had mostly gristle/fat and hardly any meat so I ended up eating mostly rice and nothing else. I figured that wasn't the healthiest so in pentitance I skipped lunch completely then. But I ate a hamball and sourcream mashed potatoes and peas for supper, so I should probably do penance today again! LOL! But, I think I will eat the leftovers from that today!

So, I got some Candles and some wallflowers from Bath & Body and a VIP bag of goodies that was valued at $115 for only $20. Technically it was only $10 though because it came with a $10 gift certificate to use up until Dec. 24. And, I got some more Christmas shopping done. I spent 8 hours shopping. Whew! Was I tired of it all when I was done! LOL! Every year I ask myself, "Why did I do this, was it worth it?" But then I look at my bargains and I know it was worth it to me! I was miserably tired. I tried to sleep from 1::30-3 and maybe I dozed off but I'm not aware of it! Grrr! Miserably tired but can't sleep! What's up with that? So finally at 3 I got up as I had promised to hang out with a friend late afternoon (before I had realized I would be shopping that long, I should not have promised til I knew how I'd feel from all the shopping). I knew she'd be disappointed if I didn't come. So I called her but then we decided I would come after supper so I could be there longer. So I went after supper. She is getting married so she was telling me all about her trip to FLORIDA to get married and swim with the dolphins and have her honeymoon there and all. She wants me to come but I don't know if I can swing that plane ticket for just a weekend! It'd be over July 4 so I could maybe have Monday off....I think I usually have that day off. So it would be a 3 day trip...well I just don't know if I could swing it. But it sure is tempting!

Today, Saturday, I was supposed to work from 10-3 but my boss didn't have any cases so I got to have off! Yay! God is soooo good! I feel like I have alot of odds & ends to do so this is wonderful. So, why am I blogging if I have lots to do? Well, blogging is one of the things, after all, I have not written for almost a whole month and I use my blog for letters often, and I needa get a letter written today so this is a good thing where I can kill two birds in one!

So today I will wrap my mountain of Christmas gifts and maybe write my Christmas letters and stamp my Christmas cards and cut a dress maybe. All kinds of fun odds & ends to do!

Well, that's all for now. Bye til next time!