Thanksgiving

Yes, we had a nice Thanksgiving day.  I kept my cool and didn't blow up or get upset about anything.  Rich and Rick decided to do some home improvement during the waiting for the turkey.  Rich finished up the window in the bedroom.  He put wood border frame around it.  He drilled a whole in the wall and ran the antenna wire thru it.  Then he installed a new bathroom vanity.  I made the stuffing for the turkey and he made regular stuffing.  Personally, I think mine was better.. hehe.  I made Ree Drummond's  (Pioneer Woman) Soul Sweet Potatoes.    I have never really enjoyed sweet potatoes until I made these!  I think this is going to be my signature dish at potlucks.  Easy to make and delicious!  The turkey came out beautifully.  We had corn, creamed spinach, cranberry sauce, rolls, gravy and pie!  Rick joined us.  He is a good neighbor and really has helped Rich out a lot with different projects.  


Travis' job ended on Wednesday, so he will be applying for unemployment soon.  We are going to have our health insurance starting on the 1st and I am so happy!  I have an appointment with the breast specialist on the first too.  


The kitten has come into heat for the first time.  I am looking around and trying to find a low cost spay/neuter clinic.  I inquired at Petsmart for the price of their spays and they quoted me over $300.  They must be smoking something over there.  So we have been listening to mournful yowling for about 4 days now.  I hope she starts slowing down soon.  I heard cats can come into heat again in less than a month.  


Rich and I splurged and got ourselves a new bed set.  It is a queen size and is so comfy!  It was not cheap but they threw in a twin for Sarah.  I have only bought myself one new bed before in my lifetime and it was a piece of junk.   This extra money has been a God send.  We got caught up on the bills and have a little extra for savings and perhaps a family trip.  We were thinking about going to Florida.  I have been pretty upset about my mother's health and wonder if we should go visit her instead.  Her heart is failing and I am not sure how much time she has left.  She said not to worry because she will always be in my heart, but I can't imagine how I am going to react when I loose my mother.  Every time I think about it I start tearing up.  My Mom has been my best friend and biggest supporter.  We had a rough patch when I was a teen and she didn't always like some of the decisions I have made in life, but she has still been there for me.  It is so hard for me to live so far away from her.  The only thing holding me here in NY now is my daughter.  I don't think it would be fair to take her away from her Grandmother.  I could care less about her father, but I know he would probably take me to court over it, even tho he barely sees her.  Hard to think in 7 years she will be 18.  Then I can go where I want, but my mother will be gone.  My sister and brother live down south.  My Mom is my rock however.  

Ok now I am crying just looking at her picture.  Wow.. I need a Mommy fix! 

Simple life giveaway

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Our pets

Our pets are all very special to us in so many ways.  The first cat is Brownie.  She was the second addition to our clan.  We adopted her from the Saratoga Co animal shelter.  She was the featured cat of the week.  She had a wonderful personality.  She is shy but loves to snuggle and bask in attention.  She is very trusting of me and will allow me to do just about anything to her. 
The second photo is of Buzzy at Christmas time. He is a Cairn Terrier. This was before he got the skin disease and lost most of his hair.  He is a strange dog.  He enjoys most dog things like eating and going outside.  He does however scratch and chew himself constantly.  I have tried different types of medication and am going to try another type soon.  Lets hope it works!  He is a very vocal dog, he will moan and make rawr sounds.  He "talks" to us.


The next photo is of our cat that we lost a few months ago to coyotes.  His name was Simba.  He was so beautiful.  He looked like a Maine coon.  My daughter loved that cat.


 Then we have Esther.  She is my husbands dog.  I do not care for her too much.  She is big, noisy and gross.  She is an affectionate dog however but I don't like being in the same room as her.  I have issues.. not her.




Next is the newest addition, Angel.  She is a part Oriental type breed.  She has blue eyes and caramel points as you can see.  She is very affectionate and playful.  Her nickname is OAK for Overly Affectionate Kitten!




Last but not least is our Tarzan.  He is an enormous cat who has a heart condition.  I'm surprised he has made it this long.  He is very friendly and almost dog like in personality.  He will just sit there and let you hug him.  He has several nick names.  Tardy, Tardbutt and Fatty.


We have too many pets obviously.  We are not going to get anymore right now, 5 is enough!  We love them however and they all have a very special place here.. well except for Esther.. LOL

My blog is boring

I have decided that my blog is just plain boring.  It seems all I do is whine and complain.  I don't have cute nicknames for people, or feed the homeless or grow awesome tomatoes.  I don't raise goats, horses, pigs or homestead.  I don't have any interesting political views or talk about what is new and exciting in the world.  I complain about my kids, my boob, being tired and having to money.  I was told by my hubby not to complain about him in my blog.  I am also not to discuss money problems.  We are all rich and happy.  No problems.  The weather is an ok subject I guess.  It was windy and cold today.  The birds have been very busy at the bird feeders except they keep hitting the window now.  I will have to put up stickers or something.  I mentioned that I cashed in my 401k on Facebook and the proverbial shit hit the fan.  Everyone was screaming about penalties and taxes etc..  Just for the record, the amount of money I had was paltry and they already took about 15% for the feds.  I don't know if that was the penalty or the tax.  We usually get wads of cash each year for the Earned Income Credit so I really am not worried about having to pay in. 
Oh and speaking of my boob, which is painful and still deformed and with a very large hard mass in it that my general surgeon says he doesn't know what it is (and probably doesn't care), I am getting my health insurance on Dec 1st.  I also have an appt that day in Albany with a breast specialist.  Maybe she can tell me what it is.  I have been still having the rashy itchy area on my side and have been generally feeling like a worn out dishrag. 
I am glad I have that 401k money.  I plan on paying off the house (good investment), paying up the bills and possibly taking the kids to Florida over Christmas vacation.  No we aren't going to Mouse World or any fancy schmancy place like that because it would eat over 1/2 of my money.  We are going to the beach and do some exploring.  I would like to go to St. Augustine and Jacksonville (zoo).  There are numerous state parks all up and down the northeast seashore.  Or we may go further and go to Tampa/Clearwater area.  I want to walk on white sand by palm trees!  I know the drive down will be hell with the demon children in the car but perhaps I can get my nerves unfrazzled on the beach!

What a beautiful day!

The weather is beautiful today.  I am trying to think of a way I can go out and enjoy it later.  Maybe do some yard work.  Maybe go find a couple geocaches.  We are trying not to go to far with the old car because of the transmission.  We got a new used car.  Paid a lot less than its book value and Rich is happy.  The only drawback is that it needs the premium fuel.  That does not make me happy.  Gas is expensive enough!  It is a 1995 Buick Park Ave. 

This is not our car.. but it looks like this one.  Rich was up bright and early heading to the auto parts store.  He is going to give it a tune up and it needs some other minor work done.  I'm glad I married a mechanical type.  
I have been looking for work and thinking about going back to school.  I had originally planned to go to Hudson Valley CC for its radiological class but because I have to take so many core classes first I wouldn't start the actual program until Fall of 2012.  I don't think unemployment is going to keep me on the payroll that long!  I do need some more schooling however because I cannot go back to the nursing home work.  I could however do private duty work or home care but the pay for that is not that great.  There is one company I am going to look into if it comes down to it.  Rich wants me to not rush into things and see about school.  I am not sure if I am mentally or physically ready to work anyhow. 
I am still having depression problems and my breast is still giving me a great deal of problems.  Nothing ever came of the first round of tests.  The surgeon basically told me that he "doesn't know what is wrong with it".  I am scheduled to see a specialist in Albany Dec. 1st.  I am hoping my insurance will be here by then!  
I am still doing work at the barn 3 days a week.  On Friday I do two shifts of two hours each.  I am doing the evening feeding now too.  I am finding I am getting a little stronger but I get exhausted so easily.  I wonder if it is just plain laziness!  
I am expecting a disbursement of my 401K from my last job this month.  I know there will be penalties but we need the money now.  Pay some bills, get this new car on the road, have some money for Christmas and hopefully go take a road trip to go see my Mom and rest of family down south!  I will have to see if there are any bloggers I know on the way and stop and visit.  I would love to see Kelly and Carlene in GA.  With my luck they both live on opposite ends of the state!  I have a sister in Arkansas and I have had an informal invite to go coon hunting with an Arkansas blogger!  The route we will take will bring us all the way across NY to Buffalo,  I can stop and see Donna D there!  Then south thru Penn and Ohio to Kentucky.  I want to visit Lexington but I know the kids will complain and moan the whole time so I will save that until the spring perhaps and go away with the hubby!  So we will probably go down the middle of Kentucky, drop down into Tennessee,  pass through the Nashville area, another place I would like to visit!  West into Arkansas and then south to Bossier City, Louisiana to my sisters!  Perhaps on the way back up we can go east up through GA and Washington D.C. and head north to home.  I will have to see how my sister went.  I think we will go around D.C. and maybe come up a little further west and up through PA.  I have an Aunt in GA too but I will have to contact her somehow and see where she lives.  It is a pretty big trip and not a lot of time to dilly-dally along the way.  The kids have 12 days off of school.  We can take 2 or 3 to go down, visit for about 5 days and then head north.  We will want a day of rest at home before they go back to school.  It will be a fairly expensive trip factoring in hotels etc.. I plan on packing a cooler so we can stock up on snacks and we can pack lunch and breakfast foods.  Try to eat out as little as possible and show up at people's houses at dinner time... LOL  Knowing my step-son the highlight of the trip will be eating his way through several states.  This kid is constantly hungry.  I think he thinks he is hungry when he really just ate.  He can sit down and eat a full size meal every 3 hours and snack in between.  It is rare to see him NOT eating!  Maybe we should just get him a feed bag.  :)  Well, I've been blathering on long enough.  If you want a visit from the Adirondack country gal and you live on our intended route give me a shout and we can see if we can come for a visit! 

Been sick

These last couple of weeks have been rough.  I have been sick for the last 4 days with bowel problems, but I think I may be through the worst of it.  I started off with this weird rash on my side which probably had nothing to do with it.  My health insurance should be coming through pretty soon.  I really need to go to my Dr.  My mental state has been pretty sluggish still.  Tired a lot and not much enthusiasm.  My husband is not happy with that.  I spend too much time in bed.  He got all his upper teeth pulled on Wed.  He has been having some pain from that but has been taking Lortab for it.  He is as busy as usual.  I tried working at the barn Friday night and needed some help finishing up and couldn't do everything I needed to.  I think someone didn't do their share the night before.  It looked like that stalls and paddocks hadn't been cleaned in two days.  I didn't have the strength to clean it all.  It was a huge mud pit outside too.  I go again Monday morning and then Rich and I have a lesson early afternoon if we feel up to it.  
Sarah is going to a counselor  on Wed for the ADD and behavior problems.  We are going to get Karl signed up too because he has some serious behavior issues too.  First and foremost his video game addiction.  He throws a hissy fit if he has to do anything other than play his games.  If we ask him to turn it off he has a fit and then pouts and refuses to do chores.  He tries to bargain with us to get them back.  He has very strange mannerisms too such as jumping up and down when playing the games and when he gets excited he runs across the room hunched over and clenching his hands in front of his face.  It is almost like autistic behavior.  He has this weird tongue thrusting he does too when he plays games.  He also claims he doesn't realize he does these things and "can't help it".  He has an unnatural obsession with food and asks us repeatedly what is for lunch, dinner etc..  even after we have told him.  Sometimes he even asks what is for a meal a couple days in advance.  He gets very over excited and greedy about food and always runs to get to the food first sometimes falling down in the process.  I hope counseling can help him.  He drives me batty sometimes.  
Sarah does too with her whining and nasty attitude.  She hates it when she doesn't get her way.  
Well anyhow, I am glad Halloween is over and now we can look forward to Thanksgiving.