Thanksgiving

It was a great Thanksgiving! I ate way too much as always and loved every second of it. Only one piece of pie though... pumpkin of course with a little whip cream. The best part of the day was being with my family... however I was very sad that my sister Beth couldn't be there. Just imagine her in this picture tucked somewhere between Jenny and Susie.

So these are some of my cousins, not a bad looking one in the bunch my dad pointed out. I think my cousins are adorable... I realized that one of the things I am thankful for is that I come from a great gene pool. I couldn't believe it... I'm still the tallest one!!! I'll give you the names starting with me, then MB (Mary Beth), Michelle, Jenny, Megan, and Susie (our little blond bombshell).

This is Ben and MB almost seconds after we ate. They didn't want to miss out on the couch and blankets. I actually went the whole day without a nap, I couldn't believe it... I did the dishes, went for two walks and played games all day. It was pretty cold out in these parts yesterday... but I don't mind cold when it is seasoned with a few snow flakes. My brother and I stepped out to take some cute posed pictures.

I was going to write a post about all the things that I'm thankful for... however I'm thankful for everything... or least I'm trying to be thankful in all things. SO that would be one immense list, truly my cup runeth over and spilleth all over the floor!!!! If I had to name just one thing that I have been thankful for over the last few weeks I would have to say my relationship with my mom. I talk her ear off constantly about all the craziness in my life, and she is always there to listen... she is the best.

Here she is with my aunt Becky and they are both holding their dogs (obviously). They both pointed out that the dogs were just holding a spot for the future grandchildren... someday ladies... someday.

How was your Thanksgiving?

Independant Women

There is something so liberating about being self-reliant. This weekend my Dad taught be how to change the oil in my truck. It was great bonding time for both of us and it's great to see my dad in "his element" he is so talented when it comes to cars and all that jazz.

I was pleasantly surprised... changing oil is pretty easy. In fact I don't think I'll have any problem doing it completely on my own next time. Well except for that bolt that you have to unscrew to drain the oil, I think I had my whole body weight on the wrench and still couldn't get it to budge; my father however unscrewed it quite effortlessly.

In reality it is not really that much cheaper to change your oil yourself, and considering the convenience of having someone else do it... it's worth it to go to the shop. However it feels good to know that if I needed to, I could take care of it myself.

It's always good to set goals.

Skills that I would like to obtain…someday. I'm not really in a rush with these ones.

• Writing poetry
• Knitting
• Sewing
• Flipping pizza dough into the air
• Golfing
• Playing the piano
• Speaking Spanish fluently
• Cutting hair
• Sword Fighting (Sparring?)
• Painting
• Being able to draw a picture and have it look like real life (Not like a cartoon)
• Singing opera
• Dunking a basketball (or just being able to jump higher would be ok)
• Dancing… like real dance moves
• Swimming without plugging my nose
• Remembering Jokes
• Karate
• Scuba diving
• Play the cello
• Fix a computer when it’s broken
• Change the oil in my truck
• Fix cars
• Garden
• Landscaping
• Ride a unicycle
• Interior Design
• Be able to distinguish different composers of music by hearing their songs
• Identify what kind of car I pass by before reading the name on the back
• Do the really loud fingers in the mouth whistling
• Play the harmonica
• Glass Blowing
• Be able to name constellations in the sky
• Bird Watching
• Taking the fish of the hook when fishing without wearing gloves and screaming when it moves
• Drive a motorcycle
• Use really big words in sentences… or increase my vocabulary
• Hunting
• Winter Camping
• Remember which plants are edible and which are not (I have learned it before I just have to get my brain to find where it put that information.)
• Speed Reading
• Making Pancakes look like Bert and Ernie… How did my mom do that?
• Cake decorating
• Photography
• Play the drums
• Paintball fighting (is that what you call… perhaps playing paintball)
• To pull a table cloth off a table with out letting anything move or fall off
• Balancing a shovel on the end of my nose… or my chin
• Fire eating… ok now I’m just trying to make the list longer. I Don’t really want to eat fire… but it would be neat to learn how to fight fires.
  

How about you, what are some things you'd like to be able to do?