It's that time of year again. Time for family and loved ones, turkey and dressing and my list of all the things I'm Thankful for!

I have A LOT to be thankful this year. I know I say that every year, and every year it's true ~ but this year has been extraordinary.

I'm so thankful, every day, that my Mom is breast cancer survivor. I'm so thankful, every day that my brother is doing really great after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure earlier this year. That pretty much takes up my entire day, every day, of thankfulness, and some days, I don't feel like I deserve to be thankful for anything else because those 2 things are definitely enough. But I am still thankful for all of life’s little joys and blessings;
* I'm thankful as a woman, that I have the right to vote.
* I'm thankful that our new home has a big backyard for the dogs, a garage and TWO bathrooms!
* I'm thankful for comedies, even the really dumb ones like, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.
* I'm thankful for healthy bones ~ oh, you know why.
* I'm thankful for the color, lime green. (it's so cheerful)
* I'm thankful for wallpaper steamers. Scraping it off is hard and takes SO long!
* I'm thankful for microwave ovens. Really, think about it. Remember when you didn't have one?
* I'm thankful for the smell of autumn leaves and pine trees.
* I'm thankful that every year, the day after Thanksgiving, there are several radio stations that will play Christmas music 24/7.
* I'm thankful that my husband is remarkably patient, constant and loving.
* I'm thankful for my health, a job, a home and the freedom to make choices.

And I am profoundly thankful for my family.

I'm thankful for each and every one of you; all of you contribute to the happiness in my world. My life is amazingly blessed every single day.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving.

Life is full of joy - Bee Happy!

Love Cynthia

Hockey!

So we went to the game last night and we won, 7 to 3. It was pretty fun! We really enjoyed it and have decided we would even like to go again. We probably need to watch a few games on TV to get the hang of it though. And next time, I would like sit a little higher up.

Our team has a really great logo...

Trick or Treat

What a let down. We only had 3 small groups of kids :-( And 2 of those groups were tweens. Oh sure, they were funny and creative but it's just not the same as a little princess or sponge bob. The last group was pretty pleased with themselves though...one guy was carrying a cereal box with a knife suck in it ~ he was a cereal killer. Then there was the girl with a bunch of post it's stuck on her shirt that said things like "ceiling beats floor 100 to 3" and "ceilings are #1!" Did you guess? She was a ceiling fan. I have to admit, that was funny! Then there was the girl with the candy Smarty rolls pinned all over her jeans ~ that one was easy, she was a smarty pants. So silly. I guess I'll have to get over Halloween. Rats!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is tomorrow and I haven't done a single thing this year to get ready! OH NO. I will be running to the store after work to get candy. I have no idea what Halloween will be like on our new street this year. I hope we have LOTS of cuties in adorable costumes!

In 2 days it will be November and only 54 days until Christmas. Whoa. That's alright, I'm just going to continue enjoying the Autumn weather and falling leaves for now. I'll start thinking about Christmas in a couple weeks I suppose.

In the meantime, here's a great link to some fantastic looking pumpkins!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-carved-pumpkins-pg,0,797302.photogallery

And 2 days ago, my best friend of 14 years told me that our friendship had run its course. Isn't that the most bizarre thing you've ever heard? I'm going to attribute it to her excellent skills at detaching from people when things don't go her way. Still, something is fundamentally wrong with a person who can let go of a 14 yr friendship, in an email, without a discussion. *sigh*

Hockey Season

It's Hockey season! Woohoo! No, I don't really care, hahahahahaha. I might though...I don't know anything about hockey. I've been to a couple games and I thought they were exciting, but that was a long time ago. It might be something I REALLY like though, so we're going to give it a try. We're going to our first game in November, just the local team. And if I don't like it, I will have only squandered $15. And if I LOVE it, really, what could be better than a sport that you can go see for only $15?!?!?!?!

I love candy

I know that it doesn't come as a surprise, that I love candy. The sweeter the better.

Anyway, this morning on my way in to work, I stopped at Walgreen's to get a small fan for my desk and drop off Bill's film…on the way out I decided I have held back long enough and got some candy pumpkins. Right next to them is a new Brach's product, called Caramel Candy Corn. Whoa. It is very yummy BUT, they are soooooooooooooooooooo sweet I can hardly stand it! Really, I got about a dz out to eat and after the 5th one, I had goose bumps! I think they are even sweeter than the sugar frosting on a grocery store bakery cake!!!!!!! I don't think I'll be able to eat them all! Whew, what a rush!

OUCH!

This is my head...

This is a wall...

This is early in the morning, after I've turned out all the lights, on my out the door to go to work. See that furniture dolly to the right of the doors? Neither did I....

The next thing I knew....right after I tripped over the dolly...BAM...head long into the wall...
Yup, that's the hole in the wall that I made with my HEAD. Man did that hurt!
Yeah, yeah, it's better than a hole in the head, but still, OUCH!

Can't believe it...

It's October?!?!

September was a busy month for us so it flew by. I'm just barely getting ready for Halloween and the local craft stores have all their Christmas goodies out already!

Well, at least the weather is finally fall like. High 60's all week. Mmmmm, I love the crisp mornings and fresh air. I'll probably not like it so much in a couple weeks when we have to start raking leaves! Oh, scratch that ~ we have leaf blower that's also a vacuum! How cool is that?! And as it sucks up the leaves, it mulches them so you can fit A LOT in the bag! I thinks that's awesome.

Wild Hogs - day 8

Hooray! Finally, they are home!!! One of the guys got a flat tire about 1:00 so they were delayed about 3 hours getting home. Bill looks so manly, lots of sun on his face and stubble on his face. He pulled in the driveway a little after 5:00. We talked for a couple hours and went to dinner, came home and watched Survivor and went to bed. It's so great to have his presence in the house again :-) He loves the new furniture and even likes what I did to the bdrm and the new quilt.

Today, we're going to walk down to Main St and check out the Art Festival and eat some yummy food for lunch.

Before I go though, here's the latest weird bug our home has attracted...I took this picture about a 1/2 hr ago...

It's called a wheel bug. This one was about 1 & 1/2 inches long.

Wild Hogs - day 7

Today they stopped in Galesburg Iowa, about 420 miles. Only 360 miles from home! Woohoo! Today's ride was pleasant and casual and the weather was perfect for riding. He's had a really great time but I'm happy he's almost home :-) I'll be looking for him to get here about 4:00 or so. Also tomorrow, our new sofa and chair are being delivered. And I redecorated the bedroom too! Yup, life IS good.

Wild Hogs - day 6!

Hooray! They're headed home! They made it to Sioux City, about 430 miles. Bill said their favorite stop along the way was a little town called Deadwood SD. Great name huh? I don't know what time they hit the road this morning but they stopped early, about 5:00 their time. I can't wait to see pictures!

Here are some picture of Deadwood, from their official website.

Wild Hogs - day 5

LUNCH UPDATE - 10:30 SD time
Right now they are in Sturgis and I hear it's a lovely little town. Bill says it's hard to imagine during bike week. It's so clean and pretty and quaint! He's getting me a t-shirt :-)
After lunch they're going to Mt. Rushmore and more riding through the Black Hills. He said I would LOVE IT there!
DINNER UPDATE - 6:30 SD time
They did more riding around the Black Hills and made it to Mt Rushmore. Bill said it was pretty awesome and that the pictures and the movies you see, don't do it justice!
They were getting ready to go have dinner and hit the sack early so they can get a good start in the morning. He's hoping they will be home Saturday night. Me too!

The Badlands

Sturgis

The Black Hills

Mt. Rushmore

Wild Hogs - day 4

Well, they aren't going any farther today. They are going to spend today and tomorrow, riding around the Badlands, the Black Hills, hit Sturgis and go to Mt. Rushmore. The storm passed through and the weather looks good for the next few days. Bill says he's looking forward to a relaxing day of riding. It looks like they will start home on Thursday morning.
I'm really missing him today and I was a little lonely tonight.

Wild Hogs - Day 3

Today they made it to Rapid City, SD ~ 630 miles! Riding, riding, riding, riding, ri...oh you get the picture. It was a grueling day and they ran into a HAIL storm! OUCH. Naturally it took them a little longer to reach their goal because they had to stop for awhile, hanging out under the awnings at a gas station. You know they're feeling pretty manly right now. It's still a great time though. Imagine, 630 miles on a motorcycle in ONE day! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wild Hogs - Day 2

Today they made it to Dodge City, about 430 miles. The ride has still, thankfully, been uneventful and the weather has been great. They stopped at 6:00 and are in their routine - shower, go eat, watch some TV, go to bed. They got a late start this morning so they must have been HAULIN' to get to Dodge City! They're having a great time though :-)

I'm looking forward to hearing about the Badlands!