CHAPTER 3: Gone To The Dogs....

November 24, 2012

CHAPTER 3

GONETOTHEDOGS

A day of trying to get the neighborhood dogs to behave, sit right, 

and take their annual Christmas pictures.....

.....And after 34 pictures and many treats, here's the final picture

(after a bit of photoshopping.....oh, who am I kidding.....a LOT of photoshopping)

.....and here's the annual family Thanksgiving picture.....

I just don't have enough photoshopping skills to fix this.

CHAPTER 2: A Day In Uncertain

November 27, 2012

CHAPTER 2

A Day in Uncertain

While most of you were camping out in your pup tents, waiting in lines at Best Buy and fighting for parking spaces, I spent my Black Friday with my good bud Stephen headed to Uncertain......

Uncertain, Texas that is!

Cameras in hand, we hopped in the Jeep and headed a couple hours east to the Caddo Lake area.  

It's been years since I've been to creepy Caddo Lake.....swampy, alligators, Big Foot sightings....

and amazing....AMAZING out-of-this-world scenery.

And the icing-on-the-cake on the day??  

A cool slightly-abandoned, ancient family cemetary to explore and photograph.

A PERFECT Black Friday!!

CHAPTER 1: Things I Am Thankful For

November 26, 2012

CHAPTER 1:  

"THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR"

NOT THIS!

I really thought the neighborhood snakes were in the holed-up, dormant, hibernating mode at this point in the season.....W-R-O-N-G!!

CHARLIE....

Cause he adds so much "dimension" to my life.  For instance, Thanksgiving morning, we're relaxing, just having a cup of coffee and I say, "You know, it's such a shame there has to be an actual holiday every year to remind people to be thankful."  At which point, he chuckles and then says, "Well, when would you like to have this?"  I give him one of those silent "Liz Looks" that says "what planet did you just fall off of"...... followed by a "Well how about TODAY!"  He then chuckles again and says, "Ya right.....there's no way you could put that together today."  Enter another "Liz Look" followed by a "Huh??" with an exaggerated eye roll.  At which point he says, "Didn't you just tell me you wanted to have another wedding reception?"

Welcome to the Etheridge Home, folks.

FRIENDS

Chuck and I have been blessed beyond words for friends like Georgia and Hal and their son Jeff; Troy and Becky; Lisa and Cheryl......cause they keep us fed, watered and centered.  We are are thankful, grateful and tickled pink to have these kindred spirits in our lives.....

REST

And finally, as Thanksgiving Day came to a very full close and we tiredly crawled into bed; Chuck, Murphy, Molly, Kruger the 1-Claw cat and myself all snuggled into our queen sized bed for a peaceful nights rest when suddenly...BAMM.......Chuck's side of the bed broke......and he rolled out onto the floor.....and then Murphy.....and then Molly.....and then Kruger the 1-claw cat......

As I clung to my side of the bed to keep from rolling out too, I hear Chuck's voice on the floor say, "I guess I shouldn't have gone back for seconds."

Vegetating-After-3-Thanksgiving-Dinners....

Vegetating-After-3-Thanksgiving-Dinners

 November 25, 2012

Made a dent in those leftovers yet??

Our refrigerator "usually" only has the following items in it:  chocolate milk, ketchup, Miracle Whip, couple of vintage eggs, butter that expired last year and whip cream that has some lovely green fuzzy dry rot growing on it.

But not today!!  Nope.....we have two sets of green bean casserole surplus, real turkey remnants, fake turkey remnants (from the vegetarian side of the family) and lots of unwanted pumpkin pie.  Our fridge actually looks like regular people live here.

So, as this Thanksgiving weekend comes to a belching close, I thought I'd share my Thanksgiving weekend with you in chapters......yes; it was that good......So, for a hint of what Chapter 1 looks like tomorrow, I will just say "Chuck ate too much".......

Happy-End-of-Thanksgiving-Weekend

Happy Day-Before-Thanksgiving

November 21, 2012

Happy Day-Before-Thanksgiving!!

As most of you know, I will NOT be busy in the kitchen today preparing for tomorrow's feast.....nope.....this is simply not my blessing.  Fortunately, I have friends and family who are blessed with this ability which keeps us from going hungry!

What I WILL be doing today, though, is practicing Eucharisteo (giving Thanks to God) for the magnificant beauty of Fall.....and this little slice of Heaven that I live in.

Please accept this little 5 minute video as my "Thanksgiving" card to you......cause YOU have blessed me in ways you will never know....

Happy Thanksgiving, My Friend

Learn From Me.....Don't Do This......

November 19, 2012

As we enter into this blessed week of Thanksgiving, here's a reminder to all of you out there who just returned from Sam's or Costco with a gargantuan case of Coca-Cola......

Don't do the following:

+

=

Otherwise, you will spend a day like I did today, 

doing this....

Is NOT Your Friend!!

My Veterans......

Monday, November 12, 2012

HAPPYVETERANSDAY!!

Why don't I remember my elementary school ever honoring Veterans Day?  I went to private school my entire life and, either I slept through the celebration or they never had one.  My guess is the latter.

That's why I'm so incredibly proud of our granddaughters' elementary school, Boon Elementary, who not only teaches the kiddos about the sacrifice our veterans made, but honors those veteran relatives of the students with a parade, program and introduction.  WOW!  

The beautiful sunrise in my rear-view mirror.....

Chuck and I hit the road at 5:30 am Friday, headed to Allen, Texas for this amazing honor.  Our oldest granddaughter, Bella, was selected to read a speech she had written in front of the school.....and an amazing speech it was.  She was as cool and confident as Dian Sawyer standing in front of the school talking about her grandfathers who were veterans.  I'm pretty sure I saw tears in Chuck's eyes......

And our youngest granddaughter, Freckles......and her Brownie troupe marched in the American and Texas flags for the Pledge of Allegiance.  We pledged allegiance not only to the American flag, but also to the Texas flag, which goes something like this:

"Honor the Texas flag; 

I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, 

one state under God, one and indivisible."

I'm sad to say, I didn't know we had a pledge of allegiance to the Texas flag! 

And the parade......awwww......the parade was incredible.  All 600 kids from the entire school lined the hallways with flags waving as the veterans walked through.  They were hi-fiving the veterans....shaking their hands......hooting and hollaring......it was a proud moment.  I think these kids actually "get" it.........

I'm so incredibly proud of our veterans who risked and continue to risk their lives to protect us here......

My Husband - Air Force

My Dad - Army

My Nephew - Marines

My Brother-in-Laws - Navy

Proud......yep...that's what I am!!!

Come To Canton, Ladies....NOW!!

Guess whose running the Cotton Shed No. 11 TODAY??

Yep, my girlfriend Becky and I are selling GREAT stuff today in Canton at the Cotton Shed No. 11!!

You know you want to see us......and shop at this fabulous store!!

GET IN THE CAR NOW!!!! (Don't forget your checkbook!!)

EUCHARISTEO - "You-Kra-stay-o"

Eucharisteo.........
My Study on Thankfulness......

Friends, I am starting a a new study this week........a study on Eucharisteo........a study I have been quietly doing for the past year......I just didn't know there was a defining word for what I was doing.  It means to daily search for His blessings.....to fully experience these blessings......to write them down.....to snap them with my camera.....to see God in everything.....and to thank Him for everything........everything!  Even the not so good things.....because those are the things that change us.....that draw our eyes and heart away from ourselves and directly to Him.....

Because "life change" comes when we receive life with thanks and ask for nothing to change......So, thought I'd share a few of mine from this morning......

1)  My beautiful granddaughters who are amazingly full of spunk......full of looniness.....full of giggles.....who have blessed my life and who I will never, as long as I live, tire of hearing scream "LELE" when I walk into the room.

2)  This beautiful hat that reminds me of my dear Mom each time I see it.....I can't bring myself to wear it.....yet.....but some day I will wear it with a smile as big as she had that day my sister and I placed it on her head at Wal-Mart.....

3)  This hat that my nephew, 2nd Lieutenant Lance Calloway, gave me.......because it has his wonderful DNA on it......and is a constant reminder of the boy he used to be.....and the man he has become.........

4)  My sweet, funny, crazy friend Patsy who always made me giggle with her rib-tickling, infectious laugh ......her beautiful smile.....and her forgiving ways towards others.  I will forever miss my sweet friend.....but will always chuckle when I look at her gardening hat and remember her priceless ways.....

5)  All of my Sisters.......of which I have many.....My birth sister, Debbie, who I would gladly, willingly, freely give my life for.  She has brought such happiness, joy and yes, many tears to my life.  God blessed me with this incredible woman whom I love dearly.  

And my Sisters in Christ.......those who have walked down difficult roads with me.....holding my hand....many times carrying me through tough times.....and loving me all the way back to healing.  God dropped these remarkable and amazing women into my life at just the right times and some, He took out of my life at just the right times.....You know who you are......and you know you own a portion of my heart.....and I keep you on a chain around my neck so I can reach up and hold you in my fingers whenever I need you.

Want to try it with me?  I'd love to hear what you're thankful for today......

I promise your life will never be the same..........

Just One of Those Days........

October 22, 2012

Today has been one of THOSE days......

One of my Meals on Wheels clients, who has been "mentally slipping" over the past year, decided she didn't want me delivering her meals to her anymore after 6 years.  I must admit; I was devastated.  I asked her "why" and she said it was cause I made her "nervous".  I make a lot of people nervous, but after asking her "how I made her nervous", she said, "I don't really want to talk about it, but its because you didn't show up two weeks ago."  Now, two weeks ago, I was headed to the doctor for poison ivy covering the left side of my face and couldn't deliver my meals that day, however, someone else took my route that day.  Bless her heart.....although I knew she wasn't thinking clearly, I still left there with tears running down my face....

Tears resolved, Chuck and I headed to Wal-Mart.  I hate Wal-Mart.......but it's all we got, folks.  As we're checking out, the credit card machine won't accept my debit card.  My heart skips a beat......I feel myself starting to panic.....wondering "why" won't it accept my card.  As I nervously try to access my bank account through the tiny little 3"x2" screen on my iphone while pushing a grocery cart out to the parking lot, I can't get my bank account to pull up.  My mind is racing as I fly down the country roads, dodging squirrels and deer, to the house where I am able to finally pull up our bank account and see that someone in Pennsylvania is buying boots.....LOTS of boots.....on our bank account to the tune of several hundred dollars.  AGHHHHH.......

But today wasn't totally a waste of a perfectly beautiful day.....oh no.......after my little incident with my Meals on Wheels client above, another client I hadn't seen in several months was finally home.  Ohhhhhh.....it was so AWESOME seeing my sweet friend Jewel and her son WB.  They are like family to me.....so much so, their family invited me this past Mothers Day, a week after losing my own mother,  to spend Mother's Day with their whole family.....Did I mention their mother, Jewell, is going to be 106 in December??  Awwww......seee.........life is goooooood.......

Oh ya, and finally......I learned tonight that if you put your ipod buds in your nose, the music will come out your mouth!!!  Really....Try it.......WAY COOL!!!!