Some things I'm thankful for

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their family and friends.

One thing I am thankful for today is this.

I know to some this may not seem like any big deal. But here in Cape May County, this is the first blue sky we have since. Since. Well I honestly don't remember the last time we saw blue skies. And sadly as I type this, the gray clouds and dampness has taken over again.

Another thing I am thankful for is my good friends. Bobbie would be top of the list. We have known one another for sixteen years now. Not only do I consider her my friend, she's family. We have been through a lot of bad times, but the good times out weigh the bad.

I spoke with my friend Margie several times today. She tells me she is going to be a grandmom again. I am soo happy for her and her daughter. This baby was not planned. They really don't know yet how they feel about this. I think this baby is meant to be and will bring something special to this world.

I will be going to another good friends house in a bit for Thanksgiving dessert. Karen, I have known for years and Chrissy, just several, but they are the friends that you can count on no matter what.

And lastly, the one friend that I have had the pleasure of knowing, loving and living with for many years now.

My baby girl.

As I have wrote here before, she is getting up there in years (almost 20) and her health is failing.

I am thankful for everyday and every holiday that we have together. She is after all, my best friend and baby girl.

(All the photos of her were taken after she ate her favorite meal. Turkey. And like all of us, she is taking the after turkey dinner snooze.)

Happy Thanksgiving

Priceless, TV & crafts

We all have things in our lives that are priceless and dear to our hearts. For me - earrings. Diamond earrings.

It was more than 20 years ago. My dad gave my mom diamond earrings. For some reason, she could not wear them. Her ears would get inflamed and sore. They thought maybe it was the silver and had the posts dipped in yellow gold. She still couldn't wear them. She told me that when I turned 18, she would give them to me. Well she gave them to me way before that and I had my ears pierced again. Except for cleaning them, I have not taken them out.

This morning I'm taking my shower. My loofah snagged my ear and next thing I hear a 'tink'. I look down and see the back of my earring. I reached up and the diamond earring wasn't there. I hurriedly turned the shower off. I am squeezing the loofah. Nothing. I am squeezing my hair. Nothing. Now I start to panic. I jump out of the shower to get the screwdriver. I take off the drain cover, no earring. I reach in and relief, I feel the earring. My fingers are too big to grab it. I grab the tweezers. Still can't reach the earring. Next, I grabbed the needle nose pliers. I was finally able to get the earring.

What relief this was.

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Tuesday night, I screwed the TV up again. I called my friend Phillip. He came to my rescue and showed me how to work the remote. He showed me an easier way to program the DVR. I can now program the DVR without having to refer to my notes. We changed the background color for the guide from that ugly royal blue to pretty evergreen.

I am loving having the Gameshow Network and AMC back. I love the National Geographic Channel and Encore. I have been "On Demand" for some movies, but they are not all that great. Mostly very old movies. I think one of the best features is pausing a show that you are watching. I'll probably wear that button out first.

I am not intimidated by the remote anymore. I just wish it were smaller.

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I came across a neat craft in one of my magazines and thought it would be a nice Christmas gift for some of my co-workers and the ceramic girls.

You take a smooth clear jar or candle holder and use stain glass spray paint to the outside. Add sticker decals. Then it says to add a votive candle and put sand around the candle.

I know how some feel about candles, so I decided that the battery operated candles would be better and forget the sand. The candles I got at Big Lots on sale. Next was the dollar store for candle holders. I cleaned them out. Next Michaels for decals. Who knew that decals were that expensive. Last item needed was the stain glass paint. Michael's, Lowes, K-mart, Family Dollar and Ace Hardware don't carry this. The only thing Anco had was frosted. I may have to go with that, but feel the colored stain glass paint would look better.

There are a couple of stores left to try. I'll look there and if they don't carry it, I check on-line.

I should have stuck with something I'm good at. Baking.

Digital cable & maybe some sunshine

I have thought long and hard whether I wanted to go to digital cable. Well I finally took the plunge and got it.

The cable guy came yesterday to hook me up. I got a regular digital box for the bedroom and the DVR box for the living room. I asked him if he could also connect my VCR/DVD combo up. He said he could. Then he proceeded to clear a space on top of my entertainment center. I asked him what he was doing and he told me that the DVR box was going to sit on top of the entertainment center. The hell it will I tell him. I asked him if the DVR box can stand on end next to the TV? He tells me it can't and neither can my VCR/DVD. So needless to say, I only have the DVR box until I figure something else out for the other. I guess I'll have to have my friends son do the connection when I finally figure this out.

Anyway, it didn't take him long at all to do the conversion. I asked him while hooking everything up if he was going to show me how to work this. Of course he says. OMG. The remote is very intimidating for someone like me that is clueless about this new technology. He is whipping through the controls on the remote and talking the whole time. I am trying to write some of this stuff down. Finally I said, 'Look. You have to go slower. I cannot comprehend what you are saying and doing.' He was nice about it and slowed down. My one major concern was setting the DVR. He talked me through that and showed me. He told me to just play and I would learn. Easy for him to say. Once he leaves, I'm on my own. And I know I can screw something up.

Off he goes. I start to play and did figure out most of the remote and different menus. I have to say the one thing I like very much is pausing a program and restarting it. See I'm not one to sit for any length of time. I'll get up and go to the bathroom. Or make coffee. Or get something to drink. Or go for a smoke. Or just get up and walk around. So that pause button is very useful.

I think so far my favorite channel is Encore. I watched two movies last night. And yes. Paused both.

I also like having the Game Show Network back.

When I was ready to go to bed, I decided to try the DVR. I go through the menus to program it. The TV program I was trying to set was already in progress. When I went to turn the TV off, a message popped up saying 'in order to record, the TV must stay on.' I scroll down to cancel recording and turned the TV off. A bit later I tried to turn the TV back on. Nothing. Of fuck. I broke it already. I tried doing some things, but still nothing. I ended up calling the cable company. The person I spoke with said she would resend the signal and transferred me to something who could help with the TV. A message came on to leave my name and number and someone would get back to me. I just hung up and went to bed. The only thing I could think of is I broke the TV and now I was going to have to buy a new one. I woke up a little after 3: this morning. I tried the TV hoping that it was just a glitch and the TV would come on. No such luck. I just went back to bed. This morning I put the TV on and still nothing. I knew that it had to be the box and not the TV, so I started playing with the box. Somehow, and I don't know how I did it, but when the TV came on, the box turned off. When I turned the TV off, the box came on. One button push later, I have my TV back. I'm almost afraid to try the DVR again.

All in all, I like digital TV. I think the picture is clearer. And once I figure out the DVR, all will be good in my world again.

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There is a possibility that we will have sunshine sometime today. This is a major event, especially for me. You see, we haven't had sunshine since Tuesday.

We had the remnants of Hurricane Ida that turned into a nor-easter. It started Wednesday with rain. Then the winds came. The winds were so strong that the tide couldn't go out. All of the barrier islands flooded and most shut down with bridge closings. There is a lot of property damage and beach erosion.

I'm lucky where I live. It doesn't flood, but we need sun now to help dry us out. And help lift our spirits.

I'm such a dork

I had line dance class tonight, but before I went I was on the phone with a friend. I got my cell phone out and turned it on. The thing started to ring, I opened it up and it said, 'new message to read.' After I hung up with my friend I checked it out. It was a text message. I didn't even know that the phone could do this. It is a Trac phone. I don't use a cell phone enough to purchase a plan. Anyway, 'it said 'way to go Eagles.' I never text before and it took some time to find out who sent it. My friend in Florida, but for what reason I do not know. She knows I am not a football fan. Okay here is the 'dork' part. I sent my very first text message back. I might have pissed her off though. Mine said, 'What. Who cares about the Eagles. Way to go Yankees.' However, I will probably never figure out how to send another text message again. I'm a dork.

Went to line dance class and had fun as always. On the way home, my radio station was playing a crappy song and I hit the scan button. I came across a song and said to myself, 'self. That sounds like the song from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.' Sure enough it was. Turns out they are playing 24 hours of Christmas music. So I'm singing this song and The Twelve Days of Christmas to my hearts content. When I got home, I just laughed at myself for being such a dork.

When I came in there was a message. Another freaking political message, (I had 10 calls yesterday). I CAN'T NOT WAIT UNTIL THIS ELECTION IS OVER. I thought to myself, I would rather be a dork and listen and sing Christmas music then listen to yet another bashing political message. Delete is a wonderful button.