November 23, 2017
9:39 a.m.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It is highly unusual for me to be blogging before noon on ANY day of the year, but it's Thanksgiving, and I have already been a busy bee this morning.

I did salads last night. Check. The turkey is in the oven. Check. Soon I will put rolls in the oven, and then I will make a green bean casserole. The very last thing I will do today is make gravy. I generally have very good luck with my gravy, but it causes me anxiety every time, because I want it to be GREAT.

In the midst of all preparation, I am taking a break to have a cup of coffee and reflect on the many reasons I am thankful this year.

My number one reason for thankfulness is the fact that my mother is still among us. We had a very scary ordeal with her this past summer--if you read my blog, you know the whole story. Recovery was not overnight, and because of my personal circumstances, I was able to be with her through all of it.

I will add now that my father is also still with us, and happily had no health scares this year.

Parents are such a blessing to us throughout our lives, and anyone who has lived as long as I have and still enjoys the blessing of living parents is indeed a lucky person. I am grateful every single day that my parents are here, living in their own home and enjoying life. They do pretty much whatever they want, travel when the care to, and are able to take care of business as usual. That is awesome.

Ah, 2017. There were a lot of good things going on this year.

I got to take three of my grandchildren to Denver ComicCon. We had a great time. I met James Marsters. The boys were amazed by gigantic Lego displays. My granddaughter met Napoleon Dynamite, and he liked her costume. Three days of good, crazy fun, and I only got lost once! (I knew where I was, but everyone else had taken a wrong turn. Haha!)

I traveled with my parents to southern Colorado and to Idaho for reunions on both sides of the family. It is always wonderful to sit with aunts and uncles and listen to them all tell stories of their childhoods and early adulthood, the days where I had yet to make my debut into the world. That history is priceless to me. I also enjoy spending time with my cousins and learning first hand what they have going on in their lives.

We had weddings to attend this year. My son married his love, and we enjoyed quite a lovely celebration. All my children were together for that, which was wonderful. I am always grateful to have them all in one place. My baby lives too far away.

My niece married her love, and that wedding and reception were also lovely. It took place in Wyoming, and two of my daughters and their families were able to come. They got to spend time with aunts and uncles they don't get to see often, and also spent some time with their younger half-siblings. I'm very grateful for that; there have been many sleepless nights when I have despaired of that ever happening. I have always wanted them to have that relationship.

I spent a great deal of time in Wyoming with my parents this year. Not everyone in the world is lucky enough to have that opportunity.

I took a couple of fun trips to the casino with my sisters and we didn't lose our shirts. In fact, we had pretty good luck.

I ran into friends here and there. What wonderful chance encounters!

I published my second book.

And now, I am home and making a turkey for Thanksgiving, and soon enough the house will be full of noisy people.

I have a lot to be thankful for!

I may rant about 2017 in the future, but for today I'm going to say that there were some great things thrown in there.

Happy Thanksgiving!! Eat, laugh. love. (That's how it goes, right?) Spend quality time with your families. Enjoy.

Hope you find some great Black Friday deals. Tomorrow. Today, eat and take a nap!

I'm grateful for you all.

November 20, 2017
3:52 p.m.

I have been a really bad girl of late.

I came back to Colorado on November 9th. My beautiful niece Kayla brought me, since she was already coming to attend a wedding.

Since coming home, I have been so busy chasing my granddaughter around that I haven't blogged, and I have done very little work on my new novel.

I signed up to do NaNoWriMo to get a good start, and I am not nearly to 50,000 words. Last year I reached my goal pretty easily, and I suppose I MIGHT make it this year, but only if I really step up my game.

BAD girl.
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In the meantime, how cute are these girls?

It's so fun when I get a chance to babysit. But, wow! I'm getting old. They really run me ragged! So much energy!

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For the moment, I am just checking in. Thanksgiving is coming and I need to make a shopping list. Yuck! Shopping!

Take it easy. I promise I will think of something soon.

November 5, 2017
8:55 p.m.

Okay, spoiler alert: This post is likely to piss some people off. If this means you, I'm going to nicely suggest you stuff a sock in it for now, because I, too, am entitled to my free speech rights, and I'm about to do some speaking.

We need gun control. We need reasonable regulations. We need to STOP offering thoughts and prayers in the wake of tragedy and DO something effective to make sure that these senseless killings don't continue.

Deer hunters--I don't want to hear it. This is not about you. I don't honestly think you are out there with assault weapons and handguns looking for a 30 point buck. I don't want anyone to take your .22 or your 30.06.

Of course, if you ARE out there hunting with a machine gun--Pu-Leeze! Why???

This has become personal for me.

Just a few days ago, I was having a basically ordinary day. I turned on my computer and was confronted with a breaking news story about a shooting with multiple people down at a Wal-Mart store in Thornton, Colorado.

My daughter works in that store.

It wasn't time for her shift, but people in my family shop there. I'm in Wyoming at the moment. I immediately called home. "Is everyone there?" I demanded when my son answered the phone.

"What?"

"Is everyone at the house? No one went shopping? Where is everyone?"

"Mom---WHAT is going on?"

Oh, son of mine. Ye of little patience and zero mind-reading capability. I had to explain things to him in order to get a straight answer. Yes, everyone was home or otherwise accounted for. No, my daughter had not gone to work yet.

But--oh! She had a message on her phone. Don't go to work. Please check in.

It absolutely was her place of employment. Three people were dead, shot by a man who just walked in the door and started firing.

There followed several hours of police presence, and an arrest the following morning. If you live in this country and you watch the news. you probably know the whole story by now.

What you don't know is that it took two days for people to get back to work. Wal-Mart will be following up with anyone who might need grief or PTSD counselling, and good for them.

My daughter was a wreck her first day back. Yes, the shooter had been arrested, but--things happened far too close to home, and it's hard not to be nervous walking back into a place where a mass-murder took place.

Last month over fifty people were murdered while attending an outdoor concert in Las Vegas. A concert, for crying out loud.

And now...this morning, a little church in a small Texas community was the scene of slaughter. Twenty-six confirmed dead, at least twenty injured. Some of these dead and injured are children.

In the wake of all this, government officials offer "thoughts and prayers". "Thoughts and prayers"!

That's effective. Right?

If thoughts and prayers actually did any good, these things would not be happening!

I'm over it.

Oh, get off your "I'm offended" bandwagons. I'm not challenging your faith. I'm not challenging the need for solace and comfort for the victims and survivors.

By all means, offer prayer to those injured, to those suffering loss. Certainly. It's comforting to know that people care, that they take the time to ask for peace and understanding and love for all concerned. So pray, spare a thought.

 But for God's sweet sake, offer up some practical solutions while you're at it. Call your representatives and demand some action.

Then pray some more. Why not? If nothing else, it will make you feel better.

This has got to stop.

I don't care how much money the NRA offers to donate to the politicians, enough is enough. There needs to be careful consideration given to regulating the sale and possession of firearms.

And it needs to be done now.

Let the hateful comments begin. I know a lot of you are thinking that you'll give up your guns when they are pried from your cold, dead fingers. That it's your God given right to bear firearms.

I'd like to remind you that the firearms the constitution gave Americans the right to bear were single shot rifles.

You are welcome to keep those forever.
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In other news, Daylight Savings time has ended. It will now be dark by 5:00 p.m. Sooner, as the season passes from Fall to Winter.

Once again, I protest time change. Once again, I will be ignored.

Have a nice night.