People of the first light.......

One year I made my granddaughters their Regalia to dance in their first PowWow.
My First grandaughters name, given by the tribe's medicine man during the naming ceremony , is Eastern Butterfly.
Her sisters name is Spring waters.
They are members of the Wampanoag tribe of Mashpee, People of the first light.
Thanksgiving in America is because of this tribe's caring and giving of their bounty to the Pilgrims.
The pilgrims landed first in Provencetown, at the tip of Cape Cod. Not  Plymouth Rock as history books would have you believe.  Plymouth just had a better PR person!
my son-in-law is a Wampanoag .
They don't celebrate thanksgiving as a tribe due to the genocide that nearly decimated the population by nearly 90%.
By the Europeans.  Us.

Thanksgiving thoughts...............

I am thankful for my daughters
and the grandchildren they have given me.

I am thankful for the abundance I have in my life. I couldn't be doing any better!

I am hopeful that I will someday find my soulmate or even his brother! (joke)

I am grateful that my brother in Illinois is doing so much better and that he has grown and chosen to live a better life.

I am saddened that I couldn't find my homeless brother today when I searched in town to see if he wanted to have Thanksgiving with his family, drunk or sober, just come home for a day.

I am running in the "We Gather Together" race at 8 am Thanksgiving day to give food to the food pantry's in my surrounding towns.

I am looking forward to spending a day filled with memories,  with making new memories and stuffing my belly with an array of great food!

I am wishing each of you a Happy Thanksgiving filled with love and gratitude. I hope you all have ...enough.

And most importantly, I am thanking ALL the men and women who are serving in the different branches of the United States Military on this day and all year through. Thank you from the depths of my heart.  Stay safe everyone.!

It's not easy being Gia.

After a long night at work I had to pick up Lillie, my youngest grandaughter, and drive her to preschool.
I get to my daughters home and load up everything Lil needs to have a good day at school.
  *blankie  -  check
  *monkey - check
  *juice boxes for twenty - check
  * car seat - check
  * hat, mittens, coat - check
* Tinkerbell lunch box - check
  * Lillie

I hear her little voice mumbling as she is attaching herself to my leg.  I scoop her up and we load into the car for the 6 minute drive.
I ask her about her time at school and don't hear a response.  I look in the rearview mirror and she doesnt look too happy!.
Once at the school, I deposit the above items with the greeter and pick Miss Lil up for a goodbye hug and a big smooch..... She proceeds to tuck her little 24 lb body under the crook of my arm, head on my shoulder and looking straight into my eyes.  Great big crocodile tears start to plop out of her eyes and run down her little rosy cheeks, no sound at all coming from her though.  I ,of course, am now ready to cry too. I ask her whats wrong.  She whispers, "Gia, Lillie no want to go to my school.  Want to stay with you". 
It took the strength of Superman,Batman and Spiderman to tear that child out of my arms and make me walk away.  I could feel my bottom lip start to tremble.  Feel my eyes start to fill up with unshed tears.  I had clients today. I could not take her with me.  I wanted to sneak away with her, skip school, and spend the morning playing hooky. I can see myself lying to my daughter, Sure, Lil went to school.  Meanwhile sneaking a peek and giggling with Lil as we wipe the chocolate ice cream smiles from our face!! 
I will never volunteer again to leave any of my grand children at school.  It is heartbreaking when they say they just want to spend the day with you, holding on to you for dear life, tears, sad faces.  I can not stand that. it becomes an actual physical pain to feel like I am disappointing them, abandoning them.  I am doomed!  I am gonna be an accomplice, in all of their skipping school capers!!
I am gonna start to collect excuses I can use .
My daughters will hate me..... But hey, my grandkids will love me, right?  I can't remember it being this hard to leave my own kids.  Could it be because I needed the time away from them? And now I long for those days to be here again? Hmm

                                             Lillie 2 /12, Tigger and Pooh, ageless! !!

Haiku......... UPDATE : I WON!! AND PICKED A SERVICE PERSON STATIONED IN AFGAHNASTAN TO SEND THE PACKAGE OF GOODIES TO! Thanks for voting for me!!

Follow me to Sparrows and check out the Haiku's that are posting for tomorrow's voting!
This weeks theme is "sleep"...........  the winner picks a package to be sent to a soldier overseas!  How cool!  I have won twice! So get over there and check them out and vote by tomorrow!!
http://chromedcurses.com/allatwitter/


my entry:


head lost in pillows


snuggled under flannel sheets

flailing arm hits snooze!

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Spinning.....................

I took a spinning class last friday.

Have you ever taken a spinning class?
I had NO idea what I was in for....
You read  my blog, I love to ride my bike (well before I got hit last week!)
this class is NOTHING like riding my bike.
I thought I was conditioned for it.
Holy crap it kicked my butt!
But it was wild.  I kept up pretty well, it was in the dark with black lights on and big fans blowing..
Impressed myself with my stamina and for the fact that I didn't have heart failure!
It was an hour long. At 5:45 am
I am going back to do it again, I must love punishment!
It's all in the name of a firm behind!

But before that I am also trying a 20/20/20 class.....
twenty minutes cardio, twenty minutes weights, twenty minutes stretching.
and then I am trying kickboxing.........

and I have an appointment with "Ron" a personal trainer, to set up a plan to
get me looking like a buff babe on the beach!!  (Well in my mind anyway!)
 
And that said, It's almost time for the work night to be over.  Today my day consists of... a full body massage, a glass of white and sweet dreams till tonight! Ahhh the life of a midnight  Dispatcher......

Girls weekend

Here we are , the rag tag group, hanging around at the house.  We had a yummy lunch of turkey wraps and white wine!  We chatted and laughed the day away!

We arrived at La Cucina Sul Mar on Main street a bit early and they were crowded with early diners so we were directed to wait in the "bar area" . Huh? Can you say hallway with a shelf??   It was so narrow.  By the time the waiter came to tell us the table was ready, it was so crammed with waiting diners and so extremely hot and steamy!

This sister Robin and I had, Lobster and asparagus ravioli.  Lighter than it looks and very delicious!

Sister Laura had the Halibut.  No kidding, it must have weighed 3 lbs!  They told us they only had one portion left as I wanted that also? Hello? You could have made three plates out of it!!

Colette, cousin, had the chicken and eggplant "stack" ! yummm

Cousin Cindy had the chicken something or other over pasta!  (Can't seem to remember this dish!) It was delish though!

Here is the salad we all split.  Very fresh greens, goat cheese, cranberries, orchids, and chick peas.We had a fabulous time and dinner and then went out to a small local bar, had a few drinks and danced a few dances!  What a fun filled night filled with great company, great food and great beer & wine!  

It was great taking the nights off, I really needed that escape!

So what did you do this weekend?

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SHEETS

Some of us drink when we have something on our minds, some do drugs, some have sex, some eat donuts. 

I find myself searching for  and buying sheets.  Yes, I said sheets.  Sheets for my bed.  I don't know why, just the feeling of new sheets must help me to think, or feel secure?  Or maybe it's the "clean slate" feeling of crisp stark white sheets? 

Last month I got the most luscious set of Egyption 800 threadcount sheets.  It was like slipping into a tub of warm butter!  They were so soft. Soothing against my skin.  It almost felt like it should have been illegal!

This week as the weather has turned and I can hear the furnace turning on and smell the heated dust smell of the registers warming up for another season of wind and rain and cold and snow, I was feeling melancholy and blue and you guessed it, time for new sheets!

 I wandered the aisles of several stores, waiting for the 'right" ones... there they were..... blinding in their whiteness, on display, looking like a cloud on a summers day.! I absolutely had to have those particular ones.They were flannel.  so fluffy.  I have had flannel before that doesnt stand up to their "fluffiness fame" after being washed.. these were guarenteed to stay fluffy.  And as I was deeply into feeling blue, I also bought all the accessories such as the shams, the wonderful cotton quilt, the down blanket.  I finally put them on the bed yesterday as I had a particularly bad morning and was feeling quite sorry for myself (as one has a right to once in a while!)  I gathered up my book, jammies, and a glass of white (what else?) and tucked myself in for the entire night.  The sheets lived up to their guarantee, the clean slate left my dreams ,dreams and not night terrors.

I was not so lonely.  I luxuriated all night long in the cacoon of my own making!

Silly post.

I know.

 I used to buy tablecloths.

And I have never been in a tub of warm butter

yet.

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