One VERY Proud Aunt

My niece, the lovely and VERY talented Kighla, is acting her heart out in a play at a theater in Manhattan. She was chosen by her drama teacher to be in a play in a theater on the upper west side. It's very exciting. She's an awesome kid with a great heart, a lot of talent and I am very proud to be her aunt.....

You Rock, Kighla!

Thanksgiving Prep

The evening before Thanksgiving and someone in this building is roasting a Turkey. It smells really good. I'll be eating Delta Snacks as I travel to Florida tomorrow. It's definitely worth it though. I am looking forward to spending time with my Mother and seeing a couple of friends. I am thankful that I am able to get away for the weekend. There are so many things I am grateful for.

1. I am grateful that I am working form AACN. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I am having a great time. I hope that I will be able to make a contribution to critical care nursing.
2. I am grateful for my mother. I love that we are such great friends. She is such a great support to me. I love her very much.
3. My brother Jon. I know I don't see him very much or talk to him very much. In my life, he made it possible for me to be alive today. I know that he doesn't like to let it get out but he has a big heart and I am grateful.
4. My brother Steve. I don't see him as often as I like but I know he's there just in case.
5. My brother Jim. He has always been so accepting of me. He is a good brother, son and father. He puts family first and is a just a great guy. He has a great sense of humor and is very smart with computers.
6. My sister Heather. Over the years, we have had our sisterly issues but through it all, she has been my sister. She has been a huge support to me over the past several years and I am so grateful for that. She will never know how many times she calls at just the right time. She is a wonderful Mom.
7. Matt, my brother-in-law, who, no matter what, has always been very accepting of me and welcoming to me. He is a formidable opponent at Scrabble, Scattergories and Uno, but he is always willing to let me think I might be able to win. I love that.
8. My nieces and nephews. From Alex, who is so talented and smart. Nicole who is quiet and beautiful and smart. Chris, who is fearless, funny and smart. Katherine, who is beautiful, smart and a teenager (YIKES!) Ashley, funny, open, and smart. Ean who is talented, loving, insightful, smart, funny and wise. Kighla, who is friendly, gregarious, funny, loving, sensitive, talented, and smart.
9. My cousin who has been so generous with opening up her home to me when I was in need. She is fun to hang out with and she'll go to the movies with me.
10. My cat, Misty. She is always so happy to see me while letting me know that I really haven't been quite as attentive as I should have been. I love that she sometimes thinks I am another cat.
11. My friends at work. I am thankful for Pam, Lee and Luke who have become foster parents to Misty when I go out of town. I am thankful for Linda for being the foster aunt to Misty.

I think I need to stop there.....the list is no where near complete but I haven't packed yet and it's 8:30 pm.

I am loving this new beta version of blogger. It is easy peasy to make changes to the template and layout of the page. I'm sold.

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you are with people you love.

Time Flies and Other Stuff

How is it than when you live your life every day, life just seems to go on. Then you go to post your blog entry and you realize that it's been almost a month since said blog was posted to? Today, I actually had quite a nice entry written and then due to some very wierd blogger (or could it be user) issues, it was lost.......lost I tell you, never to be found again. Initially, this just pissed me off because, who knows, maybe that was the best I had in me today and there it was just wasted on typing away and never making it to blog land. So, now, here I sit, several hours later, trying to recreate what was a previously spontaneous, not too bad blog entry. Now, it feels forced and challenging. So, I guess I will take a different tack. I will not try to recreate the lost blog, but instead, move on to other things.

OJ
Earlier today, I did some ranting about this whole OJ situation; how I really didn't understand a society that thinks it's okay to feed this jerks narcissistic needs. Then, my faith was renewed when I read that the book and the TV appearance was cancelled. That really is good. I still have to go back and ask the question though, what made someone think that this really was a good idea? What was to be gained from it. I'm not sure that Ms. Regan (the publisher) is really thinking clearly when she sees giving this guy more attention will assist with her healing over being a victim of spouse abuse. Perhaps THERAPY is a better option??????? I'm just sayin.....
And then I saw that the book had made it to #21 on the Amazon sales list but had fallen to #54 earlier today. I'm thinking we should just charge those people who were stupid enough to order the book anyway and give it to the families of Nicole and Ronald. For goodness sake, haven't they been put through enough already? (I really thought I was over this, apparently I have a few unresolved issues with it.)

I'll move on.

Elections
YIPEEE!!!!! I am very grateful that the Democrats have control over both houses of Congress. It's as the founding fathers thought it should be.....checks and balances and all that. I just hope the Dems don't do anything to screw it up. I say, just keep your heads down and focus on the work. Don't do anything fancy.....don't let John Kerry out to talk, keep him locked in a closet somewhere, just head down and focus. I must say that there is a heavenly Cattaraugus County contingent celebrating. I'm sure Art, Mildred, LJ and Al are all sitting around having a good old discussion about this election.

I must confess that for a short moment, I did consider not voting. When I woke up on Election Day, I figured that I would not have a moment's peace from all the Democrat DNA inside me that I am sure has been programmed to do something awful should I not vote in an election. So, believe me, I was one of the first at the polls. Of course, the California bureaucracy was at work and despite the fact that I registered when I got my Driver's License, my name was no where to be found on the books. Not to worry, California allows provisional voting pending verification of information. They even give you a number to call to make sure your vote was cast. Thank goodness.

Amazing Kids in NYC
This falls under the category of Proud Aunt. Living in NYC can be difficult and challenging at times. It is a completely different experience than most of the country lives. On the flip side, there are some absolutely amazing opportunities that few others in the country have. One of those is the opportunity to go to the LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts. My very talented, smart nephew just interviewed for the Drama School this past weekend. He is so very cool and calm about standing up in front of a group of people and performing that I am blown away. Good luck my buddy! Not to be outdown, my niece is in rehearsal for a play at a Theater on the Upper West Side. Her opening night is in a couple of weeks and I know she will be awesome.

Projects underway....
I have been busy working on a couple of projects.

1. Crocheted dress for my sister. The back is complete. I have a couple of 4 1/2 hour plane rides coming up, I'm sure I'll be able to have this one done by next Monday.
2. Special project in the "full circle" category. I'm working on a project with some yarn that was dyed by my nephew....that's all the information that I can give. I am hoping this will be done before Xmas.
3. Christmas ornaments. We do an ornament exchange at work. I found a nice little ornament pattern in Handknit Holidays that's pretty easy. The hardest thing for me was working with Double Pointed Needles. I'm really not that coordinated. Once I figured it out I was able to knock them out pretty fast. They are loads of fun.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all who read this. If you are traveling, safe travels. If not, have a blast and don't work too hard cooking.

Next up, holiday shopping...........