Since I live quite a way from town today is my last day to go pick up those last minute items I need to prepare the Thanksgiving Feast. I don't need to pick up much, but what I do need to pick up at the store are very important items! I just hope I don't forget anything. Have I mentioned just how forgetful I am? Now what was I talking about? ....oh yeah, the Thanksgiving Feast.

Our daughter and her family aren't going to be here to enjoy our feast with us. They have decided for the first time to have Thanksgiving at home with just their family. That will be nice. They have hosted Thanksgiving at their house many a year. They have just never had it alone. And you know, it is good for a family unit to sometimes just spend that time with themselves. They are coming by later in the afternoon for a visit. I'm looking forward to that.

You won't get upset if I tell you a secret, will ya? Promise? Okay...then I'll tell you a secret. We are not having Turkey at our house for the feast this year. We are having ham instead. Shoot, we aren't even having pumpkin pie! We're having apple and pecan only. I hope you're not upset and I guess it isn't a secret anymore.

Well, since I've got some baking to do and preparations for that eventful Turkey Day, oh sorry, I mean Ham Day...well let's just call it as it is; Thanksgiving...I 'd better get busy! And while I'm at it I'll start counting my blessings. I've got a long list to be thankful for so I'm going to start giving God thanks now. And since I probably won't be around until AFTER Thursday I'll just say it now....HAPPY THANKSGIVING.
Janeta

Smack Dab In The Middle

Have you ever been hit right square dab in the middle of the face with something? If you have then you know how I feel. That is what has happened to me this week. It hit me right smack in the middle of the eyes...Thanksgiving is next week! Christmas is around the corner! This is my niece and nephew Christmas, 1968

Cutie pies, huh?

I guess I can scrap some of the projects that I actually wanted to do this year. Just no time! Well, there is time, but not enough for me to get anything started and finished before the big day.

You see, I took a job outside the home in September. This is the first time since I retired six years ago that I worked outside the home office. That throws a monkey wrench into any leisure time. (I do most of my blog work in the wee hours.) Leaving me no time to do those homemade Christmas gifts.

Here's my baby, another cutie pie, decorating the tree, a couple of years ago. My how time flies! He is already 3!

Thanksgiving is next week!!! Christmas is around the corner. No time for homemade gifts, no time for long nights of pouring into craft projects that normally take me two or three months! I sure hope I find some time to go buy gifts! Yes, I've been hit smack dab in between the eyes with the realization that Christmas is nearly here. As Santa himself said (in the story 'The Year Santa Forgot He Was He') "My whiskers! It's almost December!!"

Janeta

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. The day was beautiful! The sun come up bright and early and like always the Texas Hill Country sun rise was beautiful!
We've been married for 42 years now and so we are no where near newlyweds and so we opted out of the romantic candle light dinner and dancing under the stars. What did we do? Why go to our favorite store...Costco! But first we went to Garden Ridge and there was at the very least 40,000 square feet of nothing but Christmas lights, Christmas bulbs, Christmas holly, Christmas trees, Christmas Wreathes, Christmas candles...anything Christmas, they had it.

I wasn't in the Christmas buying spirit until I walked in this store and then all of a sudden I developed an acute disease that could be chronic if allowed. A disease called Christmas madness. Yes, I lost my mind right there in the store and started buying things to create work for me. Things I've sworn I'd never do!!!! Things like this:

No, it is not a Gingerbread House Kit. It is a Gingerbread Train Kit. Kevin is a boy and is heavily into trains, not just Thomas (although he loves loves loves Thomas) he just loves all trains. He doesn't give a lick about a girly house. So, when the sweet little boy begged for a Gingerbread Train, what does daddy do? Cave in. Really mama caves in too, but I'll never admit it...it's easier to blame daddy for spoiling the kid! It's the Christmas madness I tell you. Now if you don't want to catch it, don't go near Garden Ridge.

Then as we were wondering through the store I kept wondering where is all that beautiful Christmas music coming from? I pricked my ear and started following the tunes. It lead me to this tree with great big ole bulbs that flashed in time to the Christmas music and changed colors! Yes, this is where the music was coming from! An outdoor 9' musical Christmas tree that kept time to the music by strutting her stuff, er...I mean flashing her lights and changing colors! Bow to your partner! Doe Si do! Do the promenade! No, no, no, I mean Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Deck the halls with boughs of holly Falalalalalalalala....Oh there goes that Christmas madness disease strikes again! I just couldn't help myself. I fell in love with her branches and her lights! The Christmas madness disease made me do it! I also bought this: ...remote control and all!

Yes, you can tell you've been married a long time when you forgo romantic candle lite dinners for Gingerbread Trains and a Remote Control Outdoor Musical Flashing Christmas Tree! Not only that but when we left we went to none other than my favorite store...Costco! and the Christmas madness disease was kept under control for a time.

SUPPER TIME

A month or so ago I started back to work. So, my husband and I are a tag team now when it comes to cooking supper. He cooks on the days I work, I cook on the days he works. His meals are becoming more...um...extravagant? I use that term loosely. The meals I cook have become more simple. Here is a supper I cooked the other night. Take a look and watch out for the special surprise dessert..uh or is that desert no, it's dessert! I think.

What's this you ask.

It is the raw ingredients for a simple supper

that I cooked the other night.

Here it is all cooked up!

Baked French onion pork chops

Mashed Potatoes

Field peas - fresh from the can

Glazed carrots

Iced tea

The special surprise!

Chocolate Cake for desert..I mean dessert

Baked by none other than...

MY HUSBAND!

Thanks Babe, you're a keeper!

Janeta

PUPPY LOVE

It was love at first sight. Kevin kisses Happy and as you can see, Happy kisses Kevin! Kids and dogs. Aren't they sweet? My son Kevin just got his first dog last week. She is a tiny toy Chiuahua. Kevin took one look at her and said her name was "Happy".

Kevin is happy too!

VETERANS DAY

He came home as quietly as he went.

It was warm on Easter day, 1969. The day started early, but no one could sleep the night before anyway. Already packed, he got up showered and dressed in his uniform. Not really wanting to go and leave his wife and four month old baby behind, but he had taken an oath. He was a man of integrity, a man of character, a man of his word. After a morning of putting on a smile for the sake of everyone and being as positive as possible and taking pictures of family, he left. They were young. Both under 21. A young family, just starting out in life. He loved his family. He loved his country. He was proud to be of service.

Standing at the bottom of the jet planes stair way softly he his kissed his sad wife. Never wanting the moment to end, but it must. With a torn heart he hugged and kissed his wife and baby again, possibly for the last time? He never knew. He hated to go...go he must. With soft loving words he bid her good bye and turned suddenly and walked up to the plane. He turned breifly only to give a quick wave then he disappeared into the belly of the plane. Quietly he left. No good bye party. No crowd to see him off. It was a quiet parting.

The plane ride was long, a full 24 hours or more and when it was over he stepped into another world. A place called Viet Nam. He spent the next twelve months there, looking death square in the face everyday. He was in the jungle fighting, on convoy and working in the mourge. He had never saw a dead person in his short life. He would now see enough in that year to last a lifetime. Thousands and thousands. He was young, he grew up fast. War is hell.

There were no phones, no internet, no IM's, no email. Daily he wrote as many letters home to his young wife and family as he could. Finding a minute or two here and there he would record his day and affection for his family on a small reel to reel tape to send back to the people he loved. It was his only connection to home...home the place he loved where the people he loved were...home, the USA.

A long twelve months later he and many other service men boarded a plane headed for the home land. Going In Country as they called it. It was just another plane. When the plane landed he gathered his belongings and excitedly and quietly got on another plane to go to the home where his family was at. Landing in his home town he walked down the steps of the plane and headed to the airport terminal as queitly as he had left it twelve months before. No welcome home crowd, no banners, no bands. Inside the terminal he wasn't met with looks of recognition, no hand shakes, no thank you. No nothing.

His young wife was in for a surprising shock. She was sitting at the table writing him a letter, hoping it would reach him before he left. In her letter she bid him a safe journey and love. Never realizing he hurring to her at that very moment. Their baby was with her eating candy, when suddenly the young solider walked in, quietly.

My husband came home as quietly as he went.

---Veterans day (Nov. 11) has come and gone. But it is not too late, don't let another solider serve our country without hearing "Job well done" or "THANK YOU!" If you don't know a veteran or a military man or woman there are organizations, everywhere, that you can become involved with to send care packages to our men and women overseas, send cards, send letters. Give them a smile...and if you can meet a plane or bus load of service people. Meet them with ballons, bands, banners, cheers...just thank them...

Thank you to my husband, my nephew that is over seas Thank you to other veterans of every war and thank you to the veterans of peace time. Thank you to every American man or woman serving this great nation today! Thank you, God bless you.

Janeta

Welcome!

Hi y'all and welcome to Blessing Hill ! Why did I choose the name Blessing Hill for this blog? Simply because every since we moved to this hill we've had one blessing after another. Simple as that.

Who am I and why did I decide to write this blog? I don't know. I don't mean that I don't know who I am! What I mean is I'm not sure what spurred me on to write this blog...a whim? a burning desire to be a writer? a crazy idea? Yeah! That is probably more like it! Crazy!

I don't have any hidden agenda. Look, I don't have any agenda at all. I will write what ever comes to mind. Oh my!

Since this is my first post I suppose I'd better tell something about myself for those of you that don't know me. Now, this might be hard because you know I don't like labels, but how else do I describe myself with out using adjectives that are labels? I told you this might be crazy! Okay, on with it...I am a Christian woman that is, 59. I am a wife. I am a mother of three. I am a grandma of one. I am very opinionated (as you'll learn). I am really nice. (so they tell me) and most of all I have a lot of love in me to give and I am loved. Ain't that just peachy keen? They don't use that expression anymore, do they? I told you I was 59, that translates into old.

I told you we had 3 kids. What I didn't tell you that two are grown and we have a three year old son! No, I didn't have a baby at the ripe old age of 56! We adopted our little one. He came to live with us when he was only two months old. That is a long story that I'm not going into but let me tell you this, that little boy could never be more loved if he had been concived in my most innard parts and carried there for 24 months! Now, that is a stretch but you get the point. Our grown kids love him so very much and once our grandson got over his jealousy he loves him like a brother...not that took awhile though. The bawling baby drew our attention away from the grandson and man, oh man what jealousy that brought about.

I would like to try and create different subject tabs for this blog but I don't know how to do much at all yet. So, I'm just going to try and post a few photos for y'all. That way you might get a bit of insight into my life here on Blessing Hill. Let's cross our fingers and hope the pictures show up, okay?
Janeta