And just like that.... Tis the season!

No Dancing at the Dance Recital

We drove to Tulsa today to watch Wakely in her first ever dance recital.  She was excited to see us when we got there.  We could see her at the door and hear her hollering for Pop!  She realized that she and I were both wearing a red sweater and she seemed to think that was pretty cool!  

She showed me her pretty red nails and her heart shaped ring, but gave pop a jewel, (even though she and I had more in common).  We counted pony tails and looked at drawings  She showed me her pool and showed Pop her room.  

We followed them to the venue and when I got back from going potty, Wakely asked if I fell in!  At this point it's obvious she has already spent too much time with her pop! 

We hem and hawed about if and when we should put on our masks and took our time finding a seat before deciding on stage left seats.  It came time for all dancers to meet on the stage and off she went.  She followed directions, stood on her mark.  Smiled at her family and then... the music started.

That was apparently the cue for half of them to cry and the other half to stand like deer's in headlights.  Wakely put her whole hand in her mouth, much like her Uncle Mackey use to when he was nervous, and then the tears started. She didn't last on stage for the whole first song and never made it back for an encore.  

SHE. WAS. DONE. 

Maybe when she is 5!

Everyone did their share...

Matthew brought the Turkey and Rolls..

Katie brought the Sweet Potato Crunch

Joanie brought the Cookies

Jessica brought the Corn and the brownies. (Danny brought the brownies)

Dennis Made the Ham

I made the Mashed potato's, Stuffing, Broccoli Rice Casserole, Green Bean Casserole, 18 Deviled Eggs, 4 Layer Dessert, 2 Homemade pumpkin pies, and home made Cherry Cheese cake

It was a pretty nice dinner and we did a great job on not having days of left overs.  

Thanksgivings Gone By

I miss my Carter family that I spent 15 Thanksgivings with. Those were my favorite thanksgivings!  We would see cousins and Aunts and Uncles.  Grandmas and Grandpas.  We said what we were thankful for, we wrote on a table clothe every year, we road four wheelers and went to the movies.  Sometimes we did  crafts after that.  I loved those holidays!  My Aunt Sandy and Uncle Gene put a lot of work into something we just walked into and enjoyed.  Yesterday I spent half the day preparing and pre-gaming!  But thinking of my kids and my sweet grandkids, I was enjoying every bit of it!  Today I’m stuffing my face, enjoying my sweet husband, loving on my kids and playing with my grandbabies and missing those that are no longer with us and those we can't spend our holiday with.  Just because life changes and we do things in a different place, in a different way, or with different people, doesn’t make it a bad thing.  It’s how the world works, and why you should be thankful for what you had then and what you have now.  

Count Down to Thanksgiving...

 

What Fall Looks Like at the Carter's

I'm Bi-seasonal

I broke tradition this weekend.  I started decorating for Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving!  Even Dennis, who watched from his chair, said: You never decorate before Thanksgiving!  And he's right!  But my fear is that I will get COVID and be sick when it's time to decorate, then have like 2 weeks before Christmas to decorate and not want to because it's a lot of work for 2 weeks of viewing!  

So the front of my house is all Christmas'd out and the back half is Thanksgivingy!  And the sad thing is, I really want to decorate it all for Christmas already!!!! The struggle is real!   Except the one Pumpkin wreath that I made in one of Katie's craft classes. I love that thing and wish I could just keep it up all year long!  

I put a 6' tree up in my bedroom and it is FABULOUS... and I have one in the living room too.  I will put the big one up in the den on Thanksgiving Day after all the company leaves.  I also have 16 Christmas wreaths in my house!  I know... Ridiculous!  My goal is to have all the lite things on a remote so I don't have to unplug anything! 😁

But I am craving Thanksgiving food!  But that is probably because I am dieting and I know Thursday is my cheat day... or maybe the fact that I bought all my Thanksgiving dinner stuff a week ago and I'm ready to eat the stuffing!

Lazy Parenting

You lead by example.  

When you don’t do... your kids are watching. When you let the trash sit for days, when the dishes pile up, when there isn’t a clean towel in the closet.  Your kids are watching. 

When your yard is unkept or your car us full of trash your kids are watching. 

Is this how you are preparing them for life? 

Do you not want them to be successful? 

You can’t sit on your phone for hours while they stare at a screen.  What sort of parenting is that?  Why have a family if your not going to enjoy the few precious years you have with them?  

And they are fleeting.

Use your child’s early years to lay down a proper and strong foundation. Ethics, devotion, determination. Don’t allow these bad habits to settle in. 

Guess What?

 It's Happening!

Coming Summer 2021

Shit that makes you go.... uhmmmm

So.... Teachers...

They all want to be out of the school building because of Covid.  

I GET THAT.  ME TOO!  

However, they complain about being on the "front lines" and then when they do close the school, they are all out shopping, posting pictures with friends out on the town or they on vacations!  

Send me home and that is where I would stay.

That's shit don't make sense!  

I wish I was in Space

 I know several people that have COVID now. I was exposed to it on Thursday, and probably every other day in the last two weeks... so I guess I will wait to see what happens.  I mean I am probably exposed every time I go out of my house now.  

Tomorrow we start wearing masks at the daycare, but in all honesty I probably should have started to wear them weeks ago!  Well, better late then never! 

I hope I am able to enjoy some normalcy during the holiday season.  For instance, putting up the tree and decorating the house and shopping.  This year I am making Dennis shop with me.  I am cutting back again.  Every year it gets less.  This year I am saying NO GIFTS FOR ADULTS, unless it is something small, cheap and meaningful. 

The rest of Oklahoma is wacko!  They act like there isn't a pandemic, filling up the stores and big gatherings. Big old barneys!  WTF!?!  There is no social distancing going on.  And people are out without masks.  Although to be fair, I do see a lot of people wearing masks. But I am so happy to stay home it's probably not even healthy! lol  

Terilee says, "All of my favorite things are at my house... why would I want to go somewhere else"? True words.

So I stocked up on food again, and meds.  We can hunker down at the homestead for about 2 weeks or longer before we need something, and I have discovered I like having a full fridge!  I have been enjoying cooking and cleaning for us and even spending a little time getting some work done from home.  Too bad I can't work from home all the time!

Vaccines are coming next month but won't be for the public until around April.  I am jealous of the space shuttle that took off tonight.  They will be in space for 6 months and when they come back, Covid will hopefully be well under way of being gone!

 

Yep!

The Election

The Election was on Tuesday and the shit hit the fan!  Fraud, madness and mayhem is apparently underfoot and every Trump fan is in disbelief he didn't win in a land slide.  Maybe he did... and that is where all the fraud comes into play.  

At any rate, today they announced that Biden won, and still Trump has not conceded.  Attorneys seem to think they have a case to prove fraud and America is all on pens and needles.  

My understanding is that if they can prove fraud and do recounts that Trump will remain in office.  Either way.... I am ready for this shit to be over with!  

I hate politics!

Be careful... you represent more then yourself

 Along the same lines of my earlier post I have to say it's very strange how one person can influence how you feel about an entire group. 

Growing up in a military town I had a lot of friends that were children of different cultures. Most of my friends when I was small had German mothers.  To this day every time I see a German mother I think of how headstrong they were.  How nice they were. I love their voices and their accents and I think of the every German mom being like these two people were. 

They influenced my thoughts on that.  

Had they been mean, ugly, or spiteful, I would've probably thought the whole race of German moms were mean, ugly, and spiteful. So I think it's important that you know you could be influencing people on how they feel about an entire body of people. whether is about religion...ethnic group... or your station in life.

You can be influencing people just by how you act today.

Here's a message for all you absent fathers!

https://m.tiktok.com/v/6889573724865989893

Don't do that

 Recent events has caused me to travel down memory lane.  This is how I remember it.

I had a great boyfriend in high school for 4 years.  I thought all guys were nice like he was.  Never called me names.  Never hit me.  Never cheated on me.  Always brought me little things like gum or a coke.  Came to see me at work.  Planned time together....  That is not the case with most men.  

I married at 20 to a guy I thought was pretty awesome, until he wasn't.  

Was I perfect?  NO!  

First off I was spoiled.  I was use to the world revolving around me and my needs.  At 20, most people are still living that fairy tail. I am basing so many things on my 4 year relationship in high school, on my own parents marriage... never mind that by the time I was married they had been married for 35+ years.  They had worked out the kinks!

At any rate, I was 20 and he was 21.  He was worthless.  He didn't want a job and when he found one he didn't want to keep it.  He like to smoke weed and hang out with his friends.  He never wanted to come home and when I got pregnant he didn't want to be a dad. Flat out.

He has 4 kids that I know of and wasn't a father to any of them until the last kid and I am not sure he is much of a father to him.  Who knows.  

Now, I'm wondering how that could possibly by my fault if he has a pattern of such behavior.

He has been trying to talk to our now adult son and doesn't want to open the conversation with,  "I know I did you wrong.. but instead he wants to make it look like I didn't allow him.  Good try old buddy!  I lived that life and I know better.  If he had a relationship with all the others then  that might be believable.  Don't waste what time you could have left by lying . 

I have loved that boy since the moment I found out I was going to have him. And he knows that.  If you think for one minute I would do anything that made him sad you need  a new conversational piece.  

Fact 101

Loyalty is a thing.  Either you have it or you don't, and if you don't... Karma!

And that is all I am going to say about that!

They are all growing up so fast