Herd of Turkeys

   


    Five turkey hand prints from five special girls. Bean's turkey is the velociraptor turkey, ready to eat people first. Abu's turkey is almost as big as her sister's, which is crazy to me because they're growing up way too fast.
    CT's is the decorative one. Bug's has running shoes on. And Baby Blueberry's is small and cute.

   And before people remind that birds come in flocks, please know that Bean knows this-- that's why she wrote herd. :-)

   Because I know people have read many blog posts about gratitude, I'll sure fatigue must be kicking in so I'll keep my thankful list short before I hand over the rest of the blog to my guest blogger, Abu.

Simply.   I'm thankful. For everything.

Now for Abu's guest blog: 

       Nov. 26

       from: Abu the turkey

       to: person who wants to eat me

       Dear Person,

               You should not eat me. I am high in cholesterol and fat. I'm salty and don't taste good but I know someone who taste good. There's a Duck across the pond who taste good and has a lot of meat. Yes, his name is Aflac and he taste really good. He might offer you free insurance but don't take his offer. He is far more tasty than me and he taste a lot better than his deals.

            What's that you say? You want turkey this year. I got to go!!

Abu   

What I'm Grateful For...

      I'm obviously grateful for my family, friends and life. And I have so many good things that I could write about them that it would take me all day but if I did that I wouldn't get my pies made and then everyone would be mad at me. Maybe not mad, but highly disappointed since around here the favorite part of the meal is not the turkey but pies. Pumpkin, pecan, apple, etc.

      So I'm writing about other things I'm grateful for...


1. I'm glad that Congress has basically decided that pizza is now considered a veggie on the school lunch menu. Eat that Tony Horton. Now I can do P90X and still eat tons of pizza simply because it has tomato sauce on it. I'm sure kids everywhere appreciate the 'wisdom' of our leaders who have declared that pizza, with it highly refined and processed white flour crust and pounds of greasy cheese can pass as a veggie because it has a few tablespoons of tomato sauce.

     Of course, I thought tomato was considered a fruit? So I did a little research, in technical botanical speak a tomato fits the definition of fruit. But under a ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States back in the 1880's, the tomato was legally defined as a veggie so it could be taxed. I think the ruling goes deeper than that, obviously the judges were setting it up, so later pizza could be counted as a vegetable.
  
    Conspiracy or not, I'm just grateful that I don't have to think about the heavy carbs in a pizza because it's now a vegetable.


2.   A study done by a University of Notre Dame Psychology Professor has shown that walking through doorways causes us to forget things. Apparently we are messing up our internal filing system in our brain when we take a step through a doorway and thus forgetting.
      Wow. I'm thinking this guy walked through too many doors.

        Do I believe this? No, because with how many times I walk between the living room and the kitchen if that was true I wouldn't be able to remember my name by now...what a minute, some days when all the kids are puking, dinner is burning and I can't find my sanity maybe it's not from stress...perhaps it's from walking through the doorway too many times. So next time I can't remember who I am, I will try to remember to be grateful to this guy because I now have something to blame forgetfulness on.


3.  I'm thankful for the 'people of Walmart' who remind me why it's important to look our best when we leave the house. Wearing pajamas, spaghetti strap tank tops, and slippers to go shopping is definitely bending the no shirt, no shoe rule. Where is your self respect, man? At least put a robe on.

     I know celebrities are 'allowed' to go around the town letting everything hang out but they're just pitiful. If you're so desperate for attention that you're going to 'forget' to wear clothes then you need either a hobby, a dog, or something.

     Please shoppers, our 'roll back' prices are for customers that bothered to get ready this morning. Of course, we know that isn't going to happen. They would lose too much business.


4.   I'm so glad that the zombies didn't take over my town this year. With all the Zombie Apocalypse warnings I was pretty sure that by the time Thanksgiving rolled around we wouldn't be eating turkey, we would be decked out in fatigues, armed with butchers knives and watching our neighbors' brains being snacked on by the shoppers of Walmart. I was expecting B-rated movie music in the background while we ran for our lives from the slow moving, dumb acting, grunting and moaning zombies.
  
      Then we would find an amusement park that was still operational and have as many free rides with no waiting in lines until the zombie mobs found us and we have to work together to kill all of them. And hopefully find some Twinkles at the end. Either way I would ride off into the sunset with hero hottie, ready to kill more zombies.

    On second thought, I'm glad the only zombies I ran into were at Safeway last night trying to run each other over with their carts as they waited in long lines with their last minute items. What is it with people waiting until the last minute to buy their groceries? Uhh, that's not why I was there....


5. I'm grateful for vampires that sparkle in the sunlight because they're too easy to make fun of and I'm not sure what I'm going to make fun of next year when Twilight finally fades away. And I'm grateful for werewolves that fight vampires without their shirts on. Really, does no one know how cold and chilly the Pacific Northwest can be? We're not talking beach weather, people. Of course, if any fictional character wants to run around without their shirt on, then I'm voting for Captain America.



So here's my list of things I'm thankful for this holiday season...oh, that and hero hottie, who wishes sometimes that I wouldn't blog about him...but lets me do it anyways. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Writing Tip Wednesday

Since it's Thanksgiving tomorrow, I will be busy spending time with family, eating plenty of pumpkin pie and taking a nap from eating too much food. So writing is usually not on the day's agenda. But here's a writing tip that isn't so much about improving your writing as it is about spending time with family. 

  

     From the craft or scrapbook store purchase an artist sketch book or otherwise bound book with heavy paper. Attach a piece of scrapbook paper to the front and decorate it as you wish but something related to family. Then every holiday bring it out with some colored pencils and thin tip markers. Pass the book around and let every family member write about the day, funny memories, recipes, or other little tidbits of information. Or they can draw a picture. After the holiday attach some photos from the get together in the book. Which each holiday bring it out and pass it around. Soon it will become a treasured book and a great way to remember loved ones, far and near. 

Happy Thanksgiving and remember we make it a point to be grateful on this holiday but as someone important said to me, 'Why do we need a special day to be thankful? Shouldn't we be thankful everyday?' 

Monday Musings...

Hearts are fragile. They are easily bruised, battered, broken, shattered and crushed when stepped upon by big heavy boots of hate and betrayal. And no, I'm not talking about anything hero hottie has done. I'm just speaking of hearts in general. 

 It starts in childhood too. The first time we're teased or bullied, we shut away from the world, cocooning ourselves with shyness, attitude, or fists. I hid my too easily bruised heart behind perfect report cards. So many of our stories start with a heart that has been damaged. Parents that fight, grandparents that die, pets that are hit by cars, first crushes that ignore everything we do to get their attention. (That is a story for another time but lets just say I paid for the lunch he offered to buy me.) 

     If we had great parents (I did) then we usually have enough self confidence to risk failure to go after our goals. If we didn't, then we find other ways to hide our vulnerable hearts, afraid to take too deep a breath in case our spirit should completely shatter. And heaven help the extremely broken, they usually attack others just to survive their own pain. 

     As human beings we are given the extremely important task of watching out for the heart (or spirit) of our fellow people. It doesn't mean we can save everyone's heart. But we can nurture our loved ones, especially our children. Encouraging, loving, being there when we can't protect them from the hurt of the outside world. 

    

     The characters in stories usually suffered from a heart that's been kicked around. And usually the opening scenes show how this pain has effected the character. If it's a happy ending story then the character will meet someone else or a group of people that provide just enough of a safety net for that character to risk failure to obtain something important. If the story is pensive then either the character never finds the courage to take their battered heart out one more time or they do, just to have it totally destroyed. 

     I prefer happy ending stories because life is so difficult anyway and so full of torn and tattered hearts wearing brave faces. So this Thanksgiving remember the pumpkin pie and the kind words. You never know how they might heal a broken heart.