Thanksgiving

The storm was coming with lots of snow and blowing snow and drifting snow, so Chris decided to take the kids up to Fargo for Thanksgiving weekend Tuesday night. My dad was worried that I would be lonely all weekend. My mom was worried that I would be alone on a holiday. I was thrilled that I could have five days to clean the house and do whatever the heck I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it. It was like I was 18 again and off to college. Except this time, what I wanted to do was clean. (I know. Shocking!)

If you are a parent of a child under 10 (I am also guessing that this type of thing happens if you are a parent at all, regardless of how old your child is). you know how tough it can be to keep your house clean. You clean a room and the kids are in the rest of the house completely destroying it. And then they come into your brand spankin' new clean room and completely trash that. So you could live in a house that is moderately messy, or clean and have the place look like a lego/moonsand/littlest pet shop tornado came through.

I also have this dog issue. Two of them. I mean I have two dogs with a lot of issues. Mostly where and when and how much they relieve themselves. They are both girl dogs and both have a need to "one-up" each other. Lacey started things by....sprinkling upstairs in our tv room. This is the room in the house with the tv, a fireplace, really the coziest, comfiest place in the whole house. And she peed in there. Well, Rosie couldn't stand that, so she peed on top of it. And so on, and so on, and so on..... I've bought special stuff from the pet store that is supposed to cover up the smell so that they are not tempted to re-offend. Doesn't work. Called my friend the professional carpet guy. Cleaned the stain, but the girls are still at it. I wound up putting the baby gate back up, so they can't even get to the room. Until Wednesday night, when I was up there trying to clean and I left the gate open for 2 seconds to get the vacuum....one of them sneeked a leak.

And now today is Sunday. The kids are on their way home and I only have 1 and a half rooms clean. What did I do with all my free time......

That is what I am thankful for. I have had a pretty rough year. If you have been reading/following my blogs you know already. Job loss, divorce, shoe loss, broken toes, dogs messes (read above). But I have the most fantastic friends EVER. There is one family of friends that basically adopted me this weekend. They invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner, they invited me over to a big bonfire Friday night after the Husker game, and they make me laugh non-stop. My next door neighbors, The Welcomers, also invited me over for a Thanksgiving meal (yeah, I ate like a rock star that day) and we've been borrowing/lending movies back and forth all weekend.  My friends Katie and Natalie and DeAnna all stopped over this weekend to chit chat, play with makeup, and Katie loaned me her vacuum when mine went kaput.

These are just a few of my friends and this is just one weekend. I've had a lot of friends step up and offer me a hand or a shoulder over this past year, and this is my opportunity to say Thanks. I don't say it enough, and can't show you enough, but the support I have had from my neighbors, my fellow Mary Kay ladies, my high school and college friends, my former co-workers and their family members, and my siblings is unbelievable. And it means more to me than I can say.

People can say this world is in trouble all they like. That people don't care anymore. But I have proof that they do. Just look at my friends. Happy Thanksgiving!