Black Friday

I have never set my alarm to go shopping on this day but I did for today. I'm not much of a shopper and when I do shop it's after much penny-pinching. Woke at 5, got to Wal-Mart with my handy shopping list at 5:10, parked about 2 football fields away and was out in about 20 minutes. I couldn't believe the mobs of people crowded around certain areas, waiting for the pallets of merchandise! I no NOTHING about plasma tvs, or flat screens, etc. and I have no interest in buying one so I wouldn't have known if the prices were good or not. From the looks of the crowd, the sale prices were good.

I was after toddler jeans, kids pjs, rubbermaid containers, a new paper shredder, just regular stuff. I walked out with nothing because the lines were ridiculous for a $7. item. Came home, logged on and ordered the clothing items I needed. I was a little upset because the website was extremely slow, due to the heavy traffic I'm sure, so by the time I checked out, the toddler jeans I wanted for my grandson were sold out! I was brave enough to go back to the store at 10, and lo and behold! I found EVERYTHING I wanted, even the pj's I had just purchased were there. Since the store is open 24 hrs there was no way for the workers to set up the merchandise before 5, it was being taken out after the doors opened, that's why lots of the things I was looking fore were unavailable at 5, but they were there at 10...sadly not the jeans I wanted for my little grandson. Oh well, thank you Lord, for allowing me to be financially stable enough that I can buy items at regular price if I need them...but I was, I am, and will always be a penny pincher and will always look for the sale price!

After waking so early, I napped on and off between 3 and 5. Let's hope I am able to sleep tonight.

Pray for the Wal-mart worker who was trampled to death in NY as he was opening the doors to let the eager beavers in.

It's a BEAUTIFUL day in South TX, in the high 70's. How has your day been today?

How do you...?

...search for blogs? On AOL journals you could key in words, such as weight loss, grief, photography, etc. and then search and links to journals related to that would pop up.

Can anyone help me? Maybe I just don't see it!!

Thanks in advance!

Feeling So Thankful!

It's almost tomorrow, the official day to give Thanks. I am thankful every day because God is in my life. I know sometimes I ramble on about how depressed I am, but I've been fighting depression for 33 years now, on and off, mostly off, Thank God!

Some of the things I am thankful for:
My parents, 80 and 79 years old, married for 58 years. My mother is getting hard of hearing but she is a ball of fire, always on the go! My daddy is the calm one, so cool and serene all the time.
My paid off home. With my parents co-signature, I borrowed $30,000. 6 yrs ago, and after living in a mobile home from 1983 until 2002 I built a 3 br brick home. Paid $500/month and paid the entire loan off this summer! Now I'm paying those $500 on a car for a year and it will be paid off in a year.
My son, 28, and his fiance. They just bought a new home and found out they are pregnant. With God's grace, I will have 2 grandchildren come June 2009.
My daughter, 26 and my 3 year old grandson who live with me. He is such a bright spot in our lives!
My job of 32 years. I qualify for retirement and would get $2,100/monthly, but would have to pay health insurance from there, and face it, I'm not ready to retire!
My regained health after my gastric bypass surgery almost 8 yrs ago. Yes, I've regained half my weight, but most of what ailed me before my surgery left and never returned!
My boyfriend (gosh, is that still the correct term at our age, I'm 53 and he is 57!) of almost 6 yrs. We met through match.com in Feb. 2003 and have been together since. We live 4 hrs apart, so maybe that's why it's been so successful :-)

My God, who has guided me through all trials and tribulations, especially with being a single parent, and having to deal with my son's difficult period from when he was 18 until 24. 3 car accidents, 2 motorcyle accidents, the last one 2 yrs ago pretty serious. Thank you Lord, for giving me the courage to go on, for giving me the strength to carry on every day when I just wanted to lie under the covers and cry. I thank you for bringing my boyfriend "Moose" into my life, for it has been his guiding and loving words that have helped to ease my fears when I didn't know how to deal with my son's troubles. My poor son, growing up without a father to love him and to love back, who didn't know who to turn to in times of trouble. Thank you my Heavenly Father, for never giving up on us!

Father God, please bless my new blogger friends as you have blessed me. May each and everyone of them have a peaceful day tomorrow, surrounded by those they love. Amen.

Hello again

Has it really been almost a month since I last posted? Back then, I honestly feel I was close to a nervous breakdown from so much pressure at work/inner pressure I bring on myself. I honestly feel I may be ADHD, I certainly have OCD to some extent. In the 19 yrs I've worked at my school, I have acquired more and more duties. Some I've brought on myself. Let me explain...I kind of live out of town and have to drive in to town to get to work, so anytime there are errands to run, or breakfast to pick up for meetings, I kind of offered myself to run those errands. It got to where I was pressuring myself to have to leave much earlier to run those errands AND get to work on time. That is just ONE of the things that had started to become kind of the needle that broke the camels back (is that the way the saying goes??). I was being made to serve as receptionist at work, along with all my duties as main secretary, and my work was being left undone by spending so much time away from my desk.

I finally cried "ENOUGH!" on Oct 16, took 6 work days and 2 weekend off and when I returned on the 27th things were different. Some physical changes took place in the office and I now have an office all to myself, but the most important change is that the clerk who shared an office with me was moved out with the receptionist and they share the front window and phone duties. I now work 8-5, rather than 8-6:30 (and I was working with NO overtime pay!), I come home feeling relaxed, and most importantly, my work is getting done ON TIME!!

Another wonderful thing has come out of all this...I actually sleep now!! I used to lie awake until 3 am, would sleep 2 hrs, then would wake at 5 am, worried about everything I could think about! Believe it or not, I now usually asleep by 10:30 and with no "happy pills" (Xanax or OTC sleep aids). I actually get a good night's rest and wake refreshed and ready to go!

I have to get back into the journaling. I usually spend the holidays kind of depressed, don't ask me why, I guess just too much commercialization. I enjoy the lights and the weather, but somehow I am depressed. My mood usually lifts at the beginning of the year.

My weight is still the same...219 as of last week. I've been back and forth to the doctor for several different issues, will go into that in another post.

Thanks to my 2 (TWO!) fellow bloggers who follow my blog, and I think one is about to deliver a baby, if she hasn't by now. If you're reading this, maybe you can invite some of your readers to stop by my blog, would love to meet new online friends.