Have a wonderful day tomorrow. My oldest daughter and family are here now and will leave after lunch on Friday. They have a big day planned tomorrow. After lunch, at 2 PM, we will have Ellies 8th birthday, put up our Christmas tree after my sister leaves and then they want to go to a movie with my youngest daughter and her new boyfriend. Then they plan on stopping by Walmart for a particular Black Friday deal they want. There is some tablet for $29 and my techie SIL says it well worth that money.

So Charlie and I will have the evening to ourselves. I hop I can get him not to talk about the Ferguson problem. I didn't watch any of my programs tonight because it was so peaceful and quiet with just the family. Charlie went out to Karaoke and made it so quiet. He has been trying to get my daughter and SIL to talk about the Ferguson problems but they won't take the bait. I just hope he will behave himself tomorrow at dinner. I know my brother in law won't talk politics with him nor my sister.

Howdy all...

Wow, everyone must be enjoying the holiday weekend, that or shopping...where are you???

DH & I spent the weekend in downtown Chicago in part to get away from the mess and holes in the house. It was so nice-we shopped and had some nice dinners and went to a couple of clubs.

But there was a shooting in the Nordstrom's around the corner. A man shot his ex girlfriend who was a seasonal employee and then killed himself. We wondered why we heard so many sirens Friday night...she died the next day

Then at 3 am this morning an off duty county police officer was across the street from a club a block away from where we had spent the evening. He noticed a man waving a gun in the crowd. He ran over and told the man to drop the gun; instead the man pointed it at the officer.The officer shot the man dead. when he fell to the ground, someone grabbed his gun and ran off I am so glad I left the city...

We are back home now, back to our old routine...

Debbie, I had heard about Nordstrom's on the news. In the other shooting they are saying the person is in critical condition and that there was allegedly a gun. I used to feel pretty safe in the magnificent mile area of Chicago.

There was a shooting in downtown Austin that made national news this weekend. The guy was shooting the federal courthouse, police head quarters and Mexican consulate building.

I have been spending alot of time with family over the past few days.

AHHH, December!!! LOL!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

We traveled to my sister's who lives out of state. As much as I love to go I love to get back home! I fell asleep early yesterday and slept in late this morning. I didn't realize how exhausted I was.

I don't think people who don't have ms realize the limitations we can have. I feel like I am whining when I say I can't do something or I need a nap. I did take a nap on Thanksgiving for the first time in many years but I just couldn't keep up with my sister. She is like the energizer bunny. I wish I had half of her energy!

I am starting to clean to get ready to put out the Christmas decorations. Slow and steady. I used to be able to do it all in one day but now I spread it out over a week or so.

Barb, I heard about the Austin shooting...so scary. Our nephew & his wife live there...

Love Cats, it is a very fine line we walk. It's a matter of living life to the fullest, but also being mindful of how much energy we have used...

I really enjoyed going to the Christmas program at Anya's school last night. The little kids (pre K 3 through about 1st grade were so cute and funny. The older children were much more serious. Anya and her friends looked so beautiful in their party dresses. She is growing up so quickly.

Barb, awwww, now that's what Christmas is all about.

Went to my youngest Grand daughter's first ballet recital yesterday. Made for a very long day but well worth it. Wish I could have stayed over last night to see it again but no can do. It was the Advent. This ballet academy is a christian academy so they do the Advent every year just change something in it every year. I knew Ellie was one of the stars but I am so used to seeing the star in a typical church or school play. She has a pretty dress on, usually white, has the little halo with tinfoil star attached to it. She was told to change into her costume at home, have her hair in the very correct bun and stage make up on. So when we got to the place it was held in and we left her that's what I expected to see her in. So by the play bill I knew when the stars were supposed to come out, right after the angels did. So I wasn't looking real closely when these beautiful young girls with these elaborate silvery ballet dresses came out with a glittering thing next to the bun and arm wraps on. Finally at the end of the routine I noticed that , hey there is my Ellie!!! I could have been video taping the whole thing!!! and basically I didn't really concentrate seeing my Ellie do her dance. I feel so bad as a Grandma. But after it was over they let the dancers mingle with their families and I got good pictures. She is very good at posing for a picture. Since it is Christian orientated they had the manager pray before hand and also one of the little 8 year olds wanted to say a prayer. she said a cute little prayer asking for strength and then asked that God would help her Mommy and Daddy quit fighting. She sounded so serious. Her older sister had another thing to do last night. Her acapella group at school was to sing at a Victorian Christmas for the city so she and her Mom will go again today.

I always thought we had quite a dysfunctional household when the kids were younger. There was only one perfect and right person in the family, my husband. all the rest of us had to right to our opinions but we were idiots. It is much better now. But when we were kind of dysfunctional my sister's family always seemed like the picture of an ideal family. Now if they could get away with not seeing each other at all I think it would be OK with them. So Norma loves to be with our zany, laughing, loving family. So she went with us. She has many disabilities but knew it would be well worth the pain she would be in. I wish I knew how to take a picture that I sent from my iPad to Facebook and put it here. You could see my little star. Some one tried to tell me on another forum but I couldn't understand. If anyone wants to be face book friends with me they will see her and much more of my life.

Hi Everyone!

Debbie - How scary! I had heard about the one shooting. I'm glad you were not there at the time. I'm sure you were glad to get home.

Barb - How fun! I'm sure Anya loved having you there. Those things are important to kids.

I finally joined the Grandma club on Friday. They induced DD23 on Thursday afternoon. She was in labor for 18 hours. Poor girl! She started to have issues with the preeclampsia and the dr decided it was time. The baby was 3 weeks early but is doing fine. He had some trouble breathing and spent some time in the NICU but after a few hours he was breathing just fine. DD23 and the baby are home now and I'm helping out as I can.

The apartment complex fixed the mold/mildew smell in my apartment. Phew! They used an ozone machine and I had to spend a few days out of the apartment. ALl is much better now.