I work in retail. For me that means a lot of long hours, a lot of rude people, and usually not enough time available to do things for the people I love. So many corners have been cut over the years because after working all day I am just too tired to do all the things I would really like to do. This year for the first time I have had some family living close enough to me to spend a holiday with and as usual, nothing went as planned but we survived. Our holiday was cut short because both my cousin and I had to be at work by 3 AM this morning to take care of Black Friday shoppers. I was having a lot of fun this morning because it was busy, people were decent and generally happy and everyone was on their turkey hangover and generally feeling genial. Then the bomb dropped when our loss prevention manager called me to tell me that my car had been broken into. They smashed my back window and took a bag out of the back seat that they assumed had something good in it. It did but not anything that they would ever want or need. I am a needleworker. In that bag was a couple hundred dollars worth of hand dyed fabrics, threads, beads, charms. patterns and books. Nothing they will ever want. Nothing I can replace. what is worse though was in the top of that bag were my families' Christmas stockings. Each one stitched over the years, my oldest sons' I started stitching for him when I foind out I was pregnant. This would have been the 21 Christmas it was hung. It makes me sick to think that these thieves will open that bag, find out they really didn't get anything worth anything to them and they will discard it and some of my children's history is gone forever.

So I am sitting here being mad and depressed and I go to one of my favorite blogs Pioneer Woman and I realize that what I lost are things. No I can't replace them exactly but I can replace them. God gave me that talent. There are so many things I can't replace like
The memory of my oldest son graduating from boot camp.
or my youngest son following in my father's footsteps an being in the color guard (and meeting the governor and his wife)

Or my brother and his family especially

these sweeties that I love as much as my own kids

my mom (and cousin Lois in this pic)

My hubby



My nutso family members old, young and in between.

So they got my things, and they took away part of my day, they damaged my car but they don't get me, they don't get the folks I love and well, I can always hope they can't sleep well at night. I have a lot of things to be thanksful for! Thank you Ree for helping me remember that.

Don't think I have written here since I took over as team lead for Produce. I miss my friends in the meat room but I don't miss the cold and I like the group I am working with now. I am having one spot of difficulty though. I have one part timer who is giving me fits.

He likes the ladies, particularly some in the neighboring departments.
He likes to visit them.
He likes to help out one the floor.
He likes to wander.
He likes to text at work.

He doesn't like to follow the directions I leave.

This morning was especially bad when I got to work and discovered that there were several major things left undone. Fixing what he didn't do put me behind in what I had to do. Me being behind put Andy in the position of finishing what I didn't get done and the wanderer works again tonight. The cycle repeats unto infinity so in the end, we end up with major problems.

We have a program in place to deal with this called coaching. You get coached and it stays on your record for 1 year. If you get coached 3 times in the year period you are on what they call a decision day or "D" day. This means you were given your last chance and your next required coaching means you are terminated. Guess where the Wanderer is. On a "D" day which means if I coach him, I have to fire him. a week before Thanksgiving, 5 weeks before Christmas. I wouldn't want to do that to someone even if they brought it on themselves not to mention, it leaves my department chort (ok, considering his work ethic maybe that isn't a big deal). So I have to make a decision and I thought I had until my manager told me to kind of postpone it until after the holiday. OK. Then I started thinking, why should I? Shouldn't he be held responsible for his lack of attention to the department he is being paid to work in? Aren't I responsible for holding him accountable and setting a precedent for the rest of my workers?

So now I am going to go get a shower, get dressed and go back to work to talk to him tonight before someones rumor mill gets rolling. I can't wait to see where this goes. :-(

I am off from work today. My mother in law is still in the rehabilitation hospital so I could sleep in a bit (until 7 since the cable man was coming) and it was just lovely sleeping last night and cool this morning so lying in bed seemed like a great idea. Well we have not had home phone service in over a month so I did need to get up and around for that. The guy was here pretty early, seemed like the job was done and Tommy and I took off for Newport to explore a knife shop (I needed a sharpener for work), and the bakery supply place so I could get some sprinkles for my Halloween party treats I am making (they didn't have what I wanted). After that we went to Newport on the Levee to browse the big Bares and Noble there and get some lunch. We spent quite a bit of time in B&N and decided we didn't want lunch there since the places we liked were either way too expensive of had gone out of business. (Boy that place is suffering!) We decided to hit Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and it went down hill from there. We got there just about 2:00 and the place was pretty empty but apparently only had one server working and he wasn't really pushing himself. We placed out order and waited 45 minutes for our food! With all those spicy wings (YUM) it didn't take long until we were out of drinks. Just as we were remarking on the lack of service the waiter brought drinks to the table and took off. Imagine my surprise to find that my Sprite was now water. Do you think he came back so I could get the mistake corrected? We waited and waited for him to come back and by the time he did, we just needed our bill a go box because Tommy was going to be late for work.

I came home and discovered that my phones are NOT fixed you can't call in or out and to top it off I had a $400 cable bill waiting for me. Since I can't get any help with this I am about to tell them to shove it.

I have now spent 3 weeks waiting for a referral from my doctor's office and I called them again today and they were supposed to call me back but have not. I am about out of patience with a lot of things here.

OK, the guys are home and I am going to throw some burgers in the pan... Later!

My mom said she had read my Brigadoon post and was sorry that there were no pictures of this little face on there. Thought maybe it was too hard to capture him as he doesn't sit still for very long.

It is very true, he sure doesn't sit still but he was absolutely the highlight of my vacation, or vacations as it were. This is my nephew. He is almost 3.

I am no stranger to nephews since I have 8 of them, and I love each of them. This will be the last one though so he is special. He reminds me of my own boys where they were little, but that is not it. As my brother says, being with James is like having your own Comedy Central Show. He is funny as hell. He is smart too. I find it fascintating that a child that young has such a sharp sense of humor.

He is tough as nails too. I have seen him fall flat on his face and never whimper. I won't tell my diaper rash story but suffice it to say, I was crying and he never shed a tear.

So there you are mom. I was just saving those memories. I bring them our and they make me smile. Just like this face. Aunt Ria loves her James. I wish I could take him home!

Do you remember the story of Brigadoon? In case you don't, it is about an enchanted Scottish village that appears once every hundred years for just one day. To the villagers the hundred years seem to pass in the span of one day so things never really change for them.

I have a Brigadoon too. Since 1920, my mother's family has had a family reunion. Imagine something that has occurred every year for 90 years! There were a few years that they missed, wars, scattered family events things like that but they have almost always managed to get at least a part of the family together every year. For the last 10 years, a group of us have been meeting at my uncle's house in beautiful upstate NY. My uncle's family consists of 4 children the same ages as my brothers and I and we were all close growing up even though we lived several hundred miles apart. Guess what? Nothing has changed.


We now start arriving at my uncle and aunt's place on Friday (or in the case of people who are date challenged this year Thursday) and the fun never stops. We camp out in their yard and as the weekend progresses people come and go, campers come and go and food just multiplies until we begin to believe we are eating every 20 minutes or so. We usually have somewhere around 15 kids (although some of them are in their 20's) and somehow we almost always manage to have a baby somewhere to snuggle and rock. We take hundreds of pictures, put together a Power Point slide show which makes us laugh until we are wetting ourselves, drink some (although no one EVER gets stupid or staggering) have a wonderful campfire and an overall lovefest.


My siblings, cousins and I are all in our 40's and for some of us are damn close to 50, but nothing ever changes. For this one miraculous weekend, we are all children again. We physically get together one time a year but to us it is if only one day has passed. Monday morning comes and the most depressing picture appears when the campers are closed up and gone, the pop-up awnings are all gone, tables and chairs are all packed away, garbage picked up and hauled away, no kids, no flamingos (another story trust me), no laughter. Brigadoon has passed away for another year.


There is nothing in the world I would trade those few days for. I dread the day when we start to find ourselves making other plans, when it begins to seem like too much work or too much travel. I can't actually see that day coming but it may. Our older generating is dwindling faster than our younger generation is maturing and I worry that their bond is not as strong as ours is. I pray the enchantment of our Brigadoon is never broken.

I just got back from my (cough) 30th High School Reunion. I had never attended one of the reunions before; I had no desire to attend one. You may find it hard to believe but High School was not the high point of my life. Frankly, I hated most of it. Not the schooling parts but the people parts. I didn't understand what made some people outcasts just because they didn't wear the same clothes, or live in the right neighborhood or whatever. I still don't.

Being back with some people I knew, but hadn't seen in 30 years was a little weird. Some of us slipped back into our friendships easily. Some of us had been talking on Facebook for months so we were already somewhat reacquainted. The sad thing was the cliques still exist and even though there is a lot more common ground among us as adults than there was as kids, those cliques still clung together to the exclusion of all else.

Some people haven't done so well and some people are just plain annoying like the jock hero who is now a drunk and the do-gooder who insists that everyone march to his drummer or they are not worthy of his attention.

I think in the end, despite various life experiences, the people that I liked in high school I could probably still be friends with today if given half a chance. I hope that now that we have reconnected, that half chance is possible. :-)

I found this story on-line. I am the daughter and niece of the"greatest generation". We were brought up to love and respect this country, those men and the freedom they fought and gave their lives for. I am the mother of a soldier. The day he graduated was probably the proudest day of my life.

I know who the real heros in this world our. God Bless Shifty Powers and all of our armed forces no matter where or when they serve(d) us.


Darrell "Shifty" Powers.
Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Infantry. If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10 episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.

I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn't know who he was at the time . I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was at the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle", the symbol of the 101st Airborne, on his hat.

Making conversation, I asked him if he'd been in the 101st Airborne or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served, and how many jumps he made.

Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so, and was in until some time in 1945 . . . " at which point my heart skipped.

At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . . do you know where Normandy is?" At this point my heart stopped.

I told him yes, I know exactly where Normandy was, and I know what D-Day was. At that point he said "I also made a second jump into Holland , into Arnhem ." I was standing with a genuine war hero . . . . and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day.

I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he said "Yes. And it's real sad because these days so few of the guys are left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip." My heart was in my throat and I didn't know what to say.

I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in Coach, while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I'd take his in coach.

He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and still care is enough to make an old man very happy." His eyes were filling up as he said it. And mine are brimming up now as I write this.

Shifty died on June 17 after fighting cancer.

There was no parade.

No big event in Staples Center .

No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage.

No weeping fans on television.

Let's give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our own quiet way.

Rest in peace, Shifty.