in which she triumphs over fear and books that flight to washington!!!!

Or more accurately, her longing to see her granddaughter trumps the anxiety of travelling alone. I am still terra-miff-ied, but it will be worth it. And I do feel liberated, in a small way...I can do this!

Now, as I have taken plenty of trips with Emily and my other older kids, as well as with Paul, I do know a little bit about traveling. But, I am more of a follower than a leader, and if someone else is willing to take the helm, I am not there all second guessing them, nope, I am just letting them figure it out. I'm like that in a kitchen, too. Just tell me what to do. But the interesting thing is, when I HAVE to be the boss, I can do it. I can figure out what needs to be done and how to do it, but hey, if someone else is in charge, I'll just do what I'm told.

Anyway. I am going to Seattle, Washington! One son (Sam) in Washington D.C. and the other (Ben) on the west coast...

I leave on the 6th of December.

I think I have figured out what I would do with my money if I won the lottery. I would travel. I love seeing new places, and planning trips. I have kids who would LOVE to fly out and see Anya, too, but....

Samuel, who is in D.C., Army, Old Guard, cannot come home for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. He is on one of the bases that keeps a full group of soldiers at all times.

I just found out today that he can't come for Thanksgiving. So of course I was bemoaning that fact to the cashier in the grocery store, to which she replied, "you should go see him instead." I said, "We can't, there are too many of us." She probably thought I was crazy. Too many of us. But with the nurses in the family, and their crazy and different schedules, we couldn't co-ordinate a trip with all of the rest of us, so someone would end up alone for Christmas or Thanksgiving no matter how we tried.

Anyway. I feel bad for him. He is still only 19 years old, and has always loved the holidays and traditions. He was the liveliest one at the table, the funniest and also the one who enjoyed the meals the most.

I talked to him on the phone tonight, he has been doing lots of missions...and he went to the shooting range overnight again. He got 38 out of 40, which makes him an expert marksman, which he says he has to be to be in the infantry, but I am impressed. If I hit one out of 40, I would be having a good day. At 100 to 300 yards away, moving targets that popped up in 15 second intervals, if you took too long, you missed it....

Anyway. He is doing okay.

Today, we went to the mall....

Kathryn, Suzanne, Charlotte Claire, and Camille. We had to go, Kathryn's Surface wasn't responding, so we took it to the Microsoft store. It still isn't fixed, but that's another story, a boring one. We went into the Disney store, where the girls were instantly attracted to the Star Wars toys. Charlotte Claire is a huge SW nerd. I was a bit surprised to see them sail past all the princess dolls though.

We ate at the food court while we waited for Kathryn's computer. Chinese food, half a sub, a burrito...blah. I had the General Tso's chicken, and it was so salty, but...so good. I was good too, I only had a few spoons of the rice. The girls ate a little of it, but were full enough from their own food...so I threw it away. I still have that baggage from childhood: wasting food is a sin. But. It's better off in the garbage than in my gut, so off it went. The other thing is, I wanted to eat it all but I knew I didn't need it!

We went to Starbucks and got a coffee for me, and some iced teas for the girls. The two littler ones went on the carousel...I didn't get a picture because Kathryn and Suze had my phone (camera) when they walked to Starbucks for their drinks. dang. I stood there watching those little princesses go around and around on their horses, Camille clearly in her own little world, and remembered the days when we had to buy 12 or 14 tickets...today: two. And, no one needed Mama to stand there and go around and around, next to their horse making sure they didn't fall off. Times have a-changed.



They are growing up on me! But these two little girls really enjoy life. They danced along to the irritating Christmas music, and marveled at the decorations. They helped pick out a birthday present for their cousin, they are going to his birthday party on Saturday. They helped me pick out some clothes for them that we are saving for Christmas, too. They love to look in the kids' sections, and read the tags. They know that $19.99 is twenty bucks, and it is too much:)

Ah well. We stopped at Target on the way home from the mall, and got a few Christmas presents, and some socks for Jonathan.

Then, to the grocery store that has eggs on sale for a dollar a dozen this week. I got six dozen. And, some oranges, apples, and sweet potatoes, along with some bagels, half and half, and heavy cream for next week. Real whipped cream, pies, oh dear....

Thanksgiving. We do have much to be thankful for. Mali and Aaron, who are both nurses, have to work. Emily works at the same hospital as Aaron, but has the day off. Mirielle works with Mali, and has it off. Mali and Aaron both work nights, the other two work days now. So hopefully Mali and Aaron can each stop over for just a half hour or so,before work, on Thanksgiving evening.

Mali is coming over the day before to help me make pies. The kids watched the show, "Master Chef Junior", so now they want to make their own pies. hmm. Wasting food is a sin, but letting the kids help is a good thing....

Anyway. I am tired, and have to get up early in the morning....I am taking my brother to a doctor appointment. (one of my other brothers left today for a 3 day shift, helping those poor people in Buffalo dig out of all that snow! If you haven't heard about what I'm talking about here, google it! Buffalo, NY got blasted with snow! 5 inches an hour! People got stuck in their cars for 33 hours on the highway! Doors broke because of the weight of the snow, and 10 people died from storm related causes (heart attacks from shoveling, exposure, and one guy got buried in his car.))

Anyway again, I am tired, so goodnight.