Happy Veteran's Day to all of you and thanks especially to our blog friends who've done so much to keep us safe.

I didn't sleep in today and I intended to go to the store, bake my gram a cake for her birthday and do some house cleaning. As we got to the store, Marissa wasn't feeling good. She's been very over tired and did way too much this past weekend. I had to rush my shopping to get her back home. Then while I was driving on the highway, she asked if I could pull over because she was going to be sick...and she was...yuck!

So plans changed. Even though today was Gram's 80th birthday and they're leaving for Florida tomorrow, I couldn't have her over. She has had enough to deal with without her getting sick now that she finally gets to leave for Florida. Normally they're in Florida for a whole month by now. Tomorrow she gets her stitches out of her finger and then they're heading out. They still drive to Florida, which is always kind of scary. I am definitely praying that they have a safe trip and also an especially good winter after the summer she has had.

A called me today with another "demand". He said that I'm going to need to find child care a morning or two a week for Kevin before school. He usually has him from 7:30 - 8:40 Monday through Friday. And the reason he's not willing to do this every day anymore? Because he's going to be spending more nights in VT with one of his new chicks. Words can't even describe how I feel about this and about him. It disgusts me, makes me sad and worries me. What will be next? Little by little he seems to want to be less and less responsible for his kids.

We've got the holiday schedule figured out though and I'm happy about that. Thanksgiving day he's taking the kids this year and I will next. Then the kids will spend all of Christmas eve with G and I. They'll open presents with us Christmas morning and then after that we'll take them to A's. And his kids are going to have the same holiday schedule which is exactly what I wanted.

It's slightly overwhelming that Christmas is in about six weeks and I haven't bought a single thing. G and I have four kids to shop for this year. Kids always come first for Christmas. Then we'll get all our other family members a little something. Times are tough for everyone this year.

G's daughter is officially moved in. It seems nice not to have one blank side of the room. Riss and Liz share the huge bedroom that is meant as a master bedroom. We've also added another pet to our house- a rat! I would have never thought I'd allow a rodent in my house LOL. I have an unhealthy, abnormal fear of mice. But G has showed me that rats aren't that bad and it's in a cage. I have held it before though.

I found a long lost friend this past weekend! She was my best friend in elementary school and in Jr. high. Even when she moved away to a nearby town, her and I remained close. She was the type of friend where we could go months without seeing each other, but when we were together again we were right back as close as we always were. I was very surprised that I invited her to my wedding and she didn't show up. I never talked to her since then...1995. I always wondered what happened, what I did to make her upset with me. I heard a couple years later that she was living out of state. I thought of her often and in recent years, have tried looking for her on the internet. Well on Saturday I decided to look again on facebook. I searched by her high school and typed in just her first name because I knew she had been married. I saw a partial profile with her first name and not a picture of her, but of two young kids. I totally took a chance and requested her to add me. Within less than an hour I got a response of "OMG I can't believe you found me!". It was so awesome to find her, talk to her a little bit and to find out that she never was mad at me. I guess she never got my wedding invitation until after the wedding (much after the wedding) and then she didn't really know what to do. She never looked me up but just like I said, she's said that she's thought of me often over the years. She lives in Va and says she will be coming to NY to visit family in this next Summer and we are planning to get together. That will be like a dream come true for me. I don't like losing friends and I've wanted to reconnect with her for so long. She's also a teacher. She teaches special ed in the elementary school. She has two kids, a boy and a girl (5 and 2). She took five years off from teaching with her kids and this is her first year back.

I haven't heard from my sister, but I guess her puppy is sick. She was vomiting and they took her to the vet this morning. I hope my lil Pippy girl is feeling better.

On a final note....I want ice cream and some hot chocolate chip cookies! LOL

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