Turkey. Thanks. Tradition. My triple threat.

What is Thanksgiving to you? Turkey or ham? Gravy or stuffing? Christmas music or lame music?

Thanksgiving in my family is about as big of a production as a wedding in most others. Well, that's how it used to be. My mom is one of three kids. Add grandparents, spouses, a few cousins, and a couple family friends. It is about 15. Easy enough, right?

Here is where it gets crazy. My dad is one of twelve. Yes, twelve.

Now, I have never been good at math, but if you add the grandparents and spouses, that's 26 people. Each of them have at least 2 kids. Some have 3. That's a minimum of 24 cousins. That's almost 50 people if only family comes, and everyone comes.

Here's where it gets crazy. Again. Having twelve kids means there is a big length of time between the first and last kid (In this case, twins). So we have one of those situations where your nephew is a year younger than you. So you also have to add in the significant others of the 3G (third generation) cousins.

Some of my fondest memories from childhood are of Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a time where the aunts and uncles catch up, the young cousins get to play, the older cousins get to be too cool for their siblings, and where the grandparents bask in the glory of a legacy. Their legacy and our tradition.

But, like any normal American family, families split and not everyone goes to Thanksgiving or Christmas. Some families are forming new traditions, while others are keeping up with the old. The years go by and the numbers start to grow, but also start to slip away. And now all of the cousins are pairing off and starting their own families. Starting their own legacies.

Whether you have Thanksgiving with friends or family, eat turkey or ham, stay home or travel, stuff your face with pumpkin pie or apple pie, it's a time to be with those you care about.

We overlook the small things because we are so focused on the big things. The small things are what makes us, and we are what makes the big things.

I do have to admit.... this post was originally going to be a recap of the dreadful day I had (A man pushing a woman down, while getting off the bus and the hour and 45 minute commute to work, which made me 30 minutes late). Commuting sucks. It really does. But I can change that by moving to Seattle, or getting a job close to home. But I don't. I love where I work and I love where I live.

I had a time where I felt like a sitting duck. I couldn't get a job I wanted. It sucked and I had a massive pity party for myself. The economy sucks. It's hard to get jobs. Blah blah blah. You don't get anywhere if you think like that. But like I said earlier, the small stuff... It's what makes us. It's that fire under your butt that gets you to the big stuff.

Everyone has different "big stuff," and as long as you're working toward it and heading down the right lane, it doesn't matter who is passing you. They're headed somewhere else anyway.

This Thanksgiving I have more to be thankful for than any year before. I may not be right where I want to be, but I'm on my way. I've chosen my lane and I'm choosing my big stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Rude Awakenings... Déjà Vu

Well it's half past midnight and I'm currently sitting on my floor in my bedroom. I have one blind propped up at eye level, so I can watch my street.

How do you suppose one falls asleep after calling 911 in the middle of the night? (I will report back later on that)

I have been taking part in the daily post on Facebook saying what I'm thankful for. Since it is officially a new day, I am thankful for Pet Detective Tigerlily.

Who needs a watchdog when you have a horrible narcoleptic sleeper and a fidgety 3 year old cat to fight the neighborhood crime?

I'm not sure if I woke her up, or vice versa. Whatever, it's a moot point. Anyway, I went to let her out for the night and she crouched down and was peering around the corner. We had an incident a few weeks ago with the Fugliest... Nastiest.... Shithead raccoon, so I thought the damn thing must be back. I step out on the porch, reindeer pajama pants and all, and expect to find a hissing raccoon.

Let's just say, I wish the raccoon came back.

I watched a man, who was scoping out a neighboring condo for sale. He didn't see me of course, but I ran inside to watch from my house. I turned on all the lights downstairs except for my room. I stood and watched for him through the blinds. He set his gym bag and another bag down on the sidewalk while he scoped out the for sale condo. Meanwhile I grab my phone to call 911, I watch him walk back down the steps and look down at each of ours. He picked up his bags, unsure of which way to go, then heads down the street closer to our house. He was giving each place a once over and was checking where each window was. Then he started to head down a side street. He for some reason changed his mind and kept going down the main street.

My heart was POUNDING so fast as I described what I could to 911. I've called 911 three times in my life.... Twice being in the last 2 months. Once was like I said before, to see what happens. I was ohh 6 or 7 years old?

So I plop myself on my bedroom floor and watch the man walk out of my sight and wait for the cops to drive in that direction. I watched one cop car drive by and a minute later watched another cop car drive by. I felt a little better, but who knows where the man had walked when he went out of my sight? What if he comes back this way?

A few minutes later I see one of the cop cars very slowly cruise back by and check out each of our places. Not a minute later I hear a car gassing it and see the cop car head the direction it just came from. About 10 or 15 minutes later I heard some sirens in the distance. I haven't seen either cop car come back this way. I'm going to assume that is a good sign and maybe they caught the guy.

It's been about an hour since this all started and I'm still sitting on my floor.

Well crap, just saw a firetruck go by. Now I'm way too curious to try to fall asleep.

Here I am, 26 years old and sitting on my bedroom floor in my Christmas pajamas watching out the window as if it's Christmas Eve and Santa should be arriving any minute. I wish it was Christmas Eve because I would totally have Santa's cookies and milk. All of this neighborhood watch has me starving and in need for a 1AM snack.

I decided not to wake up my roommates because the three of us would feed off each other, create the worst scenarios and none of us would have the slightest chance of getting a restful night of sleep.

Today I am not only thankful for my poor sleep habits, my obnoxious cat's poor sleep habits, but for the people who protect us everyday. You may not feel thankful for police officers if you're speeding down the highway and get a ticket. But when you're in a situation like this, you realize the significance of each of those people. It's a scary, but also humbling a experience to need help from a police officer. They are doing things like this everyday and every night.

For me? It's going to be a rough night sleep (what's new), but I can sleep better knowing they are taking care of this.

It's Veterans Day this weekend and there are TONS of people we owe our thanks to. Men and women are fighting and protecting us everyday.

Thank them.

I have 4 hours until I need to wake up. Lets give this sleep thing another shot.

Say thank you. Lock your doors. Say your prayers.

Something for you dirty folks....

This is my dirtiest post thus far...




Get ready for it....



Okay, so I just had to do my annual training at work... and let me tell you.... I feel DIRTY!







The number of bacteria on YOUR body RIGHT NOW is greater than the number of PEOPLE in the UNITED STATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




OUR hands can contain up to 5 MILLION germs at a time...




98% of infections are SPREAD by contaminated HANDS



It's that time of year, so get your flu shots and wash your hands you dirt balls!




Sincerely,

An obsessive hand-washer

Give and Take

Commuting has a lot of advantages and disadvantages. Let's start with the disadvantages... Because that's all I can think about right now. Traffic has been SO awful in the mornings that even when I get on a bus 5 or 10 minutes earlier, I'm still late. This morning for an example, I got to the bus station a few minutes early to try to get on an earlier bus. I noticed that a car parked on the hill had its door open, but no one was in the car or around the car. Being the day after Halloween, I wasn't going to put myself in some weird Halloween aftermath and try to see where the driver disappeared to. I was planning to tell the security at the bus station to have them to check. And maybe I'm overreacting and someone just left their door open in the pouring rain?

I run down, can't find a security officer, so I hop on the bus. The driver said their were a few seats left, I walk to the back of the bus and there were 3 potential seats. Seats where 2 can fit very comfortably, but if you add a 3rd person, it's a little tight. Well, these lovely commuters didn't budge. No one moved their bag or scooted over. So, as I walk off the bus I say loud enough for the whole bus to hear "I'll just catch the next one, no one wanted to make any room back there." The bus driver said he would make them make room, but I said thanks but no thanks. I wasn't about to piss off the already pissy people on the bus.

Well, it's 7:45 and I am normally just about to get on my connecting bus right about now. Guess where I am? Boeing. Stopped. I imagine I will be about 30 minutes late? Probably more, 30 minutes is a pretty generous guess.

Summer traffic is awful in the afternoon and okay in the morning. The summer afternoons are full of Sounders traffic, Mariners traffic, people being idiots traffic.

Fall and winter traffic is awful in the morning and awful in the afternoon. It's dark, cold, gloomy, and wet. I swear it rains 90% of the year and we have a month or two of total dryness and everyone forgets how to drive in the rain.

It's honestly like people are surprised by the rain. "Gosh, I can't believe this weather!" Oh really? That's odd since you've lived here your whole life... And it rains like this 9 months out of the year... EVERY year!

It's been 10 minutes... And all I can see is Boeing.

Okay, there are some great things about commuting.

#1 - I'm not driving.

And thank God for that. If you've followed my posts, you know I can be an idiot driver.

#2 - It's cheap.

I pay $7 a month and my work pays for the rest. I don't pay for parking, I don't pay for gas, I don't get road rage.

#3 - I get to read.

In the last 6 weeks, I've finished 4 books... JUST reading on the bus to and from work.

#4 - The bus drivers

I have grown to love my bus drivers. It pays to be nice to them. If they see you sprinting down the road, they'll wait for you. But only if you are nice to them and make a point to say hi and thank you. They play jokes on you and wave at you, then pretend they aren't going to pick you up, just to tease you. They ask where you were the other day if you didn't catch their bus.

They may not always run on time, but they always get me home safely.