WITH SINCERE CONDOLENCES ...

Judging from the 'fragrance' of the air here near our computer - I'm guessing Mickey and Minnie recently lost another Iowa relative.  Uff-da!  And yet, I'd rather put out DECON and take a chance on this odor - than have to live with LIVE relatives of the famous couple.  It's doesn't happen THAT often and even now it's not so overwhelming that you can't breath. 

A few years ago (before I started putting out DeCon) one died in our heat vent somewhere.  We did EVERYTHING we could think of to diminish the smell.  It was horrid.  And being in the heat vent, the warm moving air kept it especially pungent!

It was fun this week to have a day off in the middle of the week.  Being a City employee I got Veteran's Day off.  Whoo hoo!  I played in my basement for a little while.  Meaning I made a couple of cards!  I feel like I don't get down there nearly enough!  It's so relaxing.  Except - right now I have about a thousand dead wannaBees down there. 

WannaBees are the Japanese Beetles that wanna be Ladybugs.  We've been inundated with them here in the last month. 

Got our Goddard Family gala Thanksgiving planned.  Not me personally got it planned.  There was the customary gathering of the Goddards in a food establishment and that's where it got planned.  I'm so thankful for the cousins who took charge.

I'm in charge of POP!  I know that recipe, so that is what I am doing.  Wyn - I think Gr'ma kind of volunteered that you would bake a turkey.  I have a roaster pan if you want to use it!  See what happens when you get the reputation for being a good cook?    My cousin Tammy said she LIKES to cook.  That on a day off on the weekend she likse to cook and actually thinks "what can I cook next?".  I don't think that thought has EVER crossed my mind.  Not once!  "What do I HAVE to cook next?" has probably been there a time or two. 

My friend Sharon, when I was talking about dressing for Thanksgiving said "oh that's EASY!" - keep in mind that she is a professional cook.  So she probably not only makes it easily, but GOOD.

Nick shaved his head this week.  He's such a party pooper - I wanted SO BAD to take pictures of the process, but he threatened me!  LIFE and LIMB -- so I didn't.  Seriously though there is almost NOTHING as amusing as seeing someone with huge shaved chunks out of their hair here and there!  I should have done it anyway.  At least at my funeral there would have been funny pictures to show while telling how I met my demise! 

Stamping last night at Tammy and Dwayne's was fun.  I even got to sit and make the cards.  SO now I have duplicates of some, but that's okay.  Unless my memory really fails me and I send the same card to the same person -- who will know!?  

Thanksgiving for our clan is, as far as I know -- here at my house.  ON THANKSGIVING DAY -- around 2-ish.  Bring by anything that you can the day before so I can get things warming and ready if possible. 

And so there you have it -- boredom reigns supreme!  Oh ... one thing!  We got a weird email today.  It was kind of an unbelievable email.  It was from someone we KNOW and had the CORRECT email address (theirs) and it said they were in Nigeria (big red flag here!) on a vacation and blah-blah-blah ... sad story and they needed money.

First of all the Nigeria thing is always a clue.  But then --- these ARE people who have traveled the world.  What IF something had happened to him and he was using his yahoo account to TRY to contact someone here in Muscatine?  Wouldn't we be sad if we found out that we should have done something?  (It was Gary Pudewell for those of you who know him.)  So after talking together, Randy called Gisele and Gary's house.  And Gary is okay.  NOT in Nigeria.  They had a virus in their computer and it was using the email account to spam people.  So if you get an email from someone you know -- and they are in Nigeria on a vacation needing money ... well, you handle it however you want, but it's probably the same thing.

Later gaters!  HAPPY SABBATH!!