Thanksgiving was a wonderful event. Spending time with family is an all time favorite of mine and Chad's. Wednesday I did the usual day before any holiday cooking, well baking because I leave holiday cooking to the pros. After getting up very early and spending all day in the kitchen and a couple of trips to the store my duties were finally complete about 7:30ish that night. I must admit the cookies and pumpkin cheesecake that I spent all day preparing was wonderful. Just ask Sassy & Bella as they snagged a cookie while they were cooling on the table. I laughed really hard at that one because I walked in the house and both of them were sharing a cookie. They NEVER share anything so it was nice to know they were Thankful too.

Thanksgiving was nice, the food at grandma Urbans was great like always. The family gets bigger and bigger every year and next year it will grow again; Chad's cousin Andy and his wife Christy are expecting # 2 due sometime summer 09. What a blessing! They have a beautiful little girl that will turn 11 in January and have been NTNP since then. Alexyss is going to be such a great big sister. What a blessing in deed.
 

After lunch at Grandma Urbans I packed up the girls and my things to make a surprise visit to Somerville to visit my mom and my side of our family. Chad unfortunately had to go to work Thanksgiving night so he was unable to accompany me Thursday... I arrived just after dark, which this time of year is 6:30 ish & it was a huge surprise to my mom. My sister knew I was coming in, I told her in a text message right before I left on my journey but swore her to secrecy. I am so glad that I told her because she was thoughtful enough to pack me left overs from my grandparents house & I had dinner when I got there! YUMMY! I was a little disappointed that my hubby had to work Thanksgiving night for a multitude of reasons and one but of course not the most important reason is because I was going to miss out on Black Friday shopping. Boy my plans changed in a heart beat because my sis and David were psyched about Black Friday shopping & secretly I was too! 3:15 Friday morning came really early after a restless nights sleep. My moms dogs love to play & fight at night, the girls were in bed with me and moved all thru the night but at the end of the day still Thankful. We were disorganized, didn't know where we were going and I was trying to coach my sis and BIL on the tips and tricks of Black Friday shopping. Our first stop was Toys R Us, I knew exactly what I wanted for the boys and had my game plan together. I was in and out of the store in 20 minutes & that includes standing in line waiting for a register! My sis and David spent about an hour in the store, needless to say they didn't really know what they wanted but did get some great deals. Next on our list was Target, this leg of our journey went must smoother as Sis and David quickly picked up on the idea behind it. Thinking we were done; I had bought for the boys and got a little something for Chad too, we had breakfast at IHop. While there mom called and asked us to pick up a rake. Yes, a rake. Leave it up to my mom to want us to get something of this nature on Black Friday. Being the good daughters we are we complied & headed to Wal-Mart. That place was a mad house! We got the rake and a few other things and more christmas presents then headed back to my truck. There was an ambulance in the parking lot, apparently someone got into a fight over a TV. So trivial!!! I said a quick prayer and we headed back to my moms. During our disorganizational state my sister comes up with a great idea to keep the presents a secret from her boys, we took all the gifts to storage! Chad came into town during our shopping and went hunting, imagine that right. ;) Unfortunately he did not get anything but was thankful for the opportunity to reconnect with nature.

Friday evening after my nap & while Chad was on his evening hunt, mom made a big roast for dinner, we sat as a family at the dinning room table, chatted and enjoyed dinner. After dinner we watched a movie, however I cannot recall the name of the movie or what it was about. I was too consumed with spending time with our family. Saturday morning Chad and I get up really early, start packing up & loading our trucks to get back home. Mom made a big breakfast that we again enjoyed as a family. We left moms and went to Nanny & Paw Paws. As we arrive Paw Paw was walking out the door, almost skipping out the door, saying "I'm out of here" when I asked him if he was leaving. It was the cutest thing seeing an 83 year old man skipping out the door. I kissed him on the cheek & told him that I loved him and he went on his way. About 10 minutes later he walks into the house to give the mail to Nanny and says again "I'm out of here". He was going to towk to get feed and medicine for the horse and cows he bought at the auction the prior day. Chad and I visited with Nanny for a while then headed home. It was a long journey and I was sad to go. Thanksgiving weekend so far had been wonderful!

Now home & back to reality... Running errands at my next to last stop I get a call from my mom telling me that she was following an ambulance to Caldwell Hospital. My heart sunk to my stomach. My grandfather was being taken by ambulance to the hospital for diarrhea & vomiting. Not knowing what the next few hours would bring, staying in close contact with my mom and sister, it was determined that my 83 year old grandfather had a heart attack and was going to be transported to St Joseph's in Bryan. At this point my sister is with my mom at Caldwell Hospital, thank GOD! When I hear about the heart attack and being transported to Cardiac ICU in Bryan I am on my way to be there with and support my family. Chad is so wonderful, he made me a sandwich with chips and a drink for the road, told me that he would continue doing the laundry and cleaning the house & most importantly held me and told me to be careful. The drive from our house to the hospital in Bryan seemed like an eternity and in actuality took about 1 hr 45 minutes. I get to the hospital and am able to see my grandfather. At this point he is still in the ER. He woke up for a brief minute when I got there, gave me a giant grin, I kissed him and told him that I loved him. The funny thing about it is every time he woke up he would ask a different question about his farm, animals, feedings, etc. He is a true American Farmer! The ER Dr and the Hospital Resident Dr had completely different diagnosis of the problem. The ER Dr said it was a virus yet the Hospital Resident Dr said it was a heart attack, he will need to be monitored and lots more tests run and he might have a tummy virus as well but that was not his biggest concern. His biggest concern is his electro cardio somethings were high high, his blood pressure was low even got as low as 70/40 and he was dehydrated. Dehydration was a pretty easy fix with IV fluids but they needed to be careful to not flood his lungs. By the time he was put in Cardiac ICU his BP was higher and he had more color. After he was stabilized and in Cardiac ICU I headed home. Got home about 1:30 Sunday morning and made myself go to bed after 3am. Burger King Turbo coffee is awesome BTW.  Sunday he was making progress, the heart attack was confirmed and the Dr's were planning their strategy for treatment. Monday was a different story all together... his heart beat went down to about 30bpm, they stabilized him & transferred him to another kind of Cardiac ICU. My mom calls me about 8ish Monday night while Sarah and myself were at the Texans game, it was so loud I could not hear anything. My mom puts my grandfather on the phone, I told him that I loved him I hope he was able to hear me over the noise. I received a text from my sister briefly explaining the episode, they rushed to the hospital & he was stable.

This morning I text my mom on my way to work, she calls me immediately and tells me the whole story. Paw Paw got news of his tractor blowing up and 2 of his new calves had died and it was too much for him to handle. We have not received any additional information if he had another heart attack. I am guessing we will find out this information today.

Even after everything that has been going on We are so Thankful! Life really is a blessing, don't take it for granted & live your life with no regrets. Tell the people you love that you love them every chance you get, be nice to one another, work hard, play hard, count your blessings not your problems, thank GOD daily for your blessings. I am a blessed little girl!
 

Hurricane IKE came right at us and tore up our roof and interior of our house, we were without power for 10 freaking days and having to deal with the insurance company, insurance adjuster, contractors, getting bids, and basically living out of two rooms of our house it doesn't end!!!

I went to the mall this afternoon to drop off my wedding ring to get sized and redipped. I parked way out as I always do and was in the mall for about 30 minutes... I come out to my Tahoe and notice this effing car literally parked in my parking spot. I thought to myself WTF, how in the hell and I supposed to get in my truck to leave and how in the hell did they get in this parking place without hitting my car. Well they didn't get into the parking place without hitting my car.  They knocked the crap out of my car!  
I called the sheriffs office to file a report, the sheriff arrived and took down all the information. Did not file a freaking report because it happened on 'private property' which I think is freaking bs but what ever! The sheriff was so nice, I can't complain about that part. Well low and behold after about a hour this lady (I'd say mid to late 50's) starts walking past us and looking right at me, the sheriff, we will call him B, asks the lady if this is her car; she says "yes, it is my sons car" started walking towards us then immediately starting denying hitting my car. I was thinking are you kidding me lady and geeze have I not had enough to deal with lately. Anyway finally she provided her drivers license and the insurance on the car to B. He exchanged all the information, mine to her, hers to mine. She looked at him and said "I didn't feel like I hit a car when I pulled into this parking spot" B told her "lady come on, you are old enough to know better. If you are getting out of your car and notice the driver of the car you parked next to would not be able to get into their vehicle you are too damn close and you probably hit them. Lady that was one ignorant thing to do and say." He then proceeded to tell her that she is lucky that I am staying calm and did not have a case of rage and knock the shit out of her car trying to leave. Lets just say that he gave her a good talking to! 
Then this stupid lady told B that she was going to pull out first and he said absolutely not I butted in and said "look lady, you already knocked the shit out of my truck pulling into the parking place, let me manuver out first so you don't hit my truck again pulling out of the parking place." God, I was pissed!!! I had to climb into my truck through the passenger side and do what felt like a 50 point turn to get out of that shit!

The story is not over yet...

I get home and call my insurance company to file a claim - while I am on the phone an unknown number calls me 4 fucking times and leaves me a voice mail. I check my voicemail after I get off the phone with my insurance company & it was the owner of the car that hit mine, the ladys son... I ask Chad what I should do and Chad says Maybe he just wants to pay out of pocket for it, give him a call back. well I did call Mr. C back and he was an asshole & started blaming me! I was like hold up guy I have pictures that I can send you showing your mom's parking job in my parking place. His response "Well my mom said she didn't 'feel' like she hit a car when pulling into the parking place and I just don't see how I could have this damage to my car unless you hit my car plus I would like to get pictures of your car since I wasn't there" I was seriously pissed at this point and told him to meet me for coffee at Starbucks down the street in 20 minutes and we could discuss and he could take all the pictures he wanted. He called me back 2 minutes, yes 2 minutes later and told me today was not good for him and I [B]needed[/B] to meet him tomorrow. That today he didn't have access to a camera and it was just inconvenient for him to meet me now. Yep the Bitch came out in me. I said "look guy if you want to take pictures of my car you can meet me in 20 minutes, I can not meet tomorrow, next week or any other time. I am a bit irritated with your calls and the fact that your mother hit my car, I will send your insurance company the photos I have and you can get them from them." Now good day!
I called his insurance company to file a claim and I just think there is something fishy about the policy, the lady said the vehicle mentioned (license plate) was not on the policy but the Vin # is registered in LA. 

So not only do I have damage to the interior and exterior of my home I now have damage to my vehicle. The only thing I can think is that bad things happen in 3's and the universe still owes me one. God I hope it is nothing