The Day Before Thanksgiving

11/21/07 Lately I have been noticing the firey colors of the fall leaves. Yesterday I saw a blanket of red. I thought of going back to that particular tree to photograph the bed of rich reds, but I couldn't remember where I saw it. By the time I got off work at noon, the sun had gone into hiding behind the clouds. It seemed as if the wind had blown half of the leaves off the trees in over three hours. None of the leaves looked as bright without the sun. That one perfect moment in time was gone. There was no need to search for the tree with the red leafed bed then. The lighting wouldn't be the same.

I got to mom's. We ate ham sandwiches. I made Rhett and myself two mini chocolate cakes I'd just bought at the store. They were so good. I will have to buy more. Then mom's old neighbor, Lori came in from her hairdresser. Mom & I planned to begin cooking for Thanksgiving but Lori was there and I was a bit resentful of the fact. Lori brought in Chick-Fil-A sandwiches so I let them eat. I laid down on my mom's bed and watched soaps while they ate. Was I being a pouty child? Not at that moment. I continued to watch soaps I have lost interest in over the years while I finished one of my small drawings I began in my gratitude journal. Then I began another one which I call "Dragonhead" which is the one above. (When I looked at the photo days later, it did not look as good to me. I zoomed in on it and thought it looked like a dog's head instead of a dragon. LOL Not sure I will keep it or delete it. I suppose I only put it here to show what I have been creating.)

Lori told Rhett to tell me to come into the living room twice. I didn't go the 1st time, stubborn Capricorn goat that I am. Eventually I grabbed my new patchwork bag which holds all of my many photos I have taken since August. I began showing them to her. She liked some of them; some more than others. She said, "We need to find a way for you to utilize them." From her lips to God's ears. For the yellow tomatoes I took at Helen's table (my MIL) in Indy, Lori suggested I come up with a recipe and submit it to "Southern Living" magazine. That was something I had not thought of before. Lori did say some of my photos look as if they could be Hallmark card covers.

That brought back an old memory.... When I first began writing, I submitted some ideas to Hallmark, but all I got were rejection slips. Not enough to wallpaper my bedroom as some writers have been known to do with their's. When I discovered rubber stamps and card embossing, I made my own cards that were better than any Hallmark. I dreamed of opening my own card shop. My friend Danny was going to back me in business, but he got married and moved away. From making cards for friends for a fee, I learned you can't mix business with friendship. I thought I was picky, but found some of my friends were far pickier and more critical than I am. I like pleasing myself with my ideas and art, not necessarily pleasing others. If that sounds harsh, I am sorry, but that is just the way I feel about it.

This guy I sort of knew who went dancing as much as Penny and I did, Eddie, worked for Lithokrome who actually makes cards for Hallmark locally. When I told him I embossed my own cards, he told me that "was admirable but we have machines that can do that for you and save you a whole lot of time." I don't think I ever saw Eddie again after that conversation. I wonder what happened to him?

So should I give Hallmark another try?

Lori left at almost 4 pm. I had kp duty while I watched "General Hospital" as mom put on the chicken in the boiler. Then we watched Miley Cyrus on "Oprah" where I saw a neat idea.... you can take all those cd's you receive in the mail and make a curtain with them to divide a room. Cool. When I told Don, he said it would take a lot of them. Not if you ask friends for their's.

Rhett and I stopped at the store on the way home. This was my 2nd trip today. I hoped it was my last. I think Don was a bit shocked we were home early on a Wednesday night. Usually we stay at mom's until time to go to church. So the three of us all went to church on a Wednesday night together for a change.

I HAD to watch "Criminal Minds" before I began baking my pies. I should have known this main character would not have been killed off the series yet I had to watch it. A cop was the one who shot her. She survived and lived to tell her tale. When the profiler group she works with at the FBI were talking to her, they used a form of hypnotism on her that Bob once used on me. It is harmless. It is not like watching a pendulum swing back and forth to put you in a trance like in the movies. It is simply making you concentrate enough to go back and remember things.

When Bob did it to me, we were in my parent's kitchen. He had me walk out to my camero parked in the garage in the backyard in my mind, open the door of the car, sit down in the car and look for something on the console. I can still feel as if I have done that even as I type this.

Penelope Garcia, the character in the show, remembered the man who shot her wouldn't sit out in the open at the restaurant where he took her for dinner. He would only sit in a corner with his back to the wall. I knew immediately he was a cop and told Don. I said "That's so he can keep an eye on everyone and no one can shoot him." When I said that statement, Don asked me if I had been taking classes he didn't know about. I told him no. I didn't tell him it came from dating and old love who happened to be a CID in the army; a cop. I just happen to remember every word he said.

So I began making my pumpkin pies at 10 pm. While they were baking, I did another doodling that has a neat but had an obvious eye in it. The counselor at work would probably see demons in it again like he did my other doodlings I did at work on a scratch pad. That doesn't mean I have demons. Do my drawings set the demons free?

Rhett curled upo on the couch beneath a blanket and slept. I fell sleep too. While I was snoozing, my glasses fell on the floor. When the timer went off, I got up and stepped on my glasses! It bent the left ear piece outward. Well, I have been thinking I need to go to my optomotrist anyway. My eyes are bothering me more now. At first I thought it might have been goldenrod blooming and maybe it was that one day I had to finally take a benedryl. My eyes seem to be more itchy. They feel like they are producing an oil. Some mornings they are mattered. I am sure all my artwork has put a strain on them as well as my computer use daily.

I finally went to bed around 1 am. I didn't even wake up with Don went hunting that morning.