Wednesday, November 26, 2008

DWTS/Thanksgiving.

The last two nights were the finals of Season 7 of Dancing With The Stars. The three finalist performed their last dance last night. What would win? Brook's elegant and beautiful waltz. Lance's energetic jitterbug. Warren's charming and fun hustle. I loved all three of the dances. I also love both in dancing and in life when a partner respects their partner. Brook complimenting Derek on his teaching skills. Lance saying that Lacey helped him gain confidence. Warren saying he was nothing without Kym. Good for all of them. The third place finisher: Lance. The second place finisher: Warren. The champion of season 7 of dancing with the stars the best from beginning to end, the second woman in a row to win the mirror ball trophy: Brook Burke. Can hardly wait for season 8 of Dancing With The Stars.

Now on to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, sort of Christmas without the shopping. It will be a quiet one this year. Sis just can't afford to come up from Utah for both Christmas and Thanksgiving and chose Christmas. Bro is in his winter home in Las Vegas with his wife and one of his daughters and her family. So it is Mom and I and four friends. One of the family traditions for Thanksgiving is for us to tell what we are thankful for. Not it any order and I know I will miss a ton of things that I am thankful for but here is the short version:

I'm thankfrul for all of you that read and post on my blog. You have become an important part of my life. Every post and every visit is special to me.

I'm thankful for my Mom and the time that I have to spend with her. She has taught me by example how to age gracefully. She teaches me love everyday.

I'm thankful for the dad that I had. He taught me to live life honorably. I try everyday to live up to that and fail often but it is always my goal. He taught me to laugh. He taught me to love. He taught me to be kind. He is my life. I miss his hugs. May he rest in peace.

I'm thankful for my dad's five sisters, you are angels watching over me. Nola I wish I would have gotten to know you better. Augusta thank you and Uncle Bob for all the summers in Glendale and all the Dodger games. Thank you Aunt Emily and Uncle Bill for all the Thanksgiving holidays we spent at your house. Clara my car is named after you, you made me feel special when you were alive and honored me when you moved on to heaven. Aunt Ella thanks for all the dinners at your beautiful house in San Francisco and thank you for remembering me as you left the earth, you have no idea how much it means to me.

I'm thankful that my mom's brother is still alive. Uncle Frank thank you for your devilish and fun nature. All those poker games during the Christmases at our mountain cabin where you purposely tried to lose rather than taking all your nieces' and nephews' money. It doesn't matter that you couldn't even lose on purpose it was still a nice effort. I'm grateful for your wife, my aunt and second mother, Aunt Velma. I know as long as Aunt Velma is alive that even if my Mom passes I will still have a Mom to turn to.

I'm thankful for my English instructors and my writing mentors that taught me never to be anonymous. Thank you for teaching me to always stand behind anything I write no matter where I write it, be it on a blog, a letter to an editor, or a book. It leads to new friends when I'm not afraid to use my name in all my posts on various blogs. It makes me work hard to be accurate. Sure I screw up a lot but the goal is always there to be as accurate as possible. Sure sometimes someone will steal an idea or a thought from my blog without giving me credit for it but imitation is the highest form of flattery. Besides they know it and I know it. That is all that counts.

I'm thankful for Comedy Sportz 101, the improvements that I've made during the class, the friends that I've met there, and the two women that inspired me to go beyond my comfort zone.

I'm thankful that I only had to go on one job interview before being hired to do tax season support. I start January 19th. It will be a busy ten weeks (usually firms are done by April 1) and then the rest of the year I will have enough money to party and travel!

I know I will remember 4,937 more things that I am thankful for as soon as I post this but the above will do for now.

What are you thankful for?

18 comments:

Pat said...

I missed the final show, darn it, but I'm glad Brooke won. She deserved it. Lance should have been second, but oh, well. Warren is a very charming guy, and that got him the votes.

I've got tons of stuff to be thankful for, though I don't feel very thankful at the moment, having had some kind of weird flu today. So I'll just mention being thankful for my daughter and SIL, for my mother being at least in a very nice place and easy to visit every day, some good friends, both in real life and online, and that I wasn't heavily enough into the stock market to be seriously financially damaged. Yet.

dona said...

Happy Thanksgiving to You Bill and all of your friends who read and post on your blog.
I too and thankful for a ton of things and would surely miss something if I tried to list them all here.
I am really thankful though I have found your blog through Symply's and am happy to have found some friends.
I hope you all have a Wonderful Day in whatever you do.

To Bill...its funny as I too have an Uncle Frank who is devilish and fun as you describe...it surely is a small world!

William J. said...

Hi Pat

Hi hope you are back to 100%. Could you have maybe had an ear infection? Or maybe a very mild case of the Nora virus that you picked up at your mom's assisted living center?

The thing on DWTS was the judges said Brook's free style was the best they have seen and I didn't like it at all, I thought Warren's was best mainly because in the freestyle Brook really didn't do much Derek did all the work. However, I still thought that Brook should win.

The stock market does look like it is coming back! Some day I would really like to meet your daughter, she just sounds like a treasure!

Bill

William J. said...

Hi Dona

I always enjoy your posts. Hope this will be a great day for you and that you don't get stuck with to much cooking!

Thank you for the nice comment about my blog.

Wouldn't ot be great if our Uncle Franks could get together?

Bill

PS

Why am I humming that Disney song, It's A Small World After All?

Anonymous said...

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I am thankful for my family and their health. My job and my husband's job. Our funny dog Joey. My friends and just life in general!

William J. said...

Hi Kim

Happy Thanksgiving to one of my favorites and her family!

What kind of dog?

Bill

Anonymous said...

Joey is an 85 pound Chow. He is the sweetest lap dog God ever made. Most people are scared of him when they first see him but all are won over after being around him!

William J. said...

Hi Kim

I would love the dog. Dogs and cats usually like me too!

Have a great day!

Bill

Pat said...

Hi, Bill. Still don't know what I had, but my current theory is that it was vertigo from some oddball cause like fluid in my inner ear shifting around in my sleep. The vertigo can apparently cause the nausea. Whatever, I'm fine now, so I don't think it was a bug since it went away by evening.

The stock market came back for two days and I gained back about $200 of the $20K I'd lost, so not too excited about that. Heard on the radio today that things were down slightly. I didn't think they'd be trading today, but what do I know?

You'd like my daughter, I'm sure. She's a great kid. 43 now, but still a kid to me. [s]

William J. said...

Hi Pat

I have no idea what vertigo is but I do know from having ear infections before that those infections can cause dizziness and loss of balance. I'm glad you are fine now I was kind of worried about you.

The reason I got a job is I lost over 30K, it was 2.49 a share a month ago, it is 1.50 a share now and we are talking a lot of shares.

It came up ten cents a share the last four days. What is trading today is futures, they go on even if the market is closed.

Your daughter is a great kid because you were a great mom!

Bill

dona said...

Pat, I do hope you are better and it was nothing too severe.
Vertigo is a specific type of dizziness and is usually always caused by an inner ear imbalance. And nothing to sneeze at and can always seem to cause some nausea.
There can be a lot of reasons for it and hopefully you are correct with your flu/fluid/theory and won't experience it ever again.
If you do experience more of it without having the obvious long flights, head trauma or ear infections with fluid, without delay get to a doctor and if there are no apparent reasons ask about Miniere's Disease, as vertigo/dizziness is a major symptom and can often go undetected.
Vertigo/Dizziness is one of my problems I have had since 1992. I like to joke and say I have been "Dizzy" for most of my adult years. :)
But that has come after several years of getting "used" to it..whatever that means!
It was caused from an accident and that was one thing I was left with that cannot be repaired, so I have just learned to live with it.
From one with much experience on dizziness with nausea, I do hope you are much better now and it was just a fluke.

William J. said...

Dona

Thank you for the very informative post to Pat.

Every time you post I learn something new about you. I'm sorry you have to deal with vertigo on top of everything else!

You are amazing!

Bill

dona said...

Bill, Thanks! But I wouldn't say that...I just get buy with what I am dealt with.

Oh and about the Unc's getting together..if your's is as devilish as mine.....uhh.... not a good idea!

Hope you have a great weekend.

William J. said...

Hi Dona

Yes but you get by with such grace!

And if we make sure we have enough bail money it might be OK for our uncles to get together!

Bill

Lady DR said...

Pat, so glad to hear the problem was short lived. Vertigo is no fun. Mom has periodic bouts of dizziness/being lightheaded, sometimes making her queasy, and they still haven't found the cause for the pressure in her head, so I know it can be really miserable. Dona had some great suggestions for checking on causes, should this happen again.

Dona, so glad to see your posts. You've been least-in-sight the last several days and I was wondering if all was well.

Like the rest of you, I've too many blessings to count. I'm glad Mom was able to get out of the house and join us for Thanksgiving as starters. But goodness... friends, my wonderful Himself, our critters, the fact Skeeter just keeps on going, totlly unaware she's sick, work projects to do, a comfy home... the list really is endless and includes too many toys and projects to play with and not enough time, of course (g).

William J. said...

Hi Dr

I'm glad your mom was well enough to get out of the house for Thanksgiving dinner! Did it tire her out or did she manage OK?


Bill

Pat said...

Thanks, Dona, for your comments about vertigo. I'm hoping it was a one-time thing, for whatever odd reason, but if it happens again, I'll definitely check it out. I've heard of Meniere's disease but didn't know what it was, so I just looked it up. Yikes! It says one treatment involves no caffeine! Sure hope I don't have to do that one. Gotta have my coffee!

It wasn't the "whirling" dizziness they mention, it was less than that, and if I concentrated, I could walk more or less straight. It hasn't come back, so I'm hopeful. I'm sorry you've had to put up with it for so long. It's no fun!

William J. said...

Hi Pat

I'm glad it wasn't the whirling type of dizziness and that is was short-lived!

Bill