It's Beginning to Look a lot like... Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is all around me, and it's only Monday.

Today at work, we had a Thanksgiving Dinner for the troops headed back over to Iraq. We're doing this again on Thursday, so I had to dig through a bunch of decorations in the USO storage area and try to find some type of Thanksgiving centerpieces to put on the tables. So although it's only Monday, I ate turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie cheesecake, and pulled out dried leaves, plastic pumpkins, and strings of berries. And all on the Monday before Thanksgiving.

Even with all the Thanksgiving activities (and calories) it still doesn't quite feel like Thanksgiving, and up until today, I couldn't exactly pinpoint why. Perhaps because everyone has seemed to skip Thanksgiving entirely this year? All the stores, heck, even my friends already have their Christmas trees up! Last week I had a particularly rough day and found myself listening to Christmas music in my car just to cheer myself up. That might be part of it.

But it really hit me today. And where was I when this revelation occured? WalMart, of all places.
I was rushing through the store, wrestling with the soft drinks I was purchasing for Bible Study, and I passed the "Thanksgiving" aisle. All the specialty baking products had been pulled out and set aside for easy access. I glanced at the pumpkin pie spice and I thought of my mom. And I realized that she's not here. And THAT is why it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving.

Granted, I'm not getting too down about it this year. I'll be busy working, and we'll get to see Tim's family, and best of all, I'll get to see mom and dad for 8 days over Christmas. But still, I guess it really isn't Thanksgiving when I'm not at my mom's house. I miss hearing her brainstorming in preparation for the big meal... her telling me what I can help her with... and then me watching the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade and snacking while SHE does the cooking.

Happy Thanksgiving

Little Things

I always say I'm a person who notices the "little things" in life. I know other people do too, but for some reason I suspect I'm strangely aware of them. But I think that's a cool thing, because it gives me so many more opportunities to appreciate life! For example:

Tim gets up a little before me every morning because he has class at 8:00 and I don't have to be there till 10:00. So, he gets up, gets ready, makes the coffee, gives me a kiss in bed, and leaves. Later, I get up, brush my teeth, make the bed, and plod out to the kitchen for coffee. When I got there this morning, I could still smell his cologne at the coffee pot. I couldn't help but smile and be thankful that I get to live an ordinary life with such a spectacular guy.

So that was my "little thing" for this morning. I DO plan on adding to this list, but in the mean time, what are some of YOUR "little things?"

Control Yourself: The Conversation Between my Body and my Brain

I'm having my wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow, and APPARENTLY I'm nervous about it.

Just in the last few years, I've found that I have trouble controlling my body. Maybe it's NOT always mind over matter. I don't remember ever having trouble with this as a kid. For example, I KNOW everything will go fine tomorrow. The Doctor is really good, he does a million of these surgeries, and it's a minor surgery. But still, my stomach is sick.

"It's okaaaaaay," my Brain tells my Stomach.

My Stomach doesn't listen.

My Heart has been beating fast this evening. Even watching the 2 hour season finale of LOST didn't help. It might have actually made it beat faster. "You'll be fiiiiiiine," my Head tells my Heart.

Stupid Heart ignores me, too.

What to do? Go to bed?... stupid Mind won't slow down enough to let me sleep. Even though IT has been the one trying to convince my churning Stomach and racing Heart that everything will be fine.

It's only because I've never been put under anesthesia before. The whole "fear of the unknown" thing. Gets you every time.

At this time tomorrow, I'm sure I'll still be alive. The anesthesia will be administered properly, I'll slip peacefully to sleep, get rid of those pesky wisdom teeth that bother me so frequently, and wake up with a prescription for some fun medicine. Sure, I'll be drooling blood for the next few days, but I'll be alive.

Really, Stomach and Heart, I'll be fine.

Not only will it be fine, but today I recieved a BEAUTIFUL boquet of tulips (my favorites) from my wonderful parents, along with a card saying they wish they were here and they wish me a speedy recovery.

So I'll have bloody drool, two less teeth, fun medicine, a good excuse to sleep, and pretty flowers. AND, best of all, I'll most likely drop a few lbs. after a few days of eating nothing but pudding, jello, and soup.

It will be fine.

$60 Ice Cream Cone

I've always known what an indecisive person I am. Right? Yes. Am I? Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm indecisive. What makes me so indecisive? Appropriately enough, I'm not sure. I've put a lot of thought into this. Normally, I would think indecisiveness would be a manifestation of insecurity. Right? But I’m not insecure. That can’t be it. I just don’t know…

This indecisiveness affects many different levels of my life. From my choice of college major (general studies) to every-day decisions. Ordering from a menu is generally a torturous experience for me. Beef? Chicken? Beef? CHICKEN? BEEF??? CHICKEN????? AGH!!!!!

Naturally, I usually end up asking Tim to pick something and I’ll split the plate.

This reoccurring indecision plagued me again last night. Yesterday was “Free Cone Day” at all Ben and Jerry’s scoop shops from 12-8pm. Let me start by telling you that I. Love. Ben. And. Jerry’s. Seriously. I’ve had this marked on my calendar for a month now. The only scoop shops “close to me” are each about 20 miles away. No matter, I wanted that free cone.

Tim and I finished dinner at 7 last night, and with only an hour left to nab my sweet treat, I threw on a jacket and we loaded into his truck. And it was raining. No, STORMING.

“That’s okay,” I thought, “Since when would a thunderstorm stop me from driving 20 miles to get a free ice cream cone? Onward ho…” 2 miles later, we’d hydroplaned about 5 times. My sweet husband, undeterred, still hadn’t complained about any of this, which was starting to make me feel guilty. Was I crazy? 20 miles in a thunderstorm to get a free ice cream cone?

“It’s STORMING!” I thought.

“It’s Ben and Jerry’s!” I reasoned.

“It’s 20 miles! That’s like 2 gallons of gas!” Thrifty Meagan just showed up.

“Chunky Monkey! Banana ice cream with walnuts and fudge chunks!” Pudgy Meagan fought back.

Tim, oblivious to my internal struggle, sat singing along to the radio as the rain beat down on our truck. As we sat at the red light on the corner, I stared at the Walmart through the rain-stripped windows. Finally:

Meagan- “You know what, nevermind this. Let’s just go to Walmart and buy a pint of Ben and Jerry’s.”

Tim- “What?”

Meagan- “Well, it’s pouring rain. It’s 20 miles away. If it keeps raining like this, we might not even make it there by 8. It will take us an hour and a half to get there, eat our cones, and get back, and we’ll spend $5 in gas. Why pay $5 worth of gas for a free ice cream cone? Technically, it wouldn’t even be free anymore. Let’s just run into Walmart and buy a pint for $2.75 and call it a day.”

Tim- “Are you sure?”

Meagan- “No, because if we go to the scoop shop we don’t just get the ice cream, we get a cone, too!”

Tim- “Okay, but we can buy cones at Walmart.”

Meagan- “I know, but Ben and Jerry’s have THE BEST waffle cones. They are SO good.”

The light turns green.

Tim- “Let’s make a decision here”

Meagan- “Okay, yes. Let’s just go to Wal-Mart. Cheaper and faster. Done.”

An hour later, we left Walmart with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream. And $60 worth of groceries. I give up.