I really like thanksgiving. It’s about being grateful for what we have and taking the time to express and acknowledge it. We don’t do a huge meal. Just the basics. We don’t watch football or shop. We go for an afternoon walk and do stuff outside. Usually, our weather is nice and it’s cloudy out but not cold.

I hope everyone has a safe and nice thanksgiving.

Somewhere I think I missed 3 but I saw 4, so here goes. We ended 1972 on sad note with b’s sister suicide. The next year B graduated from Uof A. His degree was in forestry from the school of Agriculture. We had some very weird moves including living in an attic for a few months and during that time ( it was thanksgiving), decided we would fast for thanksgiving. That didn’t go over well, but we did it. Then we lived in a house share with a strange man and that didn’t work. Finally , we found a nice apartment way out on fort Lowell. Back then this was the edge of Tucson. We road our bikes to campus which was @ 3 miles at least away. But, it was a great place. We even had a little garden. B was working part time as a fire fighter for the forest service. Actually he was part of the Helitack crew which was was very elite and first response. I was working for a while for Pima county parks and recreation teaching PE to little kids. B was done with school and I had my last year. We were in counseling with Dr Gary Gruver who became a good friend. He was a quadriplegic and a PHD at the university. B did all his yard work and he was a good friend.
Then I finished school, and we didn’t really have much direction. I went to work at Walgreens after a few disasters , including being house parents to juvenile delinquent Indians. That did not go well. In some ways, I wonder what would happen if we stayed in Tucson. I had a good job with Walgreens and we had found a truly wonderful house in first avenue. But change was in the wind.
This then would be the summer of 1974.
I graduated with a degree on psychology and that was a huge accomplishment. I was the first person in my family to ever go to college.
Life was pretty good , but I don’t think we had much real focus or direction.
So, when 1975 rolled around and the opportunity for B to work for the Tahoe national forest, full time but not permenant career we decided to do it.
It was a risk, as it wasn’t permenant but we did it sight unseen. In some ways I still wonder if staying in Tucson and finding careers and buying a house there would have changed the course of our lives. But 20/ 20 is perfect, and I guess that’s all you can say. We just didn’t have the lets settle down gene happening, nor kids, nor career and make money. We just were hippies living the best we knew how with very little. No family support, no real guidance. Just us, being in love and living in the moment.
I’ll update from there in memory page 6 soon.

Well, I’ve got everything for thanksgiving done. Need to make the vegetarian nut loaf today and refrigerate and then bake Wednesday. I bought a pie at Costco and rolls. Both I just don’t bake. We’ve got a nice natural Mary’s turkey. I don’t do a lot of sides. Mashed potatoes ,done, yams , I’ll bake Thursday. Then homemade cranberry sauce, vegetarian stuffing and green beans. That’s it. I do a non meat gravey and I’ll probably make one batch today and refrigerate. I’ve learned over the years to KISS. Then we like to go for a walk in the park. Since we don’t have tv there’s no football or?
Since we don’t have any family it’s just us 4 and sometimes my brother show up. But being single he gets tons of invites.

So I’m almost done with Xmas shopping. I need a few GC for our garbage guy and UPS guy and I always bring cookies from Costco to the USpS office. There’s very little to go under the tree as my son is buying a fancy PC and we’ve just given him money to help buy it. My daughter has a few things and then wants a graphic card. My husband is getting a chain saw. And I’ve gotten what I’ve wanted already. The food scale for my bread making, a tortilla press, some candles and other odds and ends. I’ve gone over budget with extra stuff. I did that last year too. I have my basic budget but it’s the extras that take me over ,so next year I’ve got to put this in.

We also do Hannukha too, no, we are not Jewish , were atheists, but I love lighting the menorah and we do silly gifts. This maybe the last year we do it since no one is too into it anymore but me.

Today I’m off to walmart for some sweats and then to target as they have pj’s on sale and my daughter could use a pair.
I was kinda hoping we could get a new flat screen TV as Costco has some great deals in the $500 range. But I’ll have to see , since our expenses are pretty high with house insurance, property taxes, and my sons dental surgery for wisdom teeth( our co pay is @700, we think. Plus he needs to buy books for next semester. So, not sure a tv will fit it.

I have a good load to got the thrift store and then I’m going to keep decluttering anything that I don’t really love or have intentional use for. If we have to sell in 2-3 years when we can’t afford the increased house payment, ( our modification plan was to increase % rate incrementally), we need to keep unloading stuff. As I’ve said the house is fairly minimal but there’s still places outside, in the barn, laundry room that need serious cleaning out. A lot of it is my sons Legos,Star Wars stuff and then camping stuff and so on. Some is just stuff he wants and when he moves out goes with him as I’m not storing it for him.
I keep working our retirement budget, and just don’t see the numbers adding up to stay here. The big thing next year is to make as much progress paying off the work car. He gets a gas stipend and partial reimbursement so I need to look at can we send all of that in to pay on principal. If that’s paid off it frees up a lot of money a month.
So, onward and upward.
I’m mid cycle with revlimid. I way over did last week on dex day and totally flipped out my L1 bulging disc and was in serious pain in my right leg for 3 days. It’s better now, but I took it easy yesterday. It’s a little sore today so I need to be so careful. We’ll see how this cycle goes and where my numbers are by mid December.

It was a long day but it went well. I did transit, and the book drop was ginormous.
But I did not have diarrhea and so that’s as good as it gets. It was busy at first but them slowed down . S made the lasagna and it was good.

Tomorrow back at the library and finish stuff. It’s a shame that I as a extra help is not given the same value as a clerk. We do all the same work, run the branch but are not given the same status. Honestly , it sucks.

Oh well, I’m glad to have the extra income for now. I’m off to bed as it was an early 5 am wake up call.