Its nice to do a little something extra for the people you love. For example, tuck a little not into your kid’s lunchbox or hubby’s briefcase that says you love them. Or make a special dessert and surprise them after dinner with something sweet.

My step son must be trying to find out the answer to this question. At first I thought he was deliberately trying to break it so that he would feel entitled to a new phone and upgrade his. But I’ve watched the clumsy fool and he just drops it a lot.

I used a Reynolds oven cooking bag and placed a cut up onion inside. Then I took the chuck roast and cut it into smaller chunks so it would cook faster and also have all the sides exposed to the gravy for more flavor. Then I added a can of tomato soup and used the same can to fill with water and added that to the bag, too. Then I sprinkled some seasoned salt and some garlic pepper over the meat, sealed the bag and let it cook at 350 for about an hour and a half.

As it finished cooking, I took a can of store brand brown gravy and dumped it into a saucepan on top of the stove. When I took the meat out of the oven, I pierced the corner of the cooking bag and let about a half cup of the bag’s gravy pour into the saucepan with the brown gravy and stirred the two together. It was fantastic – not a drop of anything was left over.

I will be busy cooking most of the day.We bought a turkey on Monday and it’s been in the refrigerator slowly thawing out. I considered getting a fresh turkey, but I have had good luck with the frozen Butterball turkeys, so I decided to stick with the tried and true. Along with the turkey will be plenty of vegetables and stuffing, and I’ll make two pies this afternoon to bake while the turkey is in the oven. Can’t wait for a great turkey dinner!

Of course, the kids love the arcade and rides, but they also love to see the animals and the competitions. They will have pig racing, clogging demonstrations, live concerts and all kinds of fun. I’m interested in the arts and crafts, quilting and gardening areas, and hubby wants to see the antique cars, the tractor pull and loudly proclaims that he sure wishes he could be one of the judges for the pies, cakes and cookies baking contests.

We’re thinking about taking a day as soon as hubby’s assistant manager comes back to work to cover for him. It will be nice to go to something like the county fair and experience it as adults without the distractions of having little kids to chase after and dole out money to every time we turn around.

I’m sure the heat isn’t so bad if you get used to it, but we are accustomed to being inside an air conditioned house or office. My sister-in-law has air conditioning, but a lot of the old farmhouses out here do not. She keeps the thermostat much higher than we do at home, and it was uncomfortably warm the entire visit. I would much rather be too hot than too cold, but I sure wish there had been a more gradual adjustment to the temperatures.

It seems there is always some wind, which is very different from back home. The wind is a good thing for a lot of reasons and one of the most unique and rewarding good things is that some companies are now harnessing that wind by erecting huge wind turbines. They look like space age windmills and are generating electricity for the power companies.

The florist has brought flowers and plants to her home and also to the funeral home. I’m not sure what I can do to help, but hubby is really glad to be here.

Even though she’s technically living “in town” her property backs up to a huge farm. Here’s a picture I snapped from her backyard as the sun was going down:

Luckily, there were plenty of billboards along the highway and we knew there would be a Hampton Inn at the Shawnee exit. We’ve had several good experiences at Hampton Inns now that they’ve upgraded their properties and their bedding. The beds are incredibly comfortable – it is like sleeping on a warm cloud. Plus, most of them offer a complimentary full breakfast in the morning, with sausage patties and hot eggs and a full array of other breakfast foods, including hot and cold cereals, pasties, yogurt, fresh fruit and very tasty coffee.

We got into LaVergne about 4:00 in the afternoon and found my sister-in-laws house very easily. We are settling in and expect to be pretty busy over the next couple of days. It’s nice to be here but wish it wasn’t for a sad occasion.

Today we’ll be getting things in order around the house so we can leave for Oklahoma. My sister-in-law has offered up her spare bedroom and we need to get out there as soon as possible to help with the funeral. Hubby has to get someone to cover for him at work and I have to find the church clothes and arrange for a kennel for Buster Brown.

I’ll check the airfares to Oklahoma City, but there are rarely good rates without at least 2 weeks notice. More than likely we will drive, which is a hard 18 hours on the road, but the price of 5 tanks of gas and 2 nights in a hotel room halfway there is still much cheaper than two round trip plan tickets at full fare.

My cancer treatments were completely debilitating. I could barely function at all for four months while I underwent intensive radiation therapy. There was no way I could work at all, or even take care of my family. It was horrible to be so sick, helpless, and dependent on others with no real timeline or even hopeful prognosis for a recovery. Thanks to my parents and my grandmother, and the best doctors in the world, I was able to get through those terrible months, but the bills pilled up and that was probably the worst financial situation I’ve ever been in and recovering from a serious illness plus recovering from extreme financial distress took a very long time.

For some people in similar or sadly worse situations, all they can do is run up the bills for as long as they can and then try to file for Bankruptcy. I know there have been recent changes to the bankruptcy laws that make it more difficult to file, but I surely hope that honest people who have to face a serious or life threatening illness still have some hope of help with their finances.

I know that if anyone in my family or circle of close friends has to go through what I did, that I will be there at their side to help them through it as much as I possibly can. That’s what family and real friendship is for.

I don’t even know if I’m supposed to do this, but my mothering instinct takes over when I see the convulsion and I grab a warm fluffy towel from the bathroom and wrap him up in the towel and hold him in my lap until the shaking is over.

This is very upsetting – I thought we had it under control and I don’t understand why he had the seizure today.

Another option for her is to order as much as she can over the internet and let Big Brown bring it all to her doorstep. One of her big personal needs is support hose, which she has to wear every day – even in the heat of summer. So I was delighted to come across an internet source for the ones that she likes. They are called TED Stockings and she has to wear them from the moment she gets up in the morning until the moment she turns out the bedroom light to go to bed. It’s a serious problem but that’s what she has to do to avoid a fatal pulmonary embolism. Blood clots are serious business – you can’t mess around with them.

Just to be nice, I’m going to order her a couple pair from the website and have them delivered as a little surprise. Then she can order her future pairs from the same place.

He’s been acting normal and eating regular food and doing everything like he was before he got sick, so that’s good news. Look at him sitting so pretty for me:

I haven’t left him alone all weekend and have watched him like a hawk. So far, so good, thank goodness.

We have to watch him closely over the weekend and take him back to the vet on Monday for follow up. I hate that we have to watch him over the weekend and be pretty much on our own if something bad happens, because there aren’t any vets open on Sundays if we need help. The next two days are going to be stressful around here.