Ramblin on and on and on...

There really hasn't been much going on and certainly no places I'm going. The last few days have been spent working, I have today off and plan to do 1001 things in preparation for the rest of the week. I work Wed. and Friday as well. What was I thinking when I said yes? Thursday plans include all of us off to the Turning Stone for Thanksgiving. I know it sounds strange, and when Mark and I first had thanksgiving at a casino, I thought it was weird then too, but its actually been a nice tradition where everyone has fun, there is no prep work no clean up and everyone finds something they like to eat even if it is a hamburger. The additional bonus is the gambling, the holiday decorations, including the Gingerbread village, and who else can say they can go swimming or hang in a hot tub on Thanksgiving in NY state? On thanksgiving day the place is always packed so, regardless of how strange it may seem, plenty of others seem to enjoy the not so traditional day at the casino as well. I am actually looking forwards to the trip. We have changed our meal planning with regards to the Holiday feast and some years we pay the extra cash for the dining room, which we have done on Easter and we did on Mothers day this past year, but most of the crew enjoys the buffet and we have more often taken that path for this Holiday. I have never been a big cook and even if I have held a Thanksgiving feast at our home, I have had as I joking say; Danny Wegman came to our house and made us dinner. People look at me oddly, and I have to clarify, Wegmans (a pretty popular grocery store in the area) sells a box that includes the turkey, the gravy, the stuffing, the green beans, the cranberries and the rolls and all I do is stick it in the oven. That is the kind of Thanksgiving meal I can prepare. My parents have also been known to make this traditional holiday meal and I do enjoy this as well, but since Marks father passed away we have been more apt to spend it outside of the home. Gavin has announced that he has no intentions of going with me to NY City in two weeks, so one of my 1001 plans for today is to see if I can get a refund for his ticket. (crossing my fingers) I plan to use that cash to go to the top of the Empire State building and eat lunch. This means I will actually be stepping into the YMCA and I have not been in over two weeks, which leads me to the thoughts and discussions my Husband and I have had for the last few years, why are we still paying $73- a month for the Y-membership? I used to go nearly everyday (that was about two years ago) the kids went on average three times a month, and even my daughter was going on a fairly regular basics, but of the last few years none of us have been going on any kind of ongoing basics and there is so much more that the money could go towards. Additionally we have discussed ideas about dropping some of the cable pay channels and the record device (see I don't even know what it is called). Those two additional add on's to our plan are costing us something around $35-$40 extra to our Time Warner bill. I seem to get myself hooked into these monthly direct w/d things and before I know it the money has been taken out, for example last spring I signed up for newspaper service, and although I enjoy the paper, I typically do not read any of the weeks news and into the recycle bin it goes. The Sunday paper is an important piece of my week as that is where I get my coupons, and I really don't know if I would save all that much by CA, and simply spending the $2- each week at the store, perhaps I should search it out. I have also been spending $10.99 a month direct w/d for my daughters tanning, and at one point I was being charged $39.99 a month for Proactive for my daughter and if I hadn't yelled at the company rep. I still would be billed today. These both were suppose to be a one time shot last Christmas, which I thought I was doing in the cheep. I am also being charged for darling daughters phone bill, which was once my phone and my phone bill, but I suppose I will accept this one. Basically, I am being sucked of my money by my own stupidity. Stupidity and money has been a long standing issue for most of my life. I will avoid giving you all of you the boring details and just tell you...if it seems to good to be true it likley is. I made it to the YMCA and they will be issuing me a check for my CA seat. Yeah. There is my fun money for the trip and selfishly I only have to take care of me. I got some Holiday gifts taken care of, I still have tons to get, and every year I say to myself....next year I am going to be prepared for Christmas and have everything done well in advance. It never seems to happen. Should I make that goal one more time? The YMCA was fun and it was a special day as this week they are doing a Family Fun week for Thanksgiving. After the treadmill I got myself a bowl of Hamburger Soup, I have never heard of such a thing. It was..."OKAY" I guess, there were five soup choices and although my first choice was the Cheese Broccoli it was not fully heated, the Hamburger was not very hot either. It was a nice gesture and the breads also offered were good. There is a family breakfast scheduled for today, but the liklihood that any of my family is up to enjoy it is a big NO. There seems to be some great things that the Y offers, and honestly if my family would go it would be nice. There are always things going on,but my kids are just not that excited about seeing Santa, or doing crafts or learning all about Science in the fun. They used to, but now its video games, they seem to dominate the boys existance. I did get a few Christmas items although not much. Again I NEED to be more prepared for next year. I am realizing that the older the kids get the harder to buy for. I was waiting for my pictures to develop and had time to stroll the Walmart and there were no toys that any of the kids would be interested in what so ever. Everything is electronics now a days, and even sale prices for that stuff is CRAZY. I read once where a family gave future trips for the kids for Christmas. Things like a trip to the zoo, or a museum. My kids are even getting sick of that. Maybe they are so over indulged throughout the year they don't get so excited about things like that. On our last full family vacation I had to beg my oldest to go to Disney World of all things. He would rather stay home and spend time with his friends. Really? He went of course and I know he had a good time, but what kid doesnt want to go to Disney? Since my youngest only has requested the X-box one for his wish list, (I have refused to indulge this one) and he has not given me other ideas, he will be getting things he needs like socks, underwear and things like that. Sorry buddy, going to have to be a little more reasonable. He may even get a lesson in having less. I know he is aware of the fact that there are some kids out there who have nothing, but maybe I need to really show him what that means. Any suggestions? I'll have to brain storm on that idea. He's to young to work in the soup kitchen I already looked into that. I have rambled on to much and realize that there are way to many wrongs in things then rights after the reflection this writing has caused. I hate change...and so does my family. Some of us would rather ride the bike of life with the wheel slightly bent and ignore that the seat dips as we ride, then stop and fix it. Kind of sucks! All something to think about. Thanks for listening...TTFN, I unfortunately have work today and have a few things that need to be addressed before I head out.