It's been a pretty eventful day around here. First of all, everybody hold their hats and hang onto something if you need to. In fact, just make sure you are sitting down.

I got up at 8 AM on a Saturday morning, took a shower and was out the door by 9!!!!

I know, I was shocked too.

We got to the church to help deliver boxes of food that were packed for needy families. By the time we got there, the boxes had mostly been packed. But they needed people to deliver them. No problem. Cass and I grabbed two boxes and two sacks of potatoes.

We got to the first place. It was actually an apartment/retirement home. It was where my grandma lived for years and years. I pulled in the parking lot and realized that I had not been there for 2 1/2 years, since my grandma had died and we moved all of her things out of her apartment. A day I will never forget.

Anyway we got the stuff and headed in. The place smells the same, it looks the same, has the same warm feeling. As I was heading to the elevator I got very sad. I wanted to go and see my grandma. I hit the button for the 2nd floor on the elevator just like I had done millions of times before, as that was also the floor my grandma lived on. I went down the very same hallway, in fact the apartment I was visiting was right next door to where my grandma lived all those years. It was almost as if she was going to be standing right there in the hallway waiting for me.......

Anyway the lady opens up the door and I tell her where I'm from and she got a bit rude with me. Kept asking me over and over, "where are you from?????" After about the third time I said the same thing, she finally calmed down. She wanted to know why they had picked her to give food to. Well I don't have that answer, they gave me an address and a box of food and I went from there. So anyhoo she proceeds to tell me she donated to this for many years and didn't feel she needed this food. But reluctantly she took the food and said thank you and we were on our way.

The second place we were supposed to drop food off at was a bit "rougher" neighborhood. I was a bit scared to do this but I figured what the hey, it's like 9:45 AM on a Saturday morning so surely all the drug dealers/crack heads/people packing pistols were still in bed right??? I mean last night WAS Friday night and they probably stumbled home around 4 AM drunk, high, and incoherent so surely less than 5 hours sleep wasn't enough. I know that seems dramatic, but I really DID think those things. So I found the trailer and we pulled into the driveway. I was a bit nervous to let Cass out and she very happily volunteered to sit in the car. So I was grabbing the huge bag of potatoes out of the backseat when the bag ripped and potatoes went everywhere, all over the driveway and inside my car. Geez. So as I'm picking them back up and we did have another bag in the car, I'm throwing them in there and then trying to carry the box too as Cass didn't want to help with this one. As I'm lugging this all up to the porch this young guy walks outside, he looked to be my age or a bit younger. He looked like a nice guy. I asked him if he was Mr. So and so and he said yes and I gave him the box. He was very nice about it. All of those stupid thoughts I had trying to find the trailer were stupid. But anyway.....

It was actually a nice thing to do I think. So many people out there won't have enough food or money to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner. And we made that happen. Inside the box was a ham, a box of stuffing, cookies, canned vegetables, rolls, margarine, marshmellows, etc. And then each person got TONS of potatoes. So I thought that was really nice.

Once year I got one of those boxes. Maybe about 4 years ago. I was so completely humiliated. Because I had sent some canned goods with Cassidy to school that day to donate. And we ended up being one of the recipients. Good thing Cass was too young to understand and too young to see how humiliated I was. And THAT is why I helped out today, because I know how it feels to get food when you really need it.

I've always been so very fortunate to have a loving, caring family who always made sure we never went without anything like food and Christmas presents for Cassidy. There were a few years there early on when I couldn't go out and spend hundreds of dollars on her for Christmas of her birthday. I remember one Christmas in particular I had $20 to my name and I took it and went to Walmart and got Cassidy two presents with it so she would have something from me. But I never had to worry she wouldn't get enough because between my family and her dad's family she always gets way too much. And I know there are kids and people out there who aren't that fortunate. So this week I also donated a toy to a different mission in our church so that there are kids out there this holiday season who don't go without.

Now that I have more money, I always make sure I donate at least something. Even if that means grabbing a few "food bucks" at the grocery store to donate to our town's food bank and such, then that is what I do.

Wow this entry went to an entirely different place then I had intended......

This afternoon Cass and I met my friend Danette and her daughter at the mall to see "The Incredibles". We met them in the parking lot and walked in and I knew from the get-go this was going to be hard for Danette. Her daughter who is 7 was throwing a fit as soon as they got out of the car. And I know Danette was embarassed. And I told her straight out not to be embarassed in front of me by this, as I have been there, done that and I know exactly how she feels. Still doesn't stop the way you feel though. She continued to be naughty the entire movie. Getting up and down, crying, grunting, saying she had a stomachache, telling her mom she was bored, etc. I know she was acting out and I could hear Danette sigh and make comments to her daughter and such. I just felt for her, as we have all been through it. Hell I still go through it, just in a different way. Cass does great in public when we go to movies or out to eat or whatever. She's past the public fits, she's onto the sneaky manipulation. Maybe not as visible, but very very frustrating. So yeah I felt her pain. So as we were walking out of the mall I was going to suggest dinner or something but her daughter was still acting up and in fact went by those gumball machine thingies where you get crap toys out for a quarter or whatever and she flopped herself down right there and demanded she wasn't leaving until she got something. I heard Danette say "Do you think you deserve one?" and I kept walking. I told her goodbye and we headed home. I don't know what she ever did about it but believe me, I understand.

And we've just watched movies on TV. We watched "I am Sam" first, haven't seen that movie in a few years. LOVE that movie and of course I cried. Lots of people say that Cass used to look like Dakota Fanning when she was younger. Now "Stepmom" is on but I'm only half watching that while I'm typing this and other such things.

And by the way, "The Incredibles" ROCKED! Loved it lots and they set it up for a sequel and it's doing so well at the movie theater that I'm sure there will be one.

And that leads me to now. We will just continue to watch TV or do whatever until it's time to go to bed and get up for church in the morning. And then it's off to see my nephew tomorrow afternoon who is hospitalized. So another busy day tomorrow.

Today has just been a weird day. Busy and yet emotional. We'll see what tomorrow brings.