I will never qualify for security clearance. That's what my husband tells me. I was trying to surprise him with a really great Christmas present this year. It's expensive, so I had to get financing for it or put it on the credit card. My credit is pretty much non-existant anymore because we put everything in his name over the past 15 years and all I had was a poorly-managed Penney's card that I kept forgetting to pay the bill on.

I decided last weekend to price recliners at a couple of the local furniture stores. I had two requirements in my shopping: (1) it had to be leather or some sort of microfiber because I didn't want cat hair getting embedded in the fabric, (2) it had to have heat and massage. He's wanted a recliner with heat and massage for a very long time.

The first store I stopped at had a really comfy recliner, and it was available with heat and massage, but they didn't have any and we'd have to special order it. It takes 6-8 weeks for delivery so we'd get it sometime in late January. Nope, not gonna do that. I need something for him by Christmas. Besides, it was over $1000 for that chair.

The second store had ONE recliner with heat and massage left in the store. It was on sale for $699. It was microfiber and in a color I like. I filled out the paperwork for it and waited for the answer from American General Financing, they turned me down. It was 6-months same as cash, so I figured I could live with the 22% interest if I paid it off before the 6 months were up. I thought about putting it on the credit card, which has a few thousand dollars available on it, but decided I'd better think about that a little. We are trying to pay down our credit card debt and this would be counter-productive in that matter. Besides, I knew John would be pissed if I added that much back to the credit card, but I'd think about.

Tuesday, I have to be in Knoxville for training at 9 a.m. I started work at Oskaloosa before 7 a.m. to have some things taken care of that morning before I got back. There were a few snags that took up some time, so I'm running 15 minutes late by the time I leave Osky. On the radio on the way to Knoxville, I happen to catch the beginning of Focus on the Family, which has a financial expert on today talking about the steps to becoming financially secure. Not running up credit card debt was one of those steps. I'm thinking, "Ok, God, did you make me late so I'd hear this?"

On the way home from Knoxville a few hours later, the deejay is talking about how people put so much pressure on themselves at Christmas and how gifts can be simple. You don't have to put so much pressure on yourself by running up all that credit card debt. It enters my mind, "God is telling me NOT to put that chair on the credit card." So I'm thinking, "Ok, God. Do you not want me to buy the chair at all or do you have some other way?" You know what? He answered me right there, I think. It immediately came into my head to apply for a loan from the credit union. I need to get my credit built back up. So I go by the credit union before I go back to the store. It takes me all of 5 or 10 minutes to apply for the loan and she tells me she'll call me back later after she runs things. A few hours later she calls and tells me that she approved me, but the interest is a little high because of my credit. It's 16%, which is still cheaper than both the credit card and the store financing (even though I most likely would have paid off the chair within the 6 months). Do I want them to deposit the amount into my checking account (which I haven't used for years)? I opted for a cashier's check made out to the furniture store.

I go back to the office positively giddy because God has provided both the means to buy the chair AND an opportunity to build back up my credit. He is such an awesome provider!

So anyway, the next morning while I am out running errands for the store, I stop by the credit union to pick up the check and go pay for the chair. I arrange for delivery on Dec. 23, the last day they'll be doing deliveries, so I can give it to him as close to Christmas as possible. I go to sleep that night feeling so much love - love for my God who provides, love for my husband and joy that I can give him a really nice gift after all these years of receiving really nice gifts from him.

The next morning, I am told that he knows what he's getting.

"How?" I ask him.

"You told me," he says.

"I did not! How did you find out?" I'm starting to wonder if the one daughter I told spilled the beans, but I know that she didn't. She's pretty good about not telling if you tell her not to tell, and besides, she hasn't had the opportunity.

"I have my ways," he says.

"How do you find out?!" He delays more, playing with me by telling me he has his spies, yada, yada.

"You talk in your sleep," he finally answers. "Last night you mumbled something and I asked you what you said, so you answered me, 'I'm glad I got the financing.' So I asked you financing for what, and you told me 'A recliner with heat and massage. You would never get a security clearance."

I'm still making him wait until the 23rd to get his present.

Today is the "official" start of the holiday season in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Our 2-night lighted Christmas parade starts tonight. It's an awesome event for a little town of 11,000 people and draws folks from all over the area to see it. Yours truly is a parade announcer. I believe this is my 4th year with this gig and it's quite fun.

John and I have worked the parade for many years, the first several doing "crowd control" where we patrol the curbs making sure people stay back so the floats can make it down the street without running anyone over. Let me tell you, that was a pretty cold and miserable detail. Now I get to sit in my warm car, describing the floats to people like Katy Couric and Matt Lauer at the Thanksgiving Day parade. It's fun!

I am really glad to be inside the vehicle tonight because our HIGH today is only supposed to get up to 20°. We had rain and sleet come through yesterday afternoon, but the brunt of what they were predicting to hit us passed us by and went farther south. I feel for you folks down there!

I did get out yesterday and buy ice melt and another pair of Yak Trax for us. When John fell and broke his wrist on New Year's Day a few years ago, I bought a pair on clearance from a store when I found them - an impulse buy that was well worth it. Except they didn't have any medium ones at that time and I bought small. They barely fit over his shoes, so I bought a pair of medium ones for him yesterday and I'll take his smalls. I was sure thankful for them last night when I stepped out into the parking lot that had a thin glaze of ice over it. Well worth the $20, and cheaper than a broken bone, too.

Today we head over to the Knoxville store to conduct more interviews. I'm hoping to fill in the final piece of the puzzle for my staff. Training always sucks because I basically have to stop doing my "normal" job for a couple of days while I train, but once I get the initial couple of days out of the way I can turn them over to a more experienced employee to teach them the ropes. Please pray for us on this. We've been looking for a full team of reliable employees for some time now.

Knoxville is a little over a 30-minute drive from Oskaloosa and John or I make an appearance over there at least 2x a week. One of the things I love about the drive there is quiet time with the Christian radio station. Lately I've heard a few songs that have just left me in tears. I've decided to sing one for special music at church for the Christmas season. It's Ray Boltz's "Still Her Little Child." I felt so much empathy for Mary after listening to that song. I could not stop sobbing for several minutes. I drove straight over to the Christian book store and ordered it. The clerk says, "Oh that's an old one," and informs me it's from 1994. I quit listening to Christian radio when we moved here nearly 11 years ago because I thought this station was too "chatty" at the time, so I had never heard it, or if I had, I'd never listened to the words. The other song that makes me bawl is "Breakfast Table." I think that's by Chris Rice, but I'm not sure. It makes me think of my dad, even though the song is about the guy's wife. I'll blog abou that another time maybe. I need to get dressed and get to work.

Oh, before you leave Xanga today, head over to ChipperChocolate's site and congratulate her on her new grandbaby that's arriving today.

Mom asked me to post this recipe I have for Microwave Peanut Brittle. It turns out perfect every time, so long as you follow the directions. I made the mistake of not stirring it in between once and it burned. Otherwise, it's been fantastic every time.

10-Minute Never-Fail Microwave Peanut Brittle

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1 c. raw peanuts
1/8 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. butter (I use real butter)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda

Butter a cookie sheet or baking pan first. Combine the first four ingredients in a 2-quart microwave mixing bowl. Microwave on High fo 8 minutes, stirring after 4 minutes. Stir in butter. Microwave on High for 2 minutes. Brittle should not get too brown. Stir in vanilla and soda until light and foamy. Spread onto buttered baking sheet as thinly as possible (it starts to set fast). Cool. Break into pieces. Stores well in Zip Lock baggies. I do suggest soaking your bowl in hot soapy water right away so it will clean up easier.

The time I burned this, I failed to stir the butter in. The directions I had initially just said to "add" butter and I was trying to follow verbatim. So, I changed the directions to "stir in" butter.

Good luck.

Well, I survived another Black Friday. I L-O-V-E  blitz shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. At least around here, everyone is polite and helpful to each other. There isn't the fighting, and pulling, and shoving like you hear about on T.V. Occassionally there is a little bit of bumping into each other, but mostly everyone is in good spirits, like competitors at a sporting event.

Nearly all of my Christmas shopping is done in a span of about 4 hours. We had shopped, gone to breakfast, and made it back home by 10:30 a.m. I took a 3-hour nap and watched a movie, "Memoirs of a Geisha" before hubby came back home from work.

Most of the newly-purchased presents are wrapped. I have a few little gifts to buy for a couple of people, and some bigger gifts for my husband (maybe a recliner this year). I like being this close to finished. Had I been a bit more ambitious, I would have made gifts this year like I did last year, but I certainly haven't had to time for any crafts at all this summer and fall. Maybe next year.

Tomorrow I will go into the office in the afternoon to start getting caught up on end-of-year bookwork. Sunday after church I'm helping to decorate the church for Christmas. That will be fun. I managed to pick up two beautiful poinsettias today at Target for only $5 each. I always buy a couple in memory of my father and grandmother.

I am thankful for:

• My loving husband, who let's me do my thing, including worship God, without giving me a lot of hassle.
• My mom, who is one of my best friends. I wish I could be with you today.
• My business being successful.
• Employees I can rely on so that I may take a few days off.
• Being cancer-free for 5 years. Now I need to really get busy dealing with the diabetes.
• Three beautiful children who have blessed my life in ways they may never know or understand (even without giving me grandchildren).
• My lovely little granddaughter (nearly 2 years old) and another grandbaby on the way.
• That I live in a country where I may freely worship God without the worry of some state police arresting me for it.
• That I am able to spend this day relaxing with my husband instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to bake or cook something for a family dinner (though I am missing the family dinner a little).
• For my friends in whom I can confide, to whom I can joke, and with whom I can shop.
• An e-mail from my nephew in Kuwait, letting me know he's ok and to send chocolate chip cookies (at his battle buddy's request). LOL.
• Also, thanks to my mom for providing me with the link to the Black Friday ads when I was ruing that I didn't have a local paper delivery today to find out what's on sale tomorrow morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Every now and then I find a link to jibjab.com. I found this parody of Wal-Mart today and think everyone should watch it. It certainly will explain why I try to avoid Wal-Mart, though I cannot say that I never shop there. When you live in a rural town, it's hard not to shop there, but I only do it when I can't find something somewhere else in town. Check out the parody. It's pretty neat.

I am a newer, younger woman. In celebration of being cander-free for 5 years, I took off work early today and had a salon day. We wacked 10-inches off my hair to donate to Locks of Love, then I looked at magazines for a style I liked while the stylist colored my hair. NO MORE GRAYS!!! I have a cute, sassy new style that will be easy to care for yet looks professional.

Those grays were starting to drive me crazy. In the past year or so, they've really gotten bad. I was going to gray naturally, but I just can't handle having that much gray at only 40 years of age. I got my brows waxed, too.

John didn't notice at first. I showed off where I had no hair going down my back anymore. No big deal. Then I said, "Look, no more gray." His only comment was "How much did that cost?" Actually, it wasn't as much as I would have expected. The color, cut, style, brow wax and tip cost $80 all together. Not a bad deal. She said touch-up will probably run me $25 and I probably will only need to do that every 2-3 months, depending on how fast my hair grows. I don't think that's all that bad, really. With the short hair cut, I'll probably need to have it trimmed that often anyway.

I'll try to post a pic in the next couple of days. I had John take one with my cell phone earlier but I didn't have the time to download it off yet.

To my dad and my father-in-law,
who served during Vietnam

To my husband and brother-in-law,
who served in Operation Desert Storm

To my nephew,
who is currently serving in Iraq

And to all the other veterans
who put their lives on the line
so I may live free...

Thank You!

I'm sitting in the hospital now, waiting on a chest x-ray. I guess the doctor ordered it after my last checkup. I'm irritated that I have to have another one again. This comes out of my own pocket so when they are super over protective, it's annoying. Especially when they charge a few hundred dollars for such a chest.

But, I'm thankful for the computer in the waiting room. Ha.

My mammogram was ok. They did a little extra checking for me on the left breast because I felt something there during my last self-breast exam. I didn't say anything to anyone because I didn't want to worry anyone else, including myself. The only person I told was so

they called me. back later.

That was much quicker and much less painless than the mammogram. As I was saying, I only told one person and that was so they could pray with me. I wasn't sure if what I was feeling was normal or not. They told me my mammogram looked exactly like the last few, but because I had already had cancer, they wanted to do an ultrasound, during which we did find a cyst. Because it is clear and symmetrical, I am willing to accept it as benign, but you can bet your butt I'm going to keep an eye on it. It was close to the nipple like the tumor on the right breast 5 years ago, but deep so it was hard to feel.

Now I'm off to see the oncologist. I will ask her why we had to do this chest x-ray. I don't really like her. I wish I had my old doctor back, but he moved to Ohio to head up a cancer hospice program there. *pout*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ U P D A T E ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Clean bill of health - come back next year. I liked Dr. Roman much better this visit. Last time she seemed a little dictatorial, which bugged me. This time around, she was more agreeable to working WITH me. I explained that I am not on insurance and have to pay for this out of my own pocket anymore, but I also want to take care of myself. I told her that I don't mind the tests if they are necessary, but if we are doing x-rays just because she's cautious, I'm against that. She agreed that she tends to lean on the conservative side and that we could take chest x-rays every other year. She said the lungs are the only soft-tissue organ they cannot detect cancer in from the blood work, sooo, I'll meet her halfway and have an x-ray every couple of years just to rule out the cancer spreading to the lungs.

I'm really excited that I'm knocked back to annual check-ups. Woohoo!!! Major milestone in cancer survivorship.

We opened the store late today. I did not realize until just this morning that when we moved a couple of months ago, we ended up moving precincts. We are just a few blocks away from either of the two places we've last lived, and they were both in the same precinct, so I guess I just assumed we were here. While I was waiting on John to finish shaving this morning, I went to the Secretary of State's web site to check on my voting precinct and sure enough it was somewhere else. We had a lot of waiting to vote while they looked for our name in a book and made us fill out change of address forms. The important thing is we did get to vote. I wanted to go early this morning so as to avoid anything getting in the way. We have a hotly contested governor's race here in Iowa this time around, as well as congressional district AND state legislature.

Thursday I have to go to Iowa City for another cancer checkup. I'm hoping this is my last semi-annual checkup and she puts me on annual visits after this one. The fun part, of course, will be the mammogram. It always hurts my cancer boob so much, but since I learned that taking a couple Tylenol an hour or two before the exam helps so much, I'll be doing that again. It worked great last time.

I've been very tired lately and sleeping a lot. I'm not sure if it's stress, just plain being worn out, or trying to come down with a cold. Me and Zicam have been friends the past few days. I'll ask about a flu shot while I'm at the cancer clinic. If they won't give it to me, I'll hit the public health clinic next week.

Please pray for our son. He's going through a really tough time right now. Growing up is so hard to do and he's at that stage where he's not a child but not yet considered an adult. Lots of upheaval in his world as he tried to assert his independence.

Hope everyone has a great week. Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away, which means Christmas is about 6 weeks away. YIKES!