A Thanksgiving I would like to forget!

As I sit here, wondering what the devil happened to our Thanksgiving Day, I do so with a heavy heart and a headache! A few minutes ago an ambulance transported my Father to the hospital which is 30 miles away. He is having acute breathing problems. He has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. I could not go with him and this is the first time, I have never not gone! He asked me to stay with my Mother who fell just 45 minutes earlier while trying to get on her Porta Potty next to her bed. This is now the 10th time she has fallen this year. He was not comfortable with me leaving her with my 17-year old daughter and my 46-year old Foster daughter who suffers from Traumatic Brain Injury.

My husband is at his parent's house in Arizona for Thanksgiving, I am here in California-needing him! I had no one to care-take in my absence so I had to stay home. Which is a blessing as it turns out, since my parents really needed me today. My 17-year-old daughter had Thanksgiving Dinner at her boyfriend's house with his family. My two boys are in New Hampshire, so that left Mom, Dad, my daughter Karen and I alone to celebrate.

I got up early this morning and did some fall cleaning. I cleaned out all of my kitchen cabinets and drawers and then reorganized them. I cleaned out the refrigerator, and got rid of all of the left-overs and stuff that needed thrown out! Plus, I did 4 loads of laundry. I was already tired before I started on Thanksgiving Dinner.

I stuffed Cornish Game Hens with Apple slices, Baby Carrots, Celery, Onions, Butter, Worcestershire Sauce, Lemon Juice and Herbs. Opened up pockets under the skin and filled it full of Butter, Worcestershire Sauce, Lemon Juice and Herbs. Smothered Potatoes with Butter and added them to the pan, covered it and put it in the oven. It was going to be great! An hour and a half later, my oven was filling with smoke as the juices had spilled over in the bottom of it and were burning. I had to turn off the oven, turn the fan on high, turn on a portable fan and point it at the oven to force the smoke out towards the open back door so the house would not fill with smoke. What a fiasco. The birds looked done, so I set them aside on top of the stove and cleaned the oven out.

The Candied Carrots were done so I went ahead and put everything on the table! Only to find out that the fruit and veggie stuffing had not gotten tender enough to eat which made me suspicious about the Game Hens. I checked and low and behold, they were not done enough. So I had to put them in the microwave and finish them off. The doggone potatoes where even still a bit hard! I couldn't believe that an hour and a half at 400* was not good enough to get everything cooked thoroughly! It all ended up tasting good in the end at least!

I put the left-overs away and got all of the dishes done. And finally got to sit down, and then BOOM, Mom fell, and Dad started struggling for breath.

To top it all off, the only vehicle I have here is the one we have been letting my 17-year-old daughter use to go college and work. She left the tank on EMPTY. My other daughter drove out to the pavement, 3 miles away to lead the ambulance to our house and she was afraid that she would not make it back. Now I am fighting with the 17-year-old about leaving the tank on empty and not answering her phone when I call her. (She lives next door to me in a single wide mobile home-trying out her wings). She just left, slamming the door behind her! When I do go to the hospital, I will have to stop on the way to get gas, which irritates the fire out of me. It could be in the middle of the night sometime since you never know whether they will admit him or send him home after a few hours of breathing treatments.

My other daughter has been crying ever since her Papa was taken away in the ambulance, bless her heart. She adores him, and him her. She is irritated at her Gigi, (grandma) for not asking if Papa was okay, all she was concerned about was the possibility of me going to the hospital with my Father, so she could try and get my daughter to give her a cigarette after I left! We do not let her smoke.

What a day!

I certainly pray next year's Thanksgiving Day will be a much better day!

I PRAY YOU ALL HAD A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING DAY!