Bonita and I are home for Thanksgiving.  We have so very much to be thankful as a family.  We are living in the greatest country in the world first of all.  We are free to live as we choose.  We have each other and we are all healthy.  Thanksgiving was a new holiday to my parents when they came here from Cuba and it has become one of their favorites.

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are surrounded by family or ones you love anyway.

I had thought about looking for a seasonal job but there aren’t any in my area.  They are all taken up by the regular people that take those jobs.  That’s good because some of these people depend on the seasonal jobs to get them through the winter.  I’ll be okay without it but I have decided to start a home based business instead.

There is an auction house not far from my home.  They sell all types of items and a lot of them go as cheap as $2 each.  With just a little cleaning and adding my touch to some of them, I can sell them on Ebay.  A lot of the items are old dishes and silverware that no one really wants because they are of little or no value.  I take them and make clocks out of the plates, bowls and other dishes and the silverware, I make wind chimes, or add them to something else for kitchen art work.

My house is small but I do have a small building out back where I can work on these things.  I have always loved to take items considered ‘Trash’ and turn them into a ‘Treasure’.  I have had a lot of people see some of the things I have made for my own home and ask where to get them.  I always write these things down and then when it’s the holidays or a special occasion, I make them one and that’s what I give them as a present.

Many have told me I need to sell these types of items so I’m going to give it a shot.  We’ll see how it goes.  Yard sales are a great place to find items too as are flea markets.  Hopefully they’ll sell good on Ebay but we shall see.

Now that my shop is closed for the winter, I have decided to take a winter job.  Hopefully some of the big department stores around here will need help over Christmas and I can get a job with them.  I don’t usually do that but this year, my savings from the summer are way down because there weren’t as many people coming to the beach as usual because of the high gas prices.

Bonita moving in will help a lot but still I think I need to get a part time job at least IF I can find one.  A lot of people around here are saying that the bigger department stores aren’t hiring all the extra help they usually do because they’re expecting this to be a poor holiday season because of the economy.  I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

It just doesn’t seem fair to sent a Marine back into combat the day after Veterans Day but that’s is exactly what has happened.  I didn’ t know he was home on leave because his uncle had died.  He didn’t have much time home but at least he did get to come home for the funeral.

He wouldn’t talk about much from Iraq.  His face would light up when he spoke of the children there.  They seemed to love the Marines because they gave them candy.  He said there was nothing like seeing them smile and laugh since they had so little to laugh about.  Marines are known for being the baddest and the strongest, but they are also some of the most caring soldiers there are.

I hope he comes back home safe.  I gave him my address and he gave me his.  I’ll have to bake some cookies to send to him.  That would be nice for him to share with the children.  You know, I could fall for this one.

Bonita got a job Tuesday and starts Monday at a local realtor as a receptionist.  She is also looking into starting college the next semester.  She has decided she wants to be a nurse.  It is hard to get into that curriculum because so many want to be nurses so she will take classes in things that will help her with nursing until she can get in nursing school.

She is so very proud of herself and we as a family are all so very proud of her too.  She has a job and is still reaching for something better.  In this world, you must have a career if you are going to succeed.  I’m even thinking of going back to school.  I have a degree in business management and do own my own establishment but it is seasonal.  With the times being as hard as they are, I can’t count on my business thriving in such an uncertain economy.

I’m thinking of going to school to be an X-ray technician.  The medical field is one field that will always be in demand.  I’ll keep you posted on all of this.