Off to Fredricksted this morning, it's Cruise Ship Day. The Cruise Ships come into Fredricksted every other Saturday, (soon to be every Saturday and a few times during the week), so there are all kinds of vendors and festival type things in the streets for the cruise ship passengers. It's kind of fun, generally some entertainment in the street also. Did some shopping and stopped in to visit some friends then we went to the Deep End for lunch, yum, crabby patties, this is my favorite place to eat lunch. The branch had Trunk or Treat tonight, it was fun, we had a good time joking around and just being goofy. That's what Halloween is for right. They were looking for a CD of "spooky sounds", so I downloaded something off iTunes and put it on a CD for them, Rick was playing it at home to make sure it transferred and it was creeping me out, who buys this stuff? oh yeah, right that would be me.

Teaching tomorrow in Relief Society so I had better go and prepare. also, trying to watch the second half of "Robin Hood", I was really enjoying it last night, but it just got too late and I dozed off. Going to watch the second half tonight and maybe catch the whole thing again tomorrow. Getting ready for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, I can hardly wait, reread the book a few weeks ago and just finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ( I found it at one of the local restaurant's book exchange) and looking for the others, getting into the mood.

Hurricane Tomas is heading into the southern Caribbean, so far we are not "in the cone", keep praying that it pass us by. Also, pray for Haiti, some of the models have it making landfall at Haiti, they really can't take a direct hit.

Spent a good part of the day at the computer working on my assignments for my Creative Writing Class, it's fun but exhausting at the same time. Some of the writing exercises seem a little silly, when you start out, but it is amazing how they have you connecting and coming up with new ideas. We have assignments that we post in a discussion area on the classroom site, so we can read each others, some of these people are so directed, they have all their ideas lined out for their final projects, me, I'm still in the basic brainstorming stage. The image of a storm in my brain seems really dangerous. Anyway...sometimes I feel a little intimidated by the things that some of the other student post for assignments. Maybe I'll get brave one day and post some of my assignments here. Maybe I'll let you see the final project (only if I feel really good about it). I did mention in the discussion group that I write a blog and some of the other students have requested to see it, I'm not so sure about that yet, it's kind of personal, and yet I really don't block anybody from it, but I guess it gives me a feeling of being over exposed to students in a writing class. YIKES! What if the instructor read it.

In this class we have to set and state specific goals. I really think everybody's secret goals to be published, but nobody has the guts to say it in print. I wonder if I eventually will, have the guts to say it in print, I also wonder if I eventually could be published. Of course, it's one of my "secret" goals.

Rick's passport came in the mail today, now we can travel to other islands that are not a part of the US. Although that is a goal that both of us have, it's not necessarily in the near future, but then who knows.

Didn't post yesterday, but you already knew that, went to bed about 8:30PM, the sinus thing was back, plus yesterday afternoon my dental bridge fell out, again. Not one of my better days.

Being as that I went to be so early last night, I was wide awake at 5:00AM. Stayed in bed for awhile though and read. Testing out the sinus condition to see if I was still in pain or had any pressure. So far so good on that count. I did get in to see the dentist and get my bridge cemented back in, but he assured me it wouldn't last, apparently I need a new bridge, to the tune of about $4,000, OK , just shoot me! I will be in the States for the whole month of December and I am going to see if I can't get something done a little cheaper there, also going to check back with the dentist who originally did this work (I never was happy with it, which is why I changed dentists) and see if he can't do something. Aside from a nice workout in the pool and some paperwork, that was my day. At least I felt better, that is until I went to the dentist and got the bad news.

Praying for my grandchildren to remain healthy. My two good friends both have grandsons currently in the hospital. One has been in for a full week now and he seems to be developing complication after complication, he just can't seem to shake off, whatever is the problem. This little guy is only five years old and the current complication is that his lung has collapsed. The other boy is eleven and apparently has a severe virus, I haven't heard yet today, so maybe he was able to go home. Then another good friend has a grandson dealing with cancer and cancer treatment. It seems so unfair that these little guys are so sick. Need to keep praying.

Some good news, it looks like Rick's job might be extended through December, hopefully not so long that it will mess with our plans for him to come to Idaho at Christmas. Also, a few new prospects starting to come around. Keep praying for work also.

Yesterday I had terrible sinus pressure on the whole right side of my face. Felt awful, slept most of the day. Too out of it to blog last night. Today, I felt much better, was up and about, worked out in the pool and then Rick and I went grocery shopping, ugh!. Have I mentioned I hate grocery shopping, too bad I like to eat so much. Anyway, after we got home, put everything away and got a phone call, I was laying down and talking to my friend and then thought I needed to get up and finish up some things, when I got up, the ugly sinus pressure was back. I think it's time for bed.

Happy Birthday to Don. I can remember the first birthday we celebrated with Don it was his 30th. He and Rachel had only been married a few weeks and she wanted to give him a party. It was a surprise, of course, Rachel's favorite thing to do. The guests were all waiting at the Outback Steak House for about an hour, cause they were late, imagine that. Well anyway it was fun and I think Don was surprised, even though he wouldn't admit it. I think he really enjoyed himself too, I know everyone else did. Funny how some of those things stick out in our minds. Well this is 38 for ole Don, I guess he's really getting up there. How did that happen that my son-in-law is so old. Come to think of it, this March Rachel will be 30, now that's a "make you sit down and think" experience.

I don't really mind getting old, except for the body parts that don't work too good, but it makes you think when you realize how old your children are. Then consider the ages of my grandchildren and before long there will be great-grandchildren. I would like to see and hold great-grandchildren. That would be so cool. Considering that Morgan will be 12 in April, it's potentially not too far off. Of course, who know if I will ever see or have any type of relationship with Morgan again. Sometimes life takes turns and twists that we never could have anticipated. Some of them fun and exciting and some not so.

Tonight we went to Times Square for pizza. Times Square in Christiansted, St. Croix that is. Times Square is a block of old buildings, including an old theatre that is "slowly" being renovated. When I say slowly, I mean slowly for the islands which is slower you can imagine, anyway it's a quaint street with pavers and everything. This great new pizza place (actually not new to the island, their are two other locations) just opened here. The only problem is this street is a main thoroughfare and there is no parking, stopping or standing. We had to park illegally on the sidewalk across the street, with me waiting in the care, while Rick went to pick up the pizza. But this pizza was so good it would have been worth the ticket, if we had gotten one (besides everyone on the island has told us that the police issue parking tickets but never turn the stubs in so when you go to pay them, they have no records of it and although it's always wise to check, nobody every pays parking tickets...go figure).

DIET ALERT - I am about to describe pizza so good that you could gain three pounds from just reading this. We had the extra large, 18 inches of hot, gooey, yummy extra sauce Hawaiian pizza, mainly because Rick has eyes way bigger than his stomach, and besides, he says; "it was only $2 more than the large". Anyway it had a lot of sauce that was go good and Italiany the scent was enough to drive you wild. The cheese was melted perfectly and just the right amount. I hate it when they skimp on the cheese, but I'm also not fond of having so much that you feel like your biting through an inner tube before you get to the crust. The crust was the perfect thin crust with just the right amount of crispiness, but not at all burnt but baked to a perfect golden brown. The ham was diced up so you had the yummy, smokey flavor but didn't have to fight the normal half dollar size Canadian Bacon that so many pizza places use, you know how you can't really bite through it so you end up pulling it and all the rest of the topping off you crust. I just hate that. The pineapple was diced fairly small too and was so sweet it tasted fresh. Considering they grow pineapple here on the island, it might have been. When we got there our pizza wasn't ready, so Rick got it fresh out of the oven and it stayed piping hot all the way home. It was oh so good.

For anyone reading this can you tell that my current assignments in my Creative Writing Course are "free writing" in descriptions and detail. Was it over the top? Could you just taste and smell that pizza? Did you gain the 3 pounds? I probably did, but then I got to eat it as well as talk about it.

Working on my writing assignments for my Creative Writing Course, it's actually kind of fun. Can't wait for the next assignment.

Talked with my friend Karen on the phone several times today. Her grandson has been hospitalized with what was first suspected to be pneumonia,now the doctors are not so sure. The poor little guy is only 5 years old, in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and currently on a ventilator. How scary this is for everyone. It has really made me thankful for the good health of my grandchildren, it would be so hard to be so far away from them in a serious situation such as this. I really feel for Karen, she is so worried about her grandson, and her daughter and her two other granddaughters.

We all take so much for granted,like our good health and the good health of those we love. It is so important to safeguard your health, and be vigilant in safeguarding the health of our children and grandchildren. I believe strongly in preventative care, it is so much easier to keep the body healthy than to try to restore good health. It is especially important to give children a good start on having a healthy body. We need to teach them good eating habits, so they don't have anything to correct later on in life. We need to teach them the importance of not putting harmful substances into their bodies so they can be strong both physically, mentally and spiritually. We need to do everything we can to protect them in every way. We see their resilience and something think that they can bounce back from anything, it's not always the case and why would we want them to have to "bounce back" from anything, if we could prevent it.

I had a conversation with my daughter, when she was here visiting about her daughter and how trusting and friendly she is. Rachel was saying that she fears that she would go with a stranger very easily and she wasn't sure what to do about that. A friend of hers told her that she should start to warn her daughter and scare her if necessary, Rachel felt that she really didn't want to do that, but I hope she has.
Things can happen so quickly and if the best way that you can prepare a child to be safe is to scare them,

I think you should do it. Some healthy fear of things that could be bad for us is NOT a bad thing.

I pray daily that my grandchildren can be happy,healthy and safe. Maybe we all need to pray daily for this for all the children of the world. Tonight along with my grandchildren, little Trevor Glass will be in my prayers, as will Oakley Gallup. Too many children with serious health issues!