Update by Special Request*

The Holiday weekend is almost over. But what a weekend it was! I got stuffed with turkey and fixin's on Thursday at my sister JoElla's house and then had turkey & noodles at my brother Chuck's house that night (can you say food over-load?). Woke up Friday morning and went to Target to get the adjustment to my new comforter that was on sale (saved $30) and then did some power shopping before returning home to prepare for the trip to Owatonna, MN to meet the newest member of our family, Colton! Of course prior to that, my garage door had a melt down. Tried to shut the door and it wouldn't have it. Apparently I had snapped a cable. Lucky for me the first place I called was able to come within the hour and fix it so I could still make the trip to meet Colton.

We had a wonderful baby shower for Colton and after the baby shower a bunch of us went to the hotel for an "after party" (how my room was chosen for this, I'll never know). We had a blast. Then this morning we all met for breakfast in the hotel before taking off and doing a little more shopping. Made it back home around 2:00, had some lunch, uploaded pictures (see attached), talked to my lovely daughter - hope you're feeling better, and then went to church. After church it was back over to JoElla & Bill's to see the family again. Unfortunately my crazy brother decided to take off for the trip back to Indiana tonight instead of tomorrow morning (*this is where the "by special request" part comes in -- he said to me, "I suppose you're going to blog about this!"). So the visit was cut short and we have to worry about them driving back late at night. He's nuts I tell you, nuts. But, this isn't something we just realized, he's done this many times before with no dire consequences. However, I want it known and established in writing that he is officially nuts. So there.

The photo attached is me holding baby Colton - and he's not crying. He tended to either be crying or start crying while I held him. I'd like to think it's because he knew that we wouldn't get to see each other often enough and that made him sad. But he is just adorable and looks just like his daddy, Collin. Even has the same haircut.

I had a wonderful long weekend and have one more day to enjoy. Tomorrow I am going to go join my sister's gym so I can take advantage of her personal trainer and get my guns. I'm also going to entertain my friend Marylee by allowing her to kick my butt at Scrabble again. I think maybe she cheats, but maybe I'm just worn down by the time we play? She's retired and I am still struggling to work and keep a job. The stress is too much perhaps? We'll see.

Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving and were able to enjoy time with family and friends. That's what it's all about!

Let me give thanks..

I have so much to be thankful for this year. Yes, there have been some very bad things that happened this year - lost friends/family, friends being diagnosed with cancer, my sister being diagnosed with cancer, learning I may lose my job, and I could go on, but why? I'd rather celebrate and be thankful for the many blessings in my life this year:

• Chelsea and Chris visited in February (cold hands, warm hearts) and again in September!
• I was able to visit Chelsea, Chris and Mally (and friends) in Seattle in October!
• The American Cancer Society "Relay For Life" was a great success (despite the storm) and we all participated and raised money for a really great cause
• My friend Terry beat the odds and surpassed the 'end of the road' date they gave him - and he's still doing well and going ahead with life!
• My sister Sandy is coping very well with her cancer, fighting it all the way and hasn't had to have chemo since August! She's stronger than she's been in a long time!
• My sister Trish had her lumpectomy and they found no further signs of cancer cells in her lymph nodes or surrounding tissue. She is doing well and ready for battle, too!
• I am surrounded by so many amazing friends, even some who live far away like California (and whom I haven't even met in person yet) that support me and pray for me and my family on a regular basis. They are truly angels.
• I am blessed with a wonderful and close-knit family, we love and care for each other and support each other in many ways. I never feel alone!
• I have been blessed with the most wonderful daughter - she's beautiful, talented, charming, incredibly strong and resilient. I'm so proud of her I could burst!

My list could go on for days. The point is, as long as I am still taking up space above ground and sucking in air, I am blessed and thankful for all the blessings in my life!!

I wish each and every person reading this a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving. Remember to count your blessings and love your family and friends because you can!!

I'm feeling kinda yucky! :o(

I don't know if I have a flu bug, or just something that I ate, but I feel yucky! Started last night shortly after I ate dinner (some pork steaks with pineapple & carrots - was yummy). I don't know if the food just didn't 'digest' or what, but I felt bloated all night. Tossed & turned all night and didn't sleep much. When the alarm went off at 5:30, I decided to call and leave a message at work that I would be late - try to sleep one more hour to see if things improved. But, no. It was just as bad when I woke up an hour later. So I didn't go to work. Ended up having a little puking session of just bile (sorry to be so blunt!!). And all day long I've still felt bloated. Maalox doesn't seem to help. Drinking tea isn't helping. It's a mystery to me, but I am afraid to eat anything. I just hope it's better by the morning.

Tomorrow I have a phone screening/interview for one of the 9 jobs I posted for internally. I've never done a phone interview, so I hope it goes well. Wish me luck.

That's it for now. Back to the couch!

When does the countdown begin?

So another week has passed. One week closer to my last day. One more job application failure. That's 7 so far that have resulted in nothing but a "sorry, but no go" response. Six were internal, the last one was an external one. The crazy thing is, the external company gave me an actual Email and said some nice things about me (perhaps it was a form letter, but it still read nice). My own company doesn't have the decency to call or even Email. They just update the status of my internal application to read, "No longer being considered". Nice, huh? I think that's what technology has done to our society. A company can't even write a decent kiss off letter. Oh well.

So my question is, how soon does one start to count the days before one is dismissed from one's 31+ year career at ones current place of employ? Does one wait until the days are less than 30? I guess that would be today (since D-Day is 12/18). Or does one politely wait until there is less than one week? Perhaps it makes more sense to wait until there are a reasonably countable number of hours remaining? And, it's been a great debate in the office as to does one include weekends/holidays and/or vacation days in ones count down, or are those excluded. It's questions like these that keep me up at night (or wake me at 4:30 AM on a perfectly good Saturday for sleeping in).

I guess I won't count down. Not yet anyway. I just keep saying I have a few weeks left. I am not relishing the idea of entering the unemployed ranks, but I am in some sick way looking forward to not having to get up at 5:30 AM, not having to pretend like I have something important to do or say, and not having to hear myself and my commrades complain bitterly about our situation all day. Yeah, that's right - I complain about it all day. Well, not all day, but a good portion of the day. And where does that get me? It gets me all riled up and makes me wake up at 4:30 thinking about it some more.

Ugh! It's the weekend and tomorrow I told my sister I'd meet her at her gym to get a freebie with her trainer. If I decide to have him train me (SIT!! LAY DOWN!! ROLL OVER!!) I would then have to join her gym and pay him. Still trying to figure out if that's something I really want to do or not. Hope it doesn't wake me up at 4:30 to think about it!

Have a good weekend and try not to count how many hours remain in it!!

Another "Wow" moment (and my "Surgiversary")

They say after you have weight loss surgery, you will have a lot of "wow" moments as your body changes. I've already had a lot - like fitting into an airline seat with no problems (and no seat belt extender), walking all day at a craft event or on Sister's weekend, fitting into MUCH smaller sizes is always a "wow". Today I waited in line for the Cities 97 CD Sampler and didn't even need my chair to sit. I brought it along just in case, but didn't use it. For me, that is almost a miracle. I couldn't stand around that long (about 1.5 hours) pre-surgery without my legs going numb or my knees giving out. So this was a good thing!

So I got the CD (2 of them - so if anyone needs one, let me know) and while I was waiting, I thought about how important music is in our lives. There were a LOT of people waiting in line for this CD and while I know some of them won't keep it or even listen to it, they will just try to sell it on Ebay for ridiculous amounts of money, there are some that were in line because they really love the music. Can you imagine a world where we had NO music. No humming in the elevator. No singing in church. No Christmas caroling. No children's choirs. No belting out show tunes in the shower!? I just can't imagine it. I don't have the greatest voice (although I do sound incredible in the car)...but I love to sing. Sometimes there are days where every conversation I hear brings to mind a song. Try that some day - as you are talking to someone or eaves dropping on a conversation in the booth next to you - think of what song it brings to mind. It might drive you crazy, but it's kind of fun!

So today I am thankful once again that I went through the surgery exactly 11 months ago today (12/19/08) and I am also very thankful for music. ALL music from Liberace to Lynard Skynard (however you spell that) and from ACDC to Zeplin. I may not like it all, but I am very glad we have it!

Update for Cheryl (S-D)

I found out someone else is reading this blog site on a regular basis. My sister's friend (and also considered a 7th sister) Cheryl S-D. Hi Cheryl! (we call her by her last names, but oddly enough, we have them reversed - using her married name followed by her maiden name, it's just easier to say). So anyway, she reminded me yesterday that I haven't updated here for awhile, so here it is!!

Yesterday was my jewelry party and it was fun. I sent out something like 20 invites, but only had 6 faithful friends/family show up! At least the important ones were there!! :o) And I had two outside orders from wonderful friends who couldn't be here. To me it wasn't about the orders, but more about getting together and having fun. Which we did. So mission accomplished!

My sister Trish is doing well. She found out there were NO cancer cells in the lymph nodes and also in the 'fringes' of the tumor! All great news. She met with the oncologist and he's given her some things to think about for further treatment. LOTS to think about. So prayers continue for her to make the best decision. My sister Sandy looked great yesterday and she's doing well, too. I believe she starts a new chemo treatment on 11/30 - so gets to go through Thanksgiving without the chemo. It's been since August! So that's good too!

Today I am venturing a bit North to Cambridge to meet my old High School buddy, Brenda, for lunch! We "found each other" last year and have only seen each other a couple times since then. I am looking forward to today. Seems like we never parted..we pick up right where we left off (and of course we talk a lot about the 'good old days' too).

After another wonderful weekend, it's back to 'the place' again. I'm still searching for an inside job, but not having much luck. I applied for a job outside of the company, and haven't heard a word back on that either. I know there are lots of people looking, so I'm trying not to be too frustrated over this. Looking for the positives and trying to be thankful for what I do have. And that's a lot to be thankful for!!

Whew..whatta week!!

Been a fast moving week for me since I last posted! I'll try to recap!

Thursday I was at the hospital all day while my sister had her lumpectomy. At one point, all of us sisters were in the waiting room together (except Trish, of course, who was in surgery). We kind of scared the surgeon when he came into the family conference room to update us! All went well for her and they didn't see any signs of the cancer spreading to her lymphnodes and feel they got the entire tumor (with no fringes of cancer lingering). She is doing remarkably well post-surgery too. I stayed with her Thursday night and Friday. She was doing so well on Friday that she suggested we go to a movie! So we went to "Christmas Carol" - the new Disney version with Jim Carrey's voice as Scrooge. It was good, but not recommending it for small children (or timid adults) who may scare easily!

Saturday the sisterhood (most of us anyway) and 2 nieces Amy & Val, did the craft show circuit. All the area churches have craft sales and so we went to 5 of them! We broke for lunch and met up with our sister-in-law Beth at Olive Garden before hitting our last one. The weather was just perfect for this outing, sunny and low 60's. We all had a marvelous time and Trish did well, as did my sister, Sandy, who is also battling breast cancer. So glad we all had the day together!

Today I am going to maybe go to one more craft sale and then start cleaning and preparing for a jewelry party that I am hostessing next weekend. It's supposed to be equally as nice today as it was yesterday, so perhaps another walk around Springbrook Nature Center is a good idea. I did that last Sunday and just loved hearing the leaves on the path swoosh and crunch underfoot. Fall is my favorite time of year and October didn't provide too many nice/dry days! Have to take advantage of these November days!!

While I'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, I feel refreshed and renewed having spent so much quality time with my family! Oh, and a little shop therapy never hurts either!! :o) Have a great week ahead!