Quiet Friday

I’m trying to do some Black Friday shopping on line today since I am not quite up for the real thing yet.  I have had 3 outings in the past 2 1/2 weeks.  That might sound pretty pathetic for most, but I am trying to heal.  And I am a home-body in general anyway.  I get an itch every once in a while and just have to get out of the house.  But for the most part, I am happy hanging out with my family at home.  I do think that I am finally on the up-swing, even though I was pretty tired at day’s end yesterday.  As much as I loved having so many in our house last year, it was nice to have the small group this year.

So today I think turkey soup will be on the menu.  And if I can talk them into it, I’ll get the kids to start pulling out the Christmas boxes from the attic.  Now, the Christmas carols can begin!   Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Giving Thanks for my Things

For T 1:  You always surprise me.  When your father and I found out you were going to join our family 17 years ago, it was a surprise.  You are still good at sneaking up on us and surprising us.  You are a loving, gentle soul.  I’m proud of my strong-minded, hard-working son who is becoming a fine young man. 

Dear T 2:  You are always there for me.  When we found out you were arriving 15 years ago, it was after months of waiting and hoping.  You came into our lives at a perfect time.  And now you are here, a rock for our family.  I am so thankful to have such a loving, caring, beautiful daughter!

To T 3:  You always keep life exciting for me.  When we found out you were joining us 12 years ago, we were so excited to add to our family.  You are always curious and asking questions.  Thank you for keeping my life lively.  I adore my loving, smart, caring, funny son.

Know that I am so thankful for each of you everyday, even when I don’t tell you.  My love will never stop.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I love holidays because it’s mostly about family.  Even when there are presents involved (which are some of my favorite things :), I am still spending time with loved ones.  I have to admit, however, I could do without the c-c-c-c-cold!  I woke up to SNOW today…in southern coastal Virginia…in November! 

I love my family, of course.  But really, my kids are some of my favorite things.  When we were in Orlando two weeks ago, we bought them t-shirts with “Thing 1,” “Thing 2,” and “Thing 3” on them.  The kids love them.  They decided to wear them to school today – all three of them.  As I was looking out at the snow and they were leaving for school this morning, my youngest was standing in the driveway waiting for his bus in his red Thing 3 t-shirt and a pair of shorts.  Seriously.  I yelled out at him that he needed a jacket and maybe some long pants, but he insisted he was fine.  I don’t remember dropping him on his head as a baby.  I wonder if he just wanted to be sure everyone saw his shirt. 

I also love chocolate (duh!).  And I don’t need anything too fancy.  I got to taste some of the most wonderful chocolate when we lived in Paris, but I am happy with Reese’s and M&M’s. I do have to admit, though, that the best hot chocolate in the world is in Paris at Angelina Restaurant.  And right now would be a great time to have some of that hot stuff.  But I guess I’m gonna have to settle for Swiss Miss for now.  If you’re ever in Paris, it’s on Rue de Rivoli near the Louvre.  Please bring a mug back for me!

So, these are a few of my favorite things.  I could go on and on and on.  But all that talk about chocolate and the cold is pulling me to the kitchen.

Thank you, Mrs. Weeble

Apparently it’s unseasonably cold here, but I wouldn’t know ’cause I am scheduling my lunch and bathroom breaks around the Game Show Network.  Ask me any trivia question, and … well, I might remember one answer.  I just spent about 30 minutes on my Facebook page.  I don’t think I spend more than a minute a week on that site normally – usually responding to friend requests.  I have about 50 or 60 requests to join this group or take that quiz.  It’s just so overwhelming.  But this past week, when the drugs haven’t had me dozing, I have been catching up on snail mail, paying bills, e-mail, and other internet stuff.  It’s amazing that if I don’t check e-mail just one day, it takes about a week to catch up again.   So, imagine not checking it for over a week! 

I haven’t told many people about my surgery.  I’m kind of a private person, and I don’t go around tooting my own horn.  So when my husband brought dinner home tonight, I was so surprised.  The wife of a friend at work made it and sent it home with him (Thank you, Mrs. Weeble :).  The military community is a great one.  This, however, is the first place we’ve been stationed with a very small unit.  Other units have had spouses’ clubs, and it wouldn’t have mattered that I usually keep to myself.  We would have had meals lined up every night for at least one week with back-ups waiting in the wings.  Having teenage children and a husband who is thrilled to get back in the kitchen and do his experimental cooking has made up for that.  I am so thankful for them.

And now we are a week from Thanksgiving.  Wow.  Where did 2008 go?  I really like Thanksgiving.  It’s a no-gift-giving, fairly non-commercial, warm and fuzzy holiday.  I like just hanging out with the family.  And then there’s the left-overs.  Turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey pot pie, turkey chili, turkey and rice…  Can’t wait!

I’m Baaack

My husband called me from work and asked when I was going to post my next blog.  Well, I’ve been a wee tad busy the past couple of weeks.  Our Swedish friends left the farm two Thursday’s ago because my girlfriend had her conference to get to in Orlando.  Oh yeah, that, the whole point of the trip – work.  They decided to stay the last couple of nights in Orlando since she had to work (ugh!).  We talked on the phone after they arrived, and they said they had settled in at the hotel, she had been to one of her conferences, and the kids had immediately found the pool.  They also announced that she didn’t have any conferences the next day, only Saturday, so they asked if we’d like to join them Friday to go to a theme park.  We met a family at Universal Studios who were sprinkled with orange and blue (oh my!). 

So we got a second good-bye.  It was a very nice week.  Saturday, we got back on the road for the 12-hour drive back home for me to prepare for surgery.  I went into the hospital last Monday morning and hung out for a couple of days.  They treated me really well.  I got a morphine drip hooked to a little button that I could press whenever I needed it.  Because they gave me that, I forgave them when they came to take my vitals every 2 hours.  When they told me that I was ready to go home after two days, I decided I could live without the morphine (they sent me home with some good replacement drugs) and the every other hour vitals checks. 

Last night, my husband took me for my first outing in a week.  I went to my clase de español.  I warned the few who sat around me that if I started speaking something other than English or Spanish, that it was the drugs talking.  One guy who sits across from me said he’d never heard me speak so much before.  From what I remember it was all okaaay…

Maybe I should stop with that for today.  I need to go take a pill, or did I just have one at lunch time?

Orange! Blue!

After our marathon drive Saturday, the 10 of us quickly donned our costumes to trip through a maze of scary scarecrows, aliens, and people hiding in unobvious places with the other 100 invitees.  My family quickly dissipated; a couple of them were used on the path to do the scaring, and the others found someone else to walk the path with.  So I cautiously stumbled through with a cousin-in-law and her family, and we giggled most of the way.  Most of the time I was scanning the barely lit path for the “monsters”  who were trying (successfully) to scare most of us.  I have to say, those that live on the farm (who we are joining next summer when we move here) did an AWESOME job of creating the spooky path. 

Sunday, we recovered from our 12-hour drive and wandered around the farm, feeding cows and checking out the different fields.  Some of us played cards and caught up with family members we don’t see very often.  Our friends’ youngest daughter and my niece (daughter of www.ouisaforpresident.blogspot.com) became BFF’s at first sight; both will turn 7 in January.  Even though neither spoke a shared language, they just knew how to communicate and played for hours together.

American/Swedish BFFs

 Monday, we decided to show our guests something that you can’t see many other places than in Florida.  We took them to Alligator Farm to educate them on the differences between alligators and crocodiles.  We got to see all 20-something species of crocodilians.  The kids even got to hold a baby alligator and a boa constrictor for a few minutes.  Then we took them to St. Augustine to show them the oldest continuously settled city in the US.  We walked on the beach and played in the water for a little while, then saw the fort from the outside (we got there at closing time), and walked along a beautiful street and window-shopped.  On the way back home, we stopped at Sonny’s BBQ to eat some good American food for dinner.

Tuesday, we hung out in front of the tv watching the election results.  It was interesting to talk about the differences between the US and Swedish governments . 

Today, as I write, I am watching my youngest play Monopoly (his favorite game) with our friends’ oldest.  My son picked a Chance card which says he must pay everyone $50, but he only has $20.  He is 4 spaces from GO and says he’ll pay her when he gets his $200, but she isn’t buying it.  She wants a property.  I tell him he should give her his best puppy dog eyes, and maybe she will give in.  He tries and she laughs.  All is good until he takes his next turn.  He is such a wheeler deeler.  I keep hearing, “I’ll give you this for that.”  Yes, No, YES, NO!  I need to move.

But now the game must end, as we are off to Gainesville to buy Florida Gator t-shirts at the mall.  Yes, we convinced them that orange and blue are the best colors, and they are very proud to go back to Sweden wearing them!