Oh brother

So...
remember earlier in the year when I locked my keys in my car? and I said I don't have a spare and asked if YOU had a spare?
I never did get around to having that spare made. Guess what? I locked my keys in my car last night. *sigh* Okay, really, honest, THIS WEEKEND I'm getting a spare made!!!!

My honey bunch is still getting a little better every day. He's starting to get a little frustrated about not feeling A LOT better though. I suspected that would happen. The next 3 weeks could be much longer than he's like. But I'll do my best to clap and cheer :-)

Oh! We had an earthquake this morning. 4.2! That's pretty big for our area. Being from California, we knew right away what it was. Lots of folks wondered though. It was kind of like a sonic boom. If you live in Cali, you know just what I'm talking about.

We're ending our below average cold and above average snow December with a 55 degree day. tomorrow. Weird. Now it's just going to be muddy and ugly. Rats

So nice

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas filled with smiles and love and joy. I did! I bet you could have guessed that though :-) We even got a little more snow. But the big storm dodged us. I guess that's alright. But it's going to be in the low 50's by the end of the week. Rats!

Bill told the kids Christmas day, about the big ugly word. They both took it well. Mostly because he started out with "I'm okay". That softened it quite a bit. Now he's feeling pretty good to have that off his chest. Other than that, I think he's doing a little better every day. He says he sorta still feels the same, but I can see that he's moving around better and his face seems a little more relaxed.

My brothers step-son had a baby Christmas morning...now he's a grandpa!!! hahahahahahahaha. He said he's too young to be a grandpa. I think it's great! His daughters think that being an Aunt is cool and the baby is best thing that's EVER happened! So sweet.

It was fantastic to have 4 days off but now it's back to the grind stone.

The nicest thing happened to me this morning. One of the supervisors here at work (one of them I don't do much for as a matter of fact) came over to my cube this morning and said she thought of me over Christmas break...she and her husband went to a local candy store last week, looking for candy canes that were made in the U.S. They were chatting with the owners and discovered that a little further off the beaten path, was a honey farm. So they went to check it out. It's called Hunter's Honey Farm. Anyway, they had tee shirts...tee shirts that said...can you guess?
Bee Happy! So she bought one for me. Wow. How thoughtful was that?! I'll bee smiling all day about that :-)

Best gift EVER!

A cancer free pathology test!!!

Yesssssssssssss!

It really is a wonderful life :-) I'm so frickin' happy that I don't even care about Christmas anymore and what's done or not done! Oh okay, I'll probably care tomorrow. But today I don't have a care in the world!

Happy Winter!

Today is the first day of winter, officially. It's also the shortest day of the year. That makes me happy ~ the days will just get longer from here on out.

Yea!!! Snow!!! We got more of it last night, lots more. This morning was warm though, 32, so the streets were nice. There was also super light traffic because most schools were on a 2 hour delay. Aaaand it's beautiful out this morning. It was the wet kind of snow that sticks to everything. I love that! Well, except for the dogs. Seriously, it's the weirdest thing ever, all those little snow balls that form on them. WHY does that happen? I had to stick them in the sink and rinse them to get it all off. I hate that. Especially because I was already dressed for work. Needless to say, I had to change. Phooey. I really liked my little red frolicking reindeer top.

In case you have NO idea what I'm talking about, take a look;

Also, last night I decided not to stress out about what's not done. In the grand scheme of things, is it really so important that I don't get to vacuum or clean off the coffee table? Nope. If I have to stuff a couple gifts in bags instead of wrapping them, does it matter? Nope. If I don't get some of the cooking done until Christmas Eve, or even not at all, will it be okay? Yep. I feel so much better now too.

Today is the last catheter day for Bill. He's SO ready! I hope the next phase is easier for him. I have found that I have to remind him that it's only been a couple weeks since he had major surgery and he needs to be more patient with himself :-)

Oh, and Bill totally poo pooed my Santa collecting idea. Duh. He said I should go for the worlds largest Miniature Schnauzer related collection. Hmmmmm. He might have something there.

Only one more day of work for me. Hooray!

Ho ho ho!

Are you ready? Not me! December has been stressful month for us. All of a sudden I feel like I haven't done anything. I didn't decorate as much, I'm not done shopping and I haven't wrapped a single gift.

Bill is feeling A LOT better but he is pretty anxious to get rid of the catheter. He's still behaving and doing what the Dr. told him. He's a little antsy about the lack of mobility though. We still haven't gotten the results back from the pathology report so I thing that's holding him back from being too happy. Maybe it's those rose colored glasses but I don't like to borrow trouble. Also, the girls are just crazy for him right now. Even that rascally Pepper, who doesn't really like Bill, fell asleep on his lap last night. Awwwwww. Greta naps with him during the day too. Dogs are cool.

I did squeeze in a couple more Christmas movies over the weekend...Scrooge, w/Albert Finney. It's the musical version, my favorite. And Home Alone. Yeah, yeah, I've seen it a dozen times. But is there really anything better than slap stick? I laughed till I cried when he was letting the robbers have it! I'm smiling now just thinking about Joe Pesci slipping on the steps. Seriously funny! All that's left now is "White Christmas" and "It's A Wonderful Life" Maybe Thursday while I'm finishing up the house chores.

Speaking of "White Christmas", yep, we're going to have one! Hooray for snow!

my new goal

I want to top this guy!

By Lisa Marsh
TODAYshow.com contributor TODAYshow.com contributor
updated 12/16/2010 2:37:32 PM ET 2010-12-16T19:37:32

Jean-Guy Laquerre, a retired geography teacher, has a Santa Claus collection that contains 25,189 individual pieces. That’s a ho-ho-whole lot of Santas and has earned him a spot in the 2011 Guinness Book of World Records for the largest collection of St. Nick memorabilia.
The 74-year-old native of Boucherville in Quebec, Canada, started collecting Santa Claus items in 1988, when he inherited a papier-mache Santa, dating from 1910, from his wife’s aunt. Since that time he has added figurines, cards, postcards, pins, brooches, toys, posters and more all bearing the likeness of the jolly old elf.

It only took him 22 years. I'm pretty sure I could do it in 1/2 that time. Oh the joy! I'm really considering it :-) Hey, don't laugh ~ I'm serious. Now I have a legitimate reason to shop the after Christmas sales!!! Woohoo!

Suzy Toronto

I bet you've seen her art before.


If not, check it out;


http://www.suzytoronto.com/

I love this one...
http://suzytoronto.com/component/option,com_virtuemart/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,2264/Itemid,40/
click on the picture to enlarge it, so you can read it.

whew!

Tomorrow I go back to work. It's been a long week. Well, it's been even longer for the hubby! Poor guy, didn't get to come home until Sunday, but he's really happy to be here. I'm happy too!!! The hospital is a crappy place to hang out. Thanks Mom! ~ for watching the girls!!! So far, everything is going pretty good. He's getting up and around and eating real food. He's got lots of staples though! The last hurdle is the report from pathology. But there isn't any reason to think it will be negative. Now, if he can just make it through the next 5 weeks without being bored out of his mind.... He has promised me though, that he will behave. Not like Mom, who was soooo stubborn!!!

Thank you again for all your prayers and good thoughts. It really means the world to us.

On a lighter note, I've been wanting to post these pictures for awhile now...

This was the sunrise the morning after the big ugly word was said. Stunning. And I really need that reminder too.

I am really enjoying quilling :-)

BIG day tomorrow

Bill's surgery got bumped up from 4pm to 10am tomorrow. I think that's better. Now he doesn't have to stress out all day. AND, the doctor will still be fresh :-)

So far he's doing pretty well. He's usually dead quiet when he's bothered by something. Not yet though. He's also not one to talk about the things that bother him. But he's very chatty about this particular issue. I'm glad. I like knowing what's going on inside his head. Oh, and he hasn't bitten my head off once! I was prepared to cut him slack on that too. *whew* And so far, I think I'm doing pretty good too. I'm more nervous about his recovery. I guess I have a lot of faith in modern medicine. I hope it's not a Scarlett O'Hara thing!

I'd be willing to bet that neither of us sleep well tonight. Duh. But at this time next week, he'll already be back home and he won't have cancer!! Pretty great :-)

Thank you to everyone who has said a prayer for the man I love. He's a real pain sometimes but I'm sure happy I get to keep him longer!

things to do

More snow!!! Yes! It's going to snow all day tomorrow :-) I love 4 seasons. I'm pretty sure that a couple Christmas movies are in my near future.

Bill is starting to get a little anxious about his surgery. I suspect the next few days are going to be unpleasant. But that's okay - it beats the alternative.

I'll have a lot to do this weekend in preparation. I don't want to have things hanging out there after he gets home. Like finishing up the Christmas shopping and getting the grandson's presents mailed off. And comfort food shopping :-) And getting his MP3 all set up so he can have it at the hospital. Yup, lots to do.

This morning I woke up with a weird beeping sound in my left ear. It hasn't gone away yet. It kinda sounds like Morse code tones. I hope it just has to do with my cold and general stuffiness. It's REALLY annoying!

Cancer Sucks!

But life is good :-)

Remember last week when I said I had no clue how a man would handle knowing he had cancer?
I have a clue now. Of course my man is a fatalist, so you know where this is going...he was sure that his bone scan and CT scan would show that his whole body was affected. I was pretty sure it wouldn't ~ but I have faith and a more positive attitude. So for the last couple weeks, after hearing the words, "you have cancer" he's been telling me and showing me how to do things. Like how to reset the garbage disposal and how to cook Thanksgiving dinner. He's also been finishing up some things around the house and giving me extra long hugs. He's also been A LOT more appreciative of life in general.

OK, I admit, I was a little scared. But I was scared for him. I wasn't worried about what would happen to me or what I was going to do. I was scared about how he was going to handle things and how awful it would be for him, etc. He on the other hand, was scared for the exact same reasons...regarding ME! Ahhh love.

Oh yeah, so anyway, he's having surgery next week to remove the big ugly word and that's that.
His vision of life and the world around him has changed dramatically. It's nice and I hope this new found gratitude sticks with him. Faith, prayer, a positive attitude, love, all of it can move mountains. Of course I can't pretend to know how it feels to have the big ugly word inside you, but I can imagine. Thankfully, I haven't had to imagine anything worse. whew!

I believe it's true that the biggest and most important prayer you can say is...
THANK YOU

Yeah!

Snow!!