Another Thanksgiving week come and gone

Time to slow down and catch our breath!  The past week has been a whirlwind...but the best possible kind.  Now we just have to get caught up on laundry, clean out the refrigerator, put up the high chair and card table, and REST. 

After getting all of my cooking and cleaning done on Wednesday, we decided to just go to Subway and get a sandwich for supper.  When we got in the pickup to leave the restaurant, it wouldn't start.  It sounded like it wasn't getting any gas at all, so Dennis figured it was probably either the fuel pump or timing belt.  We called Ricky, and he and Amanda came and rescued us.  Being the night before Thanksgiving, we figured the truck would be stuck in the parking lot all weekend.  (Dennis was able to get a tow truck to move it to an auto shop Friday morning, even though the shop won't be open until tomorrow morning.)

The kids made it in Wednesday night around 8:30.  Jesse was wired up!  That is a long drive for a couple of 2-year-olds to make...especially when they are arriving after their normal bedtime.  They were allowed to stay up for a little while and run off some steam before being put down for the night.  They did not like having to go to bed, but they wore out pretty quick.  The adults stayed up visiting longer than we should have.  We started around 10:00 saying we needed to turn in, but I think it was close to midnight before we ever made it to bed.

Dennis sharing his jerky with Shepherd

Thursday was filled with cooking, eating, playing with the boys and visiting.  After Daddy and Bobbie left to head west (first to go visit Ted in the hospital and then on to Spur), the boys went down for a nap and the rest of us (except for Dennis) played a hilarious game of Things.  Jesse got up while we were just getting going good and "played cards" in the big middle of us.  He thought he was as big as everyone else!  Ricky and his girlfriend, Amanda, left after that for another Thanksgiving dinner with her family, while we just pulled out the leftovers and heated up what each of us wanted.  We visited and played some more, but we all turned in earlier to get rested up before our next busy day.

Friday, we fortified ourselves with a big pancake breakfast and then headed to the Ft. Worth Zoo.  We got there about 15 minutes after they opened at 10:00.  The parking lot was already pretty full, and there were people with strollers everywhere!  It was a great day to take little ones to see the critters.  We had Stephen and Mandy's double stroller, but the boys didn't stay in it long.  They were ready to get out and explore!  They did great about holding someone's hand and staying close.  Of course they loved climbing on all of the fences, but there was always an adult or two on hand to hold on to them and keep them corralled.  They really enjoyed looking at all of the animals...especially the big cats and penguins and fish.  They also enjoyed the play barn in the Texas section, where they could run and climb to their hearts' content.  We ended up staying until about 1:00.  We were all pretty hungry by then, so we went to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant for lunch to celebrate Josiah.  It was everyone's first time to try Vietnamese cuisine (except for Sheila and I).  I think they all enjoyed it!  Sheila, Stephen and I all got Pho...the traditional soup that is a staple at all Vietnamese restaurants.  It is SO flavorful!  There were also plenty of egg and spring rolls and fried rice of all kinds consumed!

Shepherd loved holding hands with the kangaroo!

Ricky and Amanda headed home after lunch, while the rest of us went by Sheila's apartment for a short visit.  The boys loved checking out Josiah's bedroom and toys!  Jesse can't wait for Sheila to "get on an airplane and go get his cousin and bring him back to play with him."  He talks about Josiah on a pretty regular basis.  Those three boys are going to have so much fun growing up together!

After our traditional turkey quesadillas for supper that night, the boys got put down for the night and we ran the guys out of the living room for our Gilmore Girl reunion marathon!  We hadn't planned to watch all four episodes at one time, but we kind of got caught up in it.  The guys turned in early, but it was 1:30 before we finished and went to bed.  That made for a short night, because Shepherd is such an early riser!  We pretty much did "every man for himself" for breakfast Saturday morning, with leftover banana bread that Mandy brought, leftover bacon and pancakes, and cereal and bananas.  We didn't really do anything after that other than play with the boys until it was time for lunch.  After soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and cleaning up the kitchen, everyone started packing up and getting ready to leave.  Sheila had to "dog sit" for her old boss at 2:00, and Stephen and Mandy needed to get the boys home at a decent time to get them to bed that night.  So we all said our good-byes, and then Dennis and I crashed!  Even after 9 hours of sleep last night, I still feel like I'm just running on fumes today...and I ache all over.  I'm not used to picking up and carrying around 35 pounds of unfettered energy! 

Tomorrow will be a day of playing catch up around the house.  I have my appointment with the cardiologist on Tuesday, 2 days of all day classes Wednesday and Thursday, a 2-hour visit on Friday, volunteering Saturday morning at the CASA Santa's workshop, and then girls' weekend with Sheila at Diane B's place.  Another busy week!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

As most of you probably know, THIS IS MY FAVORITE WEEK OF THE YEAR!!!  I love everything about Thanksgiving!  I love preparing for it; I love the food; I love the time with family; I love the traditions; and I love the whole premise of giving thanks!  I mean really...what's NOT to love?!!

I saw a neat idea on Pinterest that I decided to incorporate into my Thanksgiving traditions.  I bought a pumpkin back in October and started writing things on it that I am thankful for.  Not only does it focus on looking for the everyday blessings in life, but it is also an attractive decoration!  I decided to go with a white pumpkin, because I think they are really pretty...and I love the black and white contrast.  I still have a few more days to finish filling it in.  I don't just put the "deep" things of life on it, I put down anything that strikes me during the day that I'm thankful for!

I started some of my treat making last week.  I got my pecan pies baked and in the freezer.  I made a batch of Key Lime Truffles.  And I cooked up a double batch of jerky yesterday.  Tomorrow I plan to make a different flavor of truffle and some no-bake cookie balls.  I have some sugar cookies in the freezer that I plan to decorate Tuesday.  I'll save a few for the boys to do when they are here.  I also plan to bake a sweet potato pie on Wednesday, as well as make my deviled eggs and start prepping for the dressing.  Since we are smoking our own turkey this year, I'll brine it tomorrow, so it will be ready for Dennis to smoke Wednesday.  I'm really excited to see how it turns out!  So far, we've smoked pork (which makes the absolute BEST pinto beans!) and jerky and have been very pleased with how they turned out.

I've got most of the jerky hidden away, so there will be plenty when everyone gets here.  Otherwise, it would all be eaten!  We LOVE our jerky!

Stephen's family plan to come in on Wednesday evening.  Sheila, Daddy and Bobbie will come over Thursday morning.  I'm really looking forward to 3 whole days with the grandsons!  We are going to have a blast!!!  We have a trip planned to the zoo on Friday, plus eating at a Vietnamese restaurant in honor of Josiah.  Sheila has a sign made like our t-shirts that we plan to take a picture of all of us with.  It will go in his special memory book that she is making for him.  So even though he won't be able to be with us this Thanksgiving, he will be in all of our hearts!  And, Lord willing, he should be here NEXT Thanksgiving!  This will be Shepherd's first Thanksgiving with us.  I've really been looking forward to spending it with him!  It will be Daddy and Bobbie's first time to get to meet him.  They are really looking forward to spending time with both of the boys.  I've always loved Thanksgiving, but grandkids make it every MORE special!!!

Dennis was able to finish 5 drawers last week in the kitchen and should be able to do another 2 or 3 before Thursday.  It is so great seeing the kitchen coming together!  I'm very thankful for how efficient it is now and how good everything is looking.  Dennis is doing an amazing job!

I hope that all of you have a wonderful week and a very blessed Thanksgiving!

(Psalms 100:4) Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.  (NKJV)
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  (NKJV)

A productive week!

Well, this past week DID go much better!  Dennis went out and killed a nice buck on Monday.  So good to have fresh meat aging!  He went out again Saturday morning and killed a nice doe.  So we are in good shape for now.  Since we have plenty of meat for the freezer for now, he can get back to working on the kitchen.  Yay!

On Tuesday, we drove down to San Saba for our yearly pecan trip.  It was a great drive down.  We saw a lot of deer, one very nice blackbuck and an oryx.  We bought 30 pounds of pecans at the warehouse store, plus a couple of jars of jam.  We then drove to our hotel in Copperas Cove and got settled in.  We knew of a good Italian restaurant (that we'd visited before), so we went there for supper and then took in a movie.  We hadn't planned to watch election results, but we turned them on when we got back to our room and kind of got drawn in to it.  I finally went to sleep and left it with Dennis!

Wednesday, we took it easy...sleeping late and then enjoying a leisurely breakfast in our hotel.  After loading up, we headed back towards home...taking a scenic shortcut.  We saw more deer, including a BIG buck!  As we drove into Hico, we saw this old Victorian home with a giant banner along the fence, advertising 20 years of business for the Wiseman House Chocolates.  Well, we couldn't just pass that by!  They hand make all kinds of chocolates and offer free samples throughout the store.  Of course we had to purchase some, too!  We ended up making it back home in time for lunch and spent the evening picking out the pecans.  We had bought cracked nuts, so we were able to get them all shelled out by bedtime.  We now have 6 gallons of wonderful pecans in the freezer...just in time for Thanksgiving treats!

I had an appointment first thing Thursday morning with my doctor.  My blood pressure is doing well.  I will continue on my current meds until I see the cardiologist at the end of the month. 

I left the doctor's office and drove to FW for Bobbie's hand surgery.  She had 2 tendons (leading to her right index finger and thumb) that had snapped in two from some screws that were holding a plate on her wrist from when she had broken it.  They removed the screws and plate and attached the tendon from her index finger to the middle finger, so they will work together.  Then they attached the tendon from the thumb to one that leads to her bicep to stabilize it.  She won't have normal function in her hand, but it ought to be better than it has been.  She will be in a brace for 3 weeks and not able to use her right hand during that time.  She went through surgery well and is not having much, if any, pain from it.

I baked sugar cookies on Friday and froze them.  I plan to decorate them for Thanksgiving...saving a few for the boys to decorate while they are here.  I am super excited about this Thanksgiving!  Having both boys here all weekend is going to be a blast!  We are hoping to go to the zoo one day with them.  I've looked forward to a day at the zoo with grandkids for a LONG time!

Sheila came over and spent Friday night and all day Saturday.  I enjoyed having her around all weekend.  She also came back over and spent all day today. 

We had a great Lord's Day today!  Dennis gave a good lesson this morning and things got pretty emotional.  Brother Wayne made a few comments and had everyone in tears!  Mayrene has been in the hospital for the past two weeks, and it is very hard on them both.  It is also rough on Linda and Karen who are trying to take care of both of them!  They could all really use your prayers!

We are just a week and a half away from Thanksgiving!  There will be a lot going on between now and then...2 deer to butcher, plus we plan to go help Kyle butcher Parker's first deer (that he killed this morning...way to go, Parker!)  I've got court on Tuesday, an appointment that night and a visit Friday morning.  Then it will be time to start baking goodies!  I've already bought my turkey, and Dennis is planning to smoke it the day before, so I can just warm it up Thursday morning.  We are excited to do our own smoked turkey for the first time!  We also need to make up some more jerky to have on hand while all of the kids are here.  I love Thanksgiving!!!

A very stressful week

Some days, it seems like you’d have been better off staying in bed.  That pretty much sums up last week!  Not really, but it sure felt like it at times.  I did get over my sickness by about Monday or Tuesday.  Dennis left out Tuesday morning to head to the deer woods of East Texas.  I had CASA visits lined up all week.  Ricky was sick one day with the stomach bug, but he was able to work the other 4 days.  I was expecting the week to go pretty well.

Things kind of fell apart on Wednesday.  I had a very stressful situation arise on one of my CASA cases.  It pretty much consumed me all day.  I could feel my blood pressure rising, so I started taking it several times throughout the day.  It was higher than it had ever been…much higher than I was comfortable with!  I took an extra BP pill, but it barely made any difference.  Ricky came home from work and cooked supper for us, so that I could rest quietly to try to keep it down.

I started out Thursday taking 2 pills to avoid it spiking so high again.  I had responsibilities that I had to take care of, and I was still dealing with the same issue that stressed me out so bad the previous day.  It still ran high all day, especially when I was dealing with the problem at hand.  So I decided I’d better make an appointment to see my doctor Friday afternoon.  I was busy with a visit all morning, so I made my appointment for right after lunch.

My BP was still pretty high at the doctor’s office, so they decided to do an EKG.  There were some “little abnormalities” on it, so they told me to go directly to the ER.  They asked if I wanted the EMTs to drive me, but I told them I was fine to drive myself.  The hospital was just a few miles down the highway.  The doctor’s office called ahead to tell them I was coming, so all I had to do was walk in and tell them who I was, and they whisked me off to a triage room.  The nurse who did my intake was upset that I had driven myself to the ER.  I told her I had been driving all day and was fine.  She asked if anyone was with me.  “No.”  Did anyone know where I was?  “No.”  She told me to call my husband.  “He’s in the deer woods in East Texas, without cellphone reception.”  “Then call your kids!”  So I texted Sheila to explain what was going on.  About that time, Ricky texted to see what I had found out at the doctor, so I told him what was going on, too.  He immediately left work and drove to the ER.  Sheila also left work early and headed over.  The nurses and doctors in the ER were moving like crazy getting me admitted, bloodwork drawn, UA done, EKG done, IV hooked up and chest xray done.  They were taking things very seriously, which kind of freaked me out...and REALLY made my BP shoot up!  They administered a different medication into my IV to bring my BP down quickly, and then started getting all of the test results back.  My bloodwork was fine, as was my chest xray.  The EKG showed the same abnormality as the one in the doctor’s office, but the ER doctor said it wasn’t indicative of a serious problem.  (My doctor had already started the process to refer me to a cardiologist for a complete workup.)  The medication brought my BP down to a normal level, so I was released to go home.  The only test result that came back positive for anything was the UA…I had a slight UTI.  The ER doctor started me on another BP medication, which I will continue until I see the cardiologist.  I was sure happy to get home!!!

While I was lying in the ER, Stephen facetimed me with the boys.  It was great to talk to them!  Jesse just couldn’t understand what was going on though.  He kept asking me, “What are you DOING, Granny?”  LOL!  Stephen tried to explain that I was “sick” and at the doctor’s.  I don’t think he ever figured it out though!  Talking to him and Shepherd was “good medicine” for this old granny!

Sheila had already planned to come over and spend the night, so she headed home with me and we had a good visit and watched a fun movie.  She left the next morning to spend the day with Jessica.  I pretty much took the day off and just rested up.  My BP has continued to remain at a reasonable level.

After it was all over, I finally was able to talk to Dennis and fill him in on everything.  He had been having a pretty crummy week, too!  It was very hot and wet in the woods, and he didn’t kill a deer.  He had planned to gun hunt on Saturday morning, which was opening day of gun season, but he discovered a flat tire on his truck Friday night, so he had to go into Lufkin to get a new tire the next morning.  After getting that done, he had to break (a very wet) camp and head home.  Since it has been rainy here, too, the tent is set up for an indefinite period of time in the front yard until it finally dries up enough to fold up and put away.

Dennis was cleaning his glasses last night, when his frames broke right in half!  So he’ll have to go to the eye doctor’s office first thing in the morning to get some replacement frames.  Thankfully, he still had an old pair of glasses that he can use. 

I have a meeting tomorrow night, then I’m free until Saturday morning, when Sheila and I have a visit to do; so Dennis and I decided to make our annual trip to San Saba this week to buy pecans.  Lord willing, we will head down Tuesday, stock up on nuts, spend the night, and then come home Wednesday.  It will serve as our “anniversary trip” again.  We always enjoy the drive down, and we LOVE exploring all of the yummy varieties of pecans and spreads in the San Saba Pecan Company store.  We try to buy enough to last us all year.

Well, that’s been our week!  I hope all of you have had a better week than we did!  I’m determined that THIS week will be good!  Take care!

(Just to make things clear, my heart is fine!  Either do to my weakened state from being sick and dehydrated, or due to the stress of the week, or just because my old medication has quit being effective for me, or a combination of the three was what caused my blood pressure to go crazy.  We still don’t know what the “abnormality” on the EKGs is, but I will be seeing a cardiologist in the very near future to get that checked out.)