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What a great time we had visiting DisneyWorld and seeing Drew, Dez, Kristin and the rest of her family.  It was just a whirlwind of a time, and unfortunately poor Dez had bronchitis and was none to happy about it, but all in all I think it was great to be able to spend time with them, watch them interact, get to know Dez a little bit and simply enjoy!  Two days is definitely not enough time, but I’m glad we were able to go, and we’ll definitely go back at some point.  It’s only an hour and a half from home, we have someone to watch Sadie when necessary,  and you get lots of exercise!  We must have walked a hundred miles!  (Well, it sure seemed like it.)

January 4th, 2012. Some thoughts:  The last few days have been sheer misery both for me AND for Tom. I didn’t know what was going on with me; I only knew that I was more irritable than ever, I didn’t want to do anything, I couldn’t sleep, everything set me off, I could cry at the drop of a hat, and I wanted to snap and swear at the world around me.

Then I had the sudden realization that I’d run out of my hormone medication and stopped taking it.  I chose not to stay on it for a number of reasons, but mainly because I don’t currently have insurance, and I didn’t want to find a doc and go through all that just to get something I could probably do without.  I started doing some reading, and then last evening Kathy Gay and I found a great natural food store where I got some great advice for what I should be taking to calm and alleviate these symptoms. I’m actually finally hopeful that I may turn a corner on these awful and scary feelings I have been having.  Time will tell.

 

Today I learned I am going to have a granddaughter. I feel overwhelmed with surprising emotion. I cannot wait to meet her. May of next year. Did I say I cannot wait to meet her?

My wonderful sister-friend Anita had a scare last week when her husband Dean went to the doc.  There was  found a lump or some type of growth in his throat.  They’re concerned about his lymph nodes, too. He goes for a CT scan this week.  Between her mom’s failing health and now Dean’s worrisome issues, she’s having a hard time coping, claiming she’s not too good at this “life stuff.”  She worries all the time about what will become of her if her mom and husband both die and leave her alone.  Thom and I have both assured her that we’d LOVE to have her live with us!

I pray Dean’s okay. How difficult it is to be so far away from my closest friends when they’re going through such hard times.

Went for a nice bike ride today.  Couldn’t decide where to go then finally ended up north on A1A on a lovely paved trail that runs along the road, winding its way through the canopy of mossy trees.  Tom took a bunch of videos and put them together in a great video for FB.  

We’ve decided to try and count calories.  I downloaded a calorie counter to my iPhone, so we’ll see how we do.  I’m just too heavy to be comfortable:  156.  That is NOT good.  I MUST lose at least 10 pounds.  And he should lose 20.  It’s harder for him as he’s NEVER had to worry about what he eats, and even counting calories, he likes to ‘forget’ about the croutons or the chips or the fig newton bar.  Can’t do it that way.

Our first Christmas in Florida…Bittersweet, I think.  While I’m happy to be in a warmer climate, it’s times like these that make it hard.  No family; no old friends.  Nowhere to really ‘go,’ except for the same places we go every other day.

Talked with the kids this morning.  Meg has it tough, also, as she is quite alone in her little place in Kansas City. Thankfully she has friends, though she didn’t say she would be seeing any of them today.  But she does like it there, and she’s had a few holidays on her own now.  It’s just hard when you come from such a large family to suddenly have NO family around for special occasions.

Thankfully we have a lovely place and we have each other.

Merry Christmas.

They just left a few hours ago.  But it sure was a fun visit.  Thom and I picked up Mom and Lauren in Orlando Wedn

esday evening and had a short but nice visit until they were picked up today by Molly and family who are now headi

ng down to Fort Lauderdale for their Christmas break.

After a VERY long ride home from the airport, we had pina coladas, then off to bed.  Thursday started out a little cool with promises of warmer weather.  We drove to Jungle Hut Beach only to be disappointed by a lot of people, plus a mess of a beach.  It wasn’t conducive to shelling. We then drove A1A up to Flagler Beach to have a look around.  We decided to go home and change into beach attire, have a lovely brunch at Oceanside Restaurant, and head across the street to the beach.

Thom and Lo headed into the water with a boogie board and an air mattress.  Thom only had to show Lauren ONCE and she got it down!  She was hootin’ and hollerin’ her way through the surf on the air mattress, laughing out loud at the sheer fun of it!  We got great video of her numerous rides on the waves.  Mom enjoyed shelling and watching the antics, and the sun mostly cooperated.  We all had a really great time, and it was so fun to share it with them.

The day ended with pizza a daquari, the finale of the “X Factor” (horrible show), and an early bedtime.  Molly and family arrived this morning around 11:15.  We fed them lunch, passed out some gifts, and off they went like sardines in a can for the three+ hour trek to their final destination in the sun.

Okay.  So you’ve seen all my Works In Progress.  I can say that I did finish the watermelon dress, and it turned out even cuter than expected.  Of course I forgot to get a picture, but I’ll do that next time I’m in the shop and will get it up here.  BUT…

Got our new yarn in from Cascade.  Oh. My. Goodness.  It’s even yummier than I remembered, and I’m really happy with my choices.  (This is huge, because I tend to second-guess myself all day long.)  Every bag we opened was nicer than the last, and the colors are GREAT!  So now, of course, I have to make a couple shop models with the new stuff.  I’m going with little kid stuff since lots of it is in beautiful pastels that just beg to be made into something for a girl.  When I get going on them I’ll post their progress here.

So YAY!  I get to start more stuff!