The Week After Thanksgiving Update

I've not posted much lately. Frankly, I've not been inspired to write anything. For that very reason, this post is going to include a good amount of random stuff.

Thanksgiving was a blast. Family from North Carolina, Georgia and Pickens came to our home and enjoyed an enormous feast. Nancy, Daniel's mom, came over and was able to help in the kitchen and visit with everyone. We played Scrabble. Just in case you are wondering, Daniel and I won. I ended up buying a really large turkey in the hopes of having left overs but that never materialized. I did manage to have a good amount of Triple-Layer Mud Pie left over and Aunt Wanda was kind enough to leave me the rest of the cheese ball (which I have been happily dining on ever since).

Nancy is doing well considering that she had major surgery a few weeks ago. She's still having a hard time eating and gets tired easily. The day after Thanksgiving she had her first chemo treatment. That ended up being very rough on her system. Lord willing, the side effects will go away as the treatments go on. She's hoping to have a port put in before her next treatment in December. Pray for her because it's right before Christmas.

As for Daniel, he is plugging along at work and praying about where God wants him to go. No, he's not leaving teaching but just trying to figure things out. And, he's fully healed from his surgery. It does seem that the gall bladder removal has made life a lot better for him.

Sarah and I are hard at work home schooling again. Monday was tough but thanks to the grace of God, we got through it. Sometime last week, Sarah discovered that she had a breast bud. I had never heard it called by that name. Basically it's a small lump that forms before a girl starts growing breasts. Now Sarah is obsessed with getting a bra. Each day she comes in and asks me for one. On top of that it means that my most favorite, dramatic, over the top princess will begin to have hormones coursing through her veins. Really folks, I'm looking forward to it. Really.

Now on to Ashton. He's walking... somewhat. He'll walk between Daniel and I. He'll walk if we are holding his hand. He'll run to Daniel if I'm fussing at him. And sometimes he'll walk from the island to a cabinet. Other than that he crawls (because it makes the most noise). I'm convinced that he would walk all the time if we purchased tap shoes for him to wear. Aside from walking, he's working on talking more. Most of it's nonsense, but the other day he said, "Thank you, Momma." I'm sure it will be months before he says it again. And, today I went in to get him up from a nap and he said, "Get out." No, he wasn't saying that to me. Thankfully he's to young to know that meaning! When we get him up we ask if he wants to "get out" of the crib. It was really funny.

Now we're on to plain old me. I'm feeling very boring right now. Thanksgiving was a nice change of pace for me. I got to put on a nice meal for my relatives and have a ton of company over. That's my kind of thing. I'm still not certain about going back to school. I'd love to do it but right now doesn't feel like the right time.

On a different note, I've decided to try Hoodia supplements to help me battle the bulge. The kind that I purchased does not have all of the heart pumping drugs in it. It's just the hoodia. So far I like it. I don't feel like eating all the time. I'm working to make sure I get in 1000-1200 calories a day and am still going to the gym when Sarah goes swimming. Lord willing I will be able to knock off a good amount of my ever spreading tush!

Let me close things off by saying that Christmas is coming up. I love Christmas but hate pulling down all the decorations. I'm actually dreading getting that done this year. I wish we had the money to rent decorations and pay someone to hang them. Plus, I feel like we forget what Christmas is about sometimes. Daniel is doing a good job of helping all of us focus on the meaning. He purchased an Advent book for us to read as the season progresses. Sar and I have really enjoyed it.

For now, that's enough about what's been going on in the Graybeal household....