The day really couldn't have had a better start. Andrew got up for a few minutes, and, when he returned, Honey came trotting in, bounding up on the bed to lick my face. It only took one look to notice something different about her collar:
HONEY'S STAYING! I GOT A PUPPY FOR MY BIRTHDAY!
I almost cried when I saw the bow. All morning, I kept randomly looking over at Andrew and saying with a big grin, "I got a puppy!"
With much trepidation, we left Honey with our friend Kathy while we went up to Sonoma for 24 hours or so. Honestly, I was more nervous leaving Honey with a dogsitter the first time than I was leaving Sarah with a babysitter the first time. (Hey, a baby can't get loose and run off into traffic!)
This year, the girls helped with Thanksgiving dinner by planning and preparing the dessert. I'm still impressed every time I remember it. They did such a great job! Granted, I couldn't eat it, but I heard it was delicious, and it looked professionally made.
The birthday greetings and gifts were, as always, heart-warming. Truly, I cherish the sentiments long after the day is past. As you can see from just two of my gifts, my family and friends really get me:
On the way home from Sonoma, we made a couple of friends:
Top the birthday off with a terrific Indian dinner at my favorite restaurant with my friend Jovita, and it was a great celebration.
52 is a weird age. I've officially hit that stage of life where, even when I'm I'm healthy, I'm on six different prescriptions (newest = anti-inflammatories for ARTHRITIS). My slogan for this year, like years past ("nifty fifty" and "fifty onederful") is "Fifty TwoRrific" OR, as my kids and their friends would say, "Fifty TWO Woke for YOU", LOL.
We scored during the Black Friday sale at Amazon, so my Christmas present came just a few days after Thanksgiving:
We've used it nearly every day since it arrived and have so far made:
- beans
- chili
- rice (twice)
- pork loin
- pumpkin soup
- steamed green beans
- macaroni and cheese with far too much (really!) cheese
I haven't used it to make yogurt, though; doing it in the Instant Pot requires extra equipment, so I'm still making it in the Crock Pot.
Meanwhile, Andrew has been prepping for Christmas by smoking ALL THE MEAT, including this amazing brisket:
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| Yes, it is JUST as good as it looks! |
We finally put the Christmas decorations up last night; photos to come. Most of the lights on the tree are dead, but this isn't a good year to replace it, so we're borrowing some lights to throw on it tomorrow. Things will be a little different this year because of Honey. We've had a dog at Christmas time before, but never a puppy, so we're going to have to take some new-to-us precautions:
- only non-breakable, replaceable ornaments on the tree
- gifts not going under the tree until the last minute
- probably some others I haven't thought of yet
Oh, and I believe, thanks to this birthday gift from Teresa, I have come up with my theme for 2017:
VULNERABILITY
Lastly, THIS makes me so happy! DUDES, I'M ON THE KNITPICKS WEB SITE. The way the page is set up, you can buy the necessary yarn right from the pattern page. A 50" lace Pi shawl for $32.66 (plus shipping) - how cool is THAT?
Sounds like you had an amazing birthday/Turkey Day/week!!! Lots of great things to be thankful for. Yay!!
ReplyDeleteYes, MUCH to be thankful for! (BTW, thanks for commenting. It's encouraging to get the reassurance that someone's actually reading, LOL.)
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