A Day in the Life...

I looked back through this blog at the last several Thanksgivings and was reminded I didn't take hardly any pictures, so I tried to make up for it this year. Our first picture with the dog and  the cat... All of the adults: Tom, Megan, Amber, Ty, Ryan, Shandee, my dad, my mom, Dick, Tim, Micah, Taryn, and Madisyn. Dick is my mom and dad's neighbor. He started coming to family dinners after being invited by my generous parents, and he seems to fit right in with his quirky and inappropriate remarks.  Micah is at the dinner table with the adults because she's my right-hip partner in crime.  And Taryn and Madisyn are way too big for the kids table. I didn't take a picture of us playing Family Feud after.  My team lost.  :( I wish I had taken a picture of the food.  When you have this many people show up for a meal, and everyone brings one or two things- you have a lot of food.  Two turkeys, a ham, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, cr...

I told Tim over the last few months that I thought we should get Copper a kitten for Christmas.  He reminded me we gave away all of our cat stuff when Boots died, but then came around to the idea.  I was suggesting it to my brother Tom's girlfriend Megan, who told me her mom has a kitten that needs to leave her mama right now.  So we made a plan.  Megan, Tom, and Megan's kids showed up on Monday, then Ty and Amber and their kids, and then Taryn and her friend.  We had a house full of people.  Kota suggested that "everyone being there" was because Tom was going to propose to his girlfriend.  I had to quickly squash that since they've only been dating a month, haha. I grabbed a present and told Copper she could open it early. She opened a box and found cat food, a cat dish, and cat toys.  She looked at us and said, "What? Cat stuff?" I told her as Christmas got closer that we could go get a cat.  She loves cats!  She was pretty excited, th...

 This week my doctor read my half-way-through-the-program blood results.  I've improved in some areas, like my A1C and some of my thyroid functions.  I was really deficient in vitamin D and now I've overdosed (oops) and not supposed to take it for two months.  To my credit, it's in dropper form and I have no idea when my tongue has hit 2 drops... I've worked really hard the last three months and there are some things that are worse off and not improving.  My alkaline phosphatase is still "lab high", which is an indication of damage to my liver (and my bones).  My C-reactive protein is incredibly high; it's a touch lower than it was three months ago, though not even near where it should be.  I'm not sure (meaning I can't remember) exactly what those are in my body, but I do understand that it means my body is still in a state of storage with high inflammation, tissue damage, or some kind of chronic infection.  My iron was low before, and now it'...

 I'm taking a free course by HeartMath.  It suggests that our hearts have their own system of intelligence.  I believe in intellectual intelligence, and I believe in emotional intelligence, and now I believe in heart intelligence.  It sits right with me to think that the decisions we make with our heart come from a trusting place.  In a world driven by logic and reason, that idea may not make a lot of sense.  But I make most of my decisions based on "gut feeling" and "following my heart," and I can't think of a time that it hasn't served me well.  In fact, I can think of LOTS of times that overthinking something with my brain has steered me in the wrong direction.  Usually my heart tells me if something is right.  My intuition is pretty spot on. I believe that God gives us our hearts, and I know they develop way before our brains develop.  It's why kids are a good example of forgiveness, love, and joy- they think with their hearts, and t...

It's pretty easy to tell whose papers these are!  Copper really wants a cat...  

  Ravenclaw student (from Harry Potter), Skull Ninja, and Cow. Couldn't be more fitting. We were playing a new game (Taco vs. Burrito) and Tim took a real taco shell and smashed it to pieces.  A Halloween afternoon gift... Amber and Ty had free tickets to Cornbelly's so we went the Thursday before Halloween.  So did about 400 other people... I got pretty annoyed so I only took two pictures. We had a work party and this was the best I could do.  It's significant because I wore lipstick.  I don't own lipstick and I had to ask around a bit, which raises my anxiety b/c it's actually gross to me to borrow lipstick (or straws, or utensils, or Chapstick).  After asking around a long  time I remembered Copper had some.  She bought it before  we had the discussion that someone as young as her should not  be wearing hooker red on her lips.  Ha! Oma and Opa came over Saturday evening and I took not even one picture of everyone... nor did I tak...

 Miss Copper.  She's one of the best.   This girl has always been full of joy and close to God.  Those are two of the best things about her. When she was a little tiny toddler she dressed in as many clothes as she could put on, at least several shirts and pants at a time, and toddle around in any adult sized shoe she could find.  She didn't talk for years (not that we could understand) but I knew she was sharp and taking everything in.  She is  sharp and many things in life come easy for her (like school and learning).  She has a goodness about her that stands out.  She's easily liked, easy to love.  She is beautiful inside and out. Copper is a: Reader: she reads and reads and reads, and then listens to audible books.  She loves Harry Potter and a ton of other books she can't keep her hands off. Dancer: I had no idea Copper was a dancer.  At back to school night for 7th grade, we realized she had been put in boys' PE and i...