Our week, along with the month of November, has gone really fast. And our weather is doing its usual Arkansas changes. Sunday was cold and windy, Monday we had sleet and freezing rain with a few snowflakes thrown in. Then it changed to just rain. Warmer Tuesday and Wednesday and then the temps bottomed out again. This is the first day it's gotten out of the 30s. And next week will be even worse. By Thursday it's supposed to be 65, and then rain changing to snow Friday into Saturday. No wonder I have a cold I can't shake!

Our Thanksgiving was very quiet. We had a traditional dinner with all the fixin's and still have a ton of leftovers. Instead of more turkey today, we went out for lunch and I have a meatloaf in the oven as I write this. We've spent a couple of very lazy days. I don't go shopping for Black Friday. I really don't understand why people would want to be in those crowds. There were fights at our local Wal-Mart as usual.

I did manage to get the living room ready for the Christmas tree. I had thought I would get it out of the attic today, but just getting things ready wore me out. As I said, this cold is trying to really get me down.

Bill did some walking on the treadmill this week, and helped with dinner and clean-up on Thanksgiving. He really messed up his pills again this week. He didn't take his Monday morning medicine and I didn't catch it until it was time for his night medicine. Then Tuesday, he took his night medicine instead of his after breakfast medicine. So, I gave him part of his Monday morning medicine before I went to bed. I went to bed before he did and when I got up and was getting his medicine ready for the day I saw that he had taken the Wednesday morning medicine Tuesday night! Of course, all of these meds are his anti-rejection meds. But, he didn't seem to have any ill effects from the missed/extra doses. We'll both just have to be more careful. I don't think he realizes the importance of these meds, especially since he was so sick after the transplant. He missed all of the training Mayo gives for the meds. I've tried to teach him about them and why they have to be taken the way they do, but he doesn't seem to be understanding it. I've thought about setting alarms on his phone to see if that would help him, but I have my doubts.

Our newest great-grandchild arrived Wednesday night at 8:24 pm. Her name is Delilah Faith and is a cutie! They are still in the hospital because she was a little jaundiced, but should be going home tomorrow.

All for this week. I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. And if you went shopping, as my daughter, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter did, I hope you were able to find what you were looking for. If it's cold where you are, stay warm, and if it's warm...enjoy it!

Nothing spectacular happened here this week. Got a little worried about family and friends in Illinois with all of the tornados. My sister said it was a little scary. All are fine as far as I know. One thing that struck me was that there were 40+ tornados in 12 states, and very few deaths. I think the last count I heard was 6, but I could be wrong. That shows that early warning systems are effective and people heeded the warnings and were watching the skies. Even though the property damage and loss is huge, it could have been so much worse!

Bill has still been pretty inactive. He did help some in the house this week and today he walked on the treadmill for about an hour. He's still not doing as much as he should, and I don't know of any way to get him to move. I was sneaky Monday night. Some friends invited us over for barbecue and they live a block away. So...we walked! Even though it was dark when we walked home, and had gotten pretty cool, it did us both good.

I have finally given in! I've been fighting getting the Christmas things out. I still haven't broken down and decorated yet but I've started some Christmas crafting and looking at different decorations. I bought Christmas cards this week, and everything I've ordered has either arrived or been shipped. I still refuse to watch any Christmas movies or listen to any Christmas music, but I did download the Christmas books to my Nook.

The skit for the kids is finished, along with a powerpoint. Ruth, the youth leader, and I met at the church this week to see what the decorations were like and walked through the skit a little. We're meeting with the youth Monday evening to start decorating and they will get the skit for the first time. Hopefully they'll agree to do it. They don't like talking in front of people so it's going to be tough.

I think we're ready for Thanksgiving. It's just going to be the 2 of us so just got a small turkey breast. We'll just spend a quiet day together. We got the chimney cleaned this week and it's gotten quite cold, so we can have a fire and watch the Macy's parade. We won't watch football, but there's bound to be something on we can watch.

All for this week. I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving. There are so many blessings hiding in our lives that if we look hard enough we can find at least one. Of course there are the major ones, life, health, family, but look around to find the ones that aren't so obvious. Last year as we were walking on the pier at Flagler Beach with my sister we saw a bird with only 1 foot hopping along. We all said "poor bird", until we saw the one next to it with only 1 leg! Little blessings!

This has been a week! Monday we drove to Dyersburg, TN for lunch at Applebees. They were giving veterans free meals that day. It's about a 45 minute drive, but very pleasant, so we had a good outing.

Didn't do anything exciting the rest of the week. Bill did decide to use his treadmill a couple of days, which is a first in a long time. It got really cold on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I think there were reports of a few snowflakes Tuesday morning mixed in with rain. I didn't leave the house again until Friday! Kiyann had an accident at school and needed some clothes brought to her. Mom was at work, step-dad didn't hear the phone, so grandma ran to the store and picked her up some new clothes and then took them to the school. Got her changed and sent back to class and brought the clothes home to wash. Such excitement!

Today was the big day for Ryan and Amanda. They wanted something different and simple and they got it. The wedding was set for 4 this afternoon. At noon I got a text from Ryan that they couldn't reach the preacher. At 1 I got another text that the preacher had decided he couldn't marry them because the reason for their divorces was not adultery. They were told they could still use the church, but would have to find someone else to perform the ceremony. Amanda's brother is a licensed minister so he could do the ceremony, but they decided to just have it at their house. So, we packed up folding chairs and lawn chairs and off we went. Things were a little crowded, but we all fit. The ceremony started at 4:08 and they were pronounced man and wife at 4:10! They decided that they didn't want to say any special vows so it was very short and sweet. I just hope it is actually legal! We took Amanda's parents home when we left. Her dad has brain cancer and wanted to sleep in his own bed. They had spent the night with them last night.

I'm trying to write a short skit for the youth at church. I've been asked to sing with the youth for Christmas and every time I've listened to the song I've had pictures in my head. So, I talked to the volunteer youth leader this morning and she liked the idea. I've got to really get moving on it because we don't have much time!

We got our next appointment date. It's January 6th. I was hoping it would be a little later in the month instead of so close to the holiday. The only tricky thing will be the weather. We may be leaving earlier than necessary, or staying longer somewhere if the weather doesn't cooperate. We'll just have to play it by ear.

All for this week. This mother of the groom is tired!

This time change has been horrible for me! Usually I like this one, but not this year. As I read over last week's post, I saw at the end that I had mentioned setting an alarm now since we were sleeping later. Since the time change the latest I have slept is 6. For the first couple of days I was awake at 5:45, then 5:15, then 5. Finally yesterday and today it has been 6. And, I'm having to stay up later, just to get sleepy! It's reminding me of a Stephen King book where an elderly man keeps getting up earlier and earlier until he's not sleeping at all...and the things that creep through the town in the wee hours. If you haven't read Insomnia, it's a pretty good book.

Other than not sleeping, and Bill has also been getting up earlier, we didn't do much. We've had rain and wind and colder temps so we've pretty much stayed in. Bill did finally go to the apartment and use the treadmill yesterday afternoon. He and Ron bought a new battery for the generator and it's now ready to go.

We made a run to Ryan's Thursday evening and then to Mistie's to take her Kayden's school pictures he had left at Daddy's. I think Mistie was a little uncomfortable while we were there because her current in-laws were also there. But, she's still family, and we know how it is with new family members.

I've seen a lot of posts on Facebook since the first of November of being thankful. While I'm glad to see that people are thankful for many things, I wonder it they are thankful only in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, or are they thankful every day. That's one of the reasons I don't post daily thanks. I'm thankful for many things every day of the year, and try to remember to thank God daily for his blessings.

I'm also not liking the "Countdown to Christmas" that Hallmark channel is doing. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas movies. But, I don't like them starting right after Halloween. Thanksgiving is becoming the forgotten holiday and it used to be the holiday that ushered in the Christmas season. So, I'm not watching any Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving (unless It's A Wonderful Life is on Thanksgiving night).

 

OK, those are my rants for the night. We have birthday/anniversary fellowship after worship service tomorrow. We usually have chicken, but my buddy Larry has told me we're having ham this week. I've made a chocolate cake to take. Hope everyone has a good week ahead.

Wow! I just realized when I logged in that there have been over 16,000 pageviews! For them to continue to grow, especially now that we're on the downhill side of this journey, is amazing!

Our week was OK, busy at times and boring at other times. Brianna came over after school on Monday and we did a little shopping. We were only supposed to get some specialty yarn for a scarf for her. She had wanted yellow but they don't make it in yellow so I wanted her to pick the color. She found the color and then talked me into a T-shirt and some leggings, plus a snack and drink. Then I had to get her sister something of course. What can I say, I'm an easy touch!

Tuesday and Wednesday were nothing special. The weather was very warm and windy. We were able to turn the heat off and open the door again. I was glad I hadn't switched the screen and glass.

Thursday, Halloween, was dark and rainy all day, but still very warm and windy. Kayden and Kiyann came by to show us their costumes. We only had about a dozen trick or treaters. This was also the first year in a long time that we actually bought some candy and turned the light on. But, we have some kids in the neighborhood now so thought we should do something. Just as the time frame ended we were put into a tornado watch, tornado warning, and severe thunderstorm warning, almost simultaneously. We got some rain and the wind picked up even more, but the brunt of the storm missed us. There was a tornado in a small town southwest of us. Most of the town has damaged and, according to news reports, there was a group of kids still out when the sirens went off. Luckily, a woman started gathering them into her storm cellar. No lives were lost and only 4 injuries were reported throughout the town, but there is a lot of property damage.

We picked Kayden and Kiyann up after school Friday. Their mom was going to a funeral in Tennessee and didn't know if she would be back in time. It's Ryan's week-end to have them so he and Amanda came to pick them up shortly after we got home and stayed for supper. We had a good time with the kids and they brought their dogs since they were treating the house for bugs.

Ryan and Amanda have finally set a wedding date...in 2 weeks! I hope they can pull it together! We are also getting a new grandbaby in July! This will be #25...or 26, I really do need to sit down and add them up!

Bill never did get "the flu" but his arm stayed very sore from his pneumonia shot for a week. My flu symptoms came back Sunday morning. It was a horrible breathing day until later in the afternoon. I finally started coughing and moving the junk around. Emily brought me a new inhaler Monday afternoon. I haven't had to use it yet and have felt much better. I think this has been a combination of flu shot, weather changes and just the normal "delta crud" that is prevalent in this area. I talked to some others who got the flu shot and they also got sick the same day.

I've started setting an alarm in the mornings. We've been sleeping a little later than we had been. I used to wake up when our neighbor started his truck at 6 to go to work, but now I'm not waking up until the 1st school bus comes at 6:45. I'm afraid we're going to sleep through Bill's meds time. The anti-rejection pills have to be taken on a pretty strict schedule. I'ts a good thing I set it because I slept until it went off this morning! And with the time change tonight I'll have to tweak the time some for a couple of days to ease into the change.

It doesn't seem like it should be November already. I'm actually starting to get into a holiday mood, and this is early for me! I could very easily put the Christmas tree up, and I never put it up before Thanksgiving, and usually wait until December to do it!

All for now. Thanks for checking in on us!