Weekend Update: Thanksgiving Edition, Part 1

Last time you saw me, I was enjoying some raspberry pancakes the last full weekend in November, and here we are in December!  CHRISTMAS SEASON.  Oh, tidings of joy to you.  :)

What have been up to since then?  Well, on Tuesday, I made this awesome apple pie:

(Yes, it was as delicious as it looks.  And that is a leaf, not a tree cut-out.)

Because I was exhausted Tuesday night, I got up super early on Wednesday to make baked beans, only to find my onion was spoiled.  So I took Zach to work, grabbed another onion, and spent a few hours at home.  Then I went in for three hours before the college closed early!  Score!

We headed home, loaded up the car with our stuff and "Pancake," and headed down to central Arkansas.

"Pancake" was such a good little pilgrim!  She sat in my lap the whole way, purring and purring.

Thursday meant Thanksgiving, and here are a few many photos from the day:

This is what happens when the photog and back-up photog are in the picture...and your back-up back-up just had shoulder surgery--iPhone photo!

That cranberry JELL-O sauce in the middle is one of my favorites of my mother-in-law's!

our nephew Sayer some of the peeps

husby ready for a nap

Sayer decorated the tree, but it took five people to hang the star!

my mother-in-law pretending to be the Statue of Liberty :)

the finished product later that evening

Sayer and Momo who is NOT happy about her too short haircut

silly Sayer

some of the animals from the weekend (Phoebe, Sasha, and "Pancake")

Pancake went to her new home Thanksgiving night, but unfortunately, she escaped out the door the next day!  I am clinging to these verses (Matthew 6:25-34).  Pray that she found a better home and is not in the cold--hungry, afraid, and missing us.  We just cried when we heard.

I did a little shopping on Black Friday by myself.  I didn't get out until 11, but I still got everything I wanted and more!  I hit up JCP, Children's Place, Old Navy, and Michael's (and Walmart--but not for BF shopping).  The crowds weren't too bad except at Old Navy, where I waited 30+ minutes to check out, BUT I got a coupon for having a pence in my pocket.  :)  (They were doing a scavenger hunt-type thing.)

Friday evening, we headed to NLR, but I will have to post about our adventures there tomorrow.

What did you do this Thanksgiving?

Exciting News!

Well, next Tuesday I am having surgery--my colon resection!!! I am seriously excited...about excited as you can be when having surgery! Basically, this means that my surgeon will reconnect my stoma to the end of my colon that has just been hanging out in abdomen the past five-ish months, and I will go to the potty like a normal person again. This means NO MORE COLOSTOMY! I told Zach that Mr. Brixby's (my stoma) sabbatical is over, and he's going back to work at the law firm (the rest of my colon). It's 'BOUT time, y'all!

Of course, this morning I called with a few questions for my surgeon as well as for my pre-op, and the nurse informs me that I have to be on a liquid diet for 48 hours before my surgery. (A clear liquid diet includes broth, bouillon, popsicles, JELL-O, hard candy, tea, clear Gatorade, lemon-lime soda--that I haven't been drinking since before my surgery). Normally, this would not be too big of a deal--though I've only been on a liquid diet without TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition through an IV) in the past for just 24 hours at a time--but we are traveling this weekend. We have planned since January to go up to IL to reunite with some of our friends from Zach's grad program; we will be there Friday through Sunday night, heading home on Monday. This means that I will be on this clear liquid diet one day while we are there and another whilst traveling. That should be interesting...

I would appreciate your prayers for an easy, successful surgery and a quick, successful recovery! Please pray for wisdom for my doctors and nurses and peace for myself, my family, and friends. Many, many thanks!