MIA

I know it seems like I've been missing in action this past week, but I've been crazy, busy. Plus, since I'm sleeping better, I have fewer hours in my day. I do miss that. It's much easier to stay on top of things with a few extra hours a day. But, actually, it's a good thing I'm sleeping more. I need it. It's not good for the body to get only 3-4 hours a night. Add to that the proven fact that people that get less than 7 hours a night gain weight---well, we all know I don't need that. Just because I'm sleeping better doesn't mean I'm off the prednisone, just a slightly lower dose---which is a very good thing. However, I haven't been able to taper down since the "heat seat" incident a couple weeks ago. The things that set off my hives this week are: sleeping with my hand clenched (caused a huge hive in the palm of my hand---this one really drove me crazy), wearing a ring I "found" in my jewelry box and then, just last night, plucking my chin hairs (paying for that today). The good news is that I've been able to "tough" it out and get by without increasing my prednisone. It just means I can't taper down another level for awhile.

We went to St. Louis after Christmas last week. We had a great time as always and managed to see everyone we wanted to. Sometimes that's hard to do. Luckily, we stayed with Aunt Marie and Uncle Tony or we really wouldn't have seen them much. We took them to dinner on the "hill" to Aunt Marie's favorite place, "Lorenzo's." Every place on the "hill" is good---there are so many.

I quit relying on Butch to bring a blow dryer when we travel because this is what he thinks qualifies. It is so tiny and the air that comes out is more like a soft "blow"---kind of like a whistle without the sound. My hairbrush is normal sized, so you can see how little the blow dryer is. I guess it fits nicely in his "ditty bag."

Angie and Brian got married the first part of October. He's been around for awhile, but it was nice to officially welcome him in to the family.

Comparing "baby bumps." I think Angie will pass him up before long.

This picture doesn't really do Angie's wedding ring justice. It's really pretty. Besides the big diamond in the middle, there are two pretty big diamonds on each side. Girls now-a-days really get nice rings. I didn't get my first diamond until we'd been married 10 years. And now, since our insurance company has cancelled us since I've lost 3 things in 9 years, I'm about ready to give it all away. No sense in having it if I have to be afraid to wear it. I'm not careless either---well maybe that drunken time in New Orleans---still, the bracelet shouldn't have fallen off.

My sister,  Joyce and her darling girls, Devon (sitting) and Madison.

We brought Morgan with us so she could hang out with her cousins. They don't get to see each other often enough. In fact, the main reason I made the trip to St. Louis was to see Joyce. They live in South Bend, IN. I told her that whenever she was going to St. Louis, if at all possible, I'd come in too. Same goes for my sister, Janice who lives in Texas. I'll be seeing her at the end of January.

Butch and Morgan---I have lots of cute pictures of the two of them. He's a grandpa that can't resist his grandkids (or daughters for that matter)---anything they want. On the drive "in", we actually stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel and ate inside. A far cry from the usual---"quick drive through, run in the bathroom, and I'll pick you up on the other side, order off the dollar menu and we'll eat on the road" that I usually get. God forbid if I order the butterfingers shake...I'm just sayin'.

The only sister missing was Janice. Our sister-in-laws, Janet and Sharon weren't there yet when I got this picture. I wish I would have thought of it when they arrived. After all these years, they are definitely sisters too. In fact, years ago, we said that if anything ever happened between them and our brothers, we'd keep them and let the brothers go! Only kidding, we love our "boys" too.

I had to have an updated photo of Johnny and me. I'm his godmother and the last one was on his First Communion. That was some years ago---I guess darn near 20---18 or 19 to be exact.

The amount of food this family consumes always amazes me. When we started the evening with this spread, I thought, "oh, my, gosh, this is way too much food. By midnight, it was nearly gone. We take several food breaks during our poker game to refresh drinks and graze. Works for us.We had honey-baked ham and turkey, assorted cheeses, crab rangoons, cheese spreads, relish tray, Italian olives, assorted dips, salami and more cheese, veggies and dip, meatballs, terrible guacamole (it was store bought), tons of chips, cookies, candy, brownies, and gooey butter cake and I'm still probably leaving out some stuff.

Getting a Kindle for Christmas was a really great surprise. I put it next to my datebook so you could see how small it is---fits nicely in my purse. It's really fun to get something you don't expect. I spent quite a bit of time downloading 60 free books. The obsessive part of me had to check out every one of the top 100 free books available. It just takes about 3 seconds to download them, but then I have to organize them into categories. I added a few free games too. I bought a trilogy which is for my book club. I am reading the first one now---The Hunger Games. Very good---I really don't want to put it down. The only thing that I don't like about the Kindle so far is that you never know what page you are on. It has a little meter at the bottom that tells you how much percentage you've read. It's another thing I am obsessing about---each time I "turn the page", I have to look at the bottom to see if the percentage has changed. Plus, when I'm down to the wire before book club, I like to know how many pages per day I need to read to finish the book. We'll see how that goes. I don't really know how everything works. I've lost my place twice and had to start from the beginning of the book and figure it out. I need some private lessons because I'm afraid if I go back to the tutorial, I'll lose my place again.

My cousin, Judy---who apparently was worried about me because I hadn't posted lately---gave me this book for my upcoming 60th (ouch, it hurts to even type that number) birthday. I have never heard of it.

I haven't had a chance to start reading it, but I can see that it is right up my alley. It is written in scrapbook form. As soon as I finish my book for book club, it's next on my list. Judy has read it and says it's really good. The only thing---I forgot to have her inscribe it. When people give me books, I like to have them do that. It's really kind of self-serving because they usually say something nice about me. I'm not above getting a "forced" compliment!

 Last year, Connie, Nancy, Katie and I needlepointed the Christmas tree pillow above.This year, Connie and I did the companion piece---row of presents. I'm having the original one re-done to match the new one. I wasn't happy with how it was finished anyway. I think they took an extraordinary piece of needlework and made it in to an ordinary pillow. I bought a blue, tartan plaid fabric to use. The only thing about our fancy, stitched needlepoint pillows is that no one can sit on them. They better not dare! Although, sometime over Christmas, one of my darling grandchildren did---as the pillow was a bit smashed, but it fluffed back out okay.

And just when you think you have put all the Christmas decorations away, you discover this---darling "sugar cookie magnets" on the refrigerator. It's been a week and a half since I got all the Christmas stuff put away and I just now noticed them. I'm not known to be particularly observant.

And finally:
Here is my favorite song from 2011. In fact, I'm going to use the title in my ABC album.
The original by Adele:
Someone Like You
This is a couple singing Adele's song for a contest hosted by Perez Hilton. They are pretty amazing.
Someone Like You
And if you haven't had enough of this song, here's the video of Adele around London:
Someone Like You

Stay tuned for my next post: "Lessons Learned in 2011." Until then, stay warm...