The Last Few Days...

It has been so busy here! Whew! I finally get to sit down and take a small break!

Let's see if I can update you without boring you to tears:

* I have a new niece, Gloria Lynne! You can see her photo on my dad's blog: http://tojekasamo.blogspot.com/

* Jeffrey and I drove up to Minnesota yesterday to visit my grandpa (if you remember, he's in a nursing home up there). We had a very interesting visit, but we left on a good, happy, and encouraging note. Before we headed home, we went up to Lewiston, MN to visit my sister, Katie. She's the one that just had the baby. So of course, proud Auntie Sisi had to hold my new tiny niece. She's adorable and perfect in every way. We headed home and hit bad snow. God kept us safe, though. Jeffrey was a good, safe driver. We saw many cars in the ditch and thanked God when we arrive home that we were not one of them. (Interesting fact: all the cars in the ditches were in Wisconsin. Roads in Illinois got a lot better and cars stayed on the road. Hooray for paying Illinois tolls, right?)

* I took Little M to the mall on Sunday evening to shop for a gift for her mom. She got tired almost immediately, and wanted to just play in the play area. I encouraged her to press on, and she did. We found a few wonderful gifts at some great prices. (I guess it was worth all the crowds we fought!) We did play in the play area. That was sort of neat for me... I sat on the bench to watch her run around. She was wearing a dark red velvet dress with white "fur" around the bottom hem and around the wrists. I had done pigtails in her hair and she was adorable. Her white tights made it hard for her to climb on the equipment, but she kept trying. The lady sitting next to me asked me if we had come to see Santa. I just smiled and told her that we hadn't. But as I started thinking about why she asked me that, I realized that Little M and I sort of matched! I had a jeans skirt on with dark red tights and a dark red shirt with a white sweater. So maybe the lady thought we dressed alike to see Santa. That would be odd, however, had we gotten our picture together with Santa. (Which, btw- did you know that the mall Santas are the real ones, but if you see one in WalMart or something, and he has a fake beard, he's not the real one. This is how Little M explained it to me.)

* My sister, Molly and her husband, Matt drove in from Texas. Although they had car troubles, they made it safely and all in one piece. Praise God for that!!!

* The roofers canceled our roof/chimney repair again- for the THIRD TIME! I'm not angry. Me? Angry? Nah...

* I got a letter in the mail stating that I am denied (again) my social security benefits, and that I should be able to find a job that is low key enough for me. Interesting... if anybody knows what job that might be, let me know... (Our attorney is fighting it and trying to avoid a hearing. But if we have to, we'll be on a list to schedule a hearing. But just scheduling it can take up to a year.) My mom told me that when we do get approved (if?), then we'll probably need the money more at that point and we'll be more relieved to receive it. I know God works like that. Everything is in His timing...

* I have an appointment tomorrow with my surgeon to see if she is satisfied with the amount of fluid in my abdomen. If she thinks it's low enough, she'll schedule me for surgery again, to repair that hernia in my belly button. I hope she does... it hurts. :(

* On Friday night, we had my nieces and Little M over to decorate Christmas cookies. That was a lot of fun, and very messy. Jeff had to leave the house- he was so nervous about the mess. Ha!

* I'm still working hard to keep up with my low sodium cooking and blog. I hope to update the blog today... since I did cook again on Sunday and wanted to share about it.

Other than that... life seems to be pretty much, um, normal!