what did December bring?

January.

See how that happened?

*blink* and now it's January. Actually, it's the last third of January, closer to February.

Yep.

Any hoo ... it's cold. I'm cold. My house is cold, and no, it's not a furnace issue, it's a I live in Chicago and it's just crazy ass cold this week issue. I think it is supposed to be 15 tomorrow, so that will be nice. A little bit of sun and no wind, and it might not be too bad.

So, I sit most nights with a cup of tea, doctored up with my friends honey - if you can get fresh, local, unpasteurized honey, I highly encourage it. I curl up with an afghan and I hunker down. I haven't been getting much done at night, but my days have been busy.

So as I sit here now, without a cup of tea, but a glass of water instead, my kids on the couch next to me as we watch some kid-tv, I fight the yawns and figure out just how early isn't too early, or too lame, to go to bed.

I know how to live large, don't I?

November

Aah ... 30 Days of Thankful, and I managed to post on all of them, with the exception of the weekend in Michigan.

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it everyday, and I managed to, which for me is a good thing. I have trouble with follow through some days.

It was nice to take the time, even if just for a minute every day, and find something to be thankful for. I think we're so caught up in our lives that we don't take the time to notice that we actually do have it pretty good, and that there is plenty to be thankful for, we just have to take the time and look for it.

So ... having said that and having been here every day for a month, let's see what the craziness of December brings!

November, Day 30

Today I am thankful for Modern Medicine. I don't even know if it is worthy of capitalization, but I'm doing it.

Last night I drove myself to the Emergency Room (stupid idea, I know) to see if they could figure out what the pain I was having was. It was pretty much center of my chest, and my gallbladder had been ruled out last week, and that doesn't leave a whole lot - lungs, diaphragm and heart. Well, with my Mom's family and their history of heart disease, I talked with The Husband and we decided to get it checked out. He stayed home with the kids, and I left for the hospital. I was seriously banking on it not being anything heart related, which is why I drove myself. If I honestly thought it was a heart issue, I would have gotten a ride, but I was 98% sure it wasn't, but I needed someone with some letters after their name to tell me that.

It turns out I've got some gastrointestinal "thing" going on, and last night they gave me a "GI Mix" which was lidocaine, Maalox and an anti-spasmodic drug, and wow! did that thing ever work. My pain went away in five minutes, and it was lovely.

I am supposed to follow up with a Gastroenterologist for a possible endoscopy. I am also wondering if there isn't a food allergy or sensitivity going on ... I had hives a few weeks ago and they broke out again last night, so I'm wondering if there is a connection. I highly doubt it, since my skin reacted wherever the adhesive touched me. I'm also taking a steroid for the next three days to keep the hives in check. I probably won't sleep alot either, as steroids tend to keep me awake.

So my thanks go to the hospital staff last night - here's hoping I don't have to see any of you again any time soon, unless it's in the produce section at the grocery store.

November, Day 28

Today I am thankful.

Nothing specific, just sitting in the middle of the living room, with the laptop on a toy bucket, my dinner menu to the left, a stack of invitations to the right of that, and my coffee on the right of me kind of thankful.

It's good.

November, Day 27

Today I am appreciative of my Mother in Law.

Yes, you read that right, in a world where it seems like people really dislike their MIL more than they like her, I actually am appreciative of mine.

Today we went out on our Annual Craft Fair Treasure Hunt, and we both came home with some goodies. She bought me, as she has for the past dozen years, a Christmas decoration. But that is not why I am appreciative of her.

She doesn't know all the details of our Financial Fall Out earlier this year. She just knows that she lent us some money to pay down some debt, with little background details. She hasn't asked me a thing about it yet. In my mind, she should have driven over here and shaken me by the shoulders demanding to know what in the world was going on in her oldest sons family. She didn't. She won't. She is being respectful of our difficult situation. For that I am thankful, because it is probably just as difficult for me to explain to The Husband's Parents what I did, as it was for me to face him.

In my mind, his parents need to think that we live in a land of bliss, and that the World is grand. I don't need them worrying about what goes on here ... they have enough going on without having to worry about us.

So, for that, and a million other reasons, I do appreciate my Mother in Law.