A Few of My Favorite Things

Here are my two favorite Christmas gifts which I bought for myself...

My Starbucks travel mug. LOVE it!
I bought it on clearance for about $6. It took me forever to find a picture of this exact mug to include in this post. I finally found it on Amazon. You are not going to believe what it is selling for.....$44.96. Are you kidding me? It's jeweled but not made of jewels!


















My griddler! It's a grill and a griddle in one. I use it all the time!

Things to DO on a Snowy Day

It's been awhile since I've done a list...

• eat breakfast with the neighbors (eggs and french toast)
  
• reserve airline tickets (to visit these guys)
• shovel slush (in the rain)
  
• check work email (and respond)
• laundry (and run the dryer twice per load, grrr)
  
• purchase a new computer (actually, my FIRST computer!)
  
• call for lab results (negative!)
• spend $400 for heat repair (grrrrr)
  
• blog (check!)
  
• vacuum (since the vacuum has been sitting out for 3 weeks)
  
• facebook (too much)
  
• clean bathrooms (don't ask when I did that last)
  
• clean stove (yuck)
• be amazed at the thunder snow (crazy!)
  
• do a puzzle (tonight)
• make homemade donuts (YUMMO!!!)

What to Eat on a Snow Day

I made this awesome crockpot recipe tonight for my neighbors and me. It was an improvization of a recipe I found in my Fix It and Forget It cookbook. I had to use what I had on hand because, as you know, no grocery shopping allowed this month.

1 1/2 lbs ground beef or sausage (I used 1 lb beef, 1/2 lb sausage)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jar spaghetti sauce
10 oz jar of mushrooms
8 oz shredded cheddar (I had misc bags of sharp, mild, white, yellow that I used up)
1/2 box elbows, cooked
4 oz shredded mozzarella

Brown meat with onion. Build two layers in the crockpot in this order: meat, mushrooms, pasta, cheddar, sauce. Repeat (uh, of course...that's what "build two layers" means).

Cook on low 3-4 hrs. I miscalculated and cooked it the full four hours. It was just about to get to that "mushy" stage so stay close to the 3 hr mark. Sprinkle with mozzarella and let melt for 5 minutes.

We had garlic bread and salad with it and it was scrumptious!! We've already planned on eating the leftovers for dinner tomorrow night.

Just wish I had remembered to use a crockpot liner! Grrrr....I swear by those things but always forget to use them!

Dessert? Brownie sundaes at their house shortly. Yum!

Did I mention we started our day with pancakes?
LOVE my neighbors!

Charm Card

Things you don't want to hear your surgeon say to his resident...

"This is Jodie. We will be seeing her indefinitely."

"See this area of regrowth? It's too early to tell if it's papilloma but we'll have to keep our eye on it."

"Her stent isn't working."

"This is exposed bone. It should be developing new lining but it's taking longer than expected."

"Usually at this point we can stretch out appointments but we still need to see her weekly because there is so much buildup that needs removed."

I decided it was time to buy a metro fare pass.

2011 Snuck In

Yes, it is January 8th. One week of the new year has gone by and I'm just getting around to doing the annual blog kick-off. But let me back track a bit...

Can I just start by saying how incredibly glad I am that 2010 is OVER!? Been-there-done-that-never-wanna-do-it-again! CHECK!

So what does 2011 hold? Who knows? But I know Who's facing it with me.

I love to blog. You wouldn't know it by my lack of posts this year (uh-hem, thanks to Courtney for pointing that out to me). So, yes, I'm going to once again commit to doing better this year. But this blog may suffer a bit because of its competition found here. I'll probably be writing more over there than here but you can still follow me anyhow anywhere. (My great-nephew's infatuation with Dr. Seuss is rubbing off.)

And for the record...I read every entry of your blogs!

A Simple Wish

For unto you is born this day, a SAVIOR. Period.

Overlooking Coincidences, Seeing Miracles

I wish I had the time to explain in detail all the amazing miracles, yes, literal miracles, I have witnessed in a week's time.

Last week it had to do with turkeys (262 turkeys to be exact). Yesterday, the rest of the Thanksgiving meal (150 of them). Today a check for $200 to provide a family with Christmas gifts for their kids. I knew immediately who should receive it.

Even though the above mentioned miracles weren't direct provisions for me, they greatly influenced me. I was able to watch God working through His people. Because they were obedient. Because they listened and heard His voice. But I didn't have to wait long for my own personal miracles. Mine came today.

I needed to make a phone call. Didn't want to. It would be uncomfortable. Besides, the person is impossible to reach. I'll just wait to see if I bump into him this weekend. Not ten minutes after having this conversation in my head, HE called ME! We got everything accomplished in a 10 minute healthy conversation. Awesome conversation. Yeah God.

Shortly after that, I checked out our planning website to see who I would be serving alongside of this weekend. I noticed a name of someone who had wronged me and had never asked for reconciliation. As I saw his name I realized that I didn't feel an ounce of negativity towards him. I had no hard feelings and I had totally forgiven him and didn't even realize it. This was an absolute first for me. Totally not in my nature. NOT TEN MINUTES LATER (I'm not making this up!) HE CALLED ME! To apologize for the situation! I was able to tell him what had just happened when I saw his name and that I had NO hard feelings. I told him that he probably had to make this call more for HIS sake than mine. I don't think I've ever experienced such a hands-on picture of grace. What was even more shocking is that it was extended by ME! Because extending grace is certainly not on my resume.

Oh, speaking of resumes, I'm working on mine. For this.

It Was a Sign

Seven years ago I told my Dr, "I can't breathe out of the right side of my nose. At all!"

After saying this repeatedly to previous doctors, this one finally believed me and sent me to an ENT. The ENT couldn't even get his instruments into my nose. A benign tumor had filled every sinus cavity on the right side of my face. Here is the fast forward version of the next seven years...

• Surgery #1, April 2003...didn't get it all
• Surgery #2, July 2003...didn't get it all
• Surgeon says he needs to cut open my face to access it...I say "no, thank you" and "goodbye!"
  
• Surgery #3, October 2003...Hopkins ENT accesses it through my mouth and guts everything in my right cheek.
  
• Annual follow-ups...at the five year mark I'm declared "clear" but still have to have annual check-ups for life.
  
• Check-up, April 2010...recurrence. sigh.
• Switch to a new Hopkins ENT who specializes in the tumor and begin surgery plans.
  

So he's giving me his routine run-down of risks of this surgery and says, "damage to tear duct." I stop him and say, "Could this be why my right eye constantly tears?" He got a strange look on his face and says, "It sounds like it has already been damaged." But I think about the timeline and say, "But my eye was tearing before I even knew I had the tumor." To which he replies, "Then the original tumor probably caused the tear duct damage. We need to find out if your duct is damaged so we can have my ophthalmologist colleague join me during the surgery to repair it."

Fast forward once again:

• See an Oculoplastic surgeon...duct is slightly narrowed
• She opts to do a minor procedure...a silicone tube is inserted in the duct to keep it open.
• If the duct is too narrow and she can't insert the tube...come back for another surgery to go through the bone and perform a drainage bypass.

NO THANK YOU! I've lived with a leaky eye for 15 years what's another 20 or so?

Surgery is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 16th. Merry Christmas to me! Don't judge me if I put up my Christmas decorations next week. That only give me five weeks to enjoy them.

Moral of the story?
If your eye leaks, it may be a sign of an underlying bigger problem that should be address immediately. Whonnu?

Small Town, USA

Things I love about Hampstead...

• Snickerdoodles
• The bypass
• Rita's
• Bulk trash pickup
• Santa on the firetruck
• Mane Street Manor Salon
  
• Roundabouts (yes, I like 'em)
• Being within walking distance
  
• The church bells playing hymns on the hour
• That there's nothing to do here
  

Thanks for the Tag!

I usually hate these "tag" things but I really wanted to blog today and didn't have any idea what to say. Now I don't have to think about it thanks to Lauren! Well, I guess I kinda have to think but these were easy.

1. What is one "little thing" you have to do for yourself occasionally to keep from going insane?
Put away every misplaced item in my house.

2. What is your biggest pet peeve?
I have so many I don't know where to begin.

3. Where would be your dream place to live, and why?
Somewhere in a mountainous area that is year round cool but still gets a taste of all four seasons. Not asking for much, huh?

4. What is your favorite movie, and give us a summary of it and an explanation of why it is your favorite.
Ever After: the TRUE story of Cinderella. The score is beautiful, the acting is awesome, the storyline is timeless, the setting is gorgeous.

5. What is one thing you would like to change about yourself? Not about how you look... something about who you are.
That I'd be less self-centered. This has been on my mind a lot lately.