One Down, Three To Go

Holidays, that is. I hate to admit that I'm counting down the holidays before my baby is born, but I've noticed that I'm doing that.

Thanksgiving week went okay. I got an icky cold over the weekend (still getting over it, but it's not too bad), and I had to head into work on Sunday.

Tuesday we left for my mom's in Concord. It was pretty wet and cold outside, so we spent most of our time inside. Worked for me because I got to spend a lot of time cuddling with my nephew.

Wednesday I made a sugar-free cheese cake with my mom. I've never made a cheese cake before, so it was a little nerve wracking. While I enjoy that cakes/pies are easier than cookies, I do not enjoy that you can't tell how they turned out until actual desert time (very hard to taste test without marring the whole thing.)

That night we went out for Mexican food with my sister and her family. Going out the night before Thanksgiving seems to be a new tradition for us. It's kind of funny that we have a household of food, but nothing to eat for dinner. :)

Thursday, actual Thanksgiving, I had a little diabetes excitement. For some reason, I took the wrong insulin and dosage (not quite sure why; I guess I was distracted), and during breakfast I experienced a very scary low blood sugar: 39. This is the lowest I've ever been, and I think I was on the verge of passing out.

Luckily I caught myself and had some bread and jam. Eventually, I got my sugars under control, but I had to test every half hour. My fingers were smarting by the end of the day.

Thanksgiving dinner was very tasty. Justin barbecued the turkey again this year, which I love. It gives the bird a very smoky flavor and it saves space in the oven. Highly enjoyable. Also enjoyable was my cheesecake. It was a pumpkin cheesecake, so it was strong enough in flavor to mask the Splenda taste. I was a little worried that the crust would be soggy because when I took the foil off the pan, water had seeped in from the water bath. Luckily, the crust was fine.

Friday we hung out with my sister and brother-in-law, taking the kids to the park and going for happy hour. (Well, the other adults enjoyed happy hour drinks; I enjoyed the half-priced nachos. Works for me.) We had a quick leftover dinner at my mom's and headed back home to a freezing house.

Yesterday I holed myself in said house (much warmer after running the heater for awhile) and worked on Advocacy lessons. I got those done, but unfortunately I have to head into work now to take care of some things for tomorrow. Hopefully, I can just head in for a little bit and come home and take a nap.

I keep telling myself that it is only three weeks until our next break, but work has become rather overwhelming. I'm just trying to focus on the task at hand and not let myself be overwhelmed by stress, but it is challenging.

Is it December 17th yet? :)

Thanksgiving Pics

Yes, it is almost Christmas. Yes, I waited awhile to post pictures of Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house in Concord. Better late...

What I'm Thankful for

I've always had a preference for Thanksgiving over other winter holidays. The crisp weather is still a novelty. I love, love, love the food (gravy is awesome). Most importantly, it's my first long break from school since summer, so I'm super grateful for that. And this time of year, unlike the crazy busy Christmas time with all the shopping, wrapping, baking, and driving around, lends itself nicely to reflection. (Much time spent on the couch digesting.)

Upon reflection, I came up with a number of things that I am thankful for:

Refrigerated Pie Crust: Instead of spending hours making pie crust, I whipped these puppies out, threw them in a pie pan, and focused on what is really important--the filling (hello!) And I got to play around with Em in the kitchen as I did it.

My daughter's laughs: Not laugh...laughs. The girl has a ton. I was a little frazzled last week: online class, crazy shopping, three pies to make, and my mom invited a "friend" to Thanksgiving. The whole time Em kept me focused with her grunts, guffaws, squeals, and giggles. She is awesome.

Gravy: I do not feel the need to explain this.

My sister: There is not a life experience I have gone through in which she hasn't been a large part. My parents divorce, my wedding, the birth of my child all happened in rapid succession. She was there the whole time, crying and laughing with me. She was there this weekend, and I am so thankful.

My home: I absolutely love living in a house. I love my neighborhood. The holidays are so much more festive when you live in a house and everyone around hangs lights and other decorations. We're getting a tree this weekend. We don't have much to spend, but I'm excited to be able to do this for the first time in a long time.

Most importantly, Winter break is three short weeks away and I couldn't be happier. I will have two blissful weeks with my daughter, no homework, and if I can help it, no cold.

Ah, downtime!

I really, really needed a vacation. I feel so much better now that I've had a few days off. It's been glorious to get out of town. And it's been wonderful spending so much time with my adorable niece. We went to an awesome park yesterday in Redding and the girls had a blast. My daughter went down the slide by herself (not too thrilled by it actually) and climbed all over the play structure.

Before we left Elk Grove, there was some definite weirdness. Out of the blue, my dad decides to visit. So he comes up for dinner, which is fine, but he brings with him a whole cadre of akwardness: his girlfriend, her stern Dutch mother, his girlfriends two children (who are NOT impressed by my father), my disapproving grandmother, and my aunt (who is lovely.) We somehow crowded everyone around our very small table. It went fine, but I managed to kill off a bottle of wine. Oops! :)

So, tomorrow we're heading back home and back to reality. And back to two angry cats, I imagine. Oh well, Christmas is only a month a way. I can make it...

So Happy to be Here!

I have dreamt about this Thanksgiving for the longest time, as far back as six years ago when I made the first drive up from San Jose to my husband's family in Redding. It took us almost 8 hours! It was a new kind of horrible. I honestly remember sitting in traffic on the 80, not moving, and thinking, "Do I really love this man?"

And when I was a month pregnant and facing the same drive and the fun job of telling his parents, I was thinking, "Boy I really love this man." And then I spent the next six hours pulling over and throwing up.

Now, my attitude is much improved. We have finally moved out of the Bay Area and we are heading up tomorrow to Redding to spend my favorite of holidays with our lovely family. I finally work in a school district that gives off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. (Though, I'd be estatic to work in one that gives the whole week, but I'll take what I can get.) I'm so happy I drew hand Turkeys (a la first grade) on my board. My highschoolers were actually pretty appreciative, surprisingly.

I hope all the families out there have a fantastic holiday with their families. I look forward to reading all about your celebrations.

Happy Thanksgiving!