LONG Weekend!

First, Whim gave me this lovely award:

So, THANK YOU WHIM!!!!

Now, whom to pass it on to???

How about:

Robin (though I know that Whim also gave it to Robin), because Robin recognizes the simple joys of life as what they are, and is grateful for the chance to enjoy them.

I actually would like to give it BACK to Whim, as well. I don't expect her to repost it on her blog.... But, she does have a lot of gratitude with a hefty (and worthy) dose of attitude! And I love her for it!

Gardener Greg is a great person who deserves this award as well. He's got a lot of gratitude that he shares with the rest of us frequently. And he's got a lot of attitude about what he sees in the world that needs changing or addressing, which he ALSO shares with the rest of us frequently. Both of which are greatly appreciated!

Garnet deserves this award as well. Talk about some hard times, but this beautiful woman is handling it with grace and a nice hefty dose of attitude. She's not afraid to confront her fears head-on, and she does it with gratitude for the good, and attitude that she's not going to let it all beat her down.

And last but not least, Kaylee! She's a new find of mine (actually, it seems she found me), but she's also going through some hard times with cancer, and yet she's got a great attitude. For one so young to be dealing with such hardships, and still to come me across (through her blog, anyway) as almost perpetually smiling.... That's gratitude with attitude!!!!

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So, let's see.... Friday, of course, I got the good news that my results came back negative.

Yesterday was a LONG day. I got up and after getting myself some coffee & cereal (only drank half the coffee, took me till 1 to eat the whole bowl of cereal), I started making lasagna for dinner last night. That's right, I started the lasagna while eatting breakfast. I knew I'd have no chance to make the lasagna later in the afternoon, so to make it earlier in the day was the best option, so that all I'd have to do is shove it in the oven for dinner. And yeah, Dad was coming over for dinner again, as usual.

Once I got the lasagna made, I had to get ready to go pick up Great Grandma and Aunt M. for the baby-shower. It was being held at the house of one of Great Grandma's friends from church. Grandma doesn't drive, and so doesn't know how to get there, and the directions I got from my mother-in-law were somewhat sketchy. But we got there. And we got there earlier than almost anybody else, including the Mom-To-Be (my Sister-in-law, the hubby's sis). (Then again, SIL is RARELY on time for ANYTHING. I think she's one who'll be late to her own funeral. On purpose.)

The baby shower actually went as well as could be expected. We got to listen to SIL be snotty with her potential mother-in-law. Nothing new there. We got to listen to her bitch & moan about her next-door-neighbour and their idiotic dog. And we got to watch the MIL pile loads upon loads of gifts upon SIL. (Not all the gifts were actually brought along, but the MIL had to TELL SIL, in front of everybody, everything that MIL purchased for the arrival of her soon-to-be-born granddaughter.) Scott & I got his sis a simple gift-card to a baby-goods shop, figuring she could use it on whatever she wants or needs. She was actually appreciative. Of course, the MIL went and bought a new bassinette, AND a new crib, a new changing table, dresser, carseat, baby swing, and whatever-else-have-you for the child, so I simply told the SIL that there may not be anything LEFT for her to buy at the baby-store, with the GC. (That actually got a good-natured chuckle from the SIL.) And, again it strikes me as how GLAD I am that the hubby and I were never fooled into thinking Tay needed all that crap as a baby. And how glad I am that we're not having a second that will supposedly need all that crap.

(When Tay was born the crib was new, as was the bedding. We changed her on a mat on the floor. Her dresser was a piece that I'd grown up with. Her car-seat was as good as new from a garage sale. We got LOADS of new clothes which weren't all needed, but little that wasn't a gift (and therefore not easy to reject). The swing, which we quickly gave to somebody ELSE was a garage-sale find, as was the play-pen (which was usable till about Tay's first birthday, at which point she learnt to climb out easily)..... Compared to most babes born, Tay was a rather low impact child, for which I'm thankful upon looking back. Even the hubby was kinda grumbly yesterday when he heard how much stuff his Mom got his sis, until I reminded him that we've never seen the need for as much "stuff" as the MIL and SIL think is necessary. At which point he agreed that we've done with less because we realized we could. We could still do better, but we also do a damned sight better than a lot of others we know personally.)

Anyway.... The baby shower went ok. But I was very glad for it to be over.

As soon as I got home, at about 4:20, I shoved the lasagna in the oven, and it got done just about 6 pm. Dad stayed only long enough to have dinner, then left. He's not a night owl, so he likes to be home fairly early so he can be to bed fairly early. *shrug* That's fine. He'd gotten here just minutes after I got home from the baby shower.

Then we watched "Enchanted". Scott & Tay rented it from the movie store, and right off the bat even _I_ was cringing about how horribly cheesy it was. But it got drastically better after the movie changed from animated to real people. *grin* Still somewhat cheesy, but in a "poking fun at normal fairy-tale movies" sort of way. Not a bad movie. Something I'd probably watch again if I felt like it. (And, Patrick Dempsy's hot. Could be a deciding factor in watching it again.)

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I DID get to eat some of the lasagna yesterday. I found that if I THINK about it, the thought of eatting makes me sick. If I just try, though, without considering that I'm putting food in my mouth, I can eat. Still not much, but I CAN eat. I got to eat about 5 bites of lasagna, and a couple bites of garlic bread before I got full. Then I finished off the piece of garlic bread before bed last night.

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Speaking of "over consuming"..... I got a pkg of cds in the mail yesterday. *grin* I try not to buy too much music, knowing that listening to the radio is generally ok by me. But, there are times I just need a new dose. And last week was one of those times. I ordered an old Richard Marx cd to replace the cassette tape I've had since I was in my early teens. I ordered the Now 27 cd (a LOT of songs on that one I like!!!, all but about 3). And I ordered one called "Ancient Mother" that I listened to as I dozed off last night that was fabulous.

I also got my seed order yesterday. But my father-in-law said it'll be at least another week before we should plant any of the seeds that need to be started early. Said that it's still too early for seedlings yet, even in his semi-heated garage. *shrug* Ok. I told him that whenever he's ready, the seeds are here. Just give me a hollar when it's time.

Scott also went ahead & picked up a roll of chicken wire for me yesterday. Rather than nagging at him until he builds me some pallet-wood bins for composting and potato-growing, I'm just going to make chicken-wire "barrels" to do this in. I may still set the compost-"barrels" on a pallet, just because I've got a couple handy, but I'm not going to make the hubby help me if he's not inclined. Scott picked up the wire, I can do the rest myself or with Dad's help.

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Speaking of gardening, though.... One of the ladies at the baby shower yesterday evidently has a friend who's a higher up at the Air Force Base. She said that HE said that the military spouses have been warned in advance of a nasty winter storm that's supposed to blow in sometime tonight or tomorrow bringing us wind chills of -30 and a LOT of snow. I actually would believe it. I rather figure that our military may be better at predicting the weather than our civilian weather-man is. (And, that guy SUCKS!) The military will have a lot more invested in getting it right (and recieve a lot less pay if they don't!) than the local civilian weather-man does. So.... Here's hoping they're wrong, but once again it reaffirms in my mind the litany of "It IS STILL APRIL IN ALASKA!!!" *grin*

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Puck's nose is doing ok, Whim. It really doesn't bother him too much. Though I noticed this morning that the skin seems to be cracking a little bit as it heals. I wonder if he'll let me put any salve on it. Probably not. (And, even if he held still, he'd probably promptly lick it off anyway.) Anyway, whatever. It doesn't bother him. Thanks for the concern, though!

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Ok. I must get offline and get heading to work.

Have a Blessed Day!!!