Who Says It's Not All About Winning?

I see my parents and sisters and their families only a handful of times every year, so each moment with them is important to me. We talk and eat, but the part I love best is that when these guys are doing this:

some of us are doing this:

What makes you happy about family reunions?

And They're Good Cooks, too!

There is much for which I am thankful.

~ Experiences, friends, memories, material goods, the grace of the Lord ~

But today I am especially thankful for the fact

 that the people who have known me the longest are still happy to see me.

Throwing Caution to the Wind and Surviving

After twenty years of making apple pie the same way, I got brave and tried a new recipe.  A little too much nutmeg for me, but that didn't seem to matter to anyone else in the family.

Christmas? Bring it!

Yes!!!

We are ready!!

That no shopping has been done...

...is just a minor inconvenience.

Okay.  Maybe it's a major inconvenience, but I won't think about that today.

A Medical Maven I'm Not

For two months he has said, "My heel really hurts."

And I said, "Uh huh."

But I thought, "It's just a little bruise thing. It's not a big deal."

After school on Friday, I gave in and took him to the doctor even though I dreaded the bill that would follow in the mail.

I heard the doctor say,

"Growth plate injury."

"Very serious."

"Risk of permanent damage without treatment."

"Very glad you brought him in when you did."

That's when I had to eat my words, both spoken and unspoken.

FF: All Around My Brain

**I had to drive my 10 year old somewhere on a very dark, rainy, and foggy night and absent-mindedly sang along with the radio. After we arrived at our destination, my son said, "Thanks for the completely inappropriate entertainment." I was totally confused until I realized that I had been singing the 1991 Divinyls hit. I can't even bring myself to type the title.

**We had a Weight Watchers friendly Beef Stroganoff this week. The non-friendly version would have tasted much better.

**Walmart!! Order more of this soap. It is lovely.

**My teen boy says he doesn't know what I see in Bruce Springsteen. I'll admit that I'm glad he doesn't. But, Bruce? Keep your politics to yourself.

**How do those protesters from Westboro Baptist Church sleep at night????

**Would you consider sharing a dog? It is a popular trend now. Two families share expenses and time with the dog. If the families live very near each other, it's even better. The dogs supposedly get to know the routine and will wait at the door when it's time to go to the second family.

**That makes me wonder how people manage to live double lives with two different families. How do they not go crazy trying to keep details straight? FYI: no personal references being hinted at here.

**And in the mindset of what was he thinking: In the metro Detroit area a man has rejected a $150,000 settlement offer after he used a screwdriver to open a jar of Del Monte fruit and the lid flew off and hit his eye rendering him unconscious.

**This week's fragments brought to you by Mrs. 4444's, who will no doubt be sad after the Michigan-Wisconsin game tomorrow.

What's so hard about getting up at 4?

He was sure that if he did not go hunting with his dad and brother that he would miss something really exciting.

He needn't have worried.

The good news was that he was a little better rested than the other guys when they arrived home empty-handed.