It's hard to believe this will be our 4th Christmas without our beloved Sadie.  We still love and miss that gentle giant.  Hopefully, 2012 will be the year we can build a fence and adopt another sweet canine. Oh well, in the meantime, here's a picture of our big, white, ball of sweetness when she met Santa Claus.

 Look at that smile.  :-)

Update

Laura did great yesterday.  She was smiling from the moment we got in the car (at 5:50 am!) until they put her under anesthesia.  It's a good thing that she was so happy because we were in the waiting room for 2 hours with no explanation.  Thank you for your prayers - they were obvious.  Here she is, excited to be in the waiting room... (Praise God for the iPad!!!)

Waking up from anesthesia was a different story.  You could hear her crying all the way down the very long hall.  I'm sure she was confused as to where she was, who the people around her were, and why her mouth was so numb.  Poor thing, she looked like one of the Desperate Housewives of Beverly Hills with her mouth so swollen. 

Her smile was just starting to come back when we pulled in her driveway.  She was back at school today and doing much better!  Rana said that she has been eating a lot today.  Thank you so much for your prayers for Laura. 

Prayers Appreciated!

Tomorrow, my niece Laura is having extensive dental work done.  Due to her age and, I'm sure her autism, she will be having it done at the hospital under general anesthesia.  My sister-in-law has asked me to come along to keep her calm.  Me keep somebody calm?  That's a new one!  Anyway, we are supposed to be there at 7:00 am for the preliminary x-rays.  Please keep Laura in your prayers!  Thank you!!!!!

 (Laura's kindergarten picture)

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving!  Scott and I celebrated with my side of the family.  Here's mom cooking away in her kitchen.

And, no, I'm not out at the mall today.

PS.  I'm glad everyone seemed to like my post on the Nutcracker Ballet.  I was giggling the whole time I wrote it.  I don't really "hate" the Nutcracker .....but I do find it boring.  I do, however, find Nutrcrackers to be very, very creepy.  I think that is why I never cared for the ballet. 

The Nutcracker Suite

Driving home from work today, I heard a commercial that said, "Tis the season for America's favorite ballet....The Nutcracker Suite".  Well, I hate the Nutcracker Suite.  Not only do I hate The Nutrcracker Suite ballet, but I hate "nutcrackers" even more.  They are creepy.  One of the families that I used to be a nanny for had a collection of creepy Christmas nutcrackers.  Every Christmas I had to deal with having those blame creepy faces staring at me.  Heaven forbid I have to go to a ballet and look at a bunch of men in tights dressed up like creepy Nutcrackers and dancing around like a bunch of girls.  Namaste. 

Girls Night Out

Tonight, I had a "girls night out in the city" with my friends Sandra & Christy.  We took the light rail to the Epicentre, ate dinner at Libretto's pizza and went to the arena for a Charlotte Checkers hockey game.  The atmosphere was electric.  The crowd was so much fun and the Checkers didn't disappoint.  The game went into sudden death overtime but.....we lost.  (Frowny face)  Oh well, here's a couple of photos...

I would post a picture of Sandra and Christy but Christy did not like her picture and she said that the angle I took it at made her face look "as big as Lulu Roman's".  Now, for those of you who don't remember Lulu Roman....well, that would not be a good thing.  Christy actually looks great in the photo but I will respect her wishes!