Friday, December 31, 2010

2010: A Reflection




Wow....2010 is basically over. This year has flown by! And as every other year, there have been good things and bad things.....

The early part of the year saw us spending a lot of time helping out our daughter-in-law in the aftermath of the divorce - - with banking, child support, getting everything switched over to her name. It had been so many years since my first marriage ended, I had forgotten how much there was to do! It took quite a while, but we finally helped her get all squared away.

Things were pretty quiet over the summer, but once September arrived, everything started happening! I had foot surgery on September 7th, and spent the next 2 months using a kneewalker scooter to get around. I was also off work on Medical Leave for 4 weeks, which would have been nice if I could have gotten up and done something! Also, Dear Mr. Dizzy's building construction started September 8th, so he was home on vacation not only for that, but to help me the first 2 weeks following my surgery.

September also found us fighting with the bank over the construction loan, thanks to an incompetent appraiser the bank used to evaluate our property. What a total bastard he was. And still is. And more than likely always will be. This whole deal has turned out much harder to deal with than it had to be, thanks to him. And has caused us more than our share of sleepless nights. If you ever want to know who NOT to hire for an appraisal, just contact me. I will be more than happy to share his name with you! Anything I can to do lose the SOB some business.

In November, I was finally released by the Doctor to be able to do some things - - so I went to Fairview Heights for a weekend of shopping and "girl time" with my Classmates ladies group. St. Claire's Square Mall, Joe's Crab Shack for dinner, an overnight at the Drury Inn....and my foot took it all in stride (no pun intended).

Christmas found us hosting Mr. Dizzy's family for dinner, with my Father coming up and spending the weekend with us as well. There were so many people in the house, and so much laughter and raucous noise, the cats all hid in closets! In fact, after everyone left, we could not find Lil Dude at all - - we were worried that one of the kids had accidently let him slip out of the house. But after turning the whole house upside-down, Mr. Dizzy found him, hiding all scrunched up in the back of my closet. Once it quieted down, he eventually screwed up his courage and came out, but was pretty jumpy the rest of the evening.

And now here it is New Year's Eve. It will be a fairly quiet one for us again this year - - we don't like to go out and do much this evening - - leave the hard partying to the kids, and we will stay home and pray they don't hurt themselves. Mr. Dizzy and I will just go out for a nice meal, get home early, and spend the rest of the evening at home, enjoying each other's company. I don't think it can get any better than that.

So in closing, I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year, and that 2011 is a very good year for you and yours!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Just a "Heads-Up"....

Did I mention that I started up a recipe blog a couple of months ago? If not, well - - I started up a recipe blog a couple of months ago!

I decided that I was tired of always trying to find a particular recipe in all of my cookbooks, my scraps of paper in my recipe "file", etc. So, I decided it was time to get all my recipes into electronic form, and what better way than a blog?

So far I have over 40 of my tried-and-true recipes loaded, and there are many, many more to go. Since Campus is closed for Winter Break and I am off all week, there will be a lot more updating going on.

So if you are in the mood to find a new recipe, or just like to browse food blogs, feel free to check it out. Here is the blog address: http://dizzyskitchen.blogspot.com.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. AND, be sure to check back at the blog often, because I will be continually adding to it!

Grace In Small Things: 51/2010

What I am grateful for this week:
  • Christmas with my Dad!
  • Visiting with my crazy aunt, uncle and cousins
  • Quiet, quality time with Dear Mr. Dizzy
  • Winter Break - - I don't go back to work until January 3rd!
  • Getting to see my son for Christmas! He lives in Oklahoma, and came up to Illinois to spend time with family.
I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Christmas!

Count your blessings - - join Grace In Small Things.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas To One and All!


From our household to yours - - from Dizzy Ms. Lizzy, Mr. Dizzy, Carmichael, Squeak, and Lil Dude.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Grace In Small Things: 50/2010

What I am grateful for this week:
  • Squeaky girl kitty still on the mend and doing well
  • My foot still on the mend and doing extremely well
  • Christmas party with a great group of friends Saturday night - - good food, good times, good people
  • Dear Mr. Dizzy's family Christmas gathering at our house on Sunday - - more good Holiday times
  • Last week of work before Winter Break, then off work until January!

Count your blessings - - join Grace In Small Things.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Grace In Small Things: 49/2010

What I am grateful for this week:
  • A nice warm home when the wind chill temps dip below zero.
  • Squeaky-girl kitty getting better now.
  • Roast pork and dressing for Sunday dinner....the whole house smells great.
  • Making some of the cutest Christmas presents ever.
  • Getting released by the Doctor, and finally able to do more of what I want.

Count your blessings - - join Grace In Small Things.

Monday, December 06, 2010

Grace In Small Things: 48/2010

What I am grateful for this week:
  • Finding out my home computer crash isn't as drastic as first thought, and shouldn't cost me an arm and leg to get it fixed - - it should be repaired and back at my home office desk soon (thank goodness I bought this laptop as a spare!)
  • Taking Friday off and making myself a long three-day weekend
  • Little Squeak Kitty sleeping on my shoulder early in the morning (like 5 AM early!)
  • The heavy snow going North of us - - they got 4-5 inches, we just got a light dusting....*whew*.....dodged a bullet on that one
  • Homemade Lasagna - - my Mother's recipe - - cooking in the oven for Sunday Dinner
And one more - - the last post-op checkup on my foot went extremely well! The Doctor has now released me, and told me to be careful, use common sense, but I can basically do whatever my foot will allow me to do. So now it's back to the Gym full-time! Yay!

Count your blessings - - join Grace In Small Things.