My mind is still young...

...even though my body isn't.

I've got some annoying neck/shoulder/upper back pain. But on the upside I'm listening to lots of holiday music and that makes me smile.

I get my stitches out this afternoon. It's a thin scar which will probably be well hidden with all my (Bill Murray approved) freckles. Oh well.

Other than that I'm just trying to keep up at work where there seems to be lots to do right now. I'm really, really looking forward to Christmas even though the dreaded uncle and dreaded aunt (sibs not spouses) will be at the house. I'm most likely going to drive up to my friend Kristin's house on the 26th to get away for a few days until she and her family return from up north. I need some sort of break, right?

A lot to be thankful for...

1. My family

2. My friends

3. My dogs

4. My job (finally!)

5. My good news about the melanoma

6. Gerard Butler

7. Thanksgiving leftovers

8. the fact that Madonna lives in another country

9. Febreeze

10. "The Office"

11. IMDB

12. sweet tea

13. college basketball

14. David Sedaris books

15. Post-It notes

These are but a few things (and not necessarily in order-I'm talking to you #6-15; ok #7-15)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2 Days 'til Turkey!

I saw this and chuckled quite heartily. It's funny because it's true!

Almost turkey day!

Thanksgiving is my favoriate holiday by far. I love the parades, cooking, and leftovers! This time next week I'll have a day of making dishes like turkey soup, turkey tetrazzini, and turkey chili. Mmmmm....

It'll be interesting to see what it's like around work over the holidays. I would think that the professors don't come in very much at all. It'll be quiet and a little strange.

Here's a recipe from BHG.com for a yummy and easy cookie:

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pinwheels
1 18-ounce roll refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 18-ounce roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts (optional)

1. In a large mixing bowl combine peanut butter cookie dough and flour; use a wooden spoon to mix well. Divide dough in half.

2. In another large mixing bowl combine sugar cookie dough and cocoa powder; use another wooden spoon to mix well. Divide dough in half.

3. Between pieces of waxed paper, roll out half of the peanut butter dough and half of the sugar cookie dough into 12x6-inch rectangles. Remove the top pieces of waxed paper. Invert one rectangle on top of the other; press down gently to seal. Remove top piece of waxed paper. Tightly roll up into a spiral, starting from a long side. Repeat with remaining dough portions.

4. If desired, sprinkle half of the peanuts onto waxed paper. Roll 1 log of dough in peanuts. Wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining dough and peanuts, if desired. Wrap and chill dough logs 1 hour or until firm enough to slice.

5. Using a sharp knife, cut dough logs into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place slices 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

6. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool. Makes about 60 cookies.

Make-Ahead Tip: Shape logs of dough; wrap and chill up to 1 week or freeze up to 1 month. Thaw frozen dough 3 hours in refrigerator before slicing.

14 hours and cancer free

My "procedure" went fine. I can't say enough about my dermatologist, Dr. LeClercq (pronounced leh-Claire). She's great with a needle and apparently is excellent with stitches. I told her not to do too good of a job because I want that scar. I like my scars even though they're all covered with freckles now. I still know they're there. My favorite has got to be the odd shaped one below my right knee from Katie's bachelorette party. Anywho, my doctor and two nurses stayed late last night to do the excision. That was really nice of them to do that for me but I guess they wanted to get it out as soon as possible. Apparently the tumor was self-contained enough that she didn't have to do an exploratory procedure. The exploratory procedure sounded kind of cool but I'm happy that the cancer hadn't spread.

There were two bad parts. One was the sound of what she was doing. Ok, not so much the sound but the fact that I knew what the sound was. I almost lost my lunch. The other bad part left a huge blood blister on my arm. Because she had to use a cauterizing tool I had to be grounded electronically. I've always thought of myself as a grounded, down to earth type person (hahaha) but apparently not enough that I wouldn't get electrocuted. So they attach this sticky patch to the underside of your arm (I'm guessing that's where there's the least amount of body hair?) and the patch has a lead on it that goes to a machine. Well when the nurse took the patch off she yanked it and some of my skin was still kind of stuck. So now I have this huge blood blister under my arm. That hurt.

She prescribed me an antibiotic and a pain med. I got the antibiotic filled at my local grocery store that happened to be trying to compete with Walmart so I got it for free! Nothing like free drugs!!! I don't know if I'll get the pain med filled though. It's for Loritab (or Lortab) which I hear is very nice but also an opiate.

So I go back in 2 weeks to have the stitches removed. After that I go in every 6 months to have a full body check. I don't even see my body every 6 months and now I have to have someone else look at it. Yeesh.

My day so far

Ahhh, the glory of the south. It's going to be 80 on Wednesday. Last year we had snow before Thanksgiving. Something tells me that's not going to happen this year.

So I'm having a small procedure done tomorrow. As usual my doctor told me no aspirin. I'm not prone to a lot of pain unless it's self-inflicted, accidental type stuff. So of course I get this annoying headache yesterday and today I have back pain. I can take Tylenol but of course I don't have any with me. Oh well, I'll live.

And I just found out that my oldest friend (no, she's not 90 - we've known each other for 27 years) is coming for Thanksgiving with her hubby and daughter. I'm so excited!!! I thought it was going to be just me and the folks but now I have more people to make pie for! Mmmm, pie.

Jan has plastic boobs!

It's Friday. It's cold out. I'm actually in a good mood. There are some things that should be getting me down but I'm not gonna let 'em. I'm loving this weather and I'm looking forward to a good weekend. I don't have anything big planned but if I get to see a movie, in a theater, I'll be very satisfied. I'm a simple girl who takes pleasure in simple things.

And here's a little Gerard for your Friday.

Great Minds

My G.A., Danielle, and I tend to dress alike at least twice a week. Yesterday we both had on long, denim skirts with ribbed sweaters. Last week we both wore the exact same color sweater which was a very specific shade of coral and the next day we both had on black and white.

Oh and now she and I are planning a trip to Wimbledon this summer. If I can get a cheap flight, it may actually happen. The big expense would be the hotel room. This is when it sucks to be single. I wonder if my friend Dana would want to go. I bet I could get her to pay for the hotel room if I paid for our meals. That could actually work out. Yeah, NOBODY would think we were lesbians then. Nooooo. I swear it sucks that when you're single and in your 30s, you can't hang out with another single woman without someone somewhere questioning it.

Wait, what was I talking about? Riiiight, Wimbledon. Anyway, Danielle's hubby can get the tickets for the matches which would be really cool. Plus hot professor would be there with the study abroad thing at the same time. It'd be fun to hang out with them while we're there.

Is this really going to happen? Nah, but girls can dream. Especially when they're wearing similar outfits. See how I brought that back around?!?!?! I'm good like that.

ROTFL

This had me cracking up at work. I don't know where I'd be without the Fug Girls.

Can't type...fingers so cold!

Yay!!! It's finally cold here. Ok, not cold but really chilly. It was below 50 this morning and for us that's pretty darn cold. I can start wearing all my wonderful sweaters now! I really like my sweaters. Oooh! and my scarves! I have great scarves.

Another depressing weekend of college football for me. Waaaahhhh!!!

Hey Christy!

Happy Birthday!!!

Relatively uneventful

So we got maybe 2 dozen kids last night. We had a lot of candy left so I brought some in to work. My favorite costume was this 3 year old boy in a Superman suit that was actually bulging with muscles. Too cute. The coolest thing was one guy had hooked up a big trailer to the back of his truck, put hay all over it and was driving kids around the neighborhood. But explain to me about the parents who were driving their kids around. They'd pull up to a house, the kid would get out, they'd then go a few houses down and wait for the kid. There was one mom who was just slowly driving along with her hazards on while her son was walking along side the car. Could she seriously not get out of the car to walk with him?