Happy Thanksgiving!!! I hope you stuffed yourselves with all the best and favorite foods that you dreamt of, and that you have sufficiently recovered afterwards . . . I am in a faraway land for a few more days and I look forward to sharing photos and stories of this exotic place with you at some point. It shouldn't be too long before I'm able to reveal more details, maybe in a couple more weeks or so. Scott had most of the day off for Thanksgiving, and we went to a wonderful local and family-owned restaurant for dinner. It sure was nice not to have to cook and prepare a feast, and then clean it all up, too. But I did miss having my whole family gathered around the table with me. As lazy as I have gotten about cooking in the past couple years, I still love to have a meal with a big group of my favorite people.  I have had several things on my mind lately, so I hope this is a good place to share my thoughts. I know of several people who are struggling in various situations. My he

It's been busy around here lately! I keep telling myself that there will be quieter moments just around the corner, but that doesn't ever seem to be the case.  I realize that this is usually how I set things up for myself - because I LOVE LIFE - so I am trying to just smile and keep up with everything right now . . . First, I want to share about my recent visit with Avery and how absolutely delightful that was. After several mismatched scheduling issues between Kylie and me, we finally had a day that actually worked out for both of us. I drove up to Aviano to pick up Kylie and Avery so we could go out to dinner. I parked close to their driveway and started walking over when I saw Avery around the corner. The most magical thing happened when she saw me: Her face lit up in shock, her jaw hit the ground, she did a sharp intake of breath in surprise, and then she started RUNNING to me!!! Her mouth stayed in that oval shaped, open mouth of surprise the whole time that she ran over t