2008-NOVEMBER-CONTINUED

On November 4th, Election Day, I went to see Katherine for a physical. She did a complete blood workup, other lab work, chest x-ray, an EKG, and every other yearly test that my insurance would pay for. Everything looked great . . . my weight was good, my x-rays were clear, my EKG was normal, my cholesterol was good . . . everything was better than ever. I was shocked, but I'm determined to keep it that way. I decided that Buster and I would start walking religiously every morning and I would work out several times a week . . . after the first of the year.

I also voted that day, so it was a day that counted.

On Friday, November 14th, Leslie took a pregnancy test and it was positive. The next Monday she called and made an appointment with her new doctor, Dr. Williams, for December 1st. According to her calculations, she would be due around July 25th, 2009. We knew we were in for a long winter, spring and summer, but we all gladly jumped back on that emotional roller coaster and are holding each other tight.

On November 20th Nicky went on his first overnight field trip without me, to Birmingham. He did fine, had a really good time and only called 32 times in two days. On Friday night, Abby, Leslie, Hannah, Nicky and I went to see Twilight. Abby and I had read all the books, so we had been anxiously awaiting the movie. It was everything we'd hoped it would be. We loved it. I never thought I'd see the day that I'd love a movie about teenage vampires. Go figure.

The next week the kids were out of school for Thanksgiving Holidays and Abby, Nicky and I left for Arkansas on Wednesday. We did things differently this year and had Thanksgiving dinner at Lana's. I was really worried that when we got there her eyeballs would be bulging out of her head and she would be holding handfuls of hair (maybe hers, maybe John's) but she was surprisingly calm and dinner was on schedule. Nothing got thrown or broken, no blood was shed, nothing was burnt or raw and it was a very pleasant day. Then Nicky spent the night with Joshua and Hannah spent the night with Abby.

For the past 10 years or so, Aunt Sharon and I have been meeting on Black Friday to shop. Sometimes it was the two of us, sometimes a sister or two, but never any kids. I'm always glad to spend time with whoever it is. This year, Laura and I met Grandma (89 years old) and Sharon at Goodie's at 4 a.m. We stayed there for a while, then Grandma and Sharon headed to Little Rock and Hot Springs and Laura and I headed to Lana's to get her at 6:00. We made a Starbucks run, then went to Kohl's, Old Navy and some other stores. My memory is a little blurry, but I got most of my shopping done. After shopping we did our Cracker Barrel breakfast. This year we all wore our "fancy" Christmas sweaters.

The Sisters -
Lana, Laura, Lisa

On Friday afternoon, the Ole Miss-State Game was on and I wanted to watch it, but I also wanted to go visit the Cemeteries where our family was buried, so Mama, Abby, Hannah and I went to the graveyards and we left Daddy to watch the game. We waited a little late to go, but we managed to cram in several before it got dark.

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT 2008 POST . . .