Two Hours and Counting

In two hours, I will be leaving work and rejoicing in the fact that I will not be back for five days! Hip, hip, hooray!


I am ready for a break and while I will still be working on Masters items ( as the term comes to an end in two weeks), I will be working on them in the comfort of my home.


Tonight brings a fun night with my husband. We are going to see the Gwinnett Gladiators play at the Gwinnett Arena. This was part of my birthday present to Brad, and we will be sitting second row. It should prove to be a fun night. I will try to take pics.




Tomorrow brings with it the joy of sleeping in. However, I am also excited about my goal for myself tomorrow. I am going to try to use my Nannie's Red Velvet Cake recipe to make a cake to take to my Grandma's house for Thanksgiving.


Here is a look at our schedule for the rest of the break:

Weds Night - Dillard Family Thanksgiving - We will be eating at Brad's parents with Mr. Jack and Linda, Jack, Christina and Carter and Daddy Jack and Mama Dorothy.


Thursday Night - Griswold Family Thanksgiving - We will be eating at Grandma's with Grandma, Dad and Jan, Suzanne and John, my Aunt Joyce and Uncle Ken and maybe my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle William.


Friday - Black Friday Shopping?!?!?! We did this big time two years ago with Jack and Christina ( like we were no later than 4:30 and were in major lines, tag teaming with cell phones, everything) but I don't know what this year will bring with Carter and all.


Saturday - Thanksgiving with Mom - We will eat with Mom and John, Suzanne and John.


Here's to being on Thanksgiving Break in 1 hour and 50 minutes!

I Have Been Tagged!

Twice actually. Two of my blogging friends have tagged me to list seven things about me, Meredith Griswold Dillard, that you probably don't know. This is hard so we will see how it goes.

1.) I was co - president of chorus at my high school my senior year. I had been in chrous since seventh grade and loved to sing. Although unlike most choral presidents before me, I hated to sing solos. I could sing in an ensemble but never by myself. It is kinda funny because I can dance on a stage by myself forever but can't sing. One of my regrets is that I am not singing anymore. I will at times work with the sopranos in the youth choir at church and our music minister at church says he needs me in the adult choir, but I just don't have time right now.

2.) I LOOOOOVVE Christmas time! I know most people love Christmas but I go all the way. Last year while Brad and I were engaged, we had a Christmas shower where everyone bought us Christmas decor and Christmas household items. It was fantastic. I think that we have enough to decorate each room. My favorite Christmas decoration themes are penguins and snowmen. To me, there is no greater joy than sitting in the den by the light of the Christmas tree lights, drinking a warm beverage and cuddling close with someone you love while watching A Muppet Family Christmas. It may have something to do with the fact that I am a December 30th birthday person.

3.) Brad and I got married exactly 6 months to the day after he proposed. He proposed at UGA on October 5th. We at first thought about May 31st as it would have been the first Saturday after school got out and our first date had been on July 31st. However, we reconsidered and placed the date on April 5th because it was the Saturday leading into Spring Break, and we would be husband and wife sooner! Turns out this was a good move because our nephew was due at the beginning of June, and if he had decided to come early, things could have gotten interesting :0)

4.) I consider myself very lucky to have loved and known my great-grandmother for 20 years before she died. Most people don't get a chance to share such a long and deep relationship with great-grandparents and sometimes not grandparents. Memaw was the most giving, sweet, caring individual, and she always made me feel special. Both happily and sadly, she lived longer than my grandmother, her daughter. My favorite memories with Memaw involve picking apples and putting them in five gallon buckets when I was shorter than the five gallon bucket at their house on Rockbridge Road, the way she would always bring me into her Sunday School class every Sunday at church and brag on me to her friends and enjoying eating her coconut cakes with her. To this day, we still don't have her recipe and it makes me sad that I don't have that piece of Memaw history to remember her by.

5.) One of my best friends, Jennifer, and I share the same birthday but we are a year apart. I was born in 1980 and she was born in 1981. Still, we are both December 30th babies. Our poor husbands have to find enough presents to fulfill the expected Christmas and birthday gifts all at one time.

6.) I struggle with my body image big time. People think it is crazy, given the size that I am but I still get caught up in it. I always have. When I was growing up, my sister and cousin were thin as a stick....you could have spoon fed them butter by the stick and they wouldn't have gained weight. I , on the otherhand, held on to my baby fat for awhile. It was hard to be the "chubby" one of the bunch. Then I got older and started dancing and my body image really changed. I do realize that I am on the small end of things and have very little room to complain but I still don't like the idea of gaining weight. No matter what size you are when you start out, it doesn't feel good to get on the scale and see a higher number or to try on a pair of pants that fit a year ago and realize they don't. I just know that this has plagued me all of my life and I want to do everything that I can to prevent any future daughters of mine from letting this haunt them like it does me.

7.) My parents are two of my best friends. I am very close to my dad as a result of living with him from the time my parents got divorced through college and then for six months after I was divorced. I believe that my dad and I have an openness that most fathers and daughters don't share. I feel very fortunate to have that bond with my dad.

My mother and I have a great time just being girls together. We shop and lately we have gotten into a trend of going to see movies together which is fun. On Election day, we went walking together. I just wish my mom lived closer so that we could see each other more.

The Power of Prayer

Let me preceed this entry with the suggestion that if you havent read the previous post, you will be wondering about some of what I am talking about.

But on we go....

Granddaddy reported for surgery this morning at 6:30 and was supposed to go in for surgery at 8:30.

The doctors first paged my mom , Uncle Michael and Aunt Brenda at 10am. They were panicked because they thought that must mean something was wrong. Actually, the doctors just wanted to let them know that Granddaddy didn't go into surgery until a little before ten so it would be longer before they heard anything. Also, they shared that Granddaddy's vitals were very good going into surgery.

I called Mom at 12:50 pm and she said that the doctors had come out again and said that things were going well. His vital signs were still good too. They said if all went according to plan they would be in surgery for approximately two more hours. Then Granddaddy would be in recovery for two hours.

Mom just called at 1:40 and told me that Granddaddy is out of surgery. The doctor says that the surgery went well. He says if there is no interior bleeding (which could be a happening for anyone having this surgery) and they don't have to go back in to remedy that than Granddaddy will be in ICU for three days and then in the hospital for up to six after that. This is a serious surgery and he will be weak afterwards. Right now, the possibility that he will need to go to a rehab center after all of that is still out there. We will just have to see what each hour and then day brings us.

But for right now I am optimistic! Keep praying for my Granddaddy. This is just the first step to a long recovery.

Pray for my Granddaddy

Hello my friendsI wanted to ask you all to lift my family up in prayer today. My grandfather has been in poor heatlh since Brad and I got married in April. As a result, he has lost a lot of weight, a lot of spirit and most of all a true will to live. This morning at approximately 8:30am Granddaddy will be undergoing surgery to remove an anyeurism from his aorta. This is a major surgery, especially given his age, his frail nature right now and all that he has been through the past seven months. We don't know that he will make it through the surgery, but the alternative of not going through surgery provides a bleaker outcome of the anyeurism eventually ruptruring and causing him to go into shock and bleed to death.

At this point, I am turning it all over to God. I want His will to be done. Granddaddy is ready to go if this is his time and if he did die, he would be reunited with my grandmother who passed in 1997. He told my mom one night this weekend that he knows that Nannie is waiting for him and is going to "beat his tail for making her wait so long for him". Still, I am not ready to let go. I went to see him yesterday and thinking that it may have been the last time I see him is so hard. I am really a shell of a FOCUS teacher today.

I enjoyed my visit with Granddaddy. He looked a lot better than I thought he would though he was in his pajamas when he greeted me at the door :0). He greeted me like he always does with a joking " Who is that? Who is coming up here to see me?" and a hug and kiss. I told him if I had known we were having a pajama party then I would have dressed more appropriately. He still cut up and joked like he always has and I thought that was a good sign that he still has some spunk in him. We sat on the couch and my sister took some pictures of us. Then I encouraged him through eating a bowl of soup and jello. He had preop procedures done to him yesterday and he was there from 11 to 2. They had a very hard time getting blood from him ( it took four people and he cried and Doris that took him there cried) and when he started to think about that, he talked about how he did not want to go back there anymore. Of course, that is where he is going today and we told him that he had to go back in order to get well enough where we can get him out raking leaves and cutting the grass again.

After all that happened, my aunt was coming in and my sister, mom and I were going to go get something to eat. I went to hug him and I told him how much I loved him. It didn't feel like I was done so after Mom and Suzanne hugged him I went back over to him and told him that I needed another one for the road. We stood there and embraced each other and I told him slowly, " I Love you so much Granddaddy......You look really good today " and as I said that I looked at him , holding his hand and he started to tear up and sob a little as he tried to talk ,almost like a child and I told him through my own tears "I am proud of you and you are strong you can do this. I love you" Between sobs, he said" I am proud of you too and I love you" He embraced me and Suzanne and then we left to go get something to eat.

When we got back from eating, I walked back in the house first, and he lit up and he said " Well look who's here?" His face lit up and while I don't think he remembered that I had been there earlier seeing that I caused that reaction in him was very comforting. After that, he went back to the back of the house and as he left the room he said " I will see you all next week." I hung on those words thinking they might be the last ones I hear from him and yet ...wouldn't you know always the jokester. .. He came back out for an encore. He walked through and said " I am going to bed and as he graced the doorframe to the hall, did a "broadway kick" in the air and went down the hall.

I don't know what to expect from today, in a lot of ways I don't know why I am here today ( I am going to be teaching for 30 minutes due to the early release schedule conflicts and do carriders today...that is it.) but just know he is expected to go into surgery at 8:30 am ( though everything around this has been late) and the surgery would take four hours if everything were to go okay.

Savannah , how we miss thee!

So it is ten days since I posted last...Shame on me! But as busy as I am, it makes me miss our time in Savannah more! So here is a tribute to Savannah as well as a catch up for my blog readers. Here is our trip to Savannah in the middle of October. We had a blast hanging out with each other and Jack, Christina and Carter. This is my slideshow. You have to click on it and then it will play. Enjoy!

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