There is just no good subject title coming to mind
I feel like this blog has just managed to list one disaster after another this year. I can't remember a year where some many bad things have happened. So trust me, if you are not up for reading about more of that, feel free to skip.
I did go to Thanksgiving with my friend Staci. It was lots of fun and her family is great. More food than you usually see on a buffet. And everything I tried was yummy. Everyone was a little down because part of the family couldn't be there, as an elderly inlaw had fallen and broken her hip a few days before. She was not recovering well and people were worried.
Around 5 we left for Dallas. Found the hotel (which was in Irving, near the airport) with little problem and met up with B and J eventually. Proceeded to jump right in and help clear up after a vodka tasting... while enjoying a glass of 50.00 vodka. Not too shabby. Later on there was Hot Tub Kareoke (SP)... Very interesting and fun. Around 1 am or so, Staci and I headed off to bed, so that we could get up in time for the Black Friday sales.
We were up at 4 and out of the hotel by about 6 or so. We definately shopped till we dropped. Staci and I have it down to a science after having done this for about 10 years. At 6 pm, we were 90% done for her and 75% done for me. We packed it all in and headed back to the hotel for the evening's fun and games.
We participated in a Treasure hunt, Dance Dance Revolution gaming, and Fishbowl. Fishbowl is an interesting concept. Questions are submitted through out the day and divided up into men, women, and both. The first round of questions go to the women, where they are encouraged to answer honestly and openly. And the men are not allowed to interupt, but should listen to what is said. Then it's the men's turn to answer questions. And the women must listen. The last round is supposed to be either gender, but time ran out and we didn't get to that part. Obviously most questions end up being about relationships and sex. A lot of interesting things were discussed...
After fishbowl we played a game called Dare. It's like Truth or Dare, but just the Dare part. Each person is given the chance to suggest a dare and the other players bid points on it. The person who bids the lowest amount of points gets to do the dare. The person with the highest number of points at the end of the time limit wins. Silly, but fun.
Staci hit the sack about midnight and I stumbled up to our room around 2 am. OUr shopping for Saturday was the outlet mall, so we didn't bother leaving until 9 am. Lots of walking and shopping later and we were pretty much done. Very cool. It was about 5 when we got back to the hotel. I sat in on a session called Puzzle Quest. This is very snazzy. Each team gets a set of puzzles to solve. All different kinds from word puzzles to jigsaw puzzles to number problems. About 10 in all. The answer to each puzzle gives a clue to the larger over all puzzle. I didn't make it in time to join up with a group, but I sat and visited with B and J, who were running this session, and I snagged a puzzle to work on. I solved it pretty fast, so I thought I was wrong. Turns out, I wasn't. lol.
Staci wanted to nap, so she did that while I played with the puzzles. Then it was time to get dressed for the dance. Yea... Very cute black Audrey Hepburn-ish dress from Target and I was ready for some fun. Which I had... Much dancing and games and a little drinking. Around 11 we packed it back up and headed up to the Hospitality room. B and J are the Chairpeople for the Regional Gathering next year, so the idea was to discuss new ideas. Instead we got distracted by an improve game that ended up going on for around 3 hours! Imagine... It was so funny. We started with about 10 people and by the time we were done, there was about 30 people sitting around the circle. Strange but fun.
Crawled off to bed around 3 am. Slept until 9 and then packed up all our stuff. Got a call from Staci's family to let her know that the inlaw that broke her hip, had passed away. She was in her 80's and in poor health, but still unexpected. Met up with B and J and helped them pack all their things. Hung around for a while and then headed back to Arkansas. Finally made it to Magnolia, where Staci lives and where my car was at around 8 pm. Unloaded all the stuff from Staci's truck and divided it up. Loaded my stuff in the car and headed for home. About a 2 hour drive.
Around that time, I got a call from my mom. My grandmother was back in the hospital. She has been losing a lot of blood and no one was really sure where it was coming from. In the following days, an MRI and catscan showed that there was a mass near her liver, gall bladder and pancreas. Not good. (She has a horrible medical history with 4 individual cancers over a period of about 40 years). Friday she had surgery where they discovered pancreatic cancer and removed it. It appears to be isolated, so hopefully they got it all. They also removed her gall bladder, which was the size of an eggplant, part of her stomach which had very deep ulsers that were causing the bleeding, part of her liver and part of her intestines, and then rejoined all the systems back up. So far she is doing ok. Some ups and downs but for the most part, she is hanging in there. Pain management and getting her moving are the big problems at the moment.
And so,that is my Thanksgiving week... Lots of good and then a lot of really bad.
When will it be 2007?
I did go to Thanksgiving with my friend Staci. It was lots of fun and her family is great. More food than you usually see on a buffet. And everything I tried was yummy. Everyone was a little down because part of the family couldn't be there, as an elderly inlaw had fallen and broken her hip a few days before. She was not recovering well and people were worried.
Around 5 we left for Dallas. Found the hotel (which was in Irving, near the airport) with little problem and met up with B and J eventually. Proceeded to jump right in and help clear up after a vodka tasting... while enjoying a glass of 50.00 vodka. Not too shabby. Later on there was Hot Tub Kareoke (SP)... Very interesting and fun. Around 1 am or so, Staci and I headed off to bed, so that we could get up in time for the Black Friday sales.
We were up at 4 and out of the hotel by about 6 or so. We definately shopped till we dropped. Staci and I have it down to a science after having done this for about 10 years. At 6 pm, we were 90% done for her and 75% done for me. We packed it all in and headed back to the hotel for the evening's fun and games.
We participated in a Treasure hunt, Dance Dance Revolution gaming, and Fishbowl. Fishbowl is an interesting concept. Questions are submitted through out the day and divided up into men, women, and both. The first round of questions go to the women, where they are encouraged to answer honestly and openly. And the men are not allowed to interupt, but should listen to what is said. Then it's the men's turn to answer questions. And the women must listen. The last round is supposed to be either gender, but time ran out and we didn't get to that part. Obviously most questions end up being about relationships and sex. A lot of interesting things were discussed...
After fishbowl we played a game called Dare. It's like Truth or Dare, but just the Dare part. Each person is given the chance to suggest a dare and the other players bid points on it. The person who bids the lowest amount of points gets to do the dare. The person with the highest number of points at the end of the time limit wins. Silly, but fun.
Staci hit the sack about midnight and I stumbled up to our room around 2 am. OUr shopping for Saturday was the outlet mall, so we didn't bother leaving until 9 am. Lots of walking and shopping later and we were pretty much done. Very cool. It was about 5 when we got back to the hotel. I sat in on a session called Puzzle Quest. This is very snazzy. Each team gets a set of puzzles to solve. All different kinds from word puzzles to jigsaw puzzles to number problems. About 10 in all. The answer to each puzzle gives a clue to the larger over all puzzle. I didn't make it in time to join up with a group, but I sat and visited with B and J, who were running this session, and I snagged a puzzle to work on. I solved it pretty fast, so I thought I was wrong. Turns out, I wasn't. lol.
Staci wanted to nap, so she did that while I played with the puzzles. Then it was time to get dressed for the dance. Yea... Very cute black Audrey Hepburn-ish dress from Target and I was ready for some fun. Which I had... Much dancing and games and a little drinking. Around 11 we packed it back up and headed up to the Hospitality room. B and J are the Chairpeople for the Regional Gathering next year, so the idea was to discuss new ideas. Instead we got distracted by an improve game that ended up going on for around 3 hours! Imagine... It was so funny. We started with about 10 people and by the time we were done, there was about 30 people sitting around the circle. Strange but fun.
Crawled off to bed around 3 am. Slept until 9 and then packed up all our stuff. Got a call from Staci's family to let her know that the inlaw that broke her hip, had passed away. She was in her 80's and in poor health, but still unexpected. Met up with B and J and helped them pack all their things. Hung around for a while and then headed back to Arkansas. Finally made it to Magnolia, where Staci lives and where my car was at around 8 pm. Unloaded all the stuff from Staci's truck and divided it up. Loaded my stuff in the car and headed for home. About a 2 hour drive.
Around that time, I got a call from my mom. My grandmother was back in the hospital. She has been losing a lot of blood and no one was really sure where it was coming from. In the following days, an MRI and catscan showed that there was a mass near her liver, gall bladder and pancreas. Not good. (She has a horrible medical history with 4 individual cancers over a period of about 40 years). Friday she had surgery where they discovered pancreatic cancer and removed it. It appears to be isolated, so hopefully they got it all. They also removed her gall bladder, which was the size of an eggplant, part of her stomach which had very deep ulsers that were causing the bleeding, part of her liver and part of her intestines, and then rejoined all the systems back up. So far she is doing ok. Some ups and downs but for the most part, she is hanging in there. Pain management and getting her moving are the big problems at the moment.
And so,that is my Thanksgiving week... Lots of good and then a lot of really bad.
When will it be 2007?