Nothing much

We have been laying pretty low since Christmas.....really low since my face is peeling a little more every day, but doing well. We are expecting visitors Brenda and her kids in a few days, that will get us going. I fear that I can become a real hermit when given the opportunity...and my daughters are also feeling fine with how lazy we have been. Mim had a party she attended yesterday, but other than that nothing. We will clean the house for our guests and then work on 4 more gourd ornaments. We ave several out for Christmas, our first ever, but for some reason I didn't take any pictures of them. Other family members expressed interest in getting them so we will make more before New Year's day in which we will all get together again.

Christmas

Ve turned 10, Sixteen people came to our house for our celebration, we have a TON of snow so it definitely was a white Christmas, my face is peeling from the chemical peel, it was the sanding joke yesterday, and my girls are happy with their gifts and I am touched by Mim's gift to me which was a Christmas CD she had burned for me at school i her Video Production class of how she joined our family and a big thank you to me. It was very touching and one I hope to remember when she and I are at a standstill in understanding each other. It was a good Christmas. My wonder is how come it take so long to make all the dishes but withing one hour we are done eating......

Tonight

The two wee girls and I made our cut out cookies while my eldest debuted in baking 2 batches of puppy chow. We are nearly ready for the crowd on Wednesday. Tomorrow a lot of cooking and baking, Christmas eve service, and then the final touches for our Christmas celebration.

Today I drove to Milwaukee for my post surgery recheck, then I had a touch up on my breast tattoos and finally I had the chemical peel. It was some of the worst driving today that I have experienced in  along time. I went through 2 1/2  gallons of washer fluid. It was treacherous, and I am grateful to be back safe and sound.

Tuki's Rudolph story that includes how wrong bullying is.

Pretty original for a 2nd grader!!

Ve's 5 years home

Ve (codename), my middle child is celebrating her 5 year homecoming day today..5 years already. This is a very significant year since it marks that she will now have been home for as many years as she was in Haiti. She was 2 weeks shy of 5 years old in 2008 when she arrived in Wisconsin on a plane that took her from a country with 80 degree weather to a country and state that was having -30 degree weather with the windchill...just as she adapted so smoothly to the extreme differences in temperature, she has adapted to her new life in our family. Happy Homecoming Ve!!

Today

I am sitting here in the hospital in Milwaukee, recovering from my last reconstruction surgery. It has been an journey. It has lasted 2 years, but now I am coming out at the other end. My friend Barb will be picking me up today around noon, and then I will be heading home. Grandma stayed over with the girls the last two nights since I was at a conference in Madison before I drove to Milwaukee yesterday. They ended keeping me over night since I was vomiting in excess as I was waking up.

I had fat grafting to finish constructing  my breasts,and guess where they got the fat, right leg, right and left hips.. I am oozing now and will have to wear a girdle for 3 weeks, but will come out a slimmer bustier beauty. On Dec 23 rd I am scheduled for a chemical peel on my face..yes, as my sister states..just call me plastic, but I call it making lemonade from lemons and maybe a 50 yrs old mid-life crisis.

Tomorrow is Tuki's first BB tourney..we'll see how it goes.

Our Christmas Tree

We don't go out and cut our Christmas tree, but the girls and I do walk two blocks, pick out our tree and then walk home proudly carrying our tree as though we chopped it from the woods... we accomplished this homesteading  feat tonight in the drizzling rain, so I sit here warm, relaxing, the tree is anchored in the stand, and I smile and breathe in the smell of fir permeating our home...:) sometimes life truly is amazing.

Now it just needs to be decorated