I'm HOME!

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I am so glad to be home. I love to travel and getting to see family, but there really is no place quite like home. I don't say that lightly—I am so grateful to be home. My trip started kind of roughly, because everyone got sick. It was so good that I was there to help my sister Debi, because nobody else would have been able to do that. My niece and her husband and four girls all came down with strep, and my sister Lisa was diagnosed with shingles and was in pain for the rest of the week. She kept going and going...but as I write this on Monday afternoon, she was just discharged from the hospital. She ended up having to go to the ER in the middle of the night, she was in so much pain. It turns out all of her pain is from nerve pain from the shingles. This is the same sister whose home flooded while we were on the Cape. They do say that shingles can be brought on by severe stress...and she definitely has more of that than she ever expected. 

Would you keep her in your prayers? I know she would appreciate it. I feel so bad for her and am just praying that the medicine they gave her will help her get some much needed rest.

I skipped yesterday's weekend recap, because I didn't have much to write about. I spent part of the weekend near Denver and Sunday was spent packing, eating out at a wonderful restaurant for brunch, then sitting in an airport for the rest of the day. Does anyone else love an airport? I love to people watch.

Look how adorable my gate was, all decked out for Halloween. I do love the Denver airport. It was a ROUGH flight home, friends. It was incredibly turbulent the entire ride home, except for maybe twenty minutes. I sat beside two kids, a brother and sister whose parents were in front of us, and who were traveling to Memphis to visit family from California. The little girl next to me was nine and terrified of all the bumps, so we talked most of the way home and I tried to help her get her mind off being scared. I kept eating a pretzel every couple of minutes and sipped the Ginger Ale they gave me. I was so nauseous, I had my eye on the "sick bag" in back of the seat in front of me. I thought I was going to lose it a few times. Add to that the fact that my air didn't work and it was past my dinner time, and well...you can imagine how thrilled I was to be home and on the ground again. My sweet husband picked me up and had ordered dinner for us, so I came home to sushi and three fourths of my sons being here, plus a girlfriend! I ate dinner, as much as I was able, then I unpacked and showered. 

I enjoyed the rest of the evening by reading and chatting with my hubby. I didn't go to work yesterday and hadn't planned on it, since I was supposed to go on another trip at the end of the week, but it ended up being postponed and I'm so glad. I was leaving on Wednesday and coming home Sunday, but now I'll get to be at home and attend church on Sunday. I spent yesterday getting settled back into being home and doing odds and ends type things around the house. I am so grateful that my family always makes sure that when I come home, the house is clean. You have no idea how much I appreciate that! They know I love coming home to a clean and picked up house and I think it's sweet that they make sure it happens. They do all the things while I'm gone—laundry, kitchen cleanup, vacuuming—and I usually have very little to do when I come home. It's nice and I never want to take it for granted. 

I did some light cleaning yesterday, I did all of my travel laundry and I went to the grocery store. Drew came home for dinner, so I made one of their favorites that my mom inspired—tamale casserole. I also tried a new recipe for a healthy dessert in the crock pot that I thought Todd might enjoy. I think I saw it on an Instagram story? It's six apples diced, two teaspoons of cinnamon, a third teaspoon of nutmeg and half a cup of zero sugar brown sugar, which I couldn't find, so I substituted it for Truvia brown sugar. I let it cook on high for three hours and at the last half hour, I added about a tablespoon of those red hot candy pieces. It is delicious! It tastes like apple pie, without the crust. 

 I kind of pretended like yesterday was a Saturday, so when I woke up, I ignored my phone and the computer and blog posts and watched the best Christmas movie, A Kismet Christmas. Despite the cheesy title, it was so good! I loved both the actors and was surprised to see the female lead from the show Parenthood—did you ever watch that? She was the young lady who played Hattie. I started watching Hallmark Christmas movies with Lisa while I was at Debi's. We had a two night sister sleepover and watched movies all night. It was fun! 

Just in case you need to know...here's what I'll be doing every time I get the chance.

So, how was your weekend and Monday? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!