I was looking for a Holiday Hunk, but then I found this guy:

To making this more seasonal, what if he’s the hero in a Home for the Holidays Christmas Novella? Obviously he gave the shirt off his back to someone who needed it

So what do you think?

The weekend happened. I had a great time with Biker Witch on Friday, Saturday was uneventful, Sunday Wizard took me to breakfast, and we got the tree up. We still have to put the decorations on the tree and around the inside of the house, but that’s easy enough and will probably get done today. With Wizard’s help, I may bake some breads this week, but I’m not going to be able to do my usual cookies. But I have years of baking with my grandson to look forward to.

My book is sitting on my desk, waiting for when I’m ready. Right now, I’m working on healing (doing better each week!), the holiday season and family.

Look at that, I’m actually boring! No fire, floods, mudslides, family illnesses or any drama happened in the last few days. I call that a win!

So how was your weekend?

Hi all!! Wow this whole year has been a whirlwind! But now it’s time to share five things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. We made it through another rainstorm. There were mandatory evacuations up to one street over from us, but we were okay. Although between about 1pm and 4pm it was a little scary. The elementary school one street over let out early due to possible flooding and mudslides. The street that separates our street from the  burned hills was briefly closed while tractors cleared away mud and debris that came down. But otherwise we came through it. It looks like it might me a rainy year in So Cal so this is our new reality for a while. And we desperately need the rain.
2. YIKES this year has been a roller coaster. Wizard and I are tired. But next year, we are going to plan a real vacation with just the two of us, and no work, as long as I heal enough to fly. And if I don’t, then we’ll take a closer to home vacation. That goal pushes us to keep going!
3. Baby Slayer is awesome! Here he is at 8 1/2 months old and practicing to be a cover model–I think he nailed it He’s not walking yet, but he stands and cruises along furniture.
4. Wizard picked out a movie for us to watch last night after a stressful day. So naturally during the move Oldest Son called, then Middle Son called, then my brother called. LOLOL! Poor Wizard. He was so proud of finding a fun movie for us to decompress. I usually don’t get a lot of calls at night, but people were checking up, and we both appreciate that. The good news is that while I talked, Wizard played on his phone–the smartphone that he now LOVES.
5. Today is bright, sunny, beautiful day! Biker Witch is coming over to get me out of the house. It should be a good day…unless we get into trouble. It’s been known to happen, LOL!

That’s my Friday Five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

More rain is expected today in Southern California…and more evacuations. We got the call yesterday to prepare. Umm…nope, I don’t wanna. I really don’t. So let’s change the subject to Wednesday Worthy!

I think our candidate today may have been looking for the soap commercial audition being held down the hall, but since he’s here, I agreed to let him audition of us. Wasn’t that nice of me?

So what do you think? Is he worthy or should I send him on his way to the soap commercial audition?

Shhh…don’t tell anyone but I took my brace off for a quick pic. This is me about 4 1/2 weeks after surgery. I’m doing too much because Wizard is has a day off of supervising me, LOL! He’s off racing with his friends, and I decided to bake. I’ve really wanted chocolate (although I wanted chocolate cake–chocolate chunk cookies are a good second choice). Anyway, this is me, and you can see the healing incision. It’s not bad.

And here I am wearing the brace just to prove I had it on 99% of the time!

I’ve been dealing with some typical post-surgical blues, and facing two more months of wearing the brace with fairly significant restrictions. This is normal. As far as the pain I had before surgery, it’s better but not gone. Although after doing too much with the cookies, I definitely feel it streaking down my arm, but that could also be residual nerve damage that might heal up in time. We’ll see what happens long term.

Around us, life has had some ups and downs. The saddest thing is that, our new daughter-in-law lost her father a few days before Thanksgiving. We are heartbroken for her, and her family, as well as our son. But they are strong, and will get through it one day at a time.

Otherwise, my brother-in-law who had open heart surgery two weeks before my surgery continues to improve at a solid rate. His surgery was BIG, so it takes time. My oldest son and his wife, CPA Boy and Special K’s, youngest dog had emergency surgery for burst disc that paralyzed his back legs. They don’t know if he’ll walk again, but they’ve put him in a specialised live-in therapy that will give him the best chance.  I really admire their dedication to Max! And we had to evacuate AGAIN, this time because we had a significant rain that could cause mudslides. That was two long days of stress, packing and planning. Then came the moment when Wizard heard the low roar rising in the distance like an approaching airplane. That was the moment when we left. But the good news is that while it was runoff and mudflow coming down–it followed the path the city worked so hard to create away from our neighborhoods. We watched it on the news–so surreal. We are very grateful. Of course, the next rain could have a different outcome, but chances are that we’ll be okay.

And Wizard is totally stealing my dog! My Maggie!!! I still can’t walk her because I have a ten pound weight limit, and Maggie is 19 pounds. She pulls here and there on the leash, and the doctor felt it was better if I didn’t do it. Wizard is LAUGHING HIS BUTT OFF!! He has really taken to walking her!

Okay don’t tell Wizard, but part of me is pleased. Maggie is still attached to me, but she’s doing better with him now that he walks her. Once I can do it again, we’ll figure it out how to share This is a good problem to have.

Those are just a few of the things that have been pretty nonstop around here.

I did a little work of reading over the book, and it’s a mess. That’s no surprise to me, I knew it was. It’s just frustrating. I’m going to try to put a plan together to clean it up, and figure it out. With the holidays and the fact that I’m not supposed to do too much, I can’t make any promises.

Okay so that’s my catch up post. Now it’s your turn, what’s been going on with you?