So much for a streak.....

So, I haven't updated the blog for a month now, which seems to be about average when compared with the other blogs that I follow. Been quite busy with lots of things, which I shall now explain:

Two days before Thanksgiving, I got up in the morning and experienced, shall we say, heart attack-type symptoms, so we packed up in the car and went to the emergency room. They checked me out, kept me overnight, did some exploratory tests and... told me it was a virus. At least I know it wasn't my heart! The doctors have told me there's nothing wrong with my heart and I look pretty good in that area. Nice. Thank goodness for insurance, or that "fun" experience would have set us back considerably.

The next week I had other more private "issues" (which will not be discussed here) that required some outpatient surgery, so within two weeks, I had been in a very "fashionable" hospital gown twice. Not my idea of a jolly holiday. I did get to have some relaxing time off, but it wasn't the vacation type that I would have preferred; that and during Thanksgiving, I was ordered to remain pretty much motionless lest I bleed to death from the exploratory surgery.

I did have some FABULOUS neighbors who were kind enough to bring over three courses of a Thanksgiving dinner, so I was well taken care of. That, and Sarah was waiting on me hand and foot (my wife is friggin' awesome!).

The week after, I got the opportunity to travel to the fabulous city of Cleveland on errand of my job; that was kind of fun, in that I had never been there before and never seen any of the Great Lakes. I saw Lake Erie, the Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Quicken Loans Arena where the Cavaliers play. When I say that I saw them, I saw them all from a distance. I was too busy with work to be able to visit them, but hey, I can now say have beheld them all!

Now for the fun part of my recent month: Sarah and I finally went on a real vacation. The time off we have taken over the last three years has been to see family or to help out in our church callings. We took a week and went on a cruise in the Eastern Caribbean. It was absolutely gorgeous! We went to Nassau, Bahamas, Grand Turk Island and a private island (owned by the cruise line, and the highlight of our trip), Half Moon Cay. We had recently purchased some snorkel equipment and were able to get a lot of good use out of it. I'll post some pictures as they become available. Very relaxing; warm, sunny beaches (80 degrees as an average temperature, PERFECT!) and crystal clear water. We came home thoroughly relaxed and a little sunburned. It was nice to get away.

The next week was Christmas, which we spent in Austin with Sarah's brother and his family. It's fun to spend Christmas with them and to see the kids get excited about just getting and unwrapping a present. Their youngest, who is three, opened up a gift from his grandparents (it was an ornament for the tree); having no idea what it was, but nonetheless ecstatic about his gift, ran/hopped around the living room shouting, "I got a thing! I got a thing!" Good times!
All in all, we had a good holiday season. We will be chaperoning the youth dance for New Year's Eve, so for the second time in our married lives, we'll start out the new year tired; last year we did the same thing and were tired. We're on a roll.

In other news, it is currently snowing here in Texas. YUCK. I thought I moved away from this junk! It will be gone tomorrow, since our high will be in the 50's, but still, not my favorite thing, since no one around here knows that snow does not equal death and they can't drive in it. Alas, what you give up to live where I do.

May your day be merry and bright. Happy New Year!