Congratulations to the winner of the can of Pledge Natural Beauty!

kitrona, I will be emailing you right now. You have 48 hours to reply.

photo credit: kimberlyannryan

Today was another fun day with Lady Ali, Buttah, Peanut and my Mom. We went wedding dress shopping after dropping Buttah off at the mall. Lady Ali had already chosen a wedding dress or so we thought but was having second thoughts about it. She, of course wants to be 100% sure about the dress so off we went in pursuit of the perfect one.

She tried on a bunch but not being able to give any details away, we left without one but with some good ideas of what she wants. Peanut also tried on some Junior Bridesmaid dresses but the selection was very limited and the dresses were very expensive. We’ll be looking in department stores most likely for her dress.

We had a great time together today though. We laughed so much, over really silly stuff, but it was a lot of fun. I must have said, “I remember that” about a thousand times as we reminisced about things. It was so sweet to have my girls together too and to have the time to get to know my future son-in-law better. We stopped to visit my Aunt for a short while then went out to dinner.

Lady Ali and Buttah are back to Orlando for tonight and tomorrow. Then we’ll meet up with them on Wednesday when we go to Disney for New Year’s Eve. They leave for Kansas on New Year’s Day. I don’t even want to think about it.

photo credit: ben chau

Looking at your end of year finances and seeing how much money you spend and where you spend it, can cause serious psychological damage. There should be a warning about this on Quicken. I think I’m going to write to the FDA or the Surgeon General about this.

Hubby and I just went through this ordeal in order to make a decision about how much money to set aside for Flexible Spending Account for my family’s health costs. As we did this I again brought up the subject of needing to get term life insurance quotes for me.

I know this is at the bottom of the list of our needs right now because of our daughter’s wedding coming up this August. We don’t want to put this on credit so paying for other items right now is pretty much out of reach.

I am so tired that I’m slap happy, but I can’t sleep. It’s one of those nights when I just wish the clock would move quicker than lightning. I’ll be seeing, hugging and kissing my older daughter Lady Ali soon. She’s arrived in Florida tonight from Kansas, and is staying overnight at a friend’s house (when they reach the age of 21 there’s not much you can do about them coming straight home any more).

Tomorrow she and her Fiance, Buttah are driving here to spend the day and night. I am so excited! I haven’t seen her since June. We’ll get some precious time together and it will be so wonderful! All of their gifts are waiting under the tree for them. And I’m already planning their meals while they’ll be here.

More good news about my Aunt. She was finally discharged from the hospital and is now comfortably relaxing in a Rehab Center. I was even more thrilled when we arrived after she was transported there, to see some of my old friends from when I worked in home health working there. I know that she is being well taken care of. The attitude of all of the staff there was just the complete opposite of what we faced at the hospital. They all spoke so kindly to us and welcomed my Aunt with open arms. They made sure she was comfortable before they did anything else. She was their priority. And they listened! It was such a pleasure that we felt like we were transported to a different world.

We unpacked her clothing and items, set up her Christmas cards and gifts, got her settled in, spoke to the nurses and her CNA and off we went. We felt comfortable enough to leave her and go get some dinner.

Thank God that she is now in this place! I know she will be treated extremely well. We will be working on trying to increase her stay since she’s only entitled to 10 days there and she will probably need more time to gain her strength and be safe when walking again.