My Favorites This Season:

This one gets me teary eyed for sure.  Just incredible!:


This has been one of my faves since my brother showed it to me.  These guys are so talented!:


If you've seen the original news story for this, you'll laugh your patootie off!  Wait till the Carol of the Bells part!:

Gobble, Gobble.

Man, I am really behind!  Well  just a quick catch up here from Thanksgiving.

I spent the evening before Thanksgiving at my parents' ouse prepping the 22 pound turkey I was cooking.  It put up quite a fight in the beginning while I was removing the giblets, but then I realizes the legs had been tied, creating a very narrow opening to the cavity...  Hey, man, I'd been up before the sun and worked all day to come home to prep a 22 pound turkey.  Go figure!  After I prepped the turkey, I had to set it in a cooler because there was no room for him in the fridge.

Another successful turkey!  Joy!

How adorable is my mom for making gluten free stuffing for me??  Love that woman!

The next morning I drove back down to Huntington to finish prepping the now marinated turkey.  I always love the recipe I used when I made my very first turkey in New York with my sister in law, Trudie.  It's the Coke and maple syrup recipe that never fails!  It makes such a delicious, moist turkey, why change the recipe?

I even curled my hair for the occasion!

After throwing together some artichoke dip and other various appetizers with my mom, the feasting began. The turkey was perfect and was even labeled as the best one yet!  What a huge compliment coming from my wonderful family who would never lie to me to make me feel good, haha!  They tell it like it is and I am so grateful for them in life!

Trials.

Sometimes, all we can do is pray, hope and try our best to be optimistic.

About 2 weeks ago, a friend of mine that I've known since Junior High suddenly collapsed going into cardiac arrest.  They still don't understand why this happened.  She has been healthy all her life and shows no signs of heart disease/problems.  She is my age and is a married mother with 4 children, her youngest only a couple months old.  She is still in the hospital in a drug induced coma, although she got a tracheotomy this afternoon and is resolving her seizures on her own (with the help of an anti-seizure medication).  She's a fighter.  She always has been so tough.

Last night I found out a family friend lost her battle to cancer.  She passed away at home with her husband by her side.  She was always an inspiration to me.  I knew her from church and can remember having to give a talk, or listening to other talks in church on Mother's Day in front of the whole congregation.  She never had any children and I always thought about her on Mother's Day.  She was such an amazing woman and I always looked up to her.

I send my love, prayers and positive vibes to each of these women's families.

Sing it Sara...

I am loving Sara Bareilles' version of Beyonce's "Single Ladies!" Isn't it amazing how songs like this are heard at the right times in our lives? It's beautiful. Sometimes, you just need to hear the thoughts of other women. Thanks for the link Kat!

Apple Butter Festival Or Bust.

Yesterday I finally made it to the Annual Apple Butter Festival in Yucaipa.  A few of my closest friends have gone for the past few years and I was so excited to go this year!  We met up at my house in the morning and, of course, got our road trip breakfast at McDonald's, and were on our way for the hour drive.  (Yes, anything an hour or more deserves road trip food.)

When we first got there, all bundled up in our beanies, gloves and big coats, we went into the store for some shopping.  After $20 I came out with some Apple Butter (naturally), Apple Salsa, a stuffed mushroom mix, and a giant pickle for a snack.  They had some very delicious items!  I actually just ate some toast with apple butter on it for breakfast.

(Danielle, Stephanie and Jaime going down the trail.)

After shopping we went to the petting zoo and played with goats, a sheep, a sneaky food stealing llama, a donkey (pet at your own risk, but he loved me), and a horse.  My friend's 4 year old son had a blast with the animals but was so nervous walking around because he didn't want to step in animal droppings...

(I have always loved canopied trails!)

When we finished taking some fun pictures in the petting zoo area, we decided to walk one of the trails and go on a nature hike.  It is so gorgeous in there and just so peaceful.  I haven't done a walk like that in quite a while it seems!  We didn't see too much wildlife but we had fun...  Until we got lost.  We ended up on a road but luckily we all have a pretty good sense of direction so we ended up hiking uphill on a main road.  We finally made it up the giant hill and I spotted the petting zoo!  We had somehow come out the complete opposite side of where the trail began!  Of course, we documented by taking a hitchhiking photo, haha!

(A few Redwood trees on the trail.)

We continued on to the next area and ate some lunch, shopped some more, fed some deer (including an albino deer), and finally ended the day with hot apple cider and mini cinnamon doughnuts.  What a blast it was!  We piled back into the car to see it was 34 degrees and blasted the heat on our way home.  It was such a great day with great friends and I am so happy I didn't miss out this year!  Sometimes, you just need a girls day out to lift your spirits!

Something Good.

I would like to thank whoever the boy was that broke Ingrid Michaelson's heart because it lead to songs like this:

More Doctors.

Health Update:

I have been on a gluten free diet since the beginning of June this year.  It has helped tremendously and really isn't that difficult.  I've lost some weight, which is nice, but that wasn't my goal.  Since I've been on the gf diet, I've felt about 75-80% better.  I have more energy, my moods are much more positive than negative, and I can focus more.

That is until about a month or so ago.

My newest symptom includes extreme exhaustion within 10 minutes after I eat anything.  It used to be I'd feel this way after eating glutenous foods, but now it's whenever I eat.  Period.

And so the next step is going to my family doctor and finally getting referred to a GI Specialist.  Yippee...  This means, more procedures, including ultrasounds and lower endoscopy (which I am really NOT excited about).  Hopefully it means less medications though.  So far I'm on Prilosec twice a day, Carafate four times daily, and Vicodin as needed for pain.  These meds are just for my GI issues.  They do not include the 2 other prescriptions I take for allergies, or other meds I take for my back.

And so my hope and goal is to find out what exactly is wrong with me; why I am having so many GI issues, and at last, to not be on so many medications!  Oh, and most importantly: I REFUSE to settle for IBS, which is nothing but a non-diagnosis!