November Highlights

Wow!  November has flown by!  We have been crazy - busy with the remodel.

We got the bedroom (mostly) finished and moved downstairs.  (We still need to finish and paint the baseboards)  I was just a little nervous about moving my bedroom downstairs, but I am finding that I really like it.

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Kim built a half wall in the entry way and will add a bookshelf on the other side to hold all of my scrapbooks.  The wall is up, but we still need to add the bookshelves and then do all of the finish work.

Before

After

 We started working on the upstairs . . . 

Before:  the bedroom wall

Before:  the kitchen wall

 AND the VERY BEST PART! 

We knocked out the wall between the kitchen and the bedroom to make a big, open space! 

 Shanne joined us for the demolition - she was a great supervisor!  Kim couldn't resist doing a little artwork prior to removal of the last piece.

The Wrecking Crew

Now that I can see some of the fruits of our labors, I am GUNG-HO to get it finished!  I just can't wait to finish and use my new family room!  However, Kim talked some sense into me, and convinced me that we are at a point where we can comfortably use the family room even though it still has yucky carpet and needs new paint.  We have decided to put the remodel on hold so that we can spend time enjoying the magic of the Christmas season.  It is the right decision - but I am SO impatient to be finished remodeling!

Other fun November tidbits:

Bubba had a great time jumping into the leaves.

 I put Bubba and Tristan to work smashing cans.

 We got to watch Bubba do fantastic back handsprings in gymnastics.

  Dinner was fantastic, as always!  We had dinner at our church.  I had to work the night before, so I pretty much rolled out of bed and stumbled to dinner.  Thank goodness for Kim!  He prepared the ham and cranberries and was chief cook and bottle washer at the church.

This year it felt as though there were tons of people missing from the Thanksgiving feast!  The Olsen family is so close that those who do not attend are greatly missed!  Even though we have so many blessings to be grateful for, this Thanksgiving was a little hard for me because there has been so much serious sickness in the family.  Mickel recently had her thyroid removed due to cancer.  Part of the testing to make sure that the cancer has not spread involves her taking a high dose of iodine to see if there are any "hot spots".  The iodine is radioactive and so she has to stay away from any children or anyone who may be pregnant for four days.  On Thanksgiving day she was still in quarantine, so Kim and Dave cordoned off a corner of the room so that she could still be part of the feast.  Joan has been ill for several weeks and has lost so much weight that it appears as though her skin is hanging off her bones.  Ron's kidneys are failing and he is waiting to find out if he can be on the transplant list.  David's liver is failing and he undergoes the testing next month to see if he can be on the transplant list.  Craig is dizzy and is having trouble waking without falling.  

It is so hard to see the people I love so much struggling with these ailments!  I feel so helpless!  However, the wonderful thing about the Olsen family is that they don't complain about their troubles.  They smile and look for the positives.  What a great example for me to follow!

I ended up either working or on call for most of the holiday weekend so I wasn't able to join Robin for our annual marathon Black Friday (Boo Hoo).  However, Kim and I did sneak out from midnight until 6:00 a.m. and got some good shopping done.  We did meet up with Robin, Ashley, and Mickenzie for a little bit but couldn't stay with them long.

We did do a couple of fun things since I had to stay around home.  We went to the new Disney movie, "Frozen".  It was fabulous!  It was fun to watch Kalel as he was literally sitting on the edge of his seat throughout the movie!  

Shandra and I went to Heritage Theater to see "5 Carols for Christmas" and "Jingle Jacks", a couple of one act plays that were just fun with tons of great music.  We thoroughly enjoyed the evening! 

I am so very, very grateful for all of the many wonderful blessings in my life!  I feel that I have been blessed above and beyond what I deserve.  Yes, there are days that I struggle, that things don't go well, but that is just part of being alive.  The good overshadows the bad exponentially.  I am so grateful!