The December Countdown

Seasons' Greetings!

How are your holiday preparations coming along?  Mine are slow but steady.
It's going to be here before we know it, so I really need to start speeding
things up a bit!

I don't have a lot of photos to show you this time because we haven't
been doing much, but here are a few from our Thanksgiving weekend
at Rob and Susan's.

We drove to KC on Wednesday a.m. in order to attend Sam's school
Thanksgiving pagent.  He played the role of a Native American, called
Samoset.  That's him with the microphone covering part of his face.
(My photography seems to have reached a new low; either I am too
shaky or I need a better camera as all the pictures I took at this
event were pretty bad.)  Anyway, Sam did a terrific job.  There was
no sign of stage fright; he stood right up there and read his lines
flawlessly.  I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Here is Sam in the black shirt preparing for his turn at the mic.  (The tall boy in
the Kansas shirt is on Sam's basketball team.  Rob says he is a pretty amazing
player for a first grader.)

It was a really neat production.  All the kids did a great job.  :-)

Rob and Susan still have no kitchen as the remodeling project is still
happening.  So, it took a little doing to put together a big turkey
dinner with no stove, water, etc.  Susan cooked the turkey in a big
electric roaster and bought some side dishes from Dean and Deluca,
a fancy gourmet food chain with a store in KC.  I am borrowing this shot
from Rob and Susan's Blog, so if it works, you will see what they
gave her for six people ...

The above consists of two pints of mashed potatoes, some
scalloped corn, carrots and some beans, along with a jar of
turkey gravy and Sam.  It was actually quite tasty, but everyone
was kind of glad that I brought along some big old "Fritz-size"
bowls of macaroni and cheese, etc.  It was very brave of
both Rob and Susan to even attempt hosting us for Thanksgiving.
I am not sure I would have had the courage to do it if I didn't
have a kitchen.

They had some other invitations from friends, so anytime they
left to spend time somewhere else, Jerry and I either watched
TV, did some Christmas shopping, or checked out houses.

Here are some we looked at on this trip.

Here's Jerry checking out the back of this one.  It was one of our favorites,
although we were not able to get inside to really check it out.  Here's the
front side.  The neighborhood and location were great.

We liked this one, too.  It was open the day we were there, so we got
to check out the inside, too.  It was nice.  Some fun extra touches
and "bells and whistles" some of the others have not had. 

As always, though, we have to just put them out of our minds as
absolutely nothing is happening with our house.  I have it advertised
on a couple of online publications, plus there are signs and posters
out and about, but we haven't even had a phone call on it for weeks. 
It is pretty discouraging.  I am not sure what we will do about it while
we are gone.  We could just leave things as they are and ask a
neighbor to show it should anyone express an interest, or we could
list it with an agent, or we could just forget it for a couple of months
and come back with a fresh start in the spring.  I am thinking that
we should start fresh in the spring as it is highly unlikely that any
thing will happen with it during January and February anyway.

A fourth option would be that we just forget about moving to KC
and stay here in the Ozarks.  It's a nice place to live and we like
our house and where we are.  It's just so darn isolated from
family and friends!   Time will tell.

We looked at one house that was next to the neighborhood pool and
tennis courts, which was a big plus.  I kept having a feeling of dejavu,
and then I realized that my nephew and his family lived just across the
street from that same pool a few years ago.  I recognized the house and
address.  Small world!  Here's the house we were looking at.

We weren't able to go inside this one either, so we formed no real
opinions.  The location was sure nice, though!

I just looked out the window and we are having our first snow! 
The biggest, fluffiest, prettiest snow is falling like crazy.  The
ground is so warm that it is melting as soon as it lands, but it
sure is pretty -- as long as I am inside looking outside.  :-)

Other than wrapping gifts, doing some shopping (mostly on
the Internet) and gradually putting up the Christmas tree,
we've not been doing a whole lot.

I am very glad that I had my last chemo treatment last week
as it kind of knocked me flat.  I think my body is telling me
that enough is enough -- give me a break!  I had my post-chemo
blood test done on Tuesday and the counts were way too low,
so the doctor said I needed to come back in to do it again next
Tuesday to be sure that they were starting to climb back up
into safer numbers.  I figured they must be bad as I have had
absolutely no energy.  And I mean NO energy.  Talking has
even been an effort!  I am starting to feel a litttle stronger,
so by Christmas, I should be able make it through a day
without "couch time."  It's going to take a while to build up
my immunity to the flu bugs around me, so I will still have
to be very careful about being around sick folks.

With the doctor's OK, our plan is to leave here next Tuesday
(after my blood test) and go as far as KC.  We will leave
Wednesday for Algona to spend the night with Jerry's brother,
Jim, and his wife, Gail.  We will then move on to Estherville to
see Jerry's daughter, Cathy and her family.  On Saturday or
Sunday, we will drive to Minneapolis to see Jerry's son,
Jeff, and his family.  I must fly back to KC on Monday
as I have a week of PET/CT/Bone scans lined up starting
early Tuesday a.m.  I think Jerry will stay in MNPLS for
a few days and then just meet me in KC the weekend of
12/21 for our "Smith Christmas."   

On Sunday,12/23, we drive to Glenwood from KC for the "Fritz
girls/Roll boys" Christmas that night.  On Monday, 12/24, Jer
and I will go to Des Moines to spend the actual Christmas holiday
with Cody and his family.  This is a first.  In 66 + years,
we have always had our Glenwood family Christmas
on Christmas Eve.  It was time to make some changes
with all of our grandchildren, extended families, etc.,
but it is sure going to seem strange!

There is a big New Year's Eve party at Pam's the following
weekend, so we will just hang around Des Moines and/or
Glenwood during the Christmas week in order to enjoy
bringing in 2008 at Pam's.  Her daughters will be there from
London and NYC, so it will be great to see them and their
significant other and/or husband.

We will leave Glenwood on New Year's Day, return home,
pack, and then start our journey to Florida on January 3 or 4.

I will be ready for two months of (chemo free) R&R after
all that!

I may be able to blog another time before we head South,
but if not, please have a wonderful holiday and terrific
New Year.  You have all made such a difference in my
life with your support, concern, prayers and good wishes;
I am so very grateful for each and every one of you.

By the way, my tumor marker counts went from 77.5 last
month to 68.9 this last time.  That's not much of a drop, but at
least they are still going down.  I was on a reduced dosage of
chemo, so I guess that's about right.  They started at 332,
so once again, we've knocked down cancer's ugly head. 
The next time around she is going to use Doxcil, which is a
drug I have not yet had.  I just hope I get a nice long break
before I have to start up again.  It is definitely taking its toll. 
Besides, it would be nice to get a little hair growing again. 
I am still as bald as I can be -- with no eyebrows or eyelashes.
I won't be entering any beauty contests, that's for darn sure!

Well, that brings you up to date on the Cowan's news.
Cody is celebrating his 30th birthday today!  Unbelievable!
Suzanne has been fighting a  bad sinus infection, so she has
not been feeling so good, and Rob and Susan are touring
the Scandinavian countries in order to attend three more
Bruce Springsteen concerts.  That's what's going on in
our neck of the woods.  I hope all is well in yours.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Love,
Judy and Jerry

Comments

[Stacy Page]

Just wanted to stop by and wish you a Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year. Love ya-Stacy

[Cookie]

Hi Judy,

You mean the world to me also, my friend. I miss you and my other Des Moines friends and wish you all a safe and loving Holiday with friends and family. Please use this new e-mail address as the MRIS one is gone, gone gone. My new mailing address as of next week is at my sister's house: 2309 Don Andres Ave, Tallahassee, FL 32304
I am in the process of adding an addition on to her home to accomodate me and Rico (my parrot). With a dog and 2 cats in the house already, we'll see how that goes...

Love you, Cookie

[Judy Farrington]

Judy, Jerry and family,
We wish you the happiest and most blessed holiday and a wonderful New Year! Our family Christmas is this Sat. where we'll have approximately 40 folks that includes a new great-grandson!
Love, blessings & enjoy the warmth & RR in FL.
Love, Judy & Dave

[Barry Norgaard]

Hi Judy,
Boy time sure does fly by. I hope you and Jerry are doing well in sunny Florida! Jen and the boys and I are all really doing well. Beau is 10 1/2 and the twins are 6 if you can believe that! I play bass in a rock band for fun - life is too short to have stage fright. Rock on and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with people that love you.

God Bless,
Your friend Barry

[Barry Norgaard]

Hi Judy,
Boy time sure does fly by. I hope you and Jerry are doing well in sunny Florida! Jen and the boys and I are all really doing well. Beau is 10 1/2 and the twins are 6 if you can believe that! I play bass in a rock band for fun - life is too short to have stage fright. Rock on and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with people that love you.

God Bless,
Your friend Barry