happy birthday to my one and only sister...

This was last year's celebration, this year we're doing something different...

We're going to the place up on the lake, where you get one free chicken wing for each year of life, and believe me, my sister is getting a lot of free wings! She is ten years older than me:)

I am very thankful to celebrate with her. She's had her share of health scares, between breast cancer and the episode of anaphylactic shock after one of her surgeries, to kidney issues, knee problems...but she is alway looking on the bright side, trusting in God, and is truly a living example of thankfulness. She has seven daughters, and now seven son-in-laws, which is hilarious to me. All those years of raising girls, now it's a different story when her family visits, right? Guys are just messier, louder, a bit more untamed. Of course she loves them all. And the grandkids she has! 16, with two more on the way!

Anne, the little one who comes here every day, is my sister's grandchild.

Anyway, this fine morning is starting out with me going to the dentist, for a filling in a molar, underneath an old filling. For heaven's sake, I hope the whole tooth doesn't collapse, crowns are pricey, and I'd rather give birth in the middle of Target with no meds than have a crown installed. I can say things like this now because it's not gonna happen, and if it did, it would be a win-win...well, lose-win. It'd be terribly embarrassing, but I'd take a newborn.

I HATE going to the dentist. Hate hate hate. Oh, sure, I'm thankful my teeth aren't falling out of my head, and thankful we have dental insurance, which is super pricey, and a few fillings help us get our money's worth, ha., but I still hate the dentist. Not the man himself, he's all right, just the whole rigamarole of it. The needle. The needle actually going in. The cotton stuffing in the cheek, the having to open your mouth way too wide, I'm always afraid my jaw will lock or crack. The bib, the stretching out in the chair and seeing how the toe nail polish from two months ago is chipping, my Birkenstocks slipping off, those glasses you make you wear, sitting up and spitting all over yourself, not knowing which button rinses it, heaving yourself up out of the chair after the big chain gets caught in your hair, then walking around with a lopsided grin.

Yesterday afternoon I had to take Suzanne in for an eye exam, in the Walmart vision department. That means we take a little trip around the store. You can always find good things in Walmart. They sell beef brisket for $2.96 a pound. We're having on this weekend, mmm.

Our house is all decorated for autumn now. It's been downright chilly here, but today is going to be warm and humid, we're getting an Indian summer, is it still okay to say that? Some of my kids had NEVER heard that phrase!

Oh well...Anne will be here soon, and off we go...