Some thoughts and a prayer request

Today is my step-mom Gale's birthday! I am baking a chocolate cake for her and will frost it with whipped ganache. I will post a tutorial later on the whipped ganache, it is heaven!

It's been a fairly quiet day today, woke up not feeling the best this morning so I skipped the gym, which I hate to do! But I figure one day playing hooky is allowed, right?

I can not get over how beautiful the weather is here today. It's about 69 and normally we are down in the 50's by now. Not that I am complaining at all, but it makes it hard to start getting into the Christmas spirit.

My cousin's daughter, Syerra, is selling Christmas trees for school as part of FFA, so I plan to go get one tomorrow and have my step-sister, Kristen, come over and help me decorate. She offered the other day and I think I will take her up on it!

My Grandma turned 92 last week, which is amazing. She is still in really great shape considering her age, but is starting to get more and more forgetful, which makes me sad. I worry that we won't have many Christmas's left together. I don't like to think about that.

My cousin Darin, Pete's older brother, will be putting insulation in my attic and finishing off the sheet-rocking in my garage sometime next week. I can't wait to have that done. It will be so much easier to keep the garage clean, I still hope to have the front part of it (it is super long) turned into a laundry room some day!

Last, but not least, I do have something on the somber side to share. My friend Heidi, whom I have known since pre-school, is currently taking care of her mother, who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer that has spread throughout all her bones in the thoracic region, spine, ribs, sternum, shoulder blades- just everywhere.

At this point in time their goal is to simply manage her pain. Obviously this is very, very hard on Heidi and her step-dad. Please say a prayer for her mother, Ursula, Heidi, and the rest of their family. Ursula has had a very long life, caring for other people as a nurse. She also survived World War II and the Nazi invasions, living in a Danish refugee camp for Germans at the end of the war.

Blessings,