"Oh honey, I love pork" - Gramma

One of my wonderful aunts had a pretty major surgery yesterday - what was supposed to be 4-6 hours in the OR turned into just shy of 12. She has quite a bit of recovery time ahead of her but I have no doubt that she will bounce back and be her old bubbly self in no time!

Whenever bad things happen, I always spend a considerable amount of time being thankful about how surrounded I am by people who band together in the face of a crappy situation. Call it trying to look on the bright side, but I have been blessed with an amazing family and I truly think that everything my aunt has been going through has brought some our tight-knit family even closer and will continue to do so in the coming months.

Last night, I headed to the hospital after work to spend time with my mom, 2 other aunts, and gramma while we waited for the long surgery to end... and we got to talking about my blog, among other things. So, since I hear they all read along (and my mom finally learned how to leave comments - hint hint) this post is a nice big "HI!!!!" to them, and the picture below will hopefully bring a smile to their faces.


P.S. I have had several requests (um, Mr. Lawler) to add the picture of the dead cat my dad dragged out of the basement for me... so, I'm adding it to the end of the original post for those who want to see it. Thankfully, you have to zoom in for it to be REALLY gross, so hopefully it won't cause anyone to toss their cookies.

Consider yourself warned - direct link back to "Dead Garfield" HERE