Just checking in to let you know that Gin and Gordon have managed to start the new year without any major setbacks. New Year's Eve was relatively quiet.  In the afternoon, Brittany and Nick brought us a most delightful NYE dessert -- strawberry rose mini-cakes -- and a lovely surprise, which I will share at a later time. Later on, our friend Jo Schulz stopped by with a gift for Gordon because he's always cold -- you can see him modeling the "Huggle" in the picture above, which is supposed to be "one size fits all," and the hood is supposed to drape around his head, kind of like a monk's hood. Now Gordon does happen to have a rather large head (I mean that literally, not figuratively in this case), but this hood is definitely not draping -- he could barely fit it around his face! Jo was so unhappy about the fit that she is insisting on returning the Huggle despite Gordon's insistence that he could refashion the neckline to fit him. There was quite a lengthy discussion around the dinner table about the Huggle tonight!

Gin and I had a rather frank talk this evening about whether or not she should be taking her breast cancer medication, which, as I may have mentioned before, is an estrogen blocker and it causes some difficult menopausal-like side effects such as mood swings and hot flashes and weakness. Since she came home from the hospital, she has not been taking this medication, and she has really been feeling much better, sharper, stronger and quite a bit more "with it." However, she feels like the tumor may be increasing in size. And so, we talked at some length about quality vs. quantity of life, and that this needs to be her decision as to whether to restart the medication, or to just let nature take its course. I don't believe she has made a final decision, but these are some of the uncomfortable choices we have to deal with at this stage of life. I am, however, very glad that we are able to discuss these kinds of issues openly together.

I know that both G&G worry about making extra work for me and for Rick, and there are definitely times when things get tense and daily life seems difficult. But for the most part, they both remain in pretty good spirits and we usually manage to work out the kinks without too much trouble. It definitely helps that we are surrounded by a loving, supportive family and many wonderful friends (I may have mentioned this once or twice in the past!). Jo came over again to visit this afternoon (which really brightened my spirits), and ended up staying for dinner which was kindly supplied by Annette and Jerry Johns -- lasagna, salad, bread, wine. Yum! And nobody had to cook tonight -- yay! Many a satisfied thanks from all of us to Annette and Jerry!