Oh Sarah I feel for you and truly wish I could do something to assist. I like the idea of getting into another facility. Two of my friends/colleagues are going through some and they each had a "liaison" who was handling their appointments. SO I truly hope you get somewhere where the service, treatment and responses are quick and thorough. I would have done the same as you, but probably grumpier.

I am so loving my Disney decorations, but man my house is a wreck as we did not accomplish near enough in getting the tree up etc. I had to go into Scottsdale today, so hopefully hubby and I can tackle some tomorrow before he leaves for work (I'll take a "lunch" break whenever the mood strikes him if I'm not stuck on a call. I really wanted to be in a position to take more of the crates back to storage, but alas, not a one has been addressed. Also last night I forgot i had my 3 hour tour hair appt so that took precedence over decorations as she was booked for next week and I really needed it done. So she is coming today, instead of tomorrow, to clean. She and I will tackle some of it tonight.

I did message my doc about my toe. He responded to give it a full six weeks to heal and use a scooter if needed. So I'll keep my appointment for Dec 10 if it's still hurting.

Sarah also happy that you're keeping your Thanksgiving plans. I would be bummed if I wasn't around anyone for the holidays. Covid about did me in when we had to cancel our friends from coming over and we've never really gotten back on track with them coming. They are physicians and partners in the medical field so it was important when Mom was still with us. Now our schedules just don't line up to theirs. We're home when they're gone to their family and we're gone when they're home. This year we have plans to go to California. We wanted to celebrate the holiday with Mom's sister and their family (we're super close to them). Anyhow, our cousin called and it's going to be held in Escondido at a timeshare. Which is great that it's 15 mins from my daughter's new house, but man it's gonna be a tight squeeze. My head count has 19+ people and it's a 1200 sf condo. But they will have a patio (hopefully ground floor). We're bringing our camping chairs and some collapsible tables to ensure we have a seat and place to eat. We'll head to Disneyland later that night. My daughter and son in law are going to meet us at Disneyland on Friday. I've reserved them a room at the hotel if they want to stay. They only live a bit more than an hour away but for us, too much driving when I can shower and be asleep before they get home. and wake up when they're on their way and be ready when the park opens. I need my rest.
LOL

At work we adopt 2-3 families for the holidays. My HR manager finds them through a couple of sources and I always love to shop and fill their lists. The list was sent out yesterday. We have 3 families this year. I typically budget $200 between Thanksgiving meal gift cards and Christmas. Well, I opened the first link of the three and my gosh, the mama wants a Disney backpack and tumbler. Well gosh darn. Let's see what fits the budget. Oh and daddy wants the Disney cookbook. hhhm... So I may have gone a wee bit over budget on these items and the gift cards. Hopefully she loves them as much as I loved picking them out for her. I picked out an adorable Minnie Mouse Loungefly backpack and the Simple Modern tumbler (resembles the Stanley cups) that kinda matches. And the cookbook he wanted. My HR person saw me this morning at our meeting and she was chuckling. She pointed out the list hadn't been out for 20 mins and I'd already reserved the Disney stuff. Well after I felt a little bad, because I didn't even look at the kid's lists. I had an extra princess doll we bought for Rhea, so I took that to the meeting and gave it to my HR person and told her to give it to one of the littles - she could pick. I really do love that I am in a position to be able to help these families. One of the groups is from Save the Family. These families are given 2 years to get back on their feet. They are provided drug/alcohol testing counseling, domestic abuse counseling, budgeting, learning new work trade habits, interviewing etc. and they're provided inexpensive housing for these two years. They live under a microscope but this group has a 90% success rate of their "graduates" keeping clean, safe and becoming productive members of society. It's such an awesome group. Again, I'm happy to be in a position that I can help.

Sheesh - great job and good news from the doc! And I agree - keep going with the trainer. Be careful with the jumping and dancing. I'm still wary since rupturing my Achilles while dancing/jumping. I love having thanksgiving at home and the fall decorations. The only reason we're jumping on Christmas is because we will be gone all Thanksgiving weekend and even the weekend following. And yes, both weekends at Disneyland. Disneyland is a magical place. Hubby and I can go like you used to go to your cabin. We actually relax and again, because we have the annual passes, we don't feel the pressure to get on every ride/experience. We even just like to walk around the park and enjoy the decorations, atmosphere and people watching.

My personal goals.... still waiting for my toe to recover and get into walking and then from there back to PT and longer walks possibly back to a trainer. Right now, I just need to let this toe heal. The chef has been super helpful with maintaining. I did hit 250 and I'm slowly going down and holding. I'm still very close and nervous about going over...so this is where Disney does help. I actually come home weighing less than when I'm home...even with using a scooter part of the time.

So with the Thanksgiving sales for turkeys I want to buy another to keep in the freezer, but I still have one in my freezer from last year and no time to cook it before I leave as I didn't take it out to cook this weekend. UGH. Not sure what to do...but my thinking cap is on..

Sarah - Goodness girl. I'm sorry to hear all the stresses you're going through with your health. It sounds like you're finding healthy ways to manage your stress though by continuing to walk and get activity. That's key for sure. Always a good plan to get a 2nd opinion and if you have options to go to a different centre, then I would choose that too. Sounds like you're not getting the reliable customer service you need. I have a coworker in a similar situation here, but she has no option but to continue to hound this centre to get her appointment rushed. She's resorted to spam calling them until they answer, which is ridiculous. I wish our medical system was more geared towards preventative health/medicine, instead of treating illness after the fact.

Sheesh - I'd love that recipe for the frozen turkey. Willing to give it a try on a turkey we've had in our freezer since last year. If it doesn't work, then oh well. Interesting to know about creatine. I started taking a small amount in my shake daily. Not sure exactly what it's doing, but I don't notice any side effects. Good to hear that your bloodwork came back normal.
I will be spending some time to think about my goals. I have been doing ok lately. Got on the treadmill yesterday for a bit and have done some weight workouts, but I need to get into more of a routine, as I do better with a schedule... I am also trying to focus on getting in more protein and less bread/pasta... more fruits and vegetables and more water. I downloaded a drink water reminder app, which has helped.

Lois - Your holiday plans sound awesome. I got hubby to pull down our xmas decorations this week from the rafters and plan to put them up this weekend. I always forget that your Thanksgiving is different than ours. I think I would find it stressful having 2 holidays so close together.

WOW. Never thought about doing it from frozen. And yes, my first thought went to the neck and giblets -- eww. And no, I keep a turkey in my freezer for almost a year all of the time. I may give that a go sometime when I don't need to feed anyone else, and I usually get a 16lb or larger...I'm sure I can adjust the time. And, I use the Reynolds turkey bags with a pop in timer in the breast and NEVER dry. I don't make the dressing in the bird, just veggie clippings and a chopped apple (onions, carrots and celery). Lots of poultry seasoning, tabs of butter between the skin and breast. My neighbor always raved about my turkey and kept asking for my "recipe"...this is it. (now this is how his wife also makes it and he says its very yum yum). And I don't make a good gravy so no gravy on the table - and I usually don't have much meat left after dinner (turkey OR ham). Sometimes I add on scoop of the dressing, but everyone has preferred it without. I like a little bit of turkey on Thanksgiving, but I prefer it later in the pot pies I make. I prefer the ham, but hubby loves the turkey so I make one for him every year. Christmas is lasagna and/or manicotti with honey baked ham. I did make a lasagna yesterday to take with us to Cali on Thursday (my Filipino cousin's request to bring). It's in the freezer and will be ready to travel. I'm horrible in that I can't follow a recipe to make just one tray.... so I ended up with one and maybe a third trays...lol. Hubby and I had part of it last night and the rest tonight. Christmas eve I'll make at least three trays (I like to keep some in the freezer for the winter).

Kelly - you're right!! - Thanksgiving and Christmas are sooooo close together for us - especially this year.

We had Rhea for an overnight on Saturday. Oh lordy she's so much fun. She saw the picture of the lasagna and decided we weren't going to do that project. lol. So we had a lot of fun doing other things that were not productive, but oh core memories were made. And we made some sugar cookies (cheated and used the Pillsbury ready made roll (I need to make some dough and freeze it for future - my recipe tastes so much better). And then after breakfast on Sunday, we played with the icing. She's getting better at controlling her flow. We had so much fun. Oh and she just squealed and LOVED our new Mickey and Minnie mouse animatronics from Home Depot. So awesome. She also helped us with the front yard decorations and my "river rock lights". Today, I am sore in so many areas. She had me bending squatting and doing so much. I need her over more and she could become my new trainer. LOL.

Well work is insane this week. Have a few buyers moving in before the holiday and then I'm off to Cali and not back until Tuesday. So it's a bit crazier than normal. If I don't jump back on between now and Wednesday, many blessings for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday for all of you.