Answering Some Questions...

Okay...time to answer a couple of questions I've had from previous posts.

First, my free Shutterfly codes come from various places: I've traded them with people, bought them on ebay (rarely), but mostly they are from a little hard work. :) Every once in a while Shutterfly runs contests. These contests are great because basically you always win. Their "consolation" prizes are things like free photobooks, 12 free photocards or a calendar. Can't go wrong there! Most of the time you can only win once per email address. I don't have only one email address. I won't say how many I have, but I have A LOT (most temporary). I also participate in a thread at http://www.slickdeals.net/. It is there that I have traded codes and found out about new codes and contests. The direct link is HERE. If you go to the first page you can find some codes that always work, for any account...like $10 off $40 or something like that. Shutterfly is AWESOME because they stack all these codes, so usually you can use a bunch of them! I placed my order today...here's what I got and what I paid:

62 5x7 Photo Cards (reg. $61.38...paid $1.98)

1 Greeting Card (reg. $2.49...paid $0)

5 Custom Calendars (reg. $99.95...paid $0)

Desk Organizer (reg. and paid $29.99)

2 11x14 Prints/Collages (Reg. $19.98...paid $0)

3 5x7 Books (reg. $38.97...paid $0)

1 Thomas the Train 8x8 Photo Book (Reg. $34.99...paid $0)

2 8x8 Photo Books (Reg. $83.98...paid $24 because of extra pages)

Total would have been... $371.74 plus like $50 shipping, so over $400!

Total that I paid with above discounts, plus free shipping discount and 2 other discounts...$27.95

I LOVE Shutterfly!!

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I also had a couple of requests for the Brownies I made from the "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook. Here's the recipe (you can right click, save as, if you want a copy) :

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Thanks again to those asking about my foot. It's healing nicely and except for a couple super sore spots, I'm really doing well. I can't put a shoe on yet, that hurts too much, but hopefully I'll be able to by next Tuesday since I have to work! :)

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I'm not sure if I'll post again this week...we have a small-group Christmas party tomorrow night and then on Friday my mom, Rebecca, Abigail and I are headed to Chicago. Why? Because we are CRAZY to go to the American Girl Store during the Christmas season! :) But it really is fun!

Have you Elfed Yourself?

This is freaking hilarious...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9605616185

I missed a Thanksgiving post. I missed a Black Friday post. So, I guess you get a "Saturday-After-Thanksgiving" post.

Abigail had a Thanksgiving Feast at school on Wednesday. They had turkey, popcorn and corn muffins. They dressed up as Pilgrims...so cute! I didn't get to go because of my foot, but Colin and my mom stopped in to see the feast. Abigail thinks it was the best!

We had a great Thanksgiving and have so much to be thankful for! We went to church in the morning and then to my parents' house for a Thanksgiving feast. It was nice to have my whole family around. We are so thankful that they all live reasonably close and that we can see them so much.

We stayed there until early evening and then headed to the Mulders for another Thanksgiving Feast...this one with around 25 people. It was Colin's immediate family and then two of his aunts, 4 cousins and then Lily, his cousin's daughter, and Miles and Marcel, the 6 week-old twins of his other cousin. It was another great dinner and again, we have so much to be thankful for!

I had a rough time staying awake all day (so I didn't...I napped) because the pain in my foot was pretty bad, so I took my pain med, which makes me sick, so I took a pill for that and that makes me drugged-up sleepy. I fell asleep at a very reasonable hour in order to attempt to get up for some Black Friday shopping.

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I LOVE Black Friday, shopping (sorry, Manda!)! I don't love the materialism surrounding it, but I LOVE the hustle and business of it. I have no problems standing in line...I love it! I was seriously almost in tears about my foot this year and having to miss it. However, with the help of some great friends, I was able to go out for a while. I just took it real easy. My friends, Lindsay and Kim, both picked things up for me and that helped so much! We aren't after any of the big ticket items, so it's not like I had to race around or anything. Just a fun day for me. I was home by mid-morning and then took a pain pill. I enjoyed a four hour nap later. :)

Every Friday night Colin and the kids come to 84 with his parents and sister to visit me. Since I'm off work for two weeks I wasn't sure if they would still go. They decided to still go, so I got to go too. It was nice to be able to enjoy a dinner out! We came home and the whole family was exhausted. Kids both went right to bed and Colin and I fell asleep on the couch around 10:00 before heading up to bed. Boring, aren't we??

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I have so much of my Christmas shopping done, just a few things to go. Hopefully we will get our tree up soon so I can start wrapping gifts and getting them under the tree. I have a HUGE Shutterfly order to place in the next couple of days that includes more gifts and our Christmas cards. Here's what I'm ordering so far (no specifics because some people who read my blog are getting them!)...50 5x7 Christmas Cards, 5 Calendars, 3 5x7 Books and an 11x14 picture. For the grand total of...$0.00. I have codes for everything, so it's all free...$200 worth of stuff! I may end up paying shipping, but at $30, that would still be a steal!

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Dinner again with Colin's family tonight. Brett and Tavid head back to Boston and Ann Arbor tomorrow so we have one more "Mulder Meal" before they leave. Lamb will be served...I just had a little dinner here...not so fond of lamb (but they don't know that!). Tomorrow will be church and we've talked about going to Rivertown with the kids. Monday, back to normal...I always get a little anxiety with Colin going back to school again...love, love having him home.

Feeling it...

Definitely feeling the pain today, but it's still definitely tolerable. The dressings fell off last night while I was sleeping, so I took a few pictures this morning before I put them back on. I definitely did NOT expect that long of an incision!

Recovering...

The surgery went well this morning. I don't remember much about it, especially in the half hour leading up to it, the surgery itself and the initial recovery. The procedure took around 45 minutes. I guess the nerve didn't look terrible, but definitely had scar tissue on it, so he took that out. He also found a bone spur that he took care of. He said that could have been causing the pain more than anything.

I took a great nap this afternoon and have been fairly pain free until recently. The area is numb, thus the lack of pain. It's starting to wear off though and I'm definitely feeling it. The area is all wrapped, but I took off some of the dressings at least to see part of the foot. It's all bruised. Here's a pic that doesn't even really show how bruised it really is:

Thanks for all the support: visits, help with kids, meals, emails, etc. I really, really appreciate it!