Thank you for prayers, meals, good vibes.  Thank you for emails and snail mail and phone calls checking up!

Chris is doing really well.  We had a post-op appointment with Dr. Nemechek last Wednesday and he’s pleased with Chris’s progress.  He took off the steri-strips that covered the incision. Chris has a pretty gnarly scar under there.  However, the scar is expected to fade into a small line with continued use of Vitamin E cream over the next nine months.  He’s now switching between ice packs and heat to keep blood flowing during the healing process.

On Saturday night we went to C’s work Christmas party at Shanahan’s.  It was great to meet out with everyone and to load up on some delicious steak (I’m slightly anemic and on an iron supplement, so I’m sure my body appreciated this…)  Chris, I think, appreciated the socialization of a night out with co-workers.  One more week at home to rest up and continue healing!

This morning, just like yesterday morning, C’s surgeon called to see how he was feeling and if he had any questions in recovery at home.  Then, he shared some wonderful news with us.  The pathology reports are back and there is no sign of cancer in any of the lymph nodes removed during surgery!

We were discharged from the hospital last night and are resting and relaxing this holiday at home.  Chris said the only thing he wishes he could have taken with him from the hospital is the bed.  Because he can’t sleep on his side or stomach due to the incision site for several more days he has to sleep propped up at about a 40-degree angle.  We’ve got pillow mania going on in the bedroom right now.  But I’m happy to report Chris is definitely on the mend and had a good night!

He’s still icing the incision (“more ice than no ice”) and keeping ahead of his pain with medication (“you can switch out the narcotic for a Tylenol if you like…”).

This morning I am thankful for our partnership.  It’s incredible what you find out about your mate when he or she is sick.  Chris is grace under pressure.  Even in pain, he remains loving and thoughtful.  He keeps saying, “thank you” after I fill up his glass of water or his ice pack.  He is an incredible patient.

I am thankful for the wonderful nurses we had during our short stay at Porter Adventist Hospital and for the hospital itself. Steph, Riana, Sam and Renee were the day nurses I saw the most of on the oncology surgical floor and Chris had two others at night, plus a very plucky respiratory therapist named Jerry!  Everyone was friendly and helpful — right down to the barista at the cafe.

It is a wonderful, comforting feeling to know how supported we are by friends and family.  We received many encouraging emails, calls and text messages.  We were visited by family and close friends in the hospital and know we’ll have more visitors at home in these next few weeks!

Our health continues to be on the top of my list for what I am most thankful for.  The “c” word is scary.  We’ll have full pathology reports back on Monday from the surgery, but so far, so good.  Several of the lymph nodes take out with Chris’s thyroid have tested negative for cancer and we’re crossing our fingers that the rest do too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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C’s surgery is being rescheduled to Monday, November 18 due to C exhibiting slight cold symptoms this morning.  We’re halfway between bummed and relieved.

It’s cold and snow is expected in Colorado today, so a postponement until C is in tip-top shape isn’t the worst thing.  We continue to be thankful for good health!

The weekend was relaxing and the weather was wonderful.  We dressed up for a costume/bowling birthday party on Friday night as Juno and Paulie Bleeker.  Such fun!

Temps in the mid-sixties led to a leisurely Saturday of packing up some of the guest room (future nursery) and naps on the sofa.  Chris was better at the packing up portion of the day and I was better at the naps.  We dropped some things off at C’s mom’s house and went to Hickory House for bbq – delish!  Sunday afternoon we had family portraits with C’s mom’s family and got makeup done at Bobbi Brown in morning.  In the evening we met for Sunday dinner at Lala’s Pizza and Wine.  A lovely end to the weekend!

I need to get the photo of US at the costume party…must bug the birthday girl.  But this will do for now.  Here’s what we looked like (but we’re a LOT older!)

I started writing a draft for this post on Friday after we had friends and family over to make fun posters for the day of C’s race…which went off Saturday morning…unfortunately without Chris.

There has been a lot of interest in Chris running this race.  It’s his first half marathon and he’s been training for 12 weeks with Christopher.  I asked Chris what he wanted for a carb-loaded dinner on Friday evening.  He requested his mom’s goulash.  So I did the best thing I could think of and had her come over and make it (she actually offered first–thank heavens.)  I have a hard time making other people’s recipes…and definitely don’t mess with someone’s mom’s recipe.

So on Friday night we had Christopher, S&P and Dale and Dianne over for goulash and poster-making.  It was a success!

The posters were funny and loving and cheering.  Some were just for C and some were for any runner.  One of my races was really fun because there was this girl who held up a pink poster mile after mile (she was riding her bike along the course with the runners).  The poster said, “Your butt looks GREAT!”  I loved it!

I had visions in my mind of holding all these posters up for Chris along the course and giving him lots of extra boosts of energy!

Saturday morning came around and we were in good shape.  Running (pun intended) right on time.  We got in the car to pick up Christopher for 8 a.m. so we could get to the race by 8:30 in Golden.

I was driving west down 12th Avenue and I stopped at all the stop signs, and at all the red lights.  And then I stopped at the red light at Clarkson and in my head it was not a red light but a stop sign at a four-way intersection and there was no one driving north.  Except there was someone driving north.  And that car slammed into the front driver’s end of our car and it was…not pretty.

[Ouchies.]

Of course, the first thing I did was burst into tears and freak out about what a terrible mother I’m going to be.  Luckily, no one was hurt and no air bags deployed and both cars were able to be moved out of the intersection.  In the hour it took a Denver police officer to arrive on scene, Christopher and S&P came to keep us company.  This was my first accident (with another car, if you’re picky about that and/or remember me in college).  The whole situation took a long time to resolve.  After we were done with the initial parts of taking care of an accident–getting ticketed, having cars towed, exchanging insurance information, giving reports, agreeing on what happened, we went out to breakfast.  I then spoke to the claims adjuster.  We drove over to the tow yard to give our permission to release the car to the insurance agency so they can start repairs on it this week.  After that, we wondered what on earth we should do, because our day was already a little off kilter.  We decided to shop for baby stuff.

When we got to The Right Start, Chris said, “I think you should call your OB, just to make sure they know you were in an accident this morning.”  I agreed that it was probably an important part of the story of this pregnancy so I called the doctor on call and she told me she was concerned that any sort of trauma could cause the placenta to remove from the uterine wall and in fact, cause the baby to be in distress without me knowing it.  That got us moving…

We ended up at the hospital for the rest of the day.  The baby’s heart was monitored and my blood was drawn and lots of tests were taken.  At 5:30 after watching several episodes of “Flip This House,” we got the good news that everything looked fine and that we were free to head back home.  We ate some leftover goulash and promptly went to bed.  As I was headed to dreamland, I said to Chris, “This day just did not go as planned.”  He said that was an understatement.

Sunday morning I took a walk with Katie and while we were rounding Cheesman Park, Chris shot me a text and said he was going to go for a run.  That run turned into Chris deciding to run a half-marathon all by himself!  When I got a second text from him he said he had four miles left!  When I realized he was doing this, I rushed to get some of the posters and set up shop at on the side of 12th Avenue to cheer him on as he finished.  I let Christopher know that Chris was running his own half-marathon and Christopher was just around the corner and stopped by to add to our cheering section!

Obviously, the weekend ended up just as it started on Friday night — wonderfully.  We’re so grateful no one was injured in the accident and I’m thrilled Chris had the gusto to run his race on his own a day late.  There’s no stopping him!

In two days, the tree outside our balcony has turned from bright green to gold.  It’s fantastic.  The fall days this week have been wonderful.  A cool breeze comes through the open windows in the mornings.  Warm weather stops by for afternoon walks in the park.

I took this photo this afternoon.  Can you spy the Cash Register Building (the place that makes Denver’s skyline recognizable) through the leaves?

It is a chilly Sunday in Mile High!  Like, the perfect day to make this delicious recipe before the big game (which we are skipping to see Gravity in 3D this afternoon…!)

This soup comes from a recipe I adapted from Monica years ago.  She made it in the fall years ago when I first moved to Denver and it’s wonderful.  Harvest-y.

This is a dairy-free, egg-free recipe.

The soup is simple to make, very good and hearty and one pot can feed a couple for many days.  It requires cans of beans, tomatoes, corn and lean ground turkey.  EASY people.

What you need:

2 lbs. ground lean turkey

Olive oil
4 cloves crushed or minced garlic
Cumin (secret ingredient – do not skip!)
One coarsely chopped yellow onion

2 regular sized cans of diced tomatoes
2 regular sized cans of kidney beans (red, dark red, your choice!) – drained
2 regular sized cans of pinto beans – drained
1 regular sized can of corn in water (or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn) – drained
1 32 oz. box of vegetable or chicken broth (low sodium) or 2 regular sized cans of broth

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook ground turkey in a large pan on the stove and drain.  Set aside.

In a large pot or dutch oven over medium-low heat, pour a thin layer of olive oil so that it covers the bottom of the pot.  Add chopped onion and garlic and cook for a bit.  Then, add about a half tsp. of cumin and stir about.

Meanwhile, get your kitchen partner to open all the cans and drain the beans and corn in a colander — this can be a daunting process.

Turn the stove burner up to medium heat and start adding the canned items – tomatoes, kidney beans, pinto beans and corn.  Stir.  Add cooked ground turkey to the large pot. Stir. After this, dump the entire box of broth in and stir.

Add about a tsp. of salt and a shake or two of pepper.

Bring the soup to a boil for about 10 minutes.  Turn the burner down to a medium high and cook with the lid on for 1 hour.

Great with bread, or if you’re really feeling funky, Fritos corn chips!

Obviously I’m glad the west is finally facing fall.  After this summer’s crazy days (drought, fire, floods) we are looking toward the cooler weather and autumnal good feelings this new season tends to bring out of Denverites.

And we’re off to a good start.  With snow expected in the mountains on Friday and cooler weather settling into the city starting tonight, I’ve taken out my chilly-weather scarf collection and can’t wait to start snuggling in for the season.

I love a scarf with a jean jacket or over a t-shirt in the early fall.

There is nothing like a bunched up scarf over a fun blazer or jacket.

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A knitted oversized scarf for extra chilly days.  You could make one yourself with circular needles.

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Sassy, dotty summer scarves can be worn into fall too.  Imagine a cardigan over her t-shirt and some boots to go with that cute skirt.

And I always find myself looking up new ways to tie scarves.  A coworker and friend of mine wears scarves all fall and winter long and she’s always got some fun way of wrapping and styling.  Here are some ideas!