January 1, 2003

• Happy New Year! I hope 2003 brings many blessings to everyone!
  
  Thanks to all who expressed concern about my thyroid biopsy. I should know the results sometime next week. I have had a thyroid tumor for over a year. It was biopsied when it was first discovered and was found to be benign at that time. I have been taking synthroid to supress my thyroid and try to shrink the tumor. My endocrinologist is very thorough, so he wanted an ultrasound and biopsy of the tumor again. The ultrasound showed another tumor and a fluid filled cyst, in addition to the original lump. I think the thyriod supression was supposed to stop my thyroid from forming new nodules, but apparently it hasn’t. They will probably turn out to be benign though. I am just one of those lucky people who has a lousy thyroid gland.
  
  We had a great time at our party last night. We ended up with 10 people including us. Here are a couple of pictures I took after we finished getting ready for the party, but before the guests arrived. This is an antique kitchen cabinet that sits in our dining room. As you can see, this is the way it looks when it is decorated for the holidays.
  
  
  
  This is the buffet table. I always have way too much food. I really should learn to figure out what I want to serve, then reduce the menu by at least half.
  
  
  
  From left to right, these are our friends Mary, Ross, and Sheila. Mary and Sheila are sisters. Ross is Sheila’s husband. We travel with Ross and Sheila sometimes. A few years ago we went to the Caribbean. Next summer, we are going to Bermuda.
  
  
  
  This is my husband Dan with our friends Larry and Loanne. They were the first people we met when we moved here more than 27 years ago. Their daughter and our daughter are close friends.
  
  
  
  This is Mary’s husband Dave. He is quite an expert on college athletes. You name a player and he can probably give you all the stats.
  
  
  
  Here are our friends Pat and Judy Liebl. We went to Alaska with them last summer and have gone to the Caribbean with them twice. That’s Mary sitting on the floor beside Pat. We were playing a game called Catch Phrase. Pat is holding a little device that contains a disc that has common words and phrases on it. The object of the game is to get your team memers to come up with the word or phrase by giving them clues. As soon as the correct answer is given, the person holding the device hits it to change the phrase and passes it to the next person. It is important to do this quickly, because there is a timer running. If the timer buzzes while you have the device in your hands, the opposing team scores a point. We play men against women. The women slaughtered the guys! It’s a fun game because you have to be able to think like the people on your team. It’s amazing how differently people go about giving clues!
  
  
  
  We also played 20 Questions. The guys beat us a couple of times at that game. At midnight, we had champagne toasts and the traditional hugs and kisses. I served wild rice soup and then we played more games. At 2:00 a.m., Sheila suggested putting my When Pigs Fly CD on and having people guess who was singing each song and Pat said he wanted to get Catch Phrase out again, but Mary, Dave, Larry and Loanne wanted to go home, so the party broke up.
  
  Dan and I were up until about 3:00 cleaning up. It’s not that I like to do that at night after a party, but I don’t like to get up and see the mess in the morning, so we rarely go to bed before the dishes are washed and everything is put away.
  
  Today, we started taking down the Christmas decorations. It’s a big job, but I think we will finish tomorrow. I will be glad to get the house back to normal, but I enjoy the holiday decorations and I always miss them when they are gone.

  • 7:50 pm
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