A Crocheted Birthday and Portugese Thanksgiving!

Oh hey there! So, I seem to be bad at post operation blogging. It's mostly because I spend the day in my parents room in a recliner (keeping my leg elevated helps my sore muscles) and for some reason the internet hates my computer in there and by the time I get into my room at night I tend to zonk out. I'm going to try and update 2-3 times a week. I can do that. I need to do that. It'll help me when I'm ready to look back on this period of my life and realize how far I've come.

For the past few weeks I've been in crochet mode. I decided this year I'm going to hand craft all of my presents and possible sell some scarves? Would people buy them? I have no earthly idea. I gave my very first scarf to my 2nd mom, Mrs. Kathleen, on my birthday. It was funny because she had a gift for me too - a handmade neck warmer!

I also got a set of crochet hooks from my parents! I don't ask for much for my birthday, just crochet hooks and a cookie cake. My parents also got me a cookie cake, well a cookie with icing, but it was just as yummy! My mom tried to get me a full cookie cake, but for some reason Publix doesn't stock ready made ones...hm.

My  birthday went as follows: early morning physical therapy, crafting with Mrs. Kathleen, lunch at Figo with my mom, resting while watching tv, Ramen soup for dinner (per my request), and a nice family night in. If you haven't been to Figo, you should go. It's so yummy and relatively cheap. Figo is a order and sit and they bring you your food Italian cuisine restaurant. Go.

I was very tired after physical therapy, but my therapist, Cherry Anne, is amazed at my progress. I've already had my staples removed, transitioned from my walker to my cane, and gotten the ok to drive (but my parents are making me wait). The tiredness and soreness are the reason that the main celebrating of my birthday took place on Thursday night (rather than Wednesday 26 Oct 2011).

On Thursday my parents and I went to dinner with four of my best friends! The four that came were: Bill, Chris, Eric, and Kelly. We ate at a place my parents and I have been frequenting for years, Royal China. Our trips to the restaurant started way back when it was called Hontos (which was shut down and reopened as Royal China). We mostly go for dim sum now, but dinner is freaking delicious as well!

Kelly was amazing and got me a card and birthday party tiaras! The card had a fabulous quote by Harry S. Truman. It read, "Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day" and inside Kelly wrote "poop jokes - classic Jessica". Which, of course they are, I have Crohn's; poop is a daily topic in my life.

Not only did she provide me those two things, but she crafted a shirt exclaiming that it was my birthday! You can't really see it in the photo, but the shirt says "It's her bday!" and inside the arrow is says "Twenty 2". Yeah, she's pretty much the best friend ever.

The most awesome part of going out to eat with those four an my parents are how well we all get along. Normal parents tend not to laugh at crude jokes, let alone make them, when they are out with their children's friends. My parents, however, made just as many dirty jokes as my friends and I did.  I love that they can keep up with all of the sarcasm, witty banter, and self deprecating humor that the five of us "youngsters" use.

We ended up spending about 3 hours in the restaurant. We ended up demolishing soup and about eight different Chinese dishes. A good bit of it was seafood (since Chris has decided to become a vegetarian again) and the rest was chicken. At the end of the meal we were give some kind of jello/custard/tofu vanilla and chocolate block, which I enjoyed, but I don't think it was everyone's cup of tea. We then parted ways and..well, I was sad.

After all of the celebration, you'd think I'd be done with exciting things, but nope. Our family friends from back in New York came into town from Florida. On Friday, my mom took three of them to Dahlonega for the day. I wasn't allowed to go due to the amount of walking and the fact that nobody would want to push my wheel chair around hilly Dahlonega. My dad and I met up with them for dinner at a lovely restaurant by my temple named Greenwoods. It's kind of a hole in the wall, never find it unless you know it's there, kind of a restaurant. All the food was fabulous.

Tonight, well Sunday, my mom decided to cook early Thanksgiving dinner for them. So, all four of the Floridians showed up, as well as two girls they know from Portugal. America and Canada are the only two places that have Thanksgiving (or in the sense that Americans know Thanksgiving). Luckily, the girls liked most of the food. It's quite an odd meal if you think about it.

Now I shall be off to bed for I have physical therapy early in the morning. Hopefully sometime this week I'll be going pottery painting! I need to get to doing fun things so I can feel the need to blog! Sitting on my butt at home isn't really anything to blog about!

Love you all!

Jessica