The "Holiday Spirit", edition.

Good Wednesday morning!  First things first. Shawn is in the house!!!  So let me get some info out of the way. How does one get from Champaign-Urbana Illinois to ... Well anywhere?  Lol. The city is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by corn fields.  It's true that there is an airport there. It's a commuter airport and she could fly from there, but it would almost $300-$400 per trip. That's out. You can also leave from Springfield, Illinois, about an hour west of Urbana, but it still requires a layover at Ohare. Now Champaign-Urbana is nicely placed equidistant from Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis. How cool  is that?  Well. The only airport that has the shuttle(!) is Ohare. So she leaves from Ohare. For this trip. 

She could drive, but that means paying the long term parking and I just know the cost is prohibitive in Chicago. For the record, she has done the Indianapolis route before, but requires driving. So this time it was the shuttle to Ohare.  It did require a long wait at the airport once you arrive, but you won't miss the flight!!  Anyway. We kept in touch via text. And she let me know when she boarded. I was getting confused by time differences, but finally settled down. She's in Central. 

Brian, Dad, and I met her at the airport and then took her to dinner at the Boulder Station dinner buffet. We get several 2 for 1 coupons for the buffet every month so a Dad and I used those and we used our casino points. And dinner cost us nothing!  After dinner we came home, rested a bit and Shawn crashed. It had been a long day, after all. But the best part?  My baby is here!!!!  

Yesterday we went to the Fashion Show hall on the strip. Brian wanted me to get him some clothes for Christmas and Dillards fits the bill.  Shawn also knocked out some  shopping. Today, I'm starting on the potato salad. Brian is picking up the tritip and smoked turkey today and we'll get the perishables for the rest of the menu today. 

I also have my monthly meeting with my kidney care team today. It'll be much better than last month. No desperately trying to catch my breath this time!!  Not sure about my labs. And I really, really don't want to have to start taking a protein supplement. Ugh.  I think I can hold them off until we do the blood draws at the first of the month. 

That's it for today. I'll be cooking or prepping from now until Christmas dinner. And that's fine. Enjoy your day!