Wednesday I got laid off. Not fun. It was only my 7th week, and the company has been changing like quicksand since before I arrived. Apparently they've changed direction yet again, and won't be needing me any longer. Great. And the day before Thanksgiving, to boot.

So Wednesday evening Anne came over to comfort me and hang out, and my headache ended up as a migraine. She stayed with me until Gordon came home, and then they chatted for a bit and made sure I was asleep before she went home. Even though I was in pain, there was a lot of love in the room that night, and it was very cool. After midnight the phone rang, and Gordon picked it up. It was the emergency vet hospital asking if my cat Maggie could donate blood. She's got a rare blood type for a cat, and was typed a couple of weeks ago when there was another cat that needed a transfusion. Maggie couldn't donate for that one, but I told Gordon to call Anne and they could take Maggie in. I knew I couldn't move, but that they would make sure Maggie donated for the other kitty. I heard Gordon call Anne and ask her to come back over here because there was no way that Gordon would be able to get Maggie into the carrier. Then he went downstairs, came back up with the carrier, opened it, and put it on the bed with me and Maggie. And Maggie walked right into the carrier! Even I laughed. Fortunately, Gordon caught Anne just as she was heading out the door to come down here, and they met up at the emergency vet's office instead. Maggie was able to donate blood, and they let her stay there until Thanksgiving morning, when Anne picked her up and brought her back home.

Fortunately, I woke up Thanksgiving morning and felt great! I was able to do the cooking I didn't get to do Wednesday evening, and Gordon and I went over to his mother's for dinner with the family. We had a fabulous dinner, and I ate remarkably well considering it is a day filled with avoids. The only thing that I knew I would eat that I didn't was Gordon's aunt's pumpkin cheesecake, and I took one tiny bit of it and didn't touch it again - we think she used salt instead of sugar or something. Other than that, the dinner was fabulous. I made Ezekial bread stuffing, a spelt crusted chocolate pecan pie, and garlic mashed sweet potatoes. Yum.

Friday we went and looked at some possible wedding locations - so far we are running up against scheduling issues unless we want to start planning the wedding for a year out or for Spring 2006. Not going to happen! So we are still looking. And since I'm not working at the moment, I may have time to check some locations out this week while I jobhunt. Last night we had Gordon's mom and sisters over for dinner, and Anne came over, too. We had leftovers, and sat around and talked and ate and had a really nice, relaxing evening. His family is so terrific! Like all families, I'm sure they have their issues, but they certainly do seem to enjoy each other's company and respect and love each other. It's a wonderful thing to see and be around.

Unfortunately, while the gang was over last night, I found my throat getting scratchier and scratchier, and by the time we went to bed last night, I knew I had a cold. Sore throat, froggy voice, and coughing. Yuck. I FEEL okay, mostly low energy and unless I talk I'm not coughing, just kind of a heavy feeling in my chest. And we've laid around and done nothing but watch TV and read all day. We do have to get up and dressed to go to dinner and a play tonight, but no other committments for the weekend, and I definitely want to go tonight, so I've got my lozenges and plan on having soup for dinner and doing very little talking tonight!

The movie we saw last night was part of a UCLA extension class in which they see movies and have someone from the film talk about it and answer questions after the film. It was the remake of "The Flight of the Phoenix", and it was a predictable piece of fluff and I enjoyed it. The sound was SO loud that it had numerous members of the audience covering their ears to protect from it. I didn't do that, but it give more strength to my headache.

After the film we headed home and I was in bed by 10 pm, but couldn't sleep until after midnight. Not being able to get to sleep at a reasonable hour isn't going to help my headache go away.

Today is a Thanksgiving Day luncheon that is being thrown by one of my company's suppliers. Should be plenty of good food. Good thing, since I haven't been cooking much lately.

This headache just won't quit. It's been better or worse, but hasn't fully gone away. I'm not sure if it is stress-related, diet-related, weather-related, or what, but I want it to GO AWAY.

Aside from the headache, my weekend was good. The play Friday night was okay - some good acting, some bad acting, nothing spectacular. My friend's performance was the best of the bunch, and it was great to see her perform outside of acting class.

Saturday we went to the Queen Mary and some other locations to see about getting married onboard ths ship or at some other locations near there. The ship was clearly fantastic in its day, but is faded glory now, and just didn't feel like the kind of place we want to get married. Some of the other places we looked at look very promising, though. My head was aching something fierce Saturday, and when we got home I napped for over 2 hours to try to get rid of my headache so that I would be functional for Gordon's mom's party that night. Fortunately, it worked, and I was relatively bright-eyed for the party. That was a very good thing since Gordon and I were in the spotlight all evening - his mom announced our engagement at the party. All her friends were so kind - one couple offered to let us have our wedding at their home in Malibu (ocean view, and apparently a gorgeous home), another offered to give me her necklace when I admired it and said that it would go with my wedding dress (I told her perhaps it could be my 'something borrowed'). Everyone said what a great guy I am getting. It was a great party, and lots of fun. We got home about 1:30, and were asleep by 2am.

Sunday we had to get up by 9 or so to go to Anne's father's house for brunch. Traffic was light, so we got there in no time, and had a lovely time, but the three of us were so tired that we sat around the table and yawned most of the time. Anne's dad was laughing at us 'young ones' being so tired. After brunch, we ran a couple of errands, and then went home so I could do some paperwork. I HAD to take another nap, though - my head was aching again, and I just couldn't tackle that paperwork without some rest. After my nap, Gordon made some dinner - rice pasta with vegetables and chicken. Yum. I worked on my papers for about 4 hours total, and finally got it all done about 10:30 last night and was plum tuckered out.

This will be a busy few days - a movie at UCLA tonight, Anne tomorrow night, and my last acting class on Wednesday. Somewhere in there I need to get some groceries to make garlic mashed sweet potatoes, wheat-free stuffing, and chocolate pecan pie for Thanksgiving Day with Gordon's family.

I just hope my headache goes away so I can enjoy it all.

This has been quite a week. I've had this headache off and on all week, and can't figure out what is causing it. Not good. I'm hoping to be able to rest a bit this weekend and get rid of it once and for all, but it will be a busy weekend, too, so we'll see how that goes.

Gordon and I are going to see a friend perform in a play tonight, and that should be fun, and then tomorrow we are going to check out a couple places where we might get married. Tomorrow night Gordon's mom is throwing a party, and then Sunday is brunch with Anne and her dad, and Sunday night is book club. Somewhere in the middle of all that I'll rest. I hope.

Well, I ordered my wedding dress, and I found a lovely tiara on ebay for 20 bucks. Love it!

I'm still feeling kind of weird and blah. I don't have a headache now, but I don't feel like I'm all here, either. Didn't get much sleep last night, either, so I'll have to get to bed early tonight to try to get rid of whatever this is.

Went to dinner last night with a friend, and had chicken piccata. Yummy, even if it did have capers in it. As dedicated as I am to the BTD, I'm not going to worry about little things that rarely cross my path like capers. Then we went to see "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason". It was okay, and had some funny moments, but wasn't nearly as good or funny as the first one.

Went home and found my surprise from Gordon - a sweet note that he had wanted to sneak into my bag, but didn't have an opportunity to, so he left it on the keyboard at home. He's a keeper!

Had a protein powder smoothie for breakfast, and the rest of the chicken piccata for lunch. I'm going to the gym right after work and will get on the elliptical machine and then go to yoga class. I've been informed that dinner will be tilapia and green beans. Yum.