Recipe, Surgery, and Family Fun

I've got several things going on that I need to get caught up on, but first up: FOOD! I tried a new recipe last night and since it is a rarity that my entire family actually likes the same dish, I thought I would share.

Lemon Baked Shrimp

1 stick butter (yeah, it's not very healthy)
1 lemon
1 bag fresh shrimp
1 packet Italian seasoning(I used something called Hawg Rub and garlic powder
     instead because that's just what I had)

Melt a stick of butter and pour in a 9 x 13 pan. Slice one lemon and layer it on top of the butter. Put down fresh shrimp, then sprinkle seasoning on top. Bake in oven at 350 or 15 minutes.

This is the pic from pinterest, not mine. But mine looked about the same.

Y'all. It was so good. It came pretty close to Red Lobster's Shrimp Scampi. I served it with pasta (with just butter and Parmesan), fresh corn on the cob, and garlic bread.

It will be a regular at our house from now on.

Moving on...

So tomorrow is my surgery. I went through all of the pre-op fun (sense the sarcasm) today and didn't really get nervous about the surgery until all of that. It just got real for me. I do not care to be asked if I would be ok with a blood transfusion should one be necessary. Or to be asked if I had a will. Or who would be in charge of my decisions should something happen and I couldn't decide for myself. Or if I had a specific funeral home in mind should I die (I kid, but why not go that far with it after all of the other morbid questions?).

Anyway, I decided that freaking out was the natural thing to do after thinking through all of these decisions. And for a few hours today I was in full flip-out mode. But I decided that I may need to reserve the flip-out, crazy person mode until after I've actually had the surgery and have instant menopause to blame. So I'm good now.

Giving it to God and just breathing.

Of course, it could be because I'm now afraid it may be some of my last breaths EVER, but I like to think it's because I've calmed down a bit.

I'll try to update later in the week on how it's all going. Unless I don't respond well to the possibly needed blood transfusion and have landed in funeral home of choice.

Wow. I've got to stop.

Changing the subject completely (this is where you say YAY!), last weekend was a great weekend for us. My birth father's sons (my half brothers) came to visit. My brother JJ, his wife Heather, and their daughter Kaitlyn had been here a few times before, but this was Blake's first time to get to come.

You know how they say if you have 2 kids, they will be completely opposite? Well that's JJ and Blake. JJ is a country boy. He hunts, fishes, and listens to country music. Blake is a city boy. He spends a lot of time indoors, hanging with friends, playing video games, and listens to techno music (or I think that's what he calls it). Night and day, my friends. But I have a lot in common with both of them in different ways, and it was neat to have them both here to hang out with for the weekend.

JJ brought his own fishing poles and bait. He caught a pretty good size catfish in our pond and the kids enjoyed getting to watch him clean it in our yard.

All of the kids fished, and Aaron had a pretty good size fish on his line at one point, but it broke loose before he could get it up.

Aaron's fish was making a big splash!

We also all spent a lot of time riding 4-wheelers. Especially my little city boy, Blake. (Oh, he's gonna get me for this!) Every time I looked up he was hopping on a 4-wheeler.

Rob, Austin, and Kaitlyn

And I'm pretty sure this is the dirtiest he's ever been in his life, and was a tad sunburned, but he was loving every minute of it.

JJ's wife (Heather) and I were talking at one point about watching people and realizing the significance of certain moments, and I looked out and saw Robbie helping Kaitlyn with her fishing line, and I thought about how awesome it was that this is even happening. I didn't even know these boys until last May, but now I very much think of them as my brothers, Heather as my sis-in-law, and sweet little Kaitlyn as my niece. And I love every minute I get to spend with them.

Isn't she a DOLL?!

Now it's getting near 9pm and I can't eat anything after midnight, so I think I'll go make me something to eat.

Because you never know. It could be my last meal ever. ;)