But a potpourri this post will be. Or maybe we could call it the "kitchen junk drawer" of blog posts. I have several things to tell you, but am just too lazy -- at almost one in the morning -- to give each of them their own pieces of blog post real estate. I should be in bed (but am not, thanks to the pumpkin spice latte I had this afternoon).

Maybe this would be a better analogy. My husband once told me of one of his mother's favorite ways to make casseroles years ago. She would take the leftovers from that week's dinners and somehow make another meal by putting them all together in one pan and baking it. I imagine it would've been something that either worked really well, or didn't work at all.

So, here we have it: My Leftover Casserole Blog Post for the Week of Oct. 19-24.

Sarah Palin on SNL

I had intended to post my thoughts on Governor Palin's being on Saturday Night Live. I'm a little late doing that, I realize. I'll confess I only watched the first portion of the program, and missed her second appearance later in the show. If I'd known she was going to appear twice, I would have suffered through the other skits. But what I saw was very good. I thought she was fantastic, actually. Not a ruffled feather on her. I won't give it away, except for what was one of my favorite parts -- when she told Alec Baldwin that her favorite Baldwin brother was Stephen (who is a born-again Christian).

I watched her other skit on YouTube, and wasn't as impressed as I was with the first one, but am very proud of Sarah for going on the show and showing them and the rest of the watching world that she is one strong lady. I hear that because of Governor Palin's guest appearance, SNL enjoyed their highest ratings in 14 years.

You can watch both skits here. Just a caution -- make sure your kids aren't around. A couple of the thumbnails that show up with the list of videos aren't that great. The actual skits themselves, however, are probably fine for older kids to see.

Oh, My Aching Body

My fibromyalgia is acting up again. It seems to hit me just once or twice a month now, which is decidedly preferable to the weekly flare-ups I was dealing with a couple of years ago. I went for years suffering with this stuff before I self-diagnosed it (and later had it confirmed by my doctor). If you think you might have fibromyalgia, check your symptoms here.

Lonnie and MM

And lastly, but most importantly, my husband is still dealing with his Multiple Myeloma (MM). This is an "of course" statement, because it's something he'll be "dealing with" for the rest of his life. What's encouraging to us is something his oncologist told us two years ago, and that's that MM is no longer a death sentence, but more and more is being viewed as a "manageable disease." If something crops up, like the two tumors he had when diagnosed, it gets dealt with and we go on. So far, according to the MRI he had last summer, nothing is actively growing. The numbers for the bad proteins always seem to rise a little from one appointment to the next, but apparently they aren't high enough to do anything about right now (one thing that's been threatened is a bone marrow transplant).

He was wondering tonight, though, if his immune system is weakening a little. He took a very, very mild pain reliever last night and has been wiped out ever since. I would like to ask his doctor about this reaction, and will also look into ways that he can boost his immune system. If any of my readers have any knowledge in that area, please speak up!

(Note: Lonnie has been experiencing daily pain. Some of it may be from his psoriatic arthritis coming back, but an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in cancer patients told him that he also has "degenerative disc disease." Apparently, it's a result of the radiation therapy he received in 2006 for the tumors in his neck. That's the scary thing about radiation -- it seems to be the gift that keeps on giving.)

So, that's this week's "leftover casserole." Sorry if it was a little bland -- I probably forgot the Worcestershire. ;-)