Credit – Gardiner Family Chiropractic
We had two more doctor appointments today and finally have answers.
Last month my husband had a stroke. His speech and mobility were affected. He is stronger every day, getting better and better. Our son came back from Thailand to help us deal with this. Getting answers as to what my husband needed to prevent another have been quite an ordeal.
The short answer is that what we have been doing for the last two weeks – baby aspirin and Plavix – should be all that is needed. Neurocranial surgery is not needed. No invasive procedures are needed. We have some issues remaining that require referrals to other specialists, but the big worry is now fading away. We can concentrate on the day to day and get to our new normal now.
Lessons learned:
We are lucky. We can do this. Such relief!
Filed under Challenges, Changes, taking care of yourself
About Signs
Having a health scare is just that -scary. Trying to get help for it is a character-building exercise at a time you’re under great stress. Once the initial hurdles have been jumped over, another of life’s realities rears its ugly head – you have to take charge, doing whatever is necessary to get the help needed.
Yesterday was a case in point. I have almost no tongue left because of biting it so many times while I was on the phone making my way through the bureaucratic maze, trying to get tests scheduled and appointments made.
I had been told we would receive calls regarding where and when we should show up for tests and referrals to various specialists. I was given a card with a phone number to call in case that didn’t happen. I was to use it if I didn’t hear anything in a week.
When I called the number on the card, I found that the ‘referral department’ doesn’t actually handle referrals – they give you phone numbers to call – one of which was the ‘scheduling department.’ It turned out that the scheduling department didn’t actually schedule the tests, they ‘authorized’ them. I received another number to call to actually schedule the tests. The finally scheduled group of added tests will help the specialists figure out what is needed and who should do it.
You get the picture.
It’s bad enough to go through the health scare. The problem is compounded when you finally realize that even though you HAVE TO go through the maze – endure the system – in order to get help, you are your own best advocate. You have to steadily, persistently, keep pushing until you actually get the needed tests scheduled, the actual appointments scheduled to see the specialists, get the results of those, the plan of attack to fix the original problem, the guidance on how to best care for the person who is sick and isn’t in a position to deal with this.
We are thankful. Our son – who lives and works in Thailand – wanted to come to help. He did and is here. He is keeping us calmer, more able to slog through the mazes, phone trees, delays, frustration, attitudes, and emotions, actually injecting some much-needed humor, as well as calm strength.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, character-building exercises, Family, taking care of yourself
Poets & Quants
My husband and I signed up to be a host family for a 16-year-old young man from Italy this school year. We have been planning for this for some time now and August 6th the students were to arrive.
Due to a health problem in the family, we were forced to contact the coordinator and opt out. We were really disappointed, but really didn’t want our problem to ruin the year for our young man. Happily, the lady was able to find another family. We had been texting for some time. When I got the go-ahead, I contacted him and explained our situation, being able to assure him that his plans wouldn’t be changed, other than the host family. He told me he would let me know when he got here.
I figured that when he arrived, he would be swept up into lots of activity and that we would probably not hear from him. I then received a text from him, saying he would like to meet us! We arranged that he and his family would meet my husband and me at a local restaurant yesterday.
The meeting could not have been better. It was was wonderful to be able to hug him and enjoy talking with him and seeing him smile. I felt like I fell into a hole because I had to look up at him. :0) He is a really nice looking, friendly young man.
His host family is a delight. Young, energetic, already into school activities because they have two boys, 17 and 13, on football teams at the school, plus a lovely 4 or 5-year-old daughter. Our young man met another boy on the plane who lives in a different part of Italy. He is with another family here, close by! The three boys will have a blast this year. They are traveling to St. Louis today – after football pics at the school – to catch a Cardinals game. As you can tell, this is a WONDERFUL situation.
They will let us know the soccer schedule so that we can watch him play. We are making plans for a cookout at our place, and dinner at their place – with our young man cooking! – in the future.
What could have been a sad situation is now a joyful one.
Filed under Cause for Celebration, Challenges, Delightful Surprises, Family
I’ve just spent half an hour or so assassinating fire ants after donning my cape, goggles, gloves, and mixing 2 gallons of EIGHT bug killer in my sprayer.
These are the odious fire ants that are the bane of my existence for the past couple of years. I never really thought about them before until I happened upon them in one of my garden boxes (about 3 feet up in the air) and they swarmed all over me. biting/stinging me and causing my poor body to turn bright pink, swell up, ache, and itch all at the same time for about three days before starting to subside.
I have since looked up information, thinking that, before I set out to murder something, I should at least know if they do anything good for the environment.
According to extension.org, “Beneficial Effects of Fire Ants. Collectively, ants are beneficial insects in our environment. Their nest-building activities reduce soil compaction and help aerate the soil. Many ant species, such as imported fire ants, are omnivorous (they eat just about anything).”
I’m sorry, but the fact that also eat ME make aerating the soil a very low priority for me, particularly since we don’t need that around here.
I read a nice article by a lady who suggests that you pour a teakettle of boiling water down the hole of the mound and that will take care of the problem. That may very well be true, but I don’t think she is trying to treat a garden of veggie plants who would be upset at having boiling water poured on them or almost 8 acres of ridge line rocky soil. The EIGHT spray works well. The fact that the co-op guy in town recommended it highly, after me telling him I was planning to spray it on things I hoped to later feed to myself and my family, and that I didn’t want our pets hurt, went a long way to convince me.
There is Ant-Man from Marvel Comics and the super hero movie genre, but I don’t think he is murdering ants. I’ll just have to fill that gap.
Filed under Challenges, Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
“Innocent Sounds” – Alina Ciuciu
I love Alina’s painting for several reasons –
The subject, colors, and texture speak to me.
My reaction to the painting was to melt into a puddle. It is so SWEET.
It also speaks of the many sides of friendship. On any given subject, in any given situation, some will share a similar thing that happened to them; some feel the need to give advice; some will comfort; some will listen; some will simply be there with you for support. I value each and every one.
Filed under Challenges, Friendship, paintings I love
The Age of Enlightenment via Janet Melendez – LinkedIn
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Encouragement
Shlreline Primitives via Carol Auclair Daly
Filed under aging, Challenges, Changes, Encouragement, taking care of yourself
Sometimes we aren’t sure which way to jump, which path to take, what is in our future.
One of the many things my dad taught me was to stand back and try to see the humor in any situation. He had a bad accident, falling off a horse when he was three, leaving him with a shortened left arm with an almost useless hand. He learned to use humor to keep kids from bullying him. He would make them laugh so hard they forgot his ‘disability’ and took him into their group. He used jokes and sarcasm to make his views known. An example of this was he would say, “Nice skirt” to me – when he actually thought it was too short and I needed to change my clothes. Whenever he was in a group, you would soon hear laughing. He passed his ability to see humor in most situations on to me. Just before he died, he scrawled on a napkin, “Remember me laughing.” Though it took me awhile, I do. What a strong, smart man he was!
I have used his lessons many times over the years. I can never win an argument, for example, because I can either easily see the other person’s point of view, or I ‘see’ us having a ‘discussion,’ see the humor in the situation – or the fact that what we are ‘discussing’ has little priority in what is important in life, and the tension dissolves.
Many times life throws us curves that challenge us on seeing the humor.
We’re in the middle of one right now, and things have been difficult. Our son is now home with us, helping with the situation. He brings CALM, caring, good sense, a healthy sense of the ridiculous, love, and lots of hugs. He has had us laughing several times already and he’s only been home a day.
I found this on the net this morning, and it made me smirk. A good reminder to keep my head on straight and be extremely glad my two guys are together. Together we will figure out in which direction we should go.
I Need Real Help
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Family, taking care of yourself
Wall Street Journal – Illustration – Brian Stauffer
“I think that life is difficult.
People have challenges.
Family members get sick, people get older, you don’t always get the job or the promotion that you want.
You have conflicts in your life.
And really, life is about your resilience and your ability to go through your life and all of the ups and downs with a positive attitude.”
Jennifer Hyman
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, Encouragement
Getting older is sometimes the pits. Lately, our dog, Amber, my husband and I are playing a new game called, “Who is Worse Today?” The game consists of comparing insults and injuries to our bodies and then declaring a winner for the day. There are no prizes – just care and commiseration.
Several weeks ago, Amber got hurt mysteriously on her morning outing. She had a badly skinned place on her head, skinned places on her legs, and she was limping badly. We still don’t know if she was clipped by a vehicle in the road at the bottom of our driveway, a cow kicked her, or what. She obviously was the winner for several days. She is fine, now, by the way, is happily jumping into the back seat of the truck again, running around barking at ghost gophers, and happily taunting us with her ball.
I was the winner for a couple of days, getting bitten/stung by fire ants on my arm. Apparently I am mildly allergic, swelling up fairly dramatically, hurting and itching at the same time, etc.
Today it is my husband’s turn to be declared the winner –
He made a new pvc pipe thingie to attach the newly rebuilt planter to the irrigation system. He found that one of the hoses needed to be replaced. In that process, we boil water to get the hoses onto hose barbs, etc. Anyway, somehow, he lost his balance and fell down into the planter. We had trouble getting him up, but finally managed it. He scraped one leg and knee, and will probably have bruises, scabs, etc. for some time to come. He acted as though he were more insulted and embarrassed than hurt.
We got his wounds cleaned, put antibiotic ointment on, got him into clean clothes and into his recliner with a glass of cold tea. He is relaxing and reading there now.
I really wish we could forget this new GAME of ours. It really isn’t fun. I AM really, really thankful that so far, no one has broken bones or had injuries that were life-threatening or life altering.
We keep talking about trying to be more careful, paying better attention, etc., but things happen too fast sometimes.
I’m glad that we have good air conditioning, a nice comfortable chair, food, tea, and hopefully a nap to offer the winner for today.
Filed under Challenges, Changes
I told you that two of the 14 brick planters we have built up on top of our ridge line collapsed suddenly. We knocked the rest of the bricks down and tried to prepare ourselves to rebuild them.
We found that 25 years or so makes a huge difference in our stamina and ability to work in the heat. We ended up mixing one bag of mortar each day, laying one layer of bricks with it, then cleaning up for the day. We did this for five days, finally completely the first of the two planters. We put the potting soil we had saved back into the planter. My husband recently redid the plastic PVC pipe irrigation piece for the first planter, so technically it’s ready to plant. With a heat index of 105-110+ degrees, we have ignored the problem.
I’ve been trying to find a real brick layer to rebuild the planters. We had the bricks and the mortar, so it was their time, labor, and expertise we were paying for. The only man who came to give us an estimate knocked our socks off with how much he would charge for the two planters. We told him, ‘no thank you,’ and built the first one ourselves.
As you can see, it looks pretty awful. It DOES hold the potting soil. The picture doesn’t show the new irrigation piece, but it’s ready for planting now.
This is the second planter. We have been mowing and weed whacking around this the whole spring and summer, hoping to find a brick layer.
FINALLY, yesterday a wonderful man named Jose Aguirre came up and looked at things. He rejected the mortar we had bought, both the sand version and the one with small pebbles, and gave us an estimate. I was overjoyed that it was reasonable, AND we can do it!!!!
He will come out tomorrow at 8 in the morning to do the job!
I can’t tell you how relieved I am that my husband and I don’t have to do it. I was trying to gear up for it mentally, thinking that when we start getting up at 6am each morning (trying to adapt for the school year with Alessandro, our 16-year-old soccer playing student from Italy comes to live with us and go to school this year, starting August 6th) – that we could get right out and lay one row of bricks each day while the temperature was still in the 80’s.
If our wonderful luck holds, tomorrow we will have a newly rebuilt, good-looking planter to enjoy!
I’ll take pics. :0)
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Gardening, Housekeeping - Maintenance
I told you a couple of days ago I was bitten/stung – yet again – by fire ants while I was out working in the yard. Apparently, I’m at least mildly allergic, since my forearm swelled up, had welts on it, and itched and hurt for two days before finally subsiding. I’m ready for war.
I talked to my good friend, Nora, who sent me a solution that has worked for her. I’m going to try it and wanted to share it with you.
RECIPE:
1/4 cup Borax
3/4 cup sugar
Enough water to make a thicky syrup
USING:
Soak cotton ball in mixture, and put near ant nest. (Apparently, the ants are drawn to the sugar and are killed by the borax in a couple of days.)
I will definitely try this. I’ll let you know if it works for me.
Filed under Challenges, Mother Nature, Seasons
Lettie De Winnaar – LinkedIn
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
Am I excited about my new clothes washer? You’d better believe I am!!!!
Since Mother Nature fried a LOT of our stuff about 3 weeks ago, including our clothes washer, I’ve been washing clothes in our kitchen sink. I almost looked online to see if I could find the old washing boards people used to use. Needless to say, we have a LOT of laundry that is waiting for attention.
The washer was delivered this morning by two really nice men. They had a big truck (but not a semi). They BACKED it up the driveway! Our driveway is steep. It is 650+ feet from the road to our house. And they managed to BACK the truck up to the top. The first thing I said was that I was so impressed with their driving.
They took the old washer and pedestal out. Then they told us that they couldn’t install the washer because we wanted to use the old pedestal.
SO – They brought the pedestal back inside, then brought the new washer in, and went over with my husband what we would need to do to install it.
We had to lay the new washer down on its side. (The big dog bed was right there, so that made a good cushion.) We then screwed the old pedestal onto the new washer with much gnashing of teeth and a few bad words. We then managed to stand up the washer on the old pedestal, then move it carefully toward the place it would live. My husband took the ‘moving bolt thingies” out of the back of the washer, attached the power cord and the water hoses. We jockeyed it back and forth a little at a time, until it was in the right place.
We threw in all the towels that were used in the getting-rid-of-the-old and installing-the-new, threw in some soap and turned it on. It actually has a special cycle for towels! It hummed a bit. We re-read the manual. We were supposed to HOLD the start button down longer. It hummed again. Then my husband said more bad words because he figured out he forgot to turn on the water.
We turned the machine off, jockeyed it out far enough so he could turn on the water, then jockeyed it back into place.
Finally we had to put the drawer back in the pedestal. (That screws into place on runners.) The inside of the drawer was disgraceful. (did I mention that I’m an awful housekeeper?) so I got a wet cloth, mopped it out, dried it and then put stuff back in. (I actually like the pedestals because of the height they add to the front loading washer and dryer, rather than because of any storage, so the drawer probably hadn’t been opened since we got the set in 2005….)
The washer is now running happily, about half way finished with the towels. I have about a hundred (more or less) loads left to do – gathered over the past three weeks – so guess what I’ll be doing over the next few days!
I am truly delighted to have a washer going again. I’ve become spoiled and I really missed it.
It will be GREAT when all is clean again!
YAHOO!
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
via Jackie Lyons
I have to tell you I’m patting myself on the head right now. Why?
Usually technology does a great job of kicking me in the rear – to the point it’s difficult to sit at times. Today I received an email from the 16-year-old boy for whom we will serve as host parents for the next school year starting in August. He’s from Italy and he plays soccer. :0)
The email said he wanted to chat via Whatsapp and gave his number.
After panicking, I managed to find Whatsapp in the Apps Store on my phone and installed it. Then I tried to add Alessandro to my contacts there. No way, Jose’ over and over again. Finally, I emailed him asking if he could send me an invitation, since I wasn’t having any luck on this end. We juggled quite awhile and finally connected! We chatted awhile for the very first time. He sounds like a really nice guy and I’m looking forward to meeting him in person.
Meanwhile, I was able to assure him that Greenwood High School does, in fact, have a soccer team and that they would be happy to give him a chance to be on it. I think that was his most important concern.
I finally managed, after messing around with my regular contacts list on my computer, to edit his information correctly, so now we are truly connected. I made sure he knows that he can contact us any time with questions or concerns – and so – our adventure begins!
It’s good to know that I met the challenge and prevailed. I ain’t dead yet!
Filed under Challenges, Family
Wikipedia
Last night we set the humane trap again, having been cleaned completely out of sunflower seeds for several days in a row that are SUPPOSED to be shared by birds, squirrels, AND an occasional raccoon. This morning a BIG one, maybe the daddy of the pack, was in the trap, calmly waiting for us.
As we always try to do – unless the raccoon is hissing and spitting and trying to bite us – we fed our animals and then put the trap in the back of the truck. We travel about 5 miles away from the house and let them go in a small creek that runs under the road. I like to think they all meet again to enjoy the rest of their lives together.
This morning the trip to relocate the raccoon was a bit more eventful than usual.
On the way out to the little creek we saw three deer beside the road. They were on my husband’s side of the car, but I think they were close enough he could have reached out and touched one of them as we slowly went by.
Alice McDowell
Further down the twisty, turn-y road there was a bull in the middle of it!
Pixabay
We slowed and watched him as he gradually moved a bit to one side. We went VERY slowly around him. He didn’t move a muscle. I don’t know about my husband, but “I” was holding my breath.
Further down was one cow, munching grass right beside the road.
Motion Array
Finally, another raccoon raced across the road in front of our truck.
Shutterstock
We let our raccoon out. He went right out of the trap and down into the creek. (It MAY be that he’s been through this before?)
We came home, hosed off the porch, and will re-bait the trap tonight to see if there are more.
Filed under Arkansas, Challenges
I have promised my husband that in my next life, I will do everything I can to be –
AN ELECTRONICS EXPERT – defencecareers.mil,nz
STRONG AND MUSCULAR – so I can help haul things more easily.
A PHYSICS EXPERT – so I can grasp what we’re trying to do more easily – forensisgroup.com
AND –
TALLER – so I don’t have to stand on a ladder to reach everything!
He kindly says he loves me just the way I am – but tell that to me when I’m red-faced, sweating, plus huffing and puffing after helping him bring the new TV out of the truck,
We did it, and he’s working with adding updates and programming so we might be able to watch TV for the first time in three weeks or so since we were hit by lightning!
If we can get it working properly, it’ll be a really nice gift for the 4th of July.
THEN we can worry about whether the DVR, DVD player, and movie storage system are still working….
Filed under Challenges, Mother Nature
Depositphotos
Our Internet is driving me nuts!
I can be typing along, concentrating on what I’m writing and then WHAM – no Internet! Then we play unplug the modem, plug it in again, reboot my computer – over and over again until – HOORAY! – It’s up again!
This morning it’s been down more than it’s been up. I finally gave up and vacuumed the 1st floor tiled areas – pantry, kitchen, dining area, two half baths, utility room and foyer area. THAT’S how frustrated I was. UGH.
I have become so spoiled. I WANT to be able to rely on having access, like running water. Of course, from time to time we don’t have THAT, either, when the gremlins are active around here….
So, I’m trying to type as fast as I can, getting my thoughts out as best I can, before the Internet silences me once again.
Do you think it’s trying to send me a message?
Filed under Challenges
Spreadshirt
I have a to-do list as long – or longer – than my arm today. I know I can handle the one above. :0) The jury is still out on my own….
Have a wonderful day!
Filed under Challenges
pngkey.com
I told you recently that my husband and I signed up to be host parents for a 16-year-old boy from Italy this school year.
Alessandro will arrive August 6th. School starts August 13th.
We have been setting our alarm clock for 8am – feeling virtuous that we then get up to let our doggies out for their morning run. If we didn’t do this, we tend to stay up ’til all hours, sleep fitfully many nights, would sleep in to try to catch up, making our poor doggies wait.
Since our day will start at 6am for the school year, we are proactively trying to reset our body clocks so we won’t be complete zombies, unable to function.
Today we started getting up at 7am. The sun was up, so it was easier than I thought it would be. I didn’t say anything to my husband about what I was doing last night – resetting the alarm – and he either didn’t notice, or didn’t say anything. It’ll be interesting to see when he realizes. :0)
Starting the last day of July, I’ll set the alarm for 6am. I don’t even know if the sun will be up then. That will be harder if it is also still asleep. Hopefully, by the 6th, we’ll be more used to getting up. By the 13th, the first day of school, I hope the 3 of us will be handling it well.
So far, we got up and got the grocery shopping out of the way early. I have an hour more to try to get my to-do list done – unless I end up asleep in my chair…
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Challenges, Changes, Family
Sony Pictures Entertainment
“Adaptation” – a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment.
I told you that we had a bad storm and lightning or the power going on and off repeatedly combined with a circuit breaker tripping resulted in LOTS of electronics being hurt or killed. Suddenly, we had no computers, no Internet, no TV, no way to play movies….. a real culture shock and character-building exercise.
When I finally realized there was nothing more to be done about the problem, I decided to go out and work in my garden. (My stupidity on setting up the irrigation system for it resulted in NO water being sent out there, other than Mother Nature’s largesse and the plants were suddenly suffering.) There was lots of dead stuff that needed to be pruned, weeds to be removed, etc. I took my gardening stuff out there and got started, pleased that I was adapting to our new situation.
Suddenly the wind came up and the skies turned dark. The tree branches were becoming more and more active. My hat blew off and I had to chase it. The rain came down in a WHOOSH! – Mother Nature laughed at me – soaking me before I could gather my stuff and head for the house.
By the time I got to the house, I was dripping. My husband took one look at me and laughed. I was really steamed. I had TRIED to adapt to our situation, opting to be productive in the garden since we couldn’t get onto computers, watch TV, etc., and I was standing in the utility room, dripping for my efforts. :0( (I have since cleaned up the garden. I’ll try to post pictures tomorrow.)
I have read four books in the past two days – one by Renae Christine listing 150 suppliers of stuff for handmade products; a book by an author new to me who writes kind of like JK Rowling in the Harry Potter series, the last book in the Traveling Pants series, and a much-loved re-read of a Nora Roberts book.
I have a new Keto recipe to try tonight from the Simply Keto book – actually TWO recipes – one for Keto Honey Mustard and the other for Keto breaded chicken tenders. We’ll try these tonight and I’ll report on this and one other recipe I tried recently that’s a winner.
Latest update on our really annoying electronics problems is that the new TV should be ready for pick up Friday or Saturday. When we get it hooked up, we should be able to tell if any other things in the entertainment center were affected. Fingers crossed that all else is okay.
My husband has continued to work with his computer after getting the new network card in mine and getting the new modem and 24-port switch installed. He has decided that we do NOT have to drive to Tulsa tomorrow for an appointment with the Microsoft people. He’ll work with it some more, test it when we have the new TV up and running, and then decide if we need to do something further.
THAT leaves our clothes washer, which decided to throw a fit today at the end of the first load. It sounded like a jet was trying to land in our living room. I ran in and shut things down. My husband will download the PDF of the manual that goes with our washer and dryer and see if he can figure out why the spin cycle has lost its mind, whether we need parts, or WHAT.
All of this from ONE storm…..
We are doubly thankful that more wasn’t affected. We are also grateful that we can sit in a dry home reading good books while we repair or replace the things we lost.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, character-building exercises, Mother Nature
Depositphotos
We had a bad storm a few days ago. The power was going off – our generator came on – the regular power came on — over and over and over again in quick succession. After we went to bed this continued. I had to reset our alarm clock and restart the fan at least 6 or 7 times.
We got up to find no power in our office. All the on and off again had finally caused a circuit breaker to trip, so when we moved that back into position, we thought we were okay. NOT SO!
The short version of the story is that the network card in my computer gave up the ghost. Our modem was dead. Our 24-port switch that controls everything was gone. Our TV was gone. I finally got a few things added to my phone – something I basically use for emergencies, so that I could communicate at least a little. No computers, no TV, no movies. I was able to order replacement stuff mostly. We got a new modem on the way via our regular phone.
We kept finding ourselves trying to go look something up in the office and were reminded that we couldn’t do that anymore. It’s a good thing we love to read.
This morning we received the new network card and the 24-port switch. We ran errands quickly because we wanted to be home to receive the modem. We got that before noon. My husband worked and worked, and then I worked and worked and we are finally back up on our computers have have Internet again!
Our TV should be ready for pick up Friday or Saturday.
We’re still not sure whether we were hit by lightning or the rapid on and off of the power did us in.
It’s a real culture shock to find out how dependent we are on computers and Internet. And devices. And how spoiled we are.
I couldn’t write on my blog, and that’s the thing I missed the most. I also couldn’t continue work on my new Etsy store. I was pleased that I could add email and Hangouts to my phone so I could let people know what happened.
I’m more than delighted to be able to write to you again! Forgive my delayed replies to your comments, please.
This has been one of life’s character-building exercises, for sure.
NOW we concentrate on why the spin cycle is causing problems on the clothes washer, and find out if anything else related to the TV is gone, too….
Filed under Challenges, Changes, character-building exercises
World Of Female
Yesterday I officially started the Keto eating plan, hoping to continue to lose the lard, but also figuring that this plan will be much more flexible with our foreign exchange student, Alessandro, a 16-year-old soccer playing student from Italy. He joins us for 10 months starting in August, and I want to be well into our new good habits by then.
I’m using a wonderful book called, “Keto After 50” by James Wilson. Since “50” sounds young to ME, I like this approach which is modified for older people. I’ve been reading a ton on the net, too, since one of my concerns will be high fat – to be processed by this older body with no gallbladder. Happily, I found that I can take a couple of supplements that will help with this.
My husband is a Type II diabetic (although he only admits to having a ‘sugar problem’) It’s super important to me that I keep him on an even keel. He is almost to his weight goal now (within 10 pounds – HOOORAAAAY!) while his WIFE continues to battle the lard. :0)
At this point I’ve lost 43 pounds and almost 48 inches. I want to lose another 30 to 35 pounds and then stay there, with good eating and exercise habits.
We started on Nutrisystem, but then decided that we have learned 1) what we were doing wrong, and 2) how we’re supposed to be cooking and eating. We are almost doing the Keto program already, having stopped (mostly) eating bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar, and salt. We splurge every once in a while, but that’s a quality of life thing for us.
I’m ordering supplements and gathering good recipes. I’m trying to reorganize our pantry – AGAIN – both to plan for the new eating system AND to make room for a lot more cooking than I’ve done in awhile. (It’ll be a real culture shock for us to feed a 16-year-old athlete – and from ITALY!)
Since I’m working in the yard and/or the garden almost daily, I’m going to TRY for more formal exercise three times a week. I’ll stick with my elliptical trainer, my yoga for ‘older’ women, and either the walking video or the dance video each week.
I told you I started this yesterday. The scale showed me down 1.2 pounds this morning, so I’m encouraged at this point – knowing that my weight loss will slow with time. I’m concentrating on doing the first two weeks – eating 20 grams of carbohydrates or less per day.
Wish me luck?
Filed under Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise
I’ve told you before that when my husband wanted us to be a host family this year, I agreed. We have been notified that we are accepted to receive Alessandro, a 16-year-old boy from Italy for the coming school year. All we know at this point is that he is quite the soccer player, has pets at home, and sounds really nice. He will be here August 6th and will stay with us 10 months.
Since we’re a bit long-in-the-tooth and set in our ways, we’re looking for things we need to change in order to be the best host parents possible.
Of COURSE we plan to encourage him to be active in as many things involving school as possible. Classes, sports, clubs, new friends, outings, etc. We will encourage him to bring friends home or spend time at their houses. We’ll look for fun things to do and places to go. WE will also try to be as active in his life as we can – a real change for us. :0)
We have decided that we’ll be decadent and slothful until July 1st, at which point we’ll start setting the alarm for 7 a.m. August 1st we’ll start setting it for 6 a.m. Alessandro will be here on August 6th and school starts on August 13th, so we should be ready – with our Circadian Rhythms in sync, hopefully.
We’ve also been eating only poultry and fish, and we’ll expand that to include beef and pork again, but use Keto recipes. I can also cook pasta for Alessandro (and probably my husband, who refuses to eat alternatives) but “I” will try zucchini noodles or cauli-rice with my portion. (The only concern I’ve found is that I need to do a bit extra on supplements to help me handle the higher fats without a gallbladder.)
I’m sure we’ll add a whole bunch of other changes to our list as we get closer to the time Alessandro arrives, but I think we have a good attitude and are starting to adapt. (I’m checking to make sure soccer and basketballs are aired up, badminton set is intact, board games are available, checking our sports channels on TV….. )
I’m happy to hear my husband thinking about what we need to do. He seems energized by the changes we’re making, thinking about things we can do to make our ‘temporary son’ (or grandson) feel welcome and happy.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, character-building exercises
Doug Powell via email from Marsha Koenig
I went outside to clear my overloaded brain and check on the veggie garden. I heard Amber (our 94-pound lab PUPPY) barking behind me, somewhere over by the greenhouse. I continued on toward the garden and all of a sudden, she bounded out of the shop and was running toward me a breakneck speed!
I averted getting knocked down flat on my back by making a quick turn and running toward a tree. She skimmed past me, then turned on a dime and tried to jump up on me, tongue lolling as she laughed.
I yelled, “DOWN!” To my amazement, she did it! This is probably a fluke that will never happen again, but I feel empowered right now. :0)
(By the way, the veggies are doing fine.)
Filed under Amazing Animals, Challenges, Family, Funny Signs - Humor
Psychologies
My poor brain is overflowing with good suggestions for how to make my new Etsy shop better. I’m feeling totally overwhelmed right now, not knowing which way to jump.
I’m going to go do something else from my ever-growing to-do list and then come back and choose ONE thing to do in my shop.
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, Dreams, empowerment, learning new things
Today’s Parent
We HOPE we have reached the end of over two full days of NO Internet service. Granted, our weather has been bad off and on, but the last couple of days have been relatively nice. There seemed to be no reason for the outage. Of COURSE, it was on the weekend – starting Friday evening – outside of regular working hours.
My husband talked with a tech a couple of nights ago, who confirmed there was an outage in our area. He said they were working on it, and should have it fixed by yesterday morning at 10 a.m. He told us to call if we still had problems. I called yesterday after 10 a.m. and they told me the outage had been fixed.
I CALMLY said that was lovely, but we still didn’t have service. Finally, after many “put-on-holds-and-thank-you-for-the-patience-that-had-long-since-been-used-up” sessions, they confirmed that there was still an outage affecting where WE lived. Duh. They said they were working on it…
I had been trying to watch a webinar for the full two days. It was concerning my new Etsy store, and what I should do to give it the best possible chance of success – something I really wanted to watch and hear. My frustration level was through the roof.
I used the time we didn’t have Internet to finish inventorying the supplies I had for filling orders. I also reorganized what I had so I could put my hands on things quickly.
This is my newly-cleaned-off-thanks-to-the-outage drafting table.
This are my note cards and stationery supplies shelves.
A close-up of the labels so that I don’t have to approach the shelves with a ruler each time. :0)
Combination freebies-to-be-included in orders and wrapping station.
I was FINALLY able to watch the hour long webinar at 1o:00 last night. :0)
Now that we have Internet service again – HOOOOOO-RAAAAAAAAAY! – I’ll concentrate on trying to implement one of the many great suggestions my expert, Renae Christine, had.
Filed under Challenges, Organizing/DeCluttering
shutterstock.com
We trapped two raccoons – one each night, and relocated them about 5 or 6 miles away from us – both in the same creek so they could hopefully find each other and enjoy their lives elsewhere.
Now it has been two days with NO raccoons. The humane trap is set – with Ritz crackers and peanut butter – door open – but was empty again today.
We don’t know if we got all the raccoons that have been eating all of our birdseed and then trashing the feeders, grill covers, and the cup of the trap – or if they are playing a sly game with us, lulling us into complacency once again, only to return in force in a bit when our guard is down.
Our dogs have quit freaking out every time we take them out. Amber, our 94-pound yellow lab PUPPY, has finally quit barking at the empty trap, and no longer is afraid of going up on the deck.
Molly, our sweet, elderly cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross, followed Amber’s lead and barked like a nut when they went out for their last outing of the night.
We have to admit that we don’t miss having to put the trap full of raccoon into the bed of the truck and driving way out into the country behind our house to relocate yet another critter first thing in the morning….
Filed under Amazing Animals, Challenges
A couple of nights ago we put out a humane trap on the deck, since “someone” had been not only eating ALL of the birdseed we were putting out, but ALSO trashing the feeders! Yesterday morning we caught the culprit.
Pixabay
The raccoon was, of course, upset to be in the trap. He had pulled the bottom of the cover of our grill into the trap with him, I guess trying to get out. So we now have a grill cover that looks like something you would use as a decoration on Halloween, with LONG “fringe” along the bottom…
Amber, our 94-pound lab PUPPY, was in a frenzy over him, barking loudly non-stop. I have no patience with barking and wanted to bring her inside. My husband insisted that she would tire of the barking after awhile. He sat out on the deck with them, hot apple cider in hand, for almost an hour. Maybe she WOULD tire, but not in the hour he spent!
We put the humane trap in the back of the truck. Amber wanted to ride in the back seat, as usual.
We drove about 5 or 6 miles south of us, finding a creek that ran under the road out in the countryside. We stopped and my husband let the raccoon out.
I like the idea of ‘relocating’ the raccoons, giving them another chance at life – but not in our yard! This morning there is evidence, though, that he has friends or family near. :0(
Amber finished off our morning by rolling in something black and yucky, getting it all over her. We had to chain her up and hose her down. We let her dry out on the deck for awhile, and then I finished her up, toweling her off so that she could join the family again.
All this happened before 10 in the morning, so we were exhausted before the day even got a good start!
Filed under Amazing Animals, Challenges, Family
creativeartworksblog 