Grammie's Creations & Such

Blanket Creations

2012-01-14T16:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas brought yet another opportunity for me to create!!!!

In November, my daughter and I help our church make these cute knotted fleece blankets to be given to the families in our community they adopt, for Christmas. This is my daughter helping.

When we were done that day, she told me she would like a blanket like that. So I told her that Santa could possibly bring her one. So here it is.

You start with 2 yards of 2 different types of fleece. Lay them out together cut of the salvage edge and trim them up so that they are fairly even. Then you cut a 4 inch square in each of the corners.

With the use of a ruler cut 1 inch wide strips, 4 inches long, being sure to cut through both layers of fabric. Follow this step all the way around the fabric.

Then tie alternate strips (every other one), in a double knot. Follow this step all the way around the fabric.

Then flip the blanket over and tie the remaining strips in a double knot. Follow this step all the way around the fabric.

This is the finished project. She loves black, white and teal.

It was Christmas... So Grammie Created!!

2012-01-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

It's been so long since I have created anything, I've missed it. Thankfully Christmas always brings the occasion to do so. We have a grandson that absolutely loves Toy Story and Woody. I went to the fabric store to see if I could find a pattern to make him a sheriff's vest, well I didn't find anything I liked so I decided to hop on the internet on my new favorite toy, my iPhone to see what I could find, I struck gold I found this site and there it was Woody's vest made from felt and I didn't even have to sew, (which worked out well since my daughter had my sewing machine). I bought all the supplies and here is the end product.

I was so excited to get it done, I forgot to take pictures of the process

His momma told me he carried it around all day :-) success.

So, if you have a Toy Story fan in your life and you can use a hot glue gun you should make this, it is sooooo cute.

30 Years Ago Today...

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

I married the love of my life.

I was 19 years old when I met him. He was 26. I met him through his sister. He was used to taking his dates out for drinks, he wanted to date me but didn't know where to take me. His sister told him, "she likes to watch movies." So that's where it all began. Our first date was in May, he asked me to marry him in August, and we got married in December, that's what I call a whirlwind romance. He had been divorced for a year, and his family asked him, "what's the hurry?" He told them that he had found the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, so why wait.

We have been together more than half of my life. I can't imagine life without him. We've had tough times, but we have faced them together. If there is a secret, I believe that is it. No matter what happened throughout our lives, we have lived, struggled, and rejoiced "together". We have been so blessed, even through our most recent trials, we are blessed to still be together and still very much in love.

He is my best friend.

Michael, I love you more than life it's self. Marrying you was the absolute best thing I ever did.

Happy Veteran's Day Michael!!

2011-11-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

From the Archives originally posted November 17, 2009.

This is the Veteran in our lives. Isn't he handsome? He served during the Vietnam Era, but thankfully never got deployed over there. He was in the Army for 6 years. His decorations were, National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Sharpshooter (Rifle). He was 18 when this picture was taken, if I'd known him then he probably wouldn't have given me the time of day, I would have been 12. Praise the Lord I met him much later, he is the love of my life.

Turning the Big 5-0

2011-11-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

Let's start with some pictures.

I was around 11 months old here. What a cutie, looks just like my girls at that age.

This is my Kindergarten picture. My daddy used to say this was his favorite picture of me.

This is my senior picture. You can tell it was the 70's with my Farrah Fawcett hair style.

This is obviously taken at my wedding. The day I married Michael, the love of my life, I was 20.

Can't write a post about my life, and not put these 2 girls in it, as they are my life. These are the awesome, beautiful daughters God blessed me with. I love them more than life it's self. I was 25 when I had Amanda (right), and 35 when I had Hannah (left). I also have a step-son and daughter-in-law, who have 2 little boys.

This was taken at Michael's 20 year high school reunion, I think I was 31.

This was taken on a cruise the summer before our 20th anniversary, so I was 39.

My wonderful photographer daughter, Amanda took this picture of us in June of this year, I am 49.

This was last month, still 49 but close enough to 50.

50, 50, 50, yes I said it 50. How do I feel about that? I'm actually very excited about my birthday this year. My niece (who turned 50 in October, yes I said niece, that's a whole other blog about growing up with nieces and nephews), described turning 50 as "monumental". So I looked up the definition of monumental, this is what I found; Merriam Webster says, "Massive; highly significant; outstanding". Dictionary dot com says, "That of historical or enduring significance: a monumental victory. I like that, "highly significant, or monumental victory". It's a huge significance and victory to reach this age. When you're a kid, you don't really think about age in numbers, you just want to grow up, and 50 year olds are your parents.

I've had a very blessed life. I was the youngest of 5 children. We were considered poor, both my parents became disabled when I was young. My dad had a heart attack, and my mom had rheumatoid arthritis, we lived on a fixed income. However I remember I always had food, and clothes and a roof over my head. I got what I needed. It helped that I had older sisters who were married and an older brother, who was able to give me things that I wanted every now and then that my parents weren't able to provide. I always got a new dress or outfit for high school dances. I was a cheerleader. I'm sure my mom & dad did without to provide me with these things. I grew up with my sister who is 6 years older than me, as well as nieces, and nephews.

I married the love of my life when I was 20, I was so young but I trusted he would be here for me forever. We have had good times, and some rough times , but no matter what we knew that if we just worked things out together, everything would be ok, because above all else we love each other. My oldest daughter got married a year ago. One day we were listening to a Taylor Swift song that says "We've got nothin' figured out". I told her "your daddy and I don't have everything figured out, just when you think you do, something either bad or good happens, then you have to figure it out all over again, but what's important is to keep figuring it out together". And through all the years, that is what Michael and I have done.

When one of my brothers-in-law turned 50 I asked him how he felt he said this, "it's better than the alternative". The alternative, that almost came for me 2/2/11. I wrote a post about it here. That was the day I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I was in full blown DKA, Diabetes ketoacidosis. I was severely dehydrated, losing weight like none other. I had all the classic symptoms, that I didn't realize were symptoms then, I got to the point before my husband called 911 that I was gasping for every breath I took, and in sever pain in my rib cage. I was dieing, and I didn't even know it. By the grace of God I got to the ER in time, (guess he wasn't ready to take me home yet). I didn't realize how close I came to dieing until after I was released from the hospital and my doctor (who was my neighbor) came over and told me that was what was happening to me.

How do I feel about being 50 and having diabetes? I have had a great diabetes free life, I'd go back to my pre-diabetes life in a heartbeat. However, that won't happen. I'm glad that I don't have to worry about getting pregnant. I know, women do get pregnant with diabetes, but it's just one less thing I have to think about. Having read a lot of blogs of parents of children with diabetes, one common thyme is they wished they could take the diabetes on and not have their child have it. Being the mom, I'm sooo grateful that this illness was given to me and not one of my daughters, and I pray everyday that it doesn't ever happen to them or one of my grandchildren.

I wanted to grow old gracefully, requiring as little help as possible. At some point in my life I may get to where I am not able to see well or lose my dexterity, and I will need some else to give me my insulin. Someone else will be in control of my meals, and making sure they meet my needs, that scares me to death.

This little post about my 50th birthday took a dark turn, but when you're talking about diabetes it's hard not to go there. I couldn't write about my life without talking about diabetes, it is my life now. I've always been the kind to find the glass half full, and I don't wallow in self-pitty, it's too depressing, however once in a great while I do mourn for my lost life.

In closing, I have had a great life, full of love and blessings. I live a great life in spite of diabetes, and I'm extremely excited to be turning 50. In Jill's word "it's MONUMENTAL"!

What Diabetes Decisions do I make in a Day???

2011-10-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to bring more awareness to Diabetes and how it affects our daily lives the, Diabetic Social Media Advocasy, DSMA for short, does a monthly Blog Carnival with posts from people with diabetes, or taking care of someone with diabetes, asking thought provoking questions.

This month’s Blog Carnival question is, “What types of decisions and frequency of diabetes related decisions do you make in any given day?”

I read someones post that was in a timeline format and I liked it so that's what I'm going to do as well. So here goes my day ; )

6:30 am This is when my alarm goes off to make sure my daughter's alarm went off. Though before I walk upstairs to her room I first must evaluate how I feel, do I feel low? I don't want to trapes upstairs with a low blood sugar and make it worse. Today I was good so I went to make sure she was up. Crawled back in bed for 30 minutes or so then got up to make her some breakfast and to see her and my husband off.

To go back a little I woke up at 4:00am for no reason, which is unusual, before my diagnosis it happened all the time, but once I got diagnosed and started getting the insulin I needed I started sleeping through most nights. I didn't feel low so I didn't check my blood, so I laid there for a while trying to go back to sleep, more about this later.

7:30 am Got on the computer, to go on Twitter and read some blogs, totally a diabetes decision, since most of the people I follow are diabetics. In the back of my mind is the fact that sitting still will raise my blood sugar. My mouth was already feeling a little dry so I knew I was probably already a little above my range of 70-150.

8:22 am Started feeling hungry, yes actual hunger not that low blood sugar feeling. I think my stomach might have actually growled so I got up and started deciding what I wanted for breakfast. First what do I want, I decided on 1/2 a Whole Wheat English Muffin w/Smart Balance margarine, 1 slice bacon, 1 fried egg, 1 c fat free milk, and 2 ozs strawberries, total carbs 30.

8:40 am Wait, don't forget to wash hands, the juice from the strawberries could cause the test to be inaccurate. I tested my blood sugar, just as I suspected a little high 171, I figure I woke up a little on the high side because of waking up at 4:00 am. I think my liver decided to produce a little extra glucose to get myself up and going. Anyway back to breakfast, I injected 1 unit of Novolog, fast acting insulin for the 30 carbs I was about to eat, as that is my current approximate insulin to carb ratio, and I also gave an additional .5 unit to correct the 171 and bring it down to 80-100 hopefully. I only correct at meal times. I don't correct in between, as I don't want to stack insulin doses, and without a pump it's too much math to try to figure out how much insulin I have on board. And besides that would be more shots, who wants that. Breakfast was delish by the way.

9:40 am Getting ready for a walk, is this a diabetes decision, yes and no. I should walk anyway whether I had diabetes or not, it's good for me and my dog, however the diabetes is what gives me the kick in the pants to actually go do it. I decide not to check my blood sugar because I just ate, my insulin hasn't had time to peak, and for me history shows that if I'm going to go low due to my insulin, it will happen at about the 2 hour mark when my insulin should be peaking and I will be home before that. Now having said that I do pack a backpack with my blood glucose meter, glucose tablets, glycogen kits just in case. Also, some non-diabetic items, plastic bag for Bentley's business, iphone set on Pandora, and off I go.

10:47 am My 2 hour post meal blood sugar check, it was 130 yeah!!!!! Between the extra insulin and the walk it is coming down. Ok, I'm off to go do some housework. I'll be back, you can count on that.

12:30 pm YEAH, my husband came home for lunch. Oh sorry, guess that's not d-related, stay focused ; )

1:15 pm What's for lunch? Decided on a grilled ham and cheese w/tomato sandwich on whole wheat, with 1 slice American cheese and one wedge of Laughing Cow spread on both slices of bread, the Laughing Cow makes it so creamy, 1 c salad w/1 T Newman's Own Light Balsamic, and 48 grams of diced apples w/some Smart Balance margarine, cinnamon and Splenda, warmed in the micro, ooohhh it is so good, reminds me of apple pie. Total carbs 42.

1:40 pm Tested my blood sugar, as I have no idea what to do till I know what that number is. It's a good number 119, no need to correct, just bolus for the carbs I'm going to eat. I injected 1.5 units of fast acting insulin, since I am going to eat 12 carbs over my insulin to carb ratio of 30. After all that rigamarol, now I can eat. Sandwich was awesome.

3:48 pm My 2 hour post meal blood sugar test is 152, great number only a 33 point spike, that's great.

4:00 pm I have to go do some errands and pick my daughter up from cheer leading practice, I normally would be doing a blood sugar test before I drive anytime, anywhere, but I just did one 10 minutes ago so I should be fine. However I must remember to take my testing meter, glucose tablets just in case I happen to go low while I'm gone, a little carb and protein snack to eat after said low, glycogen kit, and my insulin. No I won't be eating while I'm out, but everyone in the world takes their insulin with them where ever they go, mine is just in my huge purse, not my pancreas.

5:30 pm Time to decide what's for dinner and start making it. Decided on talapia rolled in whole wheat bread crumbs, 1/2 c cous cous, broccoli and cauliflower. Total carbs 31. In the grand scheme of things 1 extra carb isn't going to make that much difference.

6:33 pm Tested my blood sugar 121, another good number, no need to correct again, just inject 1 unit of fast acting insulin for the carbs I'm about to eat. Might I say dinner was delicious ; )

7:41 pm I had to go pick my daughter up from an activity she was doing after cheer leading practice. Since it had been an hour after I had eaten and I was driving I did a blood sugar test, my number was 176, not where I would like it to be only and hour after I ate, but it's a good driving number. Also, don't forget all the necessary d supplies.

8:39 pm My 2 hour post meal number is 165, better than an hour ago, (fickle diabetes) this kind of crazy stuff happens a lot in the evenings. I tend to go up a little in the evening, maybe because I'm not as active after dinner dishes are done. Or maybe because I'm approaching the time that my 24 hour long acting insulin I take before bed is beginning to wind down, hmm.

9:50 pm Time for my bedtime blood sugar test and bedtime shot. My number is 167, I'd prefer to be under 150 but it's ok. Between 9:30 and 10:00 pm every night, I take a 24 hour slow acting insulin called Lantus. Since it will be several hours till I eat breakfast and I don't want to have a low blood sugar during the night, I eat approximately 30 carbs with a little protein before I go to bed. Some nights I will eat dessert, something nice and sweet, like ice cream or cookies with milk other times not. Tonight I decided I wanted something simple, I had a graham cracker, peanut butter and light coconut and pineapple flavored yogurt. It was tropical and good.

This has actually been a really good day, as far as my blood sugar numbers. It's not always that way, sometimes I do all these same things and I have numbers up in the 200's. It has been a rather uneventful day. I pretty much stayed home and did housework. If it had been Wednesday, I would have volunteered at the church, which means I would have had to pack a lunch just in case I was there through lunch time.

You might have noticed there is a lot of time between my diabetes decisions. Partly because I stayed home most of the day and I didn't do a lot of driving. Also, I don't have a job outside of my home, so I don't have all the stresses that come along with that. Which in itself was a huge decision my husband and I made because of diabetes. In between all those D decisions I made today I did laundry, got my Halloween decorations out so I can figure out how I'm decorating my car for Trunk or Treat, scanned some pictures for a future blog, wrote a thank you note to a lovely lady I have known forever. Yes, I live with diabetes, it's a day in day out condition. Yes, I have great days, and I have days that are crappy, but you know what, I can say 8 months into my diagnosis, I live a great life in spite of diabetes.

“This post is my October entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2011/october-dsma-blog-carnival/

30 Things About My Invisible Illness

2011-09-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

Better late than never. Last week was Invisible Illness Week, and several people on the Diabetic Online Community have been doing these posts helping people to be aware of the Invisible Illness they or they along with their children live with. After reading several, I decided I would do one, I think I will revisit this in 6 months or so to see if any of my answers change.

1. The illness I live with is: Type 1 Diabetes

2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 2/2/2011

3. But I had symptoms since: 2010 several months before diagnosis

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: There are so many, but I think the biggest is giving myself a shot before every meal and at bedtime.

5. Most people assume: I have Type 2 because of my age 49

6. The hardest part about mornings are: Mornings are fine, especially now that my basal insulin is set at a good dose. In the beginning when I was taking too much insulin, I was frantic to eat breakfast before I went low.

7. My favorite medical TV show is: If I had to pick one I would say House.

8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: My meter, and If you can call them gadgets, syringes. There I called them gadgets.

9. The hardest part about nights are: I worry a little about undetected lows, however I don't take a lot of insulin, and I eat carbs before I go to bed. I actually kind of charish nights because when I'm sleeping is the only time my mind is free and at peace from all the numbers going on in my head, you know blood sugars, carb counts etc.

10. Each day I take 1 pills & 0 vitamins: I take a thyroid pill, don't think I mentioned I had Graves Disease and had radiation treatment 15 years ago. I take a cholesterol pill, an iron supplement, a mult-vitamin, a low dose asprin, and 4 insulin injections per day.

11. Regarding alternative treatments I: Pray. Other than that I eat healthy well balanced meals the majority of the time and take insulin shots. I think that's pretty much all I can do.

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Vanity tells me invisible.

13. Regarding working and career: My previous position was eliminated and the last week I was supposed to work was the week I wound up in ICU, did I mention I went into DKA . We have decided that I will not work for now.

14. People would be surprised to know: that giving yourself a shot isn't that difficult, you do what you have to do to live.

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: That it is reality, that I'm not going to wake up from this nightmare, and have God say JK, here's your life back.

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: I never thought I could give myself a shot, but again, you do what you have to do to live.

17. The commercials about my illness: I don't pay much attention to them anymore. I can't get the free cookbooks because I have insurance, I use the meter that is prescribed for me and paid for by my insurance.

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: Just eating without any thought other than "What do I want". Instead of, "What do I want, how many carbs, what's my blood sugar, how much insulin do I need, will this spike my blood sugar through the roof " yada, yada, yada. Oh yeah, don't forget the shot!!!

19. It was really hard to have to give up: White rice, it is one of those foods that sends my blood sugar through the roof, but also one that I really like.

20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: I have started walking more, is that a hobby. I have some hobbies I haven't done a lot since my diagnosis, like reading and sewing, if I sit still for any extended amount of time my blood sugar rises.

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: I feel normal, it's being normal, that's the question. I would love a day of eating without all the rigamaroll I described in #18.

22. My illness has taught me: How many carbs are in foods, if that is really important to anyone besides a diabetic. How a pancreas is supposed to work, and how to try to be one. On the downer side, it has taught me that I'm not as tough as I thought I was. I know, I know you have to be a strong person to live with a chronic condition, I just still have momments when I cry about my lost life.

23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: "It's just diabetes, it's not cancer". It's "my" cancer, that is slowly going to kill me if I don't do everything I can to control my blood sugars, and it still will probably kill me. My mortality hits me square in the face everytime I have a low blood sugar.

24. But I love it when people: Ask me "how are your blood sugars today?" To ask me how I am, well I'm fine, but it's all about my blood sugar #'s that's specific to my condition, so it feels like they are actually interested. I also love it when people just listen to me, without getting that blank look on their faces. This condition consumes my whole being and I know I talk about it a lot.

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: You Can Do This.

26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: learn and read everything you can about how your pancreas used to work, and how you now have to be the pancreas, the sooner you do that the better.

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: How all consuming it is. Also, learning about how foods affect my blood sugar, obviously I never gave that any thought before. Also, how eating well balanced meals actually keeps the weight off, I know, who would have thunk it. I have dieted most my life. DKA took off 20 pounds I've been trying to lose forever, but I'm finding that by eating well balanced meals, lower glycemic indexed foods most of the time it hasn't been too difficult to keep it off. (Knock on wood)

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: I went low on a walk one time, my husband was with me, so he went and got the car so I wouldn't have to sit there on the curb for 15 minutes waiting for my blood sugar to come up. Oh, he does have pretty good hugs too.

29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: Well, I am little late, but lots of others are doing it, and I thought it would be good for me to put my feelings and thoughts down this way, maybe I will revisit in a few months to see if my answers would be the same.

30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: You care.

If you would like to read more of these posts go to these sites, Bab's Blog, Ninjabetic, Six Until Me, Our Diabetic Life, Beta Buddies If I missed any, I'm sorry I just haven't read them yet. Leave me a comment and I will read them.

Unexpected inspiration

2011-09-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned in other posts about the fact that we have moved. We lived in our home for 7 years. My baby was in second grade when we moved there, now she is a freshman in high school, and not the high school she expected to go to for most of her life, which I'm sure you can understand is quite a change in her life and 14 year olds don't do change well. So, when we looked at the house that we wound up renting, the previous tenants had stenciled some inspirational words on a couple walls. Our first thought was to paint over them, because I thought it was weird to have words on the wall. However the day we moved in she and I both decided that maybe we will keep them for a while.

This is what is painted on the wall in her bedroom. "If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies" totally appropriate to help her through the change she is going through right now.

This is what is painted in the breakfast area of the family room. Besides the change of our move, I have mentioned my recent diagnosis of diabetes in previous posts, therefore I have decided that I might keep this as well, because I need a reminder now and then that "Life is beautiful".

I never win any blog giveaways...

2011-08-30T11:06:00.001-07:00

Until now.

Several weeks ago I see this plee on Facebook from Kim at Texting My Pancreas looking for "Grammie" who had won the medical id bracelet. I thought to myself, "I'm Grammie, does my google screen name say Grammie" so I went back to my entry, and sure enough it was me. I totally forgot that I had entered the contest on the You Can Do This Project site, and like I said I never win anything, so I didn't really give it another thought. With the help if Kim and the wonderful folks at Hope Paige Medical, I ordered this really nice medical id bracelet.

It's sweet and simple. It is called the Sweet Heart, look the links are shaped like hearts, they are soooo cute. I love it. Thank you to Kim for hosting this giveaway, and to the people at Hope Paige.

Bag Lady Strikes Again!!

2011-08-17T22:29:00.000-07:00

I love cute bags of all kinds, so much so my girls call me the bag lady. Before we moved I went to one of my favorite little businesses and bought this yummy cupcake, well while I was there I spotted this cute little bag. I pointed it out to my daughter (who by the way shares my affinity for bags), but I asked her and myself, "what would I use it for?"
I left without purchasing it. When I started packing to move it came to me what I would use it for. Now that I have diabetes, when I go on vacation I feel like I'm packing a diaper bag again. I have to have all my supplies (extra syringes, test strips, glucose tablets, lancets all that jazz), and food. I told my daughter, "wouldn't that "Cupcake" bag be cute and kind of ironic to carry my diabetes supplies", she said "yes" so I bought it. It makes me happy just looking at it, can't wait to use it again.

My favorite new gadget

2011-08-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

I bought this scale about 20 years ago, when I went on Weight Watchers for the first time, back when they used exchanges instead of points. I've used it off and on during all those years when I have dieted. It works pretty well. But now that I have diabetes my food weights need to be much more accurate so I bought a new scale.

Bought this handy dandy digital scale that not only weighs ounces it weighs grams as well. Pretty thrilled with this one right now, but I still have to either look up or know how many carbs are in the food I just weighed. Therefore, my next scale (when money allows) will be the kind that you enter in the type of food you are weighing and it calculates based on the food and weight how many carbs are in it. That will make life alot easier, and I'm all for an easier life right now.

Disclaimer...

2011-08-07T17:13:00.000-07:00

I started this blog a couple years ago, mostly with the intention of showcasing my creations. Then I decided I had stuff I wanted to say so I added the "& Such part". Six months ago my life changed forever with my Type 1 diabetes diagnosis, so now my "such" isn't always sunshine and roses. If you have come to my blog for my creations I truly hope to be back to creating soon. We have also moved so it's hard to sit down at the sewing machine when I have so many boxes to unpack. Thank you for your patience and please stay with me till I get back to creating.

Sometimes you just have to say "What the Heck"

2011-08-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

We moved recently, however there was one place I just had to visit before that happened. In the town we lived in there is this little local cupcake shop that has the best cupcakes. My favorite is this Chocolate Chip cupcake. The teeny tiny chocolate chips on the top are just too cute, and the cake is chocolate chip as well, I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Anyway, I did some research in my Calorie King book and discovered a frosted cupcake has 64 grams of carbs, so I decided to eat half of this cupcake, one quarter as dessert with my lunch and the other quarter at my bedtime snack, this way I didn't have to take any extra insulin in order to enjoy it. Here is another post about a yummy bedtime snack. I gave the other half to my daughter who had to put it in milk to soften it so she could eat it after her oral surgery. I know, eating half, one quarter at a time isn't exactly saying "What the Heck" but I'm not really the "What the Heck" kind of girl, and each little quarter was the best thing I'd eaten in a very long time.

My two patients

2011-08-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

July 11 Michael went to the dr with pains in his lower abdomen, thought he strained something. She referred him to the ER to do some tests to rule out appendicitis, well the tests confirmed it and by 11:30 pm he was having an appendectomy. The good thing was they let him go home right after the surgery, we were asleep in our own bed by 2:15 am, alot better than trying to sleep in a hospital room and waiting all day to be discharged.

On July 14 we had already scheduled oral surgery for Hannah. She had her wisdom teeth surgically removed. She did well, she did swell up alot and her jaws bruised, but she has a pretty high pain tolerance so she wanted to go somewhere the same afternoon of the surgery. Her big sister slept for days after her surgery. So for a few days there I was the house nurse.

Does this remind you of something???

2011-08-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

A week ago we moved to a town near the Bay Area, and it is windy most of the time. Here is Bentley.

Reminds me of this. Falcor from The Neverending Story

This was me...

2011-08-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

two nights ago. Sitting on a curb with low blood sugar.

a couple weeks ago I was having high blood sugars at bedtime so my diabetic educator recommended taking a walk more vigorous than a casual walk, about an hour after I eat my dinner. Twice this week I have gone low, once after the walk when I got home and the second time was during my walk. So I sat on the curb tested my blood sugar it was 51, I ate four glucose tablets (yes, I take these things with me for this very reason, I have posted about these things before here). Luckily Michael was on this walk with Bentley and I, so he walked back to the house and got the car to come back and pick me up, otherwise I would have been sitting there for 15 minutes for my blood sugar to come back up. It's so frustrating, I haven't cried about my condition in a while, but I did sitting there.

In Loving Memory...The Fat House Cat aka Peanut Butter

2011-07-22T06:52:00.000-07:00

He was named Peanut Butter by the folks that owned the mama cat because he looked like he had a shmear of peanut butter on his lip. We loved it so we kept the name.

This is the day we brought him and his brother home they were 6 weeks old. They were so cute

by the looks of Sam in this picture, I should have known he would grow up to be a crazy psycho cat.

I have posted several blogs about the Fat House Cat, this is one of my favorite pictures of him. He was looking at the birds outside. Pets bring such joy to your lives, but having to make the decision to put your loving pet down has to be one of the hardest decisions a person will ever make, and I've now had to do it 3 times.

I suspect you are chasing birds in kitty heaven right now, or curled up in a box. I will miss you my Fat House Cat.

Diabetic S'more

2011-06-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

LOVE THIS SNACK. One thing that I get to do, now that I have diabetes, is eat a bedtime snack. I should have around 30 grams of carbs with a little protein (milk is carb and protein at the same time) before I go to bed to keep me from having a low blood sugar while I sleep. I have dieted most of my teen and adult life, eating right before bed was always a no, no.

I got a portion of this recipe here. I put 2 tablespoons of cool whip between a graham cracker broken in half, wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer and let it freeze. I thought it was yummy just as it was. I told my daughters it tasted like a s'more without the chocolate. My oldest told me to try shmearing a little Nutella on it. So I looked at the number of carbs in the Nutella, I could put a 1/4 tablespoon on it. so the next time I made them I did. It is sooooo good, it has a total of 17 carbs, the original version with one marshmallow and 1/2 hershey bar has 31 carbs. There is 30 total carbs (including the milk) in this bedtime snack.

The Fat House Cat

2011-06-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

He is in box heaven. Don't worry Peanut, we won't forget you when we move.

Like my toothbrush and hairbrush..

2011-06-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

These things have become such a huge part of my daily routine, they are like my tooth and hair brushes.
From left. My meter, I have posted about this thing before. This gives me an idea of where my blood sugars are. The devise with the blue button on it is my finger poker. People say to me, "it must be hard to give yourself shots, does it hurt?" Well, poking my fingers then squeezing blood out of them hurts more than the injections. After all, that is where all my nerve endings are, and I test my blood more times per day than I do an injection. I test at least 7 times per day, before each meal, 2 hours after each meal and at bedtime. I will also test myself if I'm going to drive anywhere so that's even more times. If I feel like my blood sugar has gone low I will test more then as well. Next, the two vials of insulin. The one on the left is my fast acting insulin, which I take before every meal, to work on the carbs I'm about to eat. The next one is a slow, long lasting one, it last about 24 hours, I take that shot at night around 9:30 pm before I go to bed. The syringes, well those are obvious, I use to inject the insulin, 4 shots per day (1 before each meal and one at bedtime. The small black bottle are the test strips that I insert into my meter and apply my blood, the meter reads it and gives me a number, that is roughly what my current blood sugar is. The alchohol swabs, after I poke my finger I wipe it, then I wipe the top of the insulin vile before I draw it into the syringe, I wipe the spot where I give my injection, then I wipe it again after the injection. The thing that looks like a check book is what I chart all of my blood sugar numbers on, maybe you can see the graph on the top. I also keep track of how much insulin I take, how many carbs I eat per meal and bedtime snack, I also use it to count Weight Watchers points in the food I eat as well. Every day, every meal and sometimes in between I use these things, they are a huge part of my daily routine.

These things I keep in my purse or on my nightstand (incase I go low during the night) at all times for emergency, but hope not to use. The glucose tablets I keep incase my blood sugar goes low, I pop 4 and then check my blood about 15 minutes later to see if it has come back up to an acceptable level. The syringe in the orange case is incase my blood sugar goes so low that I pass out, someone would need to be able to give me this shot. Hope that never happens, and if it does I'm not alone.

So there it is, in a nutshell the gadgets I carry with me every where I go, I rely on for my life.

They've been gone less than a week...

2011-06-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

but I really miss them. :-(

Tell, Tell signs...

2011-04-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

That something unusual went on here last week

Wishbone is on the fireplace.

My cat statue is out of place, on the counter out of reach. The door stoppers have been removed, toys that haven't been played with in years resurfaced.

Insect shaped macaroni and cheese.

An extra chair at the kitchen table.

Crayons and coloring books.

No toilet paper on the roll.

That's because these cutie patuties were here, Liam & Gus, they are who makes me Grammie (so far). The mac & cheese wasn't eaten for fear it tasted like bugs, the paper roll is empty as you can imagine what a whole roll did to the toilet. It sure is quiet here today.

This reminds me of something

2011-04-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

When Bentley and I go for a walk we go by a house that has these daffodils planted in their yard. They remind me of when I worked at American Cancer Society. They had a fundraising campaign called "Daffodil Days". Daffodils are the first flower to bloom in the spring, symbolizing new hope for a cure for cancer. I now add Diabetes to that hope.

But mostly, It reminds me of this.

I love lady bugs

2011-04-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

Meter Problem Call Customer Service???

2011-04-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday evening, my blood sugar meter gives me this message. "Error 1 Problem With Meter, Call Customer Service". WTH, CALL CUSTOMER SERVICE!! I need this thing, I depend on this thing, and I hate it, when stuff like this happens I feel so helpless, and that's not me. (By the way that isn't my meter and hand, my nails don't look that good). I was so frustrated, "What am I going to do?" Luckily the gentleman on the customer service line was very nice and the first thing he said was, "We will send you a replacement free, unforturnately it won't ship till tomorrow, and due to the weekend you won't get it till Monday." We did some trouble shooting and got it working again, but he said it was a surprise to him that it worked with the Error 1 message, and wasn't sure how long it would continue to work. Again, I NEED THIS THING. He did tell me that I could pick one up fairly cheep $20.00 at a drug store, to use as a back up. My Dr. could also write a prescription for an new one and my HMO would cover the cost of a new one as well, but it was 7:00 pm Dr. not in her office. I walked nextdoor (my Dr lives nextdoor to me), but she wasn't home. So I went to CVS and picked up this pretty little pink one. I love it because it's pink. But I hate that I'm dependent on such things.

D-Day

2011-03-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

"D" used to stand for many things, Debra, Dog, David...now Diabetes. My D-day was February 2, 2011. The day I was taken from my home by ambulance to the emergency room, in so much pain and shortness of breath I couldn't walk. (Luckily, my husband was able to carry me down our stairs). I remember thinking, as we were leaving my house, "they don't have on the sirens, that's a good sign". Though, I must have fallen asleep, or passed out, because I only recall turning onto one street after mine, remembering nothing till I got into the hospital. Once there I wanted something for the pain, and water my mouth was like cotton. However, they couldn't give me anything until they figured out what was wrong with me. At some point, I don't know how long, (I'm guessing they gave me something), I woke up to see my oldest daughter had come, as well as one of my sister's and brother-in-law. My husband was very concerned, as most would be, however he has worked in the hospital environment for many years and he was usually very calm about medical stuff, which would always reassure me that things were ok. So when I saw his reation I knew this was serious. Then I heard things like "dka" (diabetic ketoacidosis), "blood sugar over 400", admitting to ICU. My thoughts were "What, diabetic, Intensive Care". The rest of that day, that night and the following day were spent with what seemed like every hour (probably more like 2) finger poking, twice a day lab tests. Hunger, (was never so happy to get chicken broth), crazy caffine headache, then I was sent home 2 days later with a whole new way of life. How do I feel about this? I don't really know. I'm obviously glad to be alive, because I was close to the alternative. But I will never be able to just eat, and believe you me, I love to eat. I'm not talking pigging out. Just eating, I need the right amount of carbs, not to little or too much. Or eat whenever I feel like it, sleep in, eat at 10:00. Every meal is at a certain time and is preceded with a pricking of my finger for blood sugar level and a shot of insulin. The food needs to be on the table and ready to eat as soon as I take my shot, so by the time I get through the whole routine my food gets cold, I HATE cold food, unless it's supposed to be cold. I've gone through every possible emotion there is. Sadness, anger, bitterness, questioning God. He still hasn't shown why, but I'm guessing He will when He's ready. I just wanted to grow old gracefully. Requiring as little care from others as possible. You know, if they don't get you out of bed in time to go to the bathroom, you just pee on yourself, or if you don't get a shower as often as you would like, you just stink. Now when I'm old and feeble I will have to rely on someone for my life. MY LIFE I'm telling you. That is a huge responsiblity to place on someone else, and it just saddens me deeply. I was at a bookstore, the other day looking at diabetes books. There was one called D-Tour, and I didn't catch the play on words at first, then I finally did. I was driving down this road called life, then suddenly came to an obstacle in the road and had to take a detour (d-tour). The only thing is usually those kind of detours take you back to the road you were once on. My D-Tour has veered me off that road and is taking me down a totally different one, never to return to the other.

What I read last year

2011-01-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

I posted here last year about New Year's Resolutions and the one I made last year to read more. Well I've been reading like a fiend. Here are several of the books I read, not in any particular order, I don't remember the order I just hope I remember them all.
I really liked this book, It made me think about what I wanted to do with my life, especially in the area of service.

Liked this one too. Not that I'm Hindu, but it made me think about my spirituality, my relationship with my savior Jesus and God. We hadn't gone to church in a few years. We stopped when my husband broke his leg, and it was difficult for him to get from the large parking lot, and sometimes there were only seats in the bleachers, (yes our church has bleachers) so he couldn't get up there, yada yada I know devil's excuses. Anyway, after I read this book I decided we needed to get back to church and worshipping God.

My oldest daughter recommended this one. I really liked it (let's just put it out there, I liked them all to some point). This is a Biblical fiction about Queen Esther.

Since I just started my life of reading, this is my first Danielle Steele. It was kind of a typical love story, but the main woman was hiding from the life she grew up in, until she met a man that brought her right back to it. It made me think about that I am kind of a shy person, and I have been hiding from my role of Superintendent's wife by not living with my husband where he works, and that in his next position, I would step out of my comfort zone and be more visible by the community where he works.

This one started out as a typical, he meets she and they fall in love, but somewhere in the middle the relationship got weird, and the ending was totally unexpected.

I picked this up in the bargain boxes at the book store. The woman in this story is going through a divorce, has to sell their house, but decides she doesn't want anyone else living in it so she decides she will burn it down. This one made me think about how you should put your relationship before a house. Which is kind of what we have been doing by my not moving to where my husband works.

Again, my first Jodi Picoult book. The boy in this book as Asperger's decease. I have a nephew that has this as well. The boy in the book's case is much more severe than my nephew's. My nephew lived with us when he was 5 & 6. He was diagnosed much later in life than this boy, however it explains some of his behaviour.

I read this one because it is the sequel to Love Story which I read last year. It didn't end the way I thought it would.

I read several more of this series. I'm up to number 11, there are 16 we'll see if I can complete it this year.

My daughter-in-law recommended this one and the next. This was so sad, but I loved it. About a Jewish girl whose family was arrested in the middle of the night during the holocaust. I had my 13 year old daughter read this, she liked it as well.

This one is about 2 little girls lost in the woods. It disturbed my sleep, I read in bed at night. I had my daughter read this one as well. It was really good.

Occasionally I read books that my 13 year old wants me to read, this is one of them. She likes books that make her think. This is about the possibility of a fountain of youth, and being able to live forever. However, the obvious problem is reproducing. Would you choose to not have children so that you could live forever???

Another one my teenager wanted me to read. This one is about a very rich man that cloned himself in order to live forever. I liked it better than the first one. The only problem with reading books that she recommends is that she has already told me about the story while she was reading it, so I already know how they will end.

I've read some books by Rachel Gibson, they are fluffy romance, but they fill in the space between some of the thought provoking books that I have read.

Probably the only one I didn't really like much was about some children being raised by hippies, that was a bargain box book as well.

I hope I got them all, I donated them to the Good Will so I can't go back and take a look.

Looking forward to see what I read this year. Right now, I'm reading 3 at one time. I'm reading The Purpose Driven Life, hopefully to find out just exactly what God wants me to do with the rest of my life. I'm reading the Bible again, I started in the early 2000's but I didn't finish it. I have a little outline that has reading everyday, so if I stick with it, I will complete it at the end of this year. And, I'm reading a book by Jennifer Lancaster "Bitter is The New Black". I read one of hers last year and really enjoyed it, so I'm doing it again.

Hope you try some of these books, if you haven't already, and enjoy!!!

A Christmas Creation

2011-01-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

I have posted in the past about my tradition of giving my girls a Christmas ornament that depicts their interest that year. My youngest daughter started cheer leading this year in preparation for trying out for cheerleader in high school next year. Though, she said, "I don't want a slew of cheerleader ornaments". So I gave it a great deal of thought and came up with something that she really liked.

That's my baby on the left, with her best friend. You can't see in this picture but the emblem on her uniform is a red, silver and black star. It just popped in my head one day to try to replicate that emblem.

From the craft store I got one of the cardboard star shaped boxes, and very fine shimmery glitter in her colors. I drew the emblem on the top of the box, and covered in glitter. She loved it.

Here it is in it's place of honor, front and center of our Christmas tree. Wonder what I'm in store for next year.

Amanda's furniture installment #2

2010-10-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

This is a dresser that Amanda & Brian picked up at a thrift store, they didn't want to paint or re stain, they decided they wanted to use a product called "Restore-a-finish". It is a product that you put on and is supposed to cover scratches, water stains, and stuff like that. Then also give it a nice shiny finish.

This is the top after the restoring, there were some pretty deep marks that didn't get covered, and some rings that I don't think were water, they were silver in color and didn't go away. However the top was filled with little pitted spots that were covered after 3 coats. I must say though, the minor scratches disappeared right off the bat with one coat. I was impressed.
Especially considering Michael dropped something on one of the drawers, put a gouge in it and that it covered it right up.

Here are a couple pictures of the front after I was finished. The scuffs around where the knobs were, covered fairly well. They were a lot deeper before I started.

The finish came out really shiny, it was very easy. In case you're wondering about the knobs, it got taken to its' new home before she bought new knobs for it. It is one more piece not in my garage anymore.

Refinished Coffee Table

2010-09-09T09:34:00.001-07:00

A year ago, when Amanda moved out of our house she decided she would go buy used furniture at the local Flee Mart and refinish it. Well... she put one coat of stripper on this coffee table and decided... I don't know what she decided, but a year later I decided to do it so we can get it out of our garage, this is the first installment, there will be more to come.

Here is the coffee table in the state that she left it, not much done.

Here I am putting stripper on it. I remember doing furniture refinishing in high school, and I remember that I liked doing it. I think I would like doing more, but when you have a job outside of the home, it's hard to find the extra time to do it.

This is a picture of the detail on the leg. It was so dark and dirty before you really couldn't see it. It is actually a beautiful table.

Here is the leg finished, it looks so much better. She prefers darker furniture than I do. This was after 4 coats of a dark walnut stain. If I was doing the table for me, I probably would have stopped with 3 coats.

Here it is in it's home. The only problem is now Brian can't sit on the floor and play video games, which was what he was doing when we brought it in.

More Wedding Memories

2010-08-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

Bride and Maid-of-honor (sisters) choosing music for the wedding, baby sister is really getting into it.

Wedding Memories

2010-08-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Bride and Daddy practicing their dance.

A New Room for Hannah

2010-08-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

There is a long story as to how I came to spend the last four days of my vacation redoing Hannah's room. I hadn't planned on changing her room till she was in high school. However, when her big sister was 13 she started coloring her hair, so Hannah decided she would be able to highlight her hair when she turned 13. Her hair color is beautiful, and I wasn't ready for her to start messing with it. So I decided I would redecorate her room for her 13th birthday if she would wait till she was in high school to start highlighting her hair. She went for it.

This is the completed room.

This is what that same wall looked like before the redo. When she was 10 her sister and I did this to her room, it matched a pattern that was on her comforter at that time. However that was on a twin bed and she outgrew that so we had to get her a bigger bed, which meant bigger comforter. The walls are a pale, pale lavender with this design on one wall.

First I put on two coats of white paint with primer in it to cover the purple decoration. That took only one day.

This is the part that took 3 days, oh yes, not to mention the day after I put 2 coats of paint on her walls and ceiling, I could hardly move, so it set me back a morning of work. Then I marked the strips with a level, and taped. Before putting the color on, I did what I call under painting. Got this tip on line, I first painted the taped area where the color would be with the white paint so that the color wouldn't seep under the tape, it really helps to make the lines clean.

Couple pictures of the wall before bringing back in the furniture.

The completed room. I thought it would be crazy on the eyes sitting in a room with these colors and horizontal stripes, but the colors are very soothing. It turned out alot better than I thought it would.

The Fat House Cat

2010-08-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

One day back in the spring...

Something that almost never happens, see this post, The Fat House Cat got to go outside.

A Creation for Hannah's Accessories

2010-08-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hannah was beginning to accumulate several headbands, bracelets and necklaces. They were cluttering up her dresser, so I decided she needed some form of organization for them. Gave it alot of thought, then one day we were out shopping and saw these handy gadgets the store used to display their jewelry, and I thought to myself, "I think I can make something like that", and I did.

Got some dowels, wood blocks and black velvet material.

With some help from Dad and the drill, I made this double "T" thing to hold her headbands and necklaces, and charm bracelet.

This picture is in my bathroom, but it looks really cute on her dresser

\Then I made this one for her bracelets and bangles.

Now at least this aspect of her life is organized.

Wedding Creations cont...

2010-07-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

The bride actually did the creating on this project. I wanted it to come out just exactly like she wanted.

White cotton fabric, surged around the edges. Then stamped with guest names and a cute little swirly design.

The bride folding napkins...

The maid of honor folding napkins...

The groom even folded a couple napkins...

They became the focal piece of the place settings.

Some of our Wedding Creations

2010-07-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

These cans...

These pvc pipes...

This fabric, that Bentley felt the need to lay in...

Along with some Christmas lights, Became this...

Beautiful canopy for the dance floor. Thankfully my sister-in-law owns a drapery business and made the fabric part for us.

Why haven't I been blogging???

2010-06-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

Been way too busy, planning my baby's wedding.

Besides the obvious creation, my daughter, she and I made her bouquet. It consists of white hydrangeas and pale pink peonies. I have some pictures of a few of our other creations I will post in the future. When I get more pictures of the wedding I will post those as well.

April 2, 1997

2010-04-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Another one of the happiest days of my life...the day Hannah was born.

We had been trying to have our second child since our first was 3 years old. Some days it seemed like it was never going to happen. After a little health issue and a miscarriage, seven years later you were born. For those of you who have also suffered through a miscarriage, I would never want to demean your experience or pain by saying, having that miscarriage was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I was getting older, and we had decided that when I finally did get pregnant, that would be our last child. Well thankfully God had different plans for us. He decided, he didn't want us to have that child, he wanted us to have Hannah instead, and I will forever be grateful for His intervention.

This was on her first trip to Disneyland. She and I are having a conversation while we were waiting in line for the raft to go over to Tom Sawyer's Island. She is such a talker. She gets into the car after school and tells me everything about her day. I absolutely love it. I hope she never stops doing that, it will be a sad the day.

Here she is with her brother David, he was 23, this was taken at her big sister's 11th birthday party.

She was a thumb sucker, we thought she would never stop. She finally did when she was 6 years old. We were so lucky she didn't do permanent damage to her teeth, for someone who sucked their thumb, she has one of the prettiest smiles.

She has spent a lot of her life tagging along at her sister's activities. This was taken while her sister was doing youth cheer leading, they got a sucker every week. One time while eating a sucker she got stung by a yellow-jacket on the lip. One of the other parents had the EMT for the game look at her sting, they decided to call the paramedics to come from the fire station to check her out. She was OK.

This was taken at Pacific Grove, Michael walks most every morning, even when on vacation. Especially when that vacation is at the beach, she decided to walk with him this day. She was around 3.

This was a Preschool picture. I love this picture, her eyes are so blue, and her smile is so bright. (Still sucking that thumb at this time). She was so shy, I used to say she was afraid of her own shadow. I would have never known my shy little baby would grow up to be on stage doing theatre and dance. She hasn't done theatre in a while, but she is a member of a Hip Hop & Jazz Dance team. She dances like she's not afraid of anything.

This was her in her Jazzy Cat costume for her Winter Recital this past Christmas. I absolutely love watching her dance.

This was taken with her "Sissy" at the Nutcracker this past Christmas.

Hannah, you are growing into such a lovely, intelligent young lady, I am so proud of you. I love you more than words can say.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

My Daily Diet

2010-03-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: Day off, just my morning diet pepsi.

Lunch: Reward Meal, while out running errands with Amanda we had LaBou, yumm. Half roast beef sandwich, bbq chips and I ate 1/2 of the chocolate chip cookie. Will eat the other half tomorrow.

Dinner: Chicken salad, made with romaine lettuce, grated cheddar cheese, popcorn chicken and ranch dressing. As I mentioned in a previous post, I don't stress about the breading on the chicken.

My Daily Diet

2010-03-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: This was supposed to be a soft boiled egg, but when I put it in the pan it cracked, so some came out and was poached and the egg turned out to be a deformed lightly hard cooked egg with 2 sausage links.

Lunch: Taco Salad, these ingredients were left over from last nights tacos, so I threw them together at work.

Dinner: Reward meal, Shrimp Melt sandwich, leftover Julienne potatoes, and chips. I was going to post the recipe, thought I had pictures of the process, but not completely so I will post the next time I make it. It is basically raw shrimp cut into pieces, cooked in a frying pan with my favorite salsa. Sliced avocado on the bottom bread, shrimp mixture, jack cheese then put under the broiler till the cheese melts. I have made this without the bread as well, so it makes a good low carb meal.

Dessert: with Reward Meal, the last Snicker Doodle muffin.

My Daily Diet

2010-03-16T19:39:00.001-07:00

Well, I knew it was bound to happen, I forgot to take a picture of my breakfast. Though for breakfast I had my version of a Breakfast Jack. A slice of ham, 1/2 slice American cheese and a fried egg, no bun.

Lunch: Breadless Philly Beef and Cheese. In this container is sauteed mushrooms, green pepper and onions, deli roastbeef and provolone cheese. At work I warmed it in the microwave till the cheese melted.

Snack: The other half of this bag of peanuts.

Dinner: Reward Meal, 2 tacos, spanish rice and black beans. I was stuffed after eating this. I think next time only one taco.

Dessert: with Reward Meal, ice cream cone.

In a future post I'm going to tell you about the most crazy diet I've ever been on. Stay tuned.

My Daily Diet

2010-03-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

Well today I was a little "under the weather", where did that saying come from? Anyway, I got up, fixed Hannah breakfast, once she was off to school I went back to bed. So all I had this morning was my "morning cup of coffee".

Breakfast: Diet Pepsi, my "morning cup of coffee". I don't drink coffee.

Lunch: Taco Salad from Taco Bell. I asked for it with no rice and beans, and told the guy I was eating low carb he asked me if I wanted it without the shell, so that's what this is.

Snack: Half of this bag of peanuts. The whole bag had too many carbs.

Dinner: Homemade Pizza. The crust I buy from Winco already made fresh in a bag, put some squeeze on Pizza sauce mozzarella cheese, then top with our favorite stuff.

Dessert: Snicker Doodle Muffin

I stayed in bed till it was almost time to go get Hannah from school, so I was really hungry, and decided to stop by Taco Bell. Then when I took her to dance the salad hadn't been quite enough to get me through to dinner so I needed the snack. I don't like being on a low carb diet when I'm sick, because all I want to eat is Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup and Saltine crackers.

My Daily Diet

2010-03-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: Half an omelet with ham, cheese, onions and spinach, 2 pieces bacon, Michael made breakfast this morning.

Lunch: Tuna salad. Not crazy amazing.

Amanda, Hannah and I had to go to a Girl Scout training today. Before we went I was helping Michael with some stuff on the computer, and before I knew it, it was almost time to go and I hadn't eaten lunch yet. Mixed this up real quick. I sooooo wanted to put it on bread, and have bbq chips with it. When I was a kid, I would have in my lunch box everyday, tuna sandwich, bbq chips and Ho Ho's. So now I just can't eat a tuna sandwich without the chips. I don't have to have the Ho Ho's but there nice.

Dinner: Corn dog, Chili Cheese Fries, Pepsi.

After the training the girls were hungry, and we had some errands to run so we had dinner out. I didn't feel like ice cream tonight, and that's pretty much all they have, so I didn't have a dessert.

My Daily Diet

2010-03-13T21:49:00.000-08:00

Breakfast: Fried egg and sausage links.

Went to the mall to get Hannah some shoes so lunch was from the Food Court.

Lunch: McDonald's Bacon Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich, as you can see I put the bun aside and ate it with a fork and knife. The chicken has a little breading but I'm ok with that. I forgot to take my camera with me, Hannah's phone died, so this picture was taken with my ancient phone.

Dinner: "Reward Meal", Broiled Steak, Betty Croker Julienne Potatoes and sauteed zucchini, onions and diced tomatoes. When I go shopping I buy NY strip steaks, I bring home the steaks and cut them in half, part economical, part reducing the amount of red meat we eat.

Dessert: with "reward meal" Snicker Doodle Muffin, recipe can be found here

Ok, so far I think I've made this "diet" seem really great. I mean, on how many diets can you have a regular dessert, or low carb diets where you can have potatoes. Not many.

Here are some draw backs to this diet, 1. I prefer eggs with a runny yolk. Omelets are ok, so are scrambled eggs and hard boiled eggs, but I love a runny yolk egg. The problem is I desperately, yes, I said desperately, want a piece of toast or biscuit to sop up that yolk, but unless I want breakfast to be my reward meal I can't have it. I don't usually make that meal breakfast, because it doesn't give me anything to look forward to. 2. Another draw back are tasty little morsel such as the ones pictured below.

I've decided to call these Pizza Poppers, recipe here these are crescent roll dough filled with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese.

I made these today for Hannah, they are soooo good fresh out of the oven, they are flaky and the cheese melts, mmmmm. Could I have any, NO. I had to save one and have it with my "reward meal" they just aren't the same warmed over. So there is good with bad on this diet.

Friday's Meals

2010-03-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

Hannah was on the computer all evening working on a project so I didn't get my meals posted last night. Better late than never.

Breakfast: 2 slices of Canadian Bacon, Canadian bacon has less fat than regular bacon, half slice of American Cheese, and a fried egg. This is my muffinless Egg Mcmuffin.

Lunch: Chicken, apple, gouda cheese sausage, there's just a small amount of apple. Sauerkraut, and some sauted mushrooms leftover from a mushroom burger I made for Hannah, one night. Food doesn't look as appetizing in a plastic container, but what are you gonna do when you have to take it to work.

When I got home from work Hannah and I both wanted a snack. She wanted the leftover meatballs from the meatball sandwiches so I ate one of those.

Dinner: "Reward Meal" Hannah wanted Chinese Chicken Salad, and I didn't, so I went for the freezer and pulled out some stuff. On this plate is a Chimichanga topped with cheddar cheese, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and salsa. Chicken taquitos and some quacamole for dipping. I also had some leftover spanish rice I had in the freezer, but I forgot about it till I started eating so it didn't make it in this picture.

Dessert: with my reward meal, Ice cream again. Love the stuff. But I think I may bake something today. Hannah decided she wanted the other half of my Green Velvet cupcake. I almost said to myself, "to be young, and to be able to eat what ever you want", but I was a "chubby kid" as well, and have been on some sort of diet since I was in high school.

My Daily Diet

2010-03-11T22:20:00.001-08:00

Breakfast: Diet Pepsi, I know not a great breakfast. I had today off from work, and when I take a day off I like my mornings to be real lazy. I fix breakfast for my daughter before she goes to school, and when I'm off I like to just relax, get on the computer, read, anything but cook another breakfast. However, I do know it's not good to skip breakfast when dieting. I once heard a fitness expert say "eating breakfast jump starts you metabolism", so if you don't eat breakfast your metabolism is sluggish, and gets a slower start, which is the last thing you need while dieting.

Lunch: My "reward meal" Togo's, half pastrami sandwich, with half BBQ Chicken Ranch Salad, chips and a "real" Pepsi. That was the biggest half sandwich I'd ever seen. I had some errands to run so I felt like having lunch out today. If I had wanted to save my reward meal for dinner I would have had a whole salad, asked for the bbq sauce on the side, so I could control the amount that I ate, and taken off some of the tortilla strips, but probably not all of them.

This was my dessert with my reward meal. In celebration of St. Patrick's Day I had a Green Velvet cupcake purchased from this cute little cupcake shop in the town I live in. That's Icing on the Cupcake in Rocklin CA, If you live in the area you must stop by and get their cupcakes, they are tasty. The cream cheese frosting is so rich I only ate half of the cupcake, I'll probably have the rest tomorrow.

Dinner: Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach, I got the recipe for this dish from the Food Network website The recipe calls to put this over cous cous, I tried it that way once, Hannah didn't like the cous cous, and I'm not going to make it just for me, so without it this becomes a low carb meal for me.

Another little diet trick, I use the smaller salad plates when I eat most of the time. It tricks the eye into thinking I have more food than I actually do. It looks full.

My Daily Diet

2010-03-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

Breakfast: Soft boiled egg, and sausage patties.

These are the ingredients for my lunch. Many, many years ago Carl's Jr made a sandwich with thin sliced roast beef, swiss cheese and ortega chiles. This is my version, minus the bun.

Lunch: I put all the ingredients in a container for work, when I was ready for lunch I microwaved it just enough to warm the meat and melt the cheese. If this isn't enough food you could steam some vegies along with this, have a salad or some cut up vegies with ranch dip.

Dinner: This was my "reward meal", Meatball Sandwich and fried potatoes the recipe for this meatball sandwich can be found on my Recipe Blog.

I also had this dessert along with my "reward meal".

I know, anyone who has followed Atkins is thinking how does this work, I don't know it just does, for me at least.

Here is the disclaimer on the "reward meal". According to the book that I read "the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet", your body starts processing carbs into sugar approximately one hour after you start eating carbs. Therefore, you must stop eating carbs within an hour. When I explain this to some people they tell me "I could eat alot of carbs in one hour", it's not eat carbs for an hour straight. Once you start your "reward meal" eating carbs you must be done within an hour including eating your dessert. If you start your meal (dinner for example) at 6:00 pm, and you finish say around 6:30, if you are going to have dessert, or alcohol you must consume it before 7:00. You can't wait around till 7:30 or 8:00 and then go back and have that dessert. If you are the type of person that nibbles while they are cooking, as soon as you start nibbling on those carbs, that's the beginning of your hour, so I don't recommend it. Hope that makes since. All I know is it works form me, it is slow weight loss, on an average 1 pound per week, but I'm happy with that, as long as I'm not gaining.

The Fat House Cat

2010-03-10T19:20:00.001-08:00

Maybe this explains everything.

My Low Carb Diet

2010-03-09T21:46:00.001-08:00

I have been on a version of a "Low Carb Diet" since January. I got this diet from a book called, "The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet". In a nutshell, you eat 2 meals per day that are low carb, 4 carbs or less. The third meal is called a "Reward Meal", you can eat anything you want during this meal, including dessert. If you snack throughout the day they as well need to be 4 carbs or less. There is too much detail for me to go into, so if anyone is interested in this diet I recommend reading the book.

Today on Facebook, my neice and a friend told me they were going "low carb", and wanted to know what I ate, I'm guessing since I've been on the diet for 2 months now. So I decided I would try every evening to post what I ate for the day, that way they might see something they never thought of, and try it. The key to this way of living is variety, and food that is tasty, if I ate just meat and salads all the time, I think I would go nuts.

The only thing I have for today is my dinner, as it was almost dinner time when I read the comments I had. This is a stir fry. It is actually a recipe that I got for Egg Roll filling. One time I made egg rolls, and this is what was inside of it, I had some leftover and thought it would be good for lunch the next day.

In this bowl are a couple handfuls of a bagged cole slaw mix, yes there are some carrots, but I don't think there is really enough to do much damage, 2 chopped green onions, a few shakes of ground ginger and a spoonful of crushed garlic (you could used diced if that's what you have).

This is a leftover chicken breast, I actually split it in half length wise before I cooked it last night because it was going to be in a sandwich. If you don't have leftover chicken, you could cook a fresh chicken breast and it will already be warm.

I diced up the chicken.

I mixed it all together and sauted it in a little olive oil, till the cabbage was just a little cooked and the chicken was warm.

I added a splash of soy sauce, and mixed it up a little.

I only ate half of it, I will take the other half to work for lunch on another day, when I first started the diet, I would have eaten all of it, or had some vegies with it.

Happy Birthday Michael

2010-02-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

Today is Michael's 55th birthday.

This picture is of him on his 1st birthday, with his mom Arlene, dad Bob, and brother Steve, what a cutie he was.

This is his senior picture.

This is him with his son David.

Here he is with our oldest daughter Amanda.

And here with our baby Hannah.

There's nothing in the world that brings out the teddy bear in a man like holding his babies.

This is one of my favorite pictures of him. I keep it in my purse. He is sooo sexy in his OP pants. And I absolutely love the slight cleft in his chin. Occasionaly you need a reminder of why you fell in love with someone, this picture does it for me. We are on our way to Catalina. When he was student teaching he was asked to chaperone the senior's trip to Grad Night at Disneyland, and the next day they had booked a private beach on Catalina Island. It was alot of fun, though I can't believe I got over my sea sickness long enough to take this picture.

Again, another one of my favorite pictures. This is who he was for the first 20 years we were married. He had gotten his dream job as the Head Football Coach at El Camino High School, in Sacramento. He was always dressed this way, so much so, that our baby mistook a janitor at the high school dressed the same way, for her dad.

This was taken 4 years ago, on a cruise. I see him dressed this way more, now that he is a Superintendent of a school district.

In the last few years he has taken up scuba diving, and really loves it. Though I don't have much desire to do it.

There is so much more to this man, but then my post would go on for days. He loves his children, and now grandchildren, and he loves me. He is the love of my life. I can't imagine my life without him, he has been in my life longer than not. I cherish everyday that we have been together, and look forward to continuing to grow old with him.

Happy Birthday Michael, I love you!!

Daddy Daughter Fun!

2010-02-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

Michael is gone all week and home only on the weekends, so he tries to do something with Hannah as often as possible.

Here they are on the quads. There's a little creek and woodsy area not far from our house that they go riding at, there's a little pond so they fish sometimes as well.

This was for the Girl Scout's Daddy/Daughter Dance, it was an '80's theme. Hannah's costume was Cindy Lauper inspired, she wouldn't let me crimp and rat her hair. She also didn't want to wear some of my "authentic '80's earrings". What's up with that?

This was a trip we took to Apple Hill, they fished for a long time, the fish kept breaking the line on her pole, so they decided to rent one of the poles they have there and she caught something right away. I posted about this trip here.

This was one Friday night after he had driven home, she sat in his lap and told him all about her week, at school.

The Fat House Cat

2010-02-17T11:33:00.001-08:00

He's dreaming of being a Ballerina...

In his mind this is what he looks like. So graceful.

Hannah's Nightstand

2010-02-15T21:24:00.000-08:00

I finally finished painting Hannah's nightstand that goes with the dresser that I you can see here. I picked up a dresser and nightstand off Craigslist for $75.00. They turned out great once I finished them. When you read my previous post about the dresser, you will see that I was very frustrated with it. I probably should have started with the nightstand first then move on to the bigger piece, because I learned alot about using spray paint, especially on laminate.

This is not its original state, I forgot to take a picture before I put the first coat of paint on. Now I need to find some vintage bookshelves to refinish for her room, right now she has the "bookshelf in a box" from Staples housing all her dolls, books and dvd's. This beautiful nightstand is now the home of her beta fish "Edward" so named because she thinks it looks vampireish.

February 11, 1987

2010-02-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

One of the happiest days of my life... the day Amanda was born.

We decided after we had been married a year or so, that we were ready to add a baby to our family. Michael already had a son, so we really wanted a little girl. After a couple years trying, we finally got the good news that we were having a baby.

This is Amanda when shew was 3 days old. The hospital volunteers came by a took her picture the morning before we went home. We came home from the hospital on Valentines Day, I always tell her she was my little valentine.

I remember the day we brought her home. I sat her down in her infant seat, and said this to Michael. "What do we do now? We have waited 9 months for this day, what now? All he said was, "we raise her". Since he had already done this, I decided he knew what he was doing, because I sure didn't.

She was about a week old here.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures. Michael worked a graveyard shift, Monday-Thursday, which meant I got all the feedings during the week. On the weekends we would take turns, him one night, me the next night, whoever had the night feeding got to sleep in the next morning. It's kind of a running joke in our house, if you fall asleep you might get your picture taken.

It must have been my turn to sleep in this morning, and guess what, Michael took a picture.

This is one of Michael's favorite memories. It was her first experience with chocolate. Michael was eating a fudge bar, and she wanted it.

Here are a couple pictures of her with her brother. He was good with her, considering he was a 13 year old boy. One time we went to watch him play drums in a concert, afterward he came over to us, took Amanda and walked away, then we noticed all these girls swarm around him, I guess little baby sisters come in handy for something.

While I was going through my pictures, which there were so many, I came across this one. She is 3 and it is Christmas, she is modeling the purse Santa brought her. I chose this picture, because it is so her. When she is excited about something she gets that same look on her face. If she spots a cute purse now she will pick it up and do the same pose.

Lot's of years in between, but here are a couple of her senior portraits. I love the cheerleading one, because she spent the majority of her 4 years in high school dressed in a cheer uniform, and I absolutely loved watching her cheer.

Now alot of the pictures I have of her are with her little sister. This was taken this past Christmas when we went to see The Nutcraker.

This was Christmas Eve, she got engaged on Christmas Eve. This is Brian, the new addition to our family.

Amanda, you have grown to be an intelligent, lovely young lady. I couldn't be more proud of you. I love you more than words can say.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Some more Disney

2010-02-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

We went to Disneyland 2 days.

Here are the girls on the Peter Pan ride, one of Hannah's favorites.

"Jack, the Pumpkin King" resides in the Haunted Mansion during Christmas, I love "Nightmare Before Christmas". I love how they adapt the Haunted Mansion to go along with the movie.

This is Sleeping Beauty's Castle, lit up with Christmas lights, Clark Griswold style.

The first night we were there we met Robin & Julie Luce there. Julie is my oldest sister's neice by marriage. We aren't actually related, however we kind of grew up together, seems like everytime they came to visit my sister and brother-in-law, and their kids, I was usually around, so it feels like we are related. It was so nice to see her after so many years. This was actually the first time I had met her husband. This is Robin, Michael and Hannah on Splash Mountain, looks like they had a great time, I know they were soaked when they got off the ride. Amanda, Julie and I decided not to go on this ride and walked through Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

Two days later we went again, this time we went with my step-son, daughter-in-law, and grandbabies. Liam is playing Goofy's piano.

Gus with his Mickey ears on.

Amanda, Hannah, Liam and Mickey Mouse, at his house.

It's a Small World, the clock was striking 3:00pm

David, Cindy & Gus. He slept through It's a Small World. He also slept through Pirates of the Carribean.

We absolutely love Disneyland, it was really busy, lots of people and long lines, but overall it was a great trip.

I really miss my mom

2010-02-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

"A mother is a woman who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take".

Today would have been my mom's 83rd birthday. Though she passed away 12 years ago.

Dad and mom, when they were really young, I'm not sure how old they are. I tell my older siblings, "I didn't know these people, my parents were old".

Now this is more like it. These are my parents, based on the house that this picture was taken in, mom was somewhere between 47-52. Mom had Rheumatoid Arthritis, she was diagnosed somewhere in her early 30's, I love this picture because the outward signs of it haven't started showing, she stands straight, she is still wearing shoes not slippers, and her hands aren't crippled. My face is shaped exactly like hers. I have a niece that tells me I look a lot like her now.

This was taken at mom and dad's 40Th anniversary party. That's me in the back with all my siblings. Mom was 55, I'm 20.

One year for mother's day Amanda got a cute frame, that has a quote around it. In it she put this picture, a printed version of the quote above, and an orchid that I took from my mom's casket arrangement and pressed. This was taken when we took Hannah to see her for the first time.

Little did I know the day this picture was taken, would be the last time I would see my mother alive. I remember crying when we left her that day, which I didn't usually do, and I didn't know why. This was in August of 1998, she passed away October 18, 1998. I spoke to her the evening before, I told her that we would be back to see her for Thanksgiving, but that didn't happen.

I have thought about my mom a lot lately, probably because my oldest daughter Amanda is getting married, and I wish she could be here. I just want to be able to call her up and say "mom, Amanda is getting married", as I did for so many other important things that happened in my girls' lives. I would love to be able to ask her how she felt when her daughters got married, especially the first one. I have older sisters that I could ask this question, and I probably will, though it's just not the same.

I love you mom!!

Some Pictures of our Christmas vacation

2010-01-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

I know it's a little late, but better late than never, or so they say.

A few days before Christmas we went to Laguna Beach and Disneyland. The cast of characters are Michael, Me, Amanda & Hannah. Then David, Cindy, Liam and August joined us.

On a shopping spree, I had already walked the streets of Laguna Beach so I was tired, I stayed at the condo with Gus. Apparently, this little street was lined with trees and it kind of creeped Hannah out, that's why Michael is comforting her.

Aunt Hannah and Liam on the Beach.

Papa, Grammie and Liam.

Cindy, David and Liam, this was a landing about half way down this long set of stairs, to get down to the beach from the condo.

Grammie & Gus

Aunt Amanda and Liam making cheeeese faces.

Liam unwrapping his Christmas present.

The girls with their gifts from David and Cindy.

Cindy with her present from us. It was a cake pan that was engraved with her name on the top and the bottom. You know, so when she starts taking cakes or whatever she chooses to potlucks, her pan doesn't get jacked. The bag in the background has a homemade ornament with a picture of the boys on it, love it. It went right on the tree when we got home. I really don't like the way I look with glasses on, but I couldn't see the picture, so what else am I gonna do?

David with his present. A Charger's windbreaker. His favorite football team.

We had a great time, and loved having the whole family there, it was a little too cold for me to go to the beach much, though Michael walked on it every morning. The girls were mostly into going shopping.

The Disneyland pictures will be in a seperate post.

New Toys!!

2010-01-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

I LOVE NEW TOYS!!!

We were spending Thanksgiving in Pixley at my sisters. As usual, we had the door buster sale papers, and trying to decide if there was anything that we needed, as Kyle would be at Walmart by midnight. I saw these. I showed them to Michael. He didn't say much so I let it go, then later he tells me, "you know if you want those we could stop by Home Depot tomorrow while we're in Bakersfield and see if they still have some." I responded with, "yeah, we could do that", but inside I was screaming like a little girl, who'd just gotten exactly what she wanted Santa to bring.

Though most wouldn't consider a washer and dryer toys, but I've been wanting, if I weren't a Christian woman I might even say coveting these since the first day I ever saw them on the market. So we're talking a while. Throughout my married life I have always just bought one appliance at a time. You know, as needed. We bought our first washer and dryer from a used appliance store when we bought our first home. They didn't match, when the dryer went out, I bought just a new dryer, then when the washer went out I bought a new washer. They never matched. This is the first time ever in 28 years I have had a matching set, and I am soooo excited, I can hardly stand it!

Disney Christmas's

2010-01-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

We love Disneyland at Christmas. We've gone several times. This year it was busier than I think I'd ever seen it. But this is about memories, so I won't go there.

This was Hannah's first trip to Disneyland. She was 8 months old, Amanda was 10 1/2. They always have this gigantic tree right at the front inside. We took this picture, then Amanda decided to make it into a cute Christmas ornament. She used to display it proudly, now when they decorate the tree, it never goes up. So, once they are done I go find it in the box and put it on the tree. They know I'm going to do it so why don't they just put it up?? Amanda looks a little sick, she had the beginnings of a really bad flu that was going around that year, that supposedly came in through the LA area. She and Michael were both really sick before we got home, then the next week the baby got sick. Sorry, went off on a tangent.

This was the picture we took this Christmas. Amanda is now 22, and Hannah is 12. Hannah is a good 3-4 inches taller than her sister, but they decided to take the picture exactly how they did it 12 years ago. Being 10 years apart, there were several years when big sissy didn't want little sister around, you know when her friends were over. Now they are so close, it just warms my heart. I love you girls, you are the best daughters a mom could have, stay close for life.

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-01T06:14:00.000-08:00

Where did they begin... This is a little bit of what I found.

The Babylonians made resolution’s to the gods to get favor. Then if a resolution is broken it was considered bad luck so it was advised to be careful in determining one’s New Year’s Resolution.

153 BC - And in fact some historians believe that the ancient Romans also invented New Year's resolutions in 153 BC. Many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

I haven't made mine for 2010 yet. I'm mulling a couple over, but I'm not speaking them just yet.

Last year after a conversation I had with my daughters Language Arts teacher, I decided to read more. I'd never been much of a reader, except for magazines. They are much shorter and don't require as much of my time. However, we expect and it is part of my daughter's curriculum to read. She comprehends at a very high level so it is always a challenge to find good books for her. I was asking her teacher about some of the classics, and whether she thought Hannah could handle them, she asked me if I'd ever read them... duh, no, made me feel a little inadequate, so I decided to start reading. The first classic I tried to read was "The Scarlet Letter". Well let me tell you, I don't think you can wait till you are in your late 40's and start with something like that. I barely got through the prologue, and I had to stop. My daughter-in-law suggested I start with something a little easier "Pride and Prejudice", some Jane Austen, or something like that.

Well unfortunately I haven't ventured back to the "classic" genre, but I have spent this whole year reading. Now, I have to have a book at all times. The books I have read vary, but I have enjoyed them all. Here is a list. Hope I can remember them all:

Bad Manners
The Time Travelers Wife
Oryx and Crake
The Host
Twilight Series
Love Story
A Veiled Deception
Not Another Bad Date
I'm In No Mood For Love
Some Nora Roberts I don't remember
Started an old series by Janet Evanovich about a female bounty hunter
Such a Pretty Fat, I think anyone who has struggled with weight loss, and gain, and loss, and gain will enjoy this one, it's funny

Not sure if there are others, seems like I read more, but that Twilight series was 4 books and they were pretty big. I enjoyed all of them, they varied from trashy romance to a very weird end of time scenario.

So my goal in writing this blog is this, if there is anyone out there reading this I want some recommendations for next year. Post some comments with your recommendations and why you liked it.

Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-25T12:47:00.001-08:00

A Christmas Treat

2009-12-12T20:21:00.001-08:00

Here are my beautiful daughter's last night at the Sacramento Ballet' 500th performance of The Nutcracker. I'm hoping to make this a Christmas Tradition, someday taking grand children all dressed in their Sunday best.

In honor of the 500th performance, they had Melissa Sandvig, the ballerina from last season's "So You Think You Can Dance" perform as the Sugar Plum Fairy, along with two of the long time Sacramento Ballet's ballerina's who usually dance Sugar Plum Fairy, so there were times when there were 3 on stage at the same time.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2009-12-07T23:00:00.001-08:00

It almost never snows here, and when it does it usually melts when it hits the ground. This was crazy and gorgeous at the same time.

It was just enough for Hannah to have a little fun in it, but we could go on about our business, go to school and work. Didn't have to shovel or none of the work that comes along with snow. It didn't stick on any of the hard surfaces.

Hey, where's Bentley???

This is our backyard. It was really cool. However, once it warmed up some it all melted. It was gone by the time I got home from work.

Our Anniversary Trip December 5, 2009

2009-12-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

The Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Where else can you find under one roof...

An albino alligator.

Colorful, sea plant life.

The contents of a Tiger Sharks stomach. ewww! By the way, that can of Spam is unopened, and there are 2 full size turtles in the back ground.

The most colorful fish from exotic waters.

A tidepool for touching.

Michael's dream aquarium. It was one story high.

Tropical insect eating plants form the Borneo Rainforest.

Poisonous Strawberry Dart Frog.

Animals from the African Desert, Hannah was a little disturbed by these pictures. She loves zebra's, and they are stuffed.

As well as the Lion and Lionesses.

A full size replica of a T-Rex.

Then it was off to Pier 39. Though on our way we decided to drive down Lombard St.

The crookedest street in the world. People acually live on this street, notice the houses right next to the road.

It was a gorgeous day, in the city by the bay.

The photographer's shadow is in my face. It was a really bright day. Of course by the time we got down to the end of the Pier it was cold and cloudy there as usual. We did a little Christmas shopping, the we watched a Motown Christmas Show. We had a great time.

12 years old...

2009-12-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

and has never jumped in a pile of leaves.

Michael prefers evergreen trees, for the obvious reasons, leaves to rake up.

But the yard in at this house is bigger than our last yard, so he planted other types of trees. After Thanksgiving a big wind storm blew almost all the leaves off the trees, so Hannah wanted to rake them up,

and jump in them. She loved it.

Then she proceeded to sit in them and text.

Fat House Cat

2009-12-03T20:49:00.000-08:00

He is a Christmas present under the tree.

The Mad Dash Continues

2009-12-02T22:34:00.000-08:00

As the Shopping Starts.
Hannah is at the dance studio for 4 hours on Wednesday nights, so I spent a couple hours this evening doing my Christmas shopping. Got quite a bit done. It helps that I have done some online already. I have a little bit more for Hannah, and 2-3 gifts for other people. We are going on vacation, so I have 5 fewer days to get it all done.

The decorations are still in progress, Michael will finish the yard this weekend. I will probably finish the inside of the house this weekend as well. Not to mention, I haven't even started my baking. I did alot of posts last year displaying all of my decorations, and baking, look in the holiday archives.

I love this time of year, however I do tend to get a little stressed with all the stuff added to my already full plate.

Day 1 of the Mad Dash

2009-11-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

It started with the annual decorating of the house, and the quest to make sure Michael doesn't wind up in the Emergency room, from falling off the ladder. For a man who is afraid of heights, I can't believe he still does this. Aren't I lovely in my sweats and boots. I get cold. He's not quite done. Here is a picture from last year, it's pretty close to the same this year. But I'll put up a picture when he's all done.

Then the girls decorating the tree. Amanda came over in the evening to help Hannah decorate the tree. It's not quite finished yet, hopefully tomorrow. It is however missing a lot of ornaments this year. Amanda took all of her's for her tree at her home. See this post from last year, telling the story of all of their ornaments.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-29T20:51:00.000-08:00

It starts with the cooking.

This is Shirley, my sister's mother-in-law. She's rolling the dough for chicken and dumplings. She says "You know, I used to make my dough from scratch, but this stuff (refrigerator biscuits) is the same thing." This woman is an amazing cook, and I know if she's using a short cut it is at the very least as good as scratch, or she wouldn't be doing it.

Well, Bentley knows who to beg from. This is my brother-in-law carving the turkey, and he knows Uncle Darrell will give him nibbles.

Here is the lay out. The usual stuff turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, but Shirley wants to make sure there is plenty food, so she makes meatloaf, chicken and dumplings, and an amazing macaroni salad.

Bentley just woke up from a tryptophan induced coma. He is a darn mess, someone needs to give him a bath, oh, I guess that would be me.

Friday we went to see the grand babies, this is August, isn't he just the cutest thing you ever saw?

Oh no, did I just say August was the cutest, what a dilemma, guess it's a tie. Liam and Papa at the fountains where we had lunch. Liam gave PaPa a good work out running around the fountain. It was a great trip.

Veteran's Day was Last Week

2009-11-17T22:19:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, I guess. We came across this picture this past weekend so I had an after thought.
This is the Veteran in our lives. He served during the Vietnam Era, but thankfully never got deployed over there. He was in the Army for 6 years. His decorations were, National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Sharpshooter (Rifle). He was 18 when this picture was taken, if I'd known him then he probably wouldn't have given me the time of day, I would have been 12. Praise the Lord I met him much later, he is the love of my life.

Hannah's Creation

2009-11-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

I decided to let Hannah have a few friends over to go trick-or-treating, and watch a movie, so of course we had to have a few snacks before they went off on their quest to get all the candy in the neighborhood. I gave her all the decorations and asked her to set up the table. I think she did a very good job.

This years Halloween Costume

2009-11-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

The idea for this years costume was sparked by a pair of red boots we saw on a trip to a trift store, which is where we get a lot of our ideas, see this post from last year.

I ironed white fabric to wonder under and cut out stars.

Then I ironed them on to a royal blue skirt I had from high school cheerleading.

Cut out some gold accessories.

Can you guess yet what she is going to be???

Wonder Woman! Unfortunately after trick-or-treating she lost a few of the stars.

Bentley says...

2009-10-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

Isn't he cute in his halloween costume. He greeted all the trick-or-treaters at the door as well. He's napping now, he's one pooped pup.

The Bermuda Triangle

2009-10-31T11:23:00.001-07:00

Everything looks calm on the surface...

but one sudden movement and someone could get injured. These two cats tolerate each other, but put that pup into the mix and there could be trouble. I decided it was best to move away from the couch, I didn't want to lose a limb.

Fat House Cat...

2009-10-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

What's he been up to lately??

Wish it worked that way, but you can't get an accurate weight half on/half off, Peanut.

Cake Creation

2009-10-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Made this cake back in August from this recipe http://fullbellies.blogspot.com/search/label/buttery%20pound%20cake If I make it again, I will probably leave out the layer of apples in the middle. Only because, it's just Hannah and I, Michael on the weekends, he's not a crazy cake fan, and Hannah isn't a crazy apple fan. But I liked it.

But I must be honest, the star if this post isn't the cake, it is the Cake Platter.

I had been wanting one of these Princess House Cake Platter w/Dome since I was 19, and selling Princess House. It was a Hostess gift. You could only get this if you had a crazy amount of sales, and 3 people from your party hosted a party as well. I had been looking for one for a few years now, and I finally found one at a local antique store. You can find them on e-bay, but they usually go for 70-90 dollars, I got this one for $55.00 baby! Princess House stuff is probably my one extravagance. It is really expensive to buy new, but I look for it at flea marts, thrift stores and antique stores. Every now and then I find something really good, fairly cheap and I jump on it.

A little country for the city folk

2009-10-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we went to Apple Hill. Apple Hill has become a tourist spot for those living in Northern California. It's located up Hwy 50 toward Lake Tahoe. There are roughly 40 growers up there that sell their apples, and various other fall produce, as well as Christmas tree farms. Early in our marriage we went up and there was hardly anyone, now it is crazy with people, especially if you go before Halloween, it's a little slower after. The first time I went up there I only remember one building with crafters, now there are tents popped up everywhere with crafters. Didn't take any pictures of that, because there is one main reason we go.

To put a little country in our children's lives, by letting them fish in this stocked pond. I know, stocked pond that's not country, but when you grow up in a city (as my girls and step-son did) it is. I grew up on a farm, fished in a stocked reservoir with my dad a lot.

Hannah and Michael right after we got there. Waiting...

Waiting...

YES! She got a bite we are gonna be done here soon and go look at all the crafts. No, it got away. Another one, it got away.

She decided she wanted to try baiting the hook, be careful you're gonna be a country girl before you know it.

Guess not, caught a tree.

Finally, after about 2 hours and a quick lunch break, she finally caught one, she was soooo excited. I did get a chance to go look at some stuff. I bought an apple pie, apple cake mix, and some apple juice. But none of that was near as cool as the look on her face when she caught this 1 1/2 lb rainbow trout. As for the fish...

It was tasty!!

Some other things we did over the summer.

2009-10-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

Cancun wasn't our only trip over the summer. Just a few pictures of some of the other things we did.

We went to Lake Tahoe for a dance competition, where Hannah and her duet partner got a "High Gold". We were so proud of them. Didn't post a picture, not sure how the other parents would feel about their son being posted on the internet. Her dance team placed "Gold" for both of their dances.

We went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom "Marine World". Hannah hadn't been there since she was about 14 months old, as her sister did, she loved the Butterfly World.

We saw some penguins.

Watched a seal/pirate show.

Saw the "Shuka the Whale" show.

Hadn't seen this big boy since he was born in May, so we had to make a trip to see the grand kids.

What happens when you put a Maltese and a 31 month old together? The poor puppy gets put in the bassinet, Liam was having a great time though.

Last Day, Day 8, August 8th

2009-10-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well this was our last day here. I was waiting for the girls to get their last minute packing done before check out.

I really dislike my hair off my face, especially when I don't have on make up.

This was our last meal in Mexico. This was taken at a little restaraunt at the airport. All in all, it was a really nice trip, but we were so happy to get back to San Francisco, of course Michael then had a 2 hour drive home.

Vacation Day 7, August 7th

2009-10-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

With one full day left in Cancun, we decided to go to a different beach we had seen during our travels. It was much nicer at this beach, no grassy stuff.

A rare photo of me in my bathing suit.

Amanda never went in the water, and Brian would jump in and be out too far for me to get pictures before I got my towel laid out in the sand, so it was pretty much Michael and Hannah in most of my beach pictures.

After the beach, we took the guys to the mall we found to get some lunch. This day was the day we got pulled over by the Mexican police, for speeding, not sure if Michael was speeding everything was in kilos, he was moving with the flow of the traffic, but we must have looked like good targets. Michael's choices were, go to court the next day (we were going home, not happening), or pay the "fine" to them right then. Well Michael negotiated from $80.00 to $40.00. We guessed they needed money for dinner. This was probably the one thing that disappointed me the most about being there, if you can't trust the authorities to not take advantage of you, you really couldn't trust anyone. Dinner was back at our favorite restaurant, the Havana Moon that night.

Vacation Day 6, August 6, 2009

2009-09-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

This day was quite a busy day. The girls and I went to a water park in Cancun called "Wet and Wild" where we swam with dolphins. We purchased the ticket for the Dolphin Experience which included admission into the water park. They had water slides, lazy river and lots of water rides. If you just went to the park you would pay $50.00 for adult admission, (don't remember childs admission) at first I thought that was crazy, but that included all the food and drinks you wanted, (including alcohol) for the whole day if you chose to stay that long. Anyway we only had a light lunch there, we were just there for the Dolphins. The girls went out into the water with the dolphins, but I kneeled on a ledge in the pool. Here are some of the pictures.

Kisses, kisses and more kisses.

Now we are holding hands (fins).

Petting them, they liked it.

Hannah and Amanda went for a belly ride. The dolphins turned over on their backs and the girls grabbed onto their fins and held on tight while the dolphins gave them a ride.

Since I preferred not to go out into the pool with them, I got be the momma and held and kissed the dolphin. It was pretty cool, we had a great time.

While we were at the Dolphin Experience, Michael and Brian were scuba diving. They had a great time as well.

After the dolphins, the girls and I had some time to kill before the guys were back from the diving trip, so we found a mall. We looked around, had lunch and took a couple pictures of the girls.

With a giant pair of Ray Bans.

And the Hooters bobblehead owl.

That night our resort hosted a Mexican Fiesta. Yes, finally some authentic Mexican food, rice, beans, tamales...again I forgot to take pictures of it.

They gave us girls these bandanas, and the guys these straw cowboy hats. Michaels noggin is a little large for his hat.

My girls, and Brian, his hat fits him a little better.

Here's the whole gang.

Of course, the evenings entertainment included a Mariachi band, they were really good. There was a very good show with dancers and singers, they moved around so much my pictures came out kind of blurry, so I decided not to post them.

The show ended with this "Day of the Dead" character, he was pretty funny, he didn't speak, just squeeked, he got a couple of guys from the audience up on stage, it was hilarious.

Vacation Day 5, August 5, 2009

2009-09-27T11:47:00.000-07:00

Michael would start everyday with a walk. Most days he came back so sweaty it looked like he got rained on. As a matter of fact, he did get rained on once or twice. This morning he decided to take the camera with him on his walk, here are a few pictures of the sights he saw.
He saw lots of iguanas.

A nice picture of the pool.

This statue is located in a shallow part of the pool, it is a dragon with a Mayan warrior in it's mouth?? The lady who did our time share presentation explained this but, I don't think I was paying much attention.

Our adventure for this day was to drive about an 1 1/2 hours away to see some Mayan ruins. Dad being a History teacher, and mom being...well mom, we like to try to find something educational to show our girl when we go on vacation, whenever possible. Amanda being a Photography major was up for taking some cool pictures, Brian is usually up for anything, Hannah on the other hand would rather have nothing to do with an educational adventures. So here we are, before we left don't we look pretty. I even decided to do my hair and put on make up.

After our drive, we had about a quarter mile walk from the parking area to the Mayan Ruins in Tulum.

Tulum means "wall", named this because it is a "walled city". Michael and Hannah are standing in front of one of the entrances to the "Walled City". Notice the half hearted smile on her face.

This is "El Castillo", "the Castle". This building stands at the very top of a bluff overlooking the ocean.

Obviously, the hair being down didn't last long, I think this was by far the hottest day there. Michael looks like someone threw water on him.

If he was young like Brian, he would have taken his shirt off too. Amanda and Brian are standing on the Bluff with the ocean behind them.

I couldn't stand it anymore, and had to sit for a little while, there was a little breeze now and then. Again, notice the expression on Hannah's face, not happy about being there.

This building is called, "Temple of Frescoes". If look closely, the corner has a face carved in it. This is believed to be a god. It was a pretty cool building. Due to deterioration, we couldn't go up to any of the structures, they were roped off. It was a pretty neat place.

On our way back to the parking area we decided to ride this train. You notice Hannah is a lot happier. The train was full when we got on, but a very nice man and his son gave me and Hannah their seats.

This is a picture of "Voladores". This is the information I found on line about them.

Five costumed men recreate a ceremonial ritual first started by the Totonac indians from Veracruz. The flyers begin by climbing the tall pole, then each of four of the men slip a foot into a loop at the end of a rope that is wound around the top of the pole. The fifth team member performs a special dance to each of the four cardinal directions, dancing upon the top of the pole while playing a flute! At the right moment, the four flyers release themselves from the small cap on the pole and fall to earth, circling around the pole in expanding circles as the rope unwinds, eventually touching ground.

This was the only night we didn't eat at the Havana Moon for dinner. We ate at the sushi restaurant this night.

Amanda and Hannah chatting.

Amanda and Hannah with a statue that was in the restaurant. That was pretty much the end to that evening.

Vacation Day 4, August 4, 2009

2009-09-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

This was Tuesday, we didn't have any excursions or anything like that planned, so the plan of the day was to go to a beach in Cancun for a little bit then go eat lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Here are a few pictures I took from my spot under the umbrella.

Michael and Hannah in the water. The water was so warm it wasn't very refreshing, the ground had some stuff growing it looked like grass, so Hannah wasn't very excited to be out there.

So here they come back.

What a stud!!!

This is one of the Hotel's on Hotel Zone in Cancun. We got hungry and went to Bubba Gump's. We love to eat there, they will usually ask trivia questions about the movie Forrest Gump. We are usually pretty good at answering, but the waitress did stump us on one question. "What is Bubba's real full name? Does anyone know that??

After we got back to the Resort, I had to shower the mornings worth of sweat off me so Michael and Hannah decided to take a walk. This is the beach and pier at the resort. Apparently, you couldn't go swimming at this beach because there was a lot of corral, so they just walked and explored.

This is the beach side view of the Havana Moon. There are outdoor tables on the patio, just above the palapas.

Hannah decided to look for shells and sea creatures.

The beach again.

Here we are, eating dinner at the Havana Moon again. This night we sat out on the patio, overlooking the palapas and the beach. It was really beautiful. I'm not sure if by this time I had gotten used to the heat, or I'd just decided that I was going to look like crap the whole week, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Day 3 Monday August 3

2009-09-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

This was the best day there by far. Michael took the girls and Brian on an excursion, and this my friends is where I spent the morning and early afternoon, lying on this cabana reading. Don't get me wrong I love my family, however I am the mother of a 22 year old and a 12 year old. My life revolves around them and their schedule, especially the 12 year olds. I didn't have to think of any mom stuff, they were with their dad and they were fine. Also, no navigating the road while my husband drove us to somewhere we didn't know where we were going. Then getting yelled at for missing the turn, ladies you know how it is, unless you are one of those who prefers to drive.

It was peace on earth. At some point, I don't remember the time after all I wasn't on any schedule, the cabana guy came around announcing "Last call for Happy Hour, 2 for 1 margaritas", oh I said "bring me mango".

This was the view of the pool from my little spot in paradise. Except for the trash can it was ok. This was the closest cabana available by the time I arrived at the pool. It didn't matter, I wasn't looking at the pool much. There were some water aerobic classes going at one point, I briefly thought about joining in, but that passed.

This was the only time I thought of taking a picture of my food, (for some reason I just don't think about that). It was a delicious Steak and Shrimp quesadilla, yum. Somewhere around 3:00 the family got back, they were starving so we went to a small lunch place at the resort so they could get some food. I didn't eat, I was still full from my lunch.

This was the excursion they went on, jetskiing and snorkeling. I'm sure it would have been fun, but as you can see I would have been the odd man out, so when given the choice of driving a jetski all day by myself, or laying on a cabana all day by myself, well I don't think I need to explain.

Second day of Vacation

2009-08-31T20:35:00.000-07:00

After breakfast and the painful Time Share presentation, we decided we needed some groceries so we went to Walmart (yes in Mexico) in a nearby town called Playa de Carmen. Didn't take any pictures of that, it was your typical Walmart. However, they did have this amazing bakery, with all these Mexican pastries and breads. They were serve yourself, you walked around with a tray and some tongs and chose what you wanted then an employee bagged and labeled them, no prepackaged stuff. My youngest and I love this pastry that I believe is called "Concha", the sugary frosting on the top makes it resemble a shell, we got two of them. I grew up in a predominantly hispanic neighborhood and a fresh bakery goods truck came down our street all the time and I would get these pastries. I'm glad one of my girls enjoys something from my childhood. Though I was rather disturbed by the fact that the stores in Mexico don't seem to refrigerate their eggs???? This is my burning question, does anyone out there have any idea why they would do that? I immediately put them in our little fridge as soon as we got back to our room. Anyway after our grocery shopping spree we went to the tourist area of Playa de Carmen to spend a little money. This is Michael and Hannah walking down the street. Brian and Amanda are in front of them. I am a lot slower than they are so this is pretty much my view anytime we go somewhere together.

Michael was hoping this little place had some fish tacos. I don't think it did.

Here we are at the end of a street that ends at the beach. It was so stinking hot there, you will rairly see me with my hair down, or with makeup on. It just sweats off.

Amanda and Hannah sitting at this street bar. As you can see the seats were swings. I'm not sure I would want to be sitting there after too many margaritas ; ) I would either fall off or throw up, not sure which would happen first.

We stopped in a jewelry shop, they had these amazing carved seats. Michael looks like a king sitting on his throne. Maybe not, you probably wouldn't see many kings wearing Hawaiian shirts. Anyway I bought some pearl earrings here. According to the guy they were supposed to be $600.00 american dollars, I got them for $100.00. During this little spree, Hannah bought a dress, some bangles and she got a silver necklace at this jewelry store as well.

They stepped into the doorway of a building that was in construction. Little sister is alot bigger than big sister.

After we had lunch at McDonald's, we drove back to the resort. Here's Michael and Hannah. It looks like Michael is walking on water, there was a ledge in the pool that he is standing on, and Hannah is sitting on. I believe that is Amanda and Brian in the background.

Here they are sitting at the Pool Bar. It was pretty cool, you could swim right up and order your margaritas. That evening the kids decided they wanted to get room service, so Michael and I went to the Havana Moon again for dinner, and danced again, another great end to another day.

First Leg of our trip..

2009-08-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

She's not going to be happy with me...
This is where it started, at 3:00 am driving to San Francisco to the Airport, to arrive 2 hours early for a 7:45 am flight. Flying is grueling. I don't find it enjoyable, I get a little nervous, but I try to be a big girl for my girl's sake. Hannah has flown 3 other times but she was so young she had no fears, and they were late flights so she slept through the majority of them. This time she was a little fearful, so I had to keep her calm. We left a nice cool San Francisco morning to arrive in Cancun at approximately 6:00 pm Mexico time and it was sweltering. It was muggier than I have ever experienced. I'll take 105 degree dry heat over 90 and 90% humidity any day of the week.

By the time we get our rental car we arrive to this beautiful resort, The Mayan Palace, around 8:00 pm. After checking in, and conceding to another grueling Time Share presentation, (in order to get a free breakfast and some discounts on our room and other stuff) we finally stepped into this wonderfully air conditioned room. This was the common area, just out of the picture by the table is a small kitchenette.

Aren't the colors of the couch fun and festive?

We finally ended our evening at a restaurant called the Havana Moon. We were sitting waiting for our table, and after the day we had with flying, immigration and customs I asked Michael, "Will you go get me a mango margarita?". It was just enough to ease the tension. There was a band playing music, after we ate dinner, Michael asked me if I wanted to dance, which I said "of course" it was a very nice end to the first day.

Here we are. Michael took the first picture, which included Amanda's boyfriend Brian, then Brian took this picture of us. Man, I look rough.

Paradise

2009-07-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

Just a little peek at where we will be spending the next 7 days, Cancun, Mexico. We plan to do alot of fun things, but hopfully we will do alot of relaxing as well.

Hope to have some great pictures when I get back.

In Loving Memory of a Dear Pet

2009-07-23T18:34:00.001-07:00

Snickers "aka" Snickerdoodle

Losing a pet, it certainly doesn't compare to losing a loved one. However, when you bring these helpless little creatures into your home, feed them, play with them, and love them it just breaks your heart when one dies.

When we got this precious guinea pig we had recently put our dog of 13 years down due to cancer. I was promised that "if we get him I won't bug you for a puppy anymore", well we know how that story goes. Anyway, this is a picture of him on the day of his first bath.

He was helping us with our yard sale, he looks very relaxed.

This is my favorite. One day Hannah decided to put a toy cowboy hat on him, he had such a cute face and personality.

The empty space in her bedroom where his cage once stood isn't near as big as the empty space it will leave in our hearts.

A New Chicken Recipe

2009-07-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach

I've made this recipe twice. The first time I decided to go low carb and left out the couscous, Hannah and I really liked it. The second time I made it I added the couscous, this was the first time Hannah or I had couscous, she didn't care for the texture of it and requested I don't fix it that way again, I liked it. But I probably won't make it that way, I need a few good low carb meals. So if you're looking for something new and exciting to do with chicken here it is.

Sad Day in Entertainment Today

2009-06-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

First I get on the computer this morning, and I see this bulletin. Farrah Fawcett died at age 62. Charlies Angel's ran during my high school years. All the guys were crazy about her, all the girls wanted to be her. She was so beautiful.

Oh, and she inspired girls like me to do this to their hair, if they were lucky enough to be blonde.

Then, this afternoon The King of Pop. I have been listening to my radio station take phone calls about Michael Jackson, and playing his music. The majority of the calls were from people not even born during his most successful time. All they could talk about was his allegations. The more I listened to it the angrier I got. I am only 3 years younger than he, I have a 22 & 12 year old, they don't know the Michael Jackson I grew up with, they just think he is a "freak" in their words. They don't know The little Michael of the Jackson 5, or the Michael from the Thriller era, except from videos. He was a great entertainer, a great dancer and will surely be missed. I hate to admit this, but when the radio station played "ABC" I cried.

When I was looking for pictures, there were so many of him later in life, I choose to remember him like this:

Fat House Cat IV

2009-06-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

What is it with the sink??? One of my followers' cat does this as well. I guess they like it because they are curled up so cozy. When my cats do this I really have to fight the urge to turn the water on. Actually I have turned it on this one before, and his fur is so thick, it usually takes a while for it to sink in. We make fun of this poor fat cat, but we love him, he is so sweet & lovable.

Our New Obsession...

2009-06-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Now that American Idol is over.

My girls and I watch this now every week. I really love dancing. I was in high school during the disco era, and I absolutely loved the partner dancing. I was a Song/Cheerleader when I was in high school, and I certainly loved the Song portion better. My parents were on a fixed income, so I didn't get to take lessons such as dance. I would have loved it, so now I live vicariously through my girls. Amanda was a cheerleader for 7 years, 2 years of youth cheerleading, one year on a competitive team and all 4 years of high school, I loved watching her, she was very good. Hannah doesn't seem to be interested in cheerleading, however she is on a Hip Hop dance team, plus takes Lyrical and Jazz classes at her dance studio. I love watching her dance she is really good (if I do say so myself).

The dancers on this show are amazing, Hannah has started obsessing over one guy named Tony, he dances good, though he looks like he should be a basketball player, he is really tall and has really long arms. He did ok Wednesday night, it wasn't one of the best dances of the night, but it was good. Unfortunately he was eliminated from the show Thursday night, I guess she will have to pick someone else to obsess over.

Our New Grandbaby

2009-06-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

August "Gus" Penn Gardner

I was waiting for mom to introduce him to the world first, and rightfully so, but I also knew she would have some really cool pictures I could snag. Isn't he just the cutest thing. You can read about his coming into this world here. He was 10 lbs. He had to go into NICU shortly after he was born for some monitoring so we didn't get to see much of him, so these pictures are the first we've seen of him in almost a month. Can't wait to see him again.
This is BIG brother Liam looking on. He looks very excited about his brother.

Auntie Hannah holding her new nephew within an hour after he was born. Unfortunately Auntie Amanda hasn't gotten to see him yet. But hopefully soon.

Papa with Gus, again shortly after he was born.

Finally Grammie with Gus, he's a little blue in this picture, I think mom said his cord was wrapped around his neck, by the time he had his picture taken with PaPa and Auntie Hannah the blueness had started fading. We just love him soooo much, we can't stand it. When I saw the new pictures on mom's blog this morning I just wanted to jump in the car and drive down there, except down there is 4 1/2 - 5 hours away.

Hannah's 6th Grade Speech!!!

2009-06-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

"Keep Reading"

On June 4th, my baby promoted from 6th grade to 7th. There are three 6th grade classes at her school. Every student in those classes had to write a speech for the promotion. One speech was chosen from each of the 3 classes, and that student got to say their speech. Guess what, my baby's speech was chosen from her class!!!!

We are sooooo proud of her. She had a little help from her sissy with the theme, but she wrote the whole speech herself. She never imagined her speech would be picked, she felt there were others better than hers, but the teachers who did the judging felt otherwise.

She was so nervous, she said she thought she would pass out, but she made it through. And I was such a proud, nervous mom sitting in the audience.

A Blanket for August

2009-06-03T17:44:00.000-07:00

When we found out were getting another grand-baby, I just knew I had to make something for it. Since it was due in May I decided not to make one of these blankets, because it would be too hot for mom to hold baby in it. Then came the news that the parents weren't going to find out ahead of time what the baby would be, so I knew then I would need to make something gender neutral.

One day while my daughter and I were brousing around an antique store, we found a baby quilt. It had blocks of muslin on the front that were embroidered with baby animals and the name of the animal. That was gender neutral and it was cute too, so I decided I could do something like that. I began my search for some fabric for the back of the quilt, first I found "ABC's" thought that was really cute, and I could embroider things such as "apple" "ball" you get the picture. Then I came upon this pretty Mother Goose fabric, it is so vintage looking, and mom and dad love vintage, that was it, I knew what I was going to do. This is a picture of my inspiration fabric. Isn't it soooo cute.

Then I searched on-line for Mother Goose embroidery patterns, here are a few of the ones I found. The patterns came from the same place, but some had a different font for the lettering, though it still came out really cute.
Jack and Jill, this was my first one, it's pretty detailed so it took a while to complete.
Four and Twenty Black Birds, this was probably the easiest one.

This is my finished project, it came out soooo cute. So much better than I ever imagined it would. Well the baby came May 16, it is a boy, this is their 2nd boy, we were lucky enough to be there to see him shortly after he was born. He was 10 pounds, 21 inches long, named August Penn Gardner, we can't wait to see him again.

Menu Plan Monday 6/1-6/8

2009-05-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

Just a couple changes to last weeks menu Tuesday got bumped to Wednesday because I was on a quest to look for something to organize the mail and paperwork that I keep on my counter, so when I spent the whole time my youngest was at dance shopping I was tired, so we got sandwiches from a deli. We had Chocolate Gravy & Biscutts Sunday morning for breakfast instead of Saturday night for dinner. The Food Network was having a marathon of Burger shows, so I got really hungry for a good burger. We went to Denny's and I got a Mushroom Swiss Burger, it was so tasty. The new item I tried Ham & Cheese Chicken Rolls was really good. The oldest didn't eat it, my youngest said it was ok, but I really liked it. Left over night on Friday worked out really good, but I need to use the steaks so I put them on Friday night this week, shouldn't take too much effort to bbq them. For more menu ideas visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Monday: Breakfast for dinner - Pancakes

Tuesday: Seafood Medley

Wednesday: Mushroom Chicken & Rice

Thursday: Carnitas

Friday: Steaks & Vegies

Saturday: Going to a Retirement Dinner

Sunday: Home Made Pizza