Well, the year is almost history. I wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2009.
Auld Lang Syne
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We'll take a cup o' kindness yet For auld lang syne
by Robert Burns
Happy New Year everyone!!!
Today is our anniversary. 16 years. I presume we will be toasting another year of good times and togetherness tonight. We have had our share of fights and ups and downs. But we can honestly say that we do love and respect each other. Happy Anniversary Sweetheart.
I got on the scale this morning and since I didn't last week I was sure I had gained a pound or two. To my surprise I am down another 2 pounds. It has to be the gym workouts reving my metabolism. And I did toss out those leftover cookies and fudge. It's a good thing I did that. I kept the bag of cut up veggies that I dipped in ranch dressing dip. When I want a snack I have been grabbing a slice of zucchini or celery.
I am trying to think of something I hope to achieve in the coming year. Something that will help others. Maybe I will do some volunteer work in town. I think I will look into this and see if I can be a benefit to somebody. I feel fortunate that I have my health so maybe I could help an older person who is in need of help. I helped my mother in her declining years and I know how grateful elders are to have extra help around the house or just a ride to the doctor or the market. I will give this some more thought in the next couple of days.
Well, I didn't throw out the leftover cookies on the plate and it was a good thing. Some friends came for dinner last night and they enjoyed snacking on those cookies and candies. Now I will get rid of what is left. I can highly recommend the LapBand for anyone out there who has been fighting their weight for a period of time. It is a tool that truly helps you control your hunger and when properly adjusted keeps you on track. This time last year I was thinking of nothing else but having the LapBand surgery. I didn't have a date for that surgery yet but I knew I would very soon. This year when it comes time to make New Year's Resolutions, losing weight won't be my primary resolution. It is a given. I did get some deals at Macy's yesterday. I bought myself 3 sweaters and some new sheets for our bed. I washed them when I got home and they are so soft. I plan to put them on the bed today. They also had their bra sale going, where you buy 2 and get 1 free. I got 3 of them also. When I showed hubby my 3 sweaters he said, " did they have any others you liked?" He liked the ones I bought. Isn't he sweet? Our Macy's is very small, I think of the Macy's in New York City and this is like one department compared to it. But it's a small town without that many people so that makes for less mechandise needed so I guess it will have to do. I can always drive to a larger town with a bigger mall. I love our little town. It is supposed to be a rainy weekend here.
Wishing all my blog followers and their families a very Merry Christmas filled with friends and family members. I hope you are filled up by love and make many new wonderful memories.
Well, folks this is the day. The last day before the big day, that is unless your family has their celebrations on this day. In that case you had better have your act together and have all of that shopping done. When my kids were young we always had the family over to our home on Christmas Eve and that is when all the presents were opened after all the eating. The tree had so many presents under it that it spread throughout half the livingroom. The presents were handed out to each person whose name was on them and the idea was for the kids to open theirs first. We tried to get them to wait so we could all see what everyone got but it didn't seem to work out that way. After a few minutes of organized unwrapping something would go terribly wrong and a whirlwind of ribbons, and paper was flying in the air. There were squeals of excitement and thank you's abounding and nobody knew what anybody else got because we were opening gifts at the same time. When the dust settled we had big black trash bags to stuff the discarded paper in and hopefully you weren't throwing away some little pieces of gifts. We would keep the bags in the garage so we could go through them later if need be. Ah, yes those were the days. The days of having children at Christmas time. As they grew older some of the magic of Christmas was gone forever. It just wasn't as fun without children there to be bouncing around with glee. But when the kids grew up I started to focus on the reason for the season. Now I truly enjoy the candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve. It's a much quieter evening to be sure, but comforting too. Hubby and I have already exchanged our gifts this year. I got a new digital camera and he got a new digital camcorder. We will be having lots of fun with our new toys. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
I decided this morning that whatever I haven't already done that was on my To Do List will have to wait for another year. I think it's time to draw the line on what is enough. We tend to try to make the best for our friends and family even at the risk of neglecting ourselves and our everyday rituals. I think it's time to say enough. I have baked enough, I have shopped enough, I have fretted and worried and run around enough. Now it is time to enjoy what this holiday is all about. We will visit with friends this year and not see any family for Christmas. The friends we are spending the holiday with won't be with their families either so we decided to have our own little potluck holiday. We are contributing a prime rib we've been saving for a special occasion. I will most likely prepare a side dish or dessert to go with it. I am both sad that I won't be with family again this year but also grateful for the newfound friends in our town who have become blessings in our lives. I am praying that my family (my brothers in particular) will set their computers up with webcams so we can visit face to face on a regular basis. We all live in different states and I feel it is very important that we come together regularly to share what we're doing and just to touch base with each other. We never know when one of us is going to be called up to go home to our Father and I don't want to look back and say " I wish we had spoken to one another more often" I wish you all a very Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah. Thank you to all who have been kind enough to leave me comments and I hope we can continue on in the future sharing our lives by way of this forum. Blessings to you all....
Well, we are getting down to the wire now. Last minute time. The grocery stores and the malls should be packed with people stocking up on food for the special day and last minute gifts as well. I need to do the grocery thing myself. I think the best time to go to the market before a big holiday is around 8am. Plenty of parking and everyone is still in a good mood. I do have 2 more cookies I want to bake. I don't know why as we aren't really eating them. But they will be enjoyed by friends and neighbors (I hope). I am going to bake Russian Tea Cakes and English Shortbread. These are two of my favorites. I also have some Amish Friendship Bread to make today. I was given the starter and a loaf from a friend about 10 days ago and now I need to make some loaves and bag the starter and hand them out to 4 people to carry on the tradition. It actually was the best tasting friendship bread I ever had. It was so moist and was more like a pudding cake. Very yummy. I had to stick it in the freezer. My freezer is beginning to be a catch all for things I love but can't eat in time for them not to spoil. I was given some giant english muffins from a friend in another state. The company she ordered them from specialize in these muffins and jams and breakfast foods. Well, english muffins are pretty hard to eat right now so, I popped them in the freezer too. Our cold weather isn't below freezing anymore so now we have rain. Well, I need to get busy so until next time.........keep calm and keep smiling and wish everyone you meet Happy Holidays......
+003.JPG)
Okay, here is the picture I took yesterday of our snow. The weather was supposed to be even worse last night and today. Well, that didn't happen. In fact, the snow is pretty much gone. There are a few patches here and there. But the sun came out and that was the end of that. It sure looked pretty while it lasted. Today I have got to get those cookies mailed off the to grandkids. I have them all in Christmas tins and in boxes all ready to go. Then I need to buy a few items at the market. I should probably wait on that until very early Monday morning. I know the stores are going to be packed with last minute shoppers this weekend. I had a hard time with my band yesterday. I don't know why but I was stuck all day. I couldn't get anything down it seemed. I drank protein drinks to make sure I got my nourishment. I am hoping it will be better today. It seems like everytime the weather changes I get tighter. I also need to clean the house good. I have been neglecting it other than picking up for the last week or so. I find it hard to really clean with hubby around. I need to send him off to the store or somewhere. Since he doesn't just jump in there and help he needs to get lost for a while. LOL. It sure would be nice to have a white Christmas. I haven't had one since I was a kid. I hope everyone is done with their shopping and wrapping, etc. I was thinking of a couple of more cookie I would like to bake to give to neighbors and friends. English shortbread and russian tea cakes. Yum!! I may or may not do those today. Depends on what else I get done. Have a great Saturday everyone........................+001.JPG)
Well, these last couple of days have been pretty busy. We've had a freeze and more snow is in the forecast for today and tomorrow. I am going to start some baking today. I plan to send baking care packages to my grandsons. Since their mother isn't here and they are missing her I figured some cookies and loving goodies from Grandma might soothe their souls.
I managed to lose another pound this week. I am averaging one a week. If I lose 2 pounds one week, the next week I don't lose. So it all averages out. I am so grateful to have had this surgery. I think back to last year and I was feeling so badly. So unhappy with my weight and having nothing to wear. Everything I would try on in stores looked frumpy or just plain awful. Now if I do go shopping for something to wear, (which I am trying to wait on) I can find something in the misses sizes and not only does it fit, it looks pretty good. I think the changes in me are are more than physical. Inside I am feeling so blessed and proud of myself for getting to the gym daily. I feel so much stronger and my general well being is so improved. Okay, enough of my pumping myself up.
I hope everyone in blogland is enjoying the season and starting to feel the spirit of Christmas now. Have a good day.
Well, last night when I went to bed I noticed it was snowing again. It looks so pretty out there. I am anxious to see what it looks like in the daylight. It's pretty cold out there and even inside it is pretty chilly. I have the thermostat set to 60 for night time and it doesn't usually come on until around 7am. So I am sitting under a quilt with Chloe laying under it and up against my leg. She is toasty warm. Our church program ended last night and it was mighty cold out there. We had the heater in the motorhome going so we could go in there to warm up from time to time. On Friday night it snowed a little and it was enough to collapse our screen room. Many of the poles that held it up were bent when we picked it up. Don't know if we can get replacements but we'll try. We had approximately 550 cars come by to see the program. Not bad for a small town. Today I have to finish my Christmas cards. They are done I just need to enclose a few pictures and put stamps on them. I also want to make some chex mix and cookies so I can send them to my grandsons. They won't have their mother with them this Christmas so I'll try to send some love in the form of food. LOL
Hubby is doing really well with his eating and even has stopped drinking his regular sodas. He doesn't like the diet version (yet) so I bought some sugar free Kool Aid for him and he likes that. He doesn't care for iced tea or that would be another option. But he has lost over 10 pounds so far. I am proud of him.
As soon as it becomes light outside I am going to take some pictures. We don't usually get snow here in the western part of the state. Maybe once a year and only a few inches and then it will change to rain and the snow is gone in a day or two. But they are forcasting freezing temperatures for the week so it might stick around a while.
Well, we finally got our lights up and last night we turned them on and had a section that was out. GRRR! And it was on the highest peak of the house of course. So hubby went up there today and replaced the whole string. These LED lights are so nice. We have 6 strings all plugged together and only one plug to the house power. They are such low voltage you can plug in like 40 strings on one circuit. Isn't that cool? I think I am just going to put up my little tree this year. It's quick and easy to put up and it has built in lights. I have small ornaments for it and I think it will be perfect. I haven't been on here in the last few days. I have been a bit upset with a family issue. My daughter and her DH (dumbass husband) up and decided to move to California. No planning, no money, no kids. Her oldest is 18 so he doesn't have to go and the younger one is 14 but lives with his Dad. I was so upset that she just left the boys at Christmas time. Well, nothing I can do about it but continue to pray for her to come to her senses. Enough said on that subject. I made a meatloaf I got from the Martha Stewart website tonight and it was really good. While it was cooking it smelled terrific. Hubby is doing pretty well with his diet. He's already lost 6.5 pounds the first week. He hasn't had a regular soda in 2 days. He saw how much better his blood sugar was when he didn't drink one. He even ordered just water yesterday when we were out with friends for dinner. I was amazed. Now he just needs to start exercizing. I think he will, he doesn't want to become disabled over this thing so I am pretty sure he will do his best to improve his health. Tomorrow I have about a billion things to do. I need to get stamps so I can mail my Christmas cards. I 've had them addressed and ready to go and keep forgetting to buy stamps. Then I have to go to Walmart for a few things and the vet to pick up food for my Chloe and a couple of other stores for other things. Tomorrow night and Saturday and Sunday our church is having a drive thru Christmas program called "Journey Through Christmas" They had it last year and we went to it and were really impressed. It is so well done and they give out hot chocolate or apple cider to all the passengers of the cars driving through. My hubby reluctantly took a part as one of the guards for King Herod. I'll be serving cider and chocolate to the guests. Should be a fun weekend.
I think another way of sharing the joy of Christmas is by doing something nice or generous to someone you don't even know. These "random acts of kindness" tend to make us feel as though we've done a special favor for someone and we hope they are so inspired that they will "pay it forward" by doing something thoughtful for someone else. And so on and so forth. I wanted to elaborate a little on this idea so I went to my best internet friend, Google. I found a website called http://www.helpothers.org/ I found a wealth of things that you can do to feel better about yourself and make someone else feel better at the same time. For instance, what can you do with five bucks to make someone's day? Tape the exact change for a soda to a vending machine or a payphone. Pay the toll for the person behind you. Leave flowers in front of someone's house. Bake cookies for your neighbors. Put quarters in the laundry machine for the next person. Send cards with beautiful messages to anonymous people. Leave chocolate on the desk of your co-workers. Treat someone to a cup of their favorite coffee. These are just a few inexpensive ways to feel better about yourself. The link has many more. Here is one more, Reach out to the homebound -- seniors, ill or incapacitate children or caregivers committed to caring for their family members at home. Connect them to communication resources like radio, TV or Internet so they can stay connected to the world at large. Find a good-news story in the media and email them regularly. Tag them with an inspiring book. Offer to bring them books from the library. Share 'smile stories' you've read in this newsletter. Help them take care of their pets. Convince a beautician or barber to make a house-call. Buy them nice stationary so they write appreciative notes to those they are grateful for. Maybe one way to avoid being blue this Christmas is by donating some of your own kindness and generosity. It couldn't hurt and just maybe it will help. Bless you all and to all a good night............
Yesterday my DH had his follow-up visit with his doctor. He told him he has diabetes and also he tested him for a reactive protein in his blood. It came back very high, in fact the doc said it's the highest he's ever seen. So now he is prescribing him a drug like Lipitor to lower his cholesterol and fight placque. He said that DH needs to lose weight and start exercising. I was relieved to hear he had diabetes and not something they couldn't diagnose. Not that I wanted it but I kind of knew in my gut that he did. He is tired all the time. In fact he has changed so much over the last few years that I knew it had to be something like diabetes. I don't know that he is taking it seriously. He wanted to tell a friend he talked to that he was borderline diabetic. He isn't. The doctor didn't prescribe him any meds for the diabetes at this time. He wants him to try diet and exercise first. He has to go for another blood test in 2 months. I sure hope he thinks about what is at stake here and makes the effort to lose some weight and get up out of the recliner and start walking or come to the gym with me. Men can be so stubborn! He went ahead a drank a full sugar coke last night. I told the doctor he was drinking them and he said that one soda a day will add a pound a month. He didn't come right out and say no sugar!! I think that may be why DH isn't taking it seriously. My mother died as a result of diabetes and I don't want to lose him too.
Well I got some LED lights for outside but we haven't hung them yet. I still have to drag out my decorations from under the house. I know I was going to do it the other day but instead I went shopping. I went to Michael's and got some more silk greenery for the house. They were 50% off plus I had a 20% off coupon. Quite a deal I think. I took down the fall garlands I had up over the kitchen cupboards and had hubby help me with the rope lights we have up there. I had to replace them since the old ones had discolored from use. Now I just need to put some Christmas decorations up there and then I can add the pics and things I bought and it should look festive. I'll take a picture or two when I do.
I took Chloe for a walk to the park where they have the Festival of Lights display yesterday afternoon. I took my camera but I don't know if I took anything worthy of publishing here. I haven't checked them out yet.
We are going to go see a movie this afternoon. It's Fireproof with Kirk Cameron. Last week we saw 4 Christmases with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. It was very funny. I really enjoyed it. Well, I need to go fold some clothes out of the dryer now. Hope everyone has a good day today.
I want to wish all my readers a very Happy Thanksgiving from my house to yours. I also want to thank those of you who have posted such warm and encouraging comments on this blog. I hope you will all be surrounded by loved ones and friends who help to make new memories for years to come.
Blessings..........
I think it's pretty darn infuritating that when the gas prices went up as fast as they did last summer, restaurants and grocery stores, among others wasted no time in raising their prices. But now that gas prices are down to what they were over a year ago the restaurants and grocery stores haven't done anything to adjust their prices accordingly. That is my rant for the day!! I am suffering from band tightening right now. I fixed dinner and wasn't able to eat it. It won't go down!! Certain things affect the tightness of the band, one thing is the barometric pressure and I don't know what ours is here but the weather was foggy and dreary all day. Maybe that is what does it, I am not sure. I was also a bit miffed at DH. He was being grouchy and yelling at the dog and the cat and then he didn't care for what I had made for dinner. Baked chicken and rice. He isn't much of a rice eater. But I love it. Anyway, all that combined made me as tight as a camels arse in a dust storm. So here I sit, reading blogs. Tomorrow I have to go out and brave the crowds at the grocery store and buy what I need for Thanksgiving dinner. We are having dinner with friends at their home. I am making pumpkin pie to take and a vegetable dish. Haven't quite decided what veggie to make yet.
Today I made an appointment for my hubby to have a physical. He is one of those guys who never goes to the doctor. I finally asked him a couple of weeks ago if he would go if I made the appointment. He agreed so today is the day. He hasn't had a physical in over 5 years and that was only because he was very ill with blood clots in both lungs. He hasn't felt well for some time and I suspect he may have diabetes since he is tired all the time. I am very worried so I hope the doctor can stress that he needs to take better care of himself. I pray it isn't anything major and if it is diabetes it is treatable with diet and exercise. We shall see. 
Here is a website that will send a card to a deployed soldier for you. You only have to fill in the blanks.
https://www.uso.org/donate/custom.aspx?id=1082&
I hope we can all take a moment out of our days in the follow weeks and send one of our dedicated soldiers a card.
Thank you
Saturday afternoon my hubby and I decided to try out our WII game that we bought back in July and never used yet. I know, hard to believe we hadn't used it but we left for a trip right after we bought it and by the time we got back we just kind of forgot it. Anyway it was raining and there was nothing to watch on the tube so we pulled out the controllers and proceded to play the bowling game. I cleaned his clock and his ego couldn't take that so he suggested we play 2 out of 3 games. Well finally the third game I let him win one. Then we tried the boxing one and he kept knocking me out so he won that one. All in all we decided it is a fun thing to have and when friends are over next time we will definitely play it. Now last night when I went to get up off the sofa my hip was aching and I was limping. I couldn't figure out why. It is still sore this morning so I finally realized it was the bowling game. I used the same form I do when really bowling and that action is what is causing my soreness. Man, sure can tell I am getting up there in years. My hubby said his arms were tired. He stayed up and played with it until about 3am on Sunday morning after I went to bed. So now we're both sore. I hope I can do my workout at the gym today. I think once I start moving things will be ok. Guess the WII is good for more than game play, getting a workout in too. Maybe I need to get the WIIfit. Have a good day all.
I'm glad I took my walk early today. We were only home about 15 minutes when the rain started. It is dumping on us now. I just got back from Walmart and while I was in the store you could hear the rain pounding on the roof. As I went to leave there was a crowd of people standing by the door waiting for the rain to subside.
Here is a live feed of a litter of 6 puppies. I heard about it on a television show today, and after doing a Google search I found it. It is fun to watch them play and interact with their people. They just finished nursing and eat outside their bed. I thought it was pretty interesting.
http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016
Here are a few of the little things I bought at Michaels. Looking at this picture it sure doesn't do it justice. Looks much better in person. I haven't finished my other project yet. I went to lunch with the ladies of my lunch club yesterday. We meet on the last Thursday of each month for lunch. My neighbor has been meeting these ladies for years and when I moved here 6 years ago she invited me to join them. I really enjoy it. We sit there for a couple of hours and just laugh and have the best time. Not much else happened today, other than my workout at the gym. Oh and we met some friends at a bar-be-cue place in town. Boy the meat just melts in your mouth. I had a smoked chicken salad. It was the best! Hope you all have a Happy Halloween. And hopefully I will not be tempted by the "c" word. I didn't buy any since we don't have any trick or treaters at our home.
Sometimes I wake up very early for one reason or another and since I can't go back to sleep I just get up. I started coughing at about 3am and didn't want to wake my hubby so I got up. I love this time of the morning. The house is so quiet, the cats are snuggly and come a lay in my lap or next to me on the sofa. Everything is still and new. I had a chance to read some of the book I am reading and also checked my email. I tried to doze here on the sofa but Nope! too wide awake now. I am sitting here with my quilt on my lap and and my laptop humming away. Times like this make me glad to be alive. I am happy to be able to just sit and relax. I don't have to worry about getting back to sleep or I will be exhausted at work today. If I get tired in an hour or so, so be it. I'll go back to bed and sleep if I want. Ah, this is the life. Maybe I will have some tea now. Have a blessed day all.....
Today I was invited to a High Tea. It's the first one I ever went to and I could really get into these events. The ladies all were required to wear a hat. If you didn't have your own the hostess had a bed covered in all colors and styles of hats to chose from. We all looked so dignified in our hats and we sat at our tables and waited patiently for the party to proceed. Each table had a hostess to serve us and so we were expected not to get up and move about the room. Each table was beautifully decorated and the dishes matched throughout the room. There were spaces for 18 ladies. She had 8 different flavors of tea. The tea started out with scones. We had the choice of two different kinds. A lemon poppyseed and a cherry pear scone. They had devonshire cream, lemon curd and raspberry jam to spread on the scones. Next, they had a fruit bowl filled with small chunks of frest fruit. Apples, bananas, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, and maybe more but I can't recall them all. With the fruit there was a dish of raspberry cream sauce to serve on top of the fruit. Then the trays of sandwiches were brought out. All in different shapes with different kinds of bread. A chicken salad with tiny pieces of cranberry and cashew nuts, an egg salad, a cucumber with cream cheese, and a rolled up sandwich containing an asparagus and havarti cheese all wrapped with a pretty pink ribbon. Then for dessert there were all kinds of homemade cookies. There were iced sugar cookies in the shape of a tea pot and each one a work of art and all different, and a mushroom shaped meringue, a walnut pastry, a striped chocolate and vanilla layered ice box cookie. It was all so impressive. So much work went into it and I guess these ladies put this tea on once a year. I felt so priviledged to have been invited and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wasn't able to eat too much but I did eat enough to be satisfied. Made for a fun afternoon.
Well, I survived the weekend and the illness that overtook me. I was beginning to think it was the end until about 9 o'clock last night I started to feel a little bit alive again. I still have a headache but other than that things are getting back to normal. I am sorry I missed the whole weekend but that is the way it goes sometimes. I didn't eat very much so I am sure I lost a little weight. I go for my 6 month checkup tomorrow morning. I am anxious to see all my results such as blood work improvements, etc. Not to mention the number of pounds I have lost as well as my bmi and percentages of fat loss. The weather was beautiful all weekend and today. Mild and sunny in the high 60s and pretty cool at night. My hubby took good care of me while I was sick. Although he isn't a cook, he did drive into town and but me something to eat and he heated some soup for me last night. He also made himself a pot of chili last night so I don't have to make him dinner tonight either. I am sure glad this thing is behind me now.
+003.JPG){kind=link}
