It's Friday Already?

Boy this week went by fast! Last night I checked my Ipod to see if it was still wet and it appeared to be completely dried out. I turned it on and ...........it works!! I was so relieved. Now hopefully it will be able to function in all ways. I read of one person who said that he couldn't charge the battery once it had gotten wet. I still have most of the charge on the battery so I will use it today at the gym and charge it over the weekend.

I have an appointment next week for a Lapband adjustment. Last month when I went for one the doctor didn't want to give me one. He was hesitant because of the fact that my reflux came back when he started to fill the band again. He suggested I wait a few weeks. So I made an appointment for a month out. Now the last few days my band feels like it has tightened so I think I am going to cancel my appointment. I may just push it out another month so that I will have one if I need it next month. I have lost a couple of more pounds finally, now that I have a fill again. I have started to try to eat a little better. The good thing about my band is that I was able to eat what I wanted because I haven't been able to eat that much and still lost weight. But, I have decided that I need to be more mindful of what I eat. I am trying to get in more fruits and vegetables. Last night I made cabbage rolls since I was given a huge cabbage by someone. I had never made them before but remember them from when I was a child and I loved them. Well, Mister Picky wasn't thrilled with them. He is not a veggie eater and the cabbage didn't go to well with him. He loved the filling but not the cabbage part. I thought they were delicious. I got the recipe from one of the blogs I read but I can't remember who's blog at this time. Of course I made a dozen of these things and I could only eat one. He ate two. Now I need to find a home for 9 more. I hope they freeze well. I will eat one for lunch today and then freeze the rest. Or maybe give a few to my neighbor lady.

Do any of you watch American Idol? We've been watching it since the first season and I am hoping they cut short the beginning part where they show all the people who are auditioning just to get on TV. Some of that is okay but two months of it is a little much.

Last week we watched New In Town with Renee Zellwegger and Harry Connick Jr. Have you seen it? We enjoyed it. Thought it was pretty funny. Renee has quite a sense for comedy. Got our new Netflix movie yesterday. It's High School Musical. I haven't seen it and don't know if I will like it but I want to see what all the hoopla is about. My hubby wasn't too excited when I told him what it was. We'll see. I pop him some popcorn and he'll be happy.

Well, the water line is going down in the Ipod but who knows if it will still work once the water evaporates? I could just kick myself for not being more careful. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
Yesterday I had lunch with 3 friends at a fairly new restaurant in our area. They make the best bread. Oh it's delicious. Only problem is I can't really eat it because it's very dense. It is hard for me to get it through my Lapband. They sell several different flavors and they are all good. They opened a vegetarian restaurant where their bakery is. I had a cup of Butternut Squash soup and a small spinach salad. Very good. One of my friends ordered a vegetarian Reuben sandwich. She took it home for later as she was full after her salad. I'll have to call her today and see how she liked it. After lunch we stopped by a local winery so one of the girls could pick up her wine club wines. I had never been there before and was amazed at what a pretty place was just a few miles from my house. They built a cave that has beautiful inlaid tables made from wine barrels. There are sculptured figures on the stone walls inside and as you are walking in the cave they have scriptures on the floor from the book of Romans. It was very cold inside and it felt good to get outside to the garden area. It's been in the 50s the last few days which is pretty warm for this time of the year. Our area here in Southern Oregon has become quite the winery area over the last several years. We have several wineries and even a wine tour that takes in a couple of adjoining areas. I plan on checking a few of the other wineries out this year too. We didn't do any wine tasting during our visit but I'll have to come back and try some of their wines.
Today I plan to go to the Zumba class again. It rained pretty hard last night and now it's pretty quiet out there. I don't know if the rain is expected to continue today or not.

The Day Started Badly...

I went to the gym yesterday morning to get back into my workout routine after not having gone in two weeks due to the surgery I had.

I had left my workout bag in the car over the weekend. On Friday I met a friend there to show her around after she joined and took the bag but didn't need it. I pulled the bag out of the back seat and wanted to check my Ipod since it had been a couple of weeks since I'd used it and the battery might be low. My towel was wet, "oh no" then I pulled the Ipod out and it was wet too. In fact it had water trapped in the screen area. "NO!!!!" How could this happen? My water bottle has never leaked before, or was it just the moisture in the air. No the towel was too wet to be just from moisture in the air. I tried the Ipod and it still worked. I felt sick. I know that when electronics get wet and then dry they can corrode. I love my Ipod. I had it a couple of years and it contains some of my favorite songs. I kept it in my pocket while I worked out on the weight machines. Then I thought maybe if I wear it on my arm like I usually do my body heat will help to dry out the water in it. I put it on my arm for my elliptical workout and I even listened to it then. Then I tried out the newest Zumba class which is designed for beginners in the class. It was still a great workout and I was soaking wet from head to toe after class. I came home and told my husband about the Ipod. He suggested using a hair dryer on low heat to try to dry up the water. I tried it for a few hours off and on. I Googled "what to do with a wet Ipod" The first warning they all gave is "Don't turn it on whatever you do" Great! of course now I am screwed! Since getting it wet makes any warranty invalid (not that I still have one) I read some of the suggestions. Several people said to place in a container full of uncooked rice in a warm place so that is where it is now. I just checked it when I woke up and it still has water in the screen. It appears to be less but we'll see. I am just sick about this. It's not like it cost me twenty bucks. I guess in the future, if it continues to work after this I won't leave water in my water bottle. Some of the suggestions said to carefully open the Ipod and attempt to dry the parts but I am afraid to open it. I guess I just have to wait and see what happens.

One Winter's Day

I went to the doctor this morning for my follow-up appt from my surgery. All was well and I am back to normal. (whatever that is) It's been so icky out today. Foggy and dreary. No rain but just ugly and it's not even that cold. I think it's almost 50 degrees. This is when I miss SoCal sunshine the most. I took an extra vitamin D pill today since I haven't seen much sun of late. My Chloe is laying against my leg as I type this into the computer. I have been trying to get the house back in shape after all the decorating and rearranging of furniture for the holidays. I still have a ways to go but things are looking much better. I've been searching through the internet for a recipe this afternoon for a breakfast casserole or strata. Some friends are coming to the house Saturday morning and the guys are going to do some work and she and I will be going shopping. My hubby told them we'd go to breakfast first and I thought it would be nice to serve a breakfast casserole and maybe some fresh fruit. That way we wouldn't have to drive anywhere to eat and I could make it all ahead and just put the dishes in the dishwasher and be off. Any ideas for a quick easy breakfast to serve that way?

I have always thought it would be fun to get into quilting and several of my friends are quilting and my sister-in-law made a beautiful quilt for us for Christmas. I found a DVD with a little booklet titled Learn to Quilt at Joanne's Fabrics a few weeks ago. I haven't looked at it yet but it has some patterns included too. I thought starting out small would be smart. Even a square alone might be the way to go to get the idea of what I have to do so all the pieces come together right. I might pop it into the dvd player or even the computer and check it out.

My husband is napping. My doctor's appt was at 9 this morning and he went too because he is going to have some minor surgery in a few weeks. He stays up till about 2 or 3 am and usually sleeps til 9 so he was tired. Gives me peace and quiet while he is sleeping I have to confess. Usually the television is going and I like to have quiet once in a while.

We got a new Blu Ray DVD player just before Christmas and with it you can connect to the internet and download instantly from Netflix. It's pretty cool to download a movie when you feel like it without having to go to the video store. Of course the movies aren't all available for instant streaming but they do have lots to choose from. You can even download them to your computer and watch them that way. Our Blu Ray came with a wireless antenna but our livingroom is about 35 feet from the modem which is in our computer room so we couldn't always get the signal strong enough so we ran a permanent wire under the house to the room and then I realized that the wire didn't have the same kind of plug as the modem had on it. Sigh! So I went back to Office Depot and talked to them and they said you need a router. They said the router plugs into the modem from the phone company and then the wire plugs into the router. Easier said than done. I finally got it working after talking with tech support for close to 3 hours. Why is it that tech support employees all have foreign accents and are difficult to understand?? Anyway, it's working now and I feel very gratified that I got it working. I am the techie in this family. My husband can't even turn the DVD player on to watch a movie. Well, I think I'll have a cup of tea now and enjoy the quiet while it lasts.

Goodbye 2009............

First let me thank you all for the nice comments you made concerning my surgery last weekend. I was not in a very good place when I posted that entry. It was my worst day since the surgery. Yesterday was a much better day. The arm they gave me the vaccine in has a huge red mark with a raised area. I think I had the maximum reaction on that thing. Today I don't feel nearly as congested and the coughing has stopped. Everyone says to me that they never get flu shots or any kind of vaccine shots for that very reason. Oh well, now I am protected (so they say). We had a quiet anniversary. We are planning to have dinner out tonight. Our friends Rich and Eileen are coming with us. It will be an early dinner and then probably come home and watch the ball drop in Times Square on television. On Friday we are going to a Rose Bowl party at some friends house to cheer on our team from Oregon. Sorry Ma, from What's New at My House I know you'll be routing for Ohio State but we have to support our state team. I am finally feeling like I can maybe go to the gym and do a little on the treadmill. I don't want too much time to pass between my workouts. I missed alot in the last couple of weeks due to running out to get things for presents or baking or whatever so I need to stay in the mood or I will find myself paying for something I don't use. I've done that many times before. I want to get my money's worth out of this membership. Our new newsletter from the Y says the Zumba classes have been expanded so they will have a class in the mornings which is when I go. Now I don't have to spend all afternoon there to get that workout. I think they start next week. Well, any resolutions out there? I usually have the same one every year but now it's a given so I think my resolution will be to be kinder to those less fortunate than myself. I try and do that anyway but this year I am going to do more. Maybe volunteer at the mission more or find another way to help. Seems like we just got into the millenium doesn't it? I wish all of you a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2010. Thanks for the support of my blog this last year and all your kind comments too.

Who would have thought I'd end up in the hospital...

Well, on Christmas Day I baked two pumpkin pies and a Lemon Cranberry Bundt cake. I took them to our friends house to share with them and several people they had invited for dinner. My hubby decided not to come since he was down with a cold and didn't want to spread his germs to anyone there. At around 1pm just before I started to get ready to go to their house I started to get a stomach ache. I had awakened with the same stomach ache a week before and it lasted 4 hours. I had decided to wake my hubby and have him take me to the hospital because I was hurting so badly and was getting nausea with the pain. I took a shower and by the time I was dressed the pain started to subside. Well, when it came back on Christmas Day I thought oh no! I worried that it wouldn't go away. I went to our friends' house and as I sat there with them all my pain continually got worse. I started to feel nauseous again and decided I couldn't ignore the pain any longer. I apologized and left for home. When I got home my husband said he would take me to the hospital. When we got there I explained what was wrong and they sent me for a CAT scan. It showed my gallbladder was huge so they did an ultrasound and it showed lots of stones. The doctor on duty came in and said his recommendation was for me to stay and have surgery to remove it the next morning. He also said if I didn't want to stay over that night I could come back for surgery on Monday but in his opinion I'd be back before then with another attack. I agreed to stay. They gave me a shot of morphine to relieve the pain. It lessened the pain from a 10 to an 8. I was taken to a room and settled in at around 9pm. The pain started to subside by then. I had missed my Christmas dinner and the last meal I had was breakfast but I couldn't do anything about it. I went into surgery the next morning at about 11am. I was back in my room by about 12:30pm. I was amazed at how good I felt after surgery. The next day when I was released I was feeling a little sore and yesterday I was really sore and the arm the vaccine was given in is very sore. I also came down with cold like symptoms. I don't know if that was a reaction to the vaccine or what but today I felt terrible all day. I am hoping by tomorrow I feel better and can start to take down the Christmas tree and other decorations. When the surgeon came to sign my release papers he told me I may find that I don't have heartburn anymore since the gallbladder was removed. Since he told me that I haven't taken any Prilosec or other heartburn meds and I haven't had any reflux or heartburn. I am so happy that this might have resolved my problem. Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary. I don't know if we'll go out to celebrate. Bob is feeling better now and I hope by tomorrow I do too.

Merry Christmas

I hope we can all remember the reason for this holiday as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus. I wish for you all many blessings this year and next and I hope you make many happy memories and are together with family and friends. I look forward to continuing to read your blogs and sharing with you all next year.