Another cute finish

I finished the new project Sunday night. I love it! It's a freebie from Cuppa Joe Designs called Coffee is a vegetable. I stitched it on 32 count French Vanilla Twist linen from Silkweaver with Needle Necessities and Six Strand Sweets flosses. I added the coffee cup buttons.

Basic Apple BAke

That is what the Spark People Day at a Glance calendar is today!
Basic Apple Bake:
Place 4 cored apples in a baking dish with 1/4 inch water. In the center of each, place 2 TBS brown suat, 1 tsp margaine, and 1/8 tsp cinnamon. Bake at 375F for 35 minutes. Serves 4 224 calories, 4 grams of fat

Hmmmm, the size of the print on this blogger thing is a LOT smaller than my other browser window pages.

Someone stole my bras. All my bras that fit just fine have been replaced with ones that are too big. I guess that is a good thing? I also think I have a waist again, not really sure about that but I think I felt a curve there the other day that I know wasn't there before.

Anyone want some corned beef? I have LOTS left. I swear DH gets a bigger piece of beef every year and he knows I don't have anything big enough to brine it in nor that large pot like we used to have.

I did a 52 minute 2.5 mile walk this morning. It is getting warmer earlier in the morning now making it harder to keep up that walk, but I will keep going as long as I can.

Today's Spark calendar note

Get outside and enjoy the first day of spring! For a fun activity that keeps you in shape, try hiking. Find a park or trail near you and take to the hills to torch calories, build endurance, and strenghten your bones.
I would LOVE to hike the trails back HOME in New Hampshire, sadly they are FULL of ticks, mosquitos, black flies and wild animal shit.

Happy Spring!

The corned beef and cabbage was ok, a lot on the dry side but that is because I cut a lot of the fat off before I put it in the brine water back in February. The home made Irish Soda bread was good though, LOLOL. Now we will have leftovers for the rest of the week.

I kitted up a new project last night and had fun doing it. It was a tough decision on a couple of the floss colors but I will post it when I'm done.

10 Screening Tests Everyone Should Consider

This was on SparkPeople today:

With health care cost rising at an alarming rate, having a list of common screening tests to ask your health care provider about may help keep you on the path of healthy living. While many of these tests are not diagnostic in nature, they do allow your doctor to determine if you are at greater risk for developing certain diseases or ailments.
Some of these tests are age specific, nevertheless, if you have a family history of a specific disease, such as colon cancer, breast cancer, or early onset osteoporosis, it is important to discuss your options with your doctor to determine what is best for you.

1. Fasting Blood Glucose: With type II diabetes on the rise, this test is crucial for determining your risk for developing this disease. This test measures the amount of glucose or sugar in your blood after a minimum 8 hour fast.

2. Lipid Profile: This test measures your total cholesterol, LDL also known as low density lipoprotein (or bad cholesterol), HDL also known as high density lipoprotein (or good cholesterol), and triglycerides done via a blood sample. It is recommended that a baseline test be done when an individual enters their 20's. If results are normal, it is generally recommended that testing be repeated every 5 years or as recommended by your physician.

3. Blood Pressure: Twenty percent of Americans suffer from hypertension, however many of those afflicted with the condition are asymptomatic. In others words they do not present with any outward symptoms. But if you have a history of dizziness, headaches, and/or visual disturbances please do not hesitate to contact your doctor.

4. Pap Smear: Many women often neglect this vital test once past their child bearing years, but it is important to note that cervical cancer can be asymptomatic until the cancer is well advanced.

5. Mammograms: Timing for mammography has been up for debate as to when the initial screening should begin. The American Cancer Society and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend women begin routine mammography at age 40 and a follow-up every 1-2 years after the initial screening. Other organizations such as the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians recommend initial screening at age 50. Talk with your doctor to help determine the best timing for you.

6. Skin Cancer Screening: Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer diagnosed in the United States. Early diagnosis is essential for survival, especially with malignant melanoma. Each May many hospitals around the country hold free skin cancer screenings in conjunction with local dermatologists in support of Skin Cancer Awareness Month.

7. Bone Density Screening: This test commonly referred to as a DEXA scan or Dual X-ray absorptiometry is recommend for all women over the age of 65. However, this test can be done much earlier if a woman has a history of anorexia, rheumatoid arthritis, an early hysterectomy or any other ailment that may increase one’s risk for osteoporosis.

8. Prostate Screening: Just as there is a debate over when mammography testing should begin, same is true regarding prostate screening. The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and Digital Rectal Exam (DRE) are generally recommended for men between the age of 50 and 75, however, if you or your husband is at high risk, please ask your doctor about earlier testing. I DON'T THINK MY READERS NEED ONE OF THESE, LOL

9. Thyroid Screening: Although thyroid issues are more common in women than men, according to the American Thyroid Association every person over the age of 35 should be screened. Unfortunately, low thyroid levels can cause symptoms of anxiety, depression, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and weight change which may be misinterpreted as other ailments.

10. Colonoscopy: As mentioned in an earlier blog, colon cancer is the second most fatal form of cancer after lung cancer. Having a baseline colonoscopy at age 50, or sooner if there is a family history, is fundamental to early diagnosis and treatment.

These are just some of the more common screenings your health care provider may recommend, but it is important for you to keep track of your own health and wellness. If you experience any change in your health, it is always best to err on the side of caution and follow up with your health care provider. Being proactive versus reactive may help prevent further issues down the road.

Also it is very important to keep tabs on your vaccine schedule. If you have not had tetanus shot within the last 10 years please let your doctor know. With the rising number of whopping cough cases here in the U.S. your doctor may suggest a pertussis booster along with your tetanus injection.

Calendar note for today

Start a journal. Use it to track your progress, record your successes and learn from your mistakes. When you have a bad day, use it to remember why you chose your goals and how far you've come to date.

I have a journal that I keep track of my weight, measurements and what I eat.

I finished the May part of the oakhaven sal thing yesterday.

Wednesday night I pulled the fabric and some floss to start another project.

Today I am making the St. Paddy's day dinner since the 17th was on a Tuesday and everyone was working. Corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes, Irish Soda Bread. I will portion my meal.

My sinus or allergies are horrible today, sneezing, itchy nose & eyes, watery eyes. All that vacuuming and cleaning yesterday must have stirred up the dust.

Have a great day.

March 18

I should be cleaning the house since I'm making dinner tomorrow for friends so this is just a quick post.

I have totally forgotten to tell you loyal lurkers about my friend Kristin's new endevour. She has joined with another lady to create Cuppa Joe Designs a GREAT new blog about cross stitch,(Kristin please correct me here if I'm wrong) Please pop on over and have a look.

Today's SparkPeople daily desk note says:
Plan something fun. Set aside time to participate in activities you enjoy on a regular basis. Plan a weekend trip, take a drawing class, or schedule a round of golf. Enjoy your life to the fullest! (Incase you were wondering, those are the Spark colors, red, gold, green & blue.)

So far I haven't exercised or walked today. I have been busy cleaning up the house and stitching. I finished the May project from oakhaven designs.

Have a GREAT day!

The reason for tree cutting

This was pretty coincidental that we got a notice today about tree cutting after I asked that office guy yesterday, oh and it is addressed To:All Western Resident
I am typing this just as the notice reads:
"We are sorry to inform you that we have instructions to cut all big trees in the compound according to the committee of "Dengue fever" disease fighting, that according to the committee report, the disease carrier mosquitoes use the big trees as a rest place.

Contractor started the cutting process under direct supervision of (insert name of group DH works for) Engineering department, appreciating your understanding and cooperation. "
(Translation - You, American lady that walks without being covered, the trees WILL BE CUT DOWN, do NOT run out and yell at the men with the chain saws in your shorts and tank top)
So where is the notice that says SLOW THE FUCK DOWN ASSHOLE

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Please have a glass of green beer for me. Are you doing any thing special? On Thursday (our weekend) I will be cooking that hunk of beef that has been sitting in brine in the fridge for a month and having the usual boiled dinner. Today is also my son's girlfriend's birthday. I got her a couple neat things but sadly didn't order them until too late to arrive for her birthday. I know she will love them.

I did do a walk this morning, shaking my head all the way. Haven't done my walk video yet but I will get that in.

Today's Spark calendar entry:
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Research shows that moderate drinking can prevent certain diseases, but binge drinking is never a good idea. If you do imbibe, limit it to 1 drink daily for women and 2 drinks for men.

Breathe, breathe, breathe(WARNING, CONTAINS BAD LANGUAGE)

First off I will be luck if this actually posts. The damn internet is fucked up again today.

The fucking morons are at it again. So today while walking I see more trees being hacked down, the trees lining the inside perimeter wall and trees lining the inside perimeter street proving shade while I'm walking. Finally I see a guy who I know works in the offices here so I stopped him and asked him WHY ARE THEY CUTTING TREES? You you want to know the answer? This is so fucking ridiculous! They are a security risk! EVERY SINGLE TREE ON THE COMPOUND IS A SECURITY RISK! They are chopping every fucking tree down! That ORDER came from the Military secruity officer. Of all the stupid, insane dumb ass things! Then I said they NEED to do SOMETHING RIGHT NOW about the assholes that think they need to drive 55MPH down the road. I said I have almost gotten run over because of these assholes. Want to know his reply to that? "Well we did put up speed limit signs" URRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! I said NO you Need to do something NOW! They already took out most of the speed bumps and cutthe remaining of them in half so the assholes can drive around them. Ok, that's enough, I'm pissed off enough, and YES I KNOW I CAN PACK UP AND GO HOME and that will resolve the problem.

Ok, so I did finish my walk, 4 laps, 52 minutes, about 2 3/4 miles, MOSTLY IN THE FUCKING SUN! Remind me to put on my sunscreen tomorrow.

I GOT SPARKED THIS MORNING! Yep, ya'll will be REALLY sick of me Sparking all over the place, but I love this group! First off, I just joined a new team last week, the Leslie Sansone Walk Off The Pounds team, on Sunday they chose me as walker of the day! Woo Hoo, I haven't been a team member that long either. What a great motivational group! Then I was also chosen as Spark Page of the day on my New Hampshire group. There is a challenge going on to make a Spring-y page so I put lilacs and flowers and added pictures of my Spring cross stitch projects that I did.
Then this morning there was a bag on my chair that our friend brought back for me from the states. I got my Spark daily calendar and my Spark monthly calendar and my Spark people t-shirt which I proudly wore this morning while walking. Now I am really Sparked up! The daily calendar has Spark tips, quotes recipes. It's NEAT! He also brought me some more test strips for my blood monitor, a HUGE thing of real old fashioned oatmeal which we can't find here.

Ok, well it's time to walk with Leslie. I'll leave you with a quote for my day:
"Take a breath. Slow, deep breaths can help conquer stress and lower blood pressure. With your eyes closed, practice inhaling deeply into the belly and exhailing slowly. Tey this several times throughout the day."

The importance of walking

My sister sent me this, I laughed my ass off!

Walking 20 minutes can add to your life.
This enables you at 85 years old
to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing
home at $7000 per month.

**************************************************************************************************************************

My grandpa started walking
five miles a day when he was 60.
Now he's 97 years old
and we don't know where he is.
**************************************************************************************************************************
I like long walks,
especially when they are taken
by people who annoy me.

**************************************************************************************************************************

The only reason I would take up walking
is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.
**************************************************************************************************************************

I have to walk early in the morning,
before my brain figures out what I'm doing.
**************************************************************************************************************************

I joined a health club last year,
spent about 400 bucks.
Haven't lost a pound.
Apparently you have to go there?
*************************************************************************************

Every time I hear the dirty word 'exercise',
I wash my mouth out with chocolate.
************************************************************************************************************************** I
I do have flabby thighs,
but fortunately my stomach covers them.
**************************************************************************************************************************

The advantage of exercising every day
is so when you die, they'll say,
'Well, he looks good doesn't he?'
**************************************************************************************************************************

If you are going to try cross-country skiing,
start with a small country.
**************************************************************************************************************************

I know I got a lot of exercise
the last few years ...
just getting over the hill.

**************************************************************************************************************************

We all get heavier as we get older,
because there's a lot more information
in our heads.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
**************************************************************************************************************************

AND
Every time I start thinking too much
about how I look, I just find a Happy Hour
and by the time I leave, I look just fine.

You could run this over to your friends,
But it's much easier to just e-mail it to them!

The Ides of March

According to my Farmer's Almanac Calendar today is the Ides of March:

Ides of March

The Ides of March has long been considered an ill-fated day. Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 B.C. Historians note that it is likely that a soothsayer named Spurinna had warned Caesar that danger would occur by the ides of March. William Shakespeare included the phrase "Beware the ides of March" in his play Julius Caesar.

The ides were the 15th days of some months (including Martius, or March) in the ancient Roman lunar calendar; they were the 13th in other months. The word ides comes from the Latin word idus, which is possibly derived from an Etruscan word meaning "to divide." The ides were originally meant to mark the full Moon (the "halfway point" of a lunar month), but because the Roman calendar months and actual lunar months were of different lengths, they quickly got out of step. The ancient Romans considered the day after the calends (first of the month), nones (ninth day before the ides, inclusive), or ides of any month as unfavorable. These were called dies atri

I've discovered a new fitness DVD. Leslie Sansone Walk Away The Pounds. I've been doing her videos for a week now and they are quite a workout. I've done the 1, 2 & 3 mile walks but I'm sticking to the 2 mile walk for now. They re GREAT!
I'm still exercising with my friends at SparkPeople, that is how I found about Walk Away The Pounds.

They did get the tree cut down and we can now watch tv all evening without the signal cutting out. Sadly they are cutting down ALL the huge trees on the compound so there is almost no shade when I do my walks. Why they are doing this, I have NO idea.

Don't remember if I posted my April oakheaven thing. I used "buttons" I had left over from other projects. I have absoultely no clue what I will do with it.

The dumpster

I took a couple pictures of the dumpster in the yard next door. It's now 1/2 full of trees/bushes that they brought in from another part of the compound, and here I was excited because I thought the tree was coming down. I took one picture from our balcony and one from street level.

This is the tree that needs to be cut:

Icky, yucky day

At 1:15PM it is 37.9C or for you Americans, 100.2F and climbing, the sky is orange-ish/grey-ish, FULL of sand, VERY windy and just plain SUCKY! We're having a sand storm. It got HOT FAST! Glad I got my walk in at 8:30AM when it was ONLY 82F.

There is a HUGE dumpster in the yard next door (no Velda, NOT the pretty purple ones) a huge rubbish hauling dumpster, so I guess that means they will be cutting my tree down soon, inshallah, because we sure won't be watching tv tonight in this weather. They come along and hack down trees & bushes, throw them in a dumpster and haul it off. I asked for my back bushes & tree to be cut down so we can watch tv because the trees are in the way of the satellite signal.

Well I got a surprise yesterday, I did a SAturday weigh in and I had lost 2 pounds last week! Woo Hoo. I guess I either needed to eat a full 3 meals & snack every day or I needed to cut down my exercises until I ate more calories. Whatever I did, it worked. Now to keep it up.
DH also "found" some Leslie Sansone Walk off the Pounds videos to do at home during the day so that will help on days like this.

My grandson got his birthday present finally! A day late but better than never. We got him a cute little blue kids recliner chair for his 3rd birthday which was on March 4. His party is this weekend.

I haven't done anymore stitching the past couple days but I did kit up the next oakhaven design.

Did I tell you I'm buying a NEW CAR? I am excited, DH said I can buy a NEW car which we have never ever done. We've always bought older, used cars. I'm going to buy either a Jeep Grand Cherokee, Durango, Trailblazer or something along those lines, but it won't be a car, an SUV since we live in snow/ice country. DH has been checking them out online! COME ON JUNE!!!!!!!!!!! I know, if I keep putting off doing all this stitching that should have been done 2 years ago, the time will just fly by.

Still here

I'm still here, just not on the internet much.
I finished another small project on Thursday. It's the March pattern for a SAL on oakhaven group. It's actually stitched on a green linen but it doesn't show up well in the picture.

Wow, so that makes 2 finishes this week. I'm on a roll, LOLOL.

The other night I wandered outside and stepped on a bougainvillea thorn and boy it hurt. I tried to pick it out but had to call DH home from happy hour. He got most of it but I think there is still a little bit in there. I do have to keep an eye on it so it doesn't get infected or anything like that.

Tonight is fish since it's Friday so I'll make that lime and garlic fish from a couple weeks ago with purple coleslaw with apples and of course rice, what else. Rice, rice, rice. I may HATE potatoes but I would love one right about now, nice fluffy mashed potatoes.

I didn't get to walk much on Wednesday. It was cool and very overcast but I got up to the end of the street and around the corner and saw 6 trucks with mosquito spray machines on the back of them and men walking around with spray canisters on their backs. So I just made a short circle and went home and got on the treadmill. And of course since it's my weekend here, I haven't done any exercise so far.

We went grocery shopping today, it was slow and quiet on the streets, so nice! We passed purple dumpsters, a new thing here, purple dumpsters, The singing Rose preschool, the center for Human Rights-which is a oxymoron here, the ReMax & Century 21 real estate office.

I won a contest on one of my Yahoo groups, it was just a random contest but I won! Woo Hoo!

That's my story for now.

It's Tuesday

Information on Whatever! It's stitched on 32 count Ametrine evenweave from Silkweaver with the suggested Weeks flosses. I will make either a little pillow or maybe try to make a flat fold thing.
My next project is a March sal thing from oakhaven designs.

They still haven't come to cut down that tree that is in the way of the satellite dish so it's fun trying to watch tv. It blanks out and when the signal comes back, the show is over or you missed an important part of the show.

I walked for 52 minutes this morning, probably about 2 1/2 miles. Since I stopped doing the boot camp workout videos, I noticed that I have lost weight. Maybe I was doing too much exercise for the amount of calories I was eating.

I'm still cooking every day, mostly recipes from the diabetes site. I need a menu otherwise I stand there and stare into the fridge/freezer.

Whatever!

That's the name of Lizzie Kate's new freebie. I STITCHED IT! Start to finish in 5 hours, it was fun!

I walked 65 minutes and 3.26 miles today, it was a brisk 63F when I got up and 71 when I walked at 9AM.

Welcome to March

1 Month closer to the USA!

I walked today, 57 minutes.

Last week they cut down a tree. Not just any tree, it was a tree that was at our old Villa that we lived in as a family from July 1 1988 until January 2001 or something like that. The tree they cut down must have been at least 16 years old. It was a small bush when we moved into that villa. It provided shade and I suppose a child or two climbed it once or twice. I wound Christmas lights on it a couple years. But it's gone, hacked to pieces.
Today I'm having trees cut down around my villa, they have grown up over the roof of the house and in the direct path of the satellite dish so much so that it interferes with the signals. We can't get interested in TV shows because they keep cutting out.

Went to the diabetic nutritionist on Wednesday. First off they weighed me at 8PM, 2 hours after I had my dinner and at the END of the day. I hadn't lost a pound, WELL DUH! I usually weigh myself in the mornings, NOT after I've eaten 3 meals in a day. So the Dr. wasn't 't happy at all that I hadn't lost weight and she didn't like my morning fasting blood numbers. They are up over 140 which they shouldn't be that high. She said if they don't come down by April, they will put me on insulin at night. That fucking SUCKS! I travel a lot, I don't keep regular "go to bed hours", hell, 1/2 the time I forget to take my pills when I should. So I gotta try to get them down.

I GOTTA stitch ANYTHING at this point and TODAY!

Hope you have a GREAT March.