It's Friday

Well, no one from the dr.'s office called me about the nutritionist appointment and I've been busy the past couple days. I'm not giving up though.

Not much exciting happening. All the idiot drivers were out today, the tourists are invading for one last summer weekend.

It's just not a good day

First I get the e-mail from my husband that my Oreos baby went over Rainbow Bridge during the night. He found her on the floor on my side of the bed in front of my nightstand, she hadn't laid there in years. He says he was looking for me to tell me good bye.

Then I pick up my bloodwork results from the dr's office and it isn't a whole lot better than last month. Not a bit. So all this change of diet, no bread, rice, potatoes, low sodium, low carb, low calorie, walking, 6 lb weight loss and nothing moved. My thyroid numbers went up or whatever isn't good, blood sugar levels are still high. The nurse practioner called me this evening and told me that my dr. wants to up my thyroid meds and I need to repeat my bloodwork in a month. Whoopie, and that will do what good? It will be too late to do anything by then since I have to go back overseas a week later. It just seems so fustrating right now. I did however manage to ask if she could get me in to see a nutritionist and she said she will do that first thing in the morning.
On the bright side I guess is that my eyes are still good. She said they did look better than last year so I guess that is something positive.

Yankees are playing Boston for 3 days so I'll get to see the games at least. I bought a Yankee shirt in WalMart today, it was on sale for $7.00. It's the interlocking NY with the Red, White & Blue colors that were on their hats during the 4th of July games. I was excited. I got a couple Christmast presents for my husband too. Whoopie.

They started working on the back of my house today. they got almost 1/2 way up from the bottom done. It looks good so far. Can't wait for it to be done.

My Oreos Kitty

April 1989-August 26, 2008. My daughter brought this teeny, tiny cuddly 8 week old baby kitty home one day and we kept her for 19 years. She is no longer in pain and is resting with her favorite toy underneath our bedroom window.

(The one picture above is her taking a nap on the rug in the bathroom where it was warm.)

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....
Author unknown...

LOLOLOLOL

"If you're snarky and you know it clap; your hands, if you're snarky and you know it clap your hands, If your snarky and you know it and you really want to show it, if you're snarky and you know it clap your hands"
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!

It's funny how a certain group who regularly post on another certain message board can be rude, crude snotty and mean on one board but accuse others on another board, LOLOLOLOL.

I had my follow up blood work drawn today. I asked if they could call and let me know the results and she told me they had too many patients to call everyone with their results. If there is nothing wrong, I will get them in the mail in about a week. Well I don't want to wait a week, I want to find out if all this change in eating and my thyroid medication has actually done any good. To top it all off, they then called me and told me that my Dr apt. will have to be pushed back a week. So now if there IS anything wrong, well sorry, it will be too late to do anything before I go back to hell. I've also got this nasty red blotch where she took the blood. That hasn't happened in a LONG time. Sounds like it's time to find different drs.

All in all, I feel better, I am up to 2 1/2 miles walking, I use a stability ball, dumb bells, a jump rope to do exercises on. I've lost 5-7 lbs. I'm still really fustrated about this eating thing. SparkPeople.com helps some.

My hosue is coming along very nice. The garage is done except for siding, the siding is going on. It's a light beige with just a tiny hint of sage green. It's gettingn cooler here now too, no more 90's. The leaves have already started changing on the trees.

Both my kids and grandsons were at the hosue yesterday and it was fun having them here. I bought a small bouncy house for them and they love it.

Haven't stitched in forever.

Thanks for your help everyone who checked my blog for me today. Obviously it works now, LOL. Thanks for your supportive words to, they mean a lot!

It's been a BUSY couple of weeks, but I guess I've adjusted to my new way of life, eating that is. 6 out of 7 days I'm good and stick to what I should. So far 2 weeks of taking my thyroid pills my blood pressure has gone down significantly, I have lost 4 lbs, I walk 2 miles 4 times a week, sometimes 5, I do cardio work outs, I eat lots of fruits & vegetables, fish & tofu. I am supposed to go back the last week in August for more blood work and I will make a point to ask for a nutritionist or explain my food better.

I haven't stitched in over a month but DD & I went to my LNS the other day and I bought a couple skiens of floss & a piece of fabric.

I got my hair cut for Locks Of Love last week & had it highlighted a few days ago. My picture was in the weekly tourist newspaper.

I will do more updating at a later date, my daughter & grandson have been here with me all week but will be leaving tomorrow.

So depressing

I had 2 dr's appts this month, one with my GYN & one with my GP (aka blood pressure dr.) My GYN was proud that I have quit smoking and stayed quit but told me I have to loose 20 lbs by October, I need to cut out ALL white foods, cheese, no bread, rice, potatoes, starches, I need to walk every day just a little bit further ever few days. Ok fine, I'm trying. I'm walking about 30 minutes a day.
So then I go to my GP for a check up. She royally chews me out for my weight being up, my blood pressure being up but never congratulates me on quitting smoking like SHE suggests, FINE! Thank you! She says at my age I should be able to walk 5 miles with no problems and I need to strive to meet that goal, I NEED to cut out ALL carbs, salts, sweets. Ok, bring on the styrofoam, cardboard & water. That was a real morale booster there. so since I had basically fasted since 6 AM the night before, I had a blood draw done. She called me the next day which she never does and says my blood sugar levels are sky high, cholesterol # is through the roof and my thyroid level is high. the thyroid was fine last October. She put me on medication for that and said that would explain why I haven't been able to loose weight and lots of other problems that I've been having. So now I am all bummed out about what the hell to eat! If it is low in calories, it's high in sodium, if it's low fat, it's high in carbs and on and on. I can't eat this, I can't eat that, it's so damn depressing. I just wish I could get straight answers from someone ANYONE who can flat out tell me what I CAN eat and what I CAN'T eat. Ya know, can I eat fresh home made from scratch bean salad? can I eat eggs, can I eat home made vegetable stir fry? Just give me straight answers and make me a list! GEEZE!

Oh yeah, the smoking thing, it's been 8 months, woo hoo. I am sort of proud that I've made it almost 2 months here in the free world on my own without buying OR smoking a cigarette!

I haven't stitched hardly at all or bought stash. I did put in a few stitches when I was at my son's place with my "daughter in law" one afternoon while my 2 grandsons played. I just don't have much energy to do anything.

I joined this site called SparkPeople, it's supposed to be a site to help motivate each other, recipes etc. www.sparkpeople.com

Well, that's all the exciting news from this ray of sunshine for now.

Happy 4th of July

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE OR WOULD LIKE TO CELEBRATE!

It's just me today, my kids are grown adults with lives of their own and they don't need mama hanging on. I have a small rack of PIG ribs and a small chicken breast marinating that I will grill later, some corn on the cob, a green salad and mixed vegetables. I cant' have potato or macaroni salad anymore so I guess that will be it. I forgot the watermelon the other day.

I might venture into town later to see what's happening there but for the most part it will be quiet.

The Yankees lost to Boston last night, it was a horrible game, hopefully they'll do better today.

Have a GREAT day no matter what you do today!

Guess I forgot to re set the clock for EDT.

Long time no chat.

It's the start of the 4th of July Holiday here, I have nothing what so ever planned. The tourists have come and all the driveways on my road that are empty most of the year have cars in them now, so it will be a busy, noisy weekend.

I don't post as often as I should because not much happens when I'm on vacation. My olderst Grandson stayed with me for a few days last week we had fun doing things around the house. He will be back again next week for another week.

I made a 6 day trip to visit my parents in NY and got to see my friend Velda. We had a WONDERFUL TIME and she got her lamps. I was so excited to give her lamps to her and lots of other fun stuff too. I'll post pictures later.
I finally got to meet my Grand Nephew Ryan and he is a cutie! He looks exactly like his mommy and with some facial expressions looks like my daughter when she was a baby.
My other niece who had gastric bypass looks FANTASTIC! She looks like a whole other person. My sister is doing great too and we had a GREAT time together.

My DS got his drivers license back! I am SOOOOOOOO happy for him, it means so much. He is also off probation too so he is a free man! Sadly though he is now struggling with high blood pressure and is trying to keep it under control without having to go on medication. He has had to cut out a lot of food and beverages he loves and has lost so much weight that he really doesn't need to loose.

Our garage still isn't done but they said they would be here next week to finish it.
I had some mold remediation work done. Last summer I had tests done for mold in the house and the guy said it was high in the upstairs and he didn't like the way the wall looked downstairs so he came in and cleaned it up. He had to take part of the ceiling down around the fireplace in the living room and spray that down and part of the wall in the downstairs room and spray that. That cost more than we had anticipated but it's done and we're all clean here now.

It's been raining most every day here. A few days have been nice but it seems if it gets over 78 in the house I get so uncomfortable. I did get a new window a/c unit that does a much better job of keeping the place cool. I've tried to stimulate the economy here by shopping, LOL.

I haven't stitched that much, I finished up a Summer exchange piece, a Needleroll for an exchange, and Velda got her Pals project that I finished into a cube. (I need to post pictures of these things.) Now I need to finish one more project for an exchange and mail that off.

I miss my husband and my furbabies but it's nice not to have to cook every day.
The Yankees suck this year, they are not going very well. I did subscribe to MLB.TV so I can watch their games every day. This weekend they play Boston so I will get to watch the games live.

I have had a couple days where I just sit on the couch and channel surf all day. It's not fun to do much else when all it's doing outside is raining.

That's about all for this update. I'll post some things later.

Ick!

It finally warmed up, to 97 yesterday and I don't have a/c, or I didn't have a decent one until yesterday. My DS was here so I asked him to put in my tiny window unit. It only cools down this room about 5 degrees so it's not really all that great unless you sit right in front of it. So he said no he wouldn't put it in unless I went and got a new one that acutally was the right size for this room, then he would put it in. so off we went to WalMart and got a new 9,900 BTU a/c unit. He installed it and it does cool this place better than the old one. so now I don't have to suffer with this menopause hot flashes during the miserable heat here in the boonie mountains. We don't get much breeze up here when it's hot either.

I was browsing the What's New pages on a few ONS today and what a hoot these are, I love them. http://www.abcstitch.com/designers_php/designers.php?category=Jill%20Holmes

I finished up a needleroll that I need to mail and started another cute summer design.

I recieved a needleroll for an exchange: I LOVE it!

The hornets & wasps are back again and building nests all over the eaves of the house. The nests are way out of reach of me trying to spray them though. They are even building nests in the little porch lights we have.

I haven't cooked much at all now that I am home but the other day I made my Spinach Lasagna roll ups Friday night and I fixed some burritos last night. My "DIL" loves the way I fix my burritos & southwestern lasagna. I made some jello too, I love to eat jello in the summer.

Uh oh

I went to town on Wednesday, there is a new Christmas Tree Shoppe here, I could be in trouble in that shop. What neat stuff! There is also a new Starbucks.

I probably won't be on the boards & groups much for awhile. Too much stuff to do here and I'm just not interested right now.

Thursday was one of those days here that doesn't happen often. I know I am lucky to be able to do it but I did absoultely nothing. I laid/sat on the couch all day with the remote flipping around the 57+ ENGLISH channels. That's all I did.

It has rained and been grey & dark since Monday and will continue until the middle of next week. ICK! It hasn't been above 65 either, chilly to me.

Anyway, if you don't see me for while, I'm fine, just doing other things.

June 3

I got most of my bags unpacked and put away but there are still a few things to get done yet. I even went though 5 months of mail.
I went through my stash briefly just to check to see wht is there but I want to really fondle it all again and get it entered into my stash database.
I have been diligently stitching on a couple of exchange projects and need to mail them.

I found out the backporch is broke! One of the railings must have broken from the weight of the snow and the gutter over the back porch broke off too. Gotta figure out how to fix that.

Now that I'm home, I can watch the Yankees loose games on MLB TV. They are doing crappy this year.

I can't post any pictures right now because the memory card in my new camera doesn't fit in any of the computer card readers I have. I put it in too far on one of the card readers and had a hard time getting it back out.

Smell that fresh mountain air!

Ahhh, it smells good, for a minute anyway until the pollen fills my nose and I sneeze. It's so green and nice here. There is this wet stuff leaking from the sky though today.

I made it home to the USA with no problem. Not at all fond of Frankfurt airport. My luggage did make it on the same flight and not a thing was broken, I am excited! My friends lamps made it! No problems at immigration or customs either.

It was very nice when I stepped out of the airport in Boston and it was cool. It felt good.
The house is fine, not leaking that I can see and it doesn't smell either.

Lots of mail & stash to go through.
I stopped at Walmart, Joanne's, Borders & the grocery store yesterday on my way home so I boosted the economy a bit.

My grandson is so cute, he is 2 1/2 and talks up a storm, my grandson who is 8 is also excited to have me home and can't wait to come see me, I can't wait either.

Ok. well back to unpacking and digging through stuff. Been up since 5AM

Very soon!

I will be across the Atlantic ocean in 24 hours! Woo hoo.

Wouldn't you know it. 1 week shy of nothing for 6 months and I start spotting. Well of course, I'm traveling tonight, so why not bring extra junk along. Geeze this makes me SO mad! 6 months! I was getting excited here.

36C at 3PM. Looks like it will be around 90F when I get on the plane at 1AM. It will be in the 70's when I land in Boston. Still only in the 40's at night at home. Brrrr, but it will be a relief.

Ok so, have a great day, & week.

3, count 'em, 3 more wailing hours as of this writing, one is comming up real soon.

TTFN, TTYL & ALL THAT

Bounce, bounce, bounce, ping, ping, that is me bouncing off the walls. AS of this writing, 7 more wailing hours. In 48 hours I will be in the air somewhere over the Atlantic ocean on my way to the USA!

DH came home from work today and said he has to go on a business trip on Thursday, he was supposed to leave TONIGHT, TUESDAY NIGHT! He can't tell them "no, my wife is leaving tomorrow" so we're pretending he couldn't get a flight until Thursday so he's staying home with me on Wednesday.

Having a mish mosh for supper, whatever is left in the fridge.

Woo hoo, can't wait to see my stitching friends Mary, Margaret, Velda and maybe meet more friends this summer!

I am signing off for now, don't know when I'll post again, gotta clean house, finish packing, hug my furbabies & DH, I go to the airport on Wednesday.

Memorial Day

This was posted on a seldom read board:
Personally I do not think of Memorial Day as a holiday, but as it's name implies a day of remembrance.
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE.
Dedicated to the Scotch Lads Resting in France.
By J. Wesley Patterson of Amesbury.
"Somewhere in France” his letters read,
Somewhere in France, we know not where,
But we know our laddie was far awa’
That out lives were lonely, our hearts were sair.
When the King's call came for volunteers
Our laddie, sae brave, was of the first To offer himself;
though it broke our hearts,
We gave him freely but feared the worst.
Somewhere in France, sae strong and brave,
Where danger was thickest our boy was there;
For king and country he faced the foe,
Somewhere in France we knew not where.
When German hordes came rushing on
With poisonous gas and booming gun,
There fell amid the hellish din
One of auld Scotland’s bravest sons.
A German bullet pierced his heart
He fell; his live-blood stained the sod;
From somewhere in France our ain brafe boy
Was taken hame to dwell wi’ God.
From somewhere in France our noble lad
In nameless grave unmarked by stone,
Shall sleep until the Judgment Day,
When Christ shall come to claim his own.
Though hame is lonely and hearts are sair
We'll patiently wait for death and then
When a’ is o’er on that glad shore
From somewhere in France we'll meet again
------------------------------------------------
The following is a brief outline taken froman article in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia.
Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868 for the purpose of decorating the graves of the American Civil War dead.
The holiday, originally called Decoration Day, is traditionally marked by parades, memorial speeches and ceremonies, and the decoration of graves with flowers and flags, in honor of the nation's armed services personnel killed in wartime.

My father served his country in WWII, 2 of my Uncles also served in WWII, 2 of my cousins were in the Army & Marine Corps and were in Vietnam, My DH was Marine from 1974-1981, he never went to war but because he entered JROTC in 1974, he is considered a Veteran.

Counting down

AS of this post, only 13 more wailing hours to go.
At least my suitcases are all packed, (Yes V, everything fit). Nothing else is done however. My stitching projects aren't packed, my exchange projects aren't packed, my carry on isn't packed, the house hasn't been scrubbed down. I just can't get into it anymore. Just get me to the airport, on the plane and get me home.

Took the last of the cats to the vets last night. WE took the baby Spot, he actually was pretty good, he got his shots and got checked to make sure they got all of his boy "bits" when he was neutered. He likes to back up against things, lift his tail, and try to spray, nothing comes out but he loves to try.
While we were there, the Customs & immigration people were there with a couple of their dogs. It made me so mad, one of the dogs looked so skinny, you could see his/her ribs. It looked like the dog had gotten hurt, most likely beaten by some asshole. These people have no clue how to treat these dogs, they are pure bred German Shepherds, beautiful dogs. I don't know if they are used to sniff the incomming or outgoing luggage at the airports, or if they are used to intimidate third world laborors comming into the kingdom.

I've cooked a bit, we had chicken fried steak with potato salad & 3 bean salad one night, Pancit Bihon another night, last night it was take out, tonight is grilled hot dogs, potato salad, 3 bean
salad and watermelon.

At 12:50 it is 36.4C

ATTN Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

LEAVE MY DAMN BLOG ALONE! STOP CENSORING THE PICTURES! THIS IS AN INFRINGEMENT OF MY RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH! IF YOU CENSOR MY PHOTOS, I WILL FILL OUT THAT STUPID DAMN FORM TO UNBLOCK THE PICTURES EVERY SINGLE DAY.

YOU HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE WHAT YOU CENSOR, YOU MAKE NO SENSE WHAT SO EVER.

HOW COME YOU DON'T CENSOR THE SAUDI STEPPFORD WIFE'S BLOG? OR OTHER SAUDI BLOGS. I KNOW YOU ARE READING THIS.

One last week

This time next week, I'll be running around last minute packing. I leave for the airport next Wednesday. This is my last weekend in hell so I need to make a list of the last minute things I need to get. As I type this, 38 more wailing hours to go.

AT 12:15 PM, it's 37.8C (or 100.0F)

I've become less and less visible on the message boards. I need my vacation so by not posting, I'm not tempted to say how I really feel. (as in shut up and quit whining)

I was not well the other day, major painful stomach or intestinal cramps through my whole stomach and abdomen which caused my pulse to beat so fast and my blood pressure to sky rocket and I couldn't catch my breath, I was dizzy. I don't know if it's something I ate or drank or my blood pressure just decided to climb. I took a second BP pill and felt much better. I was a little better on Tuesday. See, even thought I quit smoking (6 WHOLE MONTHS NOW!) my blood pressure is stilk sky high even thought I take my pill every day

We took the cat from hell to the vets on Sunday. She howled, yowled and screeched all the way across town, she didn't want me touching her through the cage, she tried to rock the cage and push it open with her butt. She ran up one side of DH and down the other, she dug her claws in and just howled and screeched and had those Cujo type eyes. She just wouldn't calm down one bit for the vet to look at any part of her. She just wiggled, fought every second. He had to put her in a "cat crusher" cage to give her a shot. It's a small cage and one side pulls towards the middle so it holds the cat against the side of the cage. I personally saw NOTHING wrong with this cage, it helped him give Annie Hellcat her shots.

I did finish side 1 of the biscornu I was working and started side 2. This side is being stitched on red linen with rayon floss. I updated my tripod photo album
http://bedounlady-ivil.tripod.com/index.html

This past week I fixed home made pizza, spinach noodles & fresh vegetables & tofu parmigiana (THANKS AGAIN Meggie)

Internet broke

Incase you dont' see me on, our internet is down. We buy cards each month, like phone cards and DH forgot to buy one the other day. He had to attatch this connection to his phone or hook it up somehow.

Mets beat the Yankees yesterday, no big surprise there. They just plain suck this year so far.

Gotta take kitty #3 to vets today for a general check up & shots.

Fixed pasta noodles with vegetables last night, tonight is chilled bean salad with grilled chicken.

89F at 4PM

What happened?

I saw this on Velda's blog so I'm posting it here:

1) Go to Wikipedia
2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.
3) List three events that happened on your birthday
4) List two important birthdays and one death
5) One holiday or observance (if any)

Ok, well October 21 not a whole lot happened

• 1774 - First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts and which was in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
• 1959 - In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public.
• 2001 - "United We Stand" benefit concert for September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks victims, held at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC.

Births: (me!)

1833 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize
1928 - Whitey Ford, American baseball player

Death (no one I had ever heard of died)
1995 - Maxene Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters)

Holiday: (my birthday, isn't that a holiday?)
Apple Day