Barberton Picnic

Every year, the alumni from Barberton High School (in Barberton Ohio of course!) have a picnic at Tuscarawas Park that is open to any graduate of the school.

All that was requested was a response to the invitation and they asked that you bring a dish. Ron (class of 1978) wanted to go, so he made a batch of his ranch beans and away we went!

It was a beautiful day in a beautiful park. There was a pavilion with electricity for the crock pots and a lot of picnic tables. People came in and out all day, we got to meet new people while Ron got to catch up with some old class mates. I even got to meet his high school girlfriend! (Hi, Chris!!)

The food was good, the games were fun! While I didn't win anything with my partner Christine on the Newlyfriend game, I did pick up a prize on a trivia contest. Free stuff is free stuff! We all know how I feel about this! Here is my prize!

Way too cool. They also had a corn hole game set up by the pavilion. Ron had stepped out to have a cigarette when this little cutie patootie, someone's granddaughter, came up and asked him to play. Who could resist her? So, they headed to the game.

The little girl has obviously watched the game played before as she grabbed some bean bags, stood next to the target and tried to throw across the field to the other target. Her little arm only got her a shot at about three feet away! Ron kept telling her to get closer to the target since she was little and to try again. She sure took the hint, and here is how she ended up kicking Ron's butt!



All in all it was a great day. The weather was warm but at least the rain held out until the last of us were leaving.

While I might not be a graduate of Barberton High School, I appreciate that they let me play their reindeer games for the day. Especially since I'm the lucky winner of their 50/50 drawing as well! Yeah, count me in for next year! I see another t-shirt prize in my future!

More Freebies!

I've posted recently about getting some freebies just for ordering some office supplies. Well, I found another source of free stuff, so I thought I'd pass it along.

I found this through my sweep-staking hobby. Before you ask, I haven't won anything else yet on my sweeps! I need a win! Postage is going up in January and I need to fund my habit!! But, I digress.

Here is a link to a website. Every day, they will give you a link to some company offering free samples! All you need to do is fill out a short form with your name and address, and while supplies last, a free sample will be heading your way!

I've gone back on the calendar to find more free stuff, but supplies really are limited. If you try to go back too far, you will be out of luck. Therefore, I try to check daily to get in on the free stuff. I don't request everything, just what interests me. So far, I've gotten a free sample of coffee and a free sample of shampoo and conditioner. I've sent away for hand cream, tampons, face cleanser, vitamins and sticky notes, to name a few. All the while steering clear of things that don't interest me, like Attends Adult Diapers, free kid's meals, and dog food. Hey, there is something for everyone here.

Like I've said, free is my favorite price! Check out the site. It's free!

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Are Signs

And they still don't seem to help!

I'm telling you, I am getting old. I can't always remember things like I used to! I have adopted a course of action to help me remember things I need to do. Unfortunately, it doesn't always help!

This picture is on my monitor at work. I see it every day and I look right there before I leave at night, when I shut my monitor off. But do I remember? Not always.


It started with the thermostat. I started working here in January. While my brother might like to freeze his balls off, I need a little heat. He lets me turn up the heat to 64 degrees! BUT, before I leave at night, I have to turn it back to 60 where he would prefer it. Ok, some days I remembered, some days I didn't. You get yelled at enough, you want to do what you can to remember!

Then the weather started to warm up. I have a window in my office and it does open. I am on the ground floor, with an open window, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know you need to shut and lock your window before you go. That's a mistake I only made once! While Mike added the reminder to my note shown above on my monitor, I also posted this gem on the door frame of my office. I HAVE to walk by this to leave! I can't miss it!

Now we're in the summer. As much as Mike likes to freeze, he likes to sweat. I don't think he'd ever turn on the a/c if it weren't for me here. I can't do that heat! I need to turn on the air. We've compromised and instead of turning on the air to 73 like I do at home, I have it at 76 here. Better than 90, so I'm not complaining! But, as the energy miser says, I mean as Mike says, no running the a/c if I'm not here! I need to turn it off before I leave! This note is posted next to the front door, right next to the outgoing mail holder. I have to grab all of the mail, the note is right there, hopefully, I remember to turn back around and shut off the a/c! I've forgotten this way more than I would like to admit. Bad. Very bad.

My personal effects are not exempt from my bad memory. Twice now, I've left work and left my purse here! It's not that I have much money in there but that's all I need, to be pulled over for something and not have my purse! Besides, now with the diabetes, I had my pills in my purse. Ok, that part I've fixed and now keep my pills in the bathroom at home. But, how to remember to grab the damn thing before I leave work?

This little gem now sits on my steering wheel in my car. I get in the car, check the note, and check to see if my purse is with me. So far, so good.


Until last Friday.

I got up from my desk:

Window closed - check
A/C off - check
Grabbed the mail - check
Do I have my purse - check

Start the car. Start to back up. Luckily I realized I didn't have my book and I didn't have the bank deposit that was sitting on my desk.

Crap.

"F" the signs. I need an "I'm leaving work check off sheet".

Damn I'm old.

Update # 2

It's time for a diet update.

Here is a picture of me at my heaviest. It's not pretty! I'm not ready to make public just yet how much I weigh in this picture, but it's a lot! The cutie patootie next to me is my Dad!



And, now here I am today, 50 pounds lighter! Yes, 50 pounds!!


Still too big and still not pretty but it's a hell of a start!

Go me!

Mad Banker

My contract at work includes, under duties, the fine print "or whatever else someone deems necessary". That includes for me to run errands on my way to work or after work. I go to the post office once, sometimes twice a day, I go to UPS, Office Max and to the bank or where ever else is deemed necessary.

Thursday after work, I went to the Chase Bank drive through over on 21st Street by Broadway in Lorain. It's a nice location, easy to get to and out of, and usually I can get in and out quickly. Thursday when I got there, it was a little busier than usual. Two lanes of drive through open and a car in each one. I opted for the lane on the left, right next to the window. I like that they slide that little tray out and I don't have to use those tubes! I am not a fan of those tubes!

Anyway, even with two cars to be waited on before me, I didn't expect my wait to be long. I know, you see it coming . . . there were issues! The car in front of me had a younger couple in it that seemed like they'd never done a banking transaction in their lives. The teller may be close to you, but they are in a building, probably behind bullet proof glass. Until they turn the microphone on, I don't believe they can hear you inside.

That didn't stop the guy in front of me from yelling at the glass asking for help! I watched the tray slide out, him put stuff in, tray goes in. Then the tray comes out, he takes stuff out, puts other stuff in, tray in. Tray out, another exchange of items, tray in. Then, he starts rummaging under the front seats while she climbs over the front seats and is looking in the back seat! C'mon people! Why can't you be ready when you get to the teller???

I am not going to lie. I was fuming sitting there behind this jerk. If you need that much help, go across the street and go INTO the bank for some face to face time with a teller. I know, you're wondering why I didn't just back up and go into the other lane. Well, I did think about it. But, I didn't think that would be a safe move, to back up out of a lane. Besides, there was a steady stream of cars coming and going into that lane. They seemed to get waited on pretty quickly, so I had to watch at least four other cars go through that lane before the dufus in front of me finally finished up whatever he was doing!

Now it's my turn. I have my deposit slip in my hand, the checks to be deposited are all stamped and in order, easy peasy. But, I am pissed. I get up to the window and this girl couldn't have been more apologetic! She was actually pretty funny. Arms waving, she couldn't apologize enough, along with feeling like she had to explain that the people in front of me were a little unorganized. Duh. You think? She said she was trying to wave me over to the other lane, but I couldn't see here where I was at, plus I told her I felt safer just waiting in my line. Anyway, she diffused my mood instantly and she and I ended up having a good laugh while it took her all of 30 seconds to get my deposit done. That definitely made me go home in a much better mood than I thought I was going to have.

Now it's Friday. Again, another bank deposit. Deposit slip is ready, and I have my checks stamped and in order. This time however, I decided to stop at the Chase Bank on Fairless Avenue. I think that's in Elyria. Anyway, I always go to one of these two branches, depending on my mood and how many errands I am running after work.

When I got to the bank, the drive through was pretty backed up. Personally, I think the drive through here is as slow as molasses anyway, so I chose to park and just walk in. I figured I'd be in and out, easy peasy.

There was maybe three or four people in line ahead of me and two tellers working. And, one of them I was almost positive was the girl from the other branch that I dealt with the day before! So, I get in line.

No problem. Except for the guy in front of me. I am going to call him The Player for the sake of this blog. Trust me, if you looked up "Player" in the dictionary, this guy's picture would be in there! This idiot is standing in line on his cell phone. Being The Player, of course he is very important and can't put that damn phone away. I got to listen to him tell whomever just how important he was and that he has a lot of money but he needed a lot more money and that as a matter of fact, he was expecting his expense check to come in any day now because it would be over $1,000. After all that hard work selling those McDonald's gift cards, he was owed that much money. No lie. How do I get a job selling McDonald's gift cards and earn an easy grand? But, I digress.

It's now the turn of the lady in front of The Player. She walks up to her teller and lays a couple of bank bags on the counter. She is going to be awhile.

Now it's The Player's turn, and he goes to my girl from yesterday. He is standing in front of her, at the counter, but still carrying on his conversation on the damn phone. She had to TELL him to shut off the phone if he wanted to do bank business. She told him that three times and he still wouldn't turn off the damn phone! For real, how dare she expect that of The Player?

Finally, he hands her a bank card from another bank and in a dismissive tone, tells her to transfer money from that bank into this bank. She tries to explain to him that she does not have access to his accounts at other banks and that she can't help him. In between his conversation on the phone he tells her that since he can do that on line, she MUST be able to do it here. Again, she explains that to him and hands him back his card.

Now he's pissed and bitching about her to whomever is on the phone! I'm telling you, she has more chutzpah than I do because I think I would have reached out over the counter and grabbed that phone and flung it. But, I digress.

Finally, he decides that he just wants money transferred from his savings to his checking account then. The Player just looks at her like she should snap to it as He has spoken. Butting into his conversation again, she has to explain to this numb nut that she needs him to fill out a form and she needs to see some identification. He can't believe he is being treated like this! Finally, with her having all of the paper work she needs and his ID, all the while still listening to him bad mouthing her on the phone, she tells him "You only have $46.22 in your savings account. How much do you want transferred to checking"? He was PISSED! He said "I don't need you to tell me how much I have, just transfer all you can!"

Go girl! I had to chuckle! Finally, he gets done whatever he was getting done and it's my turn. She immediately recognized me and it's like we were long lost buddies! We both had a good laugh at that, while no one else in the bank understood what the hell we were laughing at! She again is apologizing and asked what it was about me that turned the people in front of me into challenging customers? I agreed that it probably was all my fault! It's either that or the combination of the two of us together is absolutely dangerous!

We did enjoy a good laugh and I left the bank, going on my merry way.

I wish I'd have looked at her name to give her a shout out, but I gotta tell you, she's the bomb! She handled both trouble customers with more dignity than I would have plus stopped me from bitching about it! Who else could walk away with two stories from two different bank branches in two days?

Watch out for the mad banker! You never know where I will appear next!

Bathroom Humor

What can I tell you? My family loves bathroom humor!!

Only a real man can use this kind of toilet paper!


And, actually, I was thinking of hanging this one by my toilet at home. One thing this diet has taught me: Don't weigh yourself if you haven't had a bowel movement the day before! Good advice for any of us!

My Coffee Pot Hates Me

At least that's the way it feels. Granted, some days it's the coffee pot's fault and some days it's my fault.

We have just a plain old Mr. Coffee. In the last few weeks, I have cleaned up spilled coffee and grounds from the counter, the sink, the floor, the dishwasher, my feet, etc. You get the picture!

I really don't like this set up for the coffee pot. First of all, I can't clean it the way I'd like because of the design of this contraption. There is a basket where you put the filter and the coffee in but the basket sits IN the coffee maker. It's hard as heck to clean the spot where the basket sits, and of course while the basket is black, where it sits is white. It's constantly stained like coffee. Ok, that probably bothers no one in the world but me, but that's enough! It bugs ME!

Also, the filter just sits in this basket. A little arm swings over this basket. The water sucks up into this arm from the water reservoir and then the water drips from the front of the arm into the filter with the grounds. I can't tell you how many times the water dripping has caused the filter to fold over, giving you a coffee pot full of grounds.

Um, also, we don't empty the grounds after every pot of coffee. Don't ask me why but we like it that way!

A filter will end up holding four or five days worth of coffee. It's usually only the first pot of coffee in which the filter can fold over letting out all of the grounds. If you get beyond that first pot, you're good to go. Hey, don't laugh at me, this is how we like our coffee! And, it's just plain Maxwell House coffee in there. We're people of simple tastes!

Another feature of this stupid pot is that under the filter basket is a little doo hickey that sticks out. That doo hickey is pressed up when the coffee pot lid is under neath it, letting the coffee drain into the pot. If you take the pot out to pour a cup mid brew, the doo hickey isn't pressed up so the coffee doesn't keep dripping. It stays in the filter until you replace the pot, the lid then pressing up on the doo hickey opening the way to drain the coffee out of the filter into the pot.

Um, if you have one of these, when you wash the coffee pot, make SURE you put the lid back on before you start the coffee. Yeah, a lesson learned the hard way. That happened on a day when there was five days worth of grounds in the filter. The coffee couldn't drain out so it filled up the filter basket then went every where. I do mean every where. There was grounds every where. That was really kinda gross!

On one hand, I think my coffee pot hates me since I swear so much when I'm cleaning up after it. Then again, there is a slim chance that all this is my fault, since I seem to be making coffee with only one eye open in the morning. Nah, that can't be it. It has to be the defective pot!

Captain Ron

We call him Captain Ron! Yes, he finally did it. Last weekend, Ron went out and bought a boat! Can you believe it? I'm telling you, the grin on his face couldn't be wiped off, even by a plastic surgeon!

Here is Captain Ron, on his new baby.


I don't know much about much, but what I do know is that this is a 1985, Wellcraft 2900 Express Cruiser with twin engines, and it's blue and white! So much for my expertise on boats. That's about it! I can tell you the important things, at least as far as I'm concerned. It's got air conditioning and heat! Yeah, what more do I need to know?!!

Here is Ron is looking over the controls:

Here is one just of the cock pit. This boat came equipped with fish finder, GPS, and even auto pilot! Sweet deal!


Please forgive me, I don't have all of my nautical terms down yet. But, starting at the front of the boat working back, we have:

The V Berth or sleeping area. This is up into the nose of the boat, hence the name. You can't tell from the pictures, but the bed is about hip high when I'm standing down in cabin. It's an interesting picture watching me climb my big butt up into there! Speaking of butts, I'm a little worried about claustrophobia in there as well, once Ron and I are BOTH in there! This could be interesting! I know you can't tell well, but it is shaped like a V with the skinniest part in the very front and it does get much wider as the berth gets closer to where I'm standing.





I'm not a great photographer, so it's hard for me to really show what this looks like. The first one with better light, I was up close to the berth, then I backed up a little to show there is not much room top to bottom. That black square on top is the hatch to go topside. It's kinda tight in there!

With my back to the V Berth, I am looking into the galley, or kitchen area. On the left is the kitchen sink, stove, refrigerator, cupboards, etc.


On the right is the eating area. The table you see will actually turn and lower, creating another sleeping area. There are pads that go on top of the table once it's lowered, hence another bed.


Walking a little farther, there is the head on the left. That is a bathroom for us non-seafarers! As I always say, "when Mama has to pee, Mama has to pee"! The head is VERY small. Once I'm in, there is no more room for anything or anyone! But it does have all you would need in a head. On the right (and keep in mind, the boat hasn't been cleaned/sanitized yet) is the toilet.


If you were to stand directly in front of the toilet, you would be in the shower area. It's a hand held shower with a drain in the floor. Again, when you need to clean up, it will do the job!


It's a big enough boat, but it's really hard to get back enough to get pictures of anything! Y'all will just have to make a trip over to see the boat in person!

Standing in the galley, looking back up onto the deck. Here is another sleeping possibility. The captain's chair and passenger chair can be moved. Moving these forward a bit, the deck is big enough to put a queen sized air mattress out there for even more sleeping. Personally, I think this might be the place to sleep! There is a cover that goes over the boat, so even if it's raining, the deck should stay dry



So, there you have it. Ron's new toy! One of the things we can't agree on, is the name of the boat. Ron's happy leaving the name what it is, which is Bent Hook. I'm not thrilled with the name, besides, I think he needs to make it his own. I can't think of anything clever or catchy so if anyone has any ideas, bring them on!

In the meantime, I need to go do some shopping. I need some to get me a life vest (the boat has a bunch of them, but I want the industrial sized one, the one big enough to keep ME afloat!), water wings, pool noodles, and maybe a coast guard boat on stand by. Just in case!

Congratulations, Captain Ron!!

Bleh

Every once in awhile, we all take our turn walking under a dark cloud. That period when things could really get better, but then again, they could be a lot worse.

My turn started last week. On Wednesday, my brother Phil was leaving for vacation. I was dropping him off at the airport on my way to work. I don't know if I was nervous about Phil missing his flight or what, but I didn't sleep for crap all night. By four a.m. I just gave up and ended up downstairs reading my book.

It makes for a long day when you're up at four in the morning and that's what I was blaming my bleh feeling on all day. Wednesday night we went to dinner with a friend of ours, Billy. We had a great time at Steak on a Stone (I LOVE that place!) but I was wishing I was home in bed.

A little side story here, when I finally did get to go to bed that night, I walked into the bedroom and I had a guest on my pillow! It was a water bug, I don't know what they're really called, but you usually see them in the basement, kitchen or bathroom. Every few months, I'll see one in the house, but I've NEVER seen one in my bedroom! O M G. I screamed so loud, I'm surprised that y'all didn't hear me! Luckily, Ron did hear me and he came running to kill the bug on my freakin' pillow. C'mon people, that's just wrong. If I was feeling like myself, I would have immediately stripped and sanitized my entire bed. As it was, I was happy to put a clean pillow case on the pillow and call it a night. Right there, I should have known something was wrong with me.

Thursday morning I woke up and I was totally feeling like crap. My throat was so sore, it hurt to swallow. I had a cough, congestion and I felt like I was hit by a truck. I thought I could make it though! I texted Mike to tell him that I needed a nap but I would be at work later. I thought a few more hours of sleep should do the trick. I think I was still blaming one bad night's sleep on my feeling this way.

True to my word, I was at work at about 11:30. You know you look like crap when both of my bosses are in the front hall when I walk in and they BOTH tell me to GO HOME! Fine. What a way to hurt a girl's feelings! But, I was in no shape to argue. I looked at my desk with Mike and we decided that nothing couldn't wait until tomorrow. Home I went.

Friday I was a little better but still felt like crap. I stayed home again. I pretty much spent the weekend doing as little as possible.

There were a few other small things that happened while I was under my dark cloud, but like I said, it could have been worse. Now here's looking to the sun shining on my head again! Last night I won $3.00 on the Mega Million drawing so I think my luck is starting to turn around!

Freebies!

I do love free stuff. Even if it's crap.

One of the perks of my job is that I get to order supplies. Who knew that suppliers were into bribing their customers with free stuff? For real!

I'm not talking about ordering big stuff, but office supplies and shipping supplies are a common order for me.

As soon as I log into a website, I get the notice that if I spend "X" amount of dollars, I get something free! Well, I have to spend a whole lot more to get some good free crap, but hey, free crap is free crap! I do love free.

First was Staples. One of the great things about Staples is if you order more than $50 in office supplies, they ship right to your door for free. That's an easy order to fill as it doesn't seem to take much to hit that $50 mark.

I don't remember what the metric was for getting a free gift, but I had a choice between two items. I chose the free blue tooth. Who knew when that would come in handy!


Before someone thinks I'm overstepping my bounds, I did give Mike first choice on the free bounty. It's his money, after all. When he rolled his eyes at the blue tooth, I took it!

On to Uline. This is where we buy some different shipping supplies, mostly boxes. I needed to order some other stuff and sure enough, another free gift! This time it was Hall & Oates, Live!


Being born in 1963, I have definitely went through my love of Hall & Oats music. As a matter of fact, I still enjoy a lot of it. On a side note though, I dare you to watch this video and not laugh hysterically! It's a great song, but what were they thinking making this video? Check out the hair and the shoes!! Wow!



But I digress.

Mike made his comments about the stupid CD but as I tried to explain to him, free was free! Of course, he declined his first dibs on the CD and I happily left work with the new CD in hand, ready to enjoy some classic music on my way home.

Mike came out to the parking lot to have a listen, since he claimed that he didn't know any of their music. I cranked up the stereo and still can't get the vision of Mike DANCING in the parking lot out of my head! Damn, eye bleach anyone?? (I love you, brother!)

And, while I won't admit it to him that CD really is a piece of crap. I listened through most of it on my way home. Maybe I'm just not a fan of live versions. Nah, sorry Hall & Oates. That was crap. Even if it was free.

What A Waste

I hate waste. I really do. I work too dang hard for my money to waste what I have.

Let's back up just a bit.

I forgot to take something out of the freezer for dinner tonight, Ron was on a service call, so I called Phil at home. I asked him to go to the freezer in the basement and take out three chicken breasts to thaw. Easy right?

A few minutes later, Phil calls me and asks if I would consider a plan B for dinner! What the heck! I know there is another bag of chicken breasts down there, how could he not find them?

I wish it was that easy. Phil let me know that whichever of us was last in that freezer, never shut the damn door. Phil said that most everything inside was encased in about 4" of ice! You gotta be kidding me! He did take the bag of chicken upstairs and was able to bang it on the sink to get three pieces out of the frozen stack.

Ron came home and unplugged the defrosted the freezer. All of the food that was in the freezer was put in a cooler, in our upstairs freezer and in our neighbor's freezer! Once all of the ice was out of the freezer, we tried to assess the damage.

By now, I am home from work. The chicken that Phil took out is defrosted in a zip loc bag in the sink. I opened it and while the smell didn't knock me over, it was a little funky. To top that off, the chicken looked weird. It turned colors I never saw in raw chicken before! Crap, a whole bag of raw chicken breasts went into the garbage bag.

After that, we checked out the sausage. You can get three pounds of Bob Evans bulk sausage at Sam's Club for the price of one pound at Giant Eagle. I had the box of sausage in the door of the freezer, and that was no longer frozen. Yeah, three pounds of sausage on top of the chicken in the garbage.

I HATE throwing away food, but I hate even more making people more sick than usual with my cooking. I had a lot of frozen veggies in the freezer that I have to imagine are just fine. But I'm still worried about a frozen turkey that I had in the freezer. I don't know if that's going to be ok until I thaw it out to cook it. Maybe I should do that this weekend.

Everything else will be on a wait and see. Wait until I try to cook it and see if it's still good!

This makes me absolutely sick thinking of what I threw away. I truly hate to waste and this is waste for NO good reason. We were just careless. This kills me.

In case you didn't guess it, we did do Plan B for dinner. Mutt and Jeff's had a table just for the three of us.

So, Thursday after work, if you need me, I'll be at Sam's Club. I need to restock my freakin' freezer.

Update?

I thought I'd do diet updates once a week just to keep me motivated. Boy, did I pick the wrong week for that!

First off, I couldn't come up with a theme for this week, so I'll just throw a thing or two out there that is going on with me.

First it's been a bad week, diet wise. I know not all weeks are going to be stellar, and that plateaus will be reached, but . . . . it's disappointing when the weight loss slows down.

I actually ended up gaining a pound and a half this week. THAT is frustrating! By week's end, I netted a loss of 4/10 of a pound. Not even a half of a pound! Close but no cigar! But, at least I lost that pound and a half I gained. I guess I should be happy about that.

I just have to keep motivated. I'm trying to tell myself that all weeks won't be winners. So, I figured that as long as I was moaning and groaning about not losing enough weight this week, I thought I needed one meal off of my diet. Guess what I made for dinner! ORANGE SPAGHETTI!!!!

I did make a large spinach salad to eat before my bowl of spaghetti. And, I ate all of it. Then I ate all of my orange spaghetti! I did stop myself before I dished out a second helping but I sure did enjoy my first helping! So, in my carb intake log book, here is what it says for dinner:

large spinach salad with tomatoes, cucumbers - 0 grams carbs
1/4 cup blueberries - 5 grams carbs
1 slice swiss cheese - 1 gram carbs
2 tbsp ranch dressing - 2 grams carbs
large bowl orange spaghetti - a lot

Meh. Some days you just gotta.

So that is my advice to you. If more days are successes than not, you're doing good. Once in awhile you have to throw the diet out of the window and enjoy a bowl of orange spaghetti.

I'll do better tomorrow.

If It Looks Like A Duck And Quacks Like A Duck . . .

We were having a lazy kind of day on Saturday. Well, most of it any way.

Ron did get called into work for a little bit on Saturday morning. If nothing else, we had planned on mowing the grass. So, while Ron was gone, I went out and did my part. I do what I call the "easy" part!

I grabbed the hand mower and went around and did all of the trim. Ron seems to think HIS part is the easy part. He rides the riding lawn mower all around. Ok, in truth, that thing scares me. I feel like I'm going to fall off when I'm doing the tree lawns and we have one small part in the back yard that slopes the slightest grade and I feel like I'm going to tip the riding mower over that part too. Yeah, I'll take the hand mower any day.

Anyway, I did the easy part and when Ron got home, he went on the riding mower and finished up. To be honest, there wasn't much grass to cut, but the weeds were getting out of hand! My nice looking lawn is all brown and dry! Boo! The weeds on the other hand were all tall, green and healthy. Go figure.

As Ron was walking up the driveway after mowing, he saw something in the driveway next to the porch. He brought it up to show me and in our uneducated opinions, this was not something good.


It was the corner of a baggie filled with little white rocks.

Granted, I know nothing about nothing but to us, this didn't look good. We went through our options. Throw it in the garbage. Flush it down the toilet. Smoke it. Turn it in.

In my youth, I might have actually thought about trying it! In the shape I'm in, for real, what could it hurt. But, I chickened out!

We were idiots and called the local authorities. They said they'd send a car to pick it up.

Ron and I went to wait on the front porch and sure enough, a car was here in like five minutes. The officer took the baggie and looked at it. He immediately said "it's too white to be crack cocaine, it's probably nothing". Well, I know nothing about nothing, but something wrapped up the way this was had to be something even if it wasn't crack cocaine.

Whatever. The guy said he'd take it and have it tested. I don't know what he did with it, but at least it was out of our house. Hopefully he didn't spend the rest of his shift sampling the baggie.

Damn, when did I get old and too afraid to be adventurous?

A New Roommate?

I think we have a new roommate!


Phil told us that he saw a black cat sleeping on our front porch all afternoon one day during the week. I've blogged before about all of the cats in the neighborhood. Am I wrong to be so excited and so thrilled that THIS cat wants to call THIS house home?

I saw her this morning in the back of the house on the parking pad, cleaning herself up and looking like she owned the place. Later in the morning, I was walking through the living room and I saw her walking around the porch looking for a good napping spot! As soon as she saw me, she took off like a shot.

I grabbed a bowl of cat food, put it on the front porch and tried not to watch for her. About an hour later, I saw her like this on the porch next to the empty food bowl! I ran upstairs for my camera and when I was coming down the stairs she was stretching. I was afraid of spooking her again and having her run off, so I just took the picture from the stairs. I know, not the best picture!

She is a cutie, that's for sure. And, even though she's not sharing in the rent, as far as I'm concerned, she's a welcome addition to our family.

And, this explains why my eyes start itching and bothering me when I'm sitting on the front porch!

Snacks on a Diet

Ok, I really hate to call it a diet. I prefer to refer to it as the ruining of my life! No, that's not good. Behavior modification. Yeah, I guess I can go with that one.

Before you say "oh no, not this again" I have decided that I will limit my "behavior modification" updates to just once per week. This is what's IN me right now, and I have to write about it. Poor Ron and Phil and my brother Mike, have to listen to it daily.

As a disclaimer, I am NOT a diet or exercise or even a diabetic professional. I am just sharing what I have found through research, trial and error, professional advice, etc. What I am sharing it totally MY opinion or MY take on all information I have gathered.

That said, when my dietitian helped me set up my new eating plan, she wanted me to consume 180 grams of carbs per day which is 12 servings of carbs. Even to my untrained eye, that just seemed like a lot. Granted, before I started this new me, I was probably eating a gazillion grams of carbs per day.

In my mind, 180 was too much, so I try to stay under 100. I'm not sure if I'm helping or hurting myself in the long run, but I gotta tell you, in doing things my way, I am dropping two to three pounds per WEEK. Seeing those numbers drop like that is totally addictive! I am seeing numbers I haven't seem in YEARS. I am wearing clothes that have been gathering dust in the back of my closet for years! So, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing as long as my back holds out.

Ok, on to this week's topic: SNACKS! When I talked to Sue, my dietitian, I told her I had an addiction to salty things. I need my pretzels almost as much as I need to breathe! So, 30 grams of my allotted 180 grams of carbs in my diet is for my pretzels! You gotta love that way of thinking!

I said earlier, my new life is all about decisions. I decide I like snacks so based on how many carbs I ate during the day is what kind of snack I have at night. Trust me, I do have a variety to choose from!

I have become a self proclaimed expert at reading the nutritional value labels on everything. I watch my carbs like no one's business. Let me give you one word of advice on reading labels. Not only do you want to know how many carbs are in an item, but also what constitutes a serving. Grrr, I've been burned by that one before! Check serving size!

Even my beloved pretzels differ. Depending on the brand and size, you can have a few or a lot! For example:


My favorite Utz brand pretzels from Sam's Club: this is the top snack for a day! Eight pretzel rods is 30 grams of carbs though. I REALLY have to want a snack and I have to REALLY want pretzels to eat 30 grams of useless carbs. I'm not going to say I don't do it, but I sure do it a lot less than I thought I would. It's all about decisions. Is 30 grams of carbs ok today? Some days the answer is yes. Some days, it's no. On the days when the answer is no, we move on down the list.


Who hasn't had Rold Gold pretzel sticks? Tiny but lovely little bits of happiness. And, I can have 48 sticks per serving for a total of 23 grams of carbs. A serving of Rold Gold looks like this:


Either way, if I'm having pretzels, I break them into smaller pieces. It's all about the hand to mouth comforting.

And, yes, I really do portion out my snacks like this. My one cup measuring cup and my little snack bags have become every day tools for me. I don't have to like it, but I do have to do it. Besides, when you have your snacks portioned out like this, it's easier to grab one bag and call it good. I know this is all I can have, so that's all I have. Again, this works good for me.


Next on the list is kettle corn! The two cups of kettle corn shown above is only 21 grams of carbs! And, two whole cups, some nights feels like you're getting a huge snack! That's a lot of hand to mouth comfort, I'm telling you! This was a pre-popped bag of kettle corn. If you buy the small snack bag size of microwave kettle corn, each snack bag runs about the same. The brand I have at home is 20 grams of carbs per bag. That's a good snack!


I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but this is becoming a fast favorite, even over the pretzels! If someone would have told me a month ago that I would suddenly LOVE celery with peanut butter, I'd have called them a liar! But the truth is, I can't get enough of it anymore! In my Jif creamy peanut butter, there are 7 grams of carbs per 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. I started out measuring 2 tablespoons and that just wasn't enough. I've doubled it, and what you see above is about 4 tablespoons of peanut butter, or 15 grams of carbs. To me, this makes a better sized snack. As a matter of fact, this was my snack last night and again today as part of my lunch. Who knew I'd grow to eat celery? I haven't done it in 47 years! Old dog, new trick! Scary!

If I've decided to eat more carbs during the day, I try to cut down on my snack at night. One of the first things they told me about eating as a diabetic is that you HAVE to eat. Often. Ok, that part I like hearing! So, a snack at night is important for me. If I don't want to spend any more carbs, I have alternatives.


A suggestion from Sue to cure a salt craving is to take cucumber and salt it. You'd be amazed how that works! I take about a cup of sliced cucumber, throw some salt on it and that's a snack. All that for a grand total of zero carbs and I've had a salt fix!


And, lastly, what I affectionately call my "cup of crap"!! This is a cup of whatever veggies I have on hand cut up. Here's what I mean:


Top left is my celery. These don't make the cup of crap too often, just because I prefer the celery with the peanut butter! Top right is okra and one broccoli stalk. I cut the stalk up in my salads! Bottom left is carrot sticks and bottom right is green beans. I've also had pea pods, broccoli, cauliflower and whatever else I can't think of right now. As soon as I bring this crap home, it gets cleaned and cut up. I'm much more likely to eat them if they are ready to eat!

The cup of crap above is an easy one of just carrot, green beans and okra. I've been buying cherry tomatoes like crazy and I like to add a few of those in my cups of crap as well. Again, zero carbs.

So there ya go. My most important food of the day, snacks! If this information helps you, great! If you have suggestions or ideas for other tasty low carb snacks, let me know!

Steak on a Stone

We went and had lunch today with Nick and Sally!

We went to a restaurant called Steak on a Stone and it's over on Lorain Road in North Olmsted. I gotta tell you, this place was definitely some place you should try!

First off, it was Sunday and we were there during the Sunday brunch. There was a buffet full of salad stuff, breakfast stuff and entree stuff. All well and good, but when you're some place called Steak on a Stone, you kinda gotta order the restaurant's name sake! Since the buffet was set out, they did not offer their entire menu during this time, but the steaks on a stone were an option.


Above, Ron looking so thrilled that I have a camera in my hand and below is Nick and Sally.


Nick and I tried the steak while Ron and Sally chose the buffet. For the steak, you first choose which cut of steak you want. I chose the 8 oz sirloin. You also get two side dishes and two dipping sauces. For sides I chose a side salad. This was not worthy of being called a salad. it was romaine lettuce on a plate. Nothing else. Yeah, not a salad.

That aside, my other side dish was the veggie of the day, broccoli. Thumbs up for the broccoli! For dipping sauces, I chose a house steak sauce, along the lines of an A-1 sauce and a mushroom cabernet sauce. While the sauces were good, they really hurt the meat. The meat was so awesome on its own, it did not need any help!

So, they take this stone and heat it to 750 degrees! Yes, 750 degrees! The stone is placed on a plate, which this white plate is safe to handle. It gets warm but not hot.

They place your steak on the stone and the server brings it out. That sears the meat and seals in all of the juices. Once the server brings it to your table, he flips the steak over to sear the other side. From there, you are NOT to move the steak on the stone. You slice off thin pieces, place them on the stone and cook them until your desired done-ness is reached. This takes some doing to figure out how many pieces to slice at once and how long to let them sit on your stone. A few pieces got too well done for me, but you quickly get the hang of it.


Above, the steak on the stone with some sea salt. I have a few pieces cut off, cooking on the stone. Below, Ron caught me right in the middle of really enjoying this steak!


I think I'd have licked the stone clean if it weren't for the fact that it was probably only down to 500 degrees now! I can't believe that they put these right on the table, but we walked away unscathed! And very full!


Like I said earlier, this is fantastic! In my opinion, the sauces really detracted from the taste of the meat, but hey, to each their own.


If you're in North Olmsted, or any where close by, stop in and have a meal. A little on the pricier side, but it was truly worth it!

Good friends, good food, what more can you ask!

No Sharp Objects

I love my sister! I really do!

Not only is she my friend, she is my sounding board, she is my cheering section, she is my confidant, she is my confessor, she is my partner in crime! 3,000 miles between us can't stop that!

The other day, I received a surprise package in the mail from my Sissy! Like any good woman, she was watching an infomercial on TV and just had to have it! It was a ceramic knife and ceramic peeler! There was a deal that you buy one, get one free! I do love free stuff. So, she grabbed her knife and peeler out of the box, closed the box back up and sent the second set to me!

I got this on Friday so Saturday, I had them all washed up and ready to go. I had a ton of cutting, chopping and peeling to do. Eating healthy is NOT easy. But, that's a story for another day.

I did well through most of my cutting, chopping and peeling. I can say that so far, all I've peeled is some broccoli stems and to be honest, I wasn't thrilled with the peeler. But then again, that's one of the hardest things to peel. So, maybe I should hold off judgment until I peel something more practical like a potato or a cucumber. For now, for broccoli stems, not so great.

The knife on the other hand is amazing! No knife I have ever owned has been this sharp! And, I believe I have owned some sharp knives in my day. This thing is amazing though, and about 10 inches long including the handle. Something that small to be so deadly.

A little back story here. The women in my family, my Mom, and the three of us sisters, have always been bad with sharp objects. Between the four of us, we should have owned stock in band-aids. Most dinners weren't complete without some blood shed. My Mom was the queen of this and she definitely passed it along to her daughters!! Walking and chewing gum? The same thing. We will be black and blue. It's a family thing.

What was Cathie thinking sending ME a sharp knife? For that matter, what was she thinking buying one for HERSELF???? Sister, I'm telling you, for your own safety, RUN! No, better yet, don't run. Just be SOO careful when using that knife!

I was almost done with all of my veggie duties yesterday. I was down to cleaning the celery. Suddenly, CRAP! I put the knife down, and calmly walked upstairs for a band-aid.

Ron: What's up?
Me: Nothing. I just cut myself with the knife. I need a band-aid.
Ron: Be careful!
Me: Too late.

Once my wound was properly dressed, I went downstairs, carefully cleaned my knife and went back to work. Five minutes later, knife down, I walked back upstairs.

Ron: What's up?
Me: Nothing. I just cut myself with the knife. I need a band-aid.
Ron: Um, I thought you already got a band-aid.
Me: Phht
Ron: I told you to be careful!
Me: PHHT!

Yeah. Back downstairs with my TWO dressings, cleaned the knife again and was EXTRA careful while I finished cleaning my damn celery! I knew healthy food wasn't good for you! But, I digress!

So, Sister, thank you for the knife! It is extremely sharp! Please be more careful than I was with it!! From now on, I say we stick to refrigerator magnets for surprise gifts in the mail!!

How Wet Is Too Wet?

For real, are there degrees of wetness where you're too wet?

Tonight as I got done on the treadmill, Ron had just come in from the front porch. This is one of his summer time smoking spots. He told me the storm was finally rolling in. Just as he said that, I saw the lightening in the sky out there. I do love a good storm, especially when I'm at home.

When I'm done on the treadmill, I usually like to sit under the ceiling fan that's on high until I cool down. With the storm blowing in, I thought it might be more comfortable finally outside instead of the 90+ degree heat we've been dealing with.

I kicked off my socks and shoes and to the front porch we went. Just as we went outside, the rain started. It was coming down like no one's business. With the wind blowing, we got a little bit of spray from the rain, but not much.

The temps did lower a little but not much. I was still too damn hot! Aside from the lightening, the rain looked just too inviting! What did I do? C'mon, you know what I did! One step at a time, I walked right off the porch and down onto the sidewalk. Ron sort of looked at me like was I nuts! Well, maybe I am, but just a little!

The rain actually felt fantastic! It was cool, refreshing, exhilarating, rejuvenating. I'm telling you, if it wasn't lightening, I would have ventured out farther than my own sidewalk.

The down side was after getting soaked to the bone, I walked into the house, into the air conditioning and I was chilled to the bone. Small price to pay for being carefree, out in the rain. It was nothing that a warm shower didn't fix.

My advice to you is, next time it's raining outside, especially if it's a down pour, venture out in it. You won't be sorry!

Technology Hates Me

We all know I'm technologically challenged. Some days that is just more evident than others.

Before the holiday, I was having trouble with my work computer. Actually, it started a few weeks before that, but it came to a head just before the holiday. I think I got some kind of ick and the guys had worked on my computer trying to get rid of the ick.

Tuesday when I booted up, I made it about 1/2 hour before the whole thing thumbed its nose and me and just locked up. Mike and his partner came over, looked at it, then took the computer behind the building and shot it to put it out of its misery.

Ok, a little poetic license here. They didn't actually shoot it! But they might as well have.

The good news/bad news is that Mike headed right to Sam's Club and bought me a brand spanking new computer!

Yeah. New.

Have you ever had to switch over to a new computer? It SUCKS! I am not much for bells and whistles! I like my old bells and whistles! I knew my old bells and whistles! Holy crap, Windows 7 is not a cake walk.

Ok, maybe Windows 7 can be a cake walk, but Office 10 SUCKS! O M G. I was working in Excel today and I was trying to recreate a spreadsheet. It's a spreadsheet with many lines, so I like to freeze the panes above to keep my column headers showing. Simple click of the mouse. Ok, two clicks actually. It took me ten minutes today to figure out how to freeze the dang panes! C'mon now, this is basic crap! Wait until I get to the hard stuff!!

Another thing about upgrading is that nothing seems to be compatible with what I had. I had a nice little printer right on my desk that I did 99% of my printing on. This old little printer had a parallel port (like I know what that means! Buzz words courtesy of Ron!!) and the computer only has USB ports. The powers that be at work feel that even if they got a connector that changes the parallel to a USB, the drivers will be so old that Windows 7 will not run the printer.

That's exactly what happened with the big printer in Mike's office. While I don't print much on that printer, what I do print over there is probably more important than what I print on my printer. Nothing would make that printer connect to my computer. There were no drivers available on line and the disc WITH the drivers wouldn't load onto the computer. So, I could SEE the printer (when Mike wheeled it into my office and plugged it directly in) but I still can't use it.

So, I am absolutely printer-less. I had no idea how many times a day I print until I don't have a printer!

I did come to a part of my day where I had to get stuff printed out. Mike switched desks with me so that I could work off of his computer which is connected to a printer and he would work off of my computer. Easy, right. If you've ever seen Mike's office, you'd have an idea of how little space I had to work with! (I love you, brother!) But, I muddled through. I was worried though when I heard Mike say something about not remembering the last time he had that much desk space to work on! I told him not to get used to it!

Eventually, we switched back to our normal desks and all is well with my world. Or at least with my desk. I have no printer and they can't get my work email to log me on! C'mon now people! What more can go wrong?

HA! Never ask that question, because something else will go wrong! Case in point, my damn cell phone!

On my way to work this morning, my friend Robert from Houston called me. I didn't have my Garmin on for the blue tooth but I did just get a new blue tooth ear thingie recently. It's not like I know how to work it, but I have it!

I asked Robert to hold on while I got my blue tooth turned on. While driving, that task was just too difficult and I couldn't figure it out. I threw the blue tooth back in my purse and I just put my phone on speaker phone to finish my call. Then the problems started.

I got a call later in the afternoon and I answered it to hear nothing. Come to find out, the person on the phone could hear me, I just couldn't hear them. I did what I always do when technology confuses me. I got ahold of Ron on speaker phone, the only way my phone seemed to work.

I told Ron about the blue tooth and then it hit me! I DID turn the blue tooth on so when my phone connected, it was running through the damn blue tooth that was in my purse! I'm telling you, it was NOT my day with technology!

So there you go. Overwhelmed again. Here's hoping that tomorrow brings solutions to my problems at work. I think my cell phone is ok for the moment! But just in case, if you need me, try sending smoke signals. I really need to give up on technology for awhile.

I've Been At A Loss For Words

Can you believe it? Me of all people, at a loss for words? Call the press, people! This just doesn't happen!

I guess I've had some news but didn't want to blab it until I had notified my family first. And, since this has been about the only thing on my mind for the last few months, I am having a hard time writing about anything else.

Type II Diabetes

I can't even say those words out loud. But, that's the news I got at my last physical a few months ago. Now, I know, I've been sitting around here boo hooing and oh why me and all that. It's not necessarily a death sentence. Although, my Dad died a slow painful death due in part to diabetes. I also see others in my family losing the fight with this disease as well. I guess it's my choice what to do and believe it or not, it's a choice I have to make every single day, every single hour, ever single minute. After all, up to now, I have lived to eat.

How could this diagnosis come as any surprise? Have you looked at my thighs lately? Or my family history? I knew this was coming, but I was happily living in my world of denial. I miss that world. Like I said, I've been boo hooing and having visions of my Dad getting his leg chopped off and not being able to see any more. I am not convinced that this isn't in my future, but I am giving it an honest effort to change my outcome. But, I am paying another price for cleaning up my act. It's a no win situation.

Let's go back to where this new journey began.

Back about four months ago, I had my physical. I peed in a cup, I had blood drawn, I stopped just short of turning my head to cough. All of my tests came back and I heard nothing from my doctor. I did have a mammogram and they were at least nice enough to tell me that came back ok. This was the only notification I received.

About a month later, I found out the hard way that I have developed a food sensitivity to shell fish. While at the doctor's office for that, he offhandedly mentioned that he saw my sugar was up when I had my blood work done and perhaps we should talk about it when I was feeling better. Ok, no problem.

Finally, two months after this, I have my appointment for my Pap. Don't ask why he couldn't do this when I had my physical. It made NO sense to me especially after I told him I'd put this off for a few years. Why he told me to wait a few more months to have my Pap made no sense to me, but I digress.

So, there I am in all of my glory and he again mentions that my sugar is higher than he'd like it. He did a finger stick test called the A1C test. This measures the amount of glucose cells that have attached to your red blood cells. Since your red blood cells live for about 90 days, this test will be able to tell you how your sugar has been running for the last three months. He explained this much to me and told me that my results were just over 10%. I don't know about you, but when you want little numbers, 10% of anything sounds like a good number to me! What do I know! I came to find out that 10% is bad. Way bad.

He suggested I talk to the dietitian. Ok, that sounded reasonable. I know I don't eat right, so maybe with a little guidance, I can learn to eat a little better and take care of my possible problem that way.

I made an appointment with the dietitian and in an hour with her, my life has changed. I have Type II Diabetes. I guess this shouldn't have come as such a surprise but for crying out loud, why in THREE appointments is my doctor not overly concerned or prescribing anything. An hour with the dietitian, I have a new diet, orders to exercise, a glucose meter and needles (YES, NEEDLES), and what I feel is a death sentence. As I've said, I've watched my Dad die a slow painful death from this disease and I am now watching others I know do the same thing. Why do I think it will be any different for me? I am so frustrated and in the middle of a good pity party for myself. To top it all off, within two hours of leaving the dietitian, the doctor has now called in a prescription that I needed to start taking IMMEDIATELY. I've seen him three times and it wasn't necessary to write me a prescription, but one hour with the dietitian and it takes HER to tell HIM to write me something? While I'm not convinced of his abilities as a physician who has my best interests at heart, I do have some faith in her.

The only bright spot of this is the dietitian. She has been very supportive (she's a diabetic herself), non judgmental, and full of suggestions and ideas. She taught me how to use my glucose meter, how to prick my freakin' finger, and went over my diet with me. Here's where we had to compromise.

We grew up eating unhealthy food. Why? Because we weren't well off and you could feed a lot of people with crap food. It doesn't cost much to feed an army on orange spaghetti or cabbage and noodles. Do you have any idea how expensive it is to buy fresh vegetables? Or lean meat? For real, healthy eating is NOT cheap.

I did tell my dietitian that I have an addiction to salty things. I NEED pretzels. She wrote them into my diet. I like this woman!

We are doing a low carb diet with exercise. Hmm. Everything I love has a LOT of carbs. For that matter, almost everything has some carbs. It's crazy. To help me get my mind around just what I was doing to myself, I started a journal of sorts. It's mainly my way to keep track of everything I shove into my mouth. I have an allotted number of carbs I am to be ingesting in a day. Believe it or not, your body does NEED some carbs. Just not a gazillion grams a day like I've been doing. Go figure. She gave me a range, and in my mind, it made more sense to cut that number in half. Don't ask me, but I've self imposed a worse limit than she gave me.

Then I bargain with myself. If I have a cup and a half of the best cereal in the world, Special K with red berries with a half of a cup of 2% milk, that's 44 grams of carbs. That's a lot for one meal. Lunch better be a spinach salad with tomatoes and cucumbers and only 7-10 grams of carbs for 2 tablespoons of dressing. I guess my life is now all about decisions. Every single day, every single meal. Have I mentioned that before? Talk about a life change. No good answers to these decisions either. Where is the decision where pizza is the right answer??

As much as I cut back, I try to cut back enough so that I can still have my pretzel stix at night. A girl has to have her standards. Besides, I fought hard to keep them in my diet! I love this mondo sized pail of the Utz's pretzels, found of course at Sam's Club. Unfortunately, to fit into my diet, I get eight stix for a 30 grams of carbs snack. That's a lot of carbs, so I better be good all day to fit that in at night!

Now on to exercise. This part is killing me. I spent a ton of money years ago on the tread mill that takes up too much of my living room. I guess it's now or never to finally get my money's worth out of it. The walking has now aggravated my back to the point of unbelievable pain. I also have something wrong with my heel which I am suspecting is a heel spur. The walking isn't doing much for that, either. It seems I am taking ten steps backwards to take one step forward.

What do I have to show for this? Well, in the past year, I've lost 29 pounds the easy way. I have come to find out that when your sugar is out of control, you lose weight like mad. I don't know if my body is eating itself or what. But, the first 29 pounds, I ate all I wanted and just dropped the weight. Bonus! Personally, I was all for continuing on that way, but no one else seemed to go with my suggestion.

My diet is limited to carb restrictions. I am not counting calories or worrying about anything else. Carbs. I hate that the word "carbs" is my new buzz word. But, I digress. I try to eat less that 100 grams of carbs per day. Plus, I do 40 to 45 minutes on the treadmill, at least six days a week. What do I have to show for this?

Since June 8th, my sugar is no longer elevated like it was, but remains within the tolerances set out for me by the dietitian and the American Diabetic Association. I have lost an additional 14.2 pounds and I am fitting into clothes in my closet that I haven't worn in years.

On the flip side, I'm back to where I was physically a year ago. I hurt. Daily. Hourly. I can't sit, I can't stand, I can't lay. But my sugar is going down.

I know I should quit bitching. The diagnosis could have been a LOT worse and I do realize that. That doesn't change the fact that at 47 years old, I have fucked up my life so much that I don't know if there is a coming back from this or through this. I know, one day at a time, one hour, one minute, one decision at a time. I am not convinced that I can really keep this up, but so far, I've been giving it one heck of a try.

I hope this blog won't become a diet journal, but I'm afraid that might happen. Sorry in advance! But this has taken over me to the point of obsession. I can think of little else, I know I talk of little else any more.

This is what's going over here and why I've been so quiet. I wasn't sure I was going to write about this, but I just have to. My life is forever changed.

I am a diabetic. In trying to get this under control with my exercise, my back is killing me and my foot hurts like hell.

My kingdom for a couple of Vicodin.

And a bag of potato chips.

Another Freakin' Rodent - I Think

I'm telling you, they are following me around!

This morning at work, Mike and I were in his office discussing the upcoming day when all of a sudden . . . BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Something was running across the tin roof of the building, right over our heads! To be honest, it sounded like the size of an elephant at least!

Mike and I went running outside to see what we could see. We went over to the corner of the building where the sound seemed to be going. I walked back towards the road, to get a far away look at that roof, afraid of getting to close to anything jumping off of the roof! Mike stayed closer to the building. I am not stupid! I'll see if he gets bitten first! Since he seemed safe, I finally walked closer to the building.

As we went around to the side of the building, suddenly again, BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM SCREECH BOOM BOOM SCREECH SCREECH BOOM BOOM BOOM. The critter was definitely inside the building, running across the eaves. You could see the eaves bouncing with every step that thing made. I'm not sure what the screeching was about but holy crap, someone was not having a good day.

A few months back we had a possum nesting up in the rafters or drop ceiling or whatever. I guess before the possum, there was a raccoon up there. My uneducated opinion is that it's a raccoon just because for as much as the eaves were bouncing from the weight of whatever running up there, it seemed to be a lot bigger than a squirrel.

I know one of the drop ceiling tiles in my office is missing. I already warned Mike that if some creature drops out of my ceiling and into my office, I'm outta there! I was not comforted when Mike said that it would be his dust I was eating on the way out of the office if that happened! I feel so safe now!

Stay tuned. I'm on my way to plethora for sure.

A Plethora Of Dead Rodents

Ok, I don't know if two dead rodents really qualify for a "plethora" but when it's my blog, I reserve the right to some poetic license!

About a week ago, I left the house in the morning to head to work. The garage is detached from the house, and the area to the left of the garage, which is behind the house, is the parking pad for the guys.

As I was walking back to the garage to get into my car, I looked to my left and on the parking pad behind where the guys park, I saw something. I honestly said to myself, "self, that leaf over there looks like a mouse. You better go look!"

That's the last time I listen to my self.

Sure enough, I walked up to what I thought was the leaf and yes, it was a dead mouse. UGH! Without going into too much detail, this damn mouse did not die of natural causes. There was definitely evidence of cat intervention. Or maybe werewolf. Something like that.

I did what I do best: As soon as I got in the car, I called Ron who was in the house and told him about my latest nightmare. As always, he told me to not worry about it, he'd take care of it. And, that's exactly what he did. I don't need to know any more about this!

Thank you, honey!

Although, Ron did mention that since I used to feed the neighborhood cats in front of my garage, perhaps this was a "gift" from one of the local cats, hinting that they would like me to open up the feed bag again. I kinda slacked off once the cold weather went away. My bad, sorry.

Now we come to Monday morning, going to work. I am just down the road from work. I am driving, minding my own business, when what do I see out of my left eye? A kamikaze squirrel! Holy crap, he was headed straight for ME!

I did what I could, but I hit him any way. Ugh, I can't believe that a little one pound squirrel could be felt going under the wheel of a Honda Accord. Who knew? Not only did I feel the bump, but I could hear his little bones. Eww, I can still hear it in my head!

Before you think that maybe I just winged him, I did look behind me and trust me, that squirrel was done cracking nuts. Not a good way to start any day, let alone a Monday.

So I hope this is the end of my dead rodent streak. Alive or dead - I'd prefer they just stay far, far away from me.

Holiday Weekend

Hi! Remember me? I know, I know. I've sucked at blogging lately. But the good news/bad news is that I've kept notes on what I wanted to blog about! I just couldn't get my butt in gear and sit here to do the writing!

So, let's just start and get one out of the way. This is the recap of our holiday weekend over Memorial Day.

Saturday, May 29th, was Phil's birthday. When it's your birthday, you should be able to get what you want for dinner. That's always been the policy in our family. Phil chose his favorite dinner, meatloaf! Ok, as a big fan of my meatloaf myself, I was happy to oblige.

We ate our fill of some awesome meatloaf and even brother Mike was able to make it for dinner. We had a nice dinner, nice family time. Happy Birthday, Phil!

Ron and I finally got back into bocce on Sunday! We hadn't played at all last year so it was a beautiful morning and the bocce balls were dying to get a little action.

We started a game in our back yard but the grass was too high to play. That dang little white ball gets lost so easily in tall grass! So we picked up our balls and headed down to Lakeview Park. They have an honest to goodness bocce court at the park! I've always said I wanted to go down there to play but we've never done it before.

It's so much different playing on the artificial turf at the park instead of our very VERY uneven back yard. For example, when I take my turn, it takes almost everything in me to get the ball to roll across my yard. Between the ups and downs and the high grass etc. it makes it interesting to aim the bocce balls. On the artificial turf, one good roll and the ball went off of the court! Who knew I had that kind of strength! A different way to play but I'm telling you, I was in my element. I actually beat Ron (kicked his butt!) for the second time only since we've been playing. It was a darn good day and as you can tell, I'm still bragging about it.

Our Monday was quiet. I filled my day doing seven loads of laundry and a bunch of crocheting. Neither activity came out exactly like I wanted. The crocheting was disappointing. I was having a major brain fart and ended up ripping out a row, then doing the row over plus three more rows. It was then that I noticed that I picked up the wrong color EXACTLY where I had started. Aargh! All of that work for nothing! That seems to be the way I crochet though. One step forward, two steps back. I am so the champ at ripping out.

I tore apart our bed and did all the bedding while I was doing laundry. Nothing better than a nice fresh bed! If I'd have only had the oomph to wash the windows in the bedroom I would have been complete! Maybe next weekend.

So, there is the update on our Memorial Day weekend. I know, that probably wasn't worth waiting for! But again, I have my notes so I should be able to get y'all caught up pretty quickly on our exciting life! Hey, it's my story, I can spin it any way I want to!

Before I go, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BROTHER JIM!!! Sorry I couldn't celebrate with you today, but you were in the thoughts. I hope you had a great birthday!!