PT

We all know how busy the month of December is...I know we bring it on ourselves but sheesh so much in one month. It is almost as busy as canning!!!

Since we had met our deductible for the year based on my E.R. visit early in the year I decided I should head into the specialist to see about my shoulder and knee. They had been bugging me for months and not getting any better. Remember I do not like doctors so for me to be going you know it was bugging me.  Anyway I can't get one appointment for both the shoulder and knee. NOOOOO, it is so specialized these days I had to see two doctors. Racket????? I think so. Anyway those appointments required an afternoon off plus it ended as I thought it would. Want a shot - NO FREAKING WAY. OK go to physical therapy.

So this busy month of December I have been working hard with my physical therapist to try and rehabilitate my shoulder and knee. Impingement and arthritis what a combo... I have been working hard all month and have improved. I can now straighten my leg out and move my shoulder without biting pain. I am not back to 100% but at least I now have the knowledge of the exercises I need to combat the pain.

I like physical therapists. They actually try to help you get well versus a doctor that rushes you in, wants to give you a quick shot or pills and send you on your way. Physical therapists listen to where it hurts, take the time to feel the knots and sore spots and help you to get well. My therapist has worked so hard. We tried: ice, massage, and finally decided heat was my bodies choice of ways to feel better. We both were amazed at how well both responded to warming before working the muscles.  The therapist, as all people who are allowed to touch me, say the same thing: YOU ARE FULL OF KNOTS!  I carry my stress that way so it was not surprising to hear. We worked through the knots and were doing well until one week we went to far on the shoulder. EEEKKKK pain all weekend. That next week we worked hard and had the chiropractor also adjust me and we are back on track.

It has been a lot to fit into the month but worth it to feel better.

Here is to a great 2014~~~

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

December can be beautiful

Amazing photo taken by my husband. I just had to share.

December in the Midwest. Beautiful in its own way.

Christmas

Well it is that time of year again, The Christmas Season. I have been thinking lately - wow I sure have a lot of rituals this time of year. I guess you could call them habits or routines also but it all boils down to a lot of extra work and things to do at a normally very busy time.

This is not a very good photo but it does show our Christmas tree. This year I went with a red and white theme. It was the first time I did the entire tree in a theme. The lights are white, angel on top white and all the ornaments are either crystal, white, clear, or red or a combination of both. It turned out really well and I love it!

I also have my Christmas cards mailed. I know you are thinking Christmas cards??? Who does that in this electronic age. Well I do. I love getting cards in the mail. They are always so beautiful and sometimes come with a nice letter from a friend or relative. It gives me joy to write our annual letter. It gives me pause to reflect on our past year and all that we did. I count my blessings I guess.

Baking...Yes I do all the baking I can this time of year. Cookies and candies. The kids love this part of my rituals.I have done one batch of both and have another batch to do yet. In addition to the kids scarfing down many, I give some to neighbors. I also donate to the church cookie bazaar so others get to eat the fruits of my labor.

Shopping - yes I force myself to do this also. People close to me always get presents. It is the season of giving after all. Some people also get the true fruits of my labor some of my canned goods! I hope they enjoy the love that goes into those gifts.

Cooking. I am sure I will cook a large Christmas dinner for family and friends. This entails cooking and cleaning. Not that my house doesn't need a good cleaning but it still adds more to the to-do list.

Here is to a lovely holiday season - no matter what your rituals or yearly to-do. Take a moment to breathe and enjoy a slice of time.

Love to you all.

Thanksgiving

Hi readers, just taking a little time to say THANK YOU to all of you for reading. I hope you enjoy some of what you read and get a laugh now and again.  Thanksgiving in the USA is this coming Thursday. It is a holiday for us to reflect on everything we are thankful for. I have SO much I am thankful for.

Here is a short list:

My faith
My family
My readers
My friends
My home
Good food to eat
A nice home to live in
My pets
Love

Take a minute and think about all you are thankful for this holiday season. Peace and blessings to each one of you.

Love,
Deb

November backyard beauty

The other day I was out in the yard and had to stop in the yard and enjoy. Not often in November is there such beauty still blessing my back yard. Well this year it did so I thought I would share some of this late season beauty with you. I hope you enjoy as much as I did. What a wonderful way to count Sunday morning blessings.

A frozen red rose.

Multi-colored rose.

Purple mums.

Pink tea roses.

Red rose.

Yellow rose.

Apples

Yep first it was peaches, now it is apples.

100's and 100's of pounds of apples.

Enough apples to make me whimper in defeat.

Here is a nice shot of some apples freshly picked.

This shot here is of some BBA's as I call them. Big beautiful apples still on the trees.

This shot here is of one of the trees.  You can see a the top how the branches broke from all the apples.

Dehydrated apples are SO yummy and easy to make. This first shot is of the apples freshly sliced and placed on the dehydrator shelves. Yes, I hand peel and cut each apple. Hubby helped to peel when he wasn't picking.

This shot is what those apples look like when finished. Still nice and extremely flavorful.

Here is a sampling of some apple pie filling for great desserts this winter.

The final photo is a sampling of the apples we gave away to food pantries and homeless shelters. I just added it up and we gave 1,030 pounds of apples to these places alone! That does not count all the apples I processed, the apples we gave to friends and family, and the apples that ended up in the garbage because the were not edible.

I put away all my canners, jars, and supplies tonight. I have the dehydrator doing the last batch of apples. Canning season is officially over. My gosh now it is holiday time.... Just shoot me now.

The Nation's Capital

Well after all these years of traveling for work I finally got to see the nation's capital - Washington D.C..  I am glad that I finally got to see some of these historic sites. I was VERY VERY lucky to even get to see anything as we were there the week before the government shut the doors on these wonderful historic landmarks.

The trip was for work. We had to go learn about a new planning software program we are implementing and the company had a conference to share ideas and learn new things. We had to leave on a Sunday morning at 6am!!!! Now that is just crazy but our company will not let us fly direct so it took 6 hours to get there as we had to fly to Dallas first.  We arrived around 1pm - took the metro to our hotel and checked in. The metro stop was right across the street from our hotel so it was wonderful and easy to travel around the city using that system. One of the ladies aunt had some metro cards so we used those! It was fun. We only got caught one time during a busy time where we were VERY close to all the other riders. The other lady I was traveling with is so tiny she had to hang onto me as she was unable to reach the bar to hang onto in the subway car. It was a hoot! Of course we were so packed in she wouldn't have gone far anyway.

So anyway, on that Sunday after check-in we headed to "the mall" which is Capitol hill area not a shopping mall. We began to walk, and walk, and walk, and walk some more. We walked for 6+ hours straight!!! I do not know how many miles but it was over 8 miles.  Next I will just show you some of the sites I did see during my stay. We didn't just walk on Sunday. On Monday after our training we went to Georgetown and walked up and down the entire shopping area. Tuesday we went back to the downtown area and ate at the Old Ebbit Grill. I guess this is where all the political folks hang out but I didn't look for anyone. I just enjoyed the restaurant and the decor.   On Wednesday we went back to "the mall" and walked some more and toured a few of the Smithsonian's before heading to the airport for our late flight back home.

I learned a lot at the conference and saw a lot of historical sites. My brain was full of both by the time I got home. It was a good thing and I am glad I went.  Now we will get into the photo portion of this blog. These are just a few of the things I saw. I didn't even take many photos after Sunday.


I have always liked the Lincoln memorial when I saw it in movies or on TV. I was not disappointed when seeing it in person either. It was even more impressive I would say because I got to see the outside of the monument in addition to the statue itself. I thought it was great and the view from the steps was awesome!

This is a different shot of the Washington monument.  There was an earthquake a couple years ago and to make it safe again it needs major repairs.  The stuff all around the monument is scaffolding to aid in the repairs. I like to think I got a unique view of this monument.

Here is the famous White House. I was surprised how far away from "the Mall" it was. There were a lot of other federal buildings near here but they were all drab and dull. This really stood out and was a beautiful building from what I could see from this distance. It looked like they were getting ready for some sort of event later as there were tents and musical equipment set up in the corner of the lot.

After all that walking around we decided we should see Arlington cemetery. I am very glad we did even if that meant another 2 mile walk...up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  That was an extremely moving experience to watch the changing of the guard.  I was impressed!

 

Another shot of the guard marching after the changing ceremony was completed.

Click on the link below for:

Video from changing of the guards.

Here is a shot from Lincoln memorial looking over to the Washington monument.

And finally a shot of a tiger jumping out of the Smithsonian. Loved it.

Sorry it took so long to post...

Peaches.

Beautiful yellow round orbs. I think it is my favorite fresh fruit.
Sweet, fuzzy, extremely juicy.
A fruit in the almond family, yes a peach.

The good: This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Niacin and Potassium, and a very good source of Vitamin C.
The bad: A large portion of the calories in this food come from sugars.

Peaches have been consuming my life for the past 2-3 weeks. They were EVERYWHERE in my home. The entry way, the refrigerators, the counter tops, the garage, the laundry room, the freezer....ahhhhhhhhhh.

I made spiced peaches, frozen peaches, peach sauce, canned peaches, peach jam, peach cobbler, and peach crisp.

We had 3 trees that over produced. We had literally 100's of pounds of peaches.  In addition to all the canning and freezing and cooking I did, I also gave peaches to friends, family, coworkers, the church, and people walking down the street. OK so maybe not to people down the street but I did give 150 pounds (yes you read that right) to the local food pantry.

I'm tired and there are two fully loaded apple trees staring at me every day begging me to lighten their load.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

So hard to find...

It sure is hard to find good blogs to read.  I actually went out hunting numerous times with minimal luck.

One blog was purported to be funny, slightly offensive content. Sounds perfect for me. I viewed it and even subscribed. Very disappointed. All this blogger does is copy things from other places and stick on their blog in hopes of making a few bucks. No credit to the originator and absolutely NO ORIGINAL CONTENT!  I want to read a blog where the person actually contributes something to their blog not just stealing content from other sites and blogs.

Next search was for what I call "mom" blogs. These are blogs other moms write about their experiences raising their children. Baby mom bloggers are flourishing. They are nursing their babies and typing up blogs about poop and feeding and methods to get kids to sleep. I am past that stage so I refine my search to older kids.  I hear the wind whistling in the trees. Luckily a friend at work found this blog Erika and I follow her now. She is a hoot (big smile) and I think we would get along well.

Clean eating, I found a blogger whom I enjoy reading. She is a clean eater and has great recipes but her blog link quit working. I don't know if it is a blogger thing or if she went to a new format so now instead of seeing her blogs I have to go hunting for them. More work = less visits to her site.

My last complaint of the day is when I do get a blog I want to follow they only update once every 4-6 months. I need more fixes than that!!!! I know we all get busy and I have been guilty of going to long between posts but at least I do try.

Still no luck on gardening blogs. They must all be out pulling weeds or squashing bugs. (Pun intended there for your gardeners.)

So if anyone knows of good bloggers for teenage kids, slightly offensive content, or gardening/healthy eating I'd be happy to hear from you in the comment section. Heck I'd even be open to bloggers with a multitude of other things they write about as long the content is original and updated regularly.

Canning - canning - oh and more canning

The blogging is suffering.

Canning this time of year takes precedent.

This week has been green beans, corn, blackberries with relish yet to be made.

Last week was green beans, beets, blackberry jam and cucumbers/pickles.

On top of canning you need to include the items we are eating fresh that take time to dice, slice, and otherwise prepare for eating.

Oh yes, did I mention I dehydrate food also? This year it is zucchini! They taste like chips :-)

Horrors I don't even have any photos of the completed work but I do have one photo from last week showing the beets before I processed them.

So blogging will start up again, just not much before the frost hits! :-)

 

Mission Trip

You know how this summer has been very busy for the kids, well here is something daughter wrote after her trip to Texas to help others. It was more than I found out about her week by trying to pry it out of her.

First is the version I got out of her, then read the version she wrote so nicely for church.

Me - How was your trip?
A - Fine.
Me - What did you do?
A - WORKED! I got blisters from a shovel. It was horrible. I didn't have any fun.
Me - Did you get to swim?
A - Shrugs shoulders. Hey can I go over to M's house?

Now the nicer version I wasn't even told she wrote!!!

Mission Trip

 

July 18, 2013

 

"Do this and Remember Me." Luke 22:19         This was the main Bible verse for our mission trip week. To me, it means God wants us to do his work and help other people to remember him. On our mission trip we went to Ft. Worth Texas and other towns close by. We went to the Salvation Army and helped clean there and did any work they asked. That same day we went to the Food Bank and sorted food for them. Our group did so much work and it was a good thing and helped a lot of people. I will definitely remember it.         The last two days we were there we went to Camp Briarwood. Our group did yard work outside all day! We cut down trees and branches that were in the way of the trail and put dirt back into a trench. Let me say that, that is the most I have ever sweated before. Also at the camp I thought it was really nice of them to let us eat lunch with them. They really appreciated our work there and even though I got cuts, blisters, and bug bites I still am glad that I helped. This mission trip helped me have a stronger faith in God and myself.         One night at worship they made a cloth and they were going to give each one of us a piece of it to help us remember our experience. It was very touching for me. Hopefully another day I will go on another mission trip like this one.    Dear God,   I pray for all the people that we helped and for all the good things that happened this week. In Jesus name we pray, Amen   -A. Reed Teenagers...

A little bit of love

My husband and I ride to work together. Part of our ritual is before we get out of the car we give each other a kiss.

This morning we were both mad. He was mad at me and I was mad at him. It was a quiet ride to work with him sitting cross armed in the passenger seat and me grumbling as I am driving.

We get to work and I park. I just want to get out of the car and run screaming away. It is time for our morning ritual. I look over and there he is all puppy eyed looking at me. He is all puckered up and ready.

I say, "What do YOU want?"

He bats his eyes, leans closer and says "Trouble, that's why I married you."

Me - anger floating away as I kiss him.

Strange analogy. Strange blogger. That's me!

You know how those cute adorable little puppies are? The ones that jump all around you begging for the slightest bit of attention. They want to love you and give you kisses and tell you how great you are for petting them?

That is ME in anticipation of my 2 yes 2 vacations yet this summer.  I so want to be in the car and outta here.

Jump
Jump

Wiggle my cute little puppy butt.

Lick your face.


Yep - me wanting my vacations THAT bad.

FIT N FAT Part 2

NOTE: I am just a lay person struggling. These things I am writing about are my experiences only and the things my doctor told me. Granted she is a Diabetes, Metabolism & Endocrinology specialist who was extremely hard to get an appointment with. For me she was knowledgeable and I believed the things she told me. Take this blog how you like.

In part one of FIT N FAT I focused on my story to date and exercise and things I have done on my journey.  This post is on things the specialist told me regarding metabolism, weight, and people's battles.  Below are the key points I gleaned from that visit. I am writing this because almost all the things she told me I all ready knew or do. It has sent me in the wrong direction for a period of depression and not eating healthy. I am writing this as therapy to get me back on track and trying to find something positive out of this event in my life.


1. What you eat - You really are what you eat. How you choose your calories really does make a big difference. Two years ago I revamped what I eat. I rarely eat out. Eating out contains a LOT of hidden calories and so much sodium you could kill a cow! If you do eat out I would recommend at a minimum looking for restaurants that post stats on their foods and read those stats before you eat. Plan ahead!  Prepared foods. This one is harder for me as when you work full time and have a family that is hungry IMMEDIATELY upon arrival home, you have to rely somewhat on prepared foods. I try to limit this but for my life it is impossible. Rather I focus on limiting the prepared foods as much as I can. The crock pot is my friend. Using a crock pot you can use unprocessed foods to make wholesome meals that are ready when you get home.  The other thing you can do is prepare the food for your next nights meal the night before. Some people prepare all week's food on Sundays. Whatever works for you to stay away from processed foods. I also do a lot of gardening and canning of my foods so I know where my food came from and what is in it.  If you don't garden, visit the local farmers market. VERY worth it. Just ask my kids, I am a huge vegetable pusher. They groan ALL the time but are learning to eat vegetables!!!  Having said all this about number 1, I have not lost weight with my better eating plan. Keep reading for more on that.  To prove to the doctor I was doing what I said above, I pulled out a calorie count report showing my foods from two months on what I ate. I think she realized I was serious in this appointment as she took a very long time during my appointment and was very patient with my questions.

2. Medical reason - As most doctors will do if you visit them, my doctor wanted to rule out a medical condition for my weight problem.  They will do blood tests based on your symptoms and what your doctor wants to check.  My doctor did these tests and my tests were normal.  On a side note, I have a joke with my husband. I tell him all the time "healthy as a horse".  It drives him crazy as he sees what I go through, how much I eat, and how much I exercise. He is one of two people that strong-armed me into even going to the specialist in the first place.  If you do have a medical problem by all means follow doctor's orders and get on the medicine they prescribe. There are a lot of web sites on various medications, the first medicine may not be the best one for you. Be active in your care! Research and ask your doctor questions. Don't be afraid to stand up for yourself. This is hard for a lot of people.  I do not like doctors so this is very hard for me but I am learning. I am thankful that I do not have a medical condition. There is so much to say about being healthy!
:-)

3. Metabolism - Refers to all the physical and chemical processes in the body that convert or use energy, such as: breathing, circulating blood, controlling body temperature, contracting muscles, digesting food and nutrients, eliminating waste through urine and feces, and functioning of the brain and nerves. That sure seems very technical. In more my terms, it is how you burn the food you eat. Any extra food you eat and don't burn from living your life turns to F-A-T.  There have been so many studies done on metabolism but it is still not understood completely nor can you alter the metabolism you have been given.  There are basically 2 types of people - the fidgety people and the non fidgety people. You don't have a choice which group you are in. Either you are or you aren't.  Fidgety people unconsciously move more when they eat more where the non people do not. You may notice these people at work or out and about. They jiggle their legs, stand up and walk around when on the phone, or do other tics that naturally burn more calories.  There is no magic pill you can take to speed up your metabolism even though many companies claim to be able to do so.

4. How you process the food you eat.  This ties in with metabolism to some degree. It is the ability to extract calories from food. Some people are naturally experts at extracting every single calorie from the food they eat. Other people are not good at pulling calories out of food and much of the nutrients pass right through the body never being absorbed. The body never gets a chance to turn the food eaten into energy or fat. I happen to think I EXCEL in pulling nutrients and calories out of food. Again, you do not have a say in which bucket you fall into. You have to deal with which ever hand you were dealt.  In the old times some folks referred to these kind of people as food keepers. You were good at keeping the food you ate. I ask myself every day why I have to be so good at this one. I would love to be a food waster!!!!

5. Cortisol. This is a steroid hormone your body produces by the adrenal gland. When you do not get enough sleep or are stressed for a long period of time, the levels in your body raise and cause other problems. I have slept so poorly for so many years, I do not even know what a good nights sleep is.  Doc thinks this could be contributing to my problems. I am scheduled for a sleep study to help determine why in fact I am not getting a good nights rest. I have always attributed my lack of sleep to me being such a light sleeper. I guess if anything comes of the sleep study I will be writing a Part 3. It also talked about stress in my research. Let's just say I have had nothing but stress for many many years which also contributes to this issue.

Notice in this blog any reference to exercising is missing. The doctor did mention that but when I told her what I do she quickly moved on and didn't mention that again!!! :-)  If you don't exercise, please do make exercise a daily part of your life. It will make you feel better mentally and physically! Please refer back to  FIT N FAT part 1 for exercising.

To close, I really do not have any good answers to why I am fat. We (myself and the doctors) have theories and clues as to what contributes to me being larger than other people but that is all it is - clues. Next what can I do to remedy the situation? Do what I am doing and accept the fact I will not look like I want to look. I do not like that answer but then again I need to find a way to make peace with myself.  Making peace with how I look is a journey in and of itself.  America is a horrible place to be fat. Discrimination occurs all the time. You are shunned and made fun of by those more fortunate on the scales.  There are laws to protect you from abuse and discrimination for almost every area of your life except weight. It is the last big hurdle.  I hope this type of discrimination falls in my life time. It would be good to see it go.

I'm going too!!!

I thought this was just too cute and I had to share. Ann is packing to go to Dallas this weekend.  Look who wanted to come along!

Isn't she just the cutiest thing and she fits perfectly!

Just one day off

There really is something to getting burnt out at work. I was so there but haven't had any chance to take time off. This week really isn't a relaxing week but it is away from work and I haven't checked my email in 3 days!!! Today was so nice. I was on the go from 6am to 6pm but it wasn't office work and it was very fulfilling to me. OK hang on -here was my day.

Up like I said at 6am. Got the cats fed, hubby fed, and scooted out the door for a 40 minute walk around the lake. It was very cool and foggy and I loved every step of it. Just me and nature. I came back hungry. I drank some water ate a cookie and chopped up a melon and had some of that.

Next after some quick on-line banking it was off to pick up the children from their dad's house and shuttle them over to Bible School. They are helpers all week.

Zoom home, pry the oldest out of bed to help me take two cats to the vet. Just before we have to leave, vets office calls and says they have to delay us an hour. OK. I head to the garage and start detailing my car. EWWWWW what a mess it was. I swear I wiped that thing 3 times and it still isn't quite like new.  I didn't get the car finished before it was time to take two howling upset cats to the vet.

Rush home, drop off oldest so he can eat lunch and head to work. I work on the car a bit more and then zoom back to town to get kids from Bible school.

Get home - feed them. Have them complain the food isn't good enough. I escape to the garage to finish the car. It is BEAUTIFUL.

Next it is back to town. Daughter drives to her drivers education class. I drive home. Youngest resumes mowing he started before we left. I paint a small outdoor table that I have been wanting to paint for a couple years. Yell at the boy to slow down about 50 times. I think he was trying to see if the mower could fly...

Go back to town (yes that was 5 trips today) pick up daughter. She drives home. I make dinner including heading to the garden to harvest some lettuce for our dinner. Everyone is happier with dinner. Have children clean up kitchen. I head back to the garden to weed until my back screams NO MORE.

Jump in the shower and then head out to our deck and relax on my love seat with a couple of the cats.  It was a beautiful night and a very productive day. After all that I am H-A-P-P-Y!!!

Daughter Ann - BRAG BRAG BRAG

Sometimes I think my little Ann gets jealous. Her brother Vern has a blog and I write about him all the time and she gets NOTHING. I mean HOW unfair is that??? I like to treat my kids as individuals. Each one has unique strengths and should be treated differently. I don't care that they think this is SOOOO unfair. That is the way it is. They all get perks, just different ones depending on them.

I have to take a blog and brag about my daughter Ann. SHE IS AMAZING. She doesn't take praise well so this will be hard for her to read but I hope deep down she really does like her mama bragging her up. :-)

She is a great kid. She plays the flute and is learning guitar. She is very opinionated and beautiful and not afraid to speak her mind. Well last year when they were signing up for classes I talked her into a business class. She was hesitant but I thought she needed to try something different than her brother so she agreed.  In this class they had a project with a partner dealing with the stock market.  She and her partner (guy in purple shirt) bought stock (in this state wide program) with $100,000 play money. In the 12 weeks or so of the program they were competing with 100's of other teams in the state to see who could make the most money.

 

 

Well at the end of this time Ann and her partner ended up winning!!!!!!!!!! Not only did they win the spring 2013 competition, they won the entire year for the high school division.  They ended the program with $146,035!!!! That is almost a 50% return on their money. I should have given them real money to invest.

 

They had to give a small presentation for being the winning team in their division. The crowd loved it when they said they learned about price curves, rates of return, and dividends but what did they do? They threw all that out the window and picked stocks they liked! Something to be said for plain old common sense investing.

 

Here are a couple pictures during their presentation.

Just a cute picture of Ann leaving the podium.  She was so embarrassed her mom was there and taking pictures on top of it!!!

Here she is with her trophies...both the spring and overall.

The same week Ann was also confirmed. Here is a picture of her and me at her confirmation banquet which ended up being the same day as the other presentation.  She had a couple parties to celebrate her confirmation and choice to love God.

Finally to end on the most amazing note, I received her report card for the second semester today.  I have been told she gets her brains from her mother. :-)

Second Semester Report card:

English 9             A
PE 9                     A
Spanish I              A
Algebra                A
Phy Science         A
World History     A
Band 9                 A
Intro to Business A


GREAT JOB!!!!!! I am very proud to say you are my daughter. Keep up the good work and maybe I'll blog about you again. HEE HEEE

Karma strikes quickly...

I shouldn’t laugh but damn...

The Irony! I mean really – you run over someone and within hours the same exact vehicle runs over you!

Karma really does kill.
 

Tip-toe through the tulips

46 years.

That is how long it has been since we have had measureable snow in May. I am SO VERY TIRED of the cold and snowy weather.  I thought I would include a couple of photos. Even though I am completely sick of this weather the photos really have some beauty to them in a sad sort of way.

The tulips in our yard.

Piggies - to be more specific - Big Papa Piggy

I am MAD. I hunted.


And hunted.


And searched.


And hunted some more.

I could not find the BEFORE picture of this post. It was so long ago that I started this process I somehow lost how ugly and horrible my big toe was and now this post just won't quite be the same. I will do my best to tell you it was I-C-K-Y.

It was short, thick, multi layered, flaky mess. It had been this way for 30 year or so. Yes, you read that right. I lost my toenail twice as a child and it just never grew back correctly. I was doomed to ugly big toe. Yes, people made fun of it. I was self conscious. I hated it. I did not know what to do to change things. It was HORRIBLE.

Then I saw an add for Piggy Paste. Yes, that is what it is called. It promised grand things. I marched into Walgreen's to see for myself if this was worth purchasing.  I caved and spent $40 for the small tube of goo. I was so tired of my ugly toe.  I began applying as directed. I should have invested in the Band Aid company as it required the toe to be covered with a Band Aid every single day so the product could stay on my toenail. I went through boxes!

Time past. More time past. I wondered if there was any hope for my big ugly Papa toe?  Here is a photo I did find. I call this my in progress toe. The ugliness had cleared up a lot. Much of the flaking and discoloration had left by the time this photo was taken but you can still see some ugliness at the top of the nail. 

One side affect of using this medication regularly was the dryness of the skin around my nail. It would dry out and peel layers of skin off. I had to use lotion on the skin all the time to alleviate the itch. That, and I would also go a couple days without using the product to let my skin recover.

Now the tube is gone. Am I please with the results. Yes. Is it perfect No. I will never have a completely beautiful Papa Piggy but he is now manageable and I am definitely glad I purchased the product.  THANKS Piggy Paste.

After:

Proportions

I have noticed something in my healthful drinking ways. My body is not built to drink gallons of water. OK, yes I do drink a lot of water because it is healthy,flushes my kidneys of toxins, keeps my skin younger looking, blah blah blah BUT there are side effects of all this water.

The biggest one is bathroom runs! They are constant. It borders on ridiculous.  Below is my visual representation of why I am in the bathroom all the freaking time.

Yes you may laugh at my drawing skills :-)

Thank you East(nickname they will hate) for getting me to post this as a blog!

How times have changed - or have they? Part 1

Hubby had this book, Handbook for Husbands (and Wives) NEW REVISED EDITION - A complete guide for sexual adjustment in marriage.

Copyright 1949 - no that is not a typo.

Lord knows where he got it but some of the information in there made me roll with laughter. You know I had to read it since we have been married 2.5 years now and I hadn't read it yet. 1949...wow. Poor Google spell check couldn't even figure out some of these words!!

Here are some excerpts from the book and of course my comments. Enjoy.

We will start with the end of the book first - The Glossary

Clitoridectomy - removal of the clitoris. WHY WHY WHY would you do this?

Coitus interruptus - the act of withdrawing the phallos from the vagina before the orgasm occurs to prevent pregnancy.

Coitus reservatus - the act of inserting the phallos into the vagina but refraining from performing the copulatory movements to prevent an orgasm. Seems like a letdown.

Cunnilingus - the application of the mouth or tongue to the vulva. This is not considered a perversion by modern medical authorities when performed as a pre-coital gesture, only when it takes the place of normal coitus. THANK GOD I am not a pervert! HA.

Fairy - nickname for a male homosexual.

Fellatio - the act on taking the penis into the mouth. This is not considered a perversion by modern medical authorities when indulged in as a pre-coital gesture, only when it replaces the normal sex act.

PRE-COITAL GUYS - not entire act!!!

Pessary - an instrument placed in the vagina to support the uterus or rectum. Also a medicated vaginal suppository used to prevent conception by closing the mouth of the uterus.

Pornography - the literature or bibliography of prostitution. Obscene writing or photography.

Smegma - the secretions found under the prepuce (fold covering clitoris) and around the labia minora and clitoris, creating an unpleasant odor when not washed away. I learned something on this one!

Sodomy - intercourse between males by the anus. Most state penal codes also consider intercourse between a man and a woman via the anus as sodomy, even if the couple is married. I wonder if those "PENAL" codes have changed in the last 60 years or there is a lot of illegal activity going on between married couples these days...

Tribade - a woman with a long clitoris who practices tribadism as a means of sexual gratification.

Tribadism - mutual friction of the genitals and especially the clitoris between women as a means of achieving a sexual orgasm.

Vaginismus - contraction of the vaginal opening which prevents intercourse.

Venus Observa - the normal face to face position in intercourse. Here I thought that was called missionary position.

Zoophilism - sexual pleasure experienced in the fondling of animals. What?!?!?!? I can't pet my cats any more.

Now that we have the terminology down, we can get into the meat of the book. I have a feeling this blog post is going to need to be broken down into multiple parts.

Table of Contents - Even this mundane section of the book is interesting.

Sex Education After Marriage - Sex ignorance is a major cause of divorce. The high rate of divorce and sex crimes attributed to a prudish attitude. I thought money and infidelity was...

The Male Sex Organs - Size of penis(since the beginning of time men have had this fascination!!!), parts of penis, pubic hair arrangements(is this part it on the left, right, or down the middle???), cause of erections, pre-coital secretion.

The Female Sex Organs - Vulvar cleft pubic hair arrangements(what is the fascination? No wonder everyone shaves these days), clitoris-erection, points torn by intercourse(I would hope this is a onetime event), position to view interior of canal(I do NOT want to see up in there, Thank you very much), position for husband to locate muscles, douching dangers, orifices(REALLY?!!?!?!?), relation between breast size and woman's sexual capacity(THAT is why my breasts are so big and keep growing!), factors determining a woman's libido.

True Sexual Responsibility - sex single biggest factor in success of marriage, causes of sexual failure in marriage, common mistaken attitude regarding coitus, sex must be studied(some topics are never tired of being studied), time required, conditions required to perform coitus satisfactorily, frequency of intercourse(oh this should be interesting).

Causes of Sexual Failure in Husbands - impotency, masturbation, venereal disease(yes that could cause problems bringing that home), small penis, exercise to lengthen penis(it won't work), mother fixation(ewwwwwww).

Frigidity in Wives - cause of girls masturbating, frigidity induced by mothers, premarital petting(holy buckets I can hardly wait to see what they say about this).

Overcoming Difficulties - premature ejaculation, resistant hymen, tension, too quick orgasms, fear of pregnancy.

Bust Development with Hormone Creams - creams unsafe, why hormones won't increase size of most breasts, shape more important than size, disadvantages of large breasts, suggestions for women with small busts(no wonder implants are so popular).

Primarily for Husbands - desire in women compared to desire in female animals(I seriously want to kill the author for even putting this in the book- animals!!!), why there are no frigid females in the animal kingdom, why husbands fail to satisfy their wives, wives who don't care to climax(haven't met one of these type of women yet), husbands who work in the dark.

Primarily for Wives - woman's lower libido, tantalizing the husband after marriage, over-doing intimate exposure, best means for a wife to maintain her sexual appeal, sex-sloppy wives, selection of the under-clothing, natural female functions of interest to the husband.(This whole chapter looks like a FUCK YOU author chapter. I can bet you $ I will have some things to say about this.)

Pre-coital stimulation - husband's primary duty, necessity for wife to rid herself of inhibitions, the art of kissing, stimulating the clitoris, determining if lubrication of vulva is sufficient(will it go in easy and slide easy - sufficient).

Preparations for coitus - establishing a flexible plan, love-play for virgin wives, love-play for resourceful wife and timid husband, playing 20 sexual questions, pet names.

Positions for intercourse - reasons for various positions, accommodating mis-matched organs, position to view the phallos being inserted into the vagina, seated positions, aligning the sexual organs, air in the vagina(hate when that happens!), the ideal sexual union(I can only imagine what this dude will come up with).

Coital movements - keeping informed of the wife's progress(is there a plug in meter?), assisting the wife who has failed to climax, penis captivus(a problem????).

Special pre-coital stimulation - sexual black magic the timid brides dilemma, anal-intercourse, perfuming of the vulva(EEEK), vaginal urination(today I believe this is called squirting).

General Sexual Information - the orgasms, length of coitus(I am sure Mr. Davis will give exact times), genitalia hygiene for husbands and wives.

Part 2 will delve into the book itself. Please come back for that fun!!!

 

FIT n FAT

I know, I should have way more blogs but it's just that I spend so much time exercising I can't get any blog time in.  I can't type and treadmill at the same time. Maybe I could if I was going 2mph but that won't burn enough calories for my liking so I huff and puff and my blogging falls by the wayside.

I just want to tell all of you, I am living proof that you can be Fit AND Fat.  If you caught me on the scales and put my height and weight into any BMI calculator, I would be either overweight or obese. To look at me, ya you would say she is chunky but looks happy.  Overall I am pretty happy except for doctors and BMI charts and people frowning because I am not the ideal size that an insurance company came up with 60 years ago.

Now for a little background. I grew up as a F-A-T kid. Compared to today's kids I would look again chunky but not fat. Let me just say kids are HORRIBLE. They will tease each other about anything. Your hair is to long, your hair is the wrong color, but when you are fat...That is universal. On Valentines Day. I always got the pig Valentines. Fatty fatty two by four was a standard song I heard. I was ALWAYS selected last in P.E. class. You get the picture. I can very much relate to overweight people and the things they suffer through. Been there done that.

In high school things improved slightly. One summer I dropped over 50 pounds. People didn't recognize me. I liked it. It didn't help in gym class but at least the fatty fatty jokes stopped.  How did I lose the weight? I quit eating. I would only eat dinner and maybe an apple for lunch. I was in high school and you can do anything in high school.

Then came college. I put on the freshman 15 at least and some of the comments came back. I was devastated. I didn't know what to do so I found these pills called Dexatrim. They helped me not be so hungry so I could starve again. Life was good. I was to naive to know how bad for me they were. I am pretty sure they messed up my metabolism or something... Anyway...

After college I went to work. They had a health fair at work. I attended being the naive 20 something I was. What could it hurt? It did. They told me I was over weight. My BMI was at like a 23 or 24. I needed to lose some weight and tone up. Again - devastation hit. I am 5'6" and probably weighed around 135 pounds yet they told me I was in serious trouble.

Now I added exercise to my diet routine. I began walking at lunch. I remember walking 20 blocks or so in my suit at lunch to get my lunch of a bag of popcorn. I was trying. After work I would go for bike rides. I would take aerobic classes. Once I started, I have never stopped. I have been exercising 4+ days a week for 25 years or more. The type of exercise has varied over the years but I have always did something. I exercised up to the day of giving birth on all 3 of my children. (The folks at work still talk about that.) I started exercising after they were born before the doctor gave me the OK to exercise. I was busy chasing kids but still exercised. My weight crept up even with all that. I did stop taking those evil diet pills and began the never ending cycle of constant hunger.

So here I am now well into my 40's. Still exercising and still obese. I personally think I am in pretty good shape. I can R-o-C-k the treadmill. In one hour I can burn 600+ calories. If you know anything about a treadmill workout, that isn't bad.  Some days I even do multiple workouts a day. Those kill me. I am so sore. This old body is getting tired, but on I keep going.

To look at me you wouldn't know it but my resting heart rate is 56-58. My blood pressure is right around 100/60. I am not on any medications. I am fit AND fat.

So now I am sure you are thinking I also rock the McDonald's a lot to do all that working out and still be fat. WRONG. I do NOT eat fast food. As a matter of fact I have given up eating out almost 95% of the time. Even good choices of restaurant food contain to much sodium. In the last two years I have overhauled my eating. People thought I ate healthy before. HA. Now I watch levels of everything in my foods. Am I perfect? HELL NO, but I really am trying hard to eat well.

I do use a website to help me stay on track. It is: Calorie Count There are a lot of sites out there but this one is free and easy to use. It tracks food and activity and a must if you are serious about being healthy. I average an A or A- on eating via that website. Yes, they give you grades and food will surprise you.  I also eat between 1200 and 1600 calories a day - not a lot. Again, I should be thin but I am not.

I guess I am writing this blog to give Hope to all those out there who are overweight. You don't have to be a size 0-6 to be healthy and happy. I am currently a size 14/16 just to show you I am being honest and sincere. You don't hear to often about people like me but I am here to share the news. Do your best. Keep a record of activity and food that enters your mouth. Make changes as you can. Keep on truckin!!!
 

Leave it to the engineers...

The company I work for never ceases to amaze me at the things it comes up with to cause me to shake my head in wonderment.  Here is a new one I just HAVE to share with my readers.  This very detailed email was actually sent to an entire floor of workers. Be sure to contrast that with our floor. I have italicized the email. If you can't make it through skip to non-italic fields for rest of blog.

Subject: Refrigerator Cleaning Plan

 All,

Engineering has initiated a process to improve the cleanliness and health of the third floor refrigerators.  In order to begin the regular cleanings, the two units will be completely emptied and cleaned March 1, 2013.  All food located in the refrigerators or associated freezers on that day will be disposed.  Packages may be disposed or recycled.  Personal lunch pails and containers will be saved and placed on the counters for a week before also being disposed or recycled.

PLEASE EMPTY ALL REFRIGERATOR CONTENTS FOR THE MARCH 1 PURGING.

Going forward, a labeling system will be implemented to protect your food from disposal and to ensure all refrigerator contents are not expired.

1. Engineering will provide tape on a hook with a pen for labeling items.
1. Labels should include owner’s name and date of storage.
2. Write “FOR STAFF” if you’d like to share it with others on the floor.  “FOR STAFF” items will not be disposed until the expiration date on the item.
2. Anything not labeled at the last Friday of each month or that has a label that is more than a month old will be disposed.
1. Containers and lunch pails will not be tossed. They will be rinsed and placed on the counter for a week.
2. Food will be tossed in the trash can, liquids in the sink.

Thank you for your attention to the health and safety of the floor,

Did you actually read all that? I mean my head began to swim after the first couple bla bla bla sentances and I am a detail oriented person!!!

Now for the Refrigerator Cleaning Plan on our NON-engineering floor:

Note posted on refrigerator door -


THIS REFRIGERATOR IS BEING CLEANED TOMORROW. RETRIEVE YOUR FOOD BY THEN OR IT WILL BE TOSSED!

I like ours - simple, to the point, no bureaucracy.