Sickness around here
7 years ago
Sunday, December 27, 2009
My grandson Andrew
The good thing about getting older is my memory becomes very selective. I don't remember David ever being as active and curious as Andrew. Sure I remember his turning off my power strip and disconnecting my computer, but I think that was more out of frustration--he wanted on it so he could "paint" and his marking up my walls down in the basement and such, but Andrew is in a class by himself. He can climb on anything. Melanie LeFevre, in the nursery, turned her back on him for one minute and he had climbed on top of the toy stove unit, not on it, but on top of it. So on Christmas when our big screen TV had a glitch, Rob had pulled it out to find out what had happened. He got his volt meter and started investigating. But he got distracted and as Rob is wont to do, left everything just strewn all over. We were talking in the livingroom when David thought he had seen something and checked behind the TV to see if Andrew were there. He wasn't, but something was still concerning him, so he took a closer look, only to discover that Andrew had climbed up inside the guts of the TV and David had to pull him out very carefully so as not to electrocute him. I think the closest David ever got to that behavior was his story of how he and Seth pushed the "enter" key and entered into the guts of the computer, but that was fictional. Andrew is living the life!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
To blog or not to blog that is the ?
Do I find joy in blogging? Or do I find it tedious? Is it a journal that will be easy to create a book from or will it be just a sad litany of complaints and irritations? I suppose a blog is a way of expressing oneself to a wide public, but what if you really don't want your thoughts passed hither and yon? It's like those songs, "do I stay or do I go?" or "you say goodbye and I'll say hello." It's a conundrum of oxymorons. And to tell the truth the jury is still out. Right now I should be filing all the plethora of receipts, reports, and junk on my counters and putting Stephanie's missonary book together. If I were more computer literate, I would start creating a great blog for her that she can turn into her missionary books when she returns. It's so hard to decide. I mean I know I am supposed to keep a journal but in such a relatively public forum. I find I have lots of journaling opportunities. In my fit day, I'm to express my mood and my journal there, and it becomes more a list of what I did that day and what I ate and how much I exercised, but this one is more of therapeutic conversation, but in real life I have great therapists--Lynda and Dr. Bob. Is this just one more distraction to keep me from writing because I am writing here. So after a little pondering, I have decided that what a blog for me is more a journal like my Times and Seasons, Family history. This would be the place to post pictures and tell amusing anecdotes that I can read next year and use one of for my Christmas letter. It is a tale for the Scheherazade in me, so given that I want to tell a story, so that I may never forget.
Last night we had a wonderful Christmas dinner. I ate the brussel spouts and mashed potatoes for my "liquid diet." I had set the table with the gold chargers, the crystal, china, and silver and it looked lovely. Dinner would be around 3, 3:30, 4, you get the idea. We were having prime rib and I would prefer mine on the pink and juicy side, but the rest of the family likes burnt offerings. I was tired, I had gotten up early to clean the house and get ready for Stephanie's phone call. As it turned out the hour she was allotted was magnified into almost two so who am I to complain, but . . . I was planning on using that time. Instead of ended up squeezing in time to make two chocolate sundae pies, do laundry, start the process of changing the sheets on my waterbed, clean the kitchen, etc. Anyway, I was trying to figure out a time to take a nap before dinner and I guess that's where the extra hour went, but probably more than likely it was given as a gift to the missionaries. I find Elder Moss and Elder King think I am Scheherazade because this is the second time in less than a week they have come calling, more out of frustration that it is Christmas time and hard to set up times and their investigator pool is pretty slim pickings, while Stephanie's is erupting and there must be a bit of desire to hear about her success to know that the Church is still true if not in Redmond, at least in Texas.
They showed up a little after 2, just as I had finished peeling the potatoes for cooking and eventual mashing and was in the process of folding the stiff egg whites into the chocolate sundae pie filling (not truth in advertizing, there is so little chocolate it should be called custard pie) and I was ready to take a nap, unfortunately, my bed was still unmade--getting Rob to make it, took another 4 hours and David, but eventually, it got done-yeah! Anyway, they came in and opened their presents, each got a Costco sized box of cereal, Elder King likes Honey Bunches of Oats and since Elder Moss didn't state his preference, I figured since his favorite dessert had been a cranberry cake, why not cranberry macadamia cereal. He liked it, too.
And so I told stories, stories from my missions of how obnoxious the zone leaders were and how I tricked them out of telling me where I was going to be transferred and how Bruce was able to send me a letter on the day I arrived, causing my new zone leaders to say, "hey, she's only been here a day and she's already got mail!" And then I told them the story of all stories. The one Stephanie had referenced in her Christmas conversation, the one I hope never to forget because it is soo good.
Lori King told us this story of her friend who chooses to sit behind one particular family during sacrament meeting, because something amusing always happens and this Sunday was no exception. After the sacrament was passed and the speakers began to drone on, the parents started to nod off. Mom and Dad were in the arms of Morpheus when "junior" and his little sister were bored and trying to find something to keep them entertained. What could be more interesting than a tour through mom's purse. So junior started rummaging through her purse, where he discovered something that was a bit unique and unusual. There were some long cylindrical objects wrapped in pink plastic. "Hmmm, a present that needs to be unwrapped, no doubt." And so junior ripped off the wrapping and found a long tube with string hanging out the back and a sort of plunger like tube that pushed whatever was in out. Junior thought, hmm this is interesting what will happen if I give it a good thwap! Poof, off the tampons sailed to the right. Hmm, that was fun, where's another one. Poof to the other side another sailed. Little sister was intrigued (so was the speaker who saw them sailing and for a moment lost his place) The whole audience was intrigued by the point. Sister picked up the "dangling" objects and thought, "maybe their earrings" and slipped the cord around her ear so they could hang down. Brother thought, "No I think they are lariats that you can hold on to and twirl and proceeded to do so. Together they explored all the possibilities that tampons could be used for. About this time, mom woke up and there was an explosion as she lifted up junior and removed him from the chapel. So sad, but that's why my friend likes sitting behind this family, something always exciting happens.
After telling a couple more stories, the elders left and we sat down for dinner. Alexa was still enjoying her other family's Christmas and came late (at least we were still at the table and hadn't eaten dessert) But the story that was new to me was the one Elgin told of his grandparents, Tom and Beulah. The day before I had mentioned that yeast waffles were a Springgay treat and he said that it was a very rare treat that bisquick basically was used for everything (and here all these years I have been making them from scratch thinking this is what Rob had eaten every Saturday--the little twirp) We were talking about Beulah and what a fabulous cook she was, on a wood stove no less, and that we would be eating her chocolate sundae pie, when Elgin told the story of a 50 gallon barrel that the family had put apple cider in, but as in most cases of "food storage" It just sat there waiting for a good time to use it. And so it waited. It waited so long it turned to apple vinegar, functional, but not as readily usable. And still it waited until one day, the acidic nature of the beast broke the barrel and the basement was flooded with 50 gallons of vinegar. We said, "We'll it must have been a pretty clean basement since one uses vinegar as a cleaning agent sometimes" but Rob said, "that's a lot of vinegar! 50 gallons."
Last night we had a wonderful Christmas dinner. I ate the brussel spouts and mashed potatoes for my "liquid diet." I had set the table with the gold chargers, the crystal, china, and silver and it looked lovely. Dinner would be around 3, 3:30, 4, you get the idea. We were having prime rib and I would prefer mine on the pink and juicy side, but the rest of the family likes burnt offerings. I was tired, I had gotten up early to clean the house and get ready for Stephanie's phone call. As it turned out the hour she was allotted was magnified into almost two so who am I to complain, but . . . I was planning on using that time. Instead of ended up squeezing in time to make two chocolate sundae pies, do laundry, start the process of changing the sheets on my waterbed, clean the kitchen, etc. Anyway, I was trying to figure out a time to take a nap before dinner and I guess that's where the extra hour went, but probably more than likely it was given as a gift to the missionaries. I find Elder Moss and Elder King think I am Scheherazade because this is the second time in less than a week they have come calling, more out of frustration that it is Christmas time and hard to set up times and their investigator pool is pretty slim pickings, while Stephanie's is erupting and there must be a bit of desire to hear about her success to know that the Church is still true if not in Redmond, at least in Texas.
They showed up a little after 2, just as I had finished peeling the potatoes for cooking and eventual mashing and was in the process of folding the stiff egg whites into the chocolate sundae pie filling (not truth in advertizing, there is so little chocolate it should be called custard pie) and I was ready to take a nap, unfortunately, my bed was still unmade--getting Rob to make it, took another 4 hours and David, but eventually, it got done-yeah! Anyway, they came in and opened their presents, each got a Costco sized box of cereal, Elder King likes Honey Bunches of Oats and since Elder Moss didn't state his preference, I figured since his favorite dessert had been a cranberry cake, why not cranberry macadamia cereal. He liked it, too.
And so I told stories, stories from my missions of how obnoxious the zone leaders were and how I tricked them out of telling me where I was going to be transferred and how Bruce was able to send me a letter on the day I arrived, causing my new zone leaders to say, "hey, she's only been here a day and she's already got mail!" And then I told them the story of all stories. The one Stephanie had referenced in her Christmas conversation, the one I hope never to forget because it is soo good.
Lori King told us this story of her friend who chooses to sit behind one particular family during sacrament meeting, because something amusing always happens and this Sunday was no exception. After the sacrament was passed and the speakers began to drone on, the parents started to nod off. Mom and Dad were in the arms of Morpheus when "junior" and his little sister were bored and trying to find something to keep them entertained. What could be more interesting than a tour through mom's purse. So junior started rummaging through her purse, where he discovered something that was a bit unique and unusual. There were some long cylindrical objects wrapped in pink plastic. "Hmmm, a present that needs to be unwrapped, no doubt." And so junior ripped off the wrapping and found a long tube with string hanging out the back and a sort of plunger like tube that pushed whatever was in out. Junior thought, hmm this is interesting what will happen if I give it a good thwap! Poof, off the tampons sailed to the right. Hmm, that was fun, where's another one. Poof to the other side another sailed. Little sister was intrigued (so was the speaker who saw them sailing and for a moment lost his place) The whole audience was intrigued by the point. Sister picked up the "dangling" objects and thought, "maybe their earrings" and slipped the cord around her ear so they could hang down. Brother thought, "No I think they are lariats that you can hold on to and twirl and proceeded to do so. Together they explored all the possibilities that tampons could be used for. About this time, mom woke up and there was an explosion as she lifted up junior and removed him from the chapel. So sad, but that's why my friend likes sitting behind this family, something always exciting happens.
After telling a couple more stories, the elders left and we sat down for dinner. Alexa was still enjoying her other family's Christmas and came late (at least we were still at the table and hadn't eaten dessert) But the story that was new to me was the one Elgin told of his grandparents, Tom and Beulah. The day before I had mentioned that yeast waffles were a Springgay treat and he said that it was a very rare treat that bisquick basically was used for everything (and here all these years I have been making them from scratch thinking this is what Rob had eaten every Saturday--the little twirp) We were talking about Beulah and what a fabulous cook she was, on a wood stove no less, and that we would be eating her chocolate sundae pie, when Elgin told the story of a 50 gallon barrel that the family had put apple cider in, but as in most cases of "food storage" It just sat there waiting for a good time to use it. And so it waited. It waited so long it turned to apple vinegar, functional, but not as readily usable. And still it waited until one day, the acidic nature of the beast broke the barrel and the basement was flooded with 50 gallons of vinegar. We said, "We'll it must have been a pretty clean basement since one uses vinegar as a cleaning agent sometimes" but Rob said, "that's a lot of vinegar! 50 gallons."
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Christmas is Coming
Happy Birthday, Joseph Smith!
For the first time in my life, I am not hungry. How long that will last I know not, but I am taking advantage of it. This morning, I'll get my steristrips off and basically be ready to meet my other New Year's Resolution, lose 100 or more pounds by next Christmas. It's taken a long time, but I feel the medical improvements have made it a procedure worth waiting for. No one questions a person getting a pacemaker, they feel like hey, you need it. You don't say to a person, "Hey if you just had more will power, you could make that heart beat regularly and consistently." So I feel this lapband helps my stomach to be like everyone elses. I always had a constant murmuring from my brain to me saying, "you're hungry, you're hungry, you're hungry" and when I discovered that all the sensors that tell you that you are full at the top of the stomach (which makes absolute perfect sense), a light went on and I realized that my body doesn't need much to survive (good pioneer stock) but my brain doesn't get the message so I would eat until I was full only to discover 2 to 3,000 more calories than I needed. Now, I am "guzzling" okay "sipping" about 5-700 calories a day and it's a force feeding,have to remind myself, "drink your protein" and I am so much happier. Everyone has been really surprised and pleased with my recovery. The surgery went faster than normal, they operated at 8:35 and I left the hospital at noon, and then I went home and watched House of Eliott, really fun and great, Friday, I did a few things around the house, Saturday I went to the Village Theatre production of Meet Me in St. Louis, Sunday, 3 hours of church and a Stake Christmas program, Monday, Christmas shopping, yesterday I did a temple endowment and today, I"ll be running around getting ready for tomorrow (we are deciding to have our traditional Christmas, Christmas Eve morning, with Stephanie calling on Christmas and a Christmas feast with dad-in-law, I know that I can really only take one major event at a time. Rob isn't converted to it, but . . . .everyone else is and I have no doubt that when he sees us opening all our presents, he'll join the group. We're going to have yeast waffles and hot chocolate, bacon and orange, a pretty fun breakfast, laid back morning and start the gift opening around 11. Scott and Virginia, probably Natalie, David, Kerstin, Andrew, Isabelle, Alexa and me are all agreed and Rob can be "Scrooge" for the day. Still have some last minute shopping, catch you later
For the first time in my life, I am not hungry. How long that will last I know not, but I am taking advantage of it. This morning, I'll get my steristrips off and basically be ready to meet my other New Year's Resolution, lose 100 or more pounds by next Christmas. It's taken a long time, but I feel the medical improvements have made it a procedure worth waiting for. No one questions a person getting a pacemaker, they feel like hey, you need it. You don't say to a person, "Hey if you just had more will power, you could make that heart beat regularly and consistently." So I feel this lapband helps my stomach to be like everyone elses. I always had a constant murmuring from my brain to me saying, "you're hungry, you're hungry, you're hungry" and when I discovered that all the sensors that tell you that you are full at the top of the stomach (which makes absolute perfect sense), a light went on and I realized that my body doesn't need much to survive (good pioneer stock) but my brain doesn't get the message so I would eat until I was full only to discover 2 to 3,000 more calories than I needed. Now, I am "guzzling" okay "sipping" about 5-700 calories a day and it's a force feeding,have to remind myself, "drink your protein" and I am so much happier. Everyone has been really surprised and pleased with my recovery. The surgery went faster than normal, they operated at 8:35 and I left the hospital at noon, and then I went home and watched House of Eliott, really fun and great, Friday, I did a few things around the house, Saturday I went to the Village Theatre production of Meet Me in St. Louis, Sunday, 3 hours of church and a Stake Christmas program, Monday, Christmas shopping, yesterday I did a temple endowment and today, I"ll be running around getting ready for tomorrow (we are deciding to have our traditional Christmas, Christmas Eve morning, with Stephanie calling on Christmas and a Christmas feast with dad-in-law, I know that I can really only take one major event at a time. Rob isn't converted to it, but . . . .everyone else is and I have no doubt that when he sees us opening all our presents, he'll join the group. We're going to have yeast waffles and hot chocolate, bacon and orange, a pretty fun breakfast, laid back morning and start the gift opening around 11. Scott and Virginia, probably Natalie, David, Kerstin, Andrew, Isabelle, Alexa and me are all agreed and Rob can be "Scrooge" for the day. Still have some last minute shopping, catch you later
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Okay, I did start a blog a couple of years ago about my cat Anthony and before I could finish the blog which I saved, he vanished. So I suppose this is a new blog to talk about my weight and hopefully, my weight will vanish :-)
It's been 48 hours since I went to Evergreen Hospital to have my lapband installed. I have been comparing it to a pacemaker in that a pacemaker helps the heart to work correctly, a lapband is a tool to help the stomach work correctly. I have been following all the instuctions carefully. At present I have 4 bandages around the front part of my waist above my belly button and one bandage that has fallen off in the middle and just below my breasts. The bottom four are the worst in that they are bruised and when I get up there is a discomfort and pain. When I'm up I'm up and when I'm down I'm down, but when I'm in the process it really is the pits (I think that should be sung to) Anyway, I woke up around 4:30, got out of bed at 5, said goodbye to Ginny Kay as she left for work at 6:15 and I've taken my vitamin, drunk water and now I'm going to sip my "protein." I don't feel hungry, I am a little uncomfortable around the central incisions, but it's not awful, more like a steady dull ache. I need to watch a video to get my mind off and I probably will do that, but right now I have to go upstairs and tell Rob to get up and go pick up Alexa.
It's been 48 hours since I went to Evergreen Hospital to have my lapband installed. I have been comparing it to a pacemaker in that a pacemaker helps the heart to work correctly, a lapband is a tool to help the stomach work correctly. I have been following all the instuctions carefully. At present I have 4 bandages around the front part of my waist above my belly button and one bandage that has fallen off in the middle and just below my breasts. The bottom four are the worst in that they are bruised and when I get up there is a discomfort and pain. When I'm up I'm up and when I'm down I'm down, but when I'm in the process it really is the pits (I think that should be sung to) Anyway, I woke up around 4:30, got out of bed at 5, said goodbye to Ginny Kay as she left for work at 6:15 and I've taken my vitamin, drunk water and now I'm going to sip my "protein." I don't feel hungry, I am a little uncomfortable around the central incisions, but it's not awful, more like a steady dull ache. I need to watch a video to get my mind off and I probably will do that, but right now I have to go upstairs and tell Rob to get up and go pick up Alexa.
Friday, December 18, 2009
New Years Resolution
My new years resolution this year is to LOSE weight!! I'm so excited for all my new goals, and can't wait to keep you updated on this blog!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)