A Big Welcome To Angela !!!

Hey Ya'll,

I want to welcome my newest Follower!  Her name is Angela, and if I found the right link, her blog is: Repair and Renovation.  Angela, if this is not your blog, please let me know so that I can correct this information!!  Angela was Banded on April 12th, and has already lost 49 lbs!!  So please check out her blog and give her the support we all need.  So Angela...."Welcome to my Nightmare".

Aloha My New Friend  :)

To He** And Back!! And Photos Of Us On The Bike!

Here we are!!  I finally got a couple of photos taken of us.  Christa took them just before we got off the Bike.  We weren't wearing our Bike Pants (which we would wear over our regular pants) since we took surface streets from our house to Christa's.  If we ride on the highway, we wear the Full Gear for protection. 

Here we are again with Walt's Helmet Shield down as well, like we would wear it while riding.  I should have moved the Mike away from my Face, so that you could see my Face better!!

Hey Ya'll,

*** My 8th Fill was on Wednesday.  I had previously stated in my blog that I hadn't felt any Restriction after my last Fill.  At least not until last weekend......We had our Family Summer Birthday Barbecue last Saturday and for some reason, from Sunday until Wednesday, I noticed that all of a sudden, I felt Restriction.....and Heartburn!!!  Even if I didn't eat anything!!  I remember reading in other blogs early in my Journey, that some of you sometimes didn't feel Restriction from a Fill, until 2-3 weeks after the Fill, could I have experienced this too???  Does this mean that I am getting close to my "Sweet Spot"???

Because of this, I was afraid to tell Laurie (the woman who administers my Fill's) as I was afraid that she wouldn't want to give me even the smallest of Fills.  But Walt (my Sweetheart), ratted me out and told her how I was doing.  He thinks that the reason that she did go ahead and give me a Fill was because I had gained 2 lbs since my last Fill, instead of losing!!!  So she gave me a small (0.25 cc) Fill.  Whats funny, since I got the new Fill, my Heartburn went away!!  At the Doctor's Office, I weighted in at 190.6 and today I weighted 188.2, so I have lost 2.4 lbs since Wednesday!!

*** For the Fill Appointment, Walt and I rode our Gold Wing up to Reno.  The ride was fantastic, the traffic was minimal, it was a really nice ride.  The only problem we had was the HEAT!!!!  Unfortunately, after having such a long time of nice weather, the day of my Appointment turns out to be the....HOTTEST DAY OF THE SUMMER, so far!!!!  It was 108 degrees and us in Full Riding Gear.  But so long as we were moving, it wasn't too bad.  But when we had to stop in town at signals, we could really start to feel the heat.

As for my Tailbone, we needed to stop once each direction for about 20 minutes, so that I could take the pressure off of it.  I forgot to take a pain pill before leaving our house!  But I did have some Tylenol 3's on me, so I took one at the rest stop which helped a lot.  Once we got home, we took off our riding gear and jumped in the pool!!  It felt so refreshing.  The water was only 82 degrees, but who cares!!!!  We needed to cool our bodies down after being in the Full Riding Gear.

*** Last night, was our Granddaughter Emily's 7th Birthday.  Our Daughter Christa always holds a small Birthday gathering the night of the Birthday just for them and the two sets of Grandparents.  My SIL Mark had barbecued a lot of different meats, as well as having salad, potatoes, fresh fruit and of course, Cake and Ice Cream (yum).  Since we will be on our way up to Portland on our Grandson Walker's Birthday next month, we also gave him his presents last night.

Today, was the Birthday party they hold for the Kids!!!  But of course, Christa always invites us to it as well, as the parents of the kids are invited too.  Emily chose Chuck E Cheese for her Birthday party, and the kids were having a blast there!!  There are so many games for them to play.  And of course, we attended this party too, as well as our other Daughter Kat and her hubby Elliott.  FYI - Walt just walked in and told me to make sure that I mention that I had a Cupcake today!!!  Well, I did and it was good!  But it wasn't a large one, and of course he made me give him the last bite!!

*** Kat had to leave the party to go to work, so Elliott came home with us as Walt and Elliott made plans to go through the Garage, to see what Equipment Elliott wanted from there.  Elliott loves Photography and will use the Darkroom Equipment.  Walt had bought a lot of Professional Grade Darkroom Equipment about 10 yrs ago.

He had planned on setting up a Darkroom in our Garage, even though we all tried to tell him the trend was Digital.  He even went so far as to have a room sectioned off and built, in our 3 Car Garage for the Darkroom, with Hot & Cold Water and everything.  Alas, the Equipment never made it into the newly built room.  It just stayed stacked up on one side of the Garage taking up space that we could have used to park one of our cars!!  LOL  Well, now Elliott will be taking it and USING IT!!

*** Tomorrow is a big day in our neighborhood.  One of the Real Estate Salesladies in the area, organizes these huge Garage Sales in our area of Town.  They are so big that she has to hold 3 different ones and the one in our area usually has at least 200-250 homes that participate!  Which means we have hundreds of cars driving by all morning checking out all the Garage Sales.  It is a Garage Sale Follower's Dream.

And lucky for us, tomorrow the temperature is only supposed to get up to about 78 Degrees!!  A big difference from Wednesdays 108 degrees!!  But hopefully we can sell off some of the "stuff" that we have had stored in the Garage for at least 10 yrs!!!!  Wish us luck, or should I say, wish Walt luck!!  LOL

Here are some photos of the two Birthday Parties.

Here is Emily checking out her new Puppy Purse I made her.  I think that she likes it!!

And here is Walker holding his Monkey.  He has named him Jingles.  I think he likes it too!

And here is Emily with her favorite gift!  A Triple Stroller!  She just loves pushing her babies around!

And here is my beloved, Walt at Chuck E Cheese today!  Doesn't he just look thrilled???  LOL  But he would do almost anything for the kids and grand kids.

Here is Emily, totally concentrating on her game.  She didn't even realize that I was taking her photo until she saw the flash go off.

Danielle (left) and Ellie (right) are Christa's two BB's.  Aren't they gorgeous?  Danielle has 7 children, and Ellie has 3 of her own!!  Why couldn't I look this after having Christa???

And here is Elliott, our great Son In Law.

I caught Kat (left) and Christa (right) playing games too!!

Here's Walker (in hat) playing a game while a friend looks on.









 

  
Here is Mark, our other great Son In Law!!  He looks on with love as Emily opens her gifts.














Well, I better go for now, till next time....

Aloha My Friends  :)

And The Doctor Says.....

                                                             OUCH!!
Hey Ya'll,

Well, I called our PCP's office yesterday and they had a cancellation for 9 am this morning!!  As you know, I usually don't go to bed before 3 am at least!  So I wasn't happy about having such an early appointment, but I was desperate to try to relieve this pain in my A**, so I took it!!!

I went in primarily for the extreme pain that I have been having in my Tailbone.  Since I broke it 12-13 yrs ago, it has continued to hurt through the years, but lately, has become so unbearable that I have to periodically lay down to take the pressure off my Tailbone.  And when at home, I always sit on a pillow unless we have company.

I also wanted to discus with him the pain I have been having in my Fingers.  I am not sure if it is regular Arthritis or if it is the early stages of Rheumatoid Arthritis.  I do have RH Factor in my Blood Work, and RA runs in the Family.  And lastly, I wanted to discus my Fibromyalgia.  It appears that it is flaring up again.  It has been controlled for some time now, but in the last few weeks I have noticed my pain levels increasing, my body hurting all over again, and I am much more tired all the time.  I rarely can make it through the day without taking a nap, even if I had plenty of sleep!!

So...the Doctor told me to continue to take my Fibromyalgia Medication that I have, and he gave me an almost 3 wk supply of a new Fibro Drug to try.  He said that several of his patients have tried it and said it worked wonders.  He said that hopefully it will work for me as well, and if so, it could potentially take care of my joint pain in my Fingers, Knees, Neck, Back, etc.

As for the pain in my Tailbone, he said that unfortunately, once the Tailbone has been broken, you pretty much always have pain for the rest of your life.  He said that the pain I am experiencing, is usually seen in someone 80 yrs old, not someone like me, at my age.  He said that once the Bone has broken, it develops Arthritis.  So get this....I have Osteoarthritis in my A**!!!  What else can go wrong??

We asked him about Surgically removing it to take care of the pain.  He said that Surgery is rarely done for this type of injury and definitely not the preferred method of controlling pain.  In fact, it is usually the last resort as it doesn't always work, and you are still left with the pain.  So he wants to try other options before he considers referring me to a Surgeon.  So he prescribed me a Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Gel called Voltaren to try.  He said that I could also use it on other Joints as needed.  If these two drugs help, then we won't do anything else but continue on with the new treatment.  But if not, he will continue to try other options.  I sure hope this Gel works, it cost me $34!  And who knows how much the Savella (for Fibromyalgia) will cost if I end up taking it long term....

Well, tomorrow we ride up to Reno on the Bike for my next Fill Appointment.  It will be my first long ride on the Bike.  So far, I have never had pain in the A** from riding.  Partly, I believe because the seat forces me to sit up straight, and Walt's seat back is directly against me, keeping me in an upright position.  So here's crossing my Fingers that I don't have to ride in pain tomorrow!!!

The problem is that once we get there, I will have to weigh in wearing long pants, which will increase my weight.  I will take off the heavy riding boots, but still.....any extra weight is never a good thing!!  LOL  Well, I guess I should go for now.  Till next time......

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Big Welcome To Lena !!!

Hey Ya'll,

I just checked in before going to bed, and noticed that I have a new Follower!!  Her name is Lena, and she was just Banded on Wednesday the 18th!!  Which just turns out to have been the day after my 55th Birthday!!  Her blog is: Getting My Skinny On.  So please jump on over, check out her blog, and give her the love and support we all need!!  After all, she is only 6 days out of Surgery!!!  So Lena, "welcome to my nightmare".....

Aloha My New Friend  :)

I Was A BAD GIRL....

Hey Ya'll,

Warning, Warning...Lots of photo's at the end of the post!

*** Lady's and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls......I was a BAD GIRL YESTERDAY!!!  I never ate to the point of getting stuck, or having a PB, but still I overate!  And for the first time since my Surgery 9 months ago, I had Heartburn!!  I don't like Heartburn...:(  It hurts :(  In fact, I have had Heartburn off and on, for two days now :(  I was ok with the amount of food, but the Desserts I definitely overdid it.  Christa made a German Chocolate Cake from scratch (my favorite) and I had two pieces throughout the day, as well as a piece of the Cake that I made.  Not to mention some of my Dad's Peach Cobbler.  See what I mean?  I was a bad girl!!!

Did I mention in an earlier post that I have been eating like a horse lately?  Ever since my last Fill in fact.  Usually I lose at least a pound or two between Fills, but for some reason, I feel like I actually lost Restriction, rather than gain some, after the last Fill.  And I am sure that I have gained a few pounds back!!  My next Fill is THIS Wednesday, so I don't have much time to try to lose it!!

*** This trip up to Reno for my Fill, will finally be taken on our Gold Wing.  We had intended to ride it up the last trip, but wasn't able to, and because of the Summer storm in the Sierra's, it was for the better as we hit rain, and sleet.  This will be the longest trip for me on the Bike, and a test as to how my Tailbone will hold up on a long ride, before we attempt to ride to Portland, OR next Month.

*** Here's the story on my Tailbone, maybe someone can give me a heads up on why it still hurts so much, as I know that some of you are Nurses, etc.  I fell down a whole flight of stairs about 12 yrs ago on my Tailbone, the whole flight of stairs, On...My...Tailbone.  It hit every step on the way down!  It hurt so bad that I could barely stand it.  I went to the Doctor hoping that they could do something for it.  The Doctor said that there was nothing that they could do about it.  All I could do was be careful and wait for it to "mend".

That was 12 yrs ago, and it still hurts.  Once it "healed", and after about a year, it only bothered me if I sat for too long, or in the wrong position.  But I have noticed that since I have lost 40 lbs, the pain is almost constant, it hurts every singe day.  Sometimes, it hurts so bad that I can't continue to sit, I have to either stand up, or lay down for a while to take the pressure off the Tailbone for awhile.  Oh, did I mention that I sit on a pillow at all times now?? 

I am considering going to the Doctor again, to see if there is anything that can be done.  Even if it means Surgery to cut off the tip "or parts thereof", of the Tailbone so that it STOPS HURTING!!!  I would like to be able to sit like a normal person.  I realize that I have lost some cushion in my weight loss, but was it enough to bring back the pain as if I just broke the Tailbone again???  Any information would be much appreciated.  

*** Yesterday we had our Family Birthday Barbecue, celebrating all of our Summer Birthdays.  The day turned out to be a beautiful warm, but not hot day.  Which was fine for us adults, but the kids wanted to go swimming!!  Since we are not heating the pool this Summer, the water was only about 72-78 degrees, I'm not sure since I didn't check the water temperature.  Normally we would have temperatures in the upper 90's to low 100's here in August, but yesterday we had another unseasonably cool day of about 88 degrees!!  And tomorrow, it is expected to reach the 100's again for at least 3-4 days!  Go figure, the party was a relatively cool day, while tomorrow, just two days later, will be about 100 degrees!  Oh well, that's life I guess.

As you probably guessed....the kids prevailed and was allowed to go swimming!  They had a blast.  In fact, Charlie, my Grand Nephew, was in the pool most of the day, at least half of the time by himself!  I remember those days!  When I was a teenager, my parents had a pool built in our backyard and once it was built, we were in it practically every day, all day long!!  We lived in the water, and I loved it.  But now, if the water isn't the right temperature, I just don't want to go in.

We were lucky in that my parents made it.  Their health is deteriorating more and more each day, and we never know if they will be able to make it.  My Mom is really bad.  She can barely walk anymore and is in constant excruciating pain.  In the past, she would have stayed home in bed.  But we figure that she knows at each gathering, this could be the last one she attends, so she forces herself to get out of bed and dressed and make it to be with all of us, and we really appreciate it too!  We love her so much, she is the best Mom I could have ever asked for.

*** For my Birthday, I was extremely blessed with Gift Certificates from our two Daughter's and one of my BFF'S, Nadene, for Amazon.  So now I can purchase new books for my new Kindle!!  Yea!  There are so many books that I want, that it is going to be hard to choose.  But with my Gift Certificates, I can actually choose at least 15 new books.  And potentially a lot more!  Now I have to take the time to really check out the books.  But what a problem to have, don't you think???

Well, I should go for now, I have been writing this post most of the day, on and off, giving my Tailbone a rest periodically.  I will be posting some photos from yesterday, I hope that you like them.  Of course, since I took them all, I wasn't in any of them, as usual!!  Till next time....

This is a photo of my Mom and Dad and Kat, or 2nd oldest Daughter.

This is again, my Dad and Kat's Husband, Elliott.

This is Christa's Husband Mark, and my Uncle Emery.

This is Charlie, my 8 yr old Grand Nephew.  He was resting up before getting back into the pool, since the rest of the kids was now getting in!!

This is my beautiful Grand Daughter Emily!!  She will be 7 this Thursday!!  Isn't she cute?

Here is Emily and Walker, our Grandson.

Here is Emily, talking with Walt & Christa sitting on the side of the pool with my Niece's baby.  My Niece Cara is the one standing and her boyfriend Michael is sitting on the swing texting someone!

Here is Christa and Walt again holding my Grand Nephew Landon.

Again, this is my Mom, the backside of Elliott and my Sister In Law, Robin.  NO, this is not the SIL I was talking about that lives out of State.










So I hope that I didn't overwhelm you with photos!!  Again, till next time....

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Real Quickie!!

This is a photo of my Dad, and my Niece's Son Charlie, riding on a small scale Train at a local park in the Sacramento area.  Now, should I call Charlie, my Nephew once removed, or my 2nd Nephew??  I always get confused in the lingo of it.  Can anyone help me in this???

Hey Ya'll,

** I am really pressed for time, so I am going to make this a real quick post.  I have my next Fill appointment next Wednesday the 25th.  It will be Fill #8 and I currently have somewhere between 7-7.2 cc's in my 10 cc Band.  Normally I at least have a week to 2 weeks after a Fill, where I really have to watch myself.  But this time, I actually feel like she removed saline instead of increased it!!  From day one, I have been able to eat almost what I wanted.  I have had virtually no restriction at all and unfortunately, this is the month where I will traditionally gain the most weight.

And I fear that I have gained back some of my weight.  :(  I need to give myself a Big Kick In The Butt, and get myself back on track!!!  I know what to do, I just lack the motivation right now to do it.  Stress plays a lot in my problems right now, but I can't use that as a crutch, or excuse for my own lack of self control in what, and how much I am eating!!!  I can eat a cow right now.  No...that will be tomorrow!! LOL  I will try to make myself carry my camera out and take a few photos to post though.

** As you know if you read my post on Wednesday, that Wednesday was my 55th Birthday!!  Well, August is a huge Birthday month for our family.  In fact, we have 8, yes, that's 8 Birthdays in August!!  And since this will be our last Summer in our house, we are holding one last Birthday/Swim/Barbecue Party tomorrow!!

Now normally, August is by far our hottest month!!  But for some strange reason, we have been having a really mild Summer this year, hence my not going in the water much this Summer (we are not heating the pool this year)!!  And usually we would be baking in 100+ degrees tomorrow, but get this.....it is only supposed to be 88 degrees tomorrow!!  Which means that the pool water will probably cool down over night, into the mid-upper 70's.  This is fine for the Kids, but us Adults like it at least 80, and I personally like it about 84-86 degrees!!!  Oh well, at least for those of us that don't go in the water, it won't be too uncomfortable.

** Lately, I have been in a slump.  And no, it has nothing to do with my Birthday!!  I have never had an issue turning another year older.....at least not yet!  I think that it has something to do with our filing Bankruptcy, losing our home, and all the issues and implications, etc.  Sometimes it just gets to be a bit overwhelming, trying to figure what our next move will be.  I try to think of this as a new adventure.  But with Walt working as a Consultant, it really makes it hard sometimes.

He Consults with the State of California, and as you probably know, they still have not passed a State Budget (AGAIN)!!  The Budget is due the 1st of July, but that NEVER HAPPENS.  Which means that the State will stop making payments to the Consultants first, until the Budget gets passed.  This means that we may not be paid again until October or November.  What is even more frightening, is what will happen if Arnold S follows through with his threat, that he may not sign a Budget at all!!

He leaves office in January, which could then put the new Budget crisis off to the Governor.  Never mind how it effects all those who work with the State in any capacity!!!  What can we do?  We have already declared Bankruptcy, what will we do if we are not paid for another 3-5 months???  How will be pay the current/upcoming bills, etc.  Sorry, I didn't mean to go into all this here, but it is always in the back of my mind!

** On a much happier note, our oldest Daughter Christa, and my Grandchildren Walker and Emily, took me out to lunch on my Birthday Wednesday!!  We went to one of my favorite, small family owned Mexican Restaurants!  We sat and talked for about 3 hours!!  We were there so long that I was able to eat my entire meal!!  Normally I only eat 1/2 of it and take the remainder home for dinner!!  I think that they thought we were never going to leave!!

But once we did, we went over to a Used Book Store that was in the next shopping center over.  We spent about another hour there!  So we basically spent most of the day together and I had a really good time!!  We don't get together like this very often anymore.    but it was a fantastic day.  And next week we get to celebrate Emily's 7th Birthday!!  We always get to celebrate it twice, once with the kids and all their friends and once for just the immediate family and Grandparents!!  So 2 more days of good food and Dessert!!!  Then, I can start the decline from the August Eat-A-Thon!!!

Well, I better go for now, I said that this was going to be a real quick post....well, you know how that goes!!!  LOL  Till next time....

Aloha My Friends  :)

Happy Birthday To Me!!! :)

This is the new Monkey at 16 inches in length.  The pattern was for a 2 1/2 inch Monkey, I managed to make it 16 inches!

Here are all three of the Monkeys so you can see the difference in size just using double yarn and the same size hook can do!!

Here are the two original Monkeys together.  Nanny and Puah!  Walt wants to try to find some accessories for them, LOL.

********
Hey Ya'll,

Just a real quick post to say that it is my 55th Birthday today!!!  Yes, I know, now I really am an OLD LADY!!  LOL. 

My Nieces son, Charlie's Birthday is on Thursday of this week, and next week is my Granddaughter Emily's, 7th Birthday on Thursday.  Not to mention my Cousin Della's 52nd (?) Birthday next Wednesday!! 

Well I finished Walker's Monkey.  I actually gave the one that I originally made to Walt as he wanted two, so I made a second one in a different color and gave them to him.  I then made another one for Walker as I wanted it to be larger still.  So I used double yarn which enlarged it significantly.  The original Monkeys are about 12 inches long and the new one is 16 inches!!  Just by using double yarn and the same hook.  Photos above.

Well, I better go for now, I need to get to bed.  Till next time...

Aloha My Friends  :)

What A Beautiful Sight!!

Hey Ya'll,

First off, I want to say that I had another Slime Session yesterday!  My dear Sweetheart, Walt, barbecued us some Hamburger patties along with some Green Beans.  We were sitting out on the Patio eating, with a nice cool breeze blowing (or should I say...Cool, Wind?).  And because of this, I ate my Hamburger Patty a bit too fast, so as to not let my meal get too cold.  I thought that I had slowed down soon enough though...but then, NOT!!  After a while, I realized that it wasn't going to go down peacefully, or without a fight!

So I quickly made my way into the house and took my customary seat on the edge of the tub facing the "Throne", and sliming for the next hour or so.  This always upsets Walt.  He doesn't like to see me have any problems.  But when I told him that I only slimmed and it wasn't a full PB, he was relieved!!  So, now that I have confessed my latest Slime incident....

I wanted to say that we had a great view of Venus, Mars and Saturn, above a beautiful Crescent Moon tonight!!  I attached a photo above, that we took from our backyard.  We had to take it before the Sun was 100% down, as the Moon and Planets were also going down with the Sun!!  I didn't think that we would be able to see Mars or Saturn at all as we live too close to a large City with a lot of lights!!

In the photo, you should be able to see the Crescent Moon between the trees as it is the largest visible Celestial object in the sky.  Above it and slightly to the left, if we are lucky, you can see Venus.  It shows up great on my Computer screen, but I am not sure how well it will appear in the Blog!!  It is right about at the top of the trees.  Click on the photo to enlarge it and you should have no problem seeing it.   Hopefully you will see it too.

Also, I went outside tonight to view the Perseid Showers.  I only stayed out a short time, and I only saw a couple of Meteors, but one of them was truly spectacular!!  Wow, what a rush!  I only wish that I had the time to stay out all night viewing the night sky.  Especially on a beautiful, clear, cool night like tonight was.  Oh, and did I mention how big and beautiful Jupiter was tonight???  I can't believe how many Planets were visible to the naked eye in one night!!  What a treat. 

Well, I better go for now.  Till next time.....

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Big Welcome To Jennifer W !!!

Hey Ya'll,

I just wanted to give a big welcome to my newest Follower!  Her name is, Jennifer W and her blog is: Band Geek.  She was just Banded on February 10th, 2010, and get this.....she has already lost 70 lbs!!!  OMG!  Isn't this fantastic?  Please hop on over and give her a great big welcome to the Bandster Club!!  So Jennifer....."welcome to my nightmare".

Aloha My New Friend  :)

Mr Monkey Is Finished!!

Here is the photo of the Monkey, as it was meant to look like.  I hope that I did it justice!!  LOL









Hey Ya'll,

Well, I finished Mr Monkey for my Grandson Walker tonight!!  I took a pattern that called for it to only be about 2 1/2 inches long, TOTAL!  When I finished it, it measures 12 inches with the Feet splayed out, or 13 1/2 with them pulled straight.  Here is a photo of it.  I sure hope that he likes it and he doesn't think that he is too old for it!  He will be 10 next month.

His Nostrils appear too big in this photo now that I am looking at it.  And the Mouth is too low in the Face to be seen.  But it is there!!  The pattern called for it to be about the length of the Head in my finished product!

I placed Mr Monkey next to a Teddy Bear for sizing.  What do you think?  I made a Red bow for a splash of color to break up the monotony of the dark Brown.  You can kind of see the corner of the Mouth in this photo.







Walt loved Mr Monkey so much that he put in an order for two of them!!  To be made immediately!  He wants one in the darker colors like the one I just made and the other one in lighter browns.  Kat also saw it tonight and immediately said that she wants one too!!!  I am just afraid that their Puppy will tear it to pieces!!  But I will still make it for her of course.

Well, now on to Band information.  I was a BAD GIRL the other day!  Walt and I went to Sams Club to purchase some items, and normally I am able to ignore the free samples that they give out there and at Costco.  This time, they actually had some that I didn't want to resist!  But I was good and only ate what I really wanted to eat, not just because it was there.  So all in all, I did ok.  But I did partake.  And I haven't had a PB since the one I blogged about earlier in the week!!

Now, I want to ask everyone a question.  I have noticed lately that I have been receiving e-mails that go directly to my Spam Folder (thank God!).  But the disturbing thing about them, is that they are using MY E-MAIL ADDRESS!!!!  Like I am sending them out!!!  How is this possible?  I thought that only I could use it.  So how could anyone else log on, or begin using MY PRIVATE E-MAIL ADDRESS?

The reason that I am so concerned about it, is that the e-mails I receive with my own address, are usually something to do with PORN.  Or at least involves things that I would never want my address to be involved with.  Like Viagra, or Love Toys, etc!!  Am I wrong in worrying about this?  Should I go through the problems of changing my e-mail address?  I am really interested in what ya'll think.

Now on to some more heavy information.  As you know, we filed for Bankruptcy in April of this year.  Well, our Discharge was granted on July 26th!  So now we are waiting for the Notice of Default from our Mortgage Lender.  Once we receive this, we know that the clock starts running on when the Foreclosure process truly begins.  We have received some papers from them allowing us another 30 days to try to catch up, and either stop the Foreclosure, or to try to sell the House.  We will not be doing this, so once the 30 days are up, our Foreclosure will begin.  More information to come.....

Tonight we had our Daughter Kat, and her Husband Elliott over for Dinner, as well as her friend Kayla and Kayla's two children, to celebrate Elliott's birthday.  Walt Rotisseried two Chickens on the Barbecue, and made Mashed Potatoes and Corn.  Yes, I said Walt made them.  He is the cook, not me.  I can cook of course, but for the most part, I hate to cook, and Walt loves to cook, and play with recipes.  I am a follow the recipe by the book kind of person.  He loves to experiment, sometimes for the good, sometimes for the BAD!!

However, there are some things that either I make, or I at least help with, as it is one of my Families recipes.  For Dessert, we had Vanilla Ice-Cream and Strawberries.  Yum!!  I thought it would be harder to resist eating another bowl of the Ice-Cream late tonight, while Walt was asleep in bed.  Don't get me wrong, I do want it.  Vanilla Ice-Cream is my favorite, but I have resisted without too much difficulty, so I count that as an NSV!!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

And a big thank you, to all of you that kept my Brother in your thoughts on Friday!  He made it through the Surgery fine.  They had to take most of the Big Toe, leaving him a small Stub.  But even a small Stub will help, as the Big Toe really aids in controlling balance.  Now we just have to keep our Fingers and Toes crossed that this is all that he will lose, and not the whole Foot, or Leg in the future.  However, because he is on such heavy duty Pain Meds (we all know how this is, right?), he has been fighting nausea ever since Surgery.  Hopefully, as the Pain Meds are lowered, his nausea will go away too!!

Anyway, I just know that I had other things to discuss.  But as usual, this old lady can't remember them!!  So...till next time....

Aloha My Friends  :)

 

New Look, What Do You Think?? And Eew!

Hey Ya'll,

I updated my blog look, what do you think?  Were you tired of the giant Plumeria Blossoms?  Well, I love them, but decided it was time for a bit of a change.  Maybe I will bring them back later on.

Walt and I did a lot of running around today, and our first stop was for lunch.  We ate at one of our favorite Taco joints.  And apparently he didn't need any of the Beans to give him gas.  While we were sitting and talking (in cheap semi wood seats attached to a table), I thought that I felt, and heard his phone vibrating.  I told him I thought he was getting a call and he gestured that it wasn't his phone, but himself!  I swear, it kind of sounded like his phone on vibrate, and the seats felt like there was a jack hammer being used somewhere outside in the distance!!

Afterwords, one of our stops was at Aaron Bros to buy me some Oil Paint, since it was on sale.  OMG, he just couldn't stop himself!  The smell was horrible!  I just prayed that no one would come into the store that wanted to buy Oil Paint, until we were done and out of there!!!  LOL  Sometimes he just loves to embarrass me to death!  And he is so GOOD at it too!!

Well, tomorrow night (I had assumed it would be in the morning) my brother is having his Surgery.  So I would like to thank all of you that will be thinking good thoughts for him.  We can all use as much good thoughts as we can get!

Well, last night I had a doozy of a PB/Stuck incident!!  I made the mistake of eating some Ham before I started to eat my nightly Oatmeal (at midnight)....I shouldn't have.  I thought that I had eaten it slow enough...but obviously NOT!!  I was in the bathroom for Over 2 Hours!  Finally I went and ate one more bite, of my then cold Oatmeal, and that did the trick.  Before, all I was doing was non stop Slimeing!  So the last bite of Oatmeal, appeared to be the straw that broke the camels back.

WARNING! WARNING!

That's when the real fun began.  But I was tired of Slimeing, and nothing else coming out, causing me to just Slime like crazy, not to mention the constant blowing of the Nose.  So the last bite of Oatmeal that I purposefully ate, caused me to finally regurgitate what was left of the Ham that didn't go down.  Which appeared to be most of it.  Let me tell you, it was instant relief though!!  These Slimeing incidents are not fun for those of you out there in the Pre-Band days!!  Most of us do go through them.  Some of us are lucky and rarely have them, others of us experience them quite often.  Luckily for me, not so often....Knock On Wood!!

Here is a story of one of my biggest nightmares coming true!!!  When I went to bed this morning at 4 am, I noticed that the Breathing Hose to my Bi Pap Machine was laying against the Window behind my Night Stand.  I instantly had a thought, "what if a Bug or Spider" slipped into the Breathing Hose.  I normally am very careful about where I place it just for this concern.  But I decided not to panic, and hooked myself up.

Well like I said, I hooked myself up to my handy dandy, Bi Pap Machine for the night at 4 am.  At 4:30 am, I realized that on this particular inhalation (I wasn't 100% asleep yet), something had dropped down out of the breathing hose just enough to tickle my Nose, for a split second.  Then when I exhaled, it went back up into the Hose (off my Nose).  Then on my next inhalation, it happened again!

I realized at that instant, that it wasn't the fabric tickling my Nose (as the only thing directly above my Nose is the opening to the Breathing Tube!!) but a SPIDER that was dropping out of the Breathing Hose!!  I almost inhaled it into my Nose!!!!  Instantly, before I could inhale again, I plugged off the material just below my Nose with my fingers, so that no more air would come through (nor the Spider), and quickly took off my Face Mask and turned off the Machine!!  I slept the rest of the night without it!!!!!

Here is a photo of what my Face Mask looks like (it's obviously not me!!  LOL).  I can't use the traditional C-Pap or Bi Pap Face Masks, as I am allergic to the materials and totally break out!  So I have to use this all Cloth Mask!!

HAVE I EVER SAID HOW MUCH I HATE AND FEAR SPIDERS?????

Years ago, while I was taking some major Prescription Allergy Meds, I was asleep and my then teenage Daughter Christa, was in the Living Room watching TV.  All of a sudden I woke up, and noticed on the ceiling a HUGE SPIDER!!  I'm talking Tarantula kind of Spider!!  I kept my eyes on it and it followed me wherever I moved on the bed!!  I just knew that it was going to drop down on me at any second!!  My Heart was pounding so bad that I feared having a Heart Attack!

So I jumped out of bed, and ran to our bedroom door screaming for Christa to get it off me, get it off me!!  She asked what, and I told her the huge Spider.  She looked, and of course there wasn't anything there!  Apparently, I was hallucinating!!  So I told Christa, "when I am old and gray, and claim to see giant Spiders, she will know that I mean Tarantulas"!!  LOL

Another Spider horror story from when I was about 9 yrs old.  My Mom and her friend and all of the kids between them (me included), walked to the local small market to buy some soft drinks and a candy bar for each of us.  I chose a Payday.  You know the one?  It is all caramel inside surrounded by peanuts.  Well, I had this ritual way to eat them.  Since I could care less about the peanuts, but LOVED the caramel, I always ate the peanuts first so that I could savor the caramel last.

I was about half way finished with the caramel when I noticed something dark where my next bite would have occurred.  So I broke it open, and sure enough, you guessed it....a complete Spider in my caramel!!!!  I have only eaten about 1 Payday since and that was about 15 yrs ago.  I just can't forget what I almost ate!!!  And the one I did eat a few yrs ago, I can assure you that I checked it out thoroughly!!!

Well, I better go for now, I have a Monkey to make!!  Till next time....

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Big Welcome To Meg !!!

Hey Ya'll,

I just noticed that I had a new Follower.  Her name is Meg and her blog is, Life Is Random...So Am I.  She just started the 1st step in her WLS journey, by attending her WLS Seminar tonight!  So jump on over and give her all the support, we all know she can use in her 3-12 month Insurance approval!!  So..."welcome to my nightmare".

Aloha My New Friend  :)

Hida Scan News & Whew!!

The Itty Bitty Monkey For Walker????

Hey Ya'll,

Well, I woke up today and I had already received a call from my local PCP's Office requesting that I call back.  Somehow, I knew what the outcome would be.  It was NORMAL!!!  My Gallbladder is functioning at 78%, so they consider it perfectly normal.  So that is good news, yet....what caused all the pain I had????  Anyway, at least we know it isn't the Gallbladder or Liver, since the Hida Scan tests for both. 

So today, my task was to pack the two Bookcases in my Office.  Once Walt got home from work, we loaded up my two Bookcases, as well as the two Bookcases from his Office.  Then we took them over to our Daughter Christa's house, for them to use in their classroom.  Christa Home Schools our Grandchildren, so they are always needing more Book space!!  Walt figures that we just gave them about 2000 inches of Book space!  Christa just got back from a Home School Conference with a lot of new books, so she is thrilled with the new Bookcases.

Unfortunately, it was fairly warm today, and since we are trying not to use the Air Conditioner, I was working and sweating my *** off today!!  So by the time we got to their house, I smelt REALLY BAD!!!  Luckily, they had some Air on in their house, so I was able to cool down for awhile.  While we were there, Christa, the kids and I played around and decided to measure our heights.  I am 5' 3.5", Christa is 5' 2.25", Walker (who will be 10 in late September) is 4' 10", and Emily (who will be 7 on the 26th of Aug) is 3' 10".  So Walker, at less than 10 yrs old, is only 4" shorter than Christa!!

By the time we got home, I was cooled down, thanks to Christa's house.  So I no longer felt the need to go swimming.  However, if we had decided to go swimming as soon as we got home, while it was still fairly warm out, I would have gone swimming with Walt.  Unfortunately, he waited until long after he ate dinner to go in, and I no longer felt hot enough to go in, as it was now dark.  And unless it is still at least 95 degrees out, I don't go swimming at night!!!

Here is a funny story from last night.  About 2 nights ago, I was sitting in our 3 person swing, talking with Walt, while he was in the pool.  It was after dark of course, but I could still see a BIG SPIDER climbing up, directly in front of me onto the canopy overhead.  I was able to see it by the light of the pool!  I quickly moved to the side, and jumped up, out of the way!!

So yesterday, after I raised up the shades on the patio just before dark.  I went over to the swing & completely checked it out for Spiders.  I didn't find one!  So last night, while Walt was in the pool, I decided to go sit on the swing again.  Having checked it out earlier, I felt better, but not 100% sure, so I took out my handy dandy flashlight. 

You know the kind, the ones that you wind up, so that it doesn't need batteries?  Well, when Walt heard me walking out towards the swing, winding it up.  He burst out laughing at me!!!  Then continued to laugh, the whole time I was rechecking the swing and canopy for Spiders!!!  Men, they just don't get it.  I have this thing about Spiders and Bugs...ugh!!!   So there was no way that I was going to sit on the swing, until I was certain that it was Spider free!!  Anyone else have Husbands/Boyfriends like this????  Making fun of me because of one of my phobias!!!  Men!!

And I have some bad news about my Brother.  He is having Surgery again on Friday morning, to remove part of his Big Toe.  He had injured his Foot a few years ago, and the Doctor he went to, totally screwed him up by refusing to refer him to a Specialist soon enough (try 6 wks!). 

So now he is Handicapped because of it.  He can no longer run or even walk normally.  He loved to play Baseball, and now can't because of his Foot.  He can't twist it or turn it from side to side at all, so walking straight is all he can do.  He makes his living by driving a Big Rig, and only recently began driving again as it was either drive or lose everything!!!  He is hoping that his Foot can hold out long enough to be able to afford to purchase a used Automatic Big Rig, as driving his with the Clutch is killing him.

The Surgeon has basically told him that he feels it is time to take the Foot and give him a Prosthetic Foot, but my Brother isn't ready to accept this yet.  So the Surgeon has told him that if they don't take at least part of his Toe, the Foot will become Infected, which will expedite the necessity of taking the whole Foot.  So they will be taking part of the Toe, hoping to hold off the inevitable, longer.  So please send your thoughts his way on Friday morning!!!  Thanks all in advance, I know that I can count on your good thoughts.

Well, I gotta go, I need to start working on my Grandson's Crocheted Monkey that I want to give him.  Assuming I can figure out how to make it about a foot long when the pattern only calls for it to be about 2.5 inches long!!!  The pattern claims to be an Intermediate level pattern, and dummy me, I want to go and make it SO MUCH LARGER!!  Why do I always do this to myself???  Wish me luck, I will need it!!!  The photo of it, is of course, above.  Till next time.......

Aloha My Friends  :)