Thursday, September 29, 2011

A Sneak Peak At My Newest Afghan!!

Hey Ya'll,

I am ashamed to say that last night I had another stuck episode!  I had some pieces of Hot Dog with mustard, and some Cottage Cheese.  I didn't even finish it all and I realized that I was going to be stuck.  Sure enough, I started to slime....then before you know it, I was vomiting the Hot Dog and Cottage Cheese up!  But I immediately felt better!  On a better note.... 

Here are a couple photos of my newest Afghan, that I am making for my Mom.  I an making it in squares, that will be sewn together.  It is in the colors of a Bird Of Paradise flower!  I am making two different patterns.  The original and a reverse pattern.  And of course I changed the pattern that I am following!  The original pattern that I am going by, only calls for 3 colors, and 6 rounds.  I am making it in 5 colors and 9 rounds!!  It just wouldn't be made by me, if I didn't change the pattern in some way....LOL   At any rate, it definitely looks Tropical, which is what I was going for!  LOL

And it will definitely be colorful.  Both Walt and I love the colors, and think that it will be the prettiest Afghan that I have made yet!!  And remember that the colors didn't come out as pretty in these photos, as they really are in person....I am using a bright yellow, bright orange, fire engine red, a plum (Vanna's choice wild berry) and bright green.  In fact, the red and green kind of reminds me of Christmas green and red!!!  So without further ado....here are the photos, I hope that you like them!!




This is the original pattern where it goes from bright to dark.  And please excuse the towel that it is laying on!!













And this is the reverse pattern.  And like I said, the colors aren't nearly as pretty as they are in person!!










So.....I hope that you like them so far.  They look so much better in person!  Till next time....

Aloha My Friends  :)

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

A Big Shout Out To Chiquita (Jess) !!



Hey Ya'll,

I just checked in and found that I have a new Follower!  Her name is Jess, and she was recently Banded on June 3, 2011.....AND....Jess has already lost 45 lbs!!  Yea Jess!  So if you haven't found Jess's blog yet, follow this link: Chiquita....Yea Right!, and say hello!!  So Jess, "Welcome to my Nightmare!".

Aloha My New Friend  :)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Another Tragedy.....



Hey Ya'll,

Long time no post!! LOL  We have been busy....and a lot has been happening here!  Since my last post, we have had another tragedy occur here in the Reno area....Last week from Sept 21st through the 25th, was Reno's Fall Street Vibrations Event, which brings in about 25-30 Thousand Harley Motorcycles to the area!  We do not own a Harley, but we have always loved the look and sound of them!  And there were plenty here staying in our RV Park, but I didn't get any photos of them.  Alas, we decided that for our purposes, the Gold Wing is best for us, at least at this point in time.

Anyhoo, apparently the commotion was between two rival Biker Gangs which caused a lot of trouble in the City of Sparks, which is adjacent to Reno.  On Friday night the 24th, the President of the San Jose, CA chapter of the Hells Angels, was shot and killed, and two members of a rival CA Biker Gang, called the Vagos was shot, but was/are in stable condition in the Hospital (in fact, I heard that they had to lock down the Hospital, as so many of the Gang showed up there!).

The shooting took place just outside of the Trader Dick's Bar which is inside of John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino.  The following morning, another man riding a Motorcycle in that same general area, was shot in the Stomach in a drive by shooting.  Police are still looking for the car that the shots were fired out of, and the injured man is in stable condition....So the City of Sparks canceled the balance of the events planned for the rest of the weekend.  However, the Street Vibrations events taking place in Reno, Virginia City and Carson City continued on until Sunday evening.  And....they reported that because of the massive amount of traffic during the 5 days of the event, there were 84 crashes and 23 arrests were made.  But, other than the Hells Angel killed by gunfire, there were no other deaths!!  Which is amazing.....

Luckily, Walt and I were not in Reno or Sparks during this trouble.  We were in Carson City working at our Storage Unit with our son Russ.  We originally rented a 10x20 Unit, and all along Walt wanted to condense it to a 10x10 Unit.  He had originally hoped this would happen by the end of last year....I knew better.  However, through all of our mini trips there removing small amounts at a time, before we realized it, we had removed about 50% of the "stuff" that we have stored in there!

So we rented a 10x10 Unit on Friday, and spent the weekend sorting through what was left in the original Unit, deciding if we want to keep it at all (other wise, throw away), keep for now, and keep for long term.  The "stuff" that we decided to keep long term, we moved over to the smaller Unit stacking it so that the "stuff" that we know we are keeping long term was under my Love Seat, that I am still hopeful to get to use again....and or at the back of the Unit.  The rest was placed up front for us to continue to go through.

All that remains in the original 10x20 Unit is the matching Chair to my Love Seat, that we have decided to give away, the Dining Table and Chairs from our RV that we removed, and some odds and ends.  So hopefully, we will have it cleaned out completely by the end of November at the latest!!  Considering that we went from a 4 Bedroom house with 3 Full Sets Of Living Room Furniture, to what is in our RV and the 10x10 Unit in less than a year....we feel we have done great!!  And a lot of our family and friends got some awesome furniture and or appliances!!

We are anxiously waiting until our Daughter Christa drives up with Walker and Emily (the Grand Kids), to spend the day here.  Emily turned 8 in August, and Walker just turned 11 this month.  So when they come up, I will take them all out to Lunch, then spend the rest of the day shopping!!  I will let them pick out their Birthday gifts themselves (unless Christa has issues with their choices!).  Christa will be taking my full keyboard Electric Piano home with her so that they can use it until we eventually get a larger RV that we can place it in.  So at least they can use it, and learn how to play it.  She is hoping to be up next week....

We just found out a day or two ago that Walt's Mom fell again.  This is at least her 2nd fall in one year if not the 3rd, and she has fallen about 4 times in the last 18 months to 2 years!  She will be 82 yrs old in January, and we are getting more and more concerned that she will have a serious fall soon.  So far, she has only become bruised, and hasn't broken any bones.  But at her age, it is inevitable that she will break something.  She refuses to move into an Assisted Living kind of place, and she lives alone....so yes, we are concerned about her.  We are not sure who will pass first, my Mom or Dad, or Walt's Mom.  But basically she is much better health over all than my parents, who are only in their mid 70's!

We are riding the Bike down to Sacramento in a couple of weeks, so that we can visit with family and friends, and attach the Trike Wheels to the Bike.  This way I can ride it (when weather permits) this Winter, while Walt drives the Truck.  Since he has to drive to and from work in the Winter conditions, he is more likely to need the 4x4 Truck (remember that he had the accident last Winter (in the Truck) and it needed to have the body repaired both front and back!

I can ride the Bike so long as the road conditions isn't too bad, and yes, I will ride very carefully!!  I can use my current Summer riding gear this Winter (to save money).  However, I will wear thermals under my clothes to help with the colder weather.  BUT!  I will be purchasing Winter Gloves to wear!!  My current gloves are made for Summer, and air flows right through them!!  Not to mention WATER!!  LOL  Then at the end of Winter, we can purchase me some new Winter riding gear when they go on sale, for the next Winter season.

I have finished the Afghan that I was making for our family friend Hannah in Sacramento.  I am now making an Afghan for my Mom that we want to give to her in a couple of weeks!!  Then I will start the Afghan for Walt's Mom....do you see a trend here??  LOL  Yes, I do love to make Afghans.  And I have yet to make one for Hannah or Walt's Mom.  I did make one for my Mom about 25 yrs ago....but it is long gone!  So I wanted to give her one more, and it is in the colors of the beautiful Bird of Paradise flower.  I chose these colors because it was my Grand Mother's favorite flower, and it always reminds both my Mom and I of her.  Till next time....

Aloha My Friends  :)

Here is a photo of Hannah's Afghan which I have laid across our King size bed.  Sorry!  I guess I didn't make sure there weren't any wrinkles in the Comforter!











 

Friday, September 23, 2011

A Big Shout Out To Dwindling Dame !!

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Hey Ya'll,

Well I was checking back into my blog tonight, and found that I have another new Follower!!  She goes by Dwindling Dame, and was Banded 2 wks ago on September 9th!!  So if you haven't found Dwindling Dame's Blog yet, follow this link: Dwindling Dame to her Blog, and give Dwindling Dame the love and support she will need in these early days of her new life!!  So Dwindling Dame....."Welcome to my Nightmare"! 

Aloha My New Friend :)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

A Big Shout Out To Kelly !!

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Hey Ya'll,

Well I just checked into my blog this morning, and found that I have a new Follower!!  Her name is Kelly, and this is the link to Kelly's blog: Life Of A Banded Army WifeKelly's husband is stationed in Germany. and I am soooo jealous because Kelly gets to visit all those beautiful Countries over there in Europe!!

Oh well....back to her stats!  Kelly is being Banded TOMORROW in Frankfurt, Germany!!  Kelly has already lost 12 lbs on her Pre-Op Diet alone!!  So if you haven't already found Kelly's blog, please follow the link that I provided and wish Kelly luck tomorrow, and provide all the support we know that we are all so great at giving!!  So Kelly.....I will definitely be thinking of you tomorrow, and when you can, let us know how you are doing so that we know you are ok.  And...."Welcome to my Nightmare!".

Aloha My New Friend  :)

Friday, September 16, 2011

Such A Sad Accident-Please Send Thoughts And Prayers!!


 
If you look closely just to the right of the person in the foreground and to the left of the pole, you can see the plane heading straight towards the ground!


Bilde (4)
And here is a photo taken after the crash showing the debris of the crash site.  It appears that the plane was totally demolished into small pieces... 

Reno Air Race crash (YouTube)

Medics help injured bystanders out of a helicopter into Renown Medical Center after a plane crashed into the crowd at the Reno National Championship Air Races, Friday, Sept. 16, 2011,  in Reno, Nev. A

****UPDATE****
The last information given out, is saying that the death toll is now up to 11.  But based on survivors information, because the Pilot did his best to veer the Plane away from the Grandstands, instead of 100's to possibly 1000's of Deaths, there was only 10.  However, 10 is 10 too many.  Unfortunately, we are used to hearing about crashes that killed the Pilot, but this is the 1st year that a crash involved the Spectators....

Hey Ya'll,

I just wanted to make a short post to send out a request for prayers and good thoughts, for those that were either injured at the Reno Air Races today, and to the Families of those that were killed.  Yes, killed....luckily Walt and I didn't attend the races this year, as we were considering doing.  Many of you may remember my posts talking about our love of Flying and Airplanes.  But we have never actually attended the Reno Air Races.  But now that we are living here in Reno, we were thinking about going this year.

Today at 4:30 (the last race of the day, the Gold Heat (the fastest planes)), a P-51 Mustang called the Galloping Ghost, lost control while flying around 400 mph, and although it appears that the pilot attempted to miss the Grandstands, he just couldn't miss them entirely.  The plane crashed either into the first 2 rows of the Box Seats or just in front of them in a particular set of Grandstands.  As of right now, it is known that at least 2 Spectators are dead as well as the Pilot.  At least 75 are injured, with 54 seriously enough to be transported to the Hospitals, with at least 25 Critically injured.  So please, send your prayers and good thoughts that this is the worst that is reported, that no others will die through the night.

Sorry for the sad post, but I wanted to report this sad accident in hopes of love and prayers to be sent out this way, to the injured and to the families of the injured and dead, as they will need it in the coming days.

Aloha My Friends :(

Monday, September 12, 2011

A Big Shout Out To Vickyd !!














Hey Ya'll,

Well I'll be....I just checked into my blog again, and found that I had another new Follower!!  I had just started to Follow her today as well!!  LOL  Her name is Vicky, and Vicky was Banded on Dec 2, 2010.  And get this....Vicky has already lost 105.6 lbs!!  I REALLY need to read Vicky's Blog, to find out what she is doing..... :)  So if you haven't found Vicky's Blog yet, here is the link: My Shrinking Belly, now stop goofing off and follow it to her Blog!!  LOL  So Vicky...."Welcome to my Nightmare!".

Aloha My New Friend  :)

A Big Shout Out To Kristin !!

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Hey Ya'll,

I just checked into my blog, and found that I have a new Follower!!  Well....actually I started to Follow her first! LOL  Anyway....her name is Kristin, and Kristin was Banded on 11/07/07.  Like me, Kristin did well in the beginning, then slacked off and regained some of the weight she had lost.  But now Kristin is BACK...and on the straight and narrow, of eating what is good for her!!  I on the other hand, still have to get myself back in check!!!!!  So yea Kristin, you are doing great!  Keep it up!  :)  In case you haven't found Kristin's blog yet, here is the link: My Journey Being Banded.  Oh, and it appears that she will be one of the lucky ones attending the 2011 BOOBS, so many of you will get to know her personally (you lucky people)!!  So Kristin...."Welcome to my Nightmare!".

Aloha My New Friend  :)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

A Warm Welcome To...Kelli :)

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Hey Ya'll,

Well, I just checked my emails, and saw that I had one from a new Follower!!  I had just started Following her tonight, and was shocked at how fast she Followed me back to my blog!! 

Her name is Kelli, and here is the link to Kelli's blog: KelliBelliBandKelli is a brand new blogger and will be Banded next week on the 15th!!  So if you haven't found her blog yet, please follow the link I provided and give her the love and support she will need in this new adventure!!

So Kelli....."Welcome to my Nightmare!".

Aloha My New Friend  :)

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

My Latest PB And....Life

If We Can Just Get A Little More Horsepower....  

This seemed appropriate since NHRA had their Indianapolis Race this past Weekend!!


Hey Ya'll,

Well, it has been a long time since I last posted....sorry!  I had another bad session of being Stuck the other night!!  What's so funny, I had read Lap Band Girl's post on Sunday about her having her 1st  PB.  She has had her Band for a some time now, and was so careful that she had never had one!  Well, shortly after I left a comment on her post, I realized that I was going into a full blown STUCK/PB episode myseslf!!

TMI ALERT, TMI ALERT!!

Yes, I was praying to the Porcelain God for a while.....I hate it when I do this.  I knew I shouldn't have eaten all of the small portion of Steak that Walt gave me, as he accidentally over cooked it.  Thus making it a bit dry, and again....thus making it harder for me to chew and digest.  I also had a few bites of Spaghetti that Walt made (the sauce was only Stewed Tomatoes chopped up in the food processor and some herbs added, which made it a very low calorie meal, and I love Stewed Tomatos!!).  Unfortunately, since the Steak was so dense and dry....the Spaghetti was not going to go down without a fight!!  So I was in agony for a couple of hours, which included several vomiting episodes until all of the Spaghetti was eventually expelled!!  Sorry, TMI I know!!  But oh how much better it feels after I am able to expel something!!  At least for awhile, if there is more to come up! 

Since Walt is now working for Nevada, we decided to start up a Nevada Corp for him to work through as he is an Independent Contractor, especially since we are now Nevada residents!  Because of this, we have both been doing a lot of research regarding Nevada Corps, and where we want to open up Bank Accounts for the Business, etc.  We also are wanting to change our Cell Phone Company, now that our latest Contract is up....so we are researching all the different options there too!!  LOL

I have done the laundry twice since I last posted....I am trying to make it easier on myself, and instead of doing the laundry once every two weeks, I am trying to do it once a week.  I am not really doing a lot less as far as how many loads I do, but I am not doing loads that are as full, so I have less clothes to fold, thus making it easier for me!!  I kind of like this....and I really don't mind doing the laundry, I just hate putting it away!!  LOL  In fact, right now, this is about the only time that I get any personal "fun" reading in!!

We have also gone on another Bike ride (Motorcycle for any new readers), though not quite as long as the other ride was a couple of weeks ago.  And it wasn't as hot, so it was a nice ride.  We went to where my Mother In Law lives, and took her to lunch (in her car of course!!).  So we had a nice lunch to catch up with her, and made plans to have Thanksgiving with her this year.  Since my parents aren't doing well (they as well as our Kids/Grand Kids, live in California), we really wanted to make sure to spend Christmas with them!!  Who knows, this could be their last Christmas, and we don't want to miss spending it with them.

My Mom went in and got the Lab Work done that her Doctor ordered.  The Doctor that she saw when she fell and split her Head open, told her that she has Melanoma Cancer on/in her Scalp.  I spoke with her last night, and she said that she has an appointment for the 13th to find out the results of the most recent Lab Work.  I will keep you posted once I hear from her regarding them....

I went in to my Doctor last week, to get my own Lab Work Test results.  And as suspected, the Doctor told me that my Vitamin D and Calcium is low, and my Cholesterol is high.  She wants me to up my Vitamins and recheck my Labs in 3-4 Months.  She doesn't want to panic about the results and said that she wants to see if the Vitamin D and Calcium goes up, and hopefully the Cholesterol goes down!!  She also doesn't want to panic about my High Alt (SGPT) levels.  Of course, I didn't tell her about the high incidence of Liver problems in my family....she doesn't want to put me on any more RX Medications if she can help it, as I already take so many!!  So we shall wait until the next Labs to determine what course of action we will be taking.  And thank you to all who offered their love and support for both me and my Mom!!  I <3 all of you!!

Walt and I went to the annual BBQ Rib cook off they hold here on Thursday (the first day of the Fair).  Walt was so hungry when we got there, that we ate at the first BBQ stand that we came to.  It was good, and I am sure that we would have had good BBQ no matter which vendor we ate at!!  Of course, I could barely touch my meal!!  I had so much left over, so we brought it home with us.  After eating, we walked around to check out all of the different vendors.  It was fairly warm, but luckily not extremely HOT!!  Walt ended up eating snacks from several different vendors!  Which included, Ice Cream, Chocolate covered Strawberries, Lemonade, Churros, etc, etc, etc.  Of course, I couldn't even consider eating anything else for fear of getting stuck! 

I had told Walt that he could eat anything that he wanted (even the Ice Cream in front of me), and that I would wait until we left.  That I would drive through Dairy Queen, and take me a cup of Ice Cream home to freeze, and eat later when I could actually eat.....He didn't think that I would really do it!  He wanted to go straight home, even though we had parked close to the Dairy Queen.  He thought that if he didn't let me drive through it then and there, I wouldn't get my Ice Cream....Well, you can't keep me from my soft serve, especially since I didn't say a word about all the crap that he ate there!!  So I took him home (I was driving), let him out and said that I would be right back, as I was going back to Dairy Queen!!  It was soooo good too! LOL

Recently we have had some issues with our rear toilet in the RV.  It has been continually filling with water (luckily it fills slowly).  Causing me to have to flush out the water from the toilet several times a day to keep it from over flowing....then at night (or early morning in my case), I had to go outside and turn off the water to the RV so that the toilet didn't over flow during the night when I went to bed....it wasn't difficult, just an inconvenience!  So our RV Repair guy came by on Saturday (on his way to the BBQ fair of course) and fixed the problem (for the second time!!). 

When he came out for the same problem the first time, Walt wanted him to install a shut off valve at each toilet so that if we had continuing issues, we could shut off the water to the toilet itself.  Ron our RV guy, didn't want to do it.  Well....this time he did!!  LOL  So, if we have any problems in the future, at least we can shut the individual toilet water off leaving the rest of the RV with water until we could get it fixed.

I am hoping that my Daughter Christa and my Grand Kids Walker and Emily will be coming to visit me in a week or two!  They are planning on driving up from Sacramento for the day, so that we can go shopping with the Kids and have lunch to celebrate their Birthdays!!  Since we live up here in Nevada, we weren't able to go to their Birthday parties this year.  Emily turned 8 in August and Walker will turn 11 in September!!  I can't believe how fast they are growing up....how time flies!!

I just finished making one of my BFF's her Birthday gifts.  She lives on the East Coast now, so I am going to mail the gifts back to her as soon as I get confirmation of her current address.  And I am now making our friend Hannah, an Afghan for a Christmas present.  It is turning out really nice too.  I will take a photo of it when it is completed and post it.  The colors are a pale Mint Green (they call it Pastel Green), Turquoise Blue and White.  Which is what I have been working on at night lately.  Once I finish it, I will start working on my MIL's Afghan that I am making her for her Christmas gift.  I am also hopeful that I will have time to make one for my Mom too.  I made her an Afghan over 30 years ago, and I would like to make her a new one before it is too late!

Well, I guess that I should go for now, got lot's to do, till next time.....

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Big Shout Out To Mari !!

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Hey Ya'll,

I just checked in and saw that I had a new Follower!  Her name is Mari and she is hoping to get a Surgery date of October 29th (which is my Brother's 54th Birthday)!!  Mari's blog is titled: The Tale Of A Band Called Beyonce.   So if you haven't already found Mari's blog, please follow the link provided and give Mari a big hello and all the Support she can use!!  So Mari...."Welcome to my Nightmare!".

Aloha My New Friend  :)