Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!!!

Ummmm, what else needs to be said???


I just LOVE Ham!


My favorite cake in the whole world!  Sweet German Chocolate Cake (only from scratch is acceptable), not that regular Chocolate Cake with Pecan Frosting thrown on top like some Restaurants try to pass off as German Chocolate Cake!


And another view of the cake, this is what my version looks like.  I prefer to make it with 2 layers instead of the traditional 3.  Otherwise, the same.


And of course, I couldn't possibly leave out the Coconut Cream Pie!!  My FAVORITE!!


Then of course, another of my favorite pies...the Banana Cream Pie!

And this is one I have yet to taste, but our friend may be bringing one of these to Dinner.  It is the Banana Cream Cheesecake, from The Cheesecake Factory.  Yum!!!  I am trying not to think about the calories right now!

Hey Ya'll,

Well like before, so little time, so much to do!!!  Well folks, we are moving right along, and assuming Walt gets his Nevada Driver's License with the allowance to tow a Trailer weighting more than 10,000 lbs, we will be picking up our RV sooner than originally planned.  Possibly a week or two sooner, so that means that I have been in hyper drive trying to go through our belongings for the move.  Starting Friday or Saturday, we will begin taking most of the rest of our belongings, that we are not keeping to their new homes...... :( :( :(  But!  At least we know that they will be appreciated by those we are giving them to.  Merry Christmas, Ho Ho Ho!!

So we are driving up to the Reno/Carson City area this Sunday, to begin our transformation from California Residents to Nevada Residents by applying for our new Driver's License's and getting the Vehicles Registered as well.  Then, once we start that process and pick up the RV, we will move it on up!!

So, since I have so little time.....I am leaving you with photos of some of my all time favorite Holiday Foods!!  And I want to make sure that ya'll know that these are not my photos.  I borrowed them from the good ole Internet!!  Isn't the Internet great???  And yes, some of my photos are floating out there in cyberspace as well!  So feel free to copy them if you find them for your own purposes.

I hope that ya'll have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Aloha My Friends  :)

Woo Hoo!! My Faves Won In NHRA!!

Hey Ya'll,

Well, I haven't posted in a few days again.  Like before, so much to do, so little time....We are edging closer to our move with each day.  We have decided to make our "Home State" Nevada.  We were going to make it South Dakota, but determined Nevada would be fine, at least for now.  So by next month, we should have setup our Permanent Residency there.

We have set a date for when we will be driving down to pick up our RV.  My next Fill appointment is set for December 15th.  So we will be driving up to Reno for the Fill, then driving down to Las Vegas for the night (don't worry, we never gamble,we just hate throwing our money away), plus we will be tired from all the driving, so we will just want to eat, settle down and go to sleep.  The next morning, we will continue on to Mesa to pick up the RV!!  We have never towed an RV before, so we will need all the advise and hopefully some lessons on the proper way to back up with it, etc that we can get from the Dealer. 

I'm sure Walt believes that he can do it, but when you have never towed anything major before, and now you are towing a 40' RV!!  Well, lets just say that this will be a new experience for both of us!  The dealer will also need to go through the entire RV with us to explain all of it to us, how to hook it up properly, & how to Set it up & take it down, etc.  It has 3 Slides we will have to deal with.  And because of this, we have decided to get extra supports to place under the main Slide, since it is so long and will have some of the heavier furniture in it.

When we leave Mesa, we don't want to drive all the way up to Northern California in one day!!  Thank God!  So we will attempt to make it up to Barstow, Ca before stopping for the night.  If we do make it there, we plan on visiting Calico Ghost Town and be tourists for the day.  Then heading home the next day.  Once we are home, we will begin loading it up almost immediately.  So that we can move it up to Carson City.  So I may be a resident of Carson City before the end of the year after all!!

Other than this....we are getting ready for our family Thanksgiving Dinner, to be held at our house for the last time....But since we have given most of our furniture away already, we don't have much in the way to sit on!!  We have also given our Kitchen Table & Chairs to my parents.  So the only "Tables" we have, are the ones outside!  I sure hope it isn't too cold...As for seating, we really only have the 2 Love Seats and a Chair & Ottoman left. 

Then, like I said, we have the outdoor seating.  I really hope that some of the others coming, remembers to bring their camp chairs, other wise there will not be enough seating for everyone!  Oh, and did I mention that there will probably be a minimum of 20 and possibly 28 or so coming?  Luckily, there are always those that stand, just because!  And...did I mention that my Mother In Law is planning on coming down from East of Carson City to spend 4-5 days with us????  The only place that we have for her to sleep now, is an old Air Mattress that has a small leak.  We have not determined where it is as yet, so here's hoping that we do before we need it!  In the past, she always slept on our Red Sofa which was really comfortable.

Now, for my big news!  If you have been following my blog for long, you know that I am a HUGE NHRA DRAG RACING FAN!!  Well, tonight was the final race of the 2010 Racing Season, and my 2 favorite Racers WON!!!  Larry Dixon won in Top Fuel.  This was his 3rd Championship.  And John Force won in Funny's.  This was his amazing 15th Championship!!  And did I mention that John Force is 61 yrs old???  Here are some photos of them.





This is Larry Dixon (sigh), sorry Sweetheart, but...(sigh).



This is after a Burn Out prior to the start of the race.



During the race in the daytime.  Flames not easily visible.





And this is his Top Fuel Dragster with Flames! 
His top speed to 1000 Feet is "only" 324.36 MPH!!!!  Think of it,
0 mph - 324.36 mph in only 1000 Feet!!!!



This is John Force


And John doing a Burn Out before the race




And this shows the fantastic FLAMES you can see after dark!!


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


Aloha My Friends  :)

We Got One!!!

Hey Ya'll,

Well, I haven't posted in a few days again, but it is because we were in negotiations on an RV, and I was terrified that I would jinx it if I said anything until the sale was completed!  They originally wanted a minimum of $27,900 for it, but Walt talked them down to $24,000!  And the Nada Low Retail (like Kelly Blue Book for RV's) with all of the options it has, has it listed as $37,165!  So we got it for $13,165 less than the Low Nada price!  It is a 2008 (barely used) 40' Forest River Cardinal 36-2BH LE.  So it has 2 Bedrooms and 1-1/2 Baths, and a King size Bed.

It also comes with a 32" LCD TV which we will move from the Living Room to the Bedroom, and place our 40" LCD TV in the Living Room, then buy another 25"-27" LCD TV for my Office/Studio.  Walt's computer system will go in the drop down Computer area of the Entertainment Center, so both of our Computers will have it's own place.  We are also hoping to fit my Digital Piano in the 2nd Bedroom against the back wall under the window.  If we can't fit it there, we will place it where the two Bar Stools are.  And we are going to place one of the small Refrigerators from our current Barbecue Island in the 2nd Bedroom next to the entry door (for extra Refrigerator space) and place the LCD TV there on top of it.  So that I could actually watch TV while working at my Desk!  The other setup would have it always behind me!!!  And this RV has tons of storage for clothing, by far more than most!

We are keeping it at the Dealer in Mesa, Arizona, where it will stay until mid December when we will drive down to pick it up.  We can't pick it up right now, because we still have to have the Fifth Wheel Tow Hitch installed, plus a few upgrades done to the Truck to make it safer to pull that kind of a load, so that it doesn't tear up the Engine or Transmission!! 

We are planning on establishing a Permanent Residency in a different State, "Out Of California".  But this takes a little time, plus we aren't 100% sure which State we want to be Residents of (but we are probably going to make it South Dakota).  So of course this means more researching!!  We will be considered Full-Timers, which means that we can be Permanent Residents of any State we want, but free to roam around the Country!!  And we are choosing to leave our home State of California.  Especially since California elected Jerry Brown to be the new Governor again!!!!  They apparently didn't learn what a terrible Governor he was years ago!!  Oh how I hate politics!!

For at least the first 6 mos to a year/year and a half, we will have the RV parked in Nevada.  This way it is close enough that Walt can commute to Sacramento each week to attend meetings.  He can work primarily out of our RV, and go into work for about 2-3 days a week.  So when he is in Sacramento, he will stay with either our Daughter Kat, or his Sister Susan.  Then drive back up to Nevada and me!! 

So here are a "few" LOL photos of OUR RV!!  The furniture that is in it will probably not stay though.  Walt wants to take out the Sofa that is in it and put in our Black Leather Love Seat, and also take out the Dining Table & Chairs, replacing them with our Black Leather Chair & Ottoman.  We will also remove the lower Full Size Bed in the 2nd Bedroom and replace it with my Desk (making it my Office and I can also paint there as well).

 

 

So, till next time.......

Aloha My Friends!  :)

It's Been Too Long!!

Hey Ya'll,

Well, first of all, I would like to apologize for not posting in a while.  I have been painting, researching, crocheting, running around town doing errands, etc, etc, etc.!!!  But I know that that is not a good excuse!  We are coming down to the wire, on when we will need to vacate our home. :(  We are expecting to have to be out of the house by the end of the year.

So far, we have not purchased an RV to move into, and with our now ruined credit, we cannot rent either.  So we have only a few weeks to find an RV that is in decent, livable condition, that we can afford until we can save up our money to purchase a new (hopefully) "custom made" RV!!  But that won't be for at least a year from now.

So we need to find a decent RV to live in for at least a year, and we need it in a VERY short period of time!!  To say that I am a bit stressed out is an understatement!!  Walt keeps telling me not to worry....that things will work out, and yet we keep letting perfectly good RV's go by without purchasing them, because it isn't what he wants, or too much money, or.....WHATEVER!!!  So of course I am stressed out!  I am concerned that because he is waiting for the perfect interim RV, that we will end up in a dump for a year or more just to have something to live in at the last minute!!!  And, did I mention that we still have to finish cleaning out the garage of 20 yrs worth of clutter??  We still haven't started to box up the house!!!!!!  Like I said, am I stressed or what???

Anyhoo, like I said earlier, I have started working on my next two paintings.  So here is the result of the first day of painting on each of them!  Please don't judge them too soon, I know that the sky in the Seascape is messed up, but clouds will cover most of the area that isn't too pleasing to the eye right now, thank God!  LOL  So, here are the two paintings, and until next time......

Aloha My Friends!  :)

This first painting is Walt's.  I have since painted on it again, and have lightened up the sky much more, since the photo shows the sky to be almost white in color!

And here is my first attempt at copying a one of my favorite Painters (Christian Lassen).  Like I said, it is definitely a work in progress!!  If nothing else, I can always paint over it and start again!!!  LOL

Happy Halloween!!

Hey Ya'll,

First of all, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!  I hope that everyone who had the good fortune to be able to attend parties last night, had a great!  And for those that have children/grandchildren, I hope that you have a fun time tonight Trick-Or-Treating tonight!  We haven't been able to go out Trick-Or-Treating for a VERY long time, as our youngest is 24 years old!  Although we do have two Grandchildren that are 7 and 10 years old, our Daughter and Son In Law do not believe in Halloween or Trick-Or-Treating, so our Grandchildren have NEVER been able to experience it.  Nor us with them.  Oh Well! 

Not too much has been happening here, except that we are getting much closer to moving out of our home.  We expect to be here until the end of the year, then we will have to move out.  So we have really stepped up our RV shopping!  We have decided that we will probably buy an interim RV, that we can live in for about a year, while saving our money up to buy a more custom RV for us!  This means that we don't want to spend more than $5000- $10,000 on the interim RV.  We want it to be in decent condition, and somewhere between 35-40 feet in length.  However, at this price, we don't expect it to be anything too spectacular, and it will probably be a bit older.  It is also highly doubtful, that it will have the 2nd bedroom, or 2nd bathroom that we would really like to have!  But we feel that we can live with it for a year.

I have been researching a ton of stuff for the upcoming move, and also crocheting my hands off for Christmas gifts.  Plus, I just started two more paintings!  So I have been busy!  Oh, and a small NSV, I went to Walmart the other day, and decided to purchase a few new pairs of sweatpants that I can wear during the Winter here bumming around the house.  I purchased Larges, but in the past I always bought XL or heaven forbid, 2XL.  Unfortunately, I should have tried them on while there, as I need to return them for Mediums!  YEA!!

But, as far as my Restriction goes, I have NO RESTRICTION whatsoever!!  I have also gained back a few pounds (go figure)! :(  So I will definitely be getting a Fill at my next appointment on December 8th!  I just hope that I don't gain back too much more weight between now and then!  But with Thanksgiving coming up.....!  Anyway this is my world right now, I am sorry that I haven't posted much lately, but there just isn't too much happening worth reporting!!  Well, I better go for now, till next time....

Aloha My Friends  :)

The Best NSV! And Another New Painting!

This photo was taken by Walt on our vacation to Cape Cod last October.  It was taken at the tip of the Cape close by the Pilgrim Memorial.  He specifically requested that I paint this photo for him.  And since he likes me to work on at least 2 paintings at a time, this one with the photo that I posted in my last post, will be my new paintings.  I will keep you posted on their progress.

Hey Ya'll,

Well, it looks like at least part of the Mall, that was on fire yesterday and through the night, should be open by Black Friday (they hope).  The area of the Mall that was furthest from the fire area, may be open even sooner.  However, the area of the actual fire has MAJOR DAMAGE to it.  The roof in that area collapsed into the Mall!  So I am afraid that that section will not be open until long into next year!  So this means that a lot of employees will be without jobs.

I read this today: "Employment Law attorney says because the Roseville Galleria fire was "an act of God", state law does not require stores to pay workers for any hours after evacuation".  So basically he is saying, that because a young man with Mental Illness started the fire, that it is considered an "Act Of God"!  Go figure.  The Attorneys will always look for a loop hole, to not have to pay the poor employees.....I'm sorry, I know that it sounds like I am an activist or something, but I promise, I am NOT!  It just irks me that the Major Company's and Insurance Company's always try to find a way to not have to pay those that really need it.

Anyway!!!  On to my Best NSV!  In the past, I have always said that my Neck barely shows an improvement since my Surgery.  And I still am not happy with it, but Walt and I were going through our vacation photos from last year (taken just before my Surgery).  And we found some that really shows how big my Neck REALLY was, and because of them, I can see a big difference!!  Here is a photo from the vacation and a current photo of me, let me know what you think!!

And yes, I am well aware that I look like Sh**!!  But then I always look like this!!  LOL

And here is my most recent photo!  This time my pained expression is because I was looking into the sun!!  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!















And I want to thank everyone who responded to my last post, wishing my friend well.  She will be grateful for all the good thoughts coming her way!  And thanks Amanda K, for the swift kick in the Arse, for reminding me why I got the Band in the first place!!  I agree, I am sure that I should get the Fill in early December as planned.  So as long as the weather holds, I will be going up for it.  Well, I will be going for now, till next time......

Aloha My Friends  :)

It's A Sad Day For The Local Mall!!

This is a photo of the next Painting I will attempt to paint!  It is called Enchanted Eve and is one of Christian Riese Lassen's Seascapes.  He is a fantastic painter from Hawaii.

Hey Ya'll,

Well, we finally received the Bulbs we needed for the Bike, so Walt was finally able to put the Bike back together!!  Which means that I have wheels again!  I have been without a vehicle for over a week, and even though I don't do much out of the house, just not being able to leave the house, is hard to deal with!!

As for my Restriction....it is still non-existent!!  But maybe this is a good thing.  At least I will be able to eat some of my favorite foods/desserts, for Thanksgiving again this year!  My Surgery was just the week before Thanksgiving last year, and YES, I should have been on a liquid diet, but I was on semi mushies by the day after Surgery, so I did eat (in small amounts) my favorite foods last year!  My next appointment is set for Dec 6th, so I will have to decide if I want a Fill at that time, or wait until after the first of the year......

In sad news today (at least for those shopaholics!) one of our local Malls was taken Hostage, and put on fire today!!!  By the time they got the Criminal out of the Mall (long after the Mall was evacuated), and realized that the original blaze he set (and thought put out), began a huge blaze that did major damage to almost the entire Mall!  So I don't see how they could possibly open it in time for Christmas shopping this year!!

The sad part of it is that a lot of the employees will be losing their jobs, just before Christmas.  And a lot of the smaller Stores will probably lose their Businesses this year as well!!  Just because of someone with a Mental Illness.  I don't know if it is true or not, but I heard that the person claimed he was there hijacking the store he went into, because his Sister had been Abducted by Aliens!!  He claims himself to be Manic Depressive (Bi Polar).  Here is a link to the local News Channel with information on the incident if anyone is interested.

http://www.kcra.com/news/25465665/detail.html?treets=sac&tml=sac_break&ts=T&tmi=sac_break_1_09260110212010

Now, before I forget, I would like to ask anyone reading this, to PLEASE send out good thoughts to my Friend.  Her husband is also Bi Polar, and has been unable to get his condition under control, even with Medication.  He recently attempted Suicide again, then told her he wanted a Divorce, as soon as he was released from the Hospital (all the while screaming at her).  She is in real need of support and good wishes.  And if you pray, please put her in your prayers. 

I am really hoping that her and her children come through this unharmed.  She is in between a rock and a hard place right now, as she recently had Surgery and cannot return to work for at least another 2-3 months.  So she can't leave him, even if she wanted to!  So far, he has only been verbally abusive, never physically, but...you never know, something could make him snap!  I can't say enough about how concerned for them that I am, and she is never far from my thoughts!!

So other than worrying about my friend 24/7, and working on my Christmas present projects, I am doing ok.  I just finished Christa's painting, which I can't post the photos of on my blog as yet, as it is a surprise to her, and she reads my blog!!  So I will post the photos after Thanksgiving, since that is when I will be giving it to her.  So since I have finished her painting, I am getting ready to begin another one.  This time I am going to attempt to copy a painting from one of my favorite Artists.  He is from Hawaii, and his name is Christian Riese Lassen.  I am going to attempt to paint one of his Seascapes titled: Enchanted Eve.  A photo of it is at the top of the blog.  This will be the first time I have attempted to recreate a true Artists painting!!  Wish me luck!

Well, I should go for now, got lots to do!!  Till next time....

Aloha My Friends  :)

It's Finished!!

This is a photograph (not my own) of Donner Lake in the Summer time.

Hey Ya'll,

Well, I know that I haven't been blogging much this week.  But I have been kind of busy.  I finished my daughter Christa's painting!!!  It is based on one of her Photographs that she took on the California Coast between Monterey and Santa Cruz.  This Photograph won 2-1st Place Ribbons and 1-2nd Place Ribbon, in different Shows.  Unfortunately, I can't show the photo of my completed Painting here in my blog until Thanksgiving (she reads my blog and would see it), as that is when we are giving it to her, so all the family can see it too.  And it is supposed to be a surprise!!  She has seen it in the earlier stages, but not this far along.

As for my restriction....unfortunately, it seems I don't have much anymore.  And go figure, the only stuck episode I have had since my unfill, was yesterday when I finished the remainder of my Spaghetti from Johnny Carino's!!  Nothing else I have eaten has caused me any trouble!!  I guess I just need to stay away from Spaghetti. :(   But what is strange, is that I can eat Spaghetti from our local Pizza place, with no problems!!  But since I haven't tried any since my last Fill, I guess I just need to try it again! LOL Otherwise, I guess I need to choose a different type of noodle, so that I can control the amount of noodle I eat in each bite.

As for the weather...well, we were hoping the cooler weather that we had a short time ago, meant that Fall was finally here!  But no...we had temps in the 90's again until a couple of days ago, when the temps dropped back down into the 80's.  Walt and I can't wait until it drops down into the 50's-60's.  He**, I would even welcome the 40's!!  Well, I better go for now, I don't have much to say or report, and I have a lot to do!!  Till next time...

Aloha My Friends  :)

It's Done! I Lost My Restriction!

A beautiful photo (not taken by me, I'm afraid) of the Sierra's

Hey Ya'll,

Well, today we were supposed to ride the Bike up to Reno.  But because we didn't receive some parts yesterday, that we were expecting.  We decided not to take the Bike.  So we had to drive up in the Truck instead.  It was a perfect day for a long Bike ride too!!  Oh well, at least I got some of my Crocheting done!  LOL  If you recall, I crochet when we are driving up through the Sierra's to control my worrying about how Walt likes to drive!

We made it up there in record time, and was about 30 minutes early.  And as usual, they took us back to a room within a few minutes!  But, because Fridays are Laurie's really busy day, we had to wait for about 15 minutes before she made it to our room.  However, as soon as she entered the room and heard my symptoms, she immediately pulled out .3 cc's!!  I was hoping for .1-.25 at the most to be taken out!! 

So .3 was more than I wanted!  But I must say that right now, I feel as if I have NO Restriction at all, which of course means that I was able to eat today without any pain at all.  So now I have to deal with little to no restriction again for awhile.  However, my next appointment is set for the first week in December.  But I am not sure if I will get the Fill then, or just wait until after the New Year.  If I can do ok through the rest of the year without gaining too much weight (if at all!), then I may just wait until after the first of the year as I hate to drive over the Sierra's in the Winter!  So I may just grin and bear it for a few Months!

Anyway, I have to get off the Internet for now, got lots to do...till next time...

Aloha My Friends

I'm Going For The Unfill Tomorrow!!

Hey Ya'll,

Well, after watching what I ate for several days, trying to see if I could work through this overfill, I came to the conclusion that I did in fact, need a small unfill!  This is my first unfill, and hopefully the last one too!

Last Wednesday, we drove up to Reno for my 9th Fill, that put me at about 7.7 cc's in a 10 cc Band.  At first I had no problems, I was even able to eat a normal Lunch right afterwords.  However, by Friday, I started having Acid Reflux every night, and sometimes during the day as well!  I didn't tell Walt about it at first, because I was afraid that he would tell me to go get an unfill!  Ha Ha....When I told him what I was going through, he actually wanted me to work through it!  Which totally surprised me!  But he eventually decided to go for the unfill.

On Sunday, we went to Lunch with our daughter, Kat and her husband Elliott, to a local Italian Restaurant.  I did ok, but ate just a bit too much, too fast.  So I was on the verge of being stuck, but luckily, didn't actually become stuck.  So I took it easy for Dinner. 

The next day, I ate only half of what was left of the left overs.  Normally, I could have eaten the whole amount left.  I thought that I had eaten it slow enough, but I soon realized that I was horribly STUCK, with a capital S!!  I spent about 4 hours praying to the Porcelain God!!  And when I wasn't praying to the Porcelain God, I was laying down trying to relieve the EXTREME pain in my Back!  And I was praying to the small, bag lined trash can!  The problem was...that when I tried to lay on my Back to relieve the pain, I felt like I was going to strangle!  So I ended up laying on my side, which was better than sitting up, but not by much. 

Did I say, pain in my Back???  I have a very bad back, and always have had, since I fell from the top of a swing set onto my Back as a child of about 8 or 9 (which was the first of many accidents that have effected my Back, Neck and Legs).  I was temporarily paralyzed for about an hour!  I have had Back problems, major pain in the Lower Back, and pain (mostly) on the left side of my body, from the Hip down every since.  So when I have problems that involve the Back, it is always more painful than I can express.

Well, when I got Stuck on Monday, apparently I had never been this Stuck before, because I was in so much pain I almost couldn't bear it!  I actually threw up 3 times!!  Normally, one minor bout of vomiting and I feel much better.  But this time, after I vomited once, I thought "wow, I feel so much better, thank god it's over".  Or so I thought!  Soon, the pain started again, and eventually I had the second vomiting episode, and again, felt much better and thought it was over!  But...again, shortly after, the pain started again!  This last bout was the worst!  Finally......I had one last vomit, and this time the Spaghetti came out, and I knew it was over!!

The problem was, I have been recovering from being Stuck ever since!  I started eating much less at each meal, and made sure the food was fairly bland.  But still, I had to be careful to not overeat.  I have found that even eating much less, I still had some symptoms of being Stuck and the Acid Reflux has also continued.  So, we made the decision to go back to Reno and get a small unfill.  I am hoping for only .1 cc to be taken out, but definitely not more than the .25 cc's she put in!!  We leave in the morning, so I will post on what was decided later!

Today, I only ate a small bowl (about 3/4 c at most) of Walt's homemade Beef Stew.  I was fine for about the first 3-4 hours, then all of a sudden, I started having the intense pressure and pain in my Chest, which passed through into the Back.  It took 6 tums before the pain started to ebb.  I am sooo looking forward to just a little bit of relief!!  Oh, and did I say that we were going to be riding the Bike up this trip?  Last week we didn't dare take it as there were Thunderstorms in the forecast.  But tomorrow should be a really nice day for a ride!!  Anyways....till next time. 

Aloha My Friends  :)

A Big Welcome To Lady Lazarus !!!

Hey Ya'll,

I just got my Internet back a short time ago (our Internet provider was down almost the entire day!).  So I just checked in and saw that I had a new Follower!  She goes by Lady Lazarus, and the link to her blog is: The Hill Climb Of Life.  She isn't a Bandster, but has weight issues too!!  I just read her blog and it broke my heart!  So please check it out and give her the love and support she needs and, most importantly, deserves!!  Lady Lazarus, "welcome to my nightmare" too! 

Aloha My New Friend!!  :)

I Need Your Help, Please!!

Hey Ya'll,

Well, I have been experiencing some symptoms since my last Fill, and I am wondering if I am a tad bit overfilled!  So I would really appreciate your comments.  Especially from those that have experienced this as well.

I have an almost constant pain in the Rib Cage, usually it is not bad, unless I have eaten something, then it hurts mostly in the center and to the right side.  Sometimes the pain goes all the way through from the front to the back.

I almost always have some mucous in my Throat.  And eating just a small amount of food, can cause me to feel like I am too tight (even eating my Oatmeal last night!).  Like I had eaten too fast, or didn't chew enough, and wanting to slime some to ease the pain and symptoms.

I just ate half of the leftovers from lunch yesterday, and I feel like I am going PB (update...I did PB)!!  In the past, I would have been able to eat all of the left overs with no problem!!  And.....I have Acid Reflux every night, as well as during the day sometimes after I had eaten something.  So I am wondering if I an a tad bit overfilled??? What do you think?  Should I call and ask the Surgeon's office their opinion?  Please help!!  Till next time.....

Aloha My Friends  :(

I Came THIS.....Close!!! :(

Hey Ya'll,

Well, I can definitely say that my Band is still a bit tight!  Today, Walt and I drove over to our Daughter Kat's house, to look into what it will take to convert part of their garage into Elliott's Dark Room.  We are giving Elliott all of Walt's Dark Room Equipment.  Afterwords, we drove over to a local Italian Restaurant called Johnny Carino's.

I love Johnny Carino's.  We used to have one close to us, but they closed it down, due to lack of Business.  :(  But there is one located near Kat's house, so we decided to go there today as we haven't eaten at Johnny's since ours closed down over a year ago.  They always bring out a home made loaf of Bread, and I had about a Thumb size portion of the Bread before my meal.  Then we ordered a family size meal to share, of Spaghetti and Meatballs/Sausage (the Sausage for Walt).  It was more than enough for all four of us!  I even have a serving left for another meal for me.  Yum. 

However, I realized almost too late, that I was really tight and needed to stop eating.  I did manage to stop in time, but my Rib Cage was tight, and it hurt all the way through from the front to the rear.  Luckily for me, it didn't become painful until after we left the Restaurant and was driving home!  Also, luckily for me, the pain ended by the time we reached home, about a half hour later.  I needed to spit a couple of times in a  bag that we had in the Truck, but then it passed.  :)))

Anyway, I haven't been doing too much lately, except for Crocheting some items that we are giving away as Christmas presents this year.  Plus, I have also been working on Christa's painting and almost have it finished (The painting is based on one of her photos.  This photo won either 1st or 2nd place in the Sacramento County Fair).  The painting would have been finished, except that I felt the need to try to bring in the glow from the Sun on the Rocks more.  Now the Rocks are too ORANGE!!  So I need to work some more on the Rocks.  And since we want to surprise Christa with the finished product, I can't post any photos of it until after we give it to her, because she reads my Blog!!  But I have to say that...this painting has the best Waves that I have done to date!!  I can't wait to post the photos of it, for your viewing.  We plan on giving it to her at Thanksgiving since most of the immediate family will be here, and they can see it too.

Well, I am going to end this now, I have lots to do, and sooo little time....Till next time.

Aloha My Friends  :)