Give Blood

Today I went to a local Blood Drive. I decided a while ago that I wanted to become a blood donar and I waited until there was one in the area. I went on my lunch hour. Some of the girls at work were concerned that I was not going to be able to come back to work. It was no big deal at all. I had my juice and cookies and was on my way. It hurt more to take off this bandage than it did to actually give the blood.

Pills and more pills

I remember the days when I did not have any aches and pains and did not have to take pills every day. Let me start this by saying, I am very thankful that I do not have any major medical issues that I have to take a pile of pills every day. I do however take some daily pills. Last week I went to my yearly exam and found quite a change from last year. Last year I was told that I was pre-diabetic, pre-sleep apnia, high cholesterol but not high enough to get put on medication. I was told this could all be fixed if I would just.... here it goes.... lose weight. Like I haven't heard that one before? So my loving sister gives me this diet to go on and I say I will give it a try. I print off one cycle of meals and never do a single one. I say to myself, this is too hard. Then I go to a sleep lab to check out what is wrong with me, "Why am I so tired?!!" After a very long process the doctor tells me, "Patti, you are a very tired gal!" I say, "NO CRAP? That is why I am here!" The doctor diagnosis, I need to go on a stimulant to keep me awake. Yikes I don't want to take Ridilin!! I ask to doctor what else can I do and she says the old phrase, "Lose weight." This is the last straw. I call Julie up and ask her about the diet again, which is working quite well for her I might add. To date I have lost 28 poounds and heres the drum roll.... I am no longer high cholesterol, no longer at risk for diabetes and Chris says I have stopped snoring. Hallelujah!! I still do howere take my daily vitamins and calcium pills. Sorry Dad, the doctor says I don't drink enough milk. And everyone needs the bottle of Advil for those old aches and pains.

Snowshoe Race

On Saturday Chris and I went to the Perkinstown Snowshoe Race. Chris has done this race for the past few years and he talked me into giving it a try. Now Chris has always ran the race and I told him I would do it but I was only going to WALK!! He said he would walk with me the whole way, and he did. I love this man so much for his wonderful heart. I know he wanted to run but he stayed and walked with me. He didnt even break a sweat. My goal was to finish in under 1 hour and I made it in 58:52. There were times when I thought I was going to die but I made it and plan on doing it again next year.

Here is a picture of me and Chris before the race. Not such a great picture when you take yourself.

Long Awaited Christmas Present Arrival

So this was my Christmas present from my husband this year. I mean this in the kindest most loving way.. "It's about time!" I have asked for a set of pans for quite a while now and I LOVE THEM!! I made a crazy wish list this year and had pictures of all the things I wanted for Christmas this year. In past year Chris would come to me about two days before Christmas and say, "What do you want for Christmas?" I would rattle off about ten things and then he would forget them all and I would get something totally different. Always nice gifts but just not usually things I asked for. So anyway back to my list. I found these pans and Chris had my niece Tracy order them online and they did not come in tme for Christmas. I opened my gift which was a picture of the pans. Well they came yesterday! I have yet to use them but I do love the color.

Snow Shoeing

After our last snow storm Chris and went for a snowshoe walk in the woods behind our house. The trees were piled with snow and it looked so beautiful. I love going for walks in the woods in the winter. This is my favorite time of year. This picture is my Camo man in the woods. He was always stopping to take pictures and he would turn around and say, "What is taking you so long?" or "Why are you walking so slow?" I said I was enjoying the scenery and taking pictures.

I had to take a picture from a different angle. Doesn't my leg look like it is ten feet long?

In this picture I was trying to get the sun shining thru the trees. It was a great day for a walk in the woods.

My Christmas 2008

I'll start this entry with Christmas Eve.. After church we went to Mom and Dads to visit for a while. Megan and Jordy stayed for a little while before they had to go to Jordy's family Christmas. I loved this picture even though they are not bot looking at the camera I think it makes the picture more spontaneous and not so posed. For all of you who are wondering, No Megan did not get a ring from Jordy. Jordy would be a wonderful addition to our family and Chris and I are hoping that one day he will be, but they are in no rush to get married.

This next picture is from Christmas Day. For those of you who do not know me well, I LOVE to cook. I also love to try new and challenging recipes. I was watching the Food Network a few weeks ago and was watching my boyfriend, Bobby Flay, and he was making this wonderful Triffle dish. I have always liked these dishes not only because of the layering of flavors but because they look so good too. So I thought I would give this dish a try. The name of the recipe is... "Gingerbread and Lemon Curd with Blackberry Sauce." It was delish!!
Now on to those wonderful Christmas cards. I love coming home from work and wondering, "How many cards did I get today?" or "What kind of card did they send?"
Of course I love the pictrure ones the best. But, the home made cards are great too. And of course we have to display them all.

I have come to the conclusion that in order to display them all I have to poster tack them to the whole wall!! This picture is of all the cards I received this year. Don't look too close you will see my light switch in the middle without a cover on it. I took it off years ago cuz I did not like it and just never bought a new one. For all of you who sent cards, "Thank you."

Not Enough Time In The Day

Does anyone else have those days when they feel there is not enough time to get everything done. I'm sure most people can relate. This is how my days go. I know I have not made a blog entry for a long time but I have 2 excuses..

1) Probably the best excuse I can use is that I have that crappy old dial-up and whenever I want to make an entry I want to add a pictures and my dial-up will not upload. It just pukes!! I usually go to Julie's to make my entries but then this leads to my excuse #2.

2) Not enough time in the day. I am always telling Chris that I wish I had just a few more hours in a day and maybe I could get all my stuff done. Now I'm sure that most of my "stuff" is probably not real important in the whole scheme of life but nonetheless, I wish I could do more in a day.

So this entry is pictureless but just to let everyone know that I am still here and plan to do some "Blogging Mania" real soon.