SomedayQuilter

78 Ways to Cut 100 Calories - Page 1 - MSN Health & Fitness - Weight Loss

2009-03-21T13:59:00.001-07:00

78 Ways to Cut 100 Calories

By Kate Grip Denon, Women's Health

Calories can be cruel. Sweat through a 30-minute workout and you can torch 200. Take three gulps of a foamy frappuccino and you're right back where you started. But slashing those suckers can be as effortless as piling them on. Just look below to find out 78 ways you can cut 100 or more calories at a pop. From picking the right slice at Pizza Hut to skipping the whip on your latté, they'll add up so fast, you won't miss a thing—until poof! Your love handles are gone.

Cut 100 calories ... at breakfast

Ditch the Pop-Tart for a slice of high-fiber toast with strawberry jam.

Gotta have carbs? Split a bagel with a co-worker.

Drink your two cups of joe black. Or order a single espresso instead of your usual latté.

Swap OJ for the real deal—one fresh orange.

Trade a side of regular sausage for turkey.

Top your waffles with Reddi-wip instead of syrup (or use sugar-free).

Skip the whip on any Caribou Coffee 16-ounce drink.

Eat your granola from a 4-ounce mug, not an 8-ounce bowl.

Lose the Yoplait Thick & Creamy and have a Yoplait Fiber 1.

Order pancakes, but hold the butter.

Scramble together four egg whites instead of two whole eggs.

Substitute nonfat cream cheese for regular on your bagel.

Cut 100 calories ... during dessert

Stop eating when you hit the crust. The edges and bottoms of baked goods are especially caloric because they absorb the butter used to grease the pan.

Fill your bowl with sorbet instead of ice cream—you can have an extra 1/2 cup of the former and still slash calories.

Next time a cocoa craving hits, ditch the dish of chocolate ice cream (about 3/4 cup) for a Fudgsicle.

Have sugar-free Jell-O instead of pudding. Better your nighttime treat jiggle than your thighs.

Go ahead and have that piece of birthday cake—just scrape off the chocolate frosting first.

Eat five meringue cookies instead of two chocolate chip ones.

Pass on the à la mode and savor that brownie au naturel.

Can the cone. Have your ice cream in a bowl.

Top your dessert with 1/2 cup of fresh berries instead of 2 tablespoons of chocolate syrup.

Cut 100 calories ... at lunch

Leave the Swiss cheese out of your sandwich.

Slather your bread with mustard rather than mayo and save 80 calories per tablespoon.

Pass up croutons at the salad bar.

Use up to 10 pumps of ranch dressing spray instead of pouring 2 tablespoons from a bottle.

Devour a slice of Pizza Hut cheese pan pizza instead of the meat lover's variety.

Take your iced tea unsweetened.

Reach for a Snapple raspberry white tea instead of a Snapple raspberry iced tea.

Stuff chicken salad into a whole-wheat pita instead of between slices of multigrain bread.

Make your burger turkey, not beef.

Slurp minestrone soup instead of cream of anything.

Go bunless—shed your hamburger roll.

Use south-of-the-border savvy: Have a quesadilla made with two 6-inch corn, not flour, tortillas.

Two or more pizza slices? Blot off the grease with a napkin.

Cut 100 calories ... in the kitchen

Substitute nonfat Greek yogurt for a serving of sour cream.

Use chicken broth (low-sodium is best) instead of oil to sauté meat and veggies.

Making homemade mac 'n cheese? Cut 2 tablespoons of butter from the recipe.

Replace the oil or butter in cakes with Sunsweet Lighter Bake prune-and-apple mixture or any brand of unsweetened applesauce.

Next time you make meatballs, meatloaf, or burgers, go half-and-half with ground beef and turkey.

When preparing packaged foods that call for butter or oil, like rice and stuffing, use a broth instead.

Swap low-fat cottage cheese for whole-milk ricotta when you make lasagna or stuffed shells.

Use tuna packed in water, not oil.

Cut 100 calories ... at happy hour

Nurse a single glass of wine instead of downing two beers.

Ask for your rum and cokes in a highball glass. Bartenders pour an average of 20 percent less liquid into taller tumblers, so you'll swig less per round.

Drizzle extra hot sauce, not blue cheese or ranch dressing, on your wings.

Ordering a cocktail? Make it on the rocks instead of frozen. Slushy fruit drinks tend to be made with bottled mixers that contain added sugar and syrups.

Blending your own? Have a daiquiri, not a piña colada.

Pop the cap off of an MGD 64 instead of a bottle of Killian's Irish Red.

Sip a glass of water between drinks—pacing yourself can help you cut back by a glass or more.

Dip your nachos in salsa rather than guacamole.

For automatic portion control, sip wine from a Champagne flute, not an oversize goblet.

Mix your vodka with Red Bull Sugarfree, not cranberry juice.

Cut 100 calories ... at the drive-thru

Pass up a Wendy's baked potato with sour cream and chives and chow down on value fries instead. Amazing but true.

Have a McDonald's cheeseburger instead of a Quarter Pounder with cheese.

Downsize your drink: Trade a large fountain soda (with ice) for a medium.

Go for grill marks. Order a flame-broiled chicken sandwich rather than one that's breaded (and usually fried in oil).

Treat yourself to an ice-cream cone at McDonald's instead of Dairy Queen.

Crunch on one Taco Bell regular taco instead of a Ranchero Chicken Soft Taco. And all the hot sauce you want.

Slurp a cup of Panera Bread's low-fat chicken noodle soup instead of the cream of chicken with wild rice.

Make your daily pick-me-up at Starbucks a skinny vanilla latté, not a regular.

Skip the two packets of BBQ sauce—eat your burger and fries plain.

Cut 100 calories ... on your snack break

Drink sparkling water instead of soda.

Move your stash of Hershey's Kisses at least 6 feet away from your desk—you'll dip in half as often.

Drain the heavy syrup from your can of fruit cocktail and then rinse the fruit with water before digging in.

Have 1/2 cup of fresh grapes instead of that little snack box of raisins.

Lay off the Lay's Classic potato chips and have a handful of Rold Gold pretzels.

Munch on a bag of Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop Kettle Korn, not Movie Theater Butter flavor.

Chase down the ice-cream truck for a Good Humor vanilla sandwich, not a King Cone.

Satisfy a crunch craving with baby carrots, not potato chips.

Cut 100 calories ... when you're not cooking

Request the lemon chicken with white rice, not fried.

Skip the crunchy noodles with your bowl of wonton soup.

Ask for an order of Szechuan Shrimp instead of your usual General Tso's.

Choose the pasta with 1/2 cup of marinara instead of 1/2 cup of Alfredo sauce.

Indulge your inner carnivore with beef stroganoff, not meat lasagna.

Go with the baked potato (butter only), not the mashed, as your side of choice.

Dip your dinner roll in marinara sauce instead of olive oil.

Avoid anything breaded. Flour and bread crumbs not only add calories but also absorb more cooking oil.

Pop 12 pieces of sashimi and 1/3 cup of edamame, not 12 pieces of spicy tuna roll.

Sources: Shauna Reid, author, The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl (Avon, 2008); Kristina Sargent, D.C., CEO, Restor Healing Centre; Barry Sears, Ph.D., creator, the Zone Diet; Sanford Siegel, D.O., founder, the Cookie Diet; Heidi Skolnik, M.S., co-author, The Reverse Diet; Allan Borushek, R.D., author, CalorieKing's 2009 Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter (Family Health Publications, 2008); Jeff Halevy, fitness coach and personal trainer, New York City; Stacy Berman, nutritionist and founder, Stacy's Bootcamp, New York City.

Provided by Women's Health

URL: http://health.msn.com/weight-loss/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100234514&page=1

Our Granddaughter's First Year

2008-07-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

Anyone Remember This?

2007-10-07T15:33:00.001-07:00

Anyone else out there remember stuff like this from the 1970's & 80's? I was cleaning out some old boxes of papers I'd collected over the years and ran across this.

God Is Like . . .

God is like Coke - He's the real thing.

God is like Pan Am - He makes the going great.

God is like General Electric - He lights your path.

God is like Hallmark Cards - He cares enough to send the very best.

God is like Tide - He gets the stains out that others leave behind.

God is like VO Hair Spray - He holds through all kinds of weather.

God is like Dial Soap - Aren't you glad you know Him? Don't you wish everyone did?

God is like Sears - He has everything.

God is like Alka-Seltzer - Try Him, you'll like Him.

God is like Scotch tape - You can't see Him but you know He's there.

- Barnwell (S.C.) People-Sentinel

Being There For A Friend

2007-09-21T00:31:00.001-07:00

This past week my best friend's mother died. The funeral was today. She had Alzheimer's and had been slowly disappearing both mentally and physically. D showed such love and patience with her mother and had found very good care for her. They were very close and this will be a difficult loss and yet at the same time it was an answer to my friend's prayer that something would take her mother before the Alzheimer's totally took every shred of who she had once been. Although she had shrunk to a mere 60 pounds and maybe 4' 8" and had been robbed of most of her memories and abilities, she could still respond to questions and prompts and knew who her children were. We had just taken her to lunch with us last Tuesday and upon returning to her room she told D that that would probably be the last time as it was just too tiring. On Friday she slipped into a coma like state and died Saturday morning. D gave me 40 pictures of her mother from throughout her life which I scanned and made into a slide show for the service today. It not only gave them a visual reminder of her, but helped them to get past the awful or just plain weird things that this disease made her say and do, and help them remember what she had truly been like.

D and I have known each other since high school (over 40 years now) and although we were always good friends, it has been in the last ten years that we have truly become best friends. With the children grown and gone we've had more time to get together and our husbands have become best friends as well which makes for a really nice foursome for dinner, or cards or a trip to the beach. We've also come to value our friendship enough to make allowances or not let little things bother us like they might have when we were younger.

She sometimes feels like she's always the one asking my help (such as the slide show or transportation or .....) and that I'm never needing help in return, but I beg to differ. She is the one who has been my emotional support these past few years. She is the one that when the depression was so bad and I almost never left my house, she insisted I go shopping with her so I could help her find what she needed. The one who can always make me laugh. The one who invited me to go to TOPS with her when I complained about my weight gain after thyroid surgery. The own who gently nudges me to go or do or enjoy. The one I took a 4 week road trip with two summers ago and had a blast. The one who loves me even with my imperfections. In short - she is my friend. I love you D.

Our First Grandchild

2007-09-17T00:27:00.001-07:00

Our son and daughter-in-law were blessed in July with a healthy baby girl. Their first child and our first grandchild. She's a petite little thing, weighing in at 5 lbs. 9 oz. and 18 1/2 inches long. She has a good set of lungs, is very alert, strong and hungry, hungry, hungry. When she wants to be fed or to have her diaper changed, she wants it now. I had mentioned to them that her daddy had been very demanding as a baby (that hasn't changed). Can we all say payback? She was very active in the womb so we shall see if that continues now that she's out here in the world at large. Hopefully she won't be too much of a handful since I'll be helping to care for her when my daughter-in-law goes back to work. I don't know how soon that will be though - she's really loving the mommy role and 3 months is going by fast. She's thinking of asking her boss if she can use some of her sick time for another couple of weeks off.

My daughter and son-in-law flew out to spend a week visiting with their new little niece and my husband is already wrapped around her little finger. We're all enjoying her very much.

Happy 4th of July

2007-07-04T13:08:00.001-07:00

Let freedom ring! We are so blessed to live here. There are a lot of wonderful places in the world, but none with the type of history and freedoms that this country has had. I hope you have a fantastic and safe holiday celebrating our country's independence.

Times Change

2007-07-01T13:10:00.001-07:00

Times change and so must we. The more things change the more they stay the same. Which is true? Are they both true? Is it only our surroundings that change and we stay the same or do we by necessity change in order to adapt to our changing environment? Is it only the way in which we interact with our surroundings that changes or does our inward, fundamental character change as well?

I believe that both statements are true. We do have to change and adapt as things around us change. Sometimes those changes can be quick and necessary as in a matter of survival, or sometimes slower because we're resistant to the changes or need time to adjust and change our thinking. We are born with a particular personality that has both positive and negative aspects to it. Our environment (parents, siblings, teachers, friends and the world in general) interact with our personality based on their own personalities and bring out the positive or negative in ours. They help to shape our thinking, our character and how we react to what goes on in our world.

Although our personalty is there for life, how we operate or react is not. We can choose to accentuate the positive and have the negative take a back seat. We can change or improve character traits. We can change how we look at things and how we react to things. Is it easy? No, or we would see more people doing it. Is it impossible? No, because we do see people doing it. Basic human nature will always be with us, good and evil will always be with us, but that is not a license to give up or to say change is impossible.

Well, I'm off to see if I can play up the more positive aspects of me and downplay the negative. Maybe, just maybe, I can turn someday into today.

Sadie

2007-03-22T02:07:00.000-07:00

Well, Sadie has proved once again that she is one lucky dog. Or is it unlucky? The reason I say that is that she seems to have been a bit accident prone over the years, but also comes out none the worse for wear each time. Last week she tangled with a car and came out of it with a couple of scrapes. She was out front with Big Bear while he finished up some work in the yard, saw something (cat) across the street and darted into the street just as a car was going by. She hit the car rather than the car hitting her or it would have been a lot worse. She has a skinned spot under her chin and one on her left leg and was undoubtedly a bit bruised and sore. I took her into the vet and he checked her over, gave me some cream for the scrapes and an anti-inflammatory/pain reliever. $91.50 later we went home and she stayed pretty quiet for the next two days. By the end of the second day she was back to her normal prancing step, jumping up to follow me with no problem at all. Big Bear says she's not going out front with him any more unless I'm out there to watch her.

She turned 11 years old this month and shows no signs of arthritis or any other health problems. She's as nimble and springy as ever and does not seem to show many signs of aging other then gray hair and a little less energy. She has been a little quieter this past year, but that has been due to her missing our other dog and wanting to stay in the house with me. She's been like my shadow since Cody died. He was not quite 7 and became quite ill (vet thinks it might have been cancer). Even before that though he had been having problems with his joints and stiffness. Part of the difference probably lies with their size and breed. Cody was a 100 lb. yellow lab while Sadie is a 50 lb. mixed breed. Her mother was a lab/rottweiler mix and I figure that dad must have been a border collie because she looks and acts a lot more like a border collie then either a lab or a rottweiler. The only thing she seems to have gotten from mom is the big deep bark and the all black color. She's a bit stubborn too, I was able to teach Cody not to go past the curb, but Sadie doesn't always want to adhere to that (obviously). Cody's ball could go rolling into the street and he would stop at the curb and wait for one of us to go get it. :o) Big Bear just loved it because he could wash the car, mow the lawn, etc. and Cody would just follow along dropping the ball at his feet.

Good News

2007-03-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

Although the Thanksgiving weekend brought sadness with the loss of a family friend in a boating accident on the Willamette River(and they still haven't found his body) it also brought some good news. Our son and daughter-in-law announced that they are expecting. This will be their first child and our first grandchild. We're very excited and they've asked if I would help care for it when she returns to work. The baby is due in July and she'll have 3 months maternity leave. They live just half a mile from us so I'll get to be the hands on Grandma I've always hoped to be. I hope I'm up to the task energy wise. I was a young mom, but my kids are late having their kids so I'm going to be an older grandma. It's inspired me to start sewing and quilting again. I want to make lots of wonderful clothes and blankets and toys for this new little one. Of course, that means I have to get organized and clear out all the boxes and junk so I can even get into my sewing room to clean it up and do all that sewing.

Stormy

2006-12-15T01:04:00.000-08:00

It was a wild ride home tonight, but not the worst I've been in. I went into Portland this afternoon to take my cousin into the Doctor (it turns out she has walking pneumonia). I then took her to the grocery store and pharmacy before finally getting her back home and then stopped by my brothers. It was 6:30pm and dark when I headed home and the storm was hitting a little earlier then predicted. It was already getting pretty windy and pouring rain, but my route wasn't too bad because at least all the lights were still working. I could hear on the radio that several roads around the Portland area had lights out and trees falling. They predict 60 mph winds through the night and the coast was already having 100 mph winds with 30 foot waves. It's supposed to let up by morning.

Having lived here all of my life I can say that it's pretty much normal to have this happen a couple of times each fall or winter. Every few years we have one that's a doozy and causes a lot of damage. November set a new record for rainfall. The previous record was set back in 1942. Needless to say the rivers are high and there's been some flooding. Tillamook (along the coast) always seems to get the worst of it. It's a low lying area and has a lot of dairies and they had quite a bit of flooding and lost some cows.

Oregon's terrain and winter weather is definitely demanding respect right now. There are 3 experienced climbers missing on Mt. Hood and this latest storm is continuing to hamper rescue efforts. A California family got lost on a forest road (wrong turn) while traveling through Oregon and got caught in a snow storm. They had been missing for about 10 days before they were found and the father had tried to walk for help and died. Two other families got stuck or lost while Christmas tree cutting and were found safe. Last month a little boy went missing in the Crater Lake area just as the snows had started and I don't think they found him. We don't like to hear it or think about it, but it happens every year just as the drowning's do in our lakes and rivers.

Thanksgiving weekend brought that home to our family and friends. Our nephew bought his first house this summer and wanted to host the family get together. His mom & dad and the rest of us brought the food and we had a good time. He proudly showed off his home and his new fishing boat. On Saturday my brother-in-law, nephew and two of their friends went fishing on the Willamette. The boat capsized and they hung on to the little bit of hull showing above water. The water was only 47 degrees and the river was running high, fast and full of debris. My brother-in-laws best friend let go of the boat in an attempt to swim for shore and did not make it. They still have not found his body. The other three were rescued after about 30 minutes and my nephews core body temperature was 93 degrees. They were all sent to the hospital and warmed up and checked out. The friend that was lost was a great guy and very well liked. He will be missed.

Painting

2006-09-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

Last summer my husband and and a friend built us a new shed in the back yard and used the horizontal hardiplank siding that we're thinking of using on the house. The house was built in 1971 and has the vertical t-111 that was so popular in the seventies.

It's in desperate need of paint and the old aluminum windows need to be replaced as well. We can't afford to do the windows or replace the siding right now so we may have to just go ahead and paint it. What I'd like to do is make the windows bigger and put the horizontal siding on. It would give the house a whole new look.

In the meantime I've decided on the colors I want. We hadn't painted the shed yet so I've used that as a way to try out my colors to make sure I really like them. I picked a medium grayish blue for the siding, white for the trim and burgundy for the doors. With the shed getting full sun most of the day and me not being a morning person I wasn't getting very much done on it, but it's nearly done now. I have a little trimming to finish on the blue and some touch up on the white and now that the cooler weather has arrived it will be a race against the rain.

The house has a lot of brick across the front and it needs some repair, but I do want to keep it. I've always liked it and it's very unique. One of the bricks is light gray in color and the other is pink with burgundy flecks. I'm hoping it will look good against the darker blue. The current color is a lighter blue with no trim color and pink for the doors. Very much in need of repair and updating, but I'm sticking with my bent for color and in particular blue. I don't like the baby poop browns they're using on all the new housing and don't want my house to look like everybody else's anyway.

Big Bear sanded the front door for me and I put 2 coats of the burgundy on it with 2 more to go. It's darker than I originally wanted, but I think it'll work.

The rain arrived while I was painting the front door, but it's under a corner overhang so that was no problem. It was a problem for a poor honeybee though. I went back to my painting and he eventually dried off enough to take off.

Steve Irwin dead at 44

2006-09-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

My sympthathies go out to his wife, children and close friends. They have lost someone they knew and loved deeply.

The world at large also mourns for we have lost a larger than life personality that deeply believed in what he was doing. His commitment and compassion for animals and the environment along with his hyperactive antics certainly made his documentaries entertaining to watch and made him a household name as "The Crocodile Hunter". He is probably Austraila's best known figure and will be sorely missed by all, but especially by those at the Austraila Zoo in Queensland.

He was filming a new documentary or series on deadly sea creatures when he was stung by a stingray. The news has said that the stingray's barb went into Steve's chest and his heart and that he probably died instantly. His friends and co-workers tried desperately to revive him, but to no avail. Yes, he took risks, but that's what you do when you live life large and believe in what you do. He accomplished a lot, we just wish he could have been around a little longer.

Miss Kitty is happy

2006-09-06T21:50:00.000-07:00

D and K arrived home on Friday. Miss Kitty was hiding under the bed, but after a bit D managed to coax her out. Miss Kitty wanted D to pet her, then she wanted out, then she wanted back in to be petted, then she wanted out and so it went, back and forth. I think she just wanted to make sure the door still worked. ;-) On Saturday they took Big Bear and I out for a very nice dinner as a thank you for taking care of their place while they were gone.

We've had a very laid back weekend. Did a little bit of yard and garden stuff on Sunday afternoon. Gave the neighbor some tomatoes and they in turn gave us some apples (hopefully I'll get around to making a pie with them). Today Big Bear put new air filters on both vehicles and even washed them! I did some painting - I'm trying out some prospective house colors on the shed. I figured that painting the new shed with the colors I had picked out was a good way to make sure I liked them before buying enough to do the whole house. I'm happy with the blue (medium grayish blue) that I picked for the siding and the white for the trim, but am not happy with the color I picked for the doors. I wanted a burgandy and that's what it looked like on a small chip, but it's way to violet/magenta. Luckily I painted a bench on the patio first to try it out when I saw how magenta it was. Even though it darkened a lot once it was dry it's still not the color I was after. I'm going to have the store add some more black and brown to it and see if that does the trick.

Tomorrow I'm going over to a friends to help her tie some baby quilts that she donates to a hospital. Maybe I can actually remember to take the paint with me and get the color corrected.

Blogging?

2006-08-30T00:11:00.000-07:00

My how things change. A few months back I knew virtually nothing about blogging and now I'm hooked. Oh sure, I had heard of it and knew it was a web log or journal or diary written by anyone who wanted to do one and read by anyone who wanted to take the time to do so. I just couldn't figure out why the average person would want to do that.

I figured it was more for people who wanted to voice their opinion on issues of the day, or politics, or for writers or businesses, etc. I found it kind of odd that people would write about their day to day lives and even odder that someone who didn't know that person would want to read it. What I didn't realize was how interactive it can be and how much I would enjoy "getting to know" people through their written words.

There are so many different types of blogs and the serious and informative ones are certainly important and have their place, but the ones that I have come to enjoy the most are the ones written by everyday people who have a gift for telling stories of everyday life in such a way as to make you laugh, or nod in agreement or feel emotion of some kind because it's stuff you can relate to. I've never been much of a writer, but I have thoroughly enjoyed setting up my page and learning lots of new stuff in the process and meeting lots of great people. The bonus is it's making me write. Because how can you have a blog and not write?

Willamette River Pictures

2006-08-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

This is Portland from the Willamette River. The river divides Portland east and west and flows north and south. It is the only river in the USA to begin and end in one state. It starts in the Cascade mountains and ends at the Columbia River whose waters then flow to the Pacific Ocean. Of the navigable rivers that flow north and south it is the second largest in the world, the largest being the Nile in Egypt.

The Rundown

2006-08-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday 8-19 - D and K leave to visit their kids in Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Big Bear and I are in charge of keeping an eye on their place, watering flowers and checking on Miss Kitty. She is an indoor/outdoor kitty who is used to being outside during the day, but will be kept indoors for the two weeks they are gone. They live on a very wooded 2.5 acres so leaving enough food and water out for two weeks is not an option (all kinds of critters would be up there eating it and it would be gone in a day). Besides the food issue, she has a wound on her side (probably another animal) so we wanted her in the house for safety and to keep an eye on the wound. Miss Kitty is a very skittish cat, but a very loving and gentle cat. She was a stray that somebody threw away as a kitten and it took D 6 months of feeding her on the deck before she allowed D to get close enough to pet her or let her into the house.

Sunday 8-20 - We make our first visit to water, etc. and Big Bear promptly lets Miss Kitty escape out the back door. There's no getting her back so we finish the watering and head home.

Monday 8-21 - Big Bear feels bad about Miss Kitty and stops by their place on his way home from work. He sees her but she won't come near him.

Tuesday 8-22 - I go over in the late afternoon and in addition to doing the watering I take my dinner and just sit around for awhile hoping she'll show up. She'll usually come to me, but I was there nearly 2 hours and never saw her.

Wednesday 8-23 - D calls and I do not want to answer the phone and tell her we lost Miss Kitty. She calls again and I answer and face the music. Big Bear gets home from work and is really stressing about it. I tell him stressing about it isn't going to do any good and we'll wait until evening to try again since that's more likely to be when she's used to coming in. We go over and I have Big Bear stay in the house so he doesn't frighten her and I go outside with a handful of food to see if I can find her. Well, what do you know, as I exit out the garage there she is. She scurries off and looks at me from a distance. I bend down and dribble some food out of my hand while gently calling her. She comes over to me to get petted and I scoop her up and head into the house. She was much more interested in the attention than the food. All is well and I call D to tell her.

Thursday 8-24 & Friday 8-25 - The weather is cooler and Miss Kitty inside so no need to go over until Saturday. Friday morning I went to my TOPS meeting and Friday afternoon Big Bear and I joined our son & DIL for a cruise down the Willamette River on an old sternwheeler followed by dinner at our local pub & grill. A very enjoyable afternoon. I was taking pictures like mad when suddenly the camera quit. Dagnabbit, the battery was dead and I hadn't brought the spare. Oh well, from then on it was just enjoy the ride.

Saturday 8-26 - Went over to D's place and did the watering and checked on Miss Kitty. I couldn't coax her out from under the bed. She obviously does not like being cooped up in the house all by herself, but I could tell she's been eating so will assume she's O.K.

August Roses

2006-08-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

Name 5 things

2006-08-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

Name 5 things in your freezer.

Corn

Chicken

Boneless Pork Chops

Strawberry fruit bars

Healthy Choice fudge bars

Name 5 things in your closet.

Shoes (most of which need to be thrown out)

Clothes (most of which don't fit anymore)

Belts (will any of these ever see the light of day?)

Purses (why so many?)

Hats (haven't worn them in years, but maybe Someday)

Name 5 things on your desk.

Nikon D100 camera

Stacks of software CDs

Cell phone

Mess of papers

Empty glass

Name 5 things in your vehicle.

Towel (to cover hot leather seat)

Big blanket in the back for dogs

Plenty of CDs

Flashlight

Dairy Queen napkins

Name 5 things in your purse.

Maxalt for migraines

Postage stamps

Keys

Sunglasses

Handkerchief

O.K. Chris, if you haven't been tagged yet, you're it. And how about you too, Bill?

Testify to Love by Avalon

2006-08-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

These are the words to a song by the group Avalon. To hear the song click here and it will play as my home page loads.

Testify to Love - Avalon

All the colors of the rainbow
All the voices of the wind
Every dream that reaches out
That reaches out to find where love begins
Every word of every story
Every star in every sky
Every corner of creation lives to testify
For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love
I'll be a witness in the silences when words are not enough
With every breath I take
I will give thanks to god above
For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love
From the mountains to the valleys
From the rivers to the sea
Every hand that reaches out
Every hand that reaches out to offer peace
Every simple act of mercy
Every step to kingdom come
All the hope in every heart will speak what love has done

Pipe dream

2006-08-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting entry from the book Why You Say It by Webb Garrison

Pipe Dream
Should you come up with a really novel idea or plan, chances are that those who first hear of it will pooh-pooh it as a "pipe dream."
In its earliest decades, the pipe dream was so far out that it seldom made contact with reality. That's because it was produced by opium, brought to England and Europe by merchants who penetrated the Orient and began peddling the stuff yielded by some kinds of poppies.
Pipe dreams influenced several notable literary figures, with Samuel T. Coleridge being high on the list. But by and large, fantasies produced by opium were that and nothing more.

Ah, the wonders of meds

2006-08-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

August 19
It's 8:45 pm on Saturday and I feel like myself again. My wonderful, wacky, addicted to the computer, messy, happy self. It's wonderful when the meds actually work. When I woke up this morning the room still spun a bit, but the nausea was almost gone. I took pill #3 and by this afternoon the nausea was totally gone and when I took #4 at 8pm I was feeling totally normal (well, as normal as I get anyway). I know some of you have had vertigo before and mentioned that the episodes can come and go for awhile, but I'll just take them as they come, if they come.

Doctor, Doctor

2006-08-22T00:04:00.000-07:00

Aug. 18
D came over this afternoon and took me into the doctor. He gave me two prescriptions for the nausea (one pill, one suppository). They both cause drowsiness, but hey - drowsy trumps nausea anyday. Yesterday was not pleasant and today only slightly better (probably because I didn't push it for fear of a repeat of the day before). It must have looked pretty ridiculous, me standing on the patio vomiting surrounded by 3 dogs staring at me and the puddle and between each retch me hollaring NO so they wouldn't eat it. Luckily they all three trust me and obey my firm no. I then herded them into the house and headed for the bed. Ranger didn't seem to think I should be lying down and proceeded to jump at the bed to get me up which by the third shake I certainly was. UP and into the bathroom for another round with nothing left on my stomach. At that point I ushered them back outside, cleaned up the you know what and went to bed. I didn't care what they dug up or chewed up in the yard. I sure hope I wake up tomorrow with this stuff gone.

Vertigo

2006-08-17T23:47:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with vertigo! It is not fun! What causes this stuff? This is the first time I've had it bad enough to realize what it was. I now realize I've had mini versions of it most of my life, I just never put a name to it before. By that I mean I would feel dizzy or like stuff was moving when it wasn't, but it would only last a few seconds. I'd think "Wow, that was weird" and go on about my business (probably thought it was flashbacks to my hippie days).

I went to bed at 11:30pm last night (early for me) as I was going to meet with 2 other women this morning for a bible study on James which I was supposed to lead, but with the whole room spinning and feeling like I was about to vomit, I decided it was probably better I not be driving and I cancled it. Gee whiz, I just got done with a five day migraine yesterday, enough already! At least with the migraine I now have medication that allows me to function albeit a little groggy.

I woke up at 3:30am and got out of bed to go pee. The toilet is only a few steps away and I was groggy, but by the time I sat down I was thinking "Man I feel nauseated and dizzylike". I got back into bed and suddenly the whole room is spinning. I'm going "Whoa, this is weird. I hope it goes away by morning." At 5:30 I wake up enough to roll over and the whole room is spinning again! "OH NO, is this what they call vertigo?" At 7:30 I wake up for good and move my head just enough to see the clock and the numbers are moving so much I can't tell what time it is because - you guessed it - the room is still spinning! I layed there for a few minutes debating what to do and finally decided to get up and see what happens (I didn't like the idea of spending the whole day in bed if I didn't have to, afterall the computer would miss me). Well, lo and behold, standing upright and walking around was ok. That is until I took a shower and blow dryed my hair. Evidently I was moving my head too much in the process and suddenly I'm holding onto the counter and feeling like I'm going to throw up. I got dressed hoping it would pass quickly, but 20 minutes later I was still feeling like I was going to throw up and keeping my head still so the room wouldn't spin, so I called my friends and cancled the bible study.It's now 11:15am and I'm able to sit at the computer and type this, but I still don't feel good. Let's pray that this was a one time thing. I'd much rather go back to the 10 second 'wow that was weird' ones thank you. In honor of this post I used a font called Krazy Legs. Have a good day people. OOPS - to see the krazy leg font you'll have to go to my other blog.

Update: It's now 3:00pm and I still have it. I bent over to fill the dogs water bowl with the hose and almost fell over.

All About Me

2006-08-10T00:15:00.000-07:00

Every once in awhile I will post something about me. Who I am, where I'm from, what's happened in my life, etc. Here is the first installment.

I was born and raised in the northeast section of Portland, Oregon. As any child does, I simply accepted where I was growing up without much thought or anything to compare it to. We lived in the city until I was 8 years old and then moved out "to the sticks" near the Columbia River where my parents were able to buy a house. It was small, but it was ours and the lot was large enough for a huge garden each summer. This gave me my first real, conscious comparison of living in a place that was a little different then what I was used to. We went from city sidewalks, paved streets and a large school to no sidewalks, gravel roads and a small school. From walking to school to taking a big yellow bus and from a classroom of 30+ to a class size of 20. I like both the city and the country and value both experiences.

There was a certain freedom and innocence to living out there in the late 50's & early 60's. Even though we were on the outskirts of Portland there was still a lot of wide open space with farms, bean fields and pasture and only a little bit of industrial and some scattered housing. The city busses didn't even come out that far. My grandparents bought my brother and I each a bike and we put many miles on them over the next few years. Although my father was very strict we had a certain amount of freedom to play and walk and ride our bikes around the area, in part because both our parents worked full time. I was a latch key kid before they had that term :-)

When I was 12 we drove to Oklahoma to visit my father's family and that drive gave me my first experience traveling through country that was very different from Oregon. Oh my, the water was terrible, some of the states were mile after mile of desert and sagebrush, others were mile after mile of hot windy prairie, what they called rivers looked like a creek to me and where were the mountains and trees? Of course, as I've gotten older I've realized that every area has a beauty of it's own, but as a 12 year old I was more than happy to get back to Oregon. I enjoyed visiting the relatives and seeing the sites along the way, but felt Nevada, Utah and Kansas left something to be desired. It didn't help that it was the end of August-first of September when we went.

At 16 my parents seperated and at 17 my mother, brother and I moved back into Portland near the high school I attended (there was no high school where we were so they bussed us into Portland). It was back to the city which as a teenager was great. I was now near my school and friends and could walk or take a bus wherever I wanted to go. My mother was having a hard time with me as we fought a lot and I was becoming very rebellious. I hated the seperation and impending divorce and blamed her for it. It took a while longer for my dad to fall off his pedestal. Now how did I get from talking about Oregon to talking about my parents? Enough of that for now, maybe more at a later time. By the way, there were 21 in my 8th grade graduating class and they bussed us to a high school of 2800 kids. There was no one I new in any of my classes my freshman year. Luckily I make friends pretty easily. There were 13 high schools in Portland in the 60's and they were all large. Had to educate all us baby boomers don't you know. Now they've closed some and combined some and they're still half the size they were back then. Meanwhile communities like the one I live in are expanding and the schools are bursting at the seams.

July 28 Ahh, How Wonderful...

2006-08-10T00:06:00.000-07:00

Ahh, how wonderful to have our normal 70-75 degrees back. It's beautiful outside, blue sky, sunshine, 72 degrees and a slight breeze. Aren't you jealous?

I gave the program at our TOPS meeting this morning. It was an article I had printed off from somewhere entitled 7 Easy Steps To Weight Loss. The basic premise? EAT LESS! I made it a participatory exercise by having various members read the different paragraphs and points and then we discussed the information and our own experience, habits and attitudes.

The seven points were as follows, but of course much expanded upon:
1. Mini-meal is the operative word - Ideally, every time you eat, your plate should have some protein, a little fat and a little fibrous bulk to ensure that you feel full and satisfied. .......
2. Don't go overboard - You don't want to feel deprived at best, hungry at worst. .......
3. Eat delicious and well - Every diet regimen should permit the occasional treat and nice meal out. ........
4. Eat your calories, don't drink them - A can of Dr. Pepper soda contains 150 calories. .......
5. Exercise is the perfect partner - Your diet will be all the more successful if you combine it with regular exercise. ......
6. Make meals last - Yes, two Balance bars have only 360 calories, and also contain vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, fat and carbohydrates. But you can down these suckers in a matter of seconds. .......
7. Discover your food triggers - What makes you succumb to temptation? Do you turn to the pantry the instant you turn on the TV? .......

Well, you get the idea. It all comes down to being sensible with our choices in life. Not something I'm always terribly good at. I tend to leap before I look and go all or nothing. It's an art to truly enjoy life and go for the gusto while still being sensible about it. An art I have decided at this very moment to try and pursue. Of course some people missinterpret being sensible with not taking any risks. What's life without taking a few risks? BORING! Hmm, I do believe I have a whole 'nother topic going here.

There most certainly are different kinds of risks. When it comes to physical risk I am a true wimp. I'm not an athlete, I'm not terribly coordinated, I'm not strong and I have a very low threshold for pain. I am a big BABY when it comes to pain. In other words you will not see me bungee jumping or climbing Mt. Everest. You will however find me on any roller coaster available.

July 24 Ahhhhh.........cool water

2006-08-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Spending the day in D's pool yesterday was wonderful. Coming home at 10 pm to a house that was 88 inside was not. When I got up this morning it was down to 80...whoopee.

In keeping with the theme of HOT, here's an entry from the Why You Sat It book.

Hotbed
We include this term in everyday speech as a result of borrowing from practices of gardeners and farmers.
Long ago, it was discovered that seeds given a bit of protection will sprout earlier than those dropped into the ground without special attention. Even a thin cloth cover will raise the temperature of earth underneath it for several hours a day.
The earliest hotbeds were heated with fermenting manure and covered with glass---forerunners to today's greenhouses. They produced so abundantly that any institution or neighborhood yielding an abundant crop of like-minded persons took the name of the gardener's special seed plot.

July 23

2006-08-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

Hot, Hot, Hot

Well, it certainly is hot, even for someone like me who loves the summer. I'll still take it over freezing though. I spent all of Friday afternoon and evening in D's pool. It's amazing how much cooler 104 feels when you're in the water . We'd float around in the water for quite awhile talking and relaxing, then sit on the deck in the shade having something to drink (and chatting). We had our books and I was crocheting while we talked, but it didn't take very long and we'd be so warm that back in the pool we'd go. I had closed the house up before I left in the morning, but even so it was 85 inside when I got home around 9 pm. By early morning it had only dropped to 81 . Without our normally cool evenings the house just doesn't have a chance to cool off.

Saturday I stayed home thinking I might get something done around the house. RIGHT! Even with some cloud cover the temp still got into the low 90's and the thought of sticking my hands in hot soapy water to do dishes was not the least appealing. After getting the garden and flowers watered I spent the day sitting on my butt playing games on the computer or watching movies with tall glasses of iced tea, water or coke next to me at all times.
This morning I got up to blue sky, bright sunshine and the thermomoter already over 80 (and it's on the patio in the shade). Needless to say I'm grabbing my swim suit and heading for D's.

July 21 Heat Wave

2006-08-09T23:54:00.000-07:00

Even the Northwest is not immune from the heat wave that seems to be blanketing the entire country. It's been talked about on the news for days now and has definitelly arrived here in Oregon. It's 11:00 pm and still 80 degrees. The forcast for tomorrow is 102 degrees and 103 on Saturday and 98 on Sunday.
Believe me when I say that we do not have very many days like that around here and consequently have never felt a great need to put in air conditioning. After a few days of record high temps though it just doesn't cool down enough at night to get the house cool. The house just gets warmer and warmer whereas it would normally cool down to 65 at night.

Needless to say I will be spending lots of time in D's pool over the next 3 days or in my sons air conditioned house.

Everyone - Please be sure to drink lots of water and tea and stay as cool as possible. Sustained periods of really hot weather are not to be taken lightly and are especially hard on the very old, the very young and the ill. The normal amount of liquid that you would drink in a day is not near enough. You should probably triple it and make most of it water rather than pop and the like. And don't forget your pets. Make sure they have plenty of water and protection from the hot sun. I have a kids plastic wading pool for Sadie to play in.

Maybe one of these days my husband and I will actually have the money and get around to remodeling this aging little ranch house of ours.

My Garden

2006-08-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

Here are the latest pictures of my garden. The cyclone fence makes for a great trellis for the morning glory. I was thrilled to discover that there was such a thing as an annual morning glory, not at all invasive like the stuff I remember my father yanking out when I was a kid. Our past two winters have been mild enough that this is actually its third summer. I originally planted a blue one too that was larger and looked like the morning glory I remember, but only the purple managed to winter over. I've included one of my favorite pictures from that first year. Next year I plan on planting more of it in a variety of colors.

Too Many People

2006-08-09T23:22:00.000-07:00

Will people please stop moving to Oregon, or at least not to the Willamette Valley? And how about every one who moved here after 1970 pack up and move somewhere else. This is some of the best farm land there is and it's all being covered with houses, shopping malls, roads and freeways. I used to be able to travel anywhere during the day with almost no traffic at all. Now its bumper to bumper almost anytime of the day and any road you choose to take.

This little tirade was brought on by an article in Saturday's Oregonian which says to expect 1.25 million more people in the Portland Metro area in the coming years. It doesn't say exactly when this will occur, just that the numbers now say that the population increase expected in earlier estimates will be here 10 to 15 years sooner than originally thought. It goes on to say that this is equivalent to squeezing an additional 450,000 households, or two cities the size of present-day Portland, into a metropolitan area that is already 80 percent developed. I guess this is what comes of Portland being listed as one of the most liveable cities several years in a row. It won't be for long.

Grrrr. There's already too many people, and they're expecting more? I am really showing my age, I'm starting to sound like an old person, wanting the good old days back. Where's Tom McCall when you need him? He was the governor of Oregon back in the 70's. He used to say come and visit, but don't stay. We even had bumper stickers that showed a map with I-5 going around the state instead of through it. And those of us born here refer to ourselves as native oregonians.

Maybe I need to move to the Midwest. There's plenty of open space there, I know because I drove through mile after mile of it last summer. But I love Oregon. I was born here. I grew up here. It's green and the climate moderate. But then again, I could probably be happy most anywhere, I think.

Well, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. You all probably have similar feelings about your location or you figure the more the merrier. And even if we ourselves didn't move to a particular spot, somewhere up the line one of our relatives did.

Where Does It All End?

2006-08-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

My goodness, there are just not enough hours in the day. I keep finding more and more spaces I would enjoy visiting and being the easily side tracked person that I am I find myself lost in reading/viewing and suddenly 2 hours have gone by and then I find it's been 3 or 4 or 5 days since I've been to some of my favorites. Am I going to have to put myself on a schedule? Do I have to make a list? Do I need to restrict myself to only the most recent entries? That'll be the day! I've never gotten along too well with lists and schedules (you know, that discipline thing). Maybe I'll give a calendar another try and actually get something done around the house ;o).

Don't Wait

2006-08-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

A blog friend of mine on msn spaces had this on her site and I really liked it. I don't know if she wrote it or not.

Don't Wait

When there's a chance_____take it.

When there's a game_____play hard.

When there's a bridge_____cross it.

When there's an enemy_____stand guard.

When there's a tear_____let it run.

When there's a score_____cheer loud.

When there's a silence_____take time.

When there's a wave_____ride it.

When there's a song_____sing it.

When there's a fight_____stand up.

When there's a reason_____don't doubt.

When there's a cloud_____see heaven.

When there's a frost_____set fire.

When there's a flower_____see beauty.

When there's stairs_____move higher.

When there's a race_____push hard.

When there's a smile_____don't fade.

When there's a space______fill it.

When there's a star_____just stare.

When there's a moment_____don't lose it.

When there's a love_____hold tight.

When there's a past_____share it.

When there's a shadow_____cast a light.

When there's a way_____lead it.

When there's a grip_____hold on.

When there's a day_____start new.

When there's a life_____live on.

Thyroid & TOPS

2006-07-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

This entry is an example of the blog I'm doing for an organization I belong to called TOPS, which stands for Take Off Pounds Sensibly. I am 8 pounds from goal and am the current leader for the group (an elected position). I had been slender pretty much my entire life, but thyroid surgery helped put an end to that. Half of my thyroid was removed due to a lump (benign thank goodness, but the size of an egg) and the other half, unbeknownst to me, revolted and decided not to work. I put on 25 pounds in less than six months which when added to the 20 I had put on over the past 30 years meant I was now 45 pounds over on a rather small boned 5'2" frame. I called my friend D who had struggled with her weight her entire life and said HELP! How do I deal with this, what do I do? She invited me to join her at TOPS and the rest as they say is history.

By the way, thyroid medication does not take the weight off for you. It helped with a whole slew of symtoms including rapid weight gain, but losing the weight already gained takes the usual method of consuming less calories then you expend by using exercise, good nutrition and portion control. I've been really slow taking it off because I'm not very disciplined and love my goodies, but I am making progress.

I went to the doctor eight months after my surgery because of depression and when they tested my thyroid the doctor said "Well, you're not depressed, your thyroid is." I registered almost none at all and that was the cause for the various symtoms I was trying to attribute to turning 50 or to menopause. I was depressed, exhausted, gaining weight, losing my hair, my skin was so dry it felt like sand paper, and my brain was so foggy I couldn't make the simplest of decisions. I was used to having oily skin and a brain that worked. Thank goodness for medication, even if it did take a couple of years to get it regulated.

July 7 meeting -
We had lots going on at the meeting this week. It was awards day and we started our new game. Kay handled the presentation of awards and they were as follows:

Division 2 - Judy
Division 3 - Christine
Division 4 - Doris

Best Loser - Christine

Vacation Charms - Geri, June, Penny, Marilyn, Roy, Agnes, Charlene

KOPS $5.00 award - Leta, Betty, Mary

Our net loss for the month of June was 43.25 pounds. Wa-hoo - let's keep it up!

We have a new member that just joined this week, her name is Margaret. We also saw the return of member Linda R. who had not been coming this past year. Welcome Ladies!

Diane explained the new game we'll be playing this summer and divided us into teams. The response was really terrific. We had 27 people sign up to participate and everyone seemed really excited about the game and duly impressed with Diane's creativity and the beautiful gameboard she made. We're going to send a picture of it and the rules to TOPS magazine. The purpose, as with all of our contests/games, is to provide motivation and incentive to lose those pounds. Sometimes you participate in them as individuals and sometimes as part of a team. The team games have a secondary purpose which is to learn to provide each other with support through phone calls and notes of encouragment.

Julie and Sylvia provided the group with copies of some salad recipes and we closed with the recitation of Hand In Hand Together We Can.

Rockaway Beach

2006-06-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

There were no clouds in the sky so the sunset was very simple in appearence, but still very beautiful. Once it reaches the horizon it disappears so quickly that it makes you aware of how fast the earth is really moving.

Our weekend at Rockaway Beach was wonderful as always. It was a family weekend with Big Bear's cousins and we enjoyed their company, the beach and of course the seafood. Everyone pitches in to help with the preperation and the cleanup and then we sit down to enjoy the food and catch up on each other's lives.

Maybe someday more of the family will decide to join our yearly excursion.

Garden Update

2006-06-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today I spent some time in the garden weeding and watering and admiring the growth and the greeness of it all. It's just a small salad garden, but I enjoy it and it gets me outside in the sunshine. I'm not much of an outdoorsy type and limited in my gardening skills, but enjoy the planting and watching it grow. I'd just as soon sit at the computer, watch TV or read a book and yet I really do enjoy being out in the sun. Plus I'm using the increased sunlight (now that summer is here) to cut back on my anti-depressant in hopes of eliminating it at some point especially now that my thyroid level is being kept higher.

Now to make you all green with envy - I'm off to the beach tomorrow! Big Bear and I will be meeting his cousin & wife at a little cabin in Rockaway for two days. We've always enjoyed their company and a few years ago we started doing a yearly weekend at the beach just to keep in touch. Several years back as all of our parents were dying one by one, we decided we'd like to see each other sometime other than just funerals so we arranged to meet at the beach one year and it became a yearly tradition, a way to keep some family ties. The cabin is right on the beach with large windows looking out at the ocean. I love going there. I'll take some pictures. :o)

Friends

2006-06-27T17:01:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I took D (best friend) to the hospital for foot surgery. She expected me to just drop her off as her husband would be picking her up later in the day. As we parked I turned off the engine and as she's saying "You don't have to go with me", I look at her and say "You think I'm going to drop my best friend off for surgery and then head home? NO WAY! What if I get home and then find out later" (at this point my brain puts the brakes on my mouth as I quickly realize I don't want to say 'you died' and make her even more apprehensive) and instead said the more general phrase "something happened." Oh well, at least she knows me and my mouth well. She was relieved to have me there as she is very, very nervous about stuff like this. Neither of us is good at waiting around if we have nothing to do, so she had her Sudoku book, I had my crochet and between that and conversation the hours of waiting weren't so bad. The surgery took less then an hour, but there was 3 1/2 hours ahead of it (questions and prep) and then a couple of hours after for recovery. Everything went really well and she'll have the other foot done in a month.

Lovely Weekend

2006-06-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

What a lovely weekend we had. On Saturday one of Big Bear's co-workers invited him to go fishing on the lake near his home and in the evening our Son & DIL took us out to dinner at a very nice restaurant. On Sunday BB went out to breakfast with his good friend K and they goofed around for awhile. Then in the afternoon we went over to Son's house for dinner and a movie. It was very nice and relaxing and our son fed us for two days (well, dinner anyway). Seeing as how we had to feed that skinny kid with the hollow leg until he grew to 6'3" and 200# it's kind of nice to have him reciprocate once in awhile.

Hope all you Dads out there had a great weekend, too.

Trying Out Audio

2006-06-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

Mary's Baby Quilts

2006-06-17T23:14:00.000-07:00

Tuesday I went over to Mary's house and helped her tie baby quilts. You can't help but smile when you're around Mary and hope like hell that you're in half as good a shape as she is when you reach 82. She donates the quilts to a hospital that gives them to the new babies. Those new moms in Wyoming have to be wondering why some lady in Oregon is making them quilts. Mary was living there last year to be near one of her daughters and immediately plugged herself into a local TOPS group there and somehow got into making quilts for the hospital. After a year she decided to move back to Oregon (she also has a daughter here and was born here). The hospital staff in Wyoming told her "Now don't you get hooked up with any hospital there in Oregon. We'll pay the postage for you to send the quilts back here". She sent 8 blankets this week and on Thursday UPS brought her a box from Wyoming full of fabric scraps to make more. She laughed and said "I don't think they want me to ever quit making quilts". I think you're right Mary.

On Friday it was Mary who was in charge of the program at our TOPS meeting. She had chosen FUN as her topic, sighting the very real need to have fun in our lives. She talked about the mental, emotional and physical benefits to our health that's provided by having some fun and laughter in our day as well as the stress relief it provides. Later in the day I thought about the people who've commented that our humorous and daily life blogs are a waste of time and space and couldn't help but wonder if they labor under the misconception that only serious stuff is important. I don't think they would be much fun to be around, especially as they get old and cranky. ;-)

NEW Book - I'm so excited! I got my new Lincoln Rhyme Novel by Jeffery Deaver. The murderer signs his notes 'the Watchmaker'.

Albums In My Collection

2006-06-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

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These are a few of the albums (and cds) I've enjoyed over the years. It's an eclectic mix of old and new and various styles. There's lots more of course, but I had to stop somewhere. :o)

Flowers & Camera

2006-06-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

We had some blue sky peaking through on Sunday so I went outside and planted some more flowers. When I finished with the oak barrels and got everything watered I went inside and grabbed my camera. Figured I might as well get a few pictures of the lilies and roses. I played around with the light settings as there was shade and clouds as well as sunlight. I really have no idea what I'm doing so I definitely need to study up on that in order to improve. I had some fun with the editing process. It can be tedious going through a lot of photos and correcting them for lighting, etc., but can be fun when you play around with the cropping and turn them into oil paintings and swirls and change the colors. I wish I didn't find reading the manuels so incredibly boring.

TOPS

2006-06-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

One of the groups I belong to is called TOPS. It stands for Take Off Pounds Sensibly. We have a great group and I am the current leader. We can have fun anywhere as evidenced by our annual service project. Each year (a week or so after Memorial Day) we clean up the flowers and flags that are left at Mt. View Cemetery so the grounds crew can mow. The weather was great and the cemetery beautiful. We joke around and it's a chance to get to know some of the members a little better. We're a daytime group so a lot of our members are in their 70's and 80's. We have a couple of people in their 30's & 40's, but most of us are 50+. It's great to see how active some of them are. I hope I do half as well. Mary, the gal who organizes this each year is 82, still lives on her own (just bought a condo and had it remodeled), makes and donates baby quilts to a hospital and still drives (I've ridden with her - no problem there). I'm going over to her place tomorrow and help her tie some more baby quilts.

Why You Say It

2006-06-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

There is a very picturesque little town in central Oregon called Sisters. It derives it's name from some mountains nearby and any new buildings that go up have to keep to the old west type of look. It's home to a wonderful outdoor quilt show each July and lots of wonderful little shops. In a shop called The Hen's Tooth, I picked up a fun book called Why You Say It. The subtitle is The Fascinating Stories Behind Over 600 Everyday Words and Phrases and the author is Webb Garrison. There are so many words and phrases that we use everyday and don't really think about where they came from. It can sometimes be pretty interesting or funny when you find out how the word or phrase originated. For instance -

Get the Sack
These days, an assembly line worker or an executive who gets the sack may receive severance pay plus a printed explanation.
As early as the 17th century, cloth bags were in literal rather than figurative use. Craftsmen and artisans provided their own tools as a rule, storing them in a sturdy sack.
When an employer was ready to dismiss a worker, it was common to hand him his tool sack. No explanation was necessary; the gesture meant "Put your tools in the sack, and get going."
As a result of this practice, a person who wouldn't know a drill from a tailor's needle is said to "get the sack" when fired from a job.

While some of the entries are from centuries past and may surprise us, others are more recent and make sense to us because we are aware of it's origin or the event that inspired the phrase.

Now, of what use this information will be to me I have no idea, but it's fun to pick up once in awhile and read a few.

Rain Rain Go Away

2006-06-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

Rain rain go away, come again another day!
I know, I know, I'm supposed to have webbed feet being an Oregonian and all, but I'm really a fair weather person when it comes to being outside. I still haven't planted the rest of my flowers because it has rained the entire week! Of course if I hadn't been such a slow poke in the first place I could just sit back and enjoy the fact that Mother Nature is doing the watering for me. My lettuce, cukes and tomatoes are certainly enjoying it and thriving.

Today Big Bear and I went over to K & D's for what turned out to be an indoor picnic. The rain had let up by this morning, but it was still too cold and dreary to sit outside so we visited and ate indoors. There were four couples and it was very nice and relaxing. K & D barbacued steaks, I brought potato salad, and the other two brought a green salad and a fresh fruit salad. Very nice indeed.

A.D.D. and A.D.H.D.

2006-06-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

Several years ago I was running a small bookstore and did a lot of special orders for people. I was asked to order a book called Driven to Distraction and as was my habit when confronted with a book I hadn't seen before I gave it a quick scan. As I leafed through the first few pages I read some things that made me say "Oh oh, I need to read this one". I had heard of A.D.D. and A.D.H.D., but knew almost nothing about it. Suddenly here was a book describing what I'd been dealing with my whole life. Here are 20 symptoms they list that are often evident in a person with ADD or ADHD. They are:

1. A sense of underachievement, of not meeting one's goals (regardless of how much one has accomplished).
2. Difficulty getting organized.
3. Chronic procrastination or trouble getting started.
4. Many projects going simultaneously; trouble with follow-through.
5. Tendency to say what comes to mind without necessarily considering the timeing or appropriateness of the remark.
6. An ongoing search for high stimulation.
7. A tendency to be easily bored.
8. Easy distractibility, trouble focusing attention, tendency to tune out or drift away in the middle of a page or a conversation, often coupled with an ability to focus at times.
9. Often creative, intuitive, highly intelligent.
10. Trouble going through established channels, following proper procedure.
11. Impatient; low tolerance for frustration.
12. Impulsive, either verbally or in action, as in impulsive spending of money, changing plans, enacting new schemes or career plans, and the like.
13. Tendency to worry needlessly, endlessly; tendency to scan the horizon looking for something to worry about. alternating with inattention to, or disregard for, actual dangers.
14. Sense of impending doom, insecurity, alternating with high risk-taking.
15. Depression, especially when disengaged from a project.
16. Restlessness.
17. Tendency toward addictive behavior.
18. Chronic problems with self-esteem.
19. Inaccurate self-observation.
20. Family history of ADD or manic-depressive illness, depression, substance abuse or other disorders of impulse control or mood.

I'm Back

2006-06-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

May 22 - We had a wonderful time with our friends in Redmond this past weekend (even with the rain). One of the reasons people from the valley visit or move to central Oregon is for the sunshine and dry weather, so of course it did the opposite. Because of that and the fact that the purpose of our trip was to spend time visiting, I did not take many pictures. The cloud cover was so low that you could not see the surrounding mountains. I've included a picture of their son and his family that I took out on the deck. If you look behind them you can see a little bit of the view.

There were 3 couples and we've all known each other for several years. Our boys were the original reason we got to know each other, but they're in their 30's now so obviously the friendship stuck. In fact our hostess and I met when our boys were in the same preschool class (oh my, am I really that old?). The guys did their visiting on the golf course as well as over meals and just sitting around. We women did ours while shopping in Sisters on Saturday and then on Sunday sat in the family room with a cup of tea and just talked and talked and talked .

Of course our friends kept apologizing for the weather, but we assured them that we had had a wonderful time. We came to see them not the sites. They built a beautiful home big enough for company and that company eases the transistion for Linda along with frequent trips to the valley to sub in her old school district (she's a retired teacher). She makes friends easily so in the 8 months they've been there she's already acquired several. We will certainly visit again.

Off for the weekend

2006-06-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

May 19 - We've had a beautiful, sunny week here in Oregon and I love it. I finished planting the garden, but still have lots of flowers to plant (I've been a bit of a slow poke getting it done). Son's dogs now expect a visit to my house to be a daily occurance. They're getting used to the new surroundings and have calmed down a lot. They probably view it as an outing to their own private park/playground. Ranger was already named when son adopted him from a shelter, but I think they should rename him digger. Take a look at the pictures of him in the wading pool. He loves playing in the water and hops in and out of it, but what's so funny to watch is how he plays in it. He DIGS and the water goes flying out behind him. Within a fairly short time he has the pool nearly empty!

Big Bear and I are taking off this afternoon for a weekend in the Redmond/Sisters area. Some long time friends moved there last year and built a house with room for guests. It's about a 3 hour drive and I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time. It will be good to see them again and have a fun weekend with no yardwork calling. BUT, what am I going to do about the withdrawal symptoms when I have no computer and can't blog? Luckily I tend to live in the present and am responsive to my environment so I think I'll survive.

I Survived the Dogs

2006-06-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

May 16 -
Son & D-in-L arrived home Sunday morning having driven straight through from LA instead of spending the night somewhere along the way. He's always had a tendency to do that, especially when he was going to college and wanted to come home for break or have as much time at home as possible before heading back. He and his sister (they went to the same college) had an agreement, they would make only two stops and it had to meet all 3 needs. Those needs being gas, food and bathroom. It's a good 15+ hours from here to there although I do remember him bragging one time that he made it in 14 3/4. I wonder if that was the time he received a ticket in the mail from the 'patroled by air' section. I'm afraid he inherited his mother's lead foot.

The dogs actually did pretty good while they were gone. Emmitt (the boxer) was no trouble at all and even Ranger (mixed parentage) got better each day. He got really better after the replacement remote for his electronic collar arrived on Thursday. The old one broke the day before they left. A zap the next couple of times he started to dig and suddenly he's responding to my NO without my having to get up from MY digging and chase him. My son calls him the energizer bunny and he ain't lyin'. He also has unbelievable concentration when he locks onto something (even if what he's staring at is across a field). I now understand totally where that saying "hangs on like a bull dog" comes from (or is it pit bull?). Now the only problem is that after coming to my house each afternoon for 7 days straight they run straight for the back of my tahoe when I drive up. Son is working out of town this week so I brought them over again yesterday and filled the plastic wading pool for them. We set a record high for May at 92 degrees. Today I went over and was just going to let them out for a potty break, but the little one whined and whimpered so when I started to leave that I gave in and took them with me. I am such a sucker when it comes to animals.

The black dog in the pictures is Sadie (our dog). She's 10 years old now, hence the white hair that is showing up on her face and chest. She makes sure that little mister alpha (alias Ranger) knows that she is the boss. She doesn't bite him, but she sure growls and snaps whenever he tries to push her and he definitely shows her some respect now.

Rocks, Dirt and Dogs

2006-06-04T00:28:00.000-07:00

May 10 - I worked in the garden yesterday and again today. It's going a lot slower than I would like. I'm still removing rock when what I would like to do is plant. Of course the truth of the matter is that I could go ahead and plant, but the obsessive, compulsive, perfectionistic part of me just won't let me do that. I want every last rock OUT of my garden.

Adding to the consumption of time is the fact that I'm also caring for my sons two dogs. My son and his wife had to make a sudden trip to Californina to be with his college roommate whose wife just died of cancer(they were best man at each other's weddings) . She was only 30 years old. My son lives just half a mile from us so I go over to his place to let them out and feed them morning & evening, but I couldn't leave them there all by their lonesome, day & night for a whole week. So, I bring them over here during the day while I work in the garden.

Boy, am I tired! The boxer is no problem. He gets excited when he first sees you, but then he calms down. The little guy however, is another story. They adopted him from a rescue place and he is the happiest, sweetest dog you could ever meet, but he never stops moving! He's like a wind-up toy that never winds down or a very hyperactive 2 year old that is impossible to corral. It doesn't help that he appears to be very smart and an alpha with a real wide stubborn streak.

Yesterday he spent hours running up and down the fence line (& barking) with the two dogs behind us and tried several times to dig under (as did they). They all seem to think it should be one big yard for them to frolic in. I spent half my time chasing him away from his digging and sticking a pot in the spot. Today he skipped the barking and only dug by the fence once. Better you say? Take a look at the picture of him in the hole he dug today next to the house. I chased him away from it 3 or 4 times, but he'd go right back to it. I finally gave up or I wasn't going to get my project done and besides, at least with this one he wasn't going to be going anywhere.

Of course my husband wasn't too happy when he came home and saw the hole. As he's filling it and grumbling he's saying the dog won't do that when he's around. I had to laugh - 1. the animals have always minded me much better than they do him and - 2. he doesn't realize what a dynamo this little guy is. Well, at least they're so tired they'll sleep well tonight and we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Time Marches on!

2006-06-04T00:23:00.000-07:00

May 07 -
Well, I did finally get to the farm store for some plants and seeds on Friday. The weather was nice yesterday (Sat.) which enabled Big Bear & I to get some yard & garden work in. I had been irritated this past week about all the rock in my raised beds from the additional dirt we had added last year (free dirt). I had spent a couple of hours picking rock out of two of the beds on Wed. & Thurs. (after about an hour each day I'd be bored and come back to the computer ) and I thought - There's got to be a better way! We have a sandy soil so I'm thinking build a sifter, but chicken wires too big and screen door stuff is too fine, is there something in between? Well, Friday evening Big Bear & I are standing out in the garden and he's voicing the same idea. Then we look at each other and both say "No more free dirt!" I guess that's what being married 36 years does for you even if we do disagree a lot of the time. So Saturday morning he heads into the builder supply store and comes back with the perfect size of wire mesh and builds me a sifter. He built it out of some left over 2x4's so its a little heavy, but it sure works.

The time marches on title comes from my thinking about there was a time when I'd have had all the planting done in a day or two, including flower beds. Not any more! My best friend and I agree - Its not the years that bother us - It's what comes with it!

It rained today so best friend and I went to a huge plant sale at the fair grounds while our husbands loaded our utility trailer with wood from a tree they had felled and cut up on best friends property. It took some effort because the tree was on a hillside and they had to tote the wood up the hill. We both returned home around 2:00pm and when he had finished unloading the wood and stacking it, he came in and said "I'm done for the day!" and sat in his chair the rest of the afternoon & evening. Time marches on!

Sunshine & Gardens

2006-06-04T00:17:00.000-07:00

April 30 -
I do so love the sunshine. I am definitely a Spring/Summer person. I planted some pansies and geraniums yesterday and my husband tilled up the garden area. I have raised beds for the vegetable garden and use a lot of pots and hanging baskets for the flowers as well as some flower beds. Our yards not in very good shape anymore. It's showing it's age (35 years) and the wear and tear of two big dogs as well as the effects of shade, moss, decomposing roots from the trees we've taken down over the years and some neglect. I try to pretty it up with flowers until we can afford to tear it all up and start over. When we are able to do that, I want to design an overall plan and install a sprinkler system.

Tomorrow it's over to the Farm & Garden store or Fred Meyers to drool over all the beautiful plants and try to narrow down my choices. :)

Phil & Cora

2005-02-08T22:32:00.000-08:00

This is the wedding photo of my husbands parents. It's my favorite photo of them and one of my favorite photos period. I miss them.
Phil & Cora - Wedding day 1946

2005-02-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

Computers - How did I become so addicted to sitting in front of this thing? My husband & son had to drag me into using it 6 years ago and now they can't drag me away from it. Five years ago I closed my business and had some surgery which left me with lots of time to just play with it and figure out how things worked. Before long I was adding software, installing & uninstalling, downloading, changing or adding new equipment and fiddling with the settings on just about everything. I find I enjoy setting stuff up even more than using what I've set up. Who knew? I've always been pretty good at figuring things out and understanding directions which has made me the one to set up the phones, cameras, and computers (I now have 2) and then tell my husband what buttons to push. :)