OH BOY HERE I AM TONIGHT AND STILL LEARNING THE ROPES OF...

MS, Multiple Sclerosis, I had a bad night with low blood pressure causing my dizziness in upright positions thus my inability to write here last night and sitting, and of course by the time I got to the medical office it was all very normal blood pressure wise. I suspect since I take most of my meds in the morning, ha! And to be honest the dizziness seems to be not getting any better, but comes and goes… what to do what to do? I do know I have Ataxia, which does cause this along with everything else. But it has always been mostly when I zigged when I should have zagged while using the walker and turning thus the zigzag motions, got it?

Any-who, all my other issues were head shook into a statement of it’s your MS, cervical stenosis, high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart etc. of course.

You see, I have seven types of arthritis out of the more than one hundred different ones there are. Just to put a name to mine here I go…had Osteopenia now Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis, Basilar joint arthritis, Spondylosis, Sjogren's Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and that cervical stenosis, yep that makes seven, right?

Interestingly enough I was told that my belly protrusion was more than likely caused by having lost about four inches in height thus the belly outing and the Osteoporosis pushing it out due to degeneration of my spine that it causes; that sounds yucky, huh? Well that’s a great excuse, but now does that also mean that my tummy crunches are all in vain? I sure hope not and even this morning I did them to a sixty count along with my other floor exercises of sixty reps each, I am determined!

Any-who, Hubby took me out to lunch to the Cracker Barrel, since the medical facility is nearby Highway I75 and so, is the restaurant. I had broiled trout since it was a low carb fare and came with a choice of three sides all vegetables also of the low carb variety, but still it was way too much and I ended up taking one veggie home. Hubby had the hot roast-beef open-faced sandwich and his usual black coffee with sugar and I had my unsweet iced tea with extra lemons.

It feels good to be ‘back in the saddle again’ as the expression goes, cowboy song title… by Gene Autry and Ray Whitley circa 1939. In my case it is just a metaphor for doing my blog, but you all knew that, silly me, TMI Tobi at it again!

I guess I am back in that saddle writing to you all once again that is. My joy of this is a significant reason for me to look forward to something that makes me happy, especially when I get feedback. Oddly enough Hubby’s note about me not feeling well enough to write last night got a few more hits than my usual blog has received to date, and again I was slightly jealous,.

Moving on…
Hubby just announced that so far our tomato garden has given us a yield of 100 tomatoes and more to come, WOW! Last night he did give over a dozen away to that nice neighbor who gave us those lovely gifts Sunday the lily plant and candy and Skipper treats, more to be distributed soon I sure hope so, since our cup runneth over. I wish some of my Facebook friends lived closer like that one gent who gave us the concert tickets boy wouldn’t that be great to be able to give back something healthy and tasty! So small a reciprocating idea but would be done with true appreciation and not a lot of monetary ability. Well, lately the price per pound of tomatoes is nearly as high as our gas prices so maybe if I gave him about ten pounds it would be more even, huh? Did you know that the tomato is also considered a natural anti-inflammatory, how nice; I must eat more?

On that note or realization let me please be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Hubby Here…..

Tobi is not feeling very well tonight so she won’t be writing tonight.

She should be back tomorrow night to fill you all in on this and other things.

Hubby

Pleasant Exhaustion

Are you wallowing in the afterglow? How many of you ran yourselves ragged doing what you love yesterday?
I bet you were taking care of family and making sure they had a wonderful time at your home and I bet they did, and now have memories for a lifetime.
Enjoy it now and never ever forget these hectic times, why you ask?
I will tell you why; because for some of us they sadly end way too soon.
Moving too faraway or people passing on or children growing up and moving away too or anyone of number of reasons or excuses can be the cause of it all coming to an abrupt end.
Illness of not being able to do what you used to love and everyone respecting that you can’t. And when traveling to them is also not possible on your to-do list; causes people to stop asking. It is just the normal evolution of things and part of a very miserable, at times, reality.
I guess I have what I fondly call the after holiday blues… Geez would that make a great song title or what?
Let’s try it:

I love my family and they love me but where are they now?
I love my family and they love me but where are they now?
We used to cook and bake and shake the holidays away and sing a song of happy times all the day long but where are they now?
I got the after holiday blues, and that’s not good news oh no that’s not good news and sadly I did not choose these awfully sad time holidays blues.

Oh well, I tried, sort of… you would have to imagine an appropriate tune, in my mind I imagine a slinky salty sad toned thirties/ forties-ish vintage blues song of course, to go with it and of course the refrain would be the last line. I could probably use a few more soulful verses, but you get the idea, huh?
I suppose I am not much of a song writer but I do think that jazz and blues music is timeless and when I did sing I enjoyed doing those as much as I could.
Oh that singing was around the house, by the by, not in public, but at this time I had taken up voice lessons again as an adult and was given the lyrics to shows like, ‘Aint Misbehavin’ what great songs by Fats Waller and others! The only reason I gave you the site from Wikipedia is because it has both acts' songs lists and I am pretty sure you will remember many of them just copy and paste: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain%27t_Misbehavin%27_(musical)

The show was on Broadway in 1978 and won many awards, although those iconic lyrics are from the 1920’s.
I thought since I sort of started out with my Pitiful Pearl complaining lament that I should try once again to turn it all back into lemonade from those lemons that I served up, huh? How did I do?

Let’s say OK, OK? On that note of; I said what? I would love to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you kindly to count all of your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

The day proved that we can have peace in our lives and good friends too!

“We don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.” A fortune from my cookie that came with our Chinese food delivery, Hubby’s was, “Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.” How prophetic and insightful for both of us; and I am sure you all think that having Chinese food delivered on Easter is not right, or perhaps you are sorry you didn’t think of it?
We did have a lovely surprise earlier today our neighbor from across the street unexpectedly brought over a lovely Easter lily plant with some Easter candies, jelly beans and Reese’s peanut butter eggs, and even treats for Skipper, but wouldn’t come in for a while since she wasn’t feeling well and was concerned she might be contagious, too sweet and unexpected. When asked why and me also insisting that she shouldn’t have all she said is because she loves us! Wow, that was way too much. Here’s the beautiful lily plant.

See isn’t it just incredibly beautiful?

Let’s get back to those fortunes how amazing are they with being so on target with all that has been going on in our lives, crazy as if there were a hidden camera here.
Truer words were never said. Tonight Hubby and I chose a slightly different fare and went with LoMeins, his pork and mine was lobster and the small ones that we both have enough for another meal were only $3.75 each and then we also got a large egg drop soup for $2.75 and they deliver, isn’t that terrific? And almost every year they have been giving out wonderful calendars for our kitchen.

Last night Hubby overwhelmed me with bringing in an additional abundance of tomatoes from our garden, and the count as of last night was up to ….drum roll please… 87 and still counting! And here is a bowl full:

Beauties, huh? After we share as much as we can with our neighbors we will be freezing most of the rest; I would really hate for them to go bad it would be obscene in this day and age!

We spent most of the day relaxing and watching old movies like Ghostbuster 2, and last night we finally saw the King’s Speech, excellent!
Friday night was 2010 version of Gulliver’s Travel with Jack Black a little unorthodox but cute in a raw twenty-first century way. A far cry from the original one they used to show us along with the Swiss Family Robinson on rainy days at Penner’s Lake day camp in Upper Saddle River, NJ, in the early 1960’s!We have an eclectic taste to say the least; you must admit.

“Happy Passover to anyone who celebrates that and Happy Easter to any who celebrate that too! We as a nation must learn to respect all of our commonalities as well as our differences and then we can consider ourselves the leaders that we once were in this world; hate does NOT cut it! G-d Bless America! Hate has no place in our country!”

This morning I wrote this on my Facebook page and took a tremendous chance on how or if I would hear about it with positive or negative ramifications. In reality it is Not at all controversial. I suppose many who did not agree said nothing and only three men came forward to be kind enough to show a form of approval and for that I thank them and you all know who you are.
And that is how I will leave you all tonight with a bit more food for thought and so let me be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and to share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

PS Happy Easter PEEPS! I hope yours was everything you expected it to be.

Nike 3!

Here’s the deal a Portland Oregon man named Dan Wieden penned the ‘Just Do It’ campaign for Nike for the 1988 Olympics, how about that, nearly twenty-three years ago.
More info on the true story of whence it came is here, copy and paste this site: http://blog.oregonlive.com/playbooksandprofits/2008/07/nike_celebrates_just_do_it_20t.html

My reasoning for playing the Nike card once again is not only since it acquired my most impressive response ever; it is because it has shown to have the resiliency of the test of time.
The meaning can be quite obscure or quite poignant; most will agree, and when we use it indiscriminately most everyone knows what we mean, how truly odd?
Its affect is international, amazingly wonderful, don’t you think?

People in the game of teaching people how to be effective in business may very well use the phrase in their arsenal of catchalls verbiage, perhaps?
I would think that to ‘Just Do It’ would be a good way to accomplish any important task at hand.

Motivational speakers always use the power of positive thinking in their training others to get to where they want to be, correct?
And so ‘Just Do It’, would not be that farfetched a lament for them as well?
Come on folks how many times a day do you try to reach for that logical phrasing of how to get someone you care about to take that final step and getting their job done?
Now you’ve got it, oh but I am sure you already did.

Parents of ornery children have their end all refrain too, “Just Do It”, see how versatile it can be; just try tomorrow incorporating it into your own daily conversations, nothing to lose and please get back to me with the results, just do it, OK?

Any-who, moving on…
Today was another gorgeous day in paradise, but alas too hot for me to leave the home-front. I did find things to do within our palatial manor.
Hubby cut from a piece of plywood we had purchased for the repair of the shed doors a waving flag for me, he primed it and penciled the thirteen stripes for me to paint red. I had found the blue and white star section in my clip art and enlarged it to be decoupage on the stripes in the proper location. Hubby even cut into the flag a pole which I painted with my gold acrylic paint too. For additional treatment of my latest folk art piece I found more clip art to accompany my homage to the summer holidays, starting with Memorial Day, next Flag Day, then the Fourth of July, and lastly Labor Day, with a nice Glorious Summer right in the middle. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words and so here I go once again:

This particular door decoration, which is what all my others are too will go up next month, and yes I do know that June 21st is the first legal day of summer, and Memorial Day is on the 30th of May this year but why not I say, and here I go, I am just going to do it! So there I am saying with my adult tongue sticking out once again.

On that silly note of a spoiled child attitude but with definite decision capabilities let me be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Earth Day!

Earth Day is a day to celebrate the earth and its natural environment, is that not redundant? We started to honor this place we all call home on April 22, 1970! Gosh the same date as today, wow, that has to be some type of anomaly or something? Oh wait, it is one of those holidays that kept its date even if it doesn’t fall on a three day weekend, how about that, interesting and frugal and conservative too, huh?
Of course the earth is natural since it is made up of dirt, rocks, water, floras, oil, minerals, coral, and such, correct? And we should celebrate all that daily, right?

Oh that’s right; we all dirtied it up with building stuff on it and using up its natural resources and so one day a year we should pay homage to that?
I’m confused but as we all know it doesn’t take much to confuse this gal.
You see, I thought that we, as a human race, are trying to undo what we have done, by recycling, reusing and reducing, sounds noble and like a really good idea.
Aren’t we all supposed to be doing that all year long though?
Gosh, am I the only one who tries to do that daily?
Nah, I know you are all out there too….HELLO?
Yep, you are there I can feel you that was just an expression my dear paranoid readers, kidding, LOL!
Any-who, we as a people of this planet that we need to be on to exist must become better 'stewards' as the saying goes, and no they are not just a plane or ship attendant, property manager, hotel or club manager, or shop manager or guide… all important but not in this reasoning, bud dump bum.

Stewards are the keepers, warden or park rangers, hmm, yes this planet would look more park-like if we took better care of her, and yes I used the female pronoun since I do know most of you have heard the term, MOTHER EARTH, correct?
Soot, chemicals and nasty fumes pollute our air and hurt our ozone layer which causes us to get skin cancer, and not recycling fills our waste plants with too much garbage that adds to those fumes and soils our soil, got that?
Slap us all silly it has been forty-one years since we became aware and started to do something about it all, but why is it taking all of us so darn long to get the job done?
And perhaps since we did that we did buy ourselves a few thousand more years but who really knows and what then I ask?…Landfills are dwindling even so we are trying and it is proof by the air pollution is diminishing in many cities and cleaner waters inland that are showing some improvement but there is so much still to get done and we must tell ourselves everyday to think that way. We must not slack off!
Remember the simple three ‘R’s’ of Earth Day’s daily concept: RECYCLE, REUSE, REDUCE!
I know I sound like a broken record but we all know the drill and we are so responsible for our own doing better in all things in life, true?

Hubby reminded me of another new acronym, actually a paddle board company that has been mentioned twice to us most recently, once in the Randy Wayne White novel we both read called Night Vision, and our Southern Living magazine that we just received yesterday, YOLO and you should all think about incorporating it into your repertoire too of initial use and now for what it means and I know you will all laugh since it is so simple and logical…. Drum roll once again please…. 'You Only Live Once!' Sorry Shirley Maclaine and all others who believe we return in any other form; I do apologize but the sentiments are honest, and we all must admit that reincarnation is quite resourceful and would be one of the three ‘R’s’, and I do hope that was not sacrilegious?

On that thoughtful note of all possibilities let me be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you kindly to count all your blessings and to share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Three strikes and I am not out...

Yet! Although, subliminally I am sure that is why today again I forgot to take my Copaxone shot. I called the support nurse to confess and she said that I could take it now; at the time it was about four thirty in the afternoon. I usually take my injections in the morning, but it was OK to do it then. I guess my schedule is more flexible than I thought, darn. Sorry to sound like such a kid, but if you didn’t know when I asked my neurologist at my last visit on the eleventh of this month, if I could take a break from this MS relapse repellent juice, she said that it is working and that I should continue with it.
I had mixed emotions and almost argued that since the January MRI showed that I was stable with no new active lesions that I thought it would be just hunky dory to take a six month absence without leave this coming July, huh?
But she said basically if it’s not broke, don’t fix it or something similar and besides the logic with this shoot ’em up junk is to prevent exacerbations not a cure-all, there still aren’t any…oh well… My new provider is no longer NORD but now ASSIST RX, and I applied on 4/12 the day after I saw the doc and so I should hear back soon about the next grant for my shots which are finished in July if I don’t…hmm…

Any-who today was rather quiet with doing this and that not too much; I did make homemade clam chowder and it made for a tasty lunch with the nice baguette from the bakery. Dinner was a disaster as far as my original plan went I was going to put a chopped lean beef and rice concoction into a rather large squash that we purchased last week and after starting the thick tough gourd in the microwave before filling it with the beef mix to place in the oven to finish it, I noticed it had white pearly stuff coming out of it, which did not look too Kosher, and yes, I do know this is not a typical Passover Seder meal! We are not always so religious, food-wise, us of three faiths between us!
Any-way, Hubby and I both decided, thankfully before I filled it that it would be better off added into our composter instead, the vote was unanimous. Heaven knows what that was…Fortunately, the rest of the meal was still clean since it never touched the squishy squash, not really it was still quite tough, and the meat and rice was jazzed upped with stewed tomatoes, a bit of tomato sauce and some Texas Pete, hmm good! Dinner was saved! I had originally sautéed the lean beef with onions and chopped whole garlic cloves and a bit of ginger, sodium free beef bullion and soy sauce the additions including a bit of brown sugar added to the flavor base, not half bad.

Meanwhile, Hubby just came in with another load of our own tomato crop so far the total brought in is …. Drum roll please…53 and counting!
The types are beef steak and plum, hmm.
When we get so many at a time I do a little bit of Martha Stewart to them, a fancy sort of oven prep. Here it is, slice the tomatoes thinly by whatever means you have hand, device, or machine then spray a large glass or nonstick container and lie the slices in drizzle olive oil, balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar, garlic slivers or powder, basil fresh or dried,teaspoon of sugar or artificial sweetener packets and then slide the concoction into a preheated 300 degree oven for one hour then lower the temperature to two hundred and continue to heat all tomatoes until they appear almost freezed dried looking, flat and thin, most liquid will remain and is excellent for dipping any Italian bread or baguettes. Jar-up the tomatoes and use in soups, salads or sauces for pizza or pasta! They should keep for a few weeks in the fridge.

On that idea to heat up your home and to get a delish dish! Let me be the first tonight to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count those blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?