A New Year..

Our game nite group celebrated Christmas on New Year's Eve - and again, the gang surprised me with a video from Disney - where they asked all different people and characters at the parks to say hello to me. There was one costumed lady on the street before a parade, and she really yucked it up with the camera - not to mention Kyle and the gang. He focused his camera on her best features, and she really stayed in character and learned the gang's saying..."you put goodness out there...and goodness comes back", complete with the little hand/arm swoosh on camera, even when she was walking with her group out of the parade. What a hoot! Nate made a yummy casserole and I brought "sushi" - which was actually a spinach tortilla with whipped cream cheese and veggie sticks rolled up and sliced to resemble sushi; then of course, Nate's chocolate fountain (chocolate prepared by KeKe) and the stuff to dip in it. We toasted the New Year and exchanged Christmas gifts. Good Friends, Good Times. We played a game of Pictionary Man which I had given the boys - it was fun! You gotta try it.



Monday, January 5th it was back to work. Wednesday I had an eye doctor's appointment because my vision was continuously blurry. He dilated my eyes and said I would be back to "normal" in a couple of hours - well, not quite. It was 4:15 before both eyes were back to what looked normal and I could actually see! Oh well, another day off after a week and a half??? No problem. My eyes were so sensitive to the light...and I actually drove home - taking the back way, but admittedly, I should not have driven myself. I couldn't see the traffic lights because of the bright sunlight. My eyes have never been that sensitive before. He wrote me a prescription for new glasses - and I think the clue was when he threw the 'big E' up on the wall and I said it was blurry. I told him I also had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the following Monday where I wanted them to check for diabetes - and he said NOT to fill the script til the doctor got my blood sugar readings.



Over the holidays, I really had no appetite - and lost about 6 pounds - and was so very thirsty all the time! Waking up to drink water during the night was NOT my normal routine. I was chugging 20-oz bottles like it was going out of style - and I drank two gallons of skim milk in two days!! I could not get my thirst quenched. This, along with no energy, brought diabetes to mind. The doctor agreed, though he hoped it was just my thyroid. The lab took blood that Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning I got the results - type 2 Diabetes.



I went in Thursday to see the office diabetes specialist and she reviewed my chart, and almost fell off her chair when she saw my glucose level from Monday: 552!!! Yes, 552 with the exclamation points added to my chart by the lab. She could not believe that I had not passed out or gone into a coma. The doctor had already had me start two meds on Wednesday, but by Thursday, one of them was doubled, then tripled. The second was one pill to start, then two starting on Sunday. I left the office with a meter and reading material, including a 'fast food' guide to eating nutritiously - counting carbs. She also explained how the disease and treatments work, and how to read labels and counting total carbs. I can have 12 carbs daily and my blood sugar reading should be between 70 and 140.



I went to Mom and Dad's and he showed me how to use the meter and the NEEDLE! I was a little gun shy, but after a few trys, I had it down. I started a log of my before breakfast and before supper readings and my carb counts. Levels have been up and down...from 294, to 219, to 134 and back up to 213. The diabetes specialist said I only had to test it twice a day for 3 days during the week, but I used the week-end to get my feet wet. I have been eating oatmeal for breakfast - or toast with a little low fat cheese - so its a change all right and actually, I am already feeling better! I had energy to do things that needed to be done and learned that I need to 'snack' between meals to feel my best. I also need to increase my activity level (isn't that a nicer word than the "ex" word??) to 30-minutes a day, four days a week. That will most likely be accomplised by doing 'hall laps' at work, walking the dog, and eventually, a class or a trip to the SLC. Mom and Dad are super supportive as are my friends and other family members, and of course, L, J & R.



I had lunch with MJH as she was in town to visit with her daughter. We went to Olive Garden! I visited their site before I left and learned definitely NO breadsticks...and soup was even high in carbs! I also opted for the salad with oil and vinegar - no cheese, no croutons....and still, I have used 8 of my 12 carbs for the day. Oh well, veggies for dinner!! I enjoyed the visit over lunch, and MJH looked perplexed when I didn't join them in an Italian Margarita - so I had to tell her about my diagnosis. She is concerned and very supportive.



My first trip to shop for carb-appropriate food didn't net me much to fill my cabinets, but I'll get used to reading labels and making smarter choices - including - fish (yuck!) Not my favorite food for sure, but I can stand a tuna melt (tuna on a bagel with mustard and a little cheese under the broiler) once in a while! The side effects of the medicine haven't been too bad...except for the initial one...but I am surviving. I have also lost another three pounds - whoo-hoo! My pants are loose, too!

More Catch Up

I took off the Monday after San Antonio - and so glad that I did. LK came over and we made the traditional goodies to take to our parties on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: Spinach Dip; Tortilla Roll-Ups; Broccoli Salad; and cheese balls to pass out to my nephews. Rested up I returned to work for one day - nothing much to do but a little work - and went home a half hour early. Wednesday was Christmas Eve - so I finished wrapping a few little gifts and prepared to get to church early for the Children's Program. Even though I don't have any children in the program (yet) - I always go to watch my Sunday School kids & previous year's Sunday School kids. They really did a good job, especially my great nieces and nephews. They all sang and some had speaking parts which they did with great ease. And of course, all of them, a fashion plate!!

After a little chat with the kids, off to my former MIL's home and all the family. What a crowd! After eating, drinking, singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, and listening to Matt's CD, the kids opened gifts first. Chaos!! Most were very sweet and gave hugs all around. The adults opened gifts next, which the kids so nicely distributed. L & J received a few little "baby" things and I got a script "family" and "grand kids" wall hanging on which to attach photos. Too too late we headed home about midnight.

I was up the next morning as L & J planned to be there between 8:30 & 9, so I preheated the oven and got the breakfast casseroles ready to go in. Just as L & J arrived, the casserole was ready - complete with J's request of tater-tots on top. It was pretty good if I do say so myself. After we opened gifts, we had a little time to rest before heading to Mom & Dad's. The kids gave me the traditional fluffy house shoes, my ME calendar, candles and B&B stuff. We surprised R with his car air intake. He was pretty excited.

We got to Mom & Dad's about 11 where everyone arrived slowly, ate a little, and settled in to have the kids open gifts first. My sister's boyfriend's two girls came along, making for a quite noisy time - but that was to be expected. Mom's tree and presents were beautiful, as usual, and Mom passed out bags for the girls to collect her famous bows in, including rules of the game: no stealing; keep your and your family's bows only. L & J had to hurry off to J's Mom's house, so they didn't make it back for dinner @ 5 - turkey with all the trimmings. A nap would have been nice in between, but that didn't happen. R & I left after dinner clean-up, and I stayed on the couch for an evening of Christmas movies, then bed.

I think this was the first time that all the kids and families were at Mom & Dad's in a while - so that makes 6 kids, 4 spouses, 1 boyfriend & 2 kids, and 10 grand kids.

Catch-Up

Our choir Christmas party was held the Friday before our San Antonio trip, at the home of one of our sopranos and her bass hubby. Their house is so beautiful with about 8 Christmas trees. There was singing - of course - of Steve's songs about the choir and of my song about Steve the Director, set to the tune of Frosty the Snowman. There was also lots of food and plenty to drink and laugh about - plus a rousting game of "Swap". It was relatively new to me and many others, but made for quite a loud game which enticed many to join in.

Saturday morning K came by to pick me up. It was a warm day - about 75 degrees - but we packed our coats and toboggans in plan with the forecast of a cold front coming through. We stopped at the Dell Children's Hospital to see K's niece for an hour or so - wearing our pink fluffy halos and bringing bags of goodies. We arrived at the hotel about 4:30 and met up with Jim and Paula - then got ready to head to the river walk. We were to meet at 6:15 at St. Joseph's landing to load the first boat. K parked at the Mercado and we rode the trolley back to the river walk, where our driver did not let us out exactly where we wanted, and we ended up searching for the landing - which no one really could direct us to - making it there just in time, out of breath and sweating from the warm weather. We carried our coats, just in case.

There was some drama about who was to ride the first boat - evidently Steve didn't know the current status of some sweetie-pies who wanted to ride together - so they were scheduled on separate boats - que lastima!! After a delay, we were set to go, sitting on our coats, wearing our flashing necklaces and glow-in-the-dark earrings and hair pins. According to our driver, Rachel, the river walk was the most crowded ever - as we could tell - and she has been driving for 9 years. We enjoyed singing and waving to the crowd, pulling up next to folks enjoying their dinner, a wedding, and an outdoor scene from "Wonderful Life". There were lots of smiles and hand waving, cheering, and good wishes. During one portion of the ride where there was no one around, Steve wanted us to sing the Hallelujah Chorus - just to see if we could. We did, and from then on, about every 3rd or 4th song was the Hallelujah Chorus. I must admit we sounded pretty good with the acoustics of the bridges over the river!

Round two found less drama - except for the fact that I dropped my coat in the river - but before we got started, the local visitors convention group came to video tape us performing in the boat and are going to use it for a promotional video. Our driver just had time to down a bite of supper, then off we went. We passed other boats that were singing, too - but not near as loudly as us. It seemed they sung into their song books and not to the crowds. Our driver said we were the best boat EVER! David retrieved my coat and I wrapped it in a WalMart sack for the rest of the trip.

We trekked back to the Marriot to use the facilities and find the trolley stop to catch a ride back to the Mercado. What a crazy driver he was. As we gathered at the corner to walk across the street to "Mi Tierra", our group of 7 decided not to go along, and we headed to K's car. A quieter dinner was in order - and we found that at Chili's at the Quarry. Still laughing, sharing drinks and dinner, we were sort of glad the season was 'over' for the choir - then we headed to the hotel to sleep.

I got up the next morning about 8 to shower and get ready, allowing the others to sleep in, or so I thought. Seems the sound of the hair dryer woke them up. We found out that the cold front came in while we slept - and it was a windy 32 degrees. No coat - but thank goodness for the toboggan and scarf and gloves! We went back to the Mercado, so La could shop for something for her Mom, then headed out. A few miles down the road, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch - where I took off my hat at the table - a big mistake - as my hair was ridiculously shaped into the hat hair I loathes. I actually didn't see it til I went to the restroom - OMG! What a mess, but what a laugh I had. Toboggan all the way home.

Cantata 2008

This weekend was our home church performance of the 2008 Cantata "Why Christmas". After having practiced since July, I think the audience and our choir (kwar) director was pleased. Prior to this performance, we had already done so in Shreveport on Thanksgiving weekend, then "down under" in the caves at Burnet, (pictured above) not to mention still practicing in between.
Then after the home performance, we traveled to Clifton to sing once more at the Lutheran church there. Whew! What a few busy weekends we've had!

This weekend we head to San Antonio for what our group has dubbed the Saturday San Antonio Solstice Singing Celebration on the Riverboats. Its a wonderful time with the river walk decorated in lights and most folks in the Christmas Spirit of it all. One of our church members - who's daughter sings in the choir - rents two boats so that we all have an opportunity to sing - and the boat drivers love it almost as much as the folks walking or eating dinner along the way. We wear 'flashy' jewelry and fun hats and shirts, then go out to eat with our group after singing. We won't have much of a voice left by that time. Its a perfect way to round out the season.

Random thoughts...

Everyone seems happy to... sing Christmas Carols; dress in festive clothes; bring good wishes to all they meet; shop for the perfect gift; attend church; keep secrets until Christmas morning; decorate the tree, the house and even the car!

Do cranky people seem less cranky this time of year? Or is it that we just choose to ignore the cranky part and look for the good?

Its easy to get overwhelmed at the thought of the "To Do" list. It seems to get longer every day.

And what about the "Christmas Music"? Sometimes its a little much, especially when blaring from every radio and store speaker system! An occasional drive to and from in silence is actually quite nice.

Cold sunny days are my favorite. Bundling up and putting on the sun glasses...even adding a scarf and riding without the heater turned on in the car. Sipping hot chocolate or hot tea or coffee...yum.

Great News!

I am happy to announce that come next July - I'll officially become a Grand Mother. Whether I am Gramma, Granny, GiGi, Nanna, or Grandma - you can bet I'll love that little one like crazy!! This makes my folks 'great' grandparents for the first time - and of course all the aunts and uncles 'great' as well. We are praying that God blesses my daughter with an easy pregnancy and delivery - just like her Mom had!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Here's hoping your Thanksgiving is a memory-making, picture-taking, plate-cleaning, hug-getting kind of Day!!