Its Saturday, Talk On!!!!!

Hi Margo, Just the grape tomatoes are starting to ripen. We had @10 Earl & I shared on Thursday on our salads. Today the girls picked about that many more although a couple are still a little orangey. I have 3 grape tomato plants and 3 roma plants and they are both loaded with green tomatoes. I have one green pepper just smaller than my fist and about 10 smaller ones so far beween 3 plants. The onions are getting really big, I wish we had gotten a bigger spot ready this spring and put more things in. We only did the small garden on the side of our patio. We need to redo the bigger garden in the back, add some stuff to the clay/soil, get the girls to hlep pick out some rocks...etc.   Just heard from Carla she landed and is in her rental car!!!   Hugs, paulette

ok- someone please explain to me why when i hit reply it always goes to the text option and i have to change it before i type anything???is it only me?????



well- i had some good news at the blood place- in order to donate your hematocrit needs to be above 38 each time- usually mine is in the upper 40's which is low but acceptable --mine was at 39 on thurs which is way low- so i worked harder yesterday to raise it for today-i mean- first it's my health!!! (and i'm waiting for my tender iron to come from vitalady!) but if i drive the 38 miles to get to the place and then they tell me i'm too low to donate-well- so much for gas economy!so- yesterday i opened and drained a can of black beans and a can of corn (used yellow but white would be prettier!) ; added chopped onion-love onions!-and fresh parsley from my garden--mixed up my own olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing and added some canned (didn't have fresh!) diced tomoatoes...and scarfed a bunch down--wow!!! tasty!! so -anyhow this morning my number was 46! yipppeee!!!



enjoyed a phone chat with pat r while i was driving home- so anxious to see carla again and meet pat and paulette on monday! i think michael is going along too so he will be the designated photographer!!!



stopped at a local roadside market and bought tomatoes- they are from tennessee -ohio ones not out yet?-and michael is making bacon -we don't have lettuce so--well- sammies will be yummy without the green!!!!



and i got gas for $3.62 a gallon!!!!!

and my DAR certificate came today!!! that is a whooo hoooooooooooooooo for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spinach and raisins have iron too ... I use a lot of fresh spinach in my salads, and my iron has been good. If you're taking iron, Margo, be sure to take it with Vitamin C, it helps the absorption.

Oh, I miss Camp Gramma.  Every summer I'd have the 2 youngest grandkids for 2 weeks at a time.  Usually twice a summer.  We would paint nails, paint faces, they would style my hair, we did all kinds of stuff, indoors and out.  The youngest (the girl) would love to be "nakey" outside!  We lived on 5 acres out in the country and surrounded by cow pastures.  As she headed out the door for the tramp, the clothes would go flying!  She's 11 now, and stays dressed.  We had gophers and there were mounds of "gopher dirt" all over the yard, and the grandson would fill them with water and have the best time in the mud.  Oh, the memories.

Yesterday my DIL gave me an iPod shuffle for watching their dogs while they are gone for 2 weeks, and I have been busy selecting songs to put on it.  Can't wait to take it to the gym!  Then she came by this AM to invite me to the grand opening of the Lowe's that has just opened up about 2 miles from us.  I didn't buy a thing.  Good for me!  We DID NOT take my DH, or I wouldn't have gotten out of there without spending a small fortune!  That gives us a Lowe's and a Walmart close to home.  I'll save a lot of money on gas!

Today we have had three...count 'em...THREE thunderstorms ...again..this is the strangest summer that I can recall..thunderstorms almost daily for over a month..and here we waited so long for summer and now...with the late start, its almost over already!

I just came in from sitting outside watching a storm come acrss the 100 acre vineyard across the road from our place..it's fascinating to watch and now, with the new verandah, I can sit and watch, all nice and dry. The storms have caused alot of damage to the tender fruits here..plums and peaches as well as grapes and apples..all pitted or broken and split...vines destroyed and all this rain is wreaking havoc with the hay crops too.

I ate three tiny plums this morning..picked right off our tree ...and suffered from a serious fifteen minutes of dull pain...it's dissipated again but I sure don't know what that was all about...feels again like a milder gall bladder attack but with no gall bladder.

Ive finished the first two series of artwork for my client and now doing the layouts...then I start doing the next two series. 

Today, I got a call from Fani, the author of our book "My  Mummy Is Sick".. .I illustrated that book, published in 2001...we are going to republish.  All copies printed then have been sold.

Ive just gotten a request to be an agent for a budding young artist.....Im not sure just what they want of me or what that would entail so that requires discussion before I commit myself.  Suddenly it all seems look FEAST OR FAMINE for me...no work or too much work.

Im doing hynotherapy sessions with a local Dr of hypntherapy and she has me doing EFT and also visualization about creating new pathways to release and remove the extra lymph fluid in my feet and legs. It's all about the power of the mind and it seems to be helping..I can see ankles! and Im peeing alot more.  She is also helping me with eating healthy and avoiding binges and unhealthy food to reinforce my EATING HEALTHY  SUBLIMNAL CDs that she makes.

I'm workimg hard at avoiding the sugar stuff..sadly, I long ago found out that I dont dump and Id been starting to fall back on old coping mechanisms and then hated myself for that.  I had cut way back so that...yes..this is my confession:  I was eating BISCOTTI...(no, not broccoli...biscotti)...figuring it was less sugar but nice and crunchy..not celery crunchy..but kinda pleasantly sweet and crunchy..if that makes sense.. So now, biscotti has been dropped too. I miss my biscotti.

So Im drinking extra water and moving around more.  Yesterday Dr Feor and I  had our session then went for a quick supper at a seafood place..I had three tiny crabcakes and then we went downtown to walk the main street visiting art galleries that were open for a special Festival of the Arts week. One exhibitor is a friend of mine and she has recently returned from South America where she was taking photos for this art show...they are simply stunning!   Naturally I met alot of old friends and we spent hours there...each gallery had wine and food which we didnt touch because we had eaten our supper earlier. (that never stopped me before!)

My crocheted vest is 2/3  done..it is white and beige varigated cotton and Im making it to wear over a white shirt with my being print skirt...the beiges match perfectly..who would have thought that BEIGE would be so hard to match? Likely just because Im an artsy-fartsy person...I make my own obstacles it seems.  I like crocheting..it's kind of a "mindless" activity for me to do while watching TV or travelling...I can even do it in the dark....just by touch...crocheting seems to soothe or calm me and helps me relax...(Knitting, on the other hand, does quite the opposite!)

I have a crocheted pink sweater with short sleeves almost done...Im working on a lace edging and the sleeves still but I opted for the summer vest since it's for wearing NOW unlike the pink which is suitable for winter.

Well Id better get out in the breezeway and sort thru a few more bags of clothes before taking a batch to GOODWILL.    Still doing that helps me realize just how much weight I HAVE lost so far (becuase I do intend to lose MORE)

*hugs for everyone wanting or needing one*

Nancy B

Hi Carla:

Can't wait to see you Sunday night!  Got to make room in the front bedroom/computer room ... yes, Paulette, have to fuss because otherwise, the aerobed doesn't fit ... it's a small room, so I have to move the litter box/cat food and water bowls. And it's also nicer if you don't get visited by cats looking for breakfast. And they're a little shy sometimes (at least Scooter especially is). So I have to do that tomorrow ... today I'm battling a headache.

But I went to see Mamma Mia anyway. Oh, I loved it! It is so funny. If you go to see it, don't leave when they start rolling the credits, as a lot of people do ... you'll miss out on some of the funniest parts. That's all I'll say about that. Some of the people in the theater got up and left at the formal "end" of the movie and missed it. I had read in our paper's review that there was something at the end that was good, so I knew not to leave. Definitely worth staying, even if you have to go to the bathroom (and I did, so I just squirmed for a few more minutes).

I woke up with the headache ... we must be getting storms ... but decided not to let that stop me because next week I have to work Saturday and wouldn't be able to go, and the weekend after that, I'm going to Chicago, so this was the weekend. So I took an Imitrex, took a shower, stuck my head under the shower, turned on the massage head on the back of my neck where the chiropractor works to loosen that up ... by the time I left, I was feeling a little bit better. Took a pill when I got to the movie and felt OK throughout the movie, but by the time I was driving home felt lousy again. It's come and gone several times during the day.

After the movie, I stopped at the New Balance store and brought back the shoes I bought Thursday, exchanged them for the 11Ds that I was wearing before ... new shoes, of course, but the 11 normal widths were so uncomfortable and after wearing them for two days I couldn't take it anymore. I had worn my old shoes to the mall and they were so comfortable. I remembered when I bought them, I didn't have to wait to break them in ... this was ridiculous, I couldn't be in so much pain. So I got the 11Ds. I think I'm the only person in the history of WLS who went up a shoe size after weight loss. I used to be a size 10, now an 11D. Go figure.

Stopped at D&W, the other grocery store I go to, had to buy a bottle of water when I got there, I was so thirsty. Still parched, I've been chugging water all day. My legs are still swollen too. Don't know why. I'm a mess. Bought a few things I needed at that store that Meijer didn't have (D&W carries a lot of specialty things ... plus they had Pepsi products ... I like the Tropicana light juices, but of course they were out of them , or don't carry them anymore ... they didn't have them on the shelf). Anyway, got a few things I needed, a few things I found 50 percent off, took back my bottles and cans and came home, took another pill and stuck the heating pad on the back of my neck to try to get rid of my headache. It  helped ... for awhile. Now it's trying to come back. I think I need to put my head back for awhile again.

Talked with my brother Gary ... he's planning next spring's trip using his timeshare. Right now, it appear it will be Williamsburg, Va. We have both been there ... Gary on his honeymoon 31 years ago, me six years ago when I was 300 pounds and didn't enjoy it. Gary's now divorced and of course a lot has changed down there. It was either Williamsburg or Myrtle Beach, and Williamsburg won out, unless we can't get reservations ... but we have a lot of time to make them, and spring shouldn't be as hard.

Well, I should go. Everyone should go out and see Mamma Mia. It's fantastic!