025 ~ Chocolate

C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E

RICH

CREAMY

YUMMY

PAIN FIGHTER

INFLAMMATION REDUCER

LOWERS BLOOD PRESSURE

LOWERS CHOLESTEROL

REDUCES STRESS

IMPROVES MOODS

Who knew?

LOL

Works for me!

A friend of mine told me she was eating one square of Lindt 70% Cocoa Chocolate Bars each morning and it was definitely helping her pain levels stay down!  So I have now joined her. :)  It's only been a few days so far.  I tried this before, a few months ago, but really didn't stick with it too well then.  This time will be different.  I need better ways to control pain.  I also could use more natural ways to keep cholesterol down, to protect my kidneys from a recurrence of "Minimal Change Disease - Nephrotic Syndrome" (so far I've been symptom free for five years, if I can go just a bit longer there's a good chance of it staying in remission!).

019 ~ Odd

This is an older favorite of mine.  It was taken by a friend in Texas after I had moved from Texas to Wisconsin. It's not often that it snows in most of Texas... the panhandle maybe can be counted on to get snow every year, but it's fairly rare in the rest of the state.  This is actually a springtime picture, making it all the more rare.  The bluebonnets were in full bloom, the trees full of leaves, winter was almost forgotten.  Then an unusual storm hit and dropped temps below freezing overnight.  Early the next morning this is what they woke up to!  It doesn't seem possible for BLUEBONNETS and SNOW to share the same field!  It probably won't happen again in a hundred years!  I am so glad to have this picture - otherwise no one would believe me when I told them this story.  LOL

Today was an odd day.  I did manage to get to the hall for the meeting today - but held off going in.  I thought I'd listen to the talk on the car radio and then go in for the Watchtower study.  Something happened to switch the order and the Watchtower came first.  I could hear lots of coughing and sneezing in the audience so I'm glad I stayed in the car.  My immune system just isn't quite back to normal from all my illness in October.  I was going to go in and just sit in the lobby for the talk but then my sister came out, with her daughter, and saying something about my niece not feeling well (headache, sore throat, etc) and they both got in the car.  After a brief minute my sister says she's going back inside and my niece can just stay in the car with me and lay down.  She closed the door and was gone before I could say anything.  So I stayed in the car for the talk too.  I'm pretty sure my niece isn't (wasn't) too sick.  She was climbing all over the back of the van and trying to find ways to play.  It was a really super talk on the 3rd & 4th chapters of Hebrews - so I was not letting this little girl distract me!  I did make it clear to her she was making some very bad choices.

Right after the meeting we had to get home so I could take one of my daughters to the ER.  She ended up with more tests, more meds, and more admonishments to see a cardiologist or some sort of specialist about some of her recurring problems.  Two hours later I'm home and thoroughly exhausted!  The rest of the day was an odd mix of sleep and movies... and I still feel worn out.  While I do feel better than most of the last month I still don't feel well - if that makes any sense. :-/

Odd day gets an odd pic. ;-)

008 ~ Not My Fault!

I'm going to have to come up with a plan for dealing with inclement weather and downed internet connections!

Today's pic shows the choppy waters of Lake Tomah from a month ago.  The winds from the Oct 26th and 27th make this look tame!
I wish I could have taken some pics of that, but illness kept me inside so no new pics of any kind right now.


All over the news I've seen videos of what this massive storm system has done.  Huge waves in the Great Lakes make their shores look like ocean beaches in a surfing championship.  Some reports said waves on Lake Michigan were 22-24 feet high!


This system beats out the worst of the worst storms of the past, especially since no tropical system was involved in it's formation.  Very rare!  


Just like it's rare to have so much prolonged issues with internet connectivity.  Charter's been very good about getting things up and running as quick as possible.  And you would think that if we were going to lose service it would be during the worst of the storm ~ but this came near the end, as the winds were dying down some.  Not sure what exactly went out, but around 11ish on Wednesday night (when I was reviewing pics for this blog) internet connections started "fritzing" (going off, then on, then off, etc) and after about 30 minutes or so of that we lost it all!  Not just internet, but cable tv, and our phone!  Perhaps I should consider acquiring their "backup" plan for phone service so I'll at least be able to make emergency phone calls during times like this.

005 - Late Again!

I really hope to do better when I'm finally well!  This "cold / influenza / pneumonia / sinus infection / ear infection / who-cares-what-it's-called" that I've been ill with for 2 whole weeks now is messing up a lot of things for me... and my family & friends!  Rarely have I been this sick!


Of course, it might help recovery if I could just have everything and everyone stop.  You heard me!  All y'all need to stop what y'all are doing so nothing happens where I'm needed.  Then I'd make a complete and rapid recovery and then life can go on. ;-)


Today's pic is here only because I love it so much - one of my favorite flowers in one of my favorite colors for this flower.  

004 ~ Life Lesson #1

Four days into this 365 blog and already I've "missed" a day! :(


One thing that's constant in my life is that there is always so much to do!  Years ago someone actually took note of all I did in a typical day and all I needed to do and then tallied up how long it usually takes for such tasks.  The results?  All that I do - if I didn't multi-task or rush through it - would take me some 36 hours, and that did not include any sleep!  (just to give you an idea of how busy I am)


Even now, my life stays just as busy, only in different ways.  


These days I'm challenged by many "disabilities" that make some tasks take longer, make some need to be delegated more, and make for many unique solutions.  But this week I'm even more challenged by illness. :(  I got sick (like a semi-truck hit me - and I could tell you the exact moment, but my phone had died a short time before so I can't say the exact time) :-p on Monday, over a week ago.  At first it was like just a bad cold or something, but on Friday (a week from yesterday) instead of continuing to improve as I was, I suddenly got worse.  That night fevers went up and down, as high as 105, and I was seriously contemplating heading to the ER, but waited.  Come Monday I was really, really sick - but I still had so many important things to do.  I finally went into my doctor's office on Tuesday morning.  I left with 3 new prescriptions to treat a sinus infection, an ear infection, and pneumonia!  That afternoon the doc calls me to say that after reading the x-ray the radiologist, and her, are concerned this level/type of pneumonia usually require a stay in the hospital to recover. That will just not do for me - a stay in the hospital right now would make it so much harder for me to do all I need to do!


Today's photo is to remind me why I should take care of me first:

Apologies for the glares and the slight bend in the image.
This takes me back to when I was first learning that lesson!  
Newborn triplets will take a lot out of you... but if you put nothing back (by caring for yourself) you'll soon not be able to care for them either!
They are 'grown' (over 18) now but as stated above my life is still crazy busy and all things considered I think I need to really remember this lesson now!