Ten Things God won't ask

I just read this on someones blog and thought it was a great thing to share

TEN THINGS GOD WON'T ASK ON THAT DAY..

1.... God won't ask what kind of car you drove. He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportat ion.

2... God won't ask the square footage of your house, He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

3.... God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet, He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.

4... God won't ask what your highest salary was. He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.

5... God won't ask what your job title was. He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of your ability.

6.... God won't ask how many friends you had. He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

7... God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived, He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.

8... God won't ask about the color of your skin, He'll ask about the content of your character..

9... God won't ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation. He'll lovingly take you to your mansion in heaven, and not to the gates of Hell.

10... God won't have to ask how many people you forwarded this to, He already knows your decision.

My baby is turning 31 how old does that make me?

I can't believe it tomorrow at 7:10 am my baby boy will turn 31. It really is making me feel old. I remember my 31st birthday actually, it wasn't one of my favorite ages, I remember crying that day because no one made a fuss over my birthday and it was just like any other day.
Since then I make sure that I have a cake, balloons, and that there are candles on my cake and that I make sure my hubs and kids get the same on their birthdays.
It is a special day and we should celebrate it!!
I remember at one of my jobs I had to work on my birthday and I told my boss (luckily he liked me) that I would work, but, I was still going to celebrate my birthday. He said sure!!
He wasn't really prepared for what that really meant.
First thing in the am I got a huge bouquet of flowers delivered (from my hubs) followed by another delivery that was my cake, from my favorite bakery.
Most of my family stopped by that day (luckily I worked in a jewelry store and not an office) to wish me Happy Birthday.
But, the best was when my sister came with my lunch she made stuffed shells ( my fav meal) a giant salad and punch served in Waterford crystal bowl off the shelf in the back of the store. The singing candle on the cake was a big hit too.
Oh, and when the balloons came he really laughed, he said "OK, maybe next year you can have the day off"
OK, back to my son.

Chad has been through a lot of pretty bad stuff the last few years (that's another story that could fill a book)
including a life changing injury. But, through it all he has had an amazing outlook and keeps up a brave front for his mama. He will always be the baby no matter how old he gets and I hope that his birthday will be the start of a great year for him.
He is working tomorrow so I will bring him dinner and balloons and his favorite birthday cake.

Happy Birthday Chad!! Hope you have a great year!

Love ya,

Mama

Getting motivated to exercise

. I was never an exercise fan and with my aching body it's not an easy thing for me to do.

I alway feel like the day after you work out, that's kinda like what Fibromyalgia feels like.

Along with days that your just exhausted for no reason add that to problems sleeping and, and aching from head down to the toes welcome to my life.

But, I know the only way I will make it to my goal weight is to start to exercise.

I started with some easy walking 2 weeks ago> It's only 15 minutes each time so far but, I will get to 30 minutes by next week.

I'm finding its really hard to get my self to go for my daily walks.

I decided that I will try for at least 3 days a week instead of every day.

I want to increase to 20 minutes this week. I went out sneaker shopping again today and still no luck finding the right pair. Who would have thought that it would be such a big deal finding a pair of sneakers that are comfortable.

I have never been a big fan of sneakers but, I am determined to find the perfect (or at least the most comfortable pair)

I need to get out and walk again tomorrow because its been 3 days since I went for a walk.

I have been busy taking care of the boys and helping Ree get things ready for the baby.

NO EXCUSES TOMORROW!!

Just some thoughts to share

It seems like we wait and wait all winter for the warm weather to get here. Winter always seems so long to me, I hate the snow and the cold. But, I especially hate the naked trees and the dirty snow.

I love spring and summer, but, this year it has been so rainy that it seems like we didn't have spring.

Our gardens were planted so late and are just starting to bloom now.

Today i realized that July is coming to a quick end and I haven't even been to the beach once.

I better get going and make some plans for some summer fun because by August I start panicking that winter will be here soon.

This year I just want to enjoy each day of the summer and not worry ahead about winter.

I have been busy doing a lot of nothing.

I did start my new healthy lifestyle plan and have lost almost 15 pounds since hubs big health scare

We have been eating really healthy and found a great site online to chart everything we eat.

It is amazing when you see your meals broken down to calories, fats, protein, carbs.

I finally realized why I'm so fat. It's also amazing how little food we really NEED!

I even started a walking routine last week. It has been a really long time since I did any exercise so I'm just starting off slow. A 15 min walk a few times last week. This week I will be doing 20 minutes and next week 30.

I will stay on the 30 minutes for a few weeks and see how it goes.

I go to the cemetery where my dad is to walk. It's a beautiful place and I put in a little flower garden for him, so now I go and water it before my walks.

I find it very peaceful and enjoy the quite time.

No vacation plans this year. It's jsut great having the time to enjoy each day.

Most days I don't have a plan and just wait to see where the day will take me, and I haven't had a boring day yet.

I'm getting to spend lots of time with my grandsons and that is something that I really find joy in.

It's great to see life through their eyes.

It's great having grandsons of different ages the twins are almost 3 now and nikko is 12.

So, I get to do a lot of different things.

Just days at home watching the little guys play in the yard is so much fun.

I went to the car races with Nikko and that was a great day too.

I took him to a movie with his fav cousin and was so shocked that I enjoyed seeing Transformers. It was a little nervous that I wouldn't like it and it was almost 3 hrs long, but it was a great movie. It brought back memories of when my son was that age and he had the some of the transformers that were in the movie.

I feel so lucky to have such a great husband who works so hard and lets me stay home.

I was a stay at home mom most of the time and now I'm a stay at home grandmother.

It's so great to be part of the wonderful memories my daughter is making for her family, and also making some great memories with my sons son..

Nikko is at a strange stage right now and I don't want us to drift too far apart. I will have to think of some things to do that he will enjoy.

I know that as he enters the teen years he won't want to spend as much time with his ole' Nana.

I'm also looking forward to the arrival of our first granddaughter.

she will be arriving at the end of October and we are very excited to finally meet her.

I got to see her on ultrasound a few times now and she is looking great.

I have a close bond with both my kids and feel so lucky to be part of the memory making with their kids.

Fathers Day

Here's a picture of my father with some of his siblings. 

My father is the one on the left in the back row.

He was 89 years old when he passed on from this life.

He was an amazing man, always with a smile and never complaining.  No matter what life dealt him, he would always just accept it.  He was a very hard working man, usually working 2 jobs to support his family.  He even found time to volunteer his time.

He was an auxiliary state trooper, and was very proud to wear the uniform.

  He was a veteran of World War II  and was very proud of his service time and had very fond memories of his travels overseas.

He was  a devoted husband and father, working hard and long hours to support his wife and 4 children.

He was a factory worker and never complained about his work.  He also had a part job for many years at a local liquor store. 

I can remember walking alone  to go and visit him at work at the store.  

He found time to spend with his children on Sundays, I have fond memories of days at the beach and the drive in movies,  and  he never missed a parade.

He loved our country and love the flag.

One of the things we do now at his cemetery site is to always make sure he has a new flag flying.

He loved the holidays and loved being in pictures.   

One thing  I will never forget about him is his beautiful smile.  

He was a happy man and lived a simple life never needed the biggest or the best of anything.

He never passed  a church without tipping his hat and making the sign of the cross.

He would never pass a penny on the street without picking it up, and my son, his first born grandson still talks about their penny walks.

He would take him by the hand since he was able to walk and they would go looking for pennies.  They never came home without any. 

Every year on his birthday we have a  picnic at his cemetery site. 

One of my sisters started this tradition. We have lunch and cupcakes and sing "Happy Birthday" and  the kids let balloons go up to heaven for him.  We even bring lottery tickets the scratch off kind to open there.   He was a Bingo, casino, card playing lover.  He was always waiting for a big win.   He did have some nice small wins but, never the big one that he wanted.

We even put some tickets in his pocket before they closed the casket.

Another thing that I do is get lunch at his favorite outdoor hot dog stand and a few scratch off tickets and visit the cemetery over the summer a few times.

 He wanted a nice stone in the cemetery so we can always find him.

So we go quite often to visit all the kids really enjoy our trips to see grandpa and now the great grand kids are enjoying the visits.

I hope this tradition keeps up I know he would love it.

The cemetery where he is doesn't allow you to put things at the grave site, they like it nice and clean, but, we always manage to leave some change and a flag or another treasure that the kids made for him.

Fathers day is this Sunday and it's a sad day for me, I really miss my dad and wish I could just see him again.  I would tell him I love him,  I feel like I didn't get to tell him that enough while he was here. 

All I have now of him is memories and pictures and his favorite hat and flannel jacket and his blanket with a million dollar bill on it.

I keep his hat on a chair in my bedroom so I can see it daily and I put it out in the dining room on the holidays.

My dad came from a large family and in the picture above there are some of his siblings notice the big smiles they all loved the camera (not something I inherited).

The only 2 living now are the 2 to his right one sister Angeline (Julie) and one brother Victor (Vic) they are the 2 babies of the family.

We recently lost Margaret at the age of 96, she is sitting on the bottom row left and the sister in the middle Caroline lived till her 102ND birthday and Concelia was 97 when she passed.

There quite a few more that died a little younger.

They were a great family and stayed close their whole lives.

It was wonderful having a large family and getting to spend holidays and summers together.

I'm still close to lots of my cousins and all of their families.  It's a great comfort to me to have cousins that I'm close to.   I hope our children will continue to keep some of the family traditions going.

I get to see my dad's smile in the faces of my grandsons.

Happy Father's Day Dad  I miss you and love you.   See you Sunday.

Health update

Thought I should post an update on hubs health.

he is doing great.  still trying to figure out this whole insulin and blood levels. It does get a little frustrating for him not knowing yet when he will have high and low readings and which foods are causing it.  But, he has been very serious about monitoring and following his diet.

It's so hard to believe that it's been almost a month now and we are both following a very strict diet.

I figured it will easier if we both do this new life style.  I really need to lose some serious weight so this has been great.

Not sure how much we have lost I have some wacky thing with the scale. When i weigh myself on a diet if I get on the scale it makes me cheat with my eating. Its so weird, so now I just don't get on it every day.  I actually don't have one at my house because a few years ago when I was on weight watchers i used to weigh myself every time I passed by it.

So, I will wait until my clothes get baggier till I get on one again.

My doctor will be so happy when I go see him next month, he has been bugging me for years to lose some weight. (he's so skinny and thinks everyone should be)

This time it has been really easy to stay on a plan, I found some great websites to help.

One being livestrong.com and the other is sparkpeople.com

they both have calorie calculators on them that break everything down like calories, fat, protein and more.   they also have lots of other tools and groups for support.

Its great seeing the breakdown and it really helped us see why we are overweight.

For some reason its easy to gain only eating small amounts of bad food, but, when your losing its weird that we are stuffed and can't make it to our calorie goals most days. 

I guess stuffing yourself with water and fruit and veggies and only small amounts of carbs and proteins its easier to get full.  you only need a few oreos or a whopper to gain weight and be full, but, it takes lots of veggies to get to the same calories count.

I actually feel much better too, so I guess we both have learned a lot from this scare.

I hope we continue on our new healthy life style for a long, long, time.

I'm planning on losing until the end of December. its going to be my Christmas gift to myself. 

I'm so curious to see what i will look like if I can lose at least 40 pounds by then.  

think I'm going to have to start exercising in a few more pounds. Yuck

Health Scare Medical Miracles

On Friday while doing some gardening my hub was complaining that it was really hot out and he was sweating. Of course being the loving wife that I am I told him he was sweating because he had on hot jeans and a long sleeve shirt on.  

When he came in for a second glass of water and was hunched over sweating I thought he just wanted some company outside to watch him weed.

By now he was feeling pretty yucky and was sweating and nauseous.  I started weeding and felt a little hot too. So we took a break and were talking to a neighbor who stopped by to chat.

By now hub was really feeling crummy.  I yelled at him and said it was 2 and he missed lunch and his blood sugar level must be too low. ( he is a diabetic that loves sweets) so insisted that he should check his sugar level.  he sent me in to get him machine because now he felt pretty weak.

He couldn't remember exactly where it was because he hadn't checked his levels in over 2 weeks.

Finally, he found it and showed me the reading. thinking that it was going to be low I wasn't prepared to see  FIVE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE.   

Now my neighbor was going nuts too and told him he should get to the ER.

I knew he wasn't going to agree to do that so tried him to call his doctor.

He wanted to wait an hour after he showered to see if he would feel better.

My neighbor left and called me when she got home and said she called her friend who is an RN and she said that he needed to get to the ER she told me to call an ambulance.

Knowing that the hub would go nuts if I did that I convinced him to go to his doctor and would let him give him the news.

Of course the doc went nuts too and told him he needed to go to the ER asap.

so off we went.

I'm still thinking that it was a diabetic problem, but after we get to the ER he started to spill his guts and told them he had shortness of breath and some chest pain.

when they asked him how long it was going on for. thinking he was going to say an hour or two, he said 2 weeks!!!!!

Now, I was starting to think maybe it was something heart related too.

SO after lots of tests it was determined that he didn't' have a heart attack.

Oh yeah, I thought.

Well, now they are thinking a heart specialist should be called in just to be safe since he was having symptoms and has a really bad family history of heart problems.

Both of his parents died in their 70's from complicated heart problems including both of them having bypass surgery for clogged arteries.

The heart doc said to be safe he should stay for the weekend and and have a stress test.

Not the news hub wanted to hear but, knew it was the best thing to do.

After some more talking the doc decided instead of stress test he should have a cardiac catherization.

Where they go in and look at the arteries and check for blockages.

SO he spent the night in the cardiac unit with a room mate.

Now we are both very compassionate people but, after no sleep all night because his roommate was yelling all night and tried to escape a few times and emptied his urinal all over his bed and then to end the night  he was naked and pooping all over the floor. 

Hubs decided he would be better off coming home to rest and go back on Monday for his test.

Monday the doctor came in to do the catherization, they decided that he was able to go in through his wrist instead of through the groin oh happy day!

By this time I prepared myself to hear the news that there was a blockage and was relieved to hear there was only one.

luckily in our town a new heart center was put in place at our hospital so the doctor was able to continue on and unblock the artery and place a stint in to hold it open.

All this was done in just a little over an hour and required only a one night stay.

Luckily, all was well and he even had a private room.

He was able to come home today and is feeling great.

Of course now a new life style will start and medication and a new way of eating will begin.

I told him today when I picked him up "Welcome to the first day of your new life"

We felt very lucky that the problem was found and fixed before any serious damage happened.

Now that he's home safe and sound I realized how lucky we really are.