A Blog in Time.....

Fat Girl in the House!

2009-11-13T15:24:00.000-08:00

So I went to my 3rd kickboxing class this week.. and after I finished and went to work and did a bunch of stuff and was driving back from the bank I realized that I had been discriminated against by the girls that I shared the kickboxing bag with. It was a full class, I got my bag early and I shared my bag with two other girls. I think I was one of the "stockiest" (shall we say) girls in the room.... all the others were skinny (or scrawny - LOL!), and so we had at the class. The music started and we were punching and kicking. I stopped about 20 minutes in to have a drink of water and one of the girls said "we're almost done"... like I was giving up or something. I said, "OK". I guess because I turn red. I always turn red, it's just what I do. So we kept kicking and punching. The class was hard, but not that hard. The martial arts class that I had on Wednesday was HARD!! Swinging Kettlebells, is HARD!!! This stuff is nothing compared to that! So I was watching each of them, one by one.. huffing and puffing... stopping and getting water, bending over to catch their breath until ultimately I lost both of my bag partners. They both left early... they couldn't hang with the fat girl!

I think when people automatically think that you are out of shape because of your shape and... being invisible are two of the biggest things that piss me off about my body shape.

So bring it on Bitches!!

I guess I need to work on that?! LOL!!

Workouts 11-9-09 & 11-10-09

2009-11-10T17:03:00.000-08:00

11-9-09

9:15am to 10:00am Cardio Kickboxing

6:30pm to 7:15pm Martial Arts

Coffee/real cream
leftover pork/creme fraiche/bacon (made by our friend from Germany)
fage yogurt/honey crisp apple 1/2
guacamole, homemade tortillas (2)
Chayote tamale
1/3 cup Ben & Jerry's boysenberry sorbet
1 gallon water

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
11-10-09

5:45pm to 6:00pm Kettlebells - 12kg 210 swings.. then I pooped out!! Kind of a slow start, but a start. I have a plan to increase my swinging. I'm taking it from the "Swing Queen's" playbook Tracy Reifkind. I know I have it in my to push through but I thought I'd start slow since I'm already worn out from starting kickboxing again and doing 4 days of martial arts. I've been doing pushups and the kicks are giving me some sore hamstrings... they feel sore but not bad.

coffee/real cream
fage yogurt, 1/2 honey crisp apple
matzo cracker/butter
2 slices of sliced turkey from deli/1 slice of horseradish cheddar cheese
Barefoot Contessa recipe for oven roasted chicken (yummy recipe)... chicken breast and roasted vegetables
1 gallon of water

I feel really motivated, but really tired.. but in a good way. I need to keep moving or I will just sit here and stay on the computer! It feels really good to swing the bell again... it doesn't hurt me in any way, I just need to build up my stamina. YAY!!!

Life is Good

2009-11-08T10:17:00.000-08:00

Not much blogging going on, but a lot of life going on. I was going to title this blog post something like.. beginning again or something like that, but that wouldn't be accurate because I've been doing quite a lot! I'm moving along in martial arts. I'll be testing for my next belt on December 10th. I'll be a Yellow Belt. Quite an accomplishment for someone that hasn't tested in forever!! There are a group of women that have come together and we cheer each other on. We're about the same age and it helps to get each other to class and we work together on our kicks and punches and techniques. It makes is easier when you feel like you want to quit. I'm really enjoying myself and while I need a lot of work and absolutely everything, I'm relaxing into it a lot more and not being so hard on myself as I was in the beginning and now know that it's a process. I'm tired a lot, but it's a good tired. My body is getting used to the moves and is liking it all.

The next piece of the puzzle that I'm adding back into my routine is my other love... kettlebells! Greg and I were so happy to have our friends Mark and Tracy Reifkind stay with us a few weeks ago (we don't get to see them enough!) and while they were we had a living room KB seminar. It was so fun! Everyone got a turn having their swing critiqued by Tracy and Mark!! I miss swinging so much and since I've had some issues... Mark addressed that as well and I swear he fixed me! I really see myself being fixed. I get so mad at the time I waste with doctors. It's hard to be mad at them because they mean well.. but they just are so damn clueless!

But the good news is that I feel really great! I've had a major breakthrough in the way my body feels. It's improved my sleep, the way I move and what I can do for my exercise... and that means swinging!! Very, very exciting.

Also when Tracy is here she inspires me not only in movement but in cooking. She is such a natural cook and I am very intimidated by her skills since I am self taught and do everything backwards... it usually gets the job done, but I don't usually use much in the way of spices... part of that is due to one of the medications that I am on...it skews the taste buds (which I think I'm going to get myself off of... I won't need it once I am better.. right?!)

but I've always been a cook, I just like the way that Tracy cooks. Tracy incorporates so many more wonderful vegetables that I haven't even considered. When she was here she taught me how to roast Butternut Squash. Seems simple enough, right? Well, I'd never done it before. It's wonderful! I made it again last night for a friend along with some Chile Verde Pork Shoulder in the pressure cooker, of course! LOL.. It was really yummy and my friend thought I was a genius. I'm sure that Tracy would have added some extra pizazz to it. I was trying to think of the extras I could have added... but it was a last minute meal and it tasted pretty dang good. That's probably the biggest obstacle for me is my lack of planning. I'm still fighting my fatigue and so I end up not having everything I need or maybe from inexperience I don't know what goes together. I'm sure I'll figure it out. Bottom line is that everyone had a good dinner... The pressure cooker ROCKS as usual! I'm so lucky to have good friends like Tracy and Mark and thankful that I'm feeling really good again!

House cleaner Splurge didn't quite work out :)

2009-09-16T22:22:00.000-07:00

Sooooo....my last post I mentioned that I was going to hire someone to clean my house a couple times a month to help me out. Well we were all ready to have her start on Tuesday. She met with us on Sunday afternoon and she seemed really fine and ready to go.. but when Tuesday morning rolled around things got a little strange. You know sometimes when you get a feeling about things? The night before for some reason I had a thought that she might not show up.. I'm not certain why, but it just popped into my head.

She showed up alright...I saw her park her car. We had the front door open and she walked up onto the deck but not quite all the way to the door. She stood there for a moment and I thought that possibly she forgot something so I left her alone. Greg saw her walk up and down the stairs twice and finally I saw her get into her car and drive away. Very strange.

Again, I thought...giving her the benefit of the doubt...that possibly she forgot something at home. But I finally told Greg that I had the feeling that she really didn't want to do the work for us for some reason. I walked to the back of the house and I guess the phone rang and it was her. She told Greg that she had come to the front door and it was closed (untrue), she had rang the doorbell three times (untrue)...and Greg told her that we were here waiting for her.. then she said something like "let's just leave it at that, thank you".. very strange!

I guess I'll be doing my own cleaning for the time being... dang! :) Oh well, I need to just snap to it!!

....=====.....=====....=====....======....======....=====

Looks like I'll be testing for my next belt on September 24th. This will bring me to my Orange/stripe. I've been an Orange belt for about 6 years due to illness and other obstacles so I'm very anxious to move ahead. The next test will be in December which I should test for my Yellow belt and I'm hoping by my next birthday to be a Green belt. To me that would be soooo awesome to be that far along in my training... it would mean so much to me and my health... but just this itty bitty test this next Thursday is a big deal to me. Since it's been so long and I have such stage fright, I just have got to get through this.. cross your fingers for me!

Tired and Sore... Oh My!

2009-09-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

I've been cooking, cleaning and working... also fighting off a virus or some such thing for the past week and a half. We just sent our neice on her way with her Mother, Grandmother and her sister this morning. They all stayed at the house last night which was nice, but we don't have guests a lot and rarely four at a time so I was rushing around getting everything ready for everyone.

I get embarrassed about my house because I'd like to have a nicer one, but I don't...and I'd always like it to be cleaner and more organized...but it isn't.... and I'd like to have more energy to do the projects in my head to decorate it cuter... but I don't. So I just did what I could, made it comfortable for them. Cooked them Mexican food like they requested and homemade brownies for the girls.. So it was nice.

We had a birthday party to go to this afternoon for a client/friend that I made a lemon drizzle cake to share this morning after they left. It was a nice party since I hadn't seen these people for a long time and we got to reconnect with one of my favorite doctors that was there too. Really nice people. We spent the whole time talking to him and his wife. We got back home just in time for Greg to watch the USC game.... I should take a nap before we have to go to his parents house to watch a movie.

I'm splurging on us if she will have us. We have a woman coming over to our house tomorrow to talk to us about cleaning our house once or twice a month. I don't have a big house or even a fancy house... but I'm seriously not very good at it or do I have the energy or the time. We are getting really busy at work and I'm training for my black belt (even if it IS a few years away...I still train four nights a week after working five days a week).... and I do physical therapy three times a week.. I run out of time... so we'll see if she wants to do it for us and it would be great to have someone to help me and then I can just focus on other things.

Farmgirl Fare: What To Do With All Those Green Tomatoes? Try My Salsa-Like, No Sugar Green Tomato Relish Recipe!

2009-09-07T15:15:00.001-07:00

I have a bunch of green tomatoes and thought this was a GREAT IDEA! I'm going to try this.. Way better than making Fried Green Tomatoes.. don't ya think? LOL!! ;)

Farmgirl Fare: What To Do With All Those Green Tomatoes? Try My Salsa-Like, No Sugar Green Tomato Relish Recipe!

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Sunday - 9/6/09

2009-09-06T00:34:00.001-07:00

I love this picture from the dojo. These are the dogs of our Hapkido Master that come in every day and are so good. They wait patiently behind the counter until it's time to go home. Somebody put a sparring helmet on them and shot this picture and it's so cute.. the others are dancing in the background.

So after my last post things got a lot better. I calmed down and went back to class and passed some of the things I needed to get through to get ready for my next test on September 24th. I'm super nervous and probably making a bigger deal out of the whole thing than I need to. But it's been over 4 years since I've done a test, so... that's what I'm going to do, make a big deal. A few tests under my belt (literally) and I'll probably be more calm about my tests and the whole process, but for now I'm neurotic and I really want to do a good job. I'm also trying to get my body to do things that it's not exactly easy for it to do right now. With all of the Physical Therapy that I've been going through... in fact my Physical Therapist told me specifically NOT to do martial arts... we think that she thinks that it's like WWF SMACK DOWN.. but it's not. My doctor does know that I'm doing it and he's fine with it as long as it doesn't hinder my progress towards fixing the Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. I seem to be getting better.. so I'm still going. In fact I want to be doing more.. I'd love to add kettlebells to my routine, but I really don't think my form is that good and I'm not good at self correction and my husband isn't that good at it either (although if you ask him, he'd tell you he's an expert.. ha!). I'm hoping that Tracy and/or Mark when they visit in October will have time to give me some pointers to get me on the road to using the KB's again without injury.

I really feel I am an athlete but I am not living as one. My diet has gotten all wacked out since I tried eating a vegetarian diet for a while, but that didn't go so well. I was eating too much cheese and not getting enough protein because I seriously don't like tofu, which can be a problem. I like it OK as a food but I'm concerned about the estrogen value in it and so I really didn't want to eat that much of it. I just don't know what I was thinking. My diet was really good and I mucked it all up for a few months.. now I have to regroup and go back to what I was doing before. My energy is still pretty low and so cooking is what I really love to do.. but it's not easy when I feel crummy. I hate eating out.....and Greg doesn't really cook.. nothing that I like to eat anyway... so I just have to get my act together and muster up some kind of game plan if I want to have a decent meal.

So, priorities need to be set and my friend Tracy has always been a wonderful example for me and in my opinion for EVERYONE... although she has boundless energy which I only wish I had! Planning is key and that's what I'll do with our meals since Greg will eat what I eat and we both work out at the martial arts studio doing kickboxing and Hapkido. I'd love to do Yoga too... but I'm not able to at this time. I'd also like to add some walking to this as well. Work, gardening and house cleaning and that about rounds out the schedule for us. That will fill it up.

So... back to what works....at least what makes me feel good.

Jump Spinning Heel Kick 2 Boards - Master Austin Curtis

2009-09-01T15:59:00.001-07:00

To Blog or Not To Blog

2009-09-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

Boy I haven't blogged in forever. I just haven't felt it. Not too much to share really. Working mostly on my body.. unhinging the thoracic outlet syndrome with physical therapy three times a week, working out at the dojo. Had a little meltdown last night with the dojo stuff.. but I'm probably just a bit sensitive because I'm working so hard and the black belt that was testing me is known for being really rough. I haven't tested in over 4 years and am trying to get into my groove and this guy is just knit picking me to death (in my opinion).... trying to get past it with a a few tears and deep breaths. I don't know if it's a matter of age or a matter of injuries or the medications that I'm still on... but damn it, I don't like feeling weepy. Thought I had thicker skin than this!! My wonderful husband wants to slam the guy since he's a black belt too, but he can't and shouldn't for that matter. He just wants to protect me and I appreciate that. I found out a few minutes ago that I wasn't the only one that this guy made cry last night, so at least I don't feel like it was totally unfounded... anyway, I'll get over it in a few days... I just don't want to hate going to classes.. I was getting really excited about being back in martial arts, I don't want this to change it for me.

So that's what I'm doing.. work, PT, martial arts.. oh.. gardening too. The summer garden is pretty much gone even though the weather is still very warm but it's time to replant. We're going to begin planting broccoli and have already planted artichokes and replant some lettuces and carrots and not sure what else.

Back to blog with something interesting :)

Back in the Saddle Again

2009-05-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

Well, howdy do there! Talk about not keeping up with my blogging! I guess I just don't have a lot to say these days, or possibly just not the time to do it. Maybe just a bit of both. The good news is that I'm feeling sooooo much better. I've lost weight, I'm back to martial arts, I'm clearer headed, I'm cooking up a storm with my pressure cooker..I've got a rock'in vegetable garden... and, get this.... I'm cleaning my house like crazy!!

I know.. it's insane! I will spontaneously clean a closet for NO GOOD REASON!!! This has all come about because the doctor says I'm getting more blood to my brain... I guess you need that, huh?! Isn't that crazy? You never think that you have to worry about things like that... that your body just puts the blood where it's supposed to go, right?.. well, apparently not. I've got a kink in my blood supply around my shoulders and with the help of my wonderful Physical Therapist, Elisa, she's freeing up the blockage(she really is a doll... and I've been to others and I know she knows her stuff...but she's tough as nails too!).

It's a lot of hard work. I'm always doing these exercises to keep my shoulders back, squeezing my muscles and they are sore constantly. I have to put my neck in the right position although it doesn't feel like the right position.. she calls the wrong position "turtle neck".. but the right position gives me too many double chins! But I guess it's right over my shoulders. Anyway, it's difficult for me to always "feel" when I'm corrected, but I'm learning. Elisa says that I've improved very quickly since my doctor has said that it would take 8 months to a year to see any change and it's only been a few months for me. The next work we are doing in on my abdominals... OY!! These are difficult because 1) I have always been lazy in this area, and 2) this is where I was cut during surgery 13 years ago and these muscles haven't been used since I learned to work around them.. especially the obliques...now to engage them, they are like spoiled children and they don't want to play. But I will beat them into submission!! Eh, comrade ladies!! LOL!

I have planted my vegetable garden for the season. It is beautiful. We had a small patch of lawn in the back of our house. Very small and not used much and it was turned brown from all of the fires that we have had here in Santa Barbara... also from me not paying a lot of attention to it! At one time I had a huge garden at another home and grew almost all of my own food and food for a lot of my friends. I loved doing it and I wanted to feel that love again so we had two raised beds built and now we are back in the food business again on a smaller scale. My husband is excited about the tomatoes and really wants to grow corn, but our space doesn't allow for us to grow things as high as an Elephants eye (i.e., Oklahoma!)... I told him that we'd leave that for the local growers.... he was sad, but he'll be happy when he sees the bumper crop of fresh tomatoes and zucchini... (zucchini bread, zucchini muffins, stuffed zucchini, zucchini ala king, etc....) :)

With my new found energy like I said I am now cleaning! For years I just felt like crap. It wasn't that I didn't want to do anything, I thought about everything that I wanted to do, I made lists, I drew pictures, I made plans... I just never had the energy to actually DO IT! Now, with the whole blood to the brain and other parts of my body....very much helps.... I'm actually getting these LONG needed things done! We took a trip to Burbank yesterday and visited Ikea... OMG! I LOVE that store. If we didn't have to be back in Ventura by 5:30 to have dinner I would have stayed there until closing. We had to just go in, figure out how the whole Ikea experience worked, look at the beds/mattresses, do the measuring...then find the item and leave.. but I could have stayed and outfitted my whole house... and let me tell you, it certainly needs it! In retrospect, maybe it was better that we had to leave right away since I may have had to mortgage my house to pay for everything that I wanted. Gotta love those Swedes though, everything was so eficient... not all to my taste, but I just like decorating and the storage stuff, WOW.. when you live in a house with very little storage... you REALLY like the storage stuff!!

There is probably more going on.. but that's enough for now.. I'll try to post more often... if anyone is still reading.. if not, that's OK.. it's just good to get it all out there.

SUPRISE!!

2009-04-06T23:26:00.000-07:00

I'm still here!! OH MY GOSH... we are so busy... every dang minute is filled with things to do! Things are still really good.. NO JOKE.. we are doing great.. business is good. My body is really getting better... I'm losing weight - very slowly...but dang it, it's finally moving. I've spent years busting my ass and this thoracic outlet stuff blocked everything... so as I'm unblocking, it's moving and it's easier for me to sleep and do just about everything else too... GREAT!

We tore out the back lawn and going to put in a vegetable garden. I'm really looking forward to that. All kinds of perks there....lower grocery bills, yummy, fresh food... and since I just had my first mojito this weekend, I MUST grow my own fresh mint to keep those mojitos flowing!!! Yeah BABY!!

OK, I'm on facebook now too: http://www.facebook.com/ come play... Jennifer Meeker Mishkin.

Everything is GREAT!!

2009-02-08T20:21:00.001-08:00

Hi.. is there anybody out there???

I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't. I haven't posted here since the beginning of the year. Not because things have been bad, but because things have been really, really GOOD! We have been so incredibly busy with our business. We thought that we'd have some time off over the holidays, but we've been going non-stop. It's really been great for us. I've even hired an employee to help us, which we've needed for a long time and now we can afford it with the new clients that we've taken on... so..... things are great.

I got confirmation that I have thoracic outlet syndrome with a really cool 3-D MRI at UCLA. My vascular system is pretty clogged up but I've been working with a great physical therapist and just in a short time I've made some progress. The bummer for the short term is that I can't lift more than 5lbs, this includes a purse, weights, kettlebells.. anything. I'm using a special vest during the day for a short time to help train my shoulders back (it's way more technical than that...there are a lot more muscles involved...but shoulders is the easy description)... and I wear the vest at night when I sleep to help open my chest up so I can sleep through the night because they found that one of the reason that I wake up every two hours is because not enough blood gets to my brain because of the thoracic outlet syndrome and so my body wakes me up, then I stand up, then I go back to sleep...then the cycle starts over again.. with the vest, I've been sleeping through the night.. I'm on night number 5.. It's amazing to have some good sleep in me for a change!

So life is good. Business is good and my body is getting squared away.. yahoooooooo!!!

Orca tries to sink kayak

2009-02-06T18:14:00.001-08:00

Whoa!

Another year

2008-12-31T09:28:00.000-08:00

They go so fast, don't they? It used to seem like summer and winter breaks used to last forever.. now they just blink away.. and they are just another day. We're always having fun and doing what we want most of the time so we're basically on holiday year round... Tracy just posted about this very thing.

I've been under the weather for a few weeks with a low grade virus... so no posts here. Working and doing my home physical therapy and that's about it... I'm just a party animal! :) Tonight is our big New Year's Eve celebration with the Geezers... the fun starts at 5:30pm at the chinese restaurant... Greg and I will be the only people at the table under 70! It'll be fun.

Everyone have a great New Year and there will be lots of great things ahead in this life for all!

WPIX Yule Log

2008-12-24T21:45:00.001-08:00

put another log on the fire.. this one is really warm!

CHRISTMAS YULE LOG FIREPLACE (The Original)

2008-12-24T10:01:00.001-08:00

Member this one??? A tradition!

Merry Christmas Ya'll!

Guitar Swap.....and do it as an athlete!!

2008-12-10T22:09:00.000-08:00

Today we did a little guitar swapping. We went from a acoustic Gretsch to an electric Gretsch. Don't they look COOL!!! They sound even cooler!! I'm having so much fun learning and I'm really having fun playing electric.. this is my first time. I'm practicing every day and making progress every day. It's a really great creative outlet like cooking and painting but in a different way. It helps to keep the TV off in the house and that's been a real problem for Greg. He is so talented and it's so great to see him play music again.

I'm turning my middle weird room in our house into a Martini lounge and the featured band every night is OUR BAND!!! How fun is that??!! I'm going to put stars on the ceiling and still figuring out how I'm going to set it up and decorate it.. something cute and fun.

12 more days til I go to UCLA for my big MRI test to see what's going on inside my shoulder/neck area. My neck has been super stiff lately and arms and hands keep wanting to fall asleep.. bugs the crap out of me. I can't wait to hear what they find. I'd love to know a way to relax my neck and shoulder muscles easily... I've always held a lot of stress in that area of my body and I'm sure that my lifestyle as well as the jobs I've had contributed to this. All of the data entry I've done forever didn't help... plus carrying heavy purses and lifting heavy weights and not standing up straight or who knows what else. I just hope that I am connected to the right people so that I can do the exercises that I need to do to relieve this without surgery. I will do anything to fix this and fix the sleep apnea and every other thing.. I'm done with all of the health problems... I got off of all of the medicine before and I felt great.. but I just couldn't get away from this on my own and I trust my neurologist. He really did save me from Bell's Palsy.. if it wasn't for him I would have ended up with a terribly crooked face. He has been the only doctor that has treated the whole body and he doesn't over do anything. He gets right to the point... it's just that this stupid MRI test takes forever to get into because it's so specialized. So once it's done we're on our way and we can really zero in on the physical therapy....

as for the physical therapy... starting tomorrow I am going to approach it as the athlete* that I am. I have a home PT program that I am working on... as an athlete. Then when I am recovered enough to be able to work again with Kettlebells and do Bikram Yoga, I will do those...as an athlete... because I am!

Damn Straight!

*as inspired by Tracy Reifkind! I'm forever inspired by Tracy

Zakk wylde - 'farewell ballad' solo - Original

2008-12-08T16:37:00.001-08:00

Here's Zakk Wylde playing the guitar that I'm going to get

Good Day...

2008-12-08T16:16:00.000-08:00

I got to talk to one of my most favorite people today.... (you know who you are!) thank you for that! I enjoy having a nice chat with a friend. Lord knows I have so few of them and it's just nice, nice, nice!!!

Today I also got a new-to-me electric guitar amp that will go perfectly with the electric guitar that we are going to get to add to our collection.. I'm posting the You Tube video of the guy Zakk Wylde playing the electric guitar named after him. It's called a Bull's Eye... but it looks like a bumble bee to me. I've never played an electric guitar before. I'm so excited though... fun stuff.

Finishing up the last of the business Christmas cards.. yahooo! That's been hanging over my head and I'm glad to get that task off of my list.

OK.. off to make dinner and play guitars. Rock ON!!

Full Days... Full Steam Ahead

2008-12-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

Today I filmed a family of 4 test for their black belts together. My husband (pictured here.. isn't he cute) trained them and is soooo dang proud! It was their dad, two twin girls 15 years old and their 17 year old sister who actually looks younger! They are the cutest thing and they make me ache for kids! But it was just and honor to be able to watch them test and pass. I hope that I was able to capture their test on film for them so that they can see how great they did. We're all so proud.

Greg and I are going to take them down to the skating rink tomorrow afternoon to celebrate. Their parents have opted out. I think they are worn out and want to stay home. But Greg and I are going to kick their butts and skate their little tails off. Greg and I are both excellent skaters. After all I do have lights in my wheels and everything! It'll be fun.

I'm very anxious to get back to my regular workouts again. December 22nd can't come fast enough for me and then to see my doctor to talk to him about the next steps to get my juices flowing.... I'm ready to move my body more and get a good sweat going!

Guitar stuff is going great too... practicing every day. Making slow progress, but just enjoying the pace. I like that it's keeping the TV off. Greg had the TV on way too much and I couldn't get him to turn it off and I was getting so depressed watching all of the negative stuff coming out of there. I like the music coming out of the guitar now. It's relaxing, creative and I feel accomplished!

Oh, made some yummy Olive tampanade for a party tonight. It was so easy and yummy. Everyone loved it! I have to remember to write that one down.

Going to paint my bedroom and bathroom next week, turn my back room into a martini lounge for fun... plant a winter garden.

OK, off to clean my rollerskates. Cheers!

More than just Thanksgiving...

2008-12-01T17:57:00.001-08:00

I thought I was just tired from all of the running around and cooking and visiting from the long weekend and the holiday... but it seems that I've come away with a little more than good cheer. One of the kids at the first Thanksgiving celebration that we went to had a cough but we didn't think much about it until last night when I kept being grumpy and couldn't shake the tiredness. Not sure if it's from that little guy but might as well blame him, right?! :)

So I'm pooped and achy and kind of grumpy and wish I wasn't because I have a lot of things that I'd rather be doing and more than that, things that I should be doing. I have Christmas cards to send out. I have Christmas decorations to put out and I have gift lists to begin assembling. I even have a party to go to in two days! So I'd better get better. Luckily I made some really good Turkey soup in my pressure cooker yesterday. Yum!

2 Turkey Dinners and I'm beat!

2008-11-29T15:07:00.000-08:00

Yes 2 dinners!

One kosher, one traditional and no leftovers! Now my husband wants me to cook our own turkey at home. I'm beat, bushed, tired, wiped out! But I'll probably give in since I like turkey and love turkey soup but I told him to give me a day to recover and I'm sure I can get me a turkey on sale and I'll stick it on our Ronco "set-it-and-forget-it" rotisserie and it will turn out just yummy.

That's the biggest bummer about eating Thanksgiving at everyone else's house. Not the part about waking up to no dishes, but the part about waking up to no goodies! So I made us some olive tapenade (sp) for a snack and we're going over to Greg's parents for leftover dinner tonight and I think I'm going to take my pressure cooker with me so I can put some soup on while we're eating and watching a movie.

Tomorrow is my day to work on home projects and finish up my business Christmas Cards... start thinking about getting a Christmas tree at home too... when we were driving home from Thanksgiving dinner from Santa Monica the Christmas tree lots were open and in full swing.. those guys don't miss a beat, I swear!

Hope everyone is enjoying family over this holiday weekend...I'm not shopping for one thing.. that's not my bag. Too much stress!

Gobble, Gobble!!

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

2008-11-23T10:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.tosinfo.com/
http://www.mountsinai.org/Other/Diseases/Thoracic%20outlet%20syndrome

The above link is a look at what I've been diagnosed with. I'm going to have a 3D MRI on Dec 22nd with Dr. Collins at UCLA, the premier specialist in his field. I can't begin to say that I understand fully Thoracic Outlet, but when my Neurologist took my blood pressure in the normal position and then with my arm overhead and the pressure and pulse went away completely he knew that I had some form of Thoracic Outlet.

This could explain a number of complaints that I've had over the years including sleep apnea, bloating, high blood pressure (even when medication is administered).. and other things that doctors tried to throw medications at.

So I'm hopeful that this simple test will show something... it can't hurt and my insurance is paying for it so what the hell, right?!

OK, I'm really going now! BYE!

LOST HIGHWAY by Hank Williams

2008-11-23T03:12:00.001-08:00

Classic...

My Guitar

2008-11-22T19:54:00.000-08:00

Here's my new toy and I'm not half bad at it! We're having fun playing Tom Petty, Eagles, Hank Williams, The Traveling Wilbury's and all kinds of other songs! It's really clearing my head. I need the creative outlet. Painting is my other one.

Tracy if you still read here anymore I read your reply to my post on your blog and since you have so many others posting I thought I'd just write here and tell you first off that Greg and I both LOVED having you here. You are always welcome... you and Mark both.. any time. You know that we have a humble home, but we are happy to have you if you guys ever want to get away.

I want to let you know that I am moving my body every day.. I'm walking every day. I'm going to physical therapy too and resurrecting some ab muscles that were cut in surgery way back in 1996. She's given me some great exercises which is great because I was having some back aches and some hip flexor problems and these exercises which are really simple, are really helping.. but I'm moving, I promise you... I just want to be doing my KB's and Bikram and because of the shoulder I'm not able to because when I put my arms over my head it cuts off the blood circulation (and sometimes it happens when there is any pressure on the shoulder).... but it's kind of weird and until they figure out how to get the blood flowing I can't do the KB's.. cuz everything goes numb.

So.. that's what I wanted to tell you.... you know your opinions and suggestions are always meaningful and welcome to me and I do listen to you.... but I'm still going to learn guitar (cuz I love it and I'm pretty good) AND I'm going to cook food AND move my body AND all of the other stuff cuz life is GOOD and I don't see any end in sight :) life is short.. but FULL!!! Love ya Tracy!

We're off to Federal Court tomorrow to put bad guys in prison for trying to steal money (and a bunch of other people too) on our credit cards.. there was a auto parts theft ring that the Secret Service has contacted us and wants us to testify this week.. so we are doing it. I hate people that cheat and think that they can take from other people... so here we go...

Live you life to the fullest!! Happy Thanksgiving All!!

I'll be posting guitar videos as soon as I can play a song without stopping... we'll see. I found a friend who can play drums.. he's our carpet guy and his wife plays guitar too I think and he said that we can all drink wine and the more wine we drink the better we'll sound! LOL!! THAT is the EXACT moment that we sound run the video!!! Freak'in Hillarious!!