Health Update 2

So I shared with you that my last doctor's appointment didn't go very well. Some of my meds were changed and my doctor, who I really like, had some frank words for me concerning my future if I didn't make smarter choices. So some changes were made and unmade and made again between the last visit and my visit last week. It was a much better visit this time. She was happy that I'd lost weight and had a plan to continue that trend. She was really excited for Ray and his weight-loss, even though he isn't her patient. She noticed the difference right off. It made me smile that my doctor was paying attention to my husband's health even though she wasn't being paid to do so. I've lost right at 15lbs and Ray has lost twice that amount.

I'd say she was happy about my blood pressure, but that would be an understatement...I received a hug! My blood pressure is finally normal, which is something it hasn't been in almost 3 years. In fact, I've been in stage 2 hypertension since diagnosed with high blood pressure. I've taken so many different types and combinations of medications to get it under control, but they've only been able to bring me down to stage 1 hypertension and even then it wasn't always that low. But now, all is well. the doctor actually made sure I understood that my continued weight loss could result in low blood pressure which would cause me to be sluggish and that I need to keep an eye on it. So now I'm keeping a weekly journal of my BP and we'll see how it goes from here.

It's been a good 11 weeks health-wise. I go back to the doctor in 13 weeks for my next quarterly check up and I must say, I really am looking forward to another hug!

Carrie Underwood Moment

I’m sitting in a comfy chair at the Starbucks inside of a local hospital while my friend has surgery and thinking about a story requested of me a few days ago. It’s a story I think of each time I hear Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” and it makes me smile and laugh.

Before I begin, it needs to be understood that this was not a date. The people I was out with were a gal I worked with, her husband and a guy that worked in the same department as us. The intent was that we would meet at Gilley’s for drinks and dinner, and then make our way to play pool. It should have been an enjoyable evening, probably not worth remembering in the grand scheme of things. Obviously, that’s not how it turned out.

First, let’s set the scene. I had spent 6 or so months holed up in the house fighting my own personal neurosis, had friendship end that caused more than just a little distress, had a difficult time finding a job after completing college, but things were finally looking up. I got a job, it was interesting, enjoyable and paid well. I was losing weight and jogging on a regular basis. I was making new acquaintances and friends. My shell was breaking. I was ready to have “fun”.

I’ve never been a wild, out of control person. It’s just not my style. I don’t enjoy crowds or noise. I’d never been much of a drinker. I think I drank more before I was 21 than I did 5+ years afterwards. I like to read, watch sports, listen to music, check out museums, look at and take pictures, eat at very yummy restaurants and cook. I’m pretty boring and I like it that way.

With that said, I’ve tended to draw towards people who are more social butterflies. My best friend since we were children is rambunctious. If there’s trouble, she’ll find it, or it’ll find her. I prefer not to be noticed most of the time. My college roommate was/is very much a people person. I tend to dislike the general public. My friend having surgery today, while she isn’t a social butterfly, she does like the “scene”. She prefers to be out and about amongst humanity. I like to be on my couch. Then there’s Ray. Ray was told once he “could sell ketchup on a stick” and another time that he’d be a great used car salesman. He’s a natural people person. He likes to hear and tell stories. He’s a talker. Then there’s the other side of Ray that prefers to sit on the couch with the laptop reading random things and watching Dr Who reruns all day. I prefer to listen to folks stories and I’ll take the laptop and TV too.

But after you spend months trying to figure out what normal is, things start falling into place again in your life and your feelings seem to have healed, it’s time to go out on the town and have a good time. Laptop closed, TV off, sexy outfits bought and on.  Anyone for last call?!? I'm over here!

So the four of us met up at Gilley’s. We were seating near the bar at a round table and ordered a couple of pitchers of margaritas. The night was already looking up! We sat around the table exchanging stories, eating, drinking and laughing it up. We were having a good time.

Now, the guy present that worked with us had a saga taking place in his life that he had been keeping us at work informed of and entertained with. It involved a girl who we fondly referred to as the Crazy (insert word that rhymes with “witch” here). The short version is that they went on a date, it hadn’t gone well and he thought he had been pretty clear that he wasn’t interested. Apparently he wasn’t crystal clear. She was stalking him. She called, left messages, continuously showed up at his house…it wasn’t good. Well, while we were having a grand time that evening, someone walked up behind him and started talking very loudly, but was slurring and obviously drunk. Three of the four of us at the table didn’t have a clue as to what was happening, except that some crazy  (insert word that rhymes with “witch” here) was really putting a damper on our little party. I’m still not sure what he told her, but she huffed off away from our table. He was very apologetic to us, explained that it was the crazy girl and that we should probably go ahead and make our way to play pool. Good idea!

We walk out of the restaurant, turn right toward where we had all parked, and OH MY GOSH! The chick was relentlessly keying his beautiful black, 4x4 Dodge pick-up! He yelled out at her, she turned and looked at us and he started running for her. Unfortunately for him he had hit the unlock button on his keys and she jumped into the truck and locked the doors and started keying his leather seats and dash. He finally remembered his keys, unlocked the doors and dragged her out. While he’s checking out his truck, she goes after the girl that’s with us yelling about how the guy is hers and she can’t have him. So our friends husband steps between them and explains their relationship and that she needed to go ahead and leave before she caused more of a scene. Well, in her drunken powers of deduction she decided I had to be the one dating him and decided to chat with me. And the fun started.

She got within inches of my face and started poking me in the chest and yelling that I needed to stay away from her man. Again, let’s all understand that I was NOT on a date. I was out with friends looking to blow off steam and have a good time. I stepped back and was trying to explain that I wasn’t dating her man and that she could have him if he wanted her and that we were cool. For every step I took back, she took one forward and got louder and got more irate by the step. The guy came over and got between us and was trying to calm her down. She was hysterical. Arms were flailing and snot was flying. At one point in him trying to talk to her she slapped the crap out of him. It wasn’t funny at the time, but afterwards when we’d talk about it, it was hilarious! He was close to six foot and she was shorter than me. It took much determination for her to reach up and get him. Take a second and imagine it…funny, huh? Told you.

He was a bit stunned that she had hit him and while he was recollecting himself, she made her way back around him to me. Yay! She went back to her lines of how he was hers and I needed to leave him alone, then she shoved me.

At this point in my life the only fight I had ever been in was with my sister growing up where we punched, shoved, hit and bit each other. Nothing serious. I gave a girl a bloody nose playing basketball once and yeah, it was on purpose, but well, I’d probably do it again now if the circumstances were the same.

So, the crazy chick shoved me and I took a step back. I told her not to touch me again. She stepped forward and shoved me again. I stepped back and reiterated my previous statement. She stepped forward and went to shove me again and I stepped aside and she fell forward onto the pavement. She was laying there crying and was having a hard time getting back up. I helped her up, told her she was going to be okay and left her to stand on her own. I thought we were done so I turned and was walking away. Then I hear my friend yell out my name and I turned and when I did, crazy chick was right there. She started slapping and scratching me. Way uncool. I was trying get away from her, but was pretty close to being backed up against the building and she was closing the gap between us quickly, so I pushed her away trying to make room for my own escape. Well she hit the ground, landing on her bum. Before I could get around her she was back up and in my face again, so I pushed her again and back to the ground she went. When she got back up she was going for my face and that apparently is where I drew the line because I punched her in the mouth. Down she went, crying of course. We were trying to get her back on her feet and over to a bench when she went after me again. This time I decided I was done. I grabbed her upper arms and shook her to get her attention. I got it. She wrapped her hands around my forearms and started steadily scratching my arms. I tried to get her to stop and she wasn’t having any of that, so I pushed her away from me as hard as I could. She hit the ground and rolled. When she finally got up she ran to her car and took off. Within minutes the sheriff’s department was there. We had to give our statements and when the sheriff got to “her man” it was obvious they knew each other. It turned out the sheriff was her father. He asked where she was and we told him she left. He sent his partner after her. We got to listen to the radio call back to him that he had her and she was drunk. Dad told his partner to take her in. WOW! Charges were filed against her for destruction of property, assault, DWI and driving with a suspended license. She had a full plate there.

I had to have my arms looked at before we could go. They looked bad. To this day I can show you proof of this evening on my arms. Thankfully it’s not too prominent.

Not sure if it needs to be said or not, but we didn’t play pool afterwards. I went to see a friend at work and get debriefed of the evening by her.

My crisp white, pearl button down shirt was ruined. Not only was there blood on it, mine and hers, but it was torn.

I loved that shirt.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I eventually did end up dating the guy. It didn’t last a year. It shouldn’t have lasted a week.

"I dug my key into the side

Of his pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive 

Carved my name into his leather seats."

In Response to Ray's Post on Our Second Date

For those of you who have read Ray’s blog about our second date, let me add a bit of fluff to the story from the wife’s point of view. For those of you who haven't read his post, go read it now.

I remember the moment I was told to stay away from Ray with great detail. The QA manager and I were walking down the dock together. For some reason or another I had been “loaned” to QA to assist with a project and would be walked through it that particular day. There were a number of people in our building who either utilized golf carts or bikes to maneuver through the warehouse and on this day there was a golf cart headed straight at us. Driving this cart was Walmart Ray. Really, when we needed something and we needed it from him, we’d page “Walmart Ray, please come to door XXX for assistance.”

It’s his fault. He told us to page him that way. I think it was because he was still a bit insecure about his last name. He had a run in with a Hispanic orderfiller in his previous DC who told him when he said his last name certain way, the way he’d always said it, it sounded like a derogatory phrase in Spanish. So, my assumption is that not only was there another Ray in the building that worked for the third party company, but there was a fear of someone thinking he was being ugly on the paging system. So Walmart Ray it was.

Well, Walmart Ray had helped me during my first few weeks on the dock as a supervisor to learn the computer system we were using and taught me how to read the paperwork that came from the traffic office so that I could effectively teach my associates how to know what to do when they received their packets. All that to say, I knew who he was and his personality. I had already pegged him as a certain type of male, one which I have a name for, but won’t put in this blog post.

So back to my walk with the QA manger. We were walking down the dock and we see the golf cart headed toward us so we take a step or so to the side so it can pass without fear of it plowing us into the cement. Apparently the manager had recognized Ray, because she smiled and waved and he did the same as he drove past us. She then stopped, so I did the same since she was leading the way, and she put her left hand on my right shoulder and said, word for word, “If that one comes anywhere near you, run the other way. Just run.” I smiled, laughed and told her I’d already figured him out. Her reply, “Good.” You could tell by the look on her face that she was serious.

I remember seeing him after he had the crap beat out of him and thinking to myself that he could use some humility in his life, but man, it really looked like it hurt! The gossip floated through the warehouse like the fog off a lake in the morning hours. It was thick and plentiful. The more I heard, the more I realized that there was a lot of truth to the gossip and then watched people look at him as he walked through the building as if he had the plague, which I guess could have been a possibility. (To type “haha” or not to type “haha”? Or would a smiley face be a better option? hmmm)

He asked me out the weekend after he returned to work. My answer was a simple, “No thank you.” While in my head I was thinking, “You just don’t learn, do you?”

I think I became a project at that point. You know, like collecting a full series of 2006 Topps All-Star baseball cards. (You like the reference back to his blog?) He was in the Traffic office every day that weekend, multiple times of day. He always needed something and it was always something mundane. He needed copies of this or a packet of that. It was always something. His office was in a completely different part of the building than mine, yet he still came to mine for copies. Paging Captain Obvious! Captain Obvious do you have a copy?

On Monday, February 13^th , 2006 (Yes, I have a knack for remembering dates), I was at the back counter of my office sorting through some papers when Captain Obvious entered the office. The door to the office had a 4 or 5 foot hallway before you walked into the open of the office, so I was able to stop what I was doing and look to my right to see who had entered my office. When I saw it was Ray I remember smiling to myself because he was immediately looking towards the back corner of the office, you know, the corner where I sat and would have had my back to the door if I had been at my desk. But since I wasn’t at my desk, I got the first look, not him. That definitely pleased me.

He stopped short and was turning around when he saw me at the back counter. He came over and had some papers in his hand and explained that he just needed to make some copies. Again, there was a copy machine within feet of his own office. I asked him if he wanted me to make them for him and he said sure. So I took the papers and set the machine to make his copies, then went back to my papers.

 He walked closer toward me and I stepped aside a bit. I had a thing about keeping my personal space.  I had recently ended a relationship that I had no business having in the first place and had ended a friendship that was more than a friendship, but less than a relationship. It was complicated and unhealthy and caused some real confidence issues and emotional scarring. I had just put the pieces of myself back together, was back in church, had lost about 40lbs and was looking pretty good if I say so myself. Then there was Ray. I still had the manager’s voice in my head telling me to run. I had all the stuff I knew was true that I really didn’t want to deal with, not to forget the things that I had heard that was unconfirmed, but pretty close to the stuff I knew was true so I lumped it in as well. Then there was this guy that since he came back to work, he wasn’t the same. He acted differently. He carried himself differently. He wasn’t maintaining his reputation. It had fallen and shattered to pieces.  This was not Walmart Ray that was standing next to me at the copy machine, yet I still stepped aside. It’s hard for us sometimes to allow people to change and grow. Skepticism is just so easy.

He made chit chat while the copier copied and stapled his packets. He told me about the revival a few weeks back at church. He told me that the church was having a Valentine’s banquet that week and I thought, oh, here we go. He’s going to ask me to the banquet. Not my ideal first date. It’d be a bit uncomfortable for me to say no, I don’t want to accompany you to a church function. He didn’t ask and I was glad.  He did utilize it as a segue into asking about my relationship. He asked, “So do you and your honey have plans for Valentines?” I told him I didn’t have a honey. It wasn’t until the other day that I found out he already had that scouting report in his pocket. He then proceeded to ask me to lunch and a movie. I agreed. I had a head slap moment asking myself what I had just done, but decided that a girl had to eat and free is always good. Oh my stomach was already in a knot.

He sent me an email when he got back to his office asking for my number, so I sent him my number, 3066. It was my extension in the office. I don’t remember if he called me or if he sent me an email, but one way or the other he let me know that he already had that particular number and was wanting my home number. Ahhh! I gave him my cell number and on we went. When I got out of work that night I had a voice mail on my cell and it was from Ray. He said he was just making sure I hadn’t given him the number to the weather channel or something like that. Yes, I still remember the message, because it made me laugh and made me nervous at the same time. It had been a while since I had given my number to someone that I intended to go on a date with…Then it struck me. I was going on a date. Crap what had I done?!?

Back to Ray’s blog since the first date has yet to be disclosed to the world at large (It’s a good story). I didn’t know he asked someone how to pronounce my last name. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it if he had mispronounced it. I had spent 24 years of my life at that point with people mispronouncing it. It really didn’t matter. The funny thing is that when I read his blog and learned he asked someone, his description of that person clearly defined one person. He won’t know until he reads this that that particular person had nothing but kind things to say about him. I didn’t understand at the time why she was talking him up, but she apparently had the inside track.

As we drove down I-10 from the movie theater after our first date, I was thinking to myself that he could make a good friend, but didn’t seem like relationship material. Then he popped into the office the next weekend and asked if I would like to meet him for dinner at Outback. Well sure! Again, free food is a good thing and Outback was a great thing. Oh, and our conversation wasn’t so bad on the first date. I could stand to listen to him some more for free steak. Mmmm, steak!

When he let the words, “I want to be honest with you.” fall out of his mouth at the restaurant, I wanted to yell, “No, the steak hasn’t come yet!” Obviously that didn’t happen and he continued and spilled his life story on the table. It was ugly, sorry, shameful, full of disgrace and ended in redemption. It made me smile. So, I took my turn and laid my cards out. While they were a different hand, they were full of the same characteristics as his. What a pair. He smiled and made a statement to the effect of, “And I was worried we wouldn’t have anything in common.” I smiled back. We talked the rest of the night, past the closing time of the restaurant. The doors had to be unlocked to allow our departure from the restaurant. We stood in the parking lot and talked for a while longer about ourselves and each other. I think we were still trying to convince the other that this was a bad idea.

We had stopped talking for a bit and were just standing there staring at each other. It was then that he asked if it would make me uncomfortable if he kissed me and I replied that it wouldn’t and yes, it was bad. It’s actually on the worst kiss list as #1 for me. The second kiss was not horrible, or bad, or okay. It’s a memory that I can think of when I’m in an aggressive mood and it makes me smile and immediately soften my tone and body language. As Martha Stewart would say, “It’s a good thing.”

I did make a phone call that night and tell someone that I would marry him. Such a move in mindset from the beginning of dinner to the end. It was as if the continents had come back together, but not in a drift, but rather through a turbulent disaster. I say disaster because the next few months were a whirlwind and rough and changed the course of my life. It was one of those times when it’s all over and you look back, there’s only one set of footprints in the sand. As cliche as it sounds, it's the truth.

I have a few of my own side facts: 1.) The waiter wasn’t slow. We continually sent him away because we were busy talking which resulted in us not looking at our menus until about 30 minutes after his first appearance at our table. I remember this clearly because I knew the waiter. I had gone to school with him. I remember feeling a bit of comfort with him there checking in on us. I needed that comfort that night. 2.) It wasn’t a corner booth. I could walk you to that booth right now. If you are standing at the hostess stand waiting to be seated, you would walk to your left and there are three booths that share the wall to the bar on your right. We were in the middle booth. There was a couple with a kid in the booth behind Ray. Every once in a while he’d pop his head over and smile at me with his light brown eyes and shaggy hair the color of the sand in Galveston. I remember thinking that about his hair and how it looked like the wind had won the fight. 3.) I have a good sized collection of baseball cards.


Here's a picture of the coaster Ray mentioned in his blog

Fresh from the Garden

It makes me happy when I'm able to pull items from our container garden. The satisfaction felt from using items that you've invested your time and efforts in is great.

I'm not advocating for folks to go all Hansel and Gretel, but rather to buy a plant, tomato, proper, bell pepper, or some type of herb, and experience the convenience and satisfaction of personally providing something for your meal. Give it a try.

Lifestyle Change Update

Ray and I have been counting calories the past 2-3 weeks in an effort to retrain ourselves in how and what we eat. It's been a little challenging, errr, a lot challenging, for me. The good news is that it's gotten easier and I'm rediscovering foods I haven't cooked with in a while. Also, I've lost 5lbs. Yay!

So here's to future positive updates.

Oh, and if you have any favorite healthy recipes you want to share, post them or shoot me an email.

Fruit of My Labor, Literally!

Time for Change

After visiting the doctor in March and receiving some news that caught my attention, I needed some time to think and figure out what I wanted. The end of March and the month of April were a bit stressful and I allowed that to take my eye off the ball. May has been a good month and now, right now, it's time for me to take action. So here's my plan:

Stealing shamelessly from Michael Pollan, I am going to "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." I'm not going vegetarian or adopting any other "veg" type food lifestyle, but rather going to rearrange my plate to where the veggies out number the yummy moo moo, chick or piggy that is present. Also, it's a decision to stay away from processed foods. The "Not too much" part comes in with calorie counting. That's right, calorie counting. 

I have a goal to run a 5k in 9 weeks. Yup, that's 2 months. Go to CoolRunning.com to see my plan on getting there. 

Ray and I have talked a lot lately about how positive our weight and health were just five years ago. We've talked about how much energy we had and how we held each other accountable with our diets. The most interesting thing was that our diets had become a lifestyle. They weren't a lot of work. It was second nature to the both of us to choose healthy options. We playfully blame Bob Evans (YUM!) and Friendly's (Double YUM!), but we both know we let each other down.

Ray currently doesn't have any plans to run a 5k, but he will be with me on this journey to lead a healthier lifestyle going forward. Pray for us. We know this isn't going to be easy.

Strawberries

Our first buds appeared today!

Mini Garden Update

So you know I have the basil, cilantro, rosemary, jalapeño and 2 tomato plants, red and yellow. You also know that I ordered some seeds a while back too. Well here's the pictures of the peat seed starter I used.

They started out as these little peat disks about a quarter of an inch tall. I had to add warm water to them and they started to "grow" and ended up being these little 2" tall piles of dirt with netting around them. I then sowed 3 seeds to each stack and waited. It took about a week for the white cucumbers to sprout up.

The others took a bit longer, but they've finally started reaching for the sunlight! Below are the gherkin cucumbers and the orange tomatoes.

I planted the white cucumbers today and am praying for some sunshine to help them stand back up, but I don't think we'll see any of that until later in the week. They look a bit depressed at the moment.

I have had a couple of tomatoes appear on the red cherry tomato plant, but they haven't ripened yet.

Oh, and I've had my first casualty. One of my basil plants just didn't have the will to live.

We did buy some mint plants and they look pretty good if I say so myself. They will come in handy on the days we desire to have tropical drinks to assist our imaginations take us to warm, white, sandy beaches during this cool weather still present.

And we can't forget the strawberries! I told you I ordered those in my last garden blog. When they came in, they were just root systems in a plastic bag filled with damp paper shreds. I got them planted, but wasn't sure if they were going to survive. 

As it turns out, they're doing wonderful! They're growing like champs!

So there you have it. This has been a lot of fun so far. We only have the gherkin cucumbers, tomatillos and orange tomatoes left to plant when they're ready. After that, we'll see how it all turns out.

If you have any thoughts, comments, ideas or tips, please don't be shy! I can use all the help I can get!

New Hobby

With everything that has been going on lately in our lives, the stress level has been up a bit. It’s felt like life has been one up on us. I decided it was time to stop the defensive driving and jump in on the offense a little bit. Time to do something a little different.

Red cherry tomatoes, jalapeños, yellow cherry tomatoes

We’ve started a mini garden on our apartment porch today. It has red and yellow cherry tomatoes, jalapeños, cilantro, basil and rosemary. There are a few seed packets on the way, as well as a strawberry plant that is suited to grow well in Indiana and in a container. Ray will have learned of this as he reads the previous sentence. (Hi hunny! See what happens when you sleep? J)

Basil

We haven’t spent much money on any of this, so if it all decides to become mulch, compost, muck, or just plain dead plants taking up space on our porch, that’s okay. But, fortunate you will be blessed by pictures and progress reports on these plants and not only their wellbeing, but ours too.

Rosemary and cilantro

We were inspired to really get going during our trip to Houston when we stayed with my Dad and Kim. They have a small garden in the backyard that had been successful in the past and looks to be once again. To hear them talk about it made me cheerful. I don’t know if that’s a normal response or not, but it was mine and replicating that feeling by Ray and me doing this little garden together has become important to me.

Hopefully, it will be a success and the pictures will be pretty and my neighbors will be jealous.

Here’s to a green thumb!

Memories

As another birthday has come and gone I have spent some time thinking about the past and thought I'd share a few stories with you.

Growing up we had a square coffee table in our living room between the couch and the TV. The top was some type of ceramic tiles in an off white color surrounded by dark wood. It had four legs which connected the top platform to the bottom wooden platform of the table, which rested on the floor. My sister, Farrah, and I would squeeze under there together to where one could only see our feet sticking out. We would laugh and fight and have a great time while in this very small, confined space. No one ever really knew what we were really doing under there until one day my mom decided to lay under there with me. Farrah and I had made our own "weather map" on the bottom of the table. We had drawn, to the best of our ability, the US and had cold fronts, snow, tornadoes and hurricanes all over the place in crayon! You can just imagine the look on her face when she saw what we had done to her table! She actually took it well. It was one of the many times she would say, "Just don't tell your father." Somehow or another he found out and didn't take it well. My mom was, and actually still is, the master of keeping our dad calm and with the program, even after 25 or so years of being divorced. You should have seen him on my wedding day. I heard it was touch and go there for a while! I do wish we had pictures of our weather map. It would be interesting to see if our forecasts came true. Who knows, maybe we could have given Al Gore a run for his money!

Our stepfather, Johnny, had a number of issues which caused home to not be pleasant, but he had his moments where the person he could be would shine through. He was the master of making fun appear out of nothing, which was important because we didn't have anything! We had a plastic red bat and white ball that you could buy for $3. Our bases were "borrowed" from local construction sites. You know the round blinking lights on top of the orange barrels? Well they make wonderful bases for nighttime baseball! We would always give our mom a hard time because she would usually end up popping a blood vessel in her hand and we'd have to quit. In her defense, her hand would swell and she would have an awful bruise for a while, but we were kids and had no mercy for our fun being ruined!


There is one baseball story that sticks in my mind vividly. We were playing during the day and Johnny was pitching to us. It was my turn up to bat. I had always been a bit timid of the ball because I didn't want to get hit. I had seen my sister and cousin pinged by balls when they played and saw that it wasn't pleasant. He had been trying to work with me to stay "in the box" when pitched to and this time I was convinced I wasn't going anywhere. He pitched the ball to me, I stayed still, timing my swing, then BAM! I made contact. I instantly had a smile on my face. I hit the ball right on and it was going to fly. I knew I was going to make it at least to 3^rd base, if not home the moment the ball left the bat. Then I heard the noise. It was a dry thud. I looked across the "field" and there was Johnny with his hands up to his face. The ball had hit him. Wait, now he's down on one knee. I've really hurt him. Oh crap! Everyone ran to him and I ran in the house to hide. I just KNEW I was going to be in trouble. He came and found me after he had ice on his eye to let me know it was okay and that he would be fine, but it was really bad. His eye was swollen shut and had already started turning colors. I felt horrible. To this day, my family still laughs at the fact that I ran.

Keeping with the topic of black eyes, I have a story about Farrah. Johnny had taken us to a field to ride our go kart one day while mom was at work. It had rained the night before so everything was nice and muddy and we were looking to have a great time! Farrah had been riding the go kart for a while and it was my turn. She thought she was going to be cool and speed toward us then cut the wheel to skid out and throw mud on us. Well, it didn't quite turn out the way she planned. When she cut the wheel, the go kart kept sliding forward, toward us and the truck. We jumped out of the way and she slid into the tailgate. It turned out that the she hit her head on the tailgate and had an instant black eye and most likely a headache. It was officially time to go home. That afternoon when mom came home Farrah was laid out on one couch and I was sitting very quietly on the other. When she greeted me I burst into tears. She asked me what the matter was and I just looked toward Farrah. When she saw what had happened she lost it on Johnny. Now, while I am sorry my sister was hurt, I'm convinced the crying was for Johnny. My mom lit into him like the 4^th of July. It was BAD! Farrah and I laugh about it now, but we both know he knew it wasn't going to be good when mom got home that day. Oh, and we never did go back to that lot to ride the go kart. It's still my turn!


That's all I have to share for now. I'll think of some more to share later.


Maybe some of you have stories you want to share of your childhood or of times we spent together?

Snickerdoodle

When I was 18 my college roommate brought home a puppy for me. We named her Snickerdoodle, but called her Snickers for short. She was the cutest little dog and turned out to be a mess! When we would leave for class we would put her with her bed in the kitchen and confine her there via a baby gate. When we would come home she would sometimes have dislodged the gate and have gotten out. Eventually we had to buy a second gate and double stack them on top of each other because she would actually scale it and greet us at the front door when we returned home.

When she would get out she would leave us smelly surprises, on the carpet of course, as well as make us aware that there were items in the apartment which were too low to the ground. Those items would include, but not be limited to our laundry, tissues, and hangers just to name a few.

She had a wonderful little personality. She always seemed happy and energetic, but was always up for a nap. She loved people, but wasn't much for other animals. When Ray and I moved to Florida we took her to this great dog park in West Palm. It had three different parks: one for large dogs, one for medium dogs and one for ankle biters like Snickers. While there she would run around and sniff everything. When the other dogs would come around, she would stop what she was doing and look at them for a second then turn away and wander off. She noticed all the owners were on the benches under the trees and made her way to them. They loved on her and she ate it up. When the other dogs would come to the people, Snickers would wander off again only to return for the attention when the other pooches had dispersed.

She loved to ride in the car and put her head out the window, she made sport of stealing food off your plate, but as a mix of beagle and daschund, she had a habit of running off. The last time she ran off she was hit by a car and did not survive. It's been almost 2 years and as odd as some may find it, it was very difficult time. I actually called my boss and got scheduled off work the next day. It still bothers me that I could have done something different that day and she could be curled up asleep next to me right now.

It's interesting how our pets become more than just a dog or cat. They are our companions who greet us when we return home from school, work or a day of shopping. They are not judgmental and seem to, unlike our peers, love us no matter what. They are completely reliant on us for sustenance and care and have unwittingly placed their trust in us for their livelihood.


All of this to say that Ray and I have recently started talking about getting a pet. I know I want a cat, but I think a pooch would be good too. We keep coming back to beagles and found that we really like the under 13's. We've talked about a few of the different terriers too, but some of them are a bit too purse sized and I'm not sure Ray will be allowed to keep his man card if we were to get one!
Any pooch suggestions? Any stories to share?

U-Haul Fail

Let me share my frustrations with U-Haul with you.

Friday, I picked up Ray from the airport with just enough time to make it to our appointment with U-Haul to have a hitch installed and pick-up the enclosed trailer we would utilize to load up my bedroom suite for transport to Indiana. The folks there were timely and had our hitch installed in just over an hour. We left, ate lunch, and then went to another location to pick-up our trailer. As the kind man is hooking up the trailer we check to ensure the lights on the trailer work. Brakes…check. Blinkers…not so much. When you would turn on the blinker it would click once, then nothing. It wouldn't even work on the truck. So he unplugged the trailer from the wiring harness and we tried the blinkers on the truck…they worked. Maybe it's the trailer. So we unhooked from one trailer and hooked up to another, plugged in the wire for the lights, and again…brakes are good, blinkers are not. Hmm…sounds like the harness U-Haul installed has a bit of a glitch.

We return to the U-Haul facility who installed the hitch and harness and a young lady comes out, checks the wiring, determines the wires are good and states, "You probably just need a relay kit. Let me call my manager. He'll have to go get one." We're good with this. We simply need it to work so we can get the last of our belongings loaded up for the move.

She's gone for a while so I get on my phone and look up our truck and trailer/blinker issues and, yup, she's right, we need a relay kit. Ray called and talked to his brother and yeah, it sounds like you need a relay kit. I'm on the phone with my dad, yeah, a relay kit should fix that. We're standing around outside with the truck and are getting restless so Ray decides to go in and see how long it's going to take to get the kit there and installed. When he finally returns, his face is red and he tells me that the manager has decided that we don't need a relay kit and since he doesn't think we need one, they aren't going to go get one, but if we wanted one put on it was going to be up to us to get it and install it.

Now remember, U-Haul installed the wiring harness and the hitch. The lights on their trailers do not work with the wiring harness they have installed and they are now unwilling to expend any more effort to make it work.

I looked at Ray and communicated to him, in words that I will not type here, that they could come out, uninstall the wiring harness, remove the hitch and take back their trailer. I wanted my money back and we would leave the bedroom suite in Alabama and purchase a new one in Indiana.

We did just that. We arrived at U-Haul just after noon and left just after 6pm and had nothing to show for it. What a waste.

My advice: Use PODS. They drop the PODS container where you want it, it's even with the ground so there are no ramps to walk up while loading, you call them and they pick it up. You can either have them store it for you or tell them the location and date to drop it and they do. When it's empty you call them back and they pick it up. So very simple. We should have just called PODS like we did on the initial trip to Indiana. We just thought it was a good opportunity to go ahead and have the hitch installed on the truck.

Anyone else have a negative experience with U-Haul?

New Beginnings

The song says "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" (Closing Time by Semisonic). With a new beginning on the horizon, I find myself spending time reflecting on my journey thus far.

I moved to Florida, started a new job and got married all in a three month period. Makes you tired just thinking about it doesn't it? You should have lived it! Florida was wonderful. I met some great people, made a few friends and gained a new best friend in the process. The beaches and weather were amazing and I still miss a couple of the restaurants. There are days I still struggle with our decision to leave Florida, but the Lord had a bigger plan for us.

Alabama didn't quite welcome us with open arms. It was more of a barely cracked open door and a sideways glance. It took a while for us to find our place here. We were both promoted and worked crazy hours. The stay in Alabama has been right at 2 ½ years…I think the hours we worked are what have made it seem longer! I've definitely made friends here with folks who genuinely care and look forward to hopefully continuing those relationships on as I leave for Indiana.

Alabama brought about some challenges I wasn't ready to face, but have seemed to survive. Besides being in an overly stressful environment due to the nature of the grocery business and being in charge of the transportation of food to 100 stores (and sometimes more depending on if other DC's needed help),major health issues arose. Ray and I both gained a lot of weight during our stay here. We both ended up on high blood pressure medications and my anxiety kicked in again (something I've had under control for a few years). For a couple who aren't fond of doctors, we've gotten on a first name basis with ours.

As I look back over the last 2 years here, I am saddened by the fact that I am once again leaving a group of folks of which I have grown fond. I know the person taking my place will take care of them and continue to move forward, but it doesn't make it any easier to leave. I know my folks know that this was more than just a job for me. I know they knew I made it personal and honestly wanted not only what was best for our company, but for them as well. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it really is the people that make the work worth doing and my work was worth doing every day.

Friday will be my last day in my current position. Next week will be my move week to Indiana and I will start my new position at our optical facility the following week. I visited the facility a few weeks ago and I'm excited to join my new team. I believe this will be a great experience.


While I am downhearted about coming upon another end, I am excited for a new beginning.

Above all, I am thankful for Ray and I to be under the same roof again. It's been three long months and I do miss my husband. I've missed the support that comes from a face to face conversation, the comfort that comes from using him as my pillow on the couch, my personal heater under the covers and the relief I get when he hugs me at the end of a stressful day.

The chorus of the song says "I know who I want to take me home."

Ray, will you take me home?

Walking

Maybe if I write it down, put it out there, I will actually do it. We're all aware that my goal this year is to get off the blood pressure medications. I have this goal for a number of reasons, some personal, some not so much, but all relevant.

I've been to the doctor entirely too many times in the last year for my blood pressure and other related issues. I believe it's time for the next step.

I've joined the American Heart Association's Start! program. It's a free program that puts together weekly walking regimens for you based off some questions, which for me had a sobering effect.

I realize I need to be a participant in my health going forward. The bright side is that this'll help with not only my blood pressure and weight, but my anxiety too. Go figure. I bet my health insurance company is jumping for joy about now!

I'll keep you updated on how the walking goes.

Together

It's so very nice to have Ray home. We don't do much when he's here…comic book store, Wal-Mart, cook, play board games and "borrow" football games off the internet. To me, it doesn't matter what we do, just as long as he's here.

Anyone out there feeling nauseous yet? :o)

Seriously, we could sit here all day and not do anything but talk and I'd be content.

I can't wait until I too reside in Indianapolis!

The Saw Mill

Growing up I spent a lot of time with my grandpa – Harvey Lee Sasser. He took the time to teach me to read and worked with me when it became apparent my stuttering was more than just a small problem. He taught me there's nothing better than the truth and that like it or not, you have to trust people until they prove otherwise.

We spent mornings, afternoons and evenings either in his backyard on Pin Oak or on his back porch on Foxglove. During that time we'd watch my grandma's current chihuahua run around the back yard believing it was the largest beast for miles around. He would share stories of his childhood, of him sitting in a school house upset with himself because his father was out there working hard to support the family and he wasn't, so he decided one day to not return to school and instead go to work with his father. About how he had entered a small German town with his troop where everyone had been gunned down before they arrived yet he came upon a family in hiding and sat and shared his rations with them. About how he slept in a trench with nothing above him but the night sky for protection and how he jumped from train to train to get home after he returned from the war. About how he and his sons-in-law would go fishing together – and how good of a fisherman he was compared to them!

Now that I am married to my husband who grew up working alongside his father in a saw mill, it is my grandpa's saw mill stories I miss the most. I wish he were still here with us to share those stories with Ray and for Ray to share his stories with him. I truly believe they would have enjoyed each other's company and Harv would have enjoyed sharing that part of his life with someone who could genuinely relate.
I am very thankful I am easily amused by a good story and that even when he would tell me a story for what seemed like the hundredth time, I treated it like the first. He used those stories to share life lessons with me as a child and even as a young twenty-something, when he forgot more than just who I was, those stories and their lessons were still relevant to me.
Remember to share your life stories with those around you; they very well may help mold them.

The Interview

Today was the day of my interview. I think it went really well. I was nervous all last night to the point where I only slept for three hours. Then I was nervous with sweaty palms all morning. When the interview started all of that went away. I felt comfortable, relaxed and confident. The interviewers were very personable and, from my own experience as an interviewer, did very well at balancing the "script" of questions to be asked with personal interest.

Fingers crossed for a second interview!

It’s A New Year

It's January 2010 and there's plenty on my mind.

Indianapolis: Ray moved to Indy the first week of December '09. I'm still in Alabama. I have not enjoyed living apart, yet there are folks witho whom we work which have done it for months at a time and one couple which have lived apart for a year and a half already. I just can't imagine. I've had one job interview and was no'ed due to my lack of floor experience. Not meaning to be a snot about it, but I do have floor experience and since they had just gotten the TPR and some other reports and programs with which I am very familiar, I could have been a big help. But that's okay. I just have to believe that the Lord has something better planned for me.

I do have an interview for another position Tuesday 1/12 at 10:00. It is a step down from what I am currently doing, but that's okay. My ego isn't wrapped up in my job title. Then again, there is a small part of me that really likes being the "boss". I figure it'll give me a chance to prove I can run an operation on the floor and work my way up...again. Very similar to the situation in Baytown now that I think about it. Hmm...

Blood Pressure: Mine is high. It has come down from what I was running in May of '09, but still isn't at an ideal level. It runs around the lower 130's over the mid to high 90's, and randomly peaks. I was eating poorly, stressed and overweight (236 lbs). I have addressed some of this by improving my eating habits and am losing weight (200 lbs). I'm still working on the stress piece. Maybe stepping down to an area manager will be good for me. I will only work 4 days a week instead of being responsible for a 24/7 operation. Wow, that actually sounds appealing. If I get the job, we'll see how long it takes me to get bored.

Lease: Moving to Indy before August will require us to break our lease. I've never done that before and it makes me nervous. It also makes me sad because I had a contract with someone and I will have to break it. It makes me feel slimy, like I've gone back on my word. My grandpa wouldn't have like that at all.

Family: While I don't get to see them very often, I'd like to see them more, especially Farrah and Claudia. They always make me smile. Claudia is just a mess! Dad always keeps up with me and how Ray and I are doing...since he has so much time off *cough*. And mom is mom. She's always up to something. :o)

So what's my resolution for the year?
Get off the BP meds!
This involves me continuing to eat better and continuing to lose weight. It will also involve me getting active. We'll work on that one soon.