26 Tuesday Mar 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
I’ve been thinking about so many in my circles who are dealing with difficult situations…
some are dealing with health issues, others with family problems, and still others are struggling with their work situations…
as the weather warms up and the sun gets stronger every day I am reminded of how good my world is…
07 Friday Dec 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
A1C, alarm, big girl pants, crazy, daughter, diabetes, doctor, focussed, health, quality of life, sleep, treadmill, treat, widow
crazy morning…
I usually set my alarm for 6:30 but always wake up before it goes off… I’ve been having trouble sleeping for the last week or so due to a sore neck so didn’t put on my alarm as it was my day off…
woke up to a call from my daughter at 7:51… unfortunately I had an 8 am doctor’s appointment;-(…
flew out of the house wondering what my blood pressure reading would be, lol…
was only a few minutes late as the office is close to home…
my blood pressure was great which was amazing but my A1C was not so great… still in the safe zone but it has been creeping up over the last year…
early on following my diabetes diagnosis I did not consume any sugar and was so strict with my diet that my life was overly focussed on food… the good news about that was how low I was able to bring down my A1C without meds… the bad news was that the strict eating was causing problems with my quality of life… since then the doctor and I agreed to relax my eating to find a happy medium…
today we decided that I need to find something between crazy strict and what I’ve been doing recently…
so, not so many treats… and I also think I need to be sure to spend a bit more time on the treadmill every day…
18 Wednesday Jul 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
appetite, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cancer, exercise, family, flowers, foods, friends, garden, healing, health, mandevilla, moments, surgery, walk, widow
this morning I was reminded that six years ago today I had surgery to remove my uterus and repair a large hernia… just a few months after losing my beloved…
how my life has changed since then…
I did have cancer, but removing the whole thing meant no further treatment needed to happen, other than frequent checkups for the next five years…
for ten weeks I couldn’t lift anything… friends and family came by to do everything that needed to be done…
since then I have been well, although two years later I was diagnosed with diabetes… I’ve lost weight, been more active and changed my diet… thankfully I do not need to take any meds…
tonight, as I ate rice rolls that a colleague brought me, I was reminded of how little I ate during those first weeks… I had no appetite and a friend who came to stay with me worked very hard to find foods that would temp my taste buds, lol…
one of my fondest memories was the day I was able to walk out of the house and into the garden after being stuck inside on the main floor for over a week because I couldn’t manage stairs…
the garden is such a healing place…
10 Tuesday Apr 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, deal, drugs, family, friends, health, knee, remembering, surgery, widow
the recent problem with my knee has reminded me of some of the health issues I’ve overcome in the last ten years…
in 2010 I spent six weeks in hospital with pancreatitis and gall bladder surgery… during that time I was constantly throwing up – one of the things I most hate to do… I remember being so scared when we drove away from the hospital, wondering if I would ever feel better… at that time I still had a drainage tube in my side and felt nauseated all the time… but I had my beloved by my side as I slowly recovered…
in 2012 I spent 3 days in hospital when I had a combined hysterectomy and hernia repair… within eight hours of the surgery I had stopped taking any medications… the pain was easier to deal with than the crazy reactions I had to the drugs… this was just a few months after the loss of my beloved… I remember the drive home which was excruciating as we drove over potholes… I couldn’t lift anything for six weeks, had moved into the main floor bedroom and had friends come to stay to look after me… recovery was a slow painful process…
thinking of the events above has pointed out to me that this knee business is really not a big deal, lol…
sometimes looking back can help deal with the present…
what I have learned is that I need to take care of myself when I am not 100%…
11 Sunday Mar 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, health, ice, icy, light, struggles, thinking, walk, weather, widow, winter
been thinking a lot about people struggling with mental and physical health these days…
I usually feel down in February and March and I think it has to do with the lack of light and cold weather… of course this being the time of year that I lost my beloved has added to the negative feelings…
many of those I speak with at this time of year are having similar struggles…
maybe we focus on our aches and pain more because we are getting out and about less, lol…
my knee has been bothering me for about a week now and it is frustrating because I can’t figure out what I did to it…
I will be so happy when I can get out and walk to the Park again without having to worry about freezing temperatures and icy sidewalks… and be able to smell fresh air…
25 Monday Dec 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, cake, cookies, Deadly Chocolate Mousse, family, health, obsess, sugar, treats, widow
took my doctor at his word today, when he said…
don’t let obsessing over food keep you from living a happy life…
while we were opening our presents I had a couple of sugar cookies which my daughter had made… they were delicious… when they were younger I made sugar cookies for every special celebration, so it is fun to eat cookies that the kids make…
once presents had all been opened and we’d had a lovely vegetable quiche we had some cherry surprises… a treat that our next door neighbour would make and share at Christmas… and which my younger daughter has perfected…
finished the day off with Deadly Chocolate Mousse from Baked Expectations, after a very well-balanced turkey dinner…
hope that your day was filled with fun moments…
14 Tuesday Nov 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
over the last while I have heard so many stories of struggles…
friends and acquaintances are dealing with family health issues all around them, as well as their own…
have been spending time thinking of each of them over the last week…
on a more positive side, I am starting to feel better, which is wonderful news…
07 Saturday Oct 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
today I’ve spent a lot of time thinking of some of the reasons to be thankful…
my health…
family and friends…
work and great colleagues…
a comfortable home and garden…
almost forty-two years of marriage…
I’ve also been appreciating my car and the garage that she gets to live in… George did the majority of the driving, partly because I was happy to be chauffeured, but mostly because he loved to drive…
one of our traditions was to take a drive out of the city to enjoy the colours of the foliage… sad that has fallen by the wayside… still not prepared to drive on the highway, lol…
once I was on my own I had to put on those big girl pants and drive myself places… going in and out was huge, as there is a little jog between the driveway and the garage… every time I went in or out was stressful…
now it is a piece of cake…
had some fun today and made an apple pie for our Thanksgiving dinner, which is a rare occurrence… George was the pie maker and I’m thinking he would be proud of me… looks good, fingers crossed that it tastes good too…
14 Friday Apr 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
woke up to the sound of thunder… and listened to it rain for a little while…
had a wonderful lazy day… spent it in pyjamas watching tv and reading…
had a couple of great phone calls, catching up with folks… and made a few meals…
didn’t even realize how warm it was until a few minutes ago when I checked the temperature to find it was still 20 out, and nearly 8 pm…
guess I should have opened the door at some point… could have sat on the deck to read, lol…
yesterday I caught my thumb in a door and broke my nail… my nails are very strong and it really pulled the nail from the bed… feels sore and I think it is rather bruised… such a little thing, but it is a reminder of how a little thing can change how you feel in a moment… also makes me remember the cold that is gone now, and the knee that is working perfectly again…
been talking with friends about just that… you can be healthy and well one moment and then something happens and you are not… needing to celebrate these days of good health… so easy to take things for granted…
been sending healing thoughts to so many who are dealing with health issues these days… hoping Spring will provide some respite for them…
the grass is greening, from just that little bit of rain…
10 Monday Apr 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, daughter, doctor, health, specialist, waiting, widow
seemed like a long day today… probably because I had a late afternoon specialist appointment…
I think I’m fine but will wait for the report to arrive to confirm that…
things moved along fairly quickly but there was certainly waiting involved…
waiting to get in to see the doctor… happily my daughter was able to come with me so that really helped pass the time… visiting keeps your mind occupied… and we got in fairly quickly…
then, once in the office, waiting for the doctor to arrive… we spent some of the time looking at Excel and figuring out how to do things on a Mac… so different than a PC…
the final, and longest, wait was for blood work… although there were only four people in front of me, we sat for over half an hour… not exactly sure what was going on there…
took a lot of vials… wonder what they do with all the leftovers, lol…
when I got home I made supper, worked on a social media project, and then rested before my BS buddies arrived…
after the busy weekend and slightly stressful day, I think I am going to sleep well tonight:-)…
herbiggirlpants 