Friday, February 29, 2008

Bird Feeder

Yesterday we went to Deals variety store, and we made several purchases. I happened to find a bird feeder that cost $1.00 - it is of the type that is a vertical clear cylinder with 6 ports where the birds can land and get food. there is some assembly required, but it is simple.
Yesterday Deals had a large number of them.
The birds are happy and they are calling me cheep cheep. :-) what the heck a deal is a deal.
Jerry

All Quiet on the Western Front.......NOT!


There has been so much going on I don't know where to start! I know it's been a while so bear with me. First of all I wanted to invite everyone back on March 10th when Donna Druchunas will be here to talk about her new book Kitty Knits. I have posted a link to the left that you can click to go directly to Amazon.com to purchase it. If you love to knit, have cats, or know someone who does, then this book is for you. It has projects from beginner to advanced, including cat toys, a scarf, afghan, hats, and sweaters, all with a cat theme. I have already made a couple of the cat toys and I am waiting for the yarn to begin the cat tote with. I will post pics when Donna stops by. If you want to check out her blog and visit some of the other stops on the tour and also her other books you can find it here http://sheeptoshawl.com/index.html

Now let's go back a few days. First off Valentine's Day. Jerry bought me a beautiful set of earrings. There are three graduated sizes and they look like diamonds or cz's but the have a coating or finish to them that make them look purple/pink depending on the light. Of course I love them! He also got me a gorgeous sterling silver blue butterfly charm. We all know how much I love butterflies :) It looks kind of like it's flying to one side just a bit. Very pretty! I just have to fix it to my bracelet. We also went to Texas Roadhouse for the first time for dinner. It was DELICIOUS! They had a special and we got sirloin steaks plus bbq ribs. Normally I don't care for ribs because they are so messy and you have to work too hard for the meat. They said these were fall off the bone tender and they weren't kidding. YUMMY! I signed up for email specials from them and they sent me a coupon for a free appetizer so we back last week and took Matt. He loves bbq! He spent Valentine's weekend at my friend Lisa's house so Jerry and I could enjoy some time together. I love Matt to pieces but it's nice to just be a twosome every now and again instead of aways being a threesome with Matt along.

Let's see next on the list. My sugar is getting under better control but it isn't perfect. My A1C is down to 8 wich is much better even though it isn't down to the recommended <7. Although from what I have been reading lately I am not sure I want to get it that low. I will have to wait and see what future studies say to determine how low I need it to be. I went back to my foot Dr. this week. My toe is doing great, YEAH! He wants me back in four months but hopefully I won't be here. I also went for an eye appointment. My eyes have changed enough that I need new glasses. I can't use the old frames because I am rather hard on them so for the first time I get purple, well lavender, frames! Anyone who knows me for more than five minutes knows my favorite color is purple. Hey it's the color of royalty so it's perfect for me :) I also joined an online service called SparkPeople. It's a free online lifestyle group, not a diet group. It's a nice place for support and you can track food and exercise, plus there are some great recipes.

Now it's Jerry's turn. We went to the VA this week to see the Dr. about something for his back. He was just suffering so much, he barely slept, he would spend hours soaking in the tub, use the heating pad, whatever he could try just to get a little relief. The Dr. gave him a muscle relaxer and some pain pills. He has only been using them a few days and he says it's better already. It will never go away, it's been chronic for over 40 years thanks to the Marines, but he is just trying to get it down to a manageable level. Hopefully if he gets it under better control we can get more done around here. If he sleeps better then I sleep better, and if he isn't hurting as much he can do more. The smoking med is helping curb his craving but he hasn't quit yet although he has cut down a lot.

We also had a couple more snow/ice/rain storms go through. Nothing new there, once you have seen it, you've seen it :)

I have gone back to knitting the socks I was trying to do for Jerry's battleship feet :) I figured out what I was doing wrong and how to cover up the holes. Once his are done I will post pics and then I can get started on mine. I have also made a knitted and felted cat toy and mouse from the Kitty Knits book although I haven't felted them yet. I am waiting for the wool yarn to get here to start the kitty tote with. I can't believe I actually spent money on specialty yarn for something (well Jerry did) like this. Up til now I have used yarn I had or stuff I could get at Walmart or Hobby Lobby. This project is special plus you have to have wool or animal fiber to felt with. I haven't tried felting yet so we will see how it goes. Well I think that is all for now. I will try to not be so long between posts next time. Bye All!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Cardnal picture

When you click on the Cardinal Picture it will fill most of your screen, You might need to adjust horizontally and vertically to get the full affect. As you can see the male Cardinal is fat and sassy, The female is very elusive, but with patience we will be able to include her picture also.
Yes we do feed the birds, It is such a pleasure to be close to such beauty and to be entertained at the same time. It is nice to have a back door and be able to look at Nature just a few feet away.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

WHAMMO!




Well when it rains it pours, or in this case snows! Yesterday we got our first big snow/ice storm and boy was it nasty! We got about 2 inches of snow and ice with more on the way. Then Jerry went to wally world for a few things and got a flat about 6 blocks from home. Well he wasn't sure what street he was on so he couldn't call AAA for a tow. He tried to call me to find out where he was but I was asleep and didn't hear the phone. This new med he is taking is making his sleep even worse so the last week or so about all we have done is take naps :) Any way a police officer stopped to help, told him the street name and he got home ok. Then at about 4 this morning I was sitting here checking email and all of a sudden there was a flash and a bang and we had no power. A tree down the street decided it had one too many branches and that 4 in the morning was the perfect time to shed it. Jerry heard it and got up so then we got Matt up and they went to check it out. Apparently all the snow and ice made the branch break. In the process it took down a power line. I have to give credit to the power company, they had it repaired and back on in about 3 hours. We survived just fine partly because despite the fact we had no electricity we still had coffee! :) How you ask? We have a gas stove :) So we heated the water on the stove and then poured it through the filter of the coffee pot. It was slow but it worked! I also discovered that if I am desperate I can knit by flashlight :) So right now I am home trying to get work done (yeah right) while my friend Lisa takes Jerry and Matt out to get another tire. There is never a dull moment around this crazy house, but life would be boring if there was!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Diabetes, No Smoking, Knitting, Storms, What more could you ask for?

Well let's see, first of all we had some horrible weather go through this week. We are ok but I know some weren't as fortunate. Our hearts go out to those families who lost family members and homes. We pray for their quick recovery.

Things are otherwise pretty much same ol' same ol'. I am still having trouble getting my sugars down. We have tried everything we know and have had some success but not as much as we would like. We just heard about a study saying that caffeine might raise blood sugar so when this container of coffee is empty we are going to try decaf for a week or two and see if that helps. On my last Dr. visit he didn't raise my insulin dosage because insulin makes you gain weight so it's a double edged sword and walking the edge is difficult :)

Jerry started Chantix this week to help him quit smoking. I am SO hoping this works! We both need to quit but it's harder for him. He has been smoking a lot longer than me plus he usually smokes more than me. I quit once for two years and I know it's hard but it can be done so wish us luck!.

I have several knitting projects in the works but I have a feeling the socks may not be done in a while. I have a shawl I am making out of Red Heart Light & Lofty Cafe Au Lait color. It's like cream with swirls of toffee color in it. I am doing it in a rib stitch on my long green Knifty Knitter loom. I am almost done with it and I can't wait!. I have some black in the same Red Heart L&L that I want to do a shrug out of but it will be on needles, not a loom. I also bought my first wool yarn to try my first felting project. I am looking forward to it. I think in my next life I will come back as an octopus so I can knit more at one time :)

Well that's about all for now, please feel free to leave a comment or suggestion, I would love to hear from you!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Time to VENT!

I'm sorry but I just have to say my piece about this. Tonight we went to dinner at a local restaurant. Yes it was a serve yourself buffet but the waitresses still brought us drinks and cleared the dishes from our table and brought us rolls and more plates if we needed them, and what I don't understand is why people don't tip these ladies! I mean they work their asses off ferrying stuff back and forth and they barely make 2 bucks an hour! They rely on tips for the rest of their pay. I have seen people leave horrendous messes and NO tip! Our waitress tonight told us she had a table with FOURTEEN people and they didn't leave her a dime! There were only three of us and we gave her 5 dollars. It just breaks my heart to see them work like crazy for nothing. We also try to tell our waitress/waiter how much we appreciate their service. Our philosophy is that people aren't afraid to bitch when something goes wrong so they shouldn't be afraid to say when something is good as well! Besides we have come to know several of the servers and they know us and as a result we get excellent service from them. So make sure you tip your server next time you go out. They depend on them!