Time flies like an arrow…

And fruit flies like a banana Sorry, when thinking of a title for this post my co-workers wall hanging came to mind.  I know, it’s corny.  But I could have gone the typical route and said “Time flies when you’re having fun” or anything other cheesy phrase that alludes to the passage of time.  But, as cheesy and trite as those phrases are, they are really fitting.

It amazes me how fast the time really has gone. Here we are in the beginning of February already.  I’ve been planning on having more posts, and I’ve even composed them in my head.  But I’m never at my computer while composing, or with a pen and paper to write down my thoughts.  And then I forget.  Or, like is happening right now, off track.  Time flying and how it amazes me.  Well, it amazes me because in a few short months it’ll be time again for bike MS.  This will be my third year of participation in this important fundraiser, although my role will be shifting a bit this year.

This year I’m not riding, I just can’t.  If the route was flatter then it probably wouldn’t be an issue, but there’s just too many hills and my poor legs just can’t handle those hills.  So instead I’m helping out in a much needed capacity, I’m going to be a SAG driver! SAG is support and gear, they’re the vehicles that drive up and down the route picking up riders and ferrying them to the next rest stop, providing something to eat or drink, or maybe even just a moment in the AC.  Unlike riding I’ll be stuck out on the route until the last biker has made it to the destination.  But I’m thinking that I might bring some crocheting with to keep my hands busy while we’re cruising along.

The Mid-Florida chapter of the MS Society has changed things up a bit this year. This year volunteer’s get to register on the website and can have their own fundraising page.  I actually have two, one for the bike MS and one for the brand new walk taking place in Lakeland in April!  My participation in the Lakeland walk is a story for another day.  But I am very glad that volunteer’s have the ability to fundraise online.  I was planning on still doing fundraising and this just makes it easier.  The money raised from this event is so very important, it helps people in the area with so much.  And funds even go into research, research that is being conducted to find medications that help to fight MS as a whole or even just parts (like the new oral medication recently approved by the FDA), and research that can help to find a cure.  And every dollar raised helps so much!  If you’d like to donate, please do so by clicking here, it’s tax deductible.  And if you don’t want to donate online there’s an address provided for sending funds directly to the MS Society.  Or click on the about tab, submit your address (I promise, this is seen only by me) and I’ll send you a postage paid envelope. 

Thank you so much for reading, and for helping, no matter what cause is near and dear to you. There’s so many that needs help and your generosity is appreciated.  Much love!

Yum! Garlicky Goodness

I’m off today (LOVE all the holidays I get working for a bank!) and I really needed some stuff from the store.  So I headed out to the Walmart that’s 5+ miles away instead of the one that’s 1/2 mile away. Why? Well, my Walmart decided to remodel and in their infinite wisdom decided people apparently really don’t need the computer that tells them which size wiper blades are needed for their car.  And while I was pretty sure I knew which size was needed, I didn’t want to chance it. So I headed to the other Walmart today.

On the way over I got stuck behind a car that kept going 30-35 in a 45, that is until I had to stop at the light and then I swear they then went faster.  I also saw a cop car with its emergency lights going behind me. So I waited until the cop car got closer, moved over like a good little driver (this is a 4 lane each direction road, btw) because one never knows what lane the cop is going to need or where they will need to turn, etc.  Jerk then went slow AND decided a couple of times to stop!  Now, I know I can’t pass this vehicle, so I’m watching him trying to figure out what he’s doing.  I think he was just being a jerk, because after about a minute he turned off his lights and went on his merry way.  Grrr!

So I finally get to Walmart, find a spot and headed in to shop. By this time I was really craving a Totino’s Party Pizza.  No idea why, I just really wanted one. I also saw snack packs (6-8 pieces) of candy bars for $1 each.  BUT, I did good and did not get any of those, or the pizza.  Instead I got a Weight Watcher’s pizza since I knew if I got Totino’s, I’d eat the entire thing. I also got a butternut squash and a spaghetti squash.

Butternut squash was my “I’m going to try something new” item a month or two ago. And surprise, I really like it! A lot of recipes/information I found has it being made with sweet /unhealthy items like brown sugar and butter.  So I went searching and found this recipe at Allrecipes.com.  Very yummy, and I don’t think I’ll be using the cheese this time.  The garlic provides a very nice contrast to the flavoring of the squash.  And that’s what I have in the oven right now, so my place smells of garlicky goodness. Here’s the recipe:

Garlicky Baked Butternut Squash

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the parsley, oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Add squash and toss to coat.
2. Transfer to an ungreased shallow 2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 50-55 minutes or until squash is just tender.

Now to figure out what to do with the spaghetti squash…

Starry starry night

Christmas is over for another year.  And now that my family has celebrated, I can show everyone Mom and Dad’s gift!

So now I have lots of extra yarn, especially the light blue and purple.  So I’m going to make up a bunch of small blankets, probably infant/premie size, for charity.  Something to use up yarn.  I’ve started with the blue, purple and cream and this is what I’ve got so far.

This is using the same diamond pattern as above.  The person who I’m copying this off of used a more solid pattern and sews each diamond together.  That would drive me nuttier than I already am. I like this one, I join each diamond as I go to the one next to it. Much quicker and easier.

An an unrelated note, if you haven’t seen Julie and Julia I highly recommend it.  Very cute and amusing movie, even J enjoyed it.

…And to all a good night

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas weekend.  My celebrations this year are spread out.  Dad works over nights Wed-Fri and every other Saturday. We’ve gotten used to working around his work schedule and having our holiday celebrations on a day other than the day of.

So this year I spent Christmas Eve with J and his parents.  We had ham, green beans, rolls and this hashbrown casserole thing that was dangerously delicious!  Gifts were opened and his parents gave me one of the best gifts I have ever recieved.  They did a donation in my name to the National MS Society.  I almost started crying I was so moved.

Christmas day was spent with some friends. We headed to one friends house to watch their kids open gifts and it was so much fun! They have 4 daughters ranging in age from 2 to 15.  The 2 year old opened her presents one strip of paper at a time.  The others tore into them.

We also went and visted other friends and hung out with them for a bit. I got to see puppies! Their mini-daschund got their Pitbull pregnant.  I’m sure once the puppies grow up a bit more they might look pretty funny.  But for now, they’re dang cute!  Anyone want a puppy? 

 See?  Aren’t they adorable?  There are three total with this second one being the only boy.

Friday afternoon we lounged on the couch and watched The Proposal, pretty cute movie.  After the movie we headed to our local bowling alley for the second year.  We had a great time bowling with friends, and I somehow managed to beat EVERYONE for our first game!  That 142, that was MY score!  I NEVER score that high! And the 113 belonged to my friend who said she’s lucky if she can break 60 normally.  Her husband got the 97 and J got 121.

Tomorrow wraps up our Christmas celebrations.  We’ll be going to my parents for dinner and gifts.  As much as I’m looking foward to it, I also don’t want it to happen.  Only because that means I have to go back to work on Monday.  I’ve had a nice long weekend, it’ll be a total of 4 days with NO work at all!  No part time job, no full time job. I’m not eager to go back to the real world   But I am looking forward to dinner with the family.  We’ll have turkey, maybe ham (yum!), mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, rolls.  And of course dessert and cookies!  Can’t forget the Christmas cookies!  Yum! I think I’ll head to bed so that visions of Mom’s cookies will dance in my head.  Have a good night!  And for those who traveled this weekend I hope you all had a safe trip to wherever.

Happy Holidays!

Wow where has the time gone?  Here it is, 9 days before Christmas and I still have a few more gifts to get and a lot more to wrap.  Any volunteers for wrapping?  Definitely not my favorite job.  And for some reason I got it into my head that I’d like to try and make chocolates.  Not just any chocolates though, alcohol infused chocolates and possibly cream filled ones.  So I’ve been scouring the world wide web looking for directions and I think I have it down, well the alcohol ones anyway.  And with those I just have to decide on flavors.  I’m thinking maybe some Bailey’s Irish Mint and Caramel and maybe a peppermint one.

As for the cream chocolates, I found these instructions which would have me making a fondant.  I’m not sure how well that would work.  Not because I don’t think I can make it, but I’m not sure how well a fondant would work as a filling.  The ingredients don’t make it sound too bad.  Then again, I could go easy and just do peanut butter as a filling.  So I might do that this weekend since I guess I won’t be playing the house version of Where’s Waldo with J on Saturday. 

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Last weekend I got a fancy pants new scale!  It’s this one and it measures body fat and hydration as well as weight.   So I’ve been curious about my hydration levels and I stepped on it twice Monday – once to get my official weight for the day and just before bed to see what my hydration was.  I also stepped on it Tuesday morning and this morning.  So yesterdays weight (’cause I can’t get just hydration) was 2 lbs less than Monday’s and today was another pound less.  I’m still going with my official weight for Monday, but it’s pretty nice to see that number going down.

And on the weight front I’ve stopped working from home for my full time job.  It got to the point I was feeling pretty lethargic about doing anything.  I’d get up in the morning, get on my computer, take a nap at lunch, get off work and go plant myself on the couch. I had no desire to really do anything.  And while I wouldn’t say I was depressed, I could see me heading that direction. Especially since both MS and my MS meds have been known to cause depression.  Being back in the office full time means I’m also back to going to the gym 5 days a week instead of just 2.  And there’s been a definite change for me.  I’m able to attend 2 yoga classes a week and I love it! I think I’m already feeling the benefits of the extra class.  Plus I decided to try and become a runner.  Not an easy task when my thigh/quad muscles become tired so very easily sometimes.

So I’m doing a modified version of the couch to 5k plan. I’m up to jogging 90 seconds and walking 2 minutes for the 20 minute period.  I’ve gotten my mile time down to around 14 minutes.  Woohoo!  It’s the little things.  I’m also working on control when it comes to eating.  I’m not really back to Weight Watchers (although I’ve been considering it).  Instead of I’ve been concentrating more on making better choices and adding in more fruit and vegetables. It’s been working pretty well and I’ve got a Butternut Squash recipe I found that I love, and that’s a new vegetable (fruit?) for me.  The recipe is here if you’re interested. I will say that the parmesan cheese is a take it or leave it ingredient.  It really didn’t seem to add anything flavor wise.  At least not to me.

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This week hasn’t been so great health wise.  Monday I left my full time job early with a migraine. My neurologist gave me some samples of a migraine medication, something I’ve never tried before. And the dang thing knocked me out! I ended up laying down at 1:45, got up at 4:45 only because I forced myself to, otherwise I was afraid I’d be up all night.  I managed to make it to 9:15, went back to bed and was up again at 10.  And I was up for 2 hours.  Once I got back to sleep though, I slept the rest of the night.

Last night I woke up around 1am scratching.  It took me a minute or so to realize I couldn’t stop and I should check it out. Head to the bathroom and sure enough, I had a hive on my left wrist, both inner thighs and a couple other places. I’ve had hives land me in the hospital before so I tend to be very careful when I start to break out. I checked to see if I have any Benedryl, didn’t find any.  But I do have some Tylenol Allergy that literally started working within seconds.  I stayed up for a bit to make sure I would have to make a middle of th enight run to the ER.  I’m looking forward to an un-interrupted night of sleep tonight.  Think it’ll happen? 

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I also have to say the weather around here has been driving me batty.  A cold front will come through and the temps will drop, which means I can open up the windows and enjoy not having the AC on.  THEN a few days later a warm front moves through making it hot and muggy again.  So much for winter and being able to have the AC off.  Ma Nature, would you please hurry up and make up your mind here?

And on that note, it’s time for me to log off from my part time job and head to bed.  Have a very Merry Christmas, don’t let anyone stress you out.  And have a safe and happy New Years!

Who let the dogs out?

Meeting number 2 for my MS Support / Social Group happened today and it was amazing! I contacted a local dog trainer, Clark Inghram of Inghram’s Sit ‘N Stay Dog Academy about doing a presentation on service dogs.  Clark Inghram is the owner/founder and provided a wonderful presentation.

He brought with him two volunteer trainers and 5 dogs, including a 9 month old Australian Shephard.  He showed us the basic commands that he teaches all the dogs and explained some of the different things service dogs have been trained on to assist their owners.  One dog acts as a brace for the owner who has MS.  If the owner needs assistance in getting up the dog is able to provide that and wears a special harness to be able to do so.  Another dog assists a person with Cerebal Palsy who walks leaning forward and quickly.  This places his weight off center and the person was prone to falling.  He was matched with a dog that walks slower so the dog walks slightly behind and is able to slow the person down a bit.  This dog is also trained as a brace so if his master does fall down the dog can assist him in getting back up.

Inghram’s first does basic training, making sure the dogs are able to sit, stay, back up, leave it, etc.  Once that foundation has been laid, they then move on to any additional specialty training based on the needs of the owner.  Currently they have 5 puppies (one of which was the Australian Shepard) that are being fostered and going through their basic training.  Once the pups reach a year Inghram’s is going to locate service personnel in the area in need of a service dog and determine what that particular person needs. Once that has been determined than additional training for both the dog and its new owner will take place.  The same procedure is carried out for all of their service dogs, the additional training occurs once they have identified what services the dog is needed to provide.

Everyone really enjoyed the presentation and I was really happy to see people learning about an alternative assistive device, something other than wheelchairs or canes, etc.

Bowling Boys Birthday

Saturday nights are bowling league nights and November happens to contain 3 birthdays for our little group. Monday’s is Bowling Boys birthday. Poor thing has to work, so he decided he wanted to celebrate tonight after bowling. And celebrate he did! He got pretty happy and I got lots of pictures and some videos. But first, his wife Red. She’s a bit tired, and I don’t blame her. She has a 2 year old and a 1 month old at home.

Red got in a nice nap and was feeling refreshed when we moved into the bar area of the bowling alley after league was done. To celebrate Bowling Boys birthday some shots were had. Bowling Boy made sure no alcohol was wasted and cleaned the tray after the drinks were delivered.

Red and Super K ordered blow jobs, Super K’s husband was at home with their kids so Red stepped in for him. Here’s some videos of the girls enjoying their shots.  

Then it was time for Bowling Boys presents. J and I got him a gag gift, and there’s no way I could have just taken pictures of this and done it justice.  So here’s video, and if you don’t see any of the other videos in this post at least see this one. 

This was a gag gift based on a picture Red had sent us from their vacation earlier this year. They were at a beach and Bowling Boy was not only buried in the sand, he was also sculpted with a female figure. So we figured he needed some support for his new figure, that and he’s tried on some of Red’s clothing before (goofing around I hope). So he definitely needed some of his own.  So here’s Bowling Boy in all his new outfit glory!

 

Bowling Boy just had to thank J for the gift.

 

   

 And of course he had to be stuffed to make sure he completely filled out the cups.

 

Here’s a random conversation we had with Bowling Boy. I’m not sure how we got on this topic, but it was fun listening to him explain and justify.   

 

 

 Poor bowling boy seemed ready for bed at this point.

Ft. Lauderdale

Friday J and I headed over to Ft. Lauderdale to do a face to face with someone I’ve been chatting online with for almost 3 years.  Julie and I “meet” in a message board thread for those living with MS.  And after chatting for a few months oblivious me finally noticed her signature and had a lightbulb go off.  Her signature had her flicker account username as MsSmith (name changed to protect the innocent ), which happens to be Mom’s maiden name. 

Julie set up her flicker username as her soon to be married name.  A few inquiries later, mostly to Grandpa who’s memory is slowly starting to resemble swiss cheese, and it was determined that Julie’s then fiance Rob is actually a distant cousin.  So not only did I go to meet with an online buddy, but also a distant cousin.  Julie and Rob were in Ft. Lauderdale to head out on a cruise Saturday to celebrate their one year wedding anniversary.

J took a vacation day and came with so we both enjoyed a three day weekend.  For those interested in Ft. Lauderdale, fair warning.  THEY CAN’T DRIVE!  If there’s an inch of open space between you and the vehicle in front of you, someone else will decide they need to be in that space.  And no signaling either. 

Friday night was spent relaxing with Julie and Rob over dinner.  Saturday while Julie and Rob were boarding and enjoying their ship, J and I decided to play tourist.  We wanted to do a snorkle trip, but that was pretty much out of the question in part thanks to Ida hanging out in the Caribbean.  I know, it’s many many many miles away.  But we’re still feeling the effects here in Florida.  Trust me, I battled the winds the entire drive across Alligator Alley, there and back.  Here’s a video of the waves, this is a beach in Ft. Lauderdale.

Since snorkeling was out of the question we headed over to the Bonnet House.  This house was built by artist Frederic Clay Bartlett, a post impressionist.  He decided to build a plantation house, using his interpretation.  The house and grounds are beautiful and I was glad I had my camera with to take pictures. 

This was our view when we first walked into the courtyard of the house.  The fountain originally was made out of shells, but had to be recast in something sturdier when the shells broke down.

This is a closer look at the railings.  They were sent from New Orleans for the house.  The red roofed building slightly behind the tree is an aviary.

An orchid at Bonnet House.  The home owners were avid orchid fans and even had a greenhouse to grow them in.

These next few pictures are some of Frederic Bartlett’s artwork.  He painted the ceiling’s of some areas of the walkways.  Also, he set the shells in the cement for the eagle design.

These were two swans on the property.

There were also these monkey’s on the property.

Mom and baby monkey.

 

 

 

 

Dinner Saturday night was at the 15th St. Fisheries. I don’t like fish so I had the chicken tenders.  J however had their skillet, the fish for that varies depending on what was messed up while being prepared for other entrees.  The chef of course doesn’t want those items to go to waste, so they put it into the skillet, which is cooked with a wine alfredo sauce.  The sauce was amazing!  It’s really too bad I don’t like fish, otherwise I would totally have had that dish.  We ate on the main level, it was a little more casual and the menu is cheaper.  Our table looked out over the dock where we got to watch restaurant staff feeding the tarpon and jack (according to one gentleman, jack are like pirinha).  When the sun went down and it was full dark we got to watch fish swimming over the lights that are set down in the water.  We also did some speculating on the view outside our window.  Like this yacht.

 

And this yacht.  The bridge just beyond the yacht, when Julie and Rob’s ship departed we watched it sail past that  bridge.

We definitely had a good time in Ft. Lauderdale, but I don’t want to be there again without a horn.  And I wouldn’t want to live there.  It’s a good place to visit, on occasion.

Ahhh freedom!

Well, for a week anyway.  I have time off with my full time job and it’s use it or lose it.  So I’m using it next week.   For most of the week I’m not doing anything, not going anywhere.  But I’m looking foward to sleeping in, reading and relaxing.  And probably some riding. 

I am looking forward to next Friday though.  A friend from a message board I frequent will be coming down here to head out on a cruise.  Not only have we chatted and talked about a ton of stuff over the last few years, but she also married a distant cousin of mine.  Small world huh?  So I’m meeting my friend in person for the first time AND meeting some more family. 

I’m also hoping it’ll cool down next week, if I remember right we’re supposed to have some lower temps.  I’d love to be able to get out with Ciera and snap some pictures for those suffering from the cold and snow.

It’s Ciera!

Here’s a couple videos of Ciera.