GRATEFUL PINK

Good Morning! And, it is a pretty good morning. It is the first one that I have woken up and didn't feel nauseous first thing in a while.

I took the picture of Taylor & Garrett off of my daughter's Facebook page. Aren't they cute. You would never know they were twins if someone didn't tell you. My son Jeff was a little guy. We didn't think he would be very big at all. He hardly ever ate, but he grew to be 6'3". So, we have lots of hope for Garrett. I was actually the tallest person in my classes in school until I reached high school and boys seem to shoot up. We will see. As cute as he is, it probably won't matter how tall he is. Since my dad was 6'3" and Rhonda's Duncan genes are very tall, Garrett, I think he will be tall also.

It is going to be a really warm day, but I don't have any appointments, so I am going to stay in and work on my closet. A few years ago, our grandson, Chad, lived with us for about a year and the day after he left, we stripped the room and made it into a closet. It is time to rearrange, toss out, give away, etc. The room is getting too small. I may have to make a rule that nothing goes in until something comes out. LOL!

I really need to get off my bottom and get some things done. I know if I do, I will eventually feel better. When I went to the doctor on Monday, my protime blood counts were 4.4. Not good, it is usually about 2.6, which is good. Cliff rearranged my schedule for Coumadin and I go back and get checked next Monday. My blood pressure was 98/60, which most people would love to have. The only thing with it being so low is that it enhances the tired feeling that I have. One of my docs teases me about not sloshing the works by standing up too fast (makes me dizzy).

Got to call my mother today and find out when she is coming. I am really looking forward to her visit. Catherine has helped me so much by coming to clean each week that I just don't know what I would do without her. At least my house will be clean and straight by the time mother comes.

Ray and I went to Riverside Cancer Center yesterday evening for a nutrition meeting. The Nutritionist had all the ingredients and we made Quesidillas. How wonderful. My first observation was I needed the quesidilla electric pan, but after further discussion, I decided I could do the same thing in my electric grill. I really liked the idea of using fresh vegetables and making such a low fat meal. It would take a little prep time, but I can see where it could be a really great way to eat a healthy diet. I have been roasting vegetables lately. I say Rachael Ray doing it and decided to do my own. I sliced up fresh squash & onions, put in a non-stick pan with a drizzle of EVOO, salt & pepper. I thought a moment and put in some frozen California mix vegetables. I got everything warm so the EVOO would thinly coat everything. I then dumped everything on to a baking pan and put in the oven on 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Talk about mouth-watering. I served it with grilled pork chops.

We don't eat bread very often, but when we do, we only eat the best. I told the ladies at the meeting that I would rather have 1 pat of butter over a whole stick of margarine. I never use any other oil other than EVOO. We buy it by the gallon jug at COSTCO. You can fix up a bottle of EVOO with herbs, etc., and have a lovely dip for bread or vegetables. It is all about being healthy. I am concentrating on serving more healthy fresh meals. Although, over the past few years, you will find that I use very little prepared foods from the grocery. I would prefer to fix food from scratch. I very seldom ever use a cookbook. Only if I want to make something that I am not sure about all the ingredients.

Usually, if we go out to dinner, I can go home and make the same thing from just taste. It is almost like people who play a musical instrument by ear. Cookbooks are for making cakes, pies, etc. I just go in the kitchen and make "Barbara's Surprise," as Ray calls it. He will ask me "what's for dinner?" and I say "Barbara's (chicken, steak, seafood, etc.) Surprise." I just cook. I have only one thing that I made once and even the dog wouldn't eat it it, meatloaf. I am never really happy with my meatloaf. I have been thinking about trying one with ground pork.

Twitter is doing good. I went over 7000 followers on Monday. Isn't that great. It seems to be coming along nicely. I really love Twitter. The people there seem to be so nice and postitive. They are always sending me prayers, good thoughts, etc. There are lots of people with health problems on Twitter and a lot of awesome prayer warriors.

I slept pretty good last night. I don't seem to be able to sleep over about 5 hours at one time. When I wake up, I find that I really have to lay there and get my thoughts together and check all my body parts out to see if I am able to move properly. Once I have my head straight, I have to sit up slowly and then I can get up and go take care of my little wake-up things in the bathroom. I always set up the coffee pot the night before so all I have to do is turn it on. While that is making, I make some Kirkland oatmeal. I take everything to my chair in the living room and take my pills. The warm stuff helps the pills go down and stay down.

I like getting up before Ray so I have some quiet time to myself. Alone time is great for the soul. I have time to meditate on my Bible, read, or just be alone with God for a few minutes. I really need to spend a little more time with Him. He has brought me through some really bad days and kept me believing in Him. GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!