Christmas Eve 2018

I am not here to take away from  your celebrations.

I am sitting here at my computer, our big celebration over, and thinking that I like the quiet going on right now.  It’s about 3 hours to midnight on Christmas Eve, 3 hours until the bell tolls and Christmas begins.  Those 24 hours are not the only magical ones in the year, but I watch a lot of people who think so.  Their attitudes get better; they smile more; they are more giving; and, they seem to see many others in a better light.

What more could you ask out of one day?

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you!

Scott

*Grace, a special Holiday care note out to you, Sweet Girl.

Christmas is Coming!

Well, the season is here!  I know; I know…it’s the 21st when it’s official.  But, it’s the 1st at 3:23AM and I am getting ready to settle down.  I took a picture tonight, the first night shot with my new (older) phone.  It’s an HTC1 and I really like it.  Took awhile to figure out how to get the pics off it and on my pc for here, but it’s done.

Anyway, Christmas is one of my very favorite times of the year and Middletown, small that it is, has its own way of showing we are getting ready for Santa…

 

 

I know, it’s not a lot.  The streets have lights and all, but this just caught my eye when I was driving home about 9:15pm or so.  I will figure out how to take better shots, but for no flash, I thought this was a decent night shot.  Anyway, this all takes me back to my young days (man, those were a long time ago).  People are happier.  I enjoy going to the stores in town more.

Some of us, don’t care, however:

See?  I don’t think she appreciates Christmas at all.

Happy beginning of the season,

Scott

Dis”Grace”ful Medicine Practices

Grace is one of those wonderful little girls I will, probably, never meet, but love with all my heart.  She has Rett Syndrome and multiple issues.  I want you to read this as it broke my heart and I have only a little to compare it with (I put that in the post’s comments).  We all need to be aware of this as our own children, grandchildren, ourselves, etc…are not immune and we may be faced with a similar incident for something else in the future…

Christmas for Grace

Namaste,

Scott

My Year (and still going)!

Well, here we are to almost Christmas 2016!  I am still thinking back in April how I never thought we would make it here.  The year has been eventful, and for, those who are new or need catching up, here is a fairly brief summary.

The year has been kinda tough on all of us.  Major points:

1. My Sister has cancer.  I refuse to give it a capital “C”.  It doesn’t deserve it.  She been taking Chemo for many weeks and is over 1/2 done.  I am simply glad to have her around.  She, too, has a big following on FB and I am often amazed at just how many people care and talk to and about her.
2.  Dad passed in July after a long year of mostly being in the Nursing Home.  He had fallen twice in the last few years and surgery was not an option because of his missing kidney and low-functioning in the one that remained.  He did not care for his diet and often (really often) refused the food to have them bring him something he was “not supposed” to have.  What do you tell an 83 year old of sound mind?  We just let him enjoy himself.  He was really missed by a lot of people.  He earned the name “Candy Man”  or “Kiss Man” because he would take Hershey Chocolate Kisses with him to pass out to the “mostly” females at restaurants and such.  The local Cracker Barrel group actually told me how much they missed him!
3. I have been fighting my diabetes for about 7 years now.  That and my blood pressure led to my stroke in May of 2010.  This year I went through some rough times, both with Dad and Sis.  I ate off the charts, giving up nearly 2 years of wonderful blood sugar via vegan dieting.  It was actually low enough that, many mornings, I would wake up and have to eat something sweet and fast because it had dropped to under 60 (normal being 110 and normal diabetic about 120).  At present, my blood pressure is good (great) at 117/73 average.  I am now working out 2x a week at Planet Fitness (a really great place!), which fits even my tight budget.  The diabetes makes it difficult to lose weight or build muscle, so I have now declared war on it.  I have done my research online and read extensively.  I have found what I believe to be the best defense and offense for this bad situation.  My new diet/lifestyle begins with a protein shake-based cleanse followed by 2 months of strong high protein, low fat, low carb dieting.  Then, after that, I should see a dramatic drop in blood sugar and weight and an increase in muscle.  Sometime in the early spring I expect to reduce or illuminate my blood sugar drugs and testing (via Dr. of course).  It is my hope that by next Christmas I will be Diabetes free, down to a decent weight, have good muscle tone, and have, perhaps, stopped or reduced my blood pressure meds (that would stop this stupid leg swelling).  We shall see!  The diet started today about 5:30pm.  I know that cleansing over the holidays is no fun, but I want to get started!!!

I think that’s enough for a year.  I hope all are having a wonderful Holiday and may your Christmas be the most loving time and full of joy.

Namaste,

Scott

Do I Hear Bells?

This has been a long, long week.  I don’t sleep well on a normal basis.  This week, being the teenaged person that I am, I stayed up too late on a couple of nights and stay extra late with Dad (probably those same nights).  I still had my normal MWF routine with Mom, so sleep was rather rough until Friday night (or, more precisely, Saturday morning).  I hit the bed around 4:30am, read until 5:15, then passed out around 5:30.  From there it was sleep off/on until about 1pm.  I got up and took my sugar reading.  Seeing the 164 show up (130 is the upper border), I took my other meds and lay back down.  I slept heavily and woke up around 7:00pm.  I promptly got up, took my sugar, which read 110 this time, and decided to eat.  I kept the carbs down more and decided to have Raisin Bran.  In getting ready, I knocked a glass to the floor, covering the kitchen in shards.

Now, came the deal:  I am diabetic.  Cleaning the kitchen floor is much more difficult when you MUST make certain EVERY shard of glass, a potential foot-loss problem, is cleaned up.  I swept the floor twice, then mopped it twice with the Swiffer cleaner.  That and wearing Clogs for the day has, so far, kept me glass-stabbed free.

I tell you all that to tell you why I am writing about today at 8:47pm when the idea came at 1pm.  I looked out the bathroom window this morning to see … SNOW!  This was not the expected day-ruining downfall I expected.  This was very light, big flakes, and softly falling white stuff.  You know, the stuff Christmas morning is made of.  So, I share with you 2 pictures I took out said bathroom window and tell you people who live in 50-110 degrees all year that you don’t know what you are missing.  Yeah, it could be 5-6 feet of packed nastiness, but this almost makes all that worth it.  Add to it the fact that I can walk this winter and can dig myself out in much less time than last year, as well as simply move around in it better, and you have a pretty darn good winter expectation coming up.  Doesn’t hurt that the NWS says we should have less snow and higher temps here all winter (well into January, anyway).

I know we don’t ski here and I know we don’t spend weeks digging out.  Those two extremes put us in the middle of the snow mess/beauty.  Enjoy the pics:

I know, you can’t see the falling stuff, but it was falling, light, white, and fluffy.  Still, even with the dingy day (overcast), it looks nice to me and brought back all kinds of memories – like hearing the Christmas bells at church or on the TV or radio.

Namaste,

Scott