Happy Mother's Day

Sunday, May 10, 2009

I am having a hard time making time for blogging. When I do I feel like I 'm getting stuff off my chest but I'm not sure if that really does me any good anymore. I got this idea when I attended the Spark Convention. A speaker was explaining that everyone makes their own choices. I know that sounds simple, but she really got specific. When it comes to family, friends, bosses etc. We make the choice to be around them and so should be able to cut them out of our lives if they don't fill our lives with positive energy. I do agree with this and tell my 16 year old daughter all the time that she may only have one or two quality friends, but they are positive and supportive. Friendship is hard work but well worth it. I have no problem getting rid of negative people in my life. As far as friends go, no problem. How do you get rid of family? You don't..... We should be taking better care of our elderly and sick. This is not necessarily a positive experience. Doing your loved ones laundry or waiting for an hour for a prescription to be filled is just the right thing to do. My grandfather is cranky, selfish, and a veteran of two wars. I am not getting rid of him....... I just need to keep telling myself I have made a choice to not send him to a nursing home and let him be the problem of someone else. I need to put up some sort of shield when he throws up his crankyness onto me. That's one of the many of the good things I took home from the convention.

One other thing I wanted to mention was Becky Hand's talk. I learned some tricks I plan on sharing with my family. Organizing my pantry comes first. I won't feel bad about serving my family canned or frozen veggies anymore. I enjoyed Beck's energy and would like to share more, but my hands are bothering me from all the gardening I've been doing. So I'm going to have to cut this blog short.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

SCAROUSEL1 5/13/2009 7:14PM

Howdy! Blog when you have time, but don't stress about it when you don't. I agree with you about removing the negatives in your life. It is hard when someone who is family is cranky, but I am trying to learn that... IT IS WHAT IT IS... Meaning I can't change it so I try not to stresds about it. Why stress when it isn't something we can control? Now it is just a matter of finding the shields that work for you... HUGS! Have a SPARK tastic week my dear! :O) Shelia Report Inappropriate Comment

April Walk

Monday, April 20, 2009

It turned out to be a nice day. A little hazy but nice. I really enjoy these walks. I actually made it all the way. I was about to turn back with some of our group when I realized my daughter and her friend wanted to keep going. I know Morgan said she didn't care one way or the other but I could tell she wanted to go on, so I decided at the last minute to continue. We were just going to go about another mile and turn around, but the next thing I knew we caught up to the group that had left a little while earlier. They were taking a short cut and it looked like fun so we joined them. I thought if those strollers could make it we could. I did get my new shoes a little dirty though. LOL I didn't mind a bit. Now they look like I actually walk in them and not just to the mall.

The walk ended up being longer than we originally thought even with cutting out about a mile with the short cut Lisa took us on. I think it was 7 3/4 mile. If anyone got a different number please let me know. I could have sworn that's what my pedometer said when we last checked it, but when I got home and looked at it again, it was cleared. I was so mad at myself for not writing the numbers down. I know we started at 9:30 am and we finished at 1:00 pm. We went to the Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon after the walk. I was glad we had to wait in traffic when we first arrived so my feet could rest. Then we ended up walking another 2 miles or so at the festival.

My girls and I were so tired by the time we got home. I had to take a nap. Not for long though, Morgan woke me up asking for a ride to a friends house. I couldn't believe she still had the energy to go hang out with her friends. I wish I had her energy. I think the walk was really good for my daughter and I. She said she liked the way she felt afterward. I hope she goes with us next month. We are going to San Diego the first of May for the Spark convention. It should be good for us. I'll let you all know how it goes.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

TALEENA 4/21/2009 5:04PM

It was nice walking with you again! Have fun at the SP convention. San Diego should be beautiful for spring! The tulip festival is always fun. I'm glad you and the girls had a good time. Until next time! Shelley Report Inappropriate Comment

WENDI_WA1 4/20/2009 10:06PM

Hi wow you got a ton of walking in, hope you liked the tulips etc. I want to go up there and see them. Thats great your going to SD, enjoy it. Will be waiting to hear how it goes. Your new shoes did the trick-good! Report Inappropriate Comment

SCAROUSEL1 4/20/2009 6:09PM

Sounds like you had a wonderful walk! Wish I could of been there... Have fun in San Diego! Report Inappropriate Comment

I should be sleeping but....

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

I had a procedure today, so I was sleeping most of the day. Now it's after 2:00am and I am wide awake. I had a great experience today at Steven's hospital. It is a really old kinda run down place but everyone I had to deal with was professional and nice. I am stuck in bed for today recovering but I feel great. I should be able to do water aerobics later tonight. I have been reading allot of stuff on Spark People today and have learned allot. I am a mother of a 15 year old daughter. I've been to college and I like to think I'm not an idiot, but I am amazed at how little I know about nutrition,exercise, and all around good health. I've been sick allot over the last year and I took care of my friend while she was dieing of cancer. Sad but true..It took something so horrible to get me to seek the help of Spark People. I have to thank my friend Anna and Pam for introducing me to it.

I am having the hardest time with logging my food. I admit, I ate Hamburger Helper tonight. I added frozen peas so I did get one serving of veggies. When I tried to enter it on my food tracker I got frustrated. After taking the time to enter all the label info it said I entered an incorrect serving and it deleted everything I had entered. WTF...I'm just venting. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

MRSMEADE 4/1/2009 7:07AM

Glad to hear that you've found Sparkpeople! And you're not an idiot. There's so much conflicting information out there about nutrition and being healthy, it's easy to get confused. With you're adding a food not listed, I just put in the name, calories and fat. Also, make sure you save it to your favorites. That way you only have to enter it once. Don't worry and don't give up! You'll get the hang of it Report Inappropriate Comment

What a beautiful day

Monday, March 30, 2009

I hope everyone got out and enjoyed the sunshine today. I know a few of us that did. Way to go to all the Whidbey Island participants today. The weather couldn't have been any better. My husband and I drove over to Camino Island. Why is it called an island when it appears to be a peninsula? Since we are pretty new to the area we are still exploring and we like to explore every nook and cranny. There are so many beautiful places around here to walk and hike. The state park there was nice. Actually, there were two but they were so close together they might as well have been the same. If anyone has any one day trip ideas please let me know. We like to do this at least once a month.

Tomorrow I am getting ready for another fun filled day at Steven's Hospital. I am having an outpatient procedure done on Tuesday and I can't say I'm looking forward to it. What I am looking forward to is getting it over with and getting better. I want to be healthy!!!! I've been a little hard on myself because I am still not really tracking my food. Am I the only one having a hard time with this. I start my day writing everything down and by the time I get to the computer to log it I get overwhelmed. I know it's important but it's a pain in the you know what. Then I have days like tomorrow and Tuesday where I will not be able to eat anything. That sure makes it easier.

I am determined to be healthy, to ride comfortably on a plane, and to set a good example for my daughter. I hope I can get over this food log thing to make it all happen.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

SCAROUSEL1 3/30/2009 5:12PM

Hi Emily! I've got lots of day trip ideas... Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island for one. It is about an hour and maybe 30 mins drive from here or Wallace Falls State Park out in Goldbar (Hwy 2 headed towards Stevens Pass) is another fun lowland hike. Want to visit a quaint little town and do some window shopping? I love Coupeville on Whidbey Island and Snohomish (east of Everett) is also fun! Give me some more hints as to what you like to do and I can come up with more ideas. I hope your procedure this week goes smoothly... HUGS! :O) Shelia Report Inappropriate Comment

TALEENA 3/30/2009 11:15AM

Hi Emily! I hope things go better for you at the hospital this time. Don't beat yourself up about logging your food. Just work on things with baby steps. I do really good logging for breakfast, lunch but don't always follow through with dinner. I find the program slow sometimes. Not sure if it's my connection or just the masses of great people here at spark :) Hope you day is good and stay positive! You can be a good role model for your daughter Shelley Report Inappropriate Comment

tummy troubles

Thursday, March 19, 2009

I just have to get this off my chest... Last week I had a colonoscopy. Wednesday was the prep day. From what I had heard the worst part of the whole thing. I followed the instructions exactly and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. As I checked in Thursday morning they assured me that the worst was behind me (He he he he ) but they couldn't have been more wrong. It was like a three ring circus back there. So much going on my head was spinning. They must have been treating at least twenty other people at the same time. Just one doctor!!! 20 people!!! How could she possibly handle all this. I felt like a piece of meat. I am sitting in a room with several other people in a lovely hospital gown with a paper blanket covering my lap when the real fun began. The nurse came to me to start my IV. She looked and looked at my right arm and I could tell she was getting frustrated when I asked her if she could do my left arm. Others have had pretty good luck. She didn't even really acknowledge me when I felt the poke and dig begin. She was taking so long I finally asked her if it was working. She finally said no and poked me again in a different place. She didn't even really warn me it was coming. This time it did work but it hurt more than I had ever experienced before and I've had my share of IV's. Glad that was finally over I expected to be brought back to begin the procedure, but that would be after another 45 minutes or so. I was delayed because they were arguing about my name on the chart. I got married and wanted my name to be hyphenated. My maiden name was on my chart so they couldn't do anything to me until they decided to put me in the computer. This should have been addressed BEFORE I was brought back or even scheduled. It was hunilliating to have all these office people comeing in to talk to me after I was undressed.

I was finally brought into the room withe the doctor and all the scary looking equipment. A tear rolled down my face as the doctor looked at me and said "this is where it will take place." I was already exhausted and uncomfortable. I didn't know anyone around me and I was honestly a little scared. The doctor grabbed my paper blanket and wiped the tear away. She said "here let me give you something to make you stop crying." Seconds later I was out... The next thing I knew I was screaming and fighting with everyong trying to get off the table.

I was "hysterical" she noted in her report and was unable to go more than 80 centimeters due to my inability to tolerate the procedure. It was HORRIBLE!!! I had to go see her again today. I can't tell you how hard it was. I made my husband go with me. She asked me if I ever had a tramatic experience like drowning or a sexual assualt. I have had both and that is why she said I behaved the way I did. I have had alot of pain and will still have to have the procedure done over again. This time in the hospital. I don't know if I agree with her yet but if anyone is going to have conscience sedation for anything, they might want to discuss any previous tramatic experiences they've had with the person sedating them. I know my doctor will be updating her health history questionare so that no one else in her practice has to experience what I did.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

WENDI_WA1 3/20/2009 12:09AM

Hi Emily, goodness I am so sorry it happened like that. I have never had one but several friends have said the prep was worse. Hopefully it will be next time. I think the Dr's office was way out of line to be so busy and disorganized. Hopefully you feel better soon and can get over the trauma. Hope to see you Saturday. Report Inappropriate Comment

SCAROUSEL1 3/19/2009 1:24PM

Oh my goodness Emily... I am so sorry you had to endure this horrible experience. What were these doctors and nurses thinking? Everything should of been gone over before your appointment was even scheduled. You poor thing... HUGS! Report Inappropriate Comment

TALEENA 3/19/2009 12:01PM

I'm so sorry you had to go through that Emily :( I hate when the dr's office is so disorganized like that. They should definitely have your name straight before you undress. I hope you are doing ok. I haven't had to have one yet but I'm certainly not looking forward to it. Shelley Report Inappropriate Comment

CAROLJ74 3/19/2009 11:27AM

Oh Emily! I am so sorry to hear about your experience! I am sitting here shaking my head in disbelief! They could have taken care of so much of that before getting you undressed, why they didn't is beyond me! Report Inappropriate Comment

DEBCAR65 3/19/2009 10:41AM

Sorry to hear about your troubles Emily. You are right though, all those things should have been discussed before the appointment was ever made. Deb Report Inappropriate Comment