42 Days Till Christmas and Counting...

My gosh is it that time of year again?  Where has the time gone?  For the past two years I have been out of commission by having total knee replacement surgery during the holidays.  But this year I am up and around and doing fine.  I get to decorate the house!  Wheeeee!  It's been a long time since I've decorated the house. But family is coming and I'm excited about it. 
I have most of my Christmas shopping done.  Nothing like planning ahead and getting it out of the way.  I still need to shop for Noah, but trying to find him something that he doesn't already have will be hard.  He's got so much stuff for his birthday that I don't think another toy will fit into his house.

With an 18 month old in the house and his being such a go-getter, constantly on the move, I want to spend lots of time with him. I don't get to see him all that often and when I do it's such fun because he's such a cute little guy. I think he will have fun at Christmas, but next year will be when he will really have fun because he will be more into it. We'll have to find a place to put the Christmas tree so it won't get toppled. A little one, four dogs and a small tree doesn't mix very well.
I have lots of baking to do over the next few weeks.  Christmas cookies and pies, make ahead casseroles.  I will be experimenting with making the cookies with Splenda instead of sugar this year. I don't want to spend my all time off from work (12 days) cooking.  My blood sugar is doing well and I have lost 16 lbs. thus far.  I have more to loose and I want to get the blood sugar down under 80.  If I can do that before the end of the year, I will be a very happy camper.

Dave has a birthday coming up this month.  He was lamenting the other day that he was going to be 69 in a few weeks.  I told him he had one more year to get his stuff pulled together as I'm trying to set a target date on getting out on the road. 

I looked at a Keystone Sydney 328FRK the other day.  I like the layout of the kitchen but Dave was concerned that there was not room for two reclining chairs.  I told him that we could do away with the couch...that went over like a lead balloon. There were a few other aminaties that I would like to have that were not offered.  I prefer a table and chairs for the dining area instead of booth seating and you have to have a seat it the shower. Small details like that. All in all it's not a bad looking trailer.  But my all time favorite is the Keystone Alpine 3600RS. The price is nice too.  :(   Will have to wait to see if any used ones come up for sale. There could be one drawback to a rig that size.  Getting it into the National Parks and National Forest areas.  

Yesterday I made a big pot of German Chicken Barley Soup.  It was good and hit the spot.  Today has been cool and overcast with a smattering of rain here and there. Hot soup always does the trick on a cool or cold day.  And there's nothing like walking into a house where soup is on the stove and the aroma hits you like a ton of bricks and makes the old mouth water.  Yep, good soup!

Well for now that's the news from here.

Happy trails...
  

Earthquake?!?!?!?!?!

Yesterday way a day for earthquakes here in central Oklahoma.  I have felt one before while sitting in my office at the university. But last night we had a 5.6 quake here and I can tell you the house was shaking pretty good. 

Dave and I were sitting in the living room watching a delayed version of Prime Suspect when the quake hit around 10:10 p.m..  The dogs jumped up and started barking and we had things falling off the piano, video tapes falling off their stacks, some cups came off a shelf and some of my Mary Kay product ended up on the floor.

We've had over 40 aftershocks, non that I have felt.  We had 3 quakes that led up to the large one last night. Here is a map that you can get up to the minute information. It's really interesting as it also has information about boarder incidents, Hazmat information and a plethora of other information you might find interesting.

If you haven't done it yet be sure to set your clocks back so your not late to any appointments or work.

Happy trails....

Ah...Affairs of the Heart...

In one of my last blogs I talked about having a chemical stress test on my heart.  Got the news back yesterday that everything was ok and I was good to go.  Boy did that lift a weight off my chest!

It's amazing how you imagine everything.  Women are suppose to have different symtoms of a heart attack than men.  Every little pressure I had was, this is it, syndrom.  But until you actually get the news...you worry.  The up side to all of this is we now have a bench mark of my heart for my diabetes.  My blood sugar is coming down and so is my weight.  I have lost 16 lbs. since the last week in August and have dropped my blood sugar 66 points.  Do I still crave carbs...YES, but I now know what's at stake and I work on making better choices in what I eat.  I am determined to not go on medication if I can control it with diet and exercise.  Where is my Wii when I need it.  Still collecting dust I see...Dave, get it hooked up for me!

Happy trails...