Just Simply Holly

Well, we’re home, and I’m happy to say that we came home with MUCH less than what we went up there with yesterday! Not totally because of selling stuff though, although we did sell a good chunk of out unwanted stuff!

See, here’s what happened. When we got up to my sisters house this morning she told me that she had a lady stop into the garage sale just after we left last night. She purchased a few items and after she paid she got to talking to my sister. After a little while my sister discovered that this lady was the mother of the girl that sold my sister the carpeting in her last 2 houses. After talking a little more, my sister discovered that this womans daughter, who is only 38, had suffered a major stroke in November. This lady was going around to garage sales buying up easy sell items that she thought were priced low, so that she could sell them at a garage sale/benefit that was being held to help raise money to pay for the huge mound of medical and therapy bills that her daughter had en massed since November.

So, to make a long story short, my sister agreed that this lady could come at 4:00 this afternoon with a truck and load up the items she had left over from the garage sale that hadn’t sold and she told the lady that she would talk to me to see if I would be interested in doing the same, which I gladly did! Shortly after 4:00 this big box truck pulled up and the lady was so happy that we had offered to donate the items we had left over!!

They backed the truck up to the garage and when they opened the back doors, inside was already boxes filled with clothes, various household items, and a couple of ellipticals. We helped them load our stuff into the truck and then the lady turned to us and handed us a flyer about the benefit for her daughter and asked us to please attend if we could, that she’d love to have us there!

It just made me feel really good, ya know? My sister felt so bad to hear what had happened to this girl, she actually knew her several years ago from an office that my mom used to clean. It’s kind of scary to think about though. She is just 38 years old and because of this stroke she basically lost all use of one side of her body because of paralysis. Live is precious, so don’t take it for granted!

Warm weather is here, well, kind of. It’s going to be 80 today, but then we’re in for a frost/freeze warning the beginning of the week, but that won’t stick around and is actually quite normal for this time of the year. As a matter of fact, they said on the news this morning that last year on this date we actually had a snow storm that gave us a little more than three inches of snow…LOL! And I can remember a couple of snow storms in April with way more snow than that!

But what it’s time for is to get serious about losing weight! Between the meds and the typical winter weight gain, I’ve got more than a couple of pounds that I need to drop and it’s going to take a change in my diet, decent exercise and possibly some sort of weight loss supplement to help me get it done! But it’s been YEARS since I’ve taken any type of diet aid, so I have no clue where to start or even what the best diet pills would be for me. There are so many different types and forms on the market right now that it’s almost confusing. But probably the best thing for me to do would be to talk to my doctor and make sure that I choose something that isn’t going to have any reactions with the medications I’m currently taking. So wish me luck!

Heartburn, that is. I’ve dealt with heartburn/reflux problems since I was pregnant with my son. Because I was pregnant, the doctor couldn’t give me any type of prescription medications for fear of it harming the baby I was carrying. Instead, he gave me a couple of suggestions that could help and I still use them all these years later. One of the best forms of relief that I’ve found is to simply drink enough milk every day and drink a small glass of milk at the onset of heartburn/reflux signs.

The other one, which really works well if I’m experiencing heartburn problems during the night, is using a sleep wedge to slightly elevate my head, which actually helps prevent heartburn. Slightly elevating your head during sleep helps keep the acid in your stomach, where it belongs, and my sleep wedge has proven to be my best friend in battling night time heartburn for many years! If you don’t have access to a sleep wedge, another suggestion is raising the head of your bed by putting bricks under it.

I’ve managed to be able to control my heartburn/reflux problems over the years without using prescription medications, but I do have my doctor check it for me once in a while to make sure that it’s not becoming severe enough to require medications. If you’ve been experiencing heartburn/reflux problems, you might consider trying one of the things that works for me. Heartburn/reflux problems can also be a sign of other, more serious, health problems so be sure to seek advice from your healthcare provider to make sure it’s not something more serious!

I also dread the thought of it! Yes, I’ll honestly be glad when we don’t have to haul in wood for the wood burner or make sure we have slippers on in the morning because the floors are so cold! But warmer weather means it’s going to be that much more difficult for me to hide the pounds that I put on over the winter. With jeans and sweatshirts it’s so much easier to make yourself look smaller than you are. And since the majority of my weight gain has been caused from medications and because of the medicatons I’m currently taking, diet pills aren’t an option for me.

So I’ll just have ot be more creative taking off the weight this year! I’ve noticed an older gentleman from my neighborhood walking in the mornings after I take my daughter to the bus and I’m thinking about stopping him the next time I see him and asking him if he’d like some company, if I can work up the courage that is…LOL! In the mean time I’ll just keep eating healthy and doing what I can do. I knew that weight gain was one of the biggest side effects when I started this medication, but I also know that I like who I am better on this medicaiton compared to the person I am when I’m not on it!

I’ve worn glasses since I was in Jr High School. My first pair were your “typical” 80’s style, over sized, wire rimmed glasses. Over the years the style of glasses has changed drastically, and I have to laugh at some of the glasses that I’ve worn while I look at old pictures! My husband also wears glasses and we “try” to schedule our eye exams so that we can go together and just get it over with. One year, we weren’t able to get them scheduled at the same time, but we did go at different times on the same day. When our glasses came in a week or so later, we went together to pick them up and when we looked at each other we immediately busted out laughing because we had both chosen the same exact frames for our glasses!

My vision now is to the point that I simply can’t go without wearing my glasses, with the exception being when I am reading or at the computer. I have to take them off then because everything up close blurs when I’m wearing my glasses. I went last Saturday for my follow up exam from one that I had in July of last year. The eye doctor was concerned because of how drastically my prescription had changed in a little over a year and wanted me to come back in 6 months to see if it had changed any more. But the one girl that did the pretesting goofed up and put some drops in my eyes that made it impossible for the doctor to do the second part of the exam, so I have to go back again next week for them to do it. I’m just glad that I have health insurance that is covering these exams because if I had to pay for them myself, I’d be in debt forever! I’m just hoping that my prescription hasn’t changed so that I don’t have to get new glasses, because although the insurance is covering the exams, they won’t cover another pair of glasses until July.

I was talking to my mom on the phone tonight and we were talking about New Years and the fact that we’re just a couple of days away from the end of another year. She said that it felt so weird to turn 70 this year, that it was a number that scared her because it’s a number/age that she has always associated with being “old”. I tried to reassure her that it was just a number and that age was more a state of mind than anything else, but I don’t think I was very successful.

She talked about how blessed she has felt lately. Between her and my step father they have 6 children and all 6 of us are married with children of our own. My older brothers oldest child is also married with one child of her own and her second child on the way, thus making my brother a grandfather and my mom a great grand mother. In total my mom and step father have 16 grand children and 1 great grand child with their second great grand child due in just a few months. What is most amazing about this and what makes my mom feel so blessed is the fact that with all of her children, grand children and great grand child(ren), she has been very lucky in the fact that none of us have had any major health problems like cancer, diabetes or cerebral palsy.

So mom said that tomorrow night she is going to be counting her blessings on New Years Eve and pray that our family continues to be blessed with good health in the coming years.  I chimed in and told her to make sure to pray for her own good health to continue!  I’m amazed at how this woman goes, she’s almost like the energizer bunny at times.  At 70 years old, she still works 5 days a week, and has even picked up a couple of new jobs in the past few months.  She’s definitely an inspiration to me!

One thing that I am absolutely thrilled about as far as this years Christmas is the fact that it was so stress free that I didn’t have a single migraine. This is a definite plus for me when you take into account that I normally use more of my migraine medications during the holidays than I do the rest of the year. I think what attributed the most to my lack of stress was the fact that my whole outlook on life in general feels completely different than it has in a very long time! Now lets just hope I can keep this mind set going and keep from having a migraine for a very long time!

OK, so Christmas is over and we’re less than a week away from New Years. Now is when everyone starts thinking about what this years New Years resolution will be. Personally, I haven’t made a New Years resolution in several years. But this year, I’ve decided that I am going to make one. It was nice to go out last Friday and purchase a new, dressy outfit for my husbands company Christmas party. But since it’s been a VERY long time since I’ve purchased new clothes for myself, it was quite shocking when I realized what size I was. I knew that I had put on some weight, I just hadn’t realized how much. So I’ve decided that my resolution for 2008 is to lose weight and get in shape. I also know that one of the things that all four of us need to start doing is adding nutritional supplements to our daily regimen. None of us get the right amount of vitamins, and something as simple as a daily supplement will be beneficial to our overall health!

I know that we still have a few weeks until New Years, but I’m already thinking ahead to what I’d like to make for a New Years Resolution. One of the biggest things on my mind is my health, and one of the best things I could do to get healthier is to lose weight. I’ve battled with my weight all of my life, but it’s been a while since I’ve been as large as I am right now. I do eat good, and most nights I sleep good, but the one thing that I don’t do so good on is exercise. I loved it when we had a membership at the YMCA, they had every type of fitness equipment you could think of, but my favorite was the treadmill. Maybe I should call my mom and take her up on the offer she made me a few weeks ago. She decided that she’s tired of the dust that her treadmill is gathering and has decided that it’s time to find it a new home.

Mom cracks me up in many ways! Even at just a few weeks from turning 70, she still worries about her weight and is always trying the latest and greatest gadget to try and take weight off. Over the years she’s had several different types of exercise equipment including stationary bicycles and steppers. Eventually they’ve all started gathering dust and she’s sold them or given them away. But the one thing that she has refused to part with is her treadmill, even though she hasn’t used it in over 2 years now. But that’s about to change. When I was talking to her the other day she said she finally decided it’s time for the treadmill to go, and asked me if I wanted it. Now, as much as I’d like to have it, in this house there simply isn’t any room for it. She tried to convince me that I could fit it somewhere, but to be frank, I don’t need anymore things around here to gather dust…LOL.