Only Three Little Pounds

That's all I gained over my Christmas vacation! I'm pumped! I really need to officially weigh in the morning to know exactly how much I gained. I'll update in the morning. And another tiny, yet significant "yee-haw" is that I did NOT eat the mini Snickers bar that was laying on my cabinet. I tossed it aside and grabbed a grapefruit. I think I will just go throw it in the trash can while I'm thinking of it...

King and I had such a wonderful talk on the way home from our trip. We talked about our goals for this next year. I'm very excited for 2008! I can't believe it's just around the corner.

There's much laundry and unpacking and football parties to prep for over the next couple of days. I'd better get going. Happy New Year!

UPDATE: Just as I suspected, I always weigh less first thing in the morning. I did not gain anything on my trip!! I left weighing 139.6 and I weighed 139.6 this morning. That is very rewarding!

I'm still sick, but better. We are at my parents' house now. We had a gargantuan birthday party this morning to celebrate everyone's birthday that wasn't celebrated throughout the year. Seems that I'm not the only one who is tardy about mailing presents.

We've also been surrounded by extended family which is fun. Tomorrow my mom's extended family will come over for a Christmas party and "White Elephant" gift exchange.

My granny came over with everyone last night and evidently the excitement of seeing my brothers, myself and our kids was a little much for her and she had an alzheimer's episode during the night. She's really changed in the past 6-9 months since I saw her last. Her face structure has even changed. She's looking like the 91 year-old that she is, but it's still hard to watch. She's always been such a picture of unconditional love and sweetness and energy. It's hard to watch her struggle for thoughts and be so feeble. They said she falls every week or so now. But, the great thing is that she is still with us and still "Granny" for the most part.

doctor, doctor, tell me what to do!

I'm sick. I left home well, or so I thought. However, on Christmas eve I started in with a sore throat and icky feeling. 24 hours later, I had lost my voice and had lots evidence of bronchitis, if you know what I mean. I went to the doctor today and yes, I have bronchitis, fever and an ugly throat. I'm drinking Airborne, got a shot of steroids and am on an antibiotic.

As far as eats go, I took a 24 hour free day from part of Christmas to part of today. I thorougly enjoyed it! Delicious chocolate pie, my fav foods ... yum! I'm back to being good. Hubby has encouraged me to keep eating the chocolate pie as I have no idea when I'll get to eat a Nana Chocolate Pie again. We'll see. Right now, being sick is a pretty good reason to just be good on the eats. I feel kind of rotten anyway.

We had snow last night and I forgot to take a picture. It's mostly all gone today. It was just enough to cover the ground, but was a beautiful gift from God on Christmas night. :)

Our Savior Reigns!!

Merry Christmas!!!

I'm enjoying our family time at hubby's folks. They are so generous and fun. I finally got to play a game of "42" (a domino game). There are so many good sweets and the meals are filled with everyone's favorite dish. I've done really well on eats so far. Bear with me while I write out what I've eaten ... it keeps me accountable in this scrumptious environment!

Yesterday:
banana
container of grapefruit chunks with g-fruit juice
large green salad with taco meat, a TBSP of guac and 2 TBSP cheese
2 iced cookies
boiled egg
coffee, decaf with splenda and some 2% milk
sandwich with turkey meat and mustard, 3/4 tsp dip with 4 finger size crackers
1/2 cup of cooked beans (jalepeno beans from Cooper's BBQ)

Today:
Banana

Yea, Baby!

I'm down to 139 lbs this morning! It feels good to be back in the 130's!! My trick? I threw away all the Christmas candy and goodies that we've been given. Just dumped 'em in the trash. I felt bad because my friends worked hard to make those for me, but I certainly don't need the temptation and there's no way that I need the calories. So, if you are reading this and you are one of my sweet friends who dropped goodies off in my front porch ... my deepest apologies. Please extend mercy.

Boy, does it feel good to have such quick results. One week and down six pounds!!

Your Friend and Mine

Mr. and Mrs. Banana! Look at these spotted little darlings! Do they look edible? Yea, verily, I tell ye. They are not only edible, they are delicious! I almost threw them away and then I thought, "Well, I'll just peel one and see how it looks..." Oh, dear. The warm smell of the tropics hit me as I made the first long peel down the side of the banana. Then I tasted it and I was like smooth, banana goodness to my sore throat. Oh dear. How did I go 35 years not eating, smelling or touching this very nice and likable fruit?! Thirty-five years I have missed out on these delectable, nutritious delights. Ya know what happened after 35 years, don't you? I went to the caribbean and ate the bananas from the local islands and I was hooked.
Do you recognize Mr. And Mrs. Banana's downstair neighbor family? It's the Grapefruit Clan. Nice ones, those Grapefruit. They seem a bit tart when you first meet them, but their sweetness gives way soon after. This clan is originally from Texas and we're proud to have them at our house for a time. I'm sorry to say their family members keep disappearing one by one. It's a bit disturbing.

I did find out some intersting tidbits about the Grapefruit Clan. Did you know that Grapefruit's properties reduce insulin levels and encourage weight loss? Yep. It's not just a fad diet anymore, there is research to prove that grapefruit reduces insulin and insulin regulates fat metabolism. So, ya heard it here first.

2 miles

That's how far I walked this morning. There is something inspiring about exercising outside. I can go farther and faster when I am outside versus walking/running on the treadmill.

It seems that my migraines are here to stay until work gets less stressful and I can't see that happening until late February to March. As a result, if I'm not paralyzed then I try to exercise in the morning before the migraine pain hits. I have lost two pounds in the past two days. I'm really trying to get my water in each day and carefully watch my portions. The tricky thing is that when I have hyper episodes, I have to eat to abort them ... carbs and sugar no less! Increased eating and lying down paralyzed for 6-8 weeks will put the pounds on a gal.

I'd love for ya'll to share some low-fat crock pot recipes. Working the hours that I am, I don't have the time most days to cook, so the crock pot is my friend. If you do not want to register with blogspot in order to comment on my blog, you can just email them to me.

Stop by my SIL's blog and wish her a happy b-day today! She's amazing and deserves many blessings today!

The Big Fat Fly Swatter

Paralysis episodes really defy definition. How do I describe being totally aware of every noise, smell, sound and stimulus without being able to respond to noise, light, smell, sound or itches. How can I communicate what it is like to lay there completely unable to move ... willing my muscles to move and yet, no movement occurs? There are no words ... except maybe that it feels like being swatted with a 50 cubic foot fly swatter.

Yesterday was one of the hardest paralysis days that I have had in a year or two. I woke with trouble and by the time a couple of hours had passed, I was unable to speak without going into another episode. Today was the same until about 2:00 today. Now, I'm answering phone calls, doing support tickets and working on a spreadsheet. God really equips us for His purposes. All too often we think we have the "plan" and are working it well. Then God reaches down to remind us that all that matters is His Glorification and working His Plan.

My sweet SIL asked where I've been. Fair question. I've been working and having migraines. I have had a migraine every day, save two, since November 25th. That would be 20 days of migraines. These are directly related to my Paralysis and sometimes I get paralyzed and sometimes it's "just" a migraine. I've been getting the basics done in life, but few extras.

Princess gets new shoes today as she has outgrown most of her shoes, clothes, everything! We were reading in the Book of Nana yesterday that Princess's grandad was 6 feet tall and weighed 165 pounds in 8th grade. His son, my King, grew to his full height (5'9") in 8th grade. I have no doubt that Princess is on the same track. She is already 52" in 3rd grade. So, I said all that to explain why in the world I am going to the mall on a Saturday, on the second to last weekend before Christmas. :) We'll have to update later with our picture of our conquest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, since my migraine hadn't hit yet this morning and I had fairly normal potassium and calcium levels, I thought I'd try the treadmill. I really pushed myself and have the wobbly legs to show for it. I also now have my migraine. It started about 5 minutes after getting off the treadmill. Oh, well. At least I got to workout. Off to the mall now... praise God for Excedrin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Last UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, we made it through the mall and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There still were plenty of people though! We got our last present and found some shoes for Princess. Aunt J, you will be so proud. Princess can't wait to show you her Saucony sneaks!

You Go, Girl!

My sweet housekeeper, Julia, was telling me a beautiful story today. Her English is not great and my Spanish is not great, but the story is compelling in any language.

Julia is learning how to drive and she was at the grocery store with her 16 year old son. A woman who had been drinking came up to her and asked for a ride. Julia was a bit nervous and asked the lady to wait a moment. Julia turned aside and prayed. Julia really felt the Lord was telling her to give the woman a ride. So, they all get in the car. Julia asked the woman where she needed to go and the woman told her she is homeless. Julia just started telling this woman that she is precious to God. The woman says, "Oh, no. I'm not worth anything. I have no life. There is nothing to live for." Then the woman starts telling Julia about how she doesn't have a life. Evidently this woman has lost everything. A month ago, she really hit bottom. Her son had died and her husband left her for another woman and there was another loved one who had died. So, last month, this woman climbed one of the really tall buildings in downtown and was going to jump. Julia and the other Christians at church that morning all came out to see what was going on. There were ambulances, police, etc and everyone was looking up at this tall building where a woman was trying to commit suicide. So, Julia and all the Christians standing around there were praying for Jesus to comfort this woman and help her not jump. The situation was resolved and the woman did not jump. That was last month. This exact same woman is the one who asked for the ride and is sitting in Julia's back seat. When Julia told her that Jesus would clean her heart out and make it new, this woman's look of wonder was priceless. She was so excited to hear this truth and asked Julia for a bible. Tears were streaming down this poor woman's face at the reality that SomeOne could love her. That was yesterday. It's amazing how God uses us to change others for Him. Julia's face was radiant as she told me this story. You go, Julia!

Norway and Perfectionism

I just have to say how incredibly sweet is my God! For those of you that don't know what I do, I am in charge of customer support and sales for our company. We have been so busy since I came to work and as a result, I have not really undergone any formal training. As such, I lean mightily on the Lord to help me in all of my work. I learn quickly and can pick up on things by listening to King. Things are going well, but they are not always easy. Each time I answer the phone, I pray first. This teaches me humility and reminds me that each thing I do in life is enabled by the Lord.

I think I have mentioned that we sell software to 75 different countries and most of my telephone conversations originate in the States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or the UK. I got a surprise today when I answered the phone and a gentleman from Norway was on the line! A first for me. What a nice guy. I very much enjoyed helping him and walked away from the conversation totally amazed at how tender God is to give me new experiences in such a gentle manner. I could have answered the phone to an overseas call with an angry customer. Not so.

I have done a number of new things today. This is remarkable for the simple fact that I am a perfectionist. Perfectionists (this one anyway) like to do things perfectly. Every time. New things are very tricky because it's almost impossible to do a new thing perfectly. Thus, new things are avoided until the point in time where it may be done without flaw. As a further consequence, these actions (or inactions) would lead observers to assume that the perfectionist is a procrastinator. Actually, a perfectionist does not like to procrastinate because procrastinating causes a chaotic situation of unaccomplished things "lying around" in life. This leads to frustration with the chaos and an attempt to clean things up, resulting in the inevitable ... facing the undone new items. And we are back at the beginning.

I began work in March and have "seeped" into the job that I have now. I do not keep track of my hours, I just work as much as I am able. (I work about 50 hours a week.) Each day I do some new thing. Today there have been several new things to accomplish. In the beginning of April, I was still functioning in the above pattern of perfectionism. Over the months I have learned to just do things. It doesn't matter if they are perfect or even wrong. Just try. I have learned that I really can do new things. As a result of being forced out of my comfort zone, I have learned that I can do many things I once thought were impossible.

Our sunrise this past week. Doesn't that make you want to be a poet?!

Matthew 17:2 "There he (Jesus) was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light."

Friday

So, I've decided to workout by walking every morning for 15 minutes. Maybe I'll add in some weights. I've had a migraine every day this week. All day, every day. I am hoping that exercise will help them by relieving some tension/stress. This morning I clipped on my IPOD and started listening to a sermon. I got so involved in the sermon (on the character of God ... my fav subject!) that I didn't realize I had my eyes closed and was holding onto the treamill in front of me. I looked like something from an episode of Little House on the Prairie. I was being pulled along the treadmill like a ox pulls a plow. I realized, "whoops. I think I'm having an episode." When I let go of the treadmill, I thought I was going to fly off backwards ... I was moving so slowly and the treadmill was still going strong!

King helped me to the couch and I had an untold number of paralysis episodes. Here I sit at my desk, trying to work and I have only a portion of a brain. I have taken orders and helped customers from 12 different countries. The good news is that I can type slowly on the internet while doing customer service and no one knows I have a migraine or that I just had a 30 minute paralysis episode. :) The internet is such a good tool!

I'm "It"

I have been tagged by Katy, who also tagged her husband Cash. Evidently there is a rousing game of online tag going on and I didn't even know about it! As participation in this game, I must tell you 7 random things about myself. At first I could not think of one and then once I got going, I couldnt' stop. So. You will get 7 random things and 3 bonus facts. You must swear not to use these against me in the future. Ready? 'K. Here we go...

1. I have a neurosis about germs. I'm not technically obssessive/compulsive, but I'm definitely not normal when it comes to being freaked out by the cooties of the world. Before I put my hands on a shopping cart, I think, "Who touched this last and had they just wiped their nose? Maybe a guy that didn't wash his hands after potty time? " I could go on, but I will leave it at that. I have a very active imagination!!

2. I love fast cars and speed in general. My personality is really not one of a risk taker in general, but I have always liked to drive really fast. How many tickets have I gotten?? One. I've deserved far, far more. One day I will rent a Lotus, like this one, and we will have a fun, speedy weekend!

3. I love expensive stuff. If you leave me in a room with no price tags and lotsa stuff, I can pick out the most expensive items every time. Poor King. I don't aspire for expensive things and I could not care less about other people's financial position. Growing up, things were so lean for my family that we stood in line for government issued cheese. I ate "free" lunches at school and I can distinctly remember the day I got my first store bought clothes! I was in elementary school. My mom made almost all of my clothes. And I don't aspire for wealth, but for crying out loud, I seem to always choose pricey things when I pick something out. Even picking out Christmas trees this year, I seemed to always go for the ones that were hundreds of dollars and then roll my eyes when I saw the price tag. Chalk another one up to sin nature. :)

4. I am a one-on-one person. I can enjoy big parties, but my ideal setting is a small gathering of people where I can have a 1-1 conversation with everyone before the evening is over.

5. I am not a hypochondriac. I have been called this in my early life and I never quite understood it. You know, the idea of being a hypochondriac. Why would anyone want attention for a weakness or sickness? I like attention for "kudos", for working hard, for perseverance, for having a "no quitting" attitude. So, when I was called this as a youngster, I was always puzzled. Now that I'm older, I realize that my dramatic nature probably was the culprit. I can turn anything boring into drama in no time. :) However, I have pushed myself so hard to prove that I'm not a hypochondriac that I have done physical harm to myself. For instance, one day when I had been paralzed off and on all day, I was determined to make it to the restroom. I was too weak to walk, so I crawled. I was too weak to crawl and I dislocated my hip. But, by golly, I was not faking being weak and I was going to do my traveling by myself. Dumb. Stupid, in fact. Oh, the things we learn in life!

6. Spring is my favorite season. Romans 1:20 says, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

I think each season is a representation of Christ's life. Summer is like his 30 years of growing and maturing. Autumn/Fall is like His torture, being betrayed and crucifixtion. Winter is His death and time in the tomb. Spring is his resurrection and 40 days on earth post-resurrection. As I watch God paint in His creation, I marvel at the way "even the rocks cry out" about Who Jesus is and how every season proclaims that he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

7. I have a poodle. I never, ever thought I'd be a little dog owner. I've always had big, slobbery dogs. Not that I like the slobber, but the big dogs are so cool!! My favorite is a Great Dane. I had a Great Pyranees while in High School. My friend had a Rottweiler that was the sweetest thing! Now, I have a poodle. Her name is Dixie and she has truly won my heart! Here she is in the middle of Princess' slumber party. I always thought poodles were nervous, snappy little dogs. Actually, poodles are very social, love everyone and never meet a stranger. I love my little poodle!!

And for 3 additional random facts about me:

1. I sneeze like a lumberjack.

2. I dream of being one of those delightfully witty people like my SIL J.

3. I can burp big enough to rattle the windows.

There. 10 things you never thought to ask me. Now, it is my great honor to tag J, my niece and Jamie! Have fun!

Holidays

I don't know how my blogging friends have time to blog every day. I intend to, but somehow it gets pushed aside. Since my last post, we have celebrated Princess' birthday, her slumber party, Thanksgiving and now have decorated for Christmas. Work is busy, Princess is still doing make up work from her sickness and King is trying to meet programming deadlines.

Tonight is date night. I love date night. I wonder what we will do tonight.... Any suggestions?

In my next post, I will have to participate in the online game of "Tag". I have been tagged by my sweet friend and I have not taken the time to be "it". Hopefully soon...

Sick and Tired

This is not the way we envisioned starting a birthday week. Alas. Her strep test came back negative, but the good doc is running a 48 hour culture to be sure it's not strep. I have never had strep and neither has Princess, nor King. I did not know strep could make you so sick! She's had vomiting, neck pain, headache, sore throat, fever and chills. Blech.

Shuttle Launch Slideshow

I wish I knew how to overlay the sound of the shuttle launching over the pictures. I haven't labeled all of the pics. Enjoy!

http://www.shutterfly.com/view/pictures.jsp

Happy Birthday to me!

Celebrating my birthday Saturday with my family was fun. My in-laws came through on their way to a meeting in a nearby city. We ate Mexican food and chocolate cake. Yum!

Shuttle Launch

I promised a slideshow of the

shuttle launch, but I haven't found the time. This is my favorite picture that I took with my new Nikon. For my friends who have a new camera on their wish list for Christmas, this is the Nikon d40 with the 80-200mm lens. Ok, so back to the shuttle, notice the green image to the left of the shuttle. This is some sort of inverted reflection of the flame. Isn't it cool? It moves around on the pictures right here at liftoff and then disappears. I think the other reason that I like this picture is that the sound hit us right about this spot in launch. It was so powerful that it felt like it was going to knock us backward. Everyone should experience a shuttle launch. Way fun!

On Our Way Home

Today is a very sad day.

We leave our beloved Disney and come back to reality.

Have we said how much fun Disney is for our family??? Way fun.

Last night we were so tired, but we had to go back just one more time. The conference was over in late afternoon and we went to Epcot for the last time. We ate at our favorite restaurant, but Sam wasn't working last night, so we didn't get to see her. The food was good and the fellowship was great. As we left, Princess cried when we got to the center icon, the large golfball-looking thing called Spaceship Earth. So we sat underneath, took out the video camera and 'journaled' our leaving and what a great time we had. It really pulled at the heartstrings of Mom and Dad as we walked through the parking lot to our car, Princess kept looking back over her shoulder. :(

This morning as King and I were stirring around packing the last minute items, Princess laughed out loud in her sleep. She told us when she woke up that she had been dreaming of some friends at school. I think we are all ready to come home, but not ready to leave this week of togetherness and family time.

It's been a great trip!

These are pictures from the conference. This was the largest turnout that we've seen! We loved the Orlando location as, obviously, others did as well. Also pictured is the nicest neurologist that I've ever met. Dr. Frank Lehman-Horn is so smart, so nice and so caring. Princess, King and I gave our blood for genetic testing. We'll find out in a year or so what the results are. Woo-hoo!

What it's all about...

Family time!!!

The United Kingdom and Sam

This is our favorite place to eat at WDW ... Epcot in the UK at a place called the Rose and Crown Pub and Restaurant. These folks go over and above to serve. We've eaten there twice and both of our servers were so sweet, but we were especially fond of Sam today. She is from Stamford, England and we found out at the end that she is a Believer as well. Princess wanted some potatoe leek soup, but it didn't come with her meal. No worries. Sam brought some for free. Princess also wanted some chocolate coins that she had with her sundae the other evening and again, no worries. Sam said she'd bring one. Well. Sam brought a plate of chocolate coins!!! She even asked "Minnie" for her autograph at the end of the meal. Here is Princess giving her first autograph as "Minnie" in Sam's autograph book. Such a sweet time! Sam told King that even if we do not eat there again on Sunday that she'd love it if we just stopped by to say "hi". Have I said that we love WDW?!!

So Much Character!!!

Magic Kingdom Episode

If you've read the Frog Blog post then you know what a delightful time we had at the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. We stayed until the end of the fireworks and were leaving the park with the innumerable crowd of people when (a long way away from the exit) I realized I was starting into a Hypo episode. Estimating from the front gate (0ur exit point) to the castle, there were about 20,000-40,000 people. Not a good place to lay down and have an episode. We were shoulder to shoulder with the unwashed masses. Then ... it began to rain. Now, many people would be intimidated by these obstacles, but not my King. He began working us toward the edge of the crowd and found a porch to sit under, a cold bottle of water to take medicine and a brownie for Princess during the wait. God is so sweet to provide what we need! We sat and waited for the episode to pass and eventually we walked to the exit of MKingdom. We walked to the point where we could see the line for the monorail (to take us back to the car) and my heart sank. All those thousands of people that we were shoulder to shoulder with were now in line for the monorail. It was at that moment that I realized I was going into another episode ... or at least the first episode was coming back. Either way, we headed back inside the park for a resting spot. Now things were getting a little more interesting because they said they would stop running the tram through the parking lot at 10:30. It was about 10:00 by now and I couldn't walk. King found a wheelchair and we proceeded out to stand with all the folks in line for the monorail. I sat there and prayed, "Lord, you made all the people and the materials for the concrete that we are standing on. Please make a way for us to get to the car quickly." Not 5 minutes later, one of the WDW employees that was directing traffic proceeded to chain off the area to the monorail and directed us to another set of chains. My heart sank. Then it soared as I realized we were directed to a new area for the monorail and would be way ahead of all those other folks!! Sure enough, they loaded us up and the monorail took us to the Transportation and Ticket center where we were supposed to catch the tram to our car. It was 10:45 by the time we could catch the tram and it was already supposed to have stopped running 15 minutes ago and there it came. It scooped us up, took us to our car and we were able to leave the borrowed wheelchair right beside the car for some nice WDW employee to come get it after the parking lot cleared out. By this time, my episode had improved greatly and I was able to climb into the Jeep by myself and walk through the hotel a few minutes later.

The bottom line is that God provides in ways that we can't imagine and in times when it seems completely overwhelming. He always provides a way out and never gives us more than we can bear. He's the abundant Provider. The picture is during the first episode under the porch ... a place to rest, have a brownie and watch old fashioned disney cartoons of Donald, Mickey and Minnie. Life doesn't get any better than this...

NASA Interviews

While waiting for the launch of the Discovery Shuttle, we went into the museum and took pictures under the Saturn V rocket. We also looked for any NASA personnel to "interview" for Princess' Family Project at school. We decided the NASA trip would make a cool project. After taking pictures under the rocket, we asked a lady with a lanyard if we could ask her a few questions. She was so kind, yet declined as she is a contractor with NASA. She said, "You know who you need to talk to is Bob Seik. He was the Launch Director here at the Cape for many years." She then proceeded to give a description and wished us luck in finding Mr. Seik. I thought there was little chance we'd get to talk to such a VIP, yet was determined to find him for Princess if at all possible. There were so many neat exhibits and hundreds of people. Our contractor friend gave us a great description because 1/2 way through the building we found the prestigious Mr. Sheik and sure enough, he was surrounded by old friends. After we waited a while, he noticed us and came over and the "interview" began. Princess, for all of her gregarious nature, really doesn't like to be in the center of attention. She has such a hard time talking one on one especially in a situation like this. I had helped her think of a couple of questions to ask him, yet she was totally not wanting to do it. I can not tell you how personable this man is and how he was so good with Princess. Turns out he has grandchildren Princess' age and knows how to talk "space" on a kid's level. He answered her two questions and then proceeded to give her a great little talk about how important it is to take risks and how to evaluate a risk. He advocated broaching new territories despite fears and enjoying the results. It was a great and inspiring talk and Princess exclaimed after we walked away, "I wasn't nervous at all!!" The reason she wasn't is because this man is a gifted communicator and is obviously passionate about his dreams. We could all stand to be around more people like Bob Seik.

Epcot Blessings

After spending all day Tuesday at NASA, we went to EPCOT for dinner and the Illuminations show. While planning our trip, I purchased a book called The Unofficial Guide to WDW. I highly recommend it as it gives all kinds of great info. We tried out a dining place in the United Kingdom area of World Showcase in Epcot. Our dining establishment was right on the lagoon in the picture and we were hoping for a seat outside by the water. The book said you have to reserve in advance for this kind of table, but we thought we'd walk up and ask if anyone had cancelled their reservation. Now, mind you, this is on the heels of a most blessed day at NASA that I have only partially blogged about. I'll have to really tell the whole story of blessing in another post. For this post, I need to tell you how God went over and beyond and abundantly blessed us. We not only got a table for dinner, but outside! Not only that, but our server took our order and then escorted us out to a viewing area to watch the show. After the beautiful show, we came back to our table and our food was served 5-7 minutes later. The show closes out Epcot for the night, so essentially we were lingering over dinner while the park cleared out. Sweet! The food was delicious, our table had a beautiful view and we felt immensely blessed! We go back for a day at Epcot Friday morning.

Segmented Stories

There are so many individual stories to share from each day that I would overwhelm you if I tried to fit an entire day in one post. Consequently, I will post stories from our days in their own blog posting. This picture was taken after a show this morning at the castle in Magic Kingdom.

Frog Blog

Wednesday night while seated at the foot of Cinderella's Castle watching the evening parade, I was enthralled with the intricate beauty and details of the individual floats. Each character had their own float complete with thousands of lights and it's own theme music. King was on my left and Princess in front and to my left. The only thing to my right was my backpack. Again, we were sitting on the concrete with thousands of others. In the middle of the parade, I felt something on my right thigh and unconsciously reached down to brush it off. Well! I just happened to gently lay my hand right over the top of the "thing" on my leg. At that precise moment, I frighted the object on my right thigh and the thing decided to leave it's new resting spot. In 4-5 split second moments I had laid my hand on a very wet frog, he wriggled and jumped through my hand!! As the wetness and "aliveness" entered my conscious thought I screeched and flung my right hand (poor frog) toward the right. King started asking 3-4 rapid fire questions along the lines of "are you okay???" Followed by his comment to "just calm down". Everything was so beautifully intense ... the beauty of the parade, the loud music, sitting at the base of the Castle, watching Lauren enjoy the parade and now to go to the opposite intensity of "GAG! Something alive and wet just jumped and wiggled on me!!!" I had a huge adrenaline rush. When I got my words, I told David, "I *am* calm. You don't know the restraint I used." Ok, so I managed to only disturb the people around me during the screech and the flinging of my hand. For the next few minutes I just worked on not having an episode from the adrenaline rush. All was well. The parade ended and we turned around from facing toward the street to facing the castle. Turns out that this was the ultimate spot for viewing the parade and the evening fireworks 30 minutes later. Tuesday night, we watched the evening show at Epcot ... amazing. Really beautiful. However, there's nothing like sitting at the foot of the castle and seeing the firworks over the castle and backlighting it. King video'ed the whole thing and I'm so thankful. It was incredibly special. I'm not a magic person as I think there are two kinds of supernatural powers: those of God and those of His enemy. So, some people would use the term "magical" for our evening Wednesday and I would use the term ... blessed. If, however, you go with the magical idea, you could begin to see a theme here. I was approached a second time by Mr. Wet Frog during the fireworks ferpete'ssake!!! He jumped in my lap this time!! Either it was a prince who wished to be released from his magic spell, or I had one terrified frog in a throng of people who just wanted a safe place to sit for a while. As nurturing as I am, there was not enough room for me and a wet frog in my lap at the same time!! I jumped again and screamed. Thankfully there were new people around me this time or they might have called security. I explained in 7 words or less that it was the second time he'd jumped on me that night. They didn't care. They just wanted me to sit down, shut up and let them enjoy the magical show. Alas. I will never know if that prince had his spell broken. There were so many people in that park that no one would have notice a new person suddenly appearing from a frog.

Space Shuttle!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday was NASA day and boy were we blessed!!! I'm so thrilled that King wrote our senator and got the VIP tickets. We'll set up a digital scrapbook of the day. Ya'll, we were only 2.5 miles from the shuttle. You could see the shuttle on the pad from where we were (with a telephoto or binocular). The tickets we were given were in the VIP section of the viewing stands. When we viewed liftoff, the three of us sat at the fence (as close as you can get) and took pictures. King had the video and I had my new Nikon. Oh, ya'll. It was amazing. I set the camera on continuous shooting mode and photographed the entire launch from T minus 1 until the shuttle was out of sight. I even got the solid rocket booster separation and the main engine cut off. It's so cool. We kept saying over and over how blessed we were.

Pardon the haphazard nature of the post. We had A/C trouble again last night and are functioning on little sleep. They replaced a fuse once and the A/C twice between 11:00 and 3:15. (yawn!) After replacing it at 11:00, we woke at 1:48 to an engine locked down quickly followed by "boom", a flash of blue light and smoke in the room. I had an episode while King called guest services and we did the whole "pull the a/c out, put in another one" routine until after 3:00 a.m.

I woke at 8 and peeked out the window to see the cool front looming to the north. We are up and the girls are bouncing up and down trying to get King to wake up and take us to the Mouse House. I'm trying to throw this post up before we leave. Today is Magic Kingdom day!!

This internet connection is as slow as trafffic on MoPac at 5:00. I'll post photos later. Only one episode so far (the one at 1:48 this morning). Woo-hoo!

Travel, Epcot and Jeep Trouble

It's our first day of vacation. King got up at 2:15 a.m., I got up at 4 and Princess at 4:30. They slept on the plane some ... I did not. For some reason, I can not sleep when I'm strapped to a moving object ... especially a hollow metal tube with jet engines and a guy named "Murphy" at the wheel. :)

We arrived in Orlando, got a Jeep Grand Cherokee from Enterprise, got some lunch (at 3:30) and found our hotel room. After a bit of freshening up, we headed out for Disney. The lateness of the hour determined that Epcot was our only real option. We enjoyed a couple of shows and all of a sudden Mommy became tired. Very tired. Exceedingly tired. It was 8:00. Thankfully, we arrived so late that we were able to obtain a close parking spot. If you've ever been to a mammoth amusement park like Disney, you know the relative term "close". We finally found the silly Jeep among the thousands of other Florida license plates and the goofy thing wouldn't unlock. We tried everything. Princess even resorted to tapping on the windshield with this little voice, "Won't anyone let us in??"

Finally, we decided to call Enterprise. Oh, the kicker is that the key fob is one of those new things with no key. It's a plastic nub that is absolutely useless when it comes to locking or unlocking the door. King gets Enterprise on the horn and after being transferred all over central Florida, an "enterprising" employee told King to push a button on the fob and pull the end. V-I-O-L-A! A key appeared. In 2 minutes we were in and driving. Ahhh. Technology.

Shuttle liftoff is tomorrow morning. It is unrealistic how many people are here just for the shuttle launch. We'll update tomorrow.

ATTENTION prayer warriors: I have been up 16.5 hours with not a single episode. God is incredibly gracious and compassionate. I can only think of the KJV of this verse and can not think where it is, but it comes to mind regarding you guys who prayed today ... "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" Thanks for praying!!!!!!

Health

I haven't updated on my health lately. I am still watching my food intake and am hanging in at 34 pounds lost so far. I really want to make it to 40 lbs, but I'm doing great, so I can't be too frustrated with myself.

Paralysis is pretty good. When I have episodes, they tend to be whoppers. I haven't had to use the oxygen in a while though, so that's good.

Princess is sick again this weekend. Another horrible cough and a sore throat this time. We have to get her healthy because we leave a week from tomorrow!!

D40

So, my sweet hubby bought me my birthday present a bit early. Because of our trip to Florida, we decided to update our camera situation in order to capture Princess' birthday next month and all the Disney/NASA stuff in a couple of weeks. I'm very, very excited about the new present. Here it is ... my Nikon D40!

This is one of the first pictures I took. It's from the rose bush in my back yard. Below are some others we took at the nature center at Princess' school. How very blessed

we are!

Disney, NASA, Periodic Paralysis, oh! my!

A week from Monday, we embark on a mind-boggling 7 day adventure from Texas to Florida and back again. Monday is travel and Disney. Tuesday is the shuttle launch and lunch with a real-live-for-real astronaut! Tuesday night is Disney. Wednesday is Disney, as is Thursday and Friday. Saturday the Periodic Paralysis conference starts and goes through Sunday. Sunday night is Disney. Monday is pool, sleeping in and flight home.

Whew.

We will be posting pictures and videos during our trip. Stay tuned!

S-N-A-K-E!

A bonus! After a drought of two weeks and no blog postings, I am posting twice in one day. The reason for this second post is ... the snake.

So, my friend, Jamie, and I are having a picnic at lunch today by the little pond in this shopping center. It's mid-eighties outside, sun-shiney and we're having a great time. The only wildlife around are the fire ants that have decided to picnic on ME! We finish lunch and are walking back across this large grassy area, all the while talking of, yes, tarantulas! I'm describing a tarantula that my brother and I found as children. Just as I got to the part where the tarantula raises his front legs in a defensive posture, Jamie goes shooting directly sideways ... screaming. Geez, I thought. The tarantula... Then I thought, "TARANTULA!!! WHERE??" (This is all split-second timing, mind you) As she screams again, I am still looking for the tarantula when out on the sidewalk in front of us (our intended destination after the next 2 steps) slides a 15 inch snake! Yes, a SNAKE! So, it's my turn to jump and scream ... twice!

Poor little snake, he was minding his own scary little business until these two noisy girls approached. He tried, successfully I might add, to get away from us by sliding back into the grass where he instantly disappeared. I mean, like, gone. As we walked away, I almost wanted to look back over my shoulder to see if he was following us, but he didn't. Praise God!

So, remembering that it is a beautiful day, I start my 3 minute drive home. Windows down. Michael W. Smith on the CD player, thumping out a great beat. Life is good. I'm not dead from a snake bite and my tummy is full. I start down my street and notice that I have a passeger!! There is a yellow jacket waspy-thing IN MY CAR!! Right beside me on the passenger seat. Looking at me! AAHHH! After screaming at him, I realize he is ignoring me. I shoo him and he flies toward me. I am in front of my neighbor's driveway and as he flies at me, I slam the car in park and jump out. So, tauntingly, he flies to the doorpost of my open driver door and just sits there. I can't get in and I can't get him to leave.

Mind you, adrenaline rushes are triggers for my paralysis episodes. So, after my little excitement with Mr. Snake, I'm really not into having any more wildlife challenges!

I rang the doorbell and King came to my rescue. Of course, when he came, the waspy-thing was gone. Nevertheless, he drove the car to the house and parked it for me. :)

I'm safe now and no episodes!

Quiet weekends

Bacterial Bronchitis. That's the key phrase around our house the past three weeks. God bless the makers of Z-Packs! Both Princess and I had bronchitis and we both were very improved within 36 hours of taking our azithromycin. Woo-hoo!

The real fun has been her lincoln logs. Every weekend, for 5 weekends, we have played lincoln logs all weekend. We turn on the tv about 11-noon and begin watching football games and playing l.logs in the living room floor. It's creative, fun, great fellowship. This past weekend, the Polly Pockets came to the Old West for a visit. Very cute!

Chocolate Cake and Gluttony

Let me just tell you that the cake I made over the weekend was good. Really, really good! We'll talk about my gluttony in a minute, but here's the recipe for all of you who are steering clear of dairy and want some chocolate cake. The name is disgusting, but try the cake....

Chocolate Oil Cake

INGREDIENTS
2 cups white sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups water
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* Optional: I added semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter and then as soon as it came out of the oven, I broke chunks of semi-sweet baking chocolate over the top of the cake. After melting, I smeared the baking chunks around. mmmmmmmmmmmm.

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa.
Add water, vegetable oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Beat by hand until smooth.
Pour into a 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Ok, now for the gluttony. I'm not on Nutrisystem anymore, but I know how to count calories and watch what I eat. I've still been losing a bit and am very happy about where I am health-wise. Until this weekend. I ate chocolate cake every meal and because I was having so many calories, I skimped on other good foods. The result was ... Oh, wait, I forgot to tell you that I did a similar thing last weekend, too, so this is two weekends of gluttony to talk about. So, where was I? Oh yeah, the result of this cake eating-counting calories-gluttony madness is that I felt lethargic by the end of the weekend and to top it off, I started having Hyper episodes from all the chocolate I consumed! Last night I started having episodes and it was like I was caught in a meat grinder. I couldn't get away from one episode before I got slammed with another one. As I lay there in bed going over my last 36 hours of activities and food to try to figure out where these episodes were coming from, I thought, "Oh, good grief! The chocolate!!"

Today I have been a good girl and have been drinking lots of water and am sufficiently throttled for my stupidity. It was a great way for God to get my attention though. I'll never be sad that I ate that cake, but I am sad that I chose legalism over grace. There is nothing wrong with cake or counting calories, but when I chose selfishness and gluttony over living in grace ... that was my downfall. Counting calories is accountability for me. It helps me keep track of where I've been and where I am going each day in my eating. My mistake over the weekend was choosing myself first and then squeezing in the necessities later. When I think of the panorama of life and how harmful these choices are that I made, I shake my head. The great thing is that I can still choose to live and walk in grace. I can repent of my selfishness and gluttony and go back to great living right now. I'm so glad I'm redeemed and have hope. What a great God we serve. And how wonderful that He made cocoa beans!!

I'm a Yellow Crayon

You Are a Yellow Crayon

The clouds part and the smell of daffodils and daisies fill the air when you are around. Your sunny disposition cheers most, and makes others (the jealous and bitter ones) wish you'd never gotten out of bed.

Another quiz said the following:
Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors.You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius.Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way.While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme.Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.