The Daily Positives

[willowtreewren]

Carl found my IHD pin in the truck when he was packing things up to come home from Massachusetts. I am amazed at how precious it is to me. 

I vow not to lose it again.

[Slywalker]

My Maine Connections (daughter, son-in-law, kidney donor) are headed back to Maine as I type (in a bit of a snow storm but not a bad one right now).  We have a wonderful 4 days of a reality break.  I am truly blessed.    This particular positive will keep me going through the long winter stretch ahead of me. 

[willowtreewren]

We got our movie fix today. Each break we try to go to a movie since our schedule doesn't allow for it during normal work weeks. Carl had his heart set on Avatar and it was VERY satisfying.

Carl has decided that he doesn't feel comfortable traveling long distances any more. So, no camping trip to Florida during Spring break. And no marathon drive to Massachusetts, either.

But the reason is good... he wants to be close to home when the call comes. I will have to go to Massachusetts during Spring Break, though. My daughter is one of my students and I need to finish field supervision of her in her classroom. I guess I'll have to fly....

[dwcrawford]

I just made a new year's resolution.  I'm going to finish putting up my Christmas tree.

[del]

I took a pair of jeans out of my closet that were too small for me. Decided to try them on to see if they fit now and they are big on me now!!  I need the legs sewed in a little bit.    Better wear them now if I am going to follow my new year's resolution and lose the rest of the weight I need to lose!!

[fc2821]

I took a pair of jeans out of my closet that were too small for me. Decided to try them on to see if they fit now and they are big on me now!!  I need the legs sewed in a little bit.    Better wear them now if I am going to follow my new year's resolution and lose the rest of the weight I need to lose!!

del, that's great congratulations  .  On your continued (I hope) success.

[jbeany]

   Go del!  Isn't that a great feeling?  I've been sorting clothes, and getting rid of the baggiest stuff.  I can't get rid of everything yet - I can't afford a new wardrobe - but I can weed out the largest stuff.

Did you save one outfit from your heaviest weight?  I've got one, and it's fun to go back and try it on once in a while to remind myself how far I've come and how much better I look and feel now.

[del]

I have been doing the same - weeding out the baggiest and buying new - on sale whenever I can find it!!  I do have some clothes kept just so I can show off at the end LOL!!

[paris]

Great job, Del       With your wonderful cooking and baking, I would have a terrible time losing weight!  (especially those apple pies!)

[monrein]

Took the niece and nephew to see the King Tut exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario today.   A tad crowded for my taste but beautiful and impressive objects.  We also saw a three D film about the royal mummies and then had a great lunch at the gallery's new restaurant. 

It's a huge positive for me how these kids are developing a taste for adventurous eating and cultural exploration of all kinds.  I'm not looking forward to putting them on their plane on Sunday, with the new security measures we may have to get them there in the middle of the night since their flight leaves at 6:30 am.  Ugh.

[cariad]

My 3-year-old got the most wonderful gift from Santa - the Tag reader, which is a pen that allows him to read books to himself. He is obsessed with animals, especially dinosaurs, and one of the books we gave him with the reader was called something like "T-Rex's Mighty Roar". This morning I was giving the boys breakfast and my younger son requested cereal. He took his toy T-Rex and put him on the kitchen counter and told me that his dinosaur needed to eat his snack. I suggested he take the T-Rex with him to the table and he and the T-Rex could share his breakfast. He responded indignantly "He's a meat-eater, he doesn't have cereal!" Best laugh my husband and I had all day, and proof that the books are teaching our child something. 

[jbeany]

"Meat eater" - too cute!

Woohooo - party tonight!  Get to watch the ball drop and start a year that I know is going to be better than the last, since my health and energy levels are already so much better than they were on D, and I haven't even come close to recovering from my complications.  One last surgery to go, and then I can get back to exercising and losing the rest of the weight.  This is going to be the year I stop being overweight - only 15 pounds left to lose to hit that "normal" weight BMI.
Off to make some fattening appetizers now!

[willowtreewren]

My mother died on New Year's Day nine years ago. Each year I write her a letter. We were never very close (nothing like the relationship I have with my own daughter), but I still miss her.

She had a strength of character that I realize I inherited from her. And I gave it to my daughter and it appears that she has given it to at least one of her daughters.

My mother never liked Carl. One day a few months before she died she was visiting and Carl did something especially sweet for me. Without thinking I said, "Aren't you glad I married Carl?" Her emphatic response was, "No, of course not."

My positive is that even though she is gone, even though we had a strained relationship, she willed herself to live long enough for me to get back to her side so I could sing her into death. And what was I singing when she drew her last breath? My Blue Heaven. And I was there by her side. Thanks, Mom for making me who I am.

[cariad]

Aleta, that is a beautiful story. I found myself tearing up a bit - I can relate to not having a close relationship with parents.

Hope you enjoyed, jbeany. Amen to 2010 being better than its predecessor. It's going to be a corker for you and me both! 

We had a nice New Years Eve. My son received one free ticket to a soccer game and we decided at the last minute that Gwyn should take him to the 2PM game and I would stay home with the 3-year-old. They ran in to friends - another boy and hid dad - at the entrance to the arena (indoor soccer) and they were able to all sit together.

Then when my husband returned home, we took our kids to the art museum for their early New Years celebration. It was great - not too crowded. We did two scavenger hunts with the kids, one involving polarized glasses, and the kids participated in their art activities. The place shut at 8PM so we were able to find a pizza place still open and grab a late dinner. We also drove around taking one last look at all the Christmas lights. The kids were up until past 10PM, and Gwyn and I stayed up until around 1:30AM, just talking and watching TV. Gwyn did indulge in a shot of his 30 year old Balvenie that I bought him a number of years ago for Christmas. It is, after all, an anniversary of sorts for us. Gwyn proposed to me in Cardiff exactly 10 years ago at the stroke of midnight. What a decade it has been.   

Unfortunately, I think my system had been operating off holiday momentum - I began to feel really nauseous right before we went to bed and have been sick in bed all day. For a while there, I felt so good I was starting to suspect that that pesky renal failure had just cleared up on its own.

[dwcrawford]

Six years ago today I woke up with no vision at all.  I turned on the light, but still no vision.  It started coming back in a few hours in one eye.  After dozen of laser treatments, steroid shots in the eye balls, etc. it got better and better (over the next few years).  Things were (and sometimes still are) distortion but i barely notice it now.

Whew.  Scared the bezesus out of me then, but as I think of it today, wow.  It's a real positive.

[cariad]

I received a $50 VISA card in the mail today for a consumer study I participated in a few months ago. I had forgotten everything about it. 

[del]

We had a wonderful time with friends tonight.  Played some cards, ate crab legs , had a couple of drinks and told a lot of stories and had a few laughs. Friends are wonderful!!  Would love to personally meet some of my IHD friends!!  That would be super!!  Now I have to go clean up the pot we cooked the crab legs in!!

Oh yeah it is jan. 2 - usually we are buried in snow by now. No snow - it is pouring rain and a few degrees above 0!!  At least you don't have to shovel rain. 

[jbeany]

Trade ya, del - the high today was 7 degrees and it's currently below 0.

[fc2821]

      Today at dialysis I found out the nurse had been to the small town I'm from (800 miles away from here). And my favorite tech is also native american. I knew there was something I liked about her. I had an old man, also native american, when I lived in Oklahoma tell me, "You know we can always pick each other out of a crowd." Seems like he was right. Soryy folks but there are so many of you, and so few of us.

[del]

I am all ready to go back to school tomorrow ( physically not mentally LOL).  I have my lessons all planned. Have been to school and have everything photocopied , books all set out and ready to go!!  Can't wait now until June. I have pay into a trust fund for the past 3 years so that I can take next year off and still be paid!!  When I finish in June I don't go back until the following Sept!!  That's 14 months off!!  Yippee!!!  When I go back I have 2 years of full salary before I retire!!

[willowtreewren]

Oh, Del, that sounds just wonderful. As much as I love teaching, I think more and more about retiring. 

I'm physically ready for tomorrow, too. I wish I were mentally prepared! 

My positive (or one of them) for today is that the mail had not arrived yesterday evening when Carl checked it. When he went out this morning there was a package from New Zealand!  What a treat!  I dearly love my friends here on IHD. 

[Hanify]

Yay - I was worried about it!
My positive is that I just managed to strip some wallpaper and do a it of plastering.  Wahoo.  I haven't been able to d anything like that for ages.  Getting stronger everyday!  I will NOT just be the person who makes the coffee for the rest of my life (not that there's anything wrong with people making the coffee - but I do like a bit of renvovating).

[galvo]

After losing over 21kgs, to-day I threw out my fat clothes!

[kitkatz]

I did a Target and Costco run. I am also ready for school tomorrow. Lesson plans written, papers ready to go to quickprint at school.

[cariad]

The kids are back in school today!