Daily Ponderings

Yesterday, everyone along the East coast were prepared to be hit by Hurricane Sandy, especially areas of New Jersey and New York, which ended up being a couple of the worst hit places. Phriends from around the country started asking me how I was making out as early as yesterday morning, when nothing was happening. To be honest, I was expecting some big winds and nasty weather, but it wasn't going to be anything like those living right near the coast. We did have lots of rain here, and the winds were high, but we've had gustier winds than what was whipping up last night. The pictures from the storm have been jaw-dropping, and some of them just sad. Flooding in so many areas, tons of cars damaged, and buildings. Millions of people are without power. There have been some deaths, as well. There are a few phriends I haven't heard from since last night, so I'm praying they are safe and ok!! Last night, I was frustrated with my indoor antenna because the reception wasn't...

This post is to mainly see if the Blogger app can actually post more than one picture, which I see can! Thank you to the person who suggested using it!! This post also is to show off the lovely artwork created by myself and my niece and nephew on Saturday night when I babysat! They are 7 and 5 years old respectively, and pretty artistic! I was told by both of them that my picture would warrant me having my own art studio. Gotta love kids and their wild imaginations! LOL Can you guess which one is mine?? :)

Several years ago, I used some points from a survey site I joined to get my first ever crock pot. It was a large crock pot, and my first meal from it was lasagna. I didn't know you could make lasagna in the crock pot!! Anyway, I used it several more times, but the size of it kept me from using it more often. I mean, I'm only one person trying to eat a ton of leftovers, and not everything freezes well! So a couple years ago, Mandy's crock pot bit the bullet. Since it was near my birthday, I offered to give her mine if she'd buy me a 4qt crock pot. She agreed! The smaller size has been perfect for me! This is the time of year when I love using the crock pot the most. Soups are the best, but so are stews. And although I usually despise dealing with bones and skin on a chicken (which is why I only buy boneless skinless chicken breasts), a whole chicken in there comes out SO GOOD!! See how cute it looks in there?? It literally falls apart when done, so it's pretty easy...

When I moved into my apartment back in 1999 (whoa, still can't believe it's been that long ago!), I signed up with the local cable company for tv service. There really wasn't many other options at that time. Years later, I decided to try one of the satellite dish companies. I know some people think satellite is not as reliable, and you lose the signal with a drop of rain. But honestly, in all the time I had it, I think I lost the signal a handful of times. So I thought it was fine for me! Last month, I decided to join this century and upgrade my big old hunk of tv to a flat screen. I really like it, but I wasn't getting the full effect since I wasn't paying for HD programming. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to. But I was also thinking long and hard about ditching satellite altogether and using an antenna to get the local stations, which is what I watch the most anyway! That is precisely what I did today. I bought an antenna at Target, paying a little more than I...

Today was a pretty busy day for me, and I'm exhausted!  I'm waiting for my wonderful heated mattress pad to warm up so I can go to bed rather shortly!! This is what my day consisted of: 1. Going to pulmonary rehab, after picking up my mom since she also had an appointment at the same time at the hospital. 2. Dropping my mom back off at her house about an hour later. 3. Rushing through a very quick lunch and a 2 minute clothing change at my house all within 15 minutes. 4. Driving 45 minutes to get to an ear doctor appointment, stopping for a tall decaf caramel macchiato at Starbucks on the way (yum yum!!). 5. Waiting 35 minutes in the tiny little room to see the doctor when I WAS ON TIME TO SEE HIM. Grrr, that always irritates me! 6. Going to A.C. Moore to buy everything in the store  buy a trifold display, which I happened to get half off with a coupon!! 7. Browsing Old Navy in search of something to use my $25 gift card on, and walking out with nothing. 8. Dri...

My last post from a couple days ago was in regards to a blog giveaway by Sunshine! She was giving away an adorable owl she created with her own two hands and some beautiful yarn. Well, today she announced the winner, and I totally froze when I read that it was yours truly!! I can't believe it! I'm really excited!! You can see the announcement by going HERE !! And I encourage you to be a follower of her blog, because she always has wonderful posts, and really beautiful pictures of the area where she lives!! Thank you, Sunshine!! I'll definitely take a picture of my lovely new owl whenever she gets here! Yes, I have decided the owl is a she!!  hehe!

I've been reading a blog by a lovely lady named Sunshine for quite some time now! She loves to do little prize giveaways every once in awhile! I did win a great cookbook from her some time ago, and a sweet handmade panda bear (totally adorable), and I'll be honest, I'm a little selfish right now with the fact that I'd love to win what's up for grabs in her current blog giveaway!! LOL! I'll give you a little hint about why...her prize would go nicely with a new mug I received for my birthday last month that I totally adore and use quite often!! Here it is! Isn't it a hoot??? LOL!! So, any WHOOOOOOOO (I couldn't resist!!), Sunshine is giving away a cute handmade Amigurumi Owl! If you'd like to see it, please go here ! You can also enter to win if you'd like! Don't just hang out at that post, read her entire blog if you can! She's a pretty upbeat person who likes to talk about life on the Cayman Islands, which totally makes me jeal...

Next month is Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness month. In the last few years, I've been using my blog and Facebook to write about PH and everything that comes with it. From the diagnosis, to the types, to the tests involved to get that diagnosis, to the medications now available, you name it, I've shared it all! I plan to do the same again this year, but I'm also trying my best to do something outside the world of the internet. That is why I'm so very excited to share the news that I will be putting up two displays (so far!) at the two local hospitals in the Niagara Falls area!!  Thursday afternoon I had emailed the woman who schedules my PH support group meetings at St. Mary's, asking if she knew who I would ask about setting up a display in their lobby. The next morning I received an email from another person in the hospital, and I eventually talked to him in the phone about a time frame for a display. He is giving me almost two weeks! From November 9-21, I'll ...

A week ago, I walked out of Walmart with a brand new cellphone. I had been able to upgrade my phone, and knew which one I wanted, but I had been pricing the phone at various stores and websites before settling with the brick-and-mortar Walmart. The Samsung Galaxy SIII is now mine, and I'm still trying to get used to it! It's been a little different than my Droid Incredible. Some things are easier (like turning off the mobile data with one touch), and some things are driving me nuts (the keyboard is annoying!!). But really, I have been enjoying the upgrade! My favorite part of the phone is the camera. I can take a picture of something in front of me, and then take a picture of myself by touching a button. The camera lens turns around inside to face me instead of me having to turn the phone around. How cool is that??? I take waaaay too many profile pics of myself for Facebook, and delete so many of them before I settle on one I like, because I can't see what I look like while...

I've spent the past week trying to get ready for my PH support group meeting tomorrow afternoon. I wish the weather around here would allow us to have meetings every month, or even every other month. I used to have them in May/October. May didn't always work so well because May is a busy month for people! Graduations, weddings, Mother's Day, you name it. The turnout for those meetings were often low, and we aren't a very large group to begin with. So this past year, I tried April/July/October. April was great! July I had to cancel. So tomorrow's meeting will be the last one for this year, and there will be a total of 13 of us. Not bad, really. But considering that the speaker is traveling all the way from the West Coast, and returning the same day tomorrow, I really wish we had more people coming!! I really hope he doesn't mind coming all this way like that!! I'm incredibly thankful that he is, however! He is going to talk about the PH Association , and what...