Daily Ponderings

Today was considered Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when people go out in the insane early hours of the morning to get good deals at various stores and malls. I went out last year to find a digital camera on Black Friday, although I didn't go so gosh darn early, and bought a VCR instead. This year, I had absolutely no interest. I have only 2 more gifts to buy for Christmas, and they aren't anything that I would have had to stand in line for hours to purchase. So, I slept in, and had a leisurely morning instead! What I was able to accomplish, with the help of my mom, was decorating for Christmas!! Yes, my tree is up and all pretty, and so are the Christmas-y things that I put out every year. I don't know why I'm so ready for Christmas this year. I just hope that I won't go insane before it actually arrives. That would suck. lol A friend of mine who I tutor with is here in town this weekend with her husband. I am so excited that I get to meet her in person,...

I am thankful for my family, who I love with every fiber of my being. My parents, who have been there for me alot, especially the last several years, mean so much to me. My sisters are always on my mind and definitely in my hearts, and I love them ever so much. I am thankful for all of my friends. I can't begin to imagine my life without them. They all bring such a different and unique aspect to my life, with their amazing talents and life experiences. I truly love them all. I am thankful for my health, no matter how it stands. I've been through so much in my life healthwise, and I am so grateful that I'm still here on this earth. I've been through some pretty rough times, but I always feel that it could be worse. And it could be. Despite all the tests I've been through, despite all the pain I've endured with being so out of breath, despite the illnesses I've somehow managed to get over, I always know that it could be worse. I am thankful for my home, for th...

I've been getting ready for a jewelry party I'm having here on Friday night. I'm excited about it! Everything I'm trying to sell has been made by none other than.....me!! I've been slaving so hard in my kitchen the past several weeks, making necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and tealight lamps. I'm glad that many of my friends are going to be able to see what I've been making! If you'd like to see, too, you can go to www.fromtheheartjewels.com . (By the way, I didn't try the new Blogspot format yet. Why do I have to get a Google account just to have it??)

When I just logged in now, I saw a message saying the new format is now ready. I'm afraid to try it!! I don't want anything to get ruined or messed up. lol Perhaps I'll just go for it. Wish me luck!

Yesterday morning, my family got together for breakfast at a nice local restaurant. We decided to do this the first Sunday of every month. We got there after Mandy and Ron, and we were sitting down after saying hi to each other. I then noticed the shirt my cute little niece was wearing. It said: "Big sister in training." I stared at Mandy, and said, "Are you pregnant???" And she said yes! They are having another baby!! We were all so very excited!! I felt like I was on Cloud 9 all day yesterday, too! She is due on June 8th, which is funny because Hailey's original due date was June 11th, but she decided to show up 11 days later. I'm just happy though! I am hoping for a girl, but as long as the baby is healthy, that's all that matters!!

Today was a much warmer than usual Halloween for us here in the WNY area, and it was nice! Well, mostly nice. The weather started out sunny, then the clouds came rolling in, making it so dark that I thought it was night time at 2pm. It did rain a little bit, but then it stopped, and by the time trick or treating started, it wasn't too bad. I went down to my parents' for the afternoon, with all the candy. Mandy and Hailey were already there, and I got the best "treat" when my little niece saw me. She caming running into the living room, saying my name the whole time! She was even saying the "L's," something a very little child has a hard time saying for awhile! My heart melted, and I just had the biggest rush of love for her immediately. They stayed for quite awhile, and she enjoyed seeing some of the costumes on the little kids. She was dressed as a witch, but she wouldn't wear the hat for it, since she hates hats. But still, she was very cute! ...

In my last entry, I mentioned the fact that we got snow. It's been 2 weeks since I wrote that, but I have to describe the aftermath of that snow. Here in lovely Niagara Falls, I woke up to a trace of snow on the ground. It was gone within a couple hours, and life seemed to be normal. Until I started watching the news. In the surrounding towns and villages around NF, there was up to as much as 2 feet of snow. No one had power, in fact, many people were without power for almost an entire week. It was so awful! The reason? It's still fall, and all the trees still had their leaves. With the heavy snow piling on the branches, and not melting, branches started breaking all over the place. I've seen pictures of the trees, and I've seen them personally since the storm, and it's devastating. And very sad. To see all the damage done to the beautiful trees around WNY. It'll take generations, they say, for the trees to look the way they did before the storm. How NF got s...

I was busy working on a necklace today for my friend, when I made a quick glance out the window. I looked back down at my work, and then suddenly jerked my head back up to look out the window again. There it was, flying around all over the place. Big, fluffy flakes of SNOW. Yes, I said snow. Snow, on October 12. What the heck????? I know I live in Upstate NY, but come on!! This is quite ridiculous!! Although it did not accumulate in my exact area, there are cities and small towns around me that saw several inches. There are even school closings for tomorrow. It's crazy, I tell ya!!

The weather today was so beautiful again. It makes me wish it could stay like this for the winter! But sadly, that won't happen. In a few days, we'll be lucky to see 50 degrees. Bummer. I swear, if there are any really nice days in November and the ice cream truck comes around, I will just laugh. The guy must be desparate for sales, I saw him driving around today. Geesh! North Korea scares the shit out of me. I sure hope this is their one and only nuclear test, and they don't use it for attacking purposes. Somehow, I'm very doubtful about this. My heart melted yesterday when my sweet little niece reached up for my hand as we were walking back to the car, instead of her daddy's hand. heehee I'm tired of getting messages to my personal ad on Yahoo from men in their mid to late 40s. That's too close to my parents' ages, ewww. I'm making dinner, and I don't really feel like eating. I feel like going back to sleep again. *sigh* I have seen sever...

This weekend was a Kite Festival here in the Falls. It actually took place at a park known to residents here as the Reservoir. I went to see the kites today with Mandy, Ron and Hailey. It was just sooooo cool! And it was absolutely the perfect weekend for it, with warm temperatures and a nice breeze. It was alot of fun, and I'm hoping funding troubles won't be a problem for this next year. There were people from all over the world flying kites, including a man from Japan who had a Mega Moon kite. This kite is one of three in the world, the largest kites ever made. We heard a guy telling someone that yesterday, the Mega Moon was tied to a dump truck full of bricks, that the truck still moved a little when the Mega Moon was in the air!! Unbelievable! Anyway, I took pictures. They aren't the best, but the kites are just so neat! Enjoy! The Mega Moon is the big squarish-looking kite! The fish one was one of my favorites! All types of kites! This one looked like a huge puffer fi...

My mom told me several days ago that the man who realized something wasn't quite right with me when I was a baby had passed away. His name was Dr. Gillick. While I of course don't know him at all, or wouldn't even recognize him, I thank God that our paths crossed those many years ago. If it were not for him, my condition may not have been discovered until quite some time later, and who knows what that would have led to. I guess when my mom took me to my first set of shots when I was baby, at a free clinic, Dr. Gillick heard something off with my heart. So my mom took me to my regular pediatrician at the time, and he said there was nothing wrong. At my second set of shots, at the same free clinic, Dr. Gillick once again said there is definitely something wrong. So my mom took me to a different pediatrician, who immediately told my parents to take me up to Children's Hospital in Buffalo to see a cardiologist there. My parents arrived in the busy waiting room full of peopl...

Ever since I had to quit my job over 6 years ago, I have gone through many periods of time when I feel so guilty about the fact that I don't work. So many have told me that's a crazy notion, but I can't help feel sometimes that I should be doing more during my days at home. I know I'm home because of my health, having PH hasn't always been very easy. And there are the days when I'm so thankful that I don't work, because I don't feel well, and I don't know how I could get through a workday. I go back and forth with these feelings, and sometimes it just gets me down. And then there are days like today. I got a call from a man named Mike, who told me that his mother may possibly have PH, and he wanted to know more about my support group. He found my number on the PH website, and decided to give me a call. I spent about half an hour talking with him about PH, what it is, how I was diagnosed, my support group, and so on. I gave him the number of the PH sp...

I just lost an entire post that I did a few minutes ago. I'm not in the mood to write it again, darn it all!!

I have mixed feelings about the fall season. I half like it, I half hate it. The only reason I hate it is because the temperatures start to drop more and more. While almost everyone around me loves this feeling, I have a hard time with it because of my lungs. I get really short of breath while trying to do anything, and I almost feel like I've never been on medicine or oxygen. It actually gets me down, but I try to just deal with my days. Once it starts staying cold for awhile--right now it's in that back and forth, nice day, cool day phase--my lungs can deal with it better, and I'm not so bad. Still, it just drives me nuts! What I do love about fall are the colors. The leaves changing to reds, oranges and yellows are so beautiful. Especially the red leaves. I'm a red person, can't help it! I also love seeing the squirrels running around the yards with huge things in their mouths, scurrying away to bury their treasure for the winter. I laugh at some of the items th...

Do NOT ever use wallpaper of any sort, whether it be actual wallpaper, or wallpaper border. It is a pain in the ass to get off!!! I say this because I took 2 days removing the wallpaper border I had in my bedroom. I am planning on painting my room a different color soon, and had to get rid of the border. The whole time I was taking it down, I kept asking myself what on earth possessed me to put it up in the first place??? I will never do it again!! lol

Ok, this dream made me think, what the hell did I have to eat/drink before going to bed last night?? I had a dream that I got a ticket to see Michael Jackson in concert at HSBC Arena. I was all excited! Yes, I am not afraid to admit that I do love MJ's music, and I always will. (That was not part of the dream, I was just stating a fact) Anywho, I get there, and I had seats that were kinda far from the stage, which was in the center of the arena instead of the one end. By the time the concert started, there were only like 50 people randomly sitting around the arena. I wondered, where the heck was everyone? But there was MJ, on stage playing the piano and singing. Playing the piano? Does he even play? So during the song, ushers are starting to tell us we can all get as close as we want, since no one else was coming. So we ended up having a private jam session with MJ. And it was fun! And somehow Janet was there all of a sudden, and I was talking to her about PH. I also realize...

Well geesh, I didn't realize how much time had gone by since I last posted. Here are some random things that have happened in this past month. I finally finished my jewelry website, and I've spread the word to alot of friends and family! And then the word got spread by them, which is nice. No orders yet, but I have a feeling I'll be bombarded for Christmas! Which can be a good thing! The site is: www.fromtheheartjewels.com . For anyone interested. :) My Medicare nightmare took almost the entire month to get fixed. After making numerous phone calls, and stressing out completely, I found out a week ago this past Friday that my insurance reflected the fact that I'm poor and shouldn't be paying very high copays for my drugs. While I'm glad they said it's fixed, I really don't believe it's going to stay that way. We'll see what happens in a couple months! The planet, Pluto, is no longer considered a planet. What the heck?? Poor Pluto. So what if ...

Oooooooooooooh, the agony!

I've been back since late Sunday night, but just haven't felt like posting yet. My week in the South was nice, but I have to admit to being glad to be back home. As much as my sister wants us to move down there, it's just not home to me. A nice place to visit, but not home! I much prefer WNY, with the 4 seasons, even though winter isn't one of my favorites. I can't imagine living with no snow! Anyway, the week was busy, and a little chaotic. I felt like I needed a vacation from my vacation by the time we got back. Lisa's wedding was beautiful, though, and we all had a great time! Despite sweating in our dresses, I think we looked great! I got to see the ocean while I was down there. Even just being there for an hour made me so happy! The Southern food was really good, everything is fried, just about! The variety of foods I ate included chicken & dumplings, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, shrimp and grits (my personal fav), chicken under a brick, an avocad...

Well, not really. lol I'm leaving for NC on Sat. We are driving down there, about a 12 hour trip that will probably take longer since we are stopping for pee breaks and such. It's the longest vacation I've been on in years, we'll be gone for 9 days! Usually my "trips" have consisted of overnight stays in Cleveland when I have to go for check-up appointments. Trust me, those are not good times. lol I only hope I don't melt in NC. It's been hot down there, my sis said yesterday it was 99. Ewwww. And with a lung problem, just thinking about that heat makes me get out of breath. lol So, I'm hoping that I won't have a major issue down there, but I'll try to make the best out of it! I just want to have a fun time, and I hope everything goes well with the wedding. So, til next time!