Updated Post

There is a new post at The Healthy Dream. Sobering Statistics.

Welcome to my home

There are some days when I miss having a yard and lots of room to roam. Days when I long for a vegetable garden or big place where children can run. But today was not one of them. As I sat on the balcony of our detached condo this morning, I realized how blessed I am to be here. Yes, my home is lovely and is, in a sense, my sanctuary. I draw peace from the water. Here are few pics of our home.

The front of our home.

The walk to my front door.

My little flower garden

Our little table and chairs


Our neighborhood.

The view from the balcony.

Across from us.

The river view from our dock. Kevin and I joke that we use to

have a boat without a dock and now we have a dock without a boat.

Across the river from us

Looking down the river

Yes, I am truly blessed.

About a Foodie

After yesterday's post, I thought I would talk a little bit about being a foodie. I have lots of interests, gardening, boating (when we have a boat, of which we do not have at the moment), biking, reading, listening to music (use to be singing, but that is something I won't talk about at the moment), having lunch with friends (okay, that might go under the heading of being a foodie, which I will talk about in a moment), watching movies, walking the dog (who needs to be walked at the moment), etc...

Foodie: Amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation and news. Foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry and personalities surrounding food. They are sometimes viewed as obsessively interested in all things culinary. "wikipedia"

That's me, I love everything about food, not just eating it. I think I was the only one who would borrow ten cooking books at a time, from the library. I will go to the book store and pour over the cookbooks. I have my mom's and some of my grandmother's recipes.

I love reading cooking blogs. I love experimenting with recipes and using my family as guinea pigs for new recipes. I talk about cooking with friends and family. I love having people over for lunch and dinner just so I can get away with cooking something a bit more expensive. (I just can't justify spending too much on us for our everyday meals). I could spend hours in the kitchen wares department at Macy's or Sur La Table and dream about cooking instruments.

I love watching the Food Network Channel. I even DVR the shows I hate to miss.

I have stacks, really, stacks of recipes in my closet, (they are in the closet because if they weren't, they would be stacked all over the house), recipes that I find in magazines or on the Internet or copied from friends. I subscribe to Martha Stewart Living and Cooking Light magazines just for the recipes and articles about food. I love looking at pictures of food.

The hubs and I go to the markets for date night. Oh, to meander through the fruit and veggies, the spice isles, the meat and seafood section. Then when I smell the bakery department...I am done for.

I am a foodie...and I like to eat. There I said it, I like to eat. Which is one of the reasons, I'm sure, why I am over weight.

Maybe I need an intervention...

Bits and Pieces and Food

Loved yesterday's sermon. How many times do we really keep the Sabbath? Really? Pastor talked about rest and how most of us never, ever take the time to truly rest. Yesterday we did. It was nice.

Treated myself to a movie this morning. I saw Julie and Julia today. It was great, especially for foodies. I like to consider myself a foodie. I love to cook and to bake. So now I want to do what Julie Powell did, challenge myself to cook more. She went through Julia Child's cookbook in a year and found herself. I don't think I need to find myself, I know who I am, but I would love to truly challenge myself. Especially with cooking.

Why do I enjoy blue cheese dressing so much?

Okay, another foodie bit. Just recently read A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. My daughter recommended it to me. Again, I loved it and want to try many of the recipes. I wonder what it is about food that influences people so much. Is that why Jesus says He is the Bread of Life? Food really speaks to us.

I am so thoroughly enjoying the Farmer's Market this year. The Michigan corn is amazing. We have had it several times a week for three weeks now. The beans, blueberries, tomatoes and zucchini are also unbelievable. I have been buying the free range eggs too, nothing like a fresh egg. Oh, and the hubbs and son are going crazy over the homemade baked goods that they sell.

Saw Bedtime Stories (silly little thing) and G-Force (lots of fun) Saturday with my guys.

Am looking forward to celebrating Mom-in-laws eightieth birthday Saturday. My daughter is flying in for the day. YAY!!!

Made some fantastic blueberry pancakes Saturday morning. I only had one because I am suppose to be watching what I am eating. They were very good with the fresh berries. Mmmmm...

Really enjoying my iced tea this summer. My sister told me how she makes her southern sweet tea and I modified it so it doesn't have much sugar at all. The secret is baking soda, who would have thought.

There were some wicked storms last night. There is nothing quite as cozy (even in 90 degree weather) as a crazy storm. The lights kept flickering, but we were prepared with flashlights, candles and matches. My man was kind of hoping he could fire up the generator. Well, we didn't lose our power, but we lit the candles and turned out the lights anyway. It made me smile.

It's the little things...

Boy Is He A Pill!

After having my little doggie, Oliver, vaccinated for kennel cough, he went to play with Pippen, my daughter's dog, and her poochie friends at the doggie daycare in Charleston. He had a blast, and we had a breather from two overly energetic pocket beagles, who did nothing but run and play and chase each other inside and out of the house all day and night. I do have to admit that it really was much calmer with them out of the way for the day.

A few days after we left to begin our treck home, stopping in Charlotte for another few days first, we noticed Ollie being a bit more subdued than normal and coughing in the mornings. After a few more days, the coughing became more frequent and he wasn't eating as much or as enthusastically as he usually does.

By the time we were home and he almost completely stopped eating and was sleeping most of the day, as well as, coughing a lot...I took him to the vet.

Yep, it was confirmed, kennel cough. She proceeded to tell me that even if a dog is immunized, he can still get it. So I left the office with arms full of meds and a special canned dog food to feed him because of his sore throat.

The vet told me to hide his meds in his food, so he wouldn't know he was eating it. It worked the first time! He was so excited to get soft dog food that he gobbled it down. The next time, he picked through the food and I found one of his pills in the bottom of the bowl when he was finished. The time after that, he pick both pills out and put them on the floor and continued to eat. I picked up the pills and him and put them in his mouth and encouraged him to swallow. He did.

That is when he declared war. From then on, each and every time he had to take his pills, he fought me. I tried to hide them in hot dogs, he ate around them and left the pills on the floor. I tried cheese and picked through it and left them on the floor. I then proceeded to put them further down his throat than the first time, he swallowed. Wallah!!! It worked!!!

Well, I always thought he was smart and the following day he proved it. I put the pills way back in his throat and held his muzzle closed, he swallowed three times, when I let go, he started to shake his head and work up the saliva and that's when it happened. He literally spit the pills across the room along with lots of disgusting foam loaded with doggie germs. Can you say EWWWWW!?!? He had learned to cheek the pills and then spit them out each and every time we tried to get him to take his meds. It finally took two of us to do it. One to hold his head up and the other one to put the pill down his throat as far as it would go without hurting him, while the first one person massaged his throat on the outside to get him to swallow.

Now his energy is up, he is eating his regular dog food again and growling at us if we get too close. He is not coughing much anymore and I am once again a happy dog owner. I am hoping and praying that he never gets sick again, or if he does, that we can get liquid medicine that we can sprinkle in liverwurst. I think he may like that. Hmmmm....

Water, Water Everywhere

I love water. Rivers, lakes, oceans, fountains, sprinklers, it doesn't matter. A view of the sunset over the bay in Clearwater Beach, seeing the sun sparkling off the surface of the Clinton River outside our balcony or the tinkling sound of water trickling in the little fountain in my garden. Just the sound and sight of water calms me. I think that is why we live where we do.

Here are some pictures of several of the beautiful fountains I have seen and enjoyed over the summer.

The kids playing in the fountain in a little park in Charlotte. We love this park.

Lily looking at a fountain in Frankenmuth, Michigan

A lovely water feature at George, George Park in Clinton Twp. Michigan

Another fountain at George, George Park

These next few, are pictures from a park right in the center of uptown Charlotte. I love the sculptures of little children playing.

My little bubbling fountain in the garden in my front yard.

It Is Raining Again

After the x-rays were taken, the hygienist began to look at them. I heard an "oh!" and then an "I'll be right back". After a few minutes, she came back to the room and the dentist came in right behind her. He looked at the x-rays. "Hmmmm..." he said, and looked at Lance and I. He then put on his gloves and mask and came over to the chair. He asked Lance to open his mouth and began the exam.

We were there for a cleaning. We needed to get in before his dental coverage ran out. Michigan cut both dental and vision and we were scrambling to get the exams in before the cuts took place.

The dentist asked when his last cleaning was done. I had to admit, with a bit of embarrassment, that it was about eight months earlier with a dentist that came into his school. Medicaid patients don't have much of a choice when it comes to who provides care and most are not very good, so we were not always good about having his teeth cleaned exactly every six months. But, we have always had great reports and told that Lance's teeth were in good shape. A few fillings now and again, but never the less, good.

He told us there were no cavities. Great I thought. He then pointed out on the x-rays, that the bone around Lance's teeth were beginning to wear away, he had gum disease. He then said that Lance's medicaid insurance will not cover it. So now we had to pay for the expensive deep root cleaning, about $1000.00. Geesh... why didn't the other dentists find the problem before it got this bad? We made the necessary appointment and left.

A week later we returned knowing that Lance will need nitrous oxide to relax and Novocain for his entire mouth. Not three minutes after I left the room, the assistant came to get me. I went back to see the dentist who was very agitated, he began his tirade. "He is moving too much!" and he began to undulate in exaggerated movements. "I can't work on anyone like this!" as he got more frantic... "The instruments are too sharp!" his voice getting louder and more anxious, "and besides, he is disab..." and that's when he caught himself. He was discriminating against my son because of his disability. He quieted down and saw that I had turned red. Very quietly I told Lance to get out of the chair. It was then that the dentist patronizingly suggested that I take Lance to someone who could put him to sleep and do the procedure. We walked out of the office and I began a lengthy search to find a dentist who works specifically on people who have special needs.

I did find one (he is great!!!) and after a consultation a few days ago, it was decided that Lance will have this procedure done in the hospital. While there, the specialist may need to do some gum surgery and will also do any other dental work that he may need, including the cleaning. Medicaid will not cover any of this (government health care for you) so it will be $2000.00 to $4000.00 for the dentist's work alone, that does not include the hospital care.

Sigh...

Last night, Lance's PT told me that his ankles are not getting stronger and after a year of working and trying to strengthen them, she is recommending that he see and Orthopedist and get some braces to help stabilize them.

When it rains, it pours.

I am so glad that He is in control and I can come to Him when I am overwhelmed.