Tuesday, October 28, 2008

I Almost died

This incident happened a year and a half ago. I didn't get it on the blog because I had it all written out and lost it! I want it on the blog as part of my history so it is out of order date wise.

We just got back from Arizona recently and I spent almost everyday at the heart hospital taking tests to see why my heart races almost every night. And lasts for 6, 12 and 18 hours.

This blog is a prelude to my recent heart problems so I'm writing this one first.

The problem with my type of food allergy is that it won’t show up in a blood test. I have to find out what I can’t tolerate by eating a food and seeing how my body reacts to it. People don’t eat just one food item at a time, and it took me a long time to figure out that I was allergic to both wheat and milk. I kept going off one but adding the other back into my diet. A second problem is that I can get away with eating wheat or milk and then the next time have a reaction.

When Mike and I came back to Utah our condo was empty. We had to re-paint the already newly painted condo and put new carpet in it before we could move our furniture and personal items from the storage shed that has housed them for the past six months.
I don’t know why I didn’t take the time to do some grocery shopping and put some nutritious food items in the fridge. It was probably because we had to dishes, or utensils. Everything we owned was in the storage unit.
The first morning after sleeping at Amy and Jake’s house we went and bought paint supplies and headed for the condo. I stopped and bought donuts for Pam and Joan who were going to help us paint. I ate an egg and fruit and maybe my cereal at Amy’s so I had had a nutritious breakfast, no need for diet pills there, but that was the end of nutrition for about 5 days. And for some reason I thought I could eat donuts too.
Bottom line: I ate several donuts that that, and in fact, they were lunch. Lisa brought pizza and Pam brought a salad for dinner that night. I ate both. The salad was made from ingredients I could eat, but the dressing was a no-no. All bottled dressings are made with soy, and I can’t have soy. I have found one bottled dressing since that I can have. It is the only one I buy. Otherwise I use olive oil and vinegar or lemon.
We painted all day into the night. Mike and I slept on a blow-up bed we bought from Cabellas the day before. Otherwise there was not a stick of furniture in the house.
I had nothing nutritious the next morning and probably had another donut. As the days went by we ate from Maple Garden, a Chinese Restaurant, and Souper Salad a restaurant I love. Problem that night was that I had the vegetable beef soup which is delicious, but has wheat in it. And I think I ate a bread stick which I absolutely never do. Go figure! When I crash, I really crash.
Anyway, four days later in the evening a sweet neighbor Pam whom we love and is moving, brought over two homemade cinnamon rolls. They were huge! Like 6 inches by four and three inches high.
I thought I was being a good girl after all the cheating I had done, and cut a 1 inch strip off and ate it. The problem with a 1 inch strip off a 6 inch cinnamon roll is that you still have a cinnamon roll, it’s just smaller.
Our painting was done, (well mostly, that is. Some of the white which is the 2-tone paint didn’t get done, and the kitchen never did get finished. It looks good though, and will probably never be finished.)
Our new carpet was laid, and our furniture and personal items were brought in and after nearly killing ourselves are mostly put away.
I gave it up at midnight and told Mike I couldn’t do anymore and was going to sleep. He was still putting the entertainment center together and said he would be a while.
At 2 AM I woke with a racing heart! I was disoriented and realized that I was also swollen, and like a dummy took a water pill. I went back to bed but couldn’t sleep and in fact, wouldn’t let myself go to sleep because I was aware that if I did I would never wake up again.
I go down on my knees and said a pray, got back into bed, and within minutes knew I needed to go to the hospital.
I went out to get Mike thinking he was asleep in the couch, but found him still working on the entertainment center.
I told him what the problem was. We said a second prayer and knew instantly that we needed to leave for the hospital.
It took 8 hours and lots of medication to bring my heart beat back to normal! And my potassium levels were 3.3. The doctor told me that people check out at 3.5. My heart was beating 150 beats per minute.
The first thing the doctor said the next morning was, “What did you eat last night?” I told him my story and he said that eating all that wheat, and sugar had sent my blood sugar up to diabetic numbers and quickly fell to hypoglycemic numbers, which in turn made my heart race.
That morning was our granddaughter Elyce Brown’s first birthday. I missed it because I was in the hospital and when I got home that day, I wanted my bed! Period!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Mark Twain's Home In Connecticut





This is Mark Twain's home in Hartford Connecticut. This is the home is wrote all his famous books at, like: Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and many others.

We were not allowed to take any pictures of the inside of the home. It was very lovely. Too busy for me to live in though. They liked having a lot of stuff!

There are three floors besides the basement. We didn't go down to the basement but walked the other floors. The tour was worth it.

On the top floor is a billiard room, where Samuel Clemens wrote. He had a study on the lower floors until his children started arriving. Things got a little noisy and he moved up.

A Diet Pill Recommendation

My niece was recently telling me about her experience with a new diet pill called orovo. She isn't one that normally likes the side effects of diet pills, so I was interested to find that she didn't mind this one as much. She didn't have any of the problems (like the jitters) that you get with so many over the counter pills. What she did have a problem with were the things that she caused. There are two different types of pills. One with caffeine added and one without.

She was trying the caffeine one and found that if she got up too late in the morning to take her first dose early, it pushed her second dose back late enough that it disrupted her sleep. So while she's on it she just needs to try to be consistent about getting up early enough to not have her sleep affected. But overall, if you are looking for a good diet pill...she would definitely recommend this one!

Techno Fun

My grandkids have completely surpassed me when it comes to technology. Sure I shocked them with the fact that I have a blog--but after that...not so much. They all have ipods and game systems as well as computers and Blackberry's--of this kind of stuff...I know nothing.

I know what they do. But I don't know how they do it, and there are times when the brain is just too tired (or set in it's ways) to try to figure it out. I'm sure I would love having 1000 songs at my fingertips more than having to text people...but I'm just not there yet!

New Babies

With all of the babies hitting our family recently (all girls) it's no doubt there has been some stocking up on crib bedding. Each baby getting their own color, their own theme. There are so many fun new designs and textures. Each mom could shop at the same site--and still come out with something so completely unique and "theirs" that it's amazing. I was on BabyEarth.com today, and my favorite bedding pattern (for a boy or a girl) is the one called "Creme Brule". Of course, it's my favorite dessert, so that shouldn't be a big shock to anyone!

Such a fun time of life. Nothing is sweeter than new babies. We have been incredibly blessed these past months that each one has come to us healthy and happy, and their moms are doing great too. It's about time to upload some photo's of our four little girls (hint, hint) so that everyone who lives out of state can have a chance to see them! They are beautiful!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Heading To Vegas

Every time you drive from Utah to Phoenix, you get to drive through vegas. Even though we don't stop and spend too much time there, it's still such a fun site. This huge city with amazing buildings out in the middle of the desert, it's quite a sight to see. With family that lives there, we rarely make it to the strip so last year when we wandered downtown it was a lot of fun. Although we paid a fortune for dinner at the Venetian, and it really wasn't that great!

A New Look

I have a friend working in employment screening. She says that even though times are tough, there are still the same number of people coming through her doors. She was expecting a huge spike in business, but has found that not much as changed. I guess that's a good sign, or maybe an ominous one. But for most of us, we are just grateful that life has gone on, and that things are still really good for us.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Peace Of Mind

Especially at our age, term life insurance is something we wouldn't live without. It's just something that brings a little more peace of mind to our lives. There is no way we would leave this life being a burden on our children and their family. This is something that is so easy to take care of, it doesn't cost much, and the final outcome is nothing but a benefit to you and your family. We wouldn't dream of not carrying it.

Putting The Puzzles Together

Fixing up a house is always fun. Finding flooring, indoor lighting and hardware is something that takes quite a lot of time and decisions, but it's so fun to put the puzzle together that will become a new room or even the new house. We've put quite a few new homes together in our lives, and even now, it's one of the most fun things to do.