Homemade Perogies III

November 30, 2009 – Day 334

I made another batch of cheddar cheese perogies today. I kept a few out for supper but the rest are in the freezer for a potluck our team is having at work on December 16th – and some towards Christmas dinner. I’ll still have to make at least one more batch to have enough for Christmas dinner though.

Oh Christmas Tree

November 29, 2009 – Day 333

Adam went to four or five stores yesterday looking for silver tinsel to finish off the tree but he had no luck; however, he stopped at London Drugs today and found some. Since it wasn’t easy to find, I asked him to buy 10 packages for me – which means I should have enough for next Christmas as well.

Adam brought the tinsel over this afternoon and I finished decorating the tree.

Up Goes the Tree

November 28, 2009 – Day 332

When Adam came over for coffee this morning, I convinced him to help me set up and decorate the tree. Other than the angel that Ken likes to put on the top of the tree, I usually decorate by myself – so it was great to have the help from Adam today.

Christmas Shopping - not so much fun

November 27, 2009 – Day 331

Today I vividly remembered one thing I really don’t like about Christmas. It’s the shopping. Even though I don’t do much of it anymore, I dread what I do have to do. Christine and Ian, Travis and Amanda and Ken and I don’t bother with gifts or money anymore. That’s a new thing since last year and I love it. I give my youngest two boys money (and will until they’re married and settled down) and Christine usually helps me shop for my grandchildren. If she didn’t, I’d probably just give them money too. I don’t know what they’d do with money since they all already have all they could ever want – and more.

But I have to buy a gift from Ken and I each for the family Christmas party/gift exchange that’s coming up next weekend – so I went to several stores today to look for something. I didn’t find a single thing that I thought anyone would like.

After a couple hours, I could hardly force myself to put one foot in front of the next to go to yet another store. I was exhausted – partly from all the walking I’d already done, partly from not getting enough sleep last night and partly because I was starving. I was so frustrated that I just wanted to cry.

In the end, I thought maybe I’d buy a movie from either Ken or I so I hobbled (not literally but that’s how I was feeling) over to Best Buy to see what they had for movies. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I couldn’t even buy a movie because some of them are Blue Ray and some are not. I don’t know what Blue Ray is and and I don’t know who has Blue Ray – and who doesn’t, or if a Blue Ray movie would work in a non-Blue Ray machine or vice versa. Ugh!

So even after hours of shopping, I didn’t find a gift for either me or Ken to bring to the family Christmas party. I’m running out of time! What am I going to do?! I suppose we could each buy a gift card to some store but what fun is the party going to be if we all end up exchanging gift cards?!

Healthier Choices

November 26, 2009 – Day 330

My blood pressure has been borderline high and I’ve been on a diuretic for many years because of it. Earlier this year Jen forwarded me an e-mail about how beneficial bananas are for our health and it said (among other things) that a banana a day is good for controlling high blood pressure. Her dad’s doctor also suggested he eat a banana a day. So I started eating a banana – most days. I like bananas so that wasn’t difficult to do.

I have an appointment with my doctor for a physical in December so I started monitoring my bp (I have a machine at home) after several months of neglecting to do so. My doctor likes me to take a list of my numbers to her because I have “white coat syndrome” which is basically anxiety when visiting doctors and that causes my bp reading to always be high at her office. That’s why I bought my own machine. When I started monitoring my bp again a few weeks ago, I was happy to discover that my bp is lower than it’s been in a long time! Now I’m even more diligent about eating that banana every single day.

I’ve also been riding my bike faithfully since November 11th. My interest in making some healthy lifestyle changes brings me back to a book I bought about 5 years ago, after I saw the author on an Oprah show. Back then, I added most of the “superfoods” he recommends to my diet, I was riding my bike regularly – and I lost 30 pounds! Unfortunately I fell back into poor eating habits but I’m realizing now more than ever that healthy food is like good medicine. Maybe it’s because I just turned 50 or maybe it’s just that something has “clicked” but I really want to be healthier. I would like to lose a bunch of weight but for now I’m just going to focus on eating healthier and riding my bike at least 3 times a week.

Lunch at Ricky's

November 25, 2009 – Day 329

Jen and I went for lunch at Ricky’s downtown today.

Christmas Party Invitation

November 24, 2009 – Day 328

We received the invitation to the family Christmas party from Shayne and Sandy last week. This is the third party we’ve had: Christine and Ian hosted the first one in 2007, Darlene hosted the second one in 2008, Shayne and Sandy are hosting it this year and I’m hoping to have it at our place next year. It’s always a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to it but I still have to buy the gifts for the gift exchange though and I don’t have a clue what to pick!

Shayne and Sandy both say they’re not creative but I think they made beautiful invitations!

To protect Shayne and Sandy’s privacy, I’ve blocked some of the info on the invitation for this web version.