New Me, New Life!

I've been talking about being normal or longing to be normal again. The loving friends I have in my life reminded me about what was broken in my life, mind and body. It was suggested that I think about the new and improved me and I've decided to focus on this rather than go back to the broken girl I use to be. I've decided that this perspective was so wonderful that I would indeed focus on this from now on. I've been through so much and although I have not shared this on my blog, I have been encouraged to do this more often. People learn so much from other peoples experiences and I'm hoping that I can inspire or encourage someone along the way.

Last week I went on my six month visit with my surgeon who reminded me that I had major major surgery and that it was completely normal to tire easily. I guess I expect more from myself and I've been told that I'm doing very well despite all my challenges. The challenges I have is the numbness of my right hand and arm, numbness in my legs and the face and head hurting often. I am doing more and more each week with another year of physical therapy without knowing what that final outcome will be. The unknown is scary and I try really hard to put that out of my mind. I can't handle certain sounds very well and any drama in the house is super tough for me to handle. How does one parent teenage boys and avoid drama? My family is rock solid and I'm lucky to have that rock solid marriage that can handle this kind of bump in the road. I just celebrated 25 years of marriage on February 21st. I can't imagine life without my hubby, he is amazing. God blessed me with the right man to live my life, grow old and have children with all these years. If you can go through all that we have gone through and stay this crazy over each other then you are so blessed. My children are amazing, they really make me proud to be their mom on so many levels. I want them to know that I will be their greatest fan no matter what they do with their lives as long as they are happy, healthy and keep their values.

I appreciate all my friends, old, new and distant. I can't tell you enough times how much I love you all. I really don't think I could have handled all this without you. You encourage me when I'm down or scared, you pray for me when I'm too tired to pray myself, you love me when I'm crankie, build me up when I feel insecure, you laugh at my jokes and laugh with me when I'm really not wanting to laugh. I've been told that I'm strong, amazing and inspiring. I'm starting to believe this and with happy tears I'm getting stronger and stronger in my mind to take on new adventures. I might get well enough to write that book for the boys. They still love my stories.

Thanks for inspiring me, loving me and always praying for me!

Canning

I'm trying to do as much as I can but my accomplishments are smaller than I would like them to be. I'm always tired but I'm very committed to eating whole foods and real food. It's been great to go through such a major surgery and eat well.

I'm working on learning to do my own canning. I managed to use the tomatoes for salsa, tomato sauce and some tomato base for vegetable soup. We made some green beans, squash and green peppers for the freezer but canned the tomato sauce.

This week we are making another batch of beans for the freezer. It's great to pull from the freezer fresh food rather than a can of something that tastes like tin. We plan to get our garden going so that we can eat an organic variety.

I'm just hanging in there. I'm hoping to share some of my projects that I'm working on but I'm a little slow as you know. lol

Relax

Today has been a nice day despite the physical therapy I had yesterday. I'm pretty sore but I expected it and I see it as a big day of a new beginning. How lovely it will be when I'm a whole person again. I can now hold a larger glass which is my first milestone according the Physical Therapist. It was nice to receive encouragement and peace of mind. I was expecting too much from myself so all the discouragement left me once he shared with me how the bones heal and settle. He also shared with me all that is involved with this kind of surgery for the norm post surgery. I guess they usually see one maybe two verbraes but mine was five so it's more PT and a longer recovery. I knew that but didn't think that it would be for everything. I am rambling and foggy but wanted to track my progress. I didn't have PT today and I've been hurting all day so this is a good thing. I hope to do some stretches tomorrow at home and on Sunday to push myself further. I think I over did it yesterday. I need to get this right arm working again and it's not since surgery. I pray that it is not permanent and the PT gets it back to normal. I am digging into faith and holding unto that more than anything. I have all that I need in Jesus. Thanks for listening to me ramble.

Thoughts

Hello,
I'm recovering from my RFA injections and not doing as well as I hoped. I'm in pain that changes everyday. I'm making the most of it. It's my lifeline to a better me. I'm heading to a surgeon next week to see what they may or may not do. I personally feel diet and what we eat is the most important vehicle to our health. I'm working on recipes right now slowly. I've got a lot on my plate and once I have a better handle on that I will cook more. I'm just very boring with my cooking but still eating organic as much as I can and not consuming processed foods. I feel sick when I eat them now. I'm serious if you remove these from your diet and then try to eat them because of the convinence factor you will pay in some way if you know what I mean. lol Today we are eating taco salad. We are using all fresh ingredients and non gluten chips. We are eating no preservatives. Yummy!!! May God Bless you and your family!!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

This is always a really hard weekend for me as it represents the passing of my father and his service to our country. He went to be with Jesus May 27th, 1997 and I miss him. I celebrate his life and miss him all at once. This week in general is tough for me because I found out on Wednesday that I have spinal cord damage. This really hit me hard because I was starting to feel like I was going to get my life back only to find out how serious my situation really is. We know God is the greatest healer. It scares me, but I know my husband is the most wonderful man on the planet. He struggles with his own future (he is out of work) as we make the decision to close our business. I share this with you in the hope that you find comfort in any words that I may say. We hold onto eachother as we walk through this life altering change. He stands by me and I stand by him and together we are lifted by God. We know that neither of us stand alone and that we will take life and live it to it's fullest in faith. We will always have faith and trust in Gods promises.. We pray for healing, favor and wisdom.

Today and everyday, we thank those men and women who have written a blank check to protect us and our freedoms. We know that they sacrafice everything for the freedoms that so many complain about. We miss our family terribly and pray for their safety. We know that they are doing what they need to do and do it with pride.

Thanks for everything and May God keep you in the palm of his hands.

Thoughts

I seem to have a lot of these lately. lol It's good when that happens believe me I know. I'm learning to appreciate the little things in my life and the people who really matter. I have a wonderful husband of 24 years and four beautiful sons. I've learned so much from them, college degrees don't make them good men, straight A's don't make them smart, and money doesn't buy them character. It's our hard work as parents that have made them the beautiful people they have become or will become along with their freethinking and thurst to learn more. The lucky people who have truly gotten to know them know exactly what I mean. It's not just saying I know them but really know who they are and what is important to them is all that matters. I'm so proud to be their mom and wife. I've never been more proud to give all that I am and proud of all that they are, thanks for allowing me to be your mother. I'm so lucky!

Happy Mother's Day!

My lovely beautiful friends who have been there for me in prayer and spirit I hope you have a wonderful special day.

Thoughts

Hello,

What, it's been almost six months since posting. Yikes!!

I've been through a lot in the last six months so blogging has not been on my mind. My health has really put some prospective on my life, faith and direction. I really want to help people live better. I'm not an expert or doctor but I do know that eating real food is the best way to a healthy life. I intend to find ways to eat better and be more green. This is the goal of my entire family which really helps to have them on board. My health limits me so hopefully I'll get over that hump, blog more and share how I will overcome my challenges. If it inspires you to be healthier then I've accomplished my goal.

Today I'm making some broiled fish but in this Arizona heat outside grilling would be the best. We are out of fuel so we won't be able to do that today. It's a nice day so it should be okay since the air conditioner is off. I'm going to make rice pilaf from scratch and green beans that are frozen. I like to use fresh but they didn't look so good. Fresh is a little more money but really not much more. They sell for about $1.99 lb on sale and frozen was a little less. You get better beans buying fresh. If you can swing organic this is always better. I'll post the rice pilaf recipe later.

Okay here it is:

Rice Pilaf

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup orzo pasta
1/2 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
2 cups chicken broth

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Cook and stir orzo pasta until golden brown. Stir in onion and cook until onion becomes translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute but don't burn it. Mix in the rice and chicken broth. Increase heat to high bringing it to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer until the rice is tender, and the liquid has been absorbed for about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

Now I didn't have any Orzo so I broke up Angel Hair pasta into tiny pieces and used that instead.
TTFN