Buitoni is a brand of pasta and sauce meals that Dan had been buying recently. He cooked me a lobster and shrimp filled pasta and sauce that was AMAZING!! I don't remember tasting anything so delicious for several years. I've discovered recently that I can handle food with fat content as long as it does not have a significant amount of fiber!! I've been eating grilled cheese which is another treat.
When I woke up today, Dan asked, "Would you like me to make you something to eat?" Isn't he wonderful? He takes care of me like I am a rare and valuable part of his life. Of course I said yes! He prepared a squash-filled pasta with a creamy sauce that smelled and looked wonderful. I eagerly took my plate to my chair as I commented, "they must process the fiber out of the squash like mashing potatoes". I sat down and proceeded to lift a delicious bite toward my mouth when I heard Dan exclaim, "STOP, don't eat that". When he heard me mention the fiber in squash, he decided to double check the nutritional content and realized he had mistakenly bought me a dinner with 5 grams of fiber per serving!
Needless to say, I didn't eat that meal and made a grilled cheese instead. I can process about 1 gram of fiber per day - any more causes me become painfully ill for days. Dan felt so bad but I told him that the offer of making the meal for me was the bigger blessing. He gets so upset with himself when he tries to buy me a special treat and forgets to check the fiber. I just love that he tries! :)
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Bennett and Jasper
Jasper and Bennett brought their parents for a visit a few weeks ago and we had a really great time.
Bennett is a major problem solver when he thinks of something he’d like to do and he sets out to describe a variety of scenarios detailing with how we can accomplish his goal. It’s so comical that it’s hard not to laugh at his, “Well how about if . . .”.
His high energy level reminds me so much of Michael when he was that age. He often asked me to read a book during this visit. I love reading to all of my grandsons. Bennett particularly liked a book that is one of my favorites, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!” He called it the bubble gum book, and he remembered an amazing amount of the details in the story after the first reading.
He has long memory! By that I mean he remembers things from not only his last visit to our house, but from visits almost 2 years ago.
One morning Bennett came up to me with a very serious look on his face. He wanted to tell me about the broken night light in his room. I had already noticed that the night light in the bedroom was broken – I’m not sure how.
Bennett didn’t realize that I’d already taken care of it, and he followed the announcement that the night light was broken with, “ but we will give you one of our night lights at home”.
It was so precious that he wanted to make it right by replacing ours. I smiled, trying not break out laughing at his intense expression, and told him that I had already fixed it and he didn’t need to give us one of his. He broke into a huge grin that I wish I could have captured with my camera.
I'm in the process of giving my kids photos they want from their childhood. I showed Bennett a 5x7 photo of Michael at 12 months, Bennett exclaimed, “No, that’s Jasper” It DID look very much like Jasper.
When I think of Jasper, what first comes to mind is his contemplative gaze, like he’s trying to figure out one of the universe’s great mysteries. Perhaps he has the makings of a future engineer.
I asked Dan what comes to his mind and he said, “Jasper has such a sweet, calm, and gentle spirit." Then he went on to say, “Jasper is genuinely fascinated by life!” I thought those were pretty insightful comments.
Jasper's red hair instantly takes me back to my own two little red heads! I think Jasper's hair is going to curl up like Michael's did. Both boys love to play outside and we went to the nearby school yard since the weather was so comfortable.
Jasper is especially easy for me to entertain since he enjoys staying in one spot and investigating everything around him. Since I still get winded rather easily, I have to pace myself for the the more physical playtimes.
That's all for now!
Bennett is a major problem solver when he thinks of something he’d like to do and he sets out to describe a variety of scenarios detailing with how we can accomplish his goal. It’s so comical that it’s hard not to laugh at his, “Well how about if . . .”.
His high energy level reminds me so much of Michael when he was that age. He often asked me to read a book during this visit. I love reading to all of my grandsons. Bennett particularly liked a book that is one of my favorites, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!” He called it the bubble gum book, and he remembered an amazing amount of the details in the story after the first reading.
He has long memory! By that I mean he remembers things from not only his last visit to our house, but from visits almost 2 years ago.
One morning Bennett came up to me with a very serious look on his face. He wanted to tell me about the broken night light in his room. I had already noticed that the night light in the bedroom was broken – I’m not sure how.
Bennett didn’t realize that I’d already taken care of it, and he followed the announcement that the night light was broken with, “ but we will give you one of our night lights at home”.
It was so precious that he wanted to make it right by replacing ours. I smiled, trying not break out laughing at his intense expression, and told him that I had already fixed it and he didn’t need to give us one of his. He broke into a huge grin that I wish I could have captured with my camera.
I'm in the process of giving my kids photos they want from their childhood. I showed Bennett a 5x7 photo of Michael at 12 months, Bennett exclaimed, “No, that’s Jasper” It DID look very much like Jasper.
When I think of Jasper, what first comes to mind is his contemplative gaze, like he’s trying to figure out one of the universe’s great mysteries. Perhaps he has the makings of a future engineer.
I asked Dan what comes to his mind and he said, “Jasper has such a sweet, calm, and gentle spirit." Then he went on to say, “Jasper is genuinely fascinated by life!” I thought those were pretty insightful comments.
Jasper's red hair instantly takes me back to my own two little red heads! I think Jasper's hair is going to curl up like Michael's did. Both boys love to play outside and we went to the nearby school yard since the weather was so comfortable.
Jasper is especially easy for me to entertain since he enjoys staying in one spot and investigating everything around him. Since I still get winded rather easily, I have to pace myself for the the more physical playtimes.
That's all for now!
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
The nightmare that turned into a Green Dream!!
When I woke up this morning, I was shaking from the adrenaline overload!
I started to tell Dan about my dream and before I could even get to the ending, I started laughing uncontrollably!!
It went something like this:
I was preparing to go on a trip with several dozen friends. It was some type of missionary trip and we had to pack very light. I remember going through a series stages where I had to let go of many of the "things" I have collected and were still important to me. As I traveled through the stages, it felt like they were being snatched from me and I became disoriented and nearly discouraged. I still had my iPhone - and that was a relief - until - I suddenly DIDN'T have my iPhone. It was there one second and gone the next. I kept asking people to call my number so I could run around and listen for the ringtone.
Suddenly time fast forwarded and I was on the ocean on a huge barge-like floating community. We had three very large living areas and one of them was covered. We were all going about our business when suddenly, one side of the barge was lifted up. We realized that a whale had taken position under one section of the barge. That went on for several days - we weren't too concerned.
UNTIL
The barge began tilting and creaking and suddenly, one section of the barge was torn from the rest. Annette Webster was the only person in that section and before she could get away, the whale pushed that section rapidly away from us. She was screaming for help but there was nothing we could do.
(note- Annette Webster happens to be the wife of a local computer Guru)
Several of the men decided to go after her. They disengaged one of the two remaining sections of the barge. All but three of us went with them to find Annette.
There I was with two other women, alone on the lone remaining section of the barge. It was the smallest section but sturdy and roomy enough for the three of us.
UNTIL
We felt the barge begin to tilt again!!! Another whale!!
We were near a coastline by then so we quickly disembarked and fastened the barge to the dock.
Even though we were on a dock on a coast, the water was very deep. We could see the whale come closer and closer. For some reason there was only a small area of coast and then a wall of cliffs than rose high into the sky. We saw the whale coming near to the coast and then away.
Near and then away.
Near and then away
Near and then, he reared up at us there on the shore. We used the only weapons we had at the time, several brooms and we began beating the whale every time he came near.
Soon the whale became annoyed with us and headed out to sea.
We considered whether it was safe to go back onto the boat and ocean. We decided it was safe and cast off from the shore. Too late, we saw the whale coming back toward us.
We knew we could never maneuver the barge back to shore in time, In a split second decision, we all jumped in the ocean and swam for shore.
Two of us reached the shore and climbed up, only to look out and see that our last companion was being overtaken by the whale. We screamed! We called to her, 'hurry, hurry, swim faster".
Just as the whale reached her, we covered our faces, not wanted to see her devoured, and with a splash, the WHALE jumped out of the water and onto the shore!!
We couldn't believe our eyes!! Even more shocking, the whale began to speak, "I won't hurt you, and I only ask for one thing".
We could barely breathe, let alone talk. but I finally let out a raspy whisper, "What is it?"
By then, all three of us stood there, eyes open wide and barely breathing when the whale said,
"All I ask is that you stop putting trash in the oceans".
Of course we agreed and the whale happily went on his way.
After about a week, the rest of our group had returned after rescuing Annette. Our eyes grew wide as we saw the improvements they had made to our barge. It was much larger and reinforced with steel!! There were these strange containment sections underneath the outer edges of the barge.
One of the men began explaining the plan. The containment sections were designed to hold whales and instead of using fuel, our barge would be "whale powered'.
All three of us shouted in unism, "NO hurting whales, we just have to continue to use regular fuel". The man started to argue with us until we were able to get his attention and explain what had happened to us while they were gone.
And thus a nightmare turns into a GREEN DREAM!!!
I started to tell Dan about my dream and before I could even get to the ending, I started laughing uncontrollably!!
It went something like this:
I was preparing to go on a trip with several dozen friends. It was some type of missionary trip and we had to pack very light. I remember going through a series stages where I had to let go of many of the "things" I have collected and were still important to me. As I traveled through the stages, it felt like they were being snatched from me and I became disoriented and nearly discouraged. I still had my iPhone - and that was a relief - until - I suddenly DIDN'T have my iPhone. It was there one second and gone the next. I kept asking people to call my number so I could run around and listen for the ringtone.
Suddenly time fast forwarded and I was on the ocean on a huge barge-like floating community. We had three very large living areas and one of them was covered. We were all going about our business when suddenly, one side of the barge was lifted up. We realized that a whale had taken position under one section of the barge. That went on for several days - we weren't too concerned.
UNTIL
The barge began tilting and creaking and suddenly, one section of the barge was torn from the rest. Annette Webster was the only person in that section and before she could get away, the whale pushed that section rapidly away from us. She was screaming for help but there was nothing we could do.
(note- Annette Webster happens to be the wife of a local computer Guru)
Several of the men decided to go after her. They disengaged one of the two remaining sections of the barge. All but three of us went with them to find Annette.
There I was with two other women, alone on the lone remaining section of the barge. It was the smallest section but sturdy and roomy enough for the three of us.
UNTIL
We felt the barge begin to tilt again!!! Another whale!!
We were near a coastline by then so we quickly disembarked and fastened the barge to the dock.
Even though we were on a dock on a coast, the water was very deep. We could see the whale come closer and closer. For some reason there was only a small area of coast and then a wall of cliffs than rose high into the sky. We saw the whale coming near to the coast and then away.
Near and then away.
Near and then away
Near and then, he reared up at us there on the shore. We used the only weapons we had at the time, several brooms and we began beating the whale every time he came near.
Soon the whale became annoyed with us and headed out to sea.
We considered whether it was safe to go back onto the boat and ocean. We decided it was safe and cast off from the shore. Too late, we saw the whale coming back toward us.
We knew we could never maneuver the barge back to shore in time, In a split second decision, we all jumped in the ocean and swam for shore.
Two of us reached the shore and climbed up, only to look out and see that our last companion was being overtaken by the whale. We screamed! We called to her, 'hurry, hurry, swim faster".
Just as the whale reached her, we covered our faces, not wanted to see her devoured, and with a splash, the WHALE jumped out of the water and onto the shore!!
We couldn't believe our eyes!! Even more shocking, the whale began to speak, "I won't hurt you, and I only ask for one thing".
We could barely breathe, let alone talk. but I finally let out a raspy whisper, "What is it?"
By then, all three of us stood there, eyes open wide and barely breathing when the whale said,
"All I ask is that you stop putting trash in the oceans".
Of course we agreed and the whale happily went on his way.
After about a week, the rest of our group had returned after rescuing Annette. Our eyes grew wide as we saw the improvements they had made to our barge. It was much larger and reinforced with steel!! There were these strange containment sections underneath the outer edges of the barge.
One of the men began explaining the plan. The containment sections were designed to hold whales and instead of using fuel, our barge would be "whale powered'.
All three of us shouted in unism, "NO hurting whales, we just have to continue to use regular fuel". The man started to argue with us until we were able to get his attention and explain what had happened to us while they were gone.
And thus a nightmare turns into a GREEN DREAM!!!
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)