1 head fresh collard greens, leaves separated, rinsed and dried canola oil spray ground cayenne pepper garlic powder salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Remove the thick inner stems from the leaves, leaving long strips; cut the strips in half. You can use a knife for this, but I found it . . . → Read More: Collard Chips]]> Ingredients:

1 head fresh collard greens, leaves separated, rinsed and dried
canola oil spray
ground cayenne pepper
garlic powder
salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Remove the thick inner stems from the leaves, leaving long strips; cut the strips in half. You can use a knife for this, but I found it quicker to do by hand. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with canola oil spray. Arrange collard strips on the cookie sheet. Lightly mist the collards with canola spray.

Sprinkle collards with cayenne, garlic powder and salt (optional).

Bake about 12-14 minutes, until the leaves are crisp to the touch. Check them frequently after 8 minutes, when they get crisp, it doesn’t take but a minute for them to start to turn brown!

I liked these quite a bit, but they are very ‘collardy’… if that is a word? They can get bitter if overcooked. It takes a few tries to get the heat and cooking time right, depending on your particular oven. My oven cooks a bit on the hot side.

2 servings

1/2 Head cauliflower (about 2 cups when shredded) 1 egg 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon garlic (dried or minced fresh) 1/2 teaspoon dried onion

Directions:

Shred the fresh cauliflower. If you use a food processor, don’t puree it, just shred it into small . . . → Read More: Cauliflower Pizza Crust]]> Cauliflower Pizza Crust

2 servings

1/2 Head cauliflower (about 2 cups when shredded)
1 egg
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic (dried or minced fresh)
1/2 teaspoon dried onion

Directions:

Shred the fresh cauliflower. If you use a food processor, don’t puree it, just shred it into small pieces. Microwave the shredded cauliflower in a bowl for 8 minutes (dry). Let cool. (If you use frozen cauliflower, thaw it, microwave it for 8 minutes, and then place in a colander to drain for an hour. Too much moisture in the cauliflower will make a soggy crust!)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray a cookie sheet or pizza pan with nonstick spray. In a bowl, mix the shredded cauliflower with the remaining crust ingredients. flatten the crust into a 9 to 12-inch round on the prepared pan. Spray the crust lightly with nonstick spray and bake for 15 minutes (or until golden). Remove the crust from the oven.

This will give you a base for your favorite pizza topping. Just add the toppings (sauce, cheese, veggies, meat, whatever you like) and heat in your oven at 450 for 8 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the crust is starting to brown. Be careful not to overcook!

I made this crust with red sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella toppings and my husband ate it and complimented me on it! I found it to be surprisingly tasty.

I decided to replace my infamous bucket garden with a raised garden bed using the basic concept of lasagna gardening.

I’d been searching for 8 in x 8 in x 16 in concrete blocks that cost less than what Lowes or Home Depot would charge for several weeks. But Kirk finally confessed . . . → Read More: Raised garden bed – lasagna gardening]]> The Project

I decided to replace my infamous bucket garden with a raised garden bed using the basic concept of lasagna gardening.

I’d been searching for 8 in x 8 in x 16 in concrete blocks that cost less than what Lowes or Home Depot would charge for several weeks. But Kirk finally confessed that he didn’t like the idea of how they would look, and that he was willing to spend money to buy landscape (retaining wall) blocks. So, off to Home Depot we went, and in one afternoon we had the outline of a raised bed. The ground there was relatively flat and very hard (so hard grass wouldn’t even grow there) so we did very little to level it. We did not use any mortar between the bricks as it would not be needed with the relatively light amount of material the bricks would be ‘retaining’. The bed is roughly 4 foot by 12 foot, being a little wider in the middle and having a slight curve to it. We bought enough brick to go four rows high, but decided when we reached three rows high that it would be enough. The first level has 36 blocks. The blocks have a small tongue on the back of them to set them back slightly for each row of height that you add, so each level got slightly smaller. The second row had 35 2/3rds blocks and the last row had about 35 1/3rd blocks. (Thank you Kirk and Will for helping me get them placed just how I wanted them.)

Then it was up to me to fill it.

Before we put the bricks down, I had collected cardboard boxes for several weeks. These I had laid out under the area where the raised bed would be a few weeks before. Initially, I had my bucket garden on top of the cardboard to hold it all down and kept the cardboard wet with the hose.

Here are a few shots of the buckets off to the side and the bricks ready to be filled (click picture to see photo album):

From Raised Bed 2011

From Raised Bed 2011

I placed weed block cloth around the outer edge of the raised bed to prevent soil from slipping out of the cracks between the bricks.

From Raised Bed 2011

Last fall Kirk and I had raked up (and blown) lots and lots of mostly oak leaves, shredded them, and piled them in the back yard in an area that we are trying to control some vinca. This served two purposes; keeping the vinca at bay and creating some nice compost and leaf mold. I took 3 wheelbarrows full of this leafy, gooey, stinky stuff and put it in the bottom of the raised bed.

From Raised Bed 2011

Then I took the hose and watered it in so it would stay in place while I took a break.

From Raised Bed 2011

A close up of the leaf compost:

From Raised Bed 2011

At this point I went back to Home Depot and bought 12 cubic feet of peat moss, 4 cubic feet of mushroom compost, and 8 cubic feet of Scotts Garden Soil (because it was cheapest). The helpful folks at Home Depot helped me load it all into Kirk’s truck, and I brought it all home. Hooray for having a Home Depot within 3 miles of home! Poor sick Kirk helped me unload his truck, and then went back in the house to take a nap.

Then I started layering. 6 feet of peat moss on top of the leaf compost.

From Raised Bed 2011

2 cubic feet of mushroom compost and 4 cubic feet of garden soil (I know that in it’s purest form you don’t put soil into a lasagna bed, but I’m impatient!):

From Raised Bed 2011

The above materials all smoothed out:

From Raised Bed 2011

Followed by 2 more wheelbarrows of leaf compost and 6 cubic feet of peat moss:

From Raised Bed 2011

Topped off with the last 2 cubic feet of mushroom compost and the last 4 cubic feet of garden soil:

From Raised Bed 2011

Then I watered it all down and called it good for a day:

From Raised Bed 2011

So, it’s only about 2/3rds full of growing materials. I have about another 7 cubic feet of topsoil in the buckets that will eventually go in the raised bed as well. Of course, it will all settle over time, but I just keep adding compost and leaves and such as time goes on.

Expense

All in all the brick was the most expensive part of the project,about $200 worth. I had wanted to use topsoil from elsewhere in the yard, but the sprinkler system we have is incredibly shallow (I dug only 4 inches down in one area and found a pipe between two sprinkler heads!)and I thought it best to leave things as is. So the peat moss, mushroom compost and garden soil cost about $90. There are ALL sorts of ways this could have been done cheaper, but I’m happy with the look, and more importantly (apparently hehehe ) so is Kirk.

Time and effort

The most labor intensive part was actually the raking, blowing, and shredding of the leaves. But that was something we most likely would have been doing anyway so I consider it a wash. That was probably about 8 hours of work over several sessions last fall. Purchasing, hauling, unloading and setting up the bricks took about 3 hours. There were three of us doing the work, plus the Home Depot guy did a lot of the loading. Filling the bed took me about 6 hours, and I wasn’t in any hurry.

What is next

Plants! I am going to let most of what I have in the buckets currently live their lives out in the buckets. I will probably move the two tomato plants I have into the raised bed. I will be planting cucumbers and peppers and more tomatoes in the raised bed soon. I would like to top off the blocks with some topper stones eventually, just to make it look pretty, but I am not sure when I’ll be doing that, could be tomorrow, could be a few months form now. I’d also like to use some weed block to make a distinct path around the raised bed and perhaps lay some stone down with a sand base to help keep the lawn from creeping in, but there is no rush on that either.

I’ll be sure to post again when I have stuff growing in my new raised bed!

The ferrets adapted to it very quickly. We bought an additional ramp for them to be able to climb in and out of the cage, but they really didn’t like it. Cage ramp FYI, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the ramp, just our ferrets . . . → Read More: New Ferret Cage]]> We purchased this cage via Amazon.com. Marshall Ferret Cage

The ferrets adapted to it very quickly. We bought an additional ramp for them to be able to climb in and out of the cage, but they really didn’t like it. Cage ramp FYI, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the ramp, just our ferrets were very unsure on it, perhaps due to not being familiar with wire ramps. They handle the shorter wire ramps inside the cage fairly well.

The assembly was easy, i did it by myself with no help.

From Ferrets

From Ferrets

From Ferrets

From Ferrets

From Ferrets

So, we took a section of drainage pipe (the 4″ – 5″ black pipe with holes in it you use at the bottom of a roof gutter pipe to drain water out into the yard) and covered it in fabric inside and out (to give their claws some purchase). I bought an elbow for the tube and put it on one end. Then I drilled a small hole in the elbow and put some thick wire through it so that it can be hooked to the cage wall. 10 feet of this pipe runs about $5.20 at your local Home Depot and can make an endless variety of ferret amusements. They navigate it fairly easily. Loki will be waiting impatiently for me to connect this tube when I let them out for play. Tyanak (Shay) is a little princess and waits in the top of the cage for me to pick her up and put her on the floor. She navigates the tube just fine as I’ve seen her go in and out when she wants to and I’m not nearby. So spoiled!

The cage is huge, almost too much for just two ferrets. But since they spend the day in it while we are at work, I figure the more room the better. It’s basically two cages put together, and if we were to be so crazy we could add another addition to put on top. But then the cage would almost reach the ceiling! I love the removable plastic trays which are the floors. it makes everything very easy to clean. And the fact that the whole front opens (4 doors) everything inside is easily reachable. The only thing that I’d probably be happier with is if the tray on the bottom of the cage had taller edges. Loki is hit or miss with the litter box and likes to back up to the edge of the cage which results in a few messes on the walls of the cage and sometimes out of the cage! I put newspaper on the floor and up the walls a bit, but it doesn’t take him long to rearrange that to his liking, which usually means it laying flat and the walls being exposed again.

From Ferrets

Shay got to keep her fish that she came with, but otherwise we put all new hammocks and bedding. I made a small hammock and bought 2 cheap ones at PetSmart. And, we HAD to get them this Pirate Ship.

I’m considering getting a larger litter box for inside the cage as I’ve read a few places that one reason a ferret might not use a smaller box is that they like having all 4 feet flat and inside the box when they use it. Now for Shay this isn’t quite true as when she uses the litter box she puts her front feet on the lip of the litter box no matter how big it is, but it might be true for Loki. When he uses the larger litter box that we have in the bathroom he gets all his feet in.

Other than that, I think our spoiled little weasels are happy in their new home. In fact, they put themselves back in it for sleep time!

Both Kirk and I have had ferrets in our lives in the past.

When I was a teenager, my sister got Skeeter as a present form her boyfriend. She and I shared a room at the time, and we built a cage for Skeeter ourselves. We had . . . → Read More: Meet the Ferrets]]> We adopted 2 ferrets last Friday!

Both Kirk and I have had ferrets in our lives in the past.

When I was a teenager, my sister got Skeeter as a present form her boyfriend. She and I shared a room at the time, and we built a cage for Skeeter ourselves. We had absolutely no idea how to care for a ferret, and Skeeter was probably not the happiest little fuzzy, though we tried! My cat Naomi grew up with Skeeter and thought she was a ferret herself her whole life (19 years worth). She would hoard shiny things just like Skeeter taught her. My sister eventually gave Skeeter to a friend who had another ferret.

Kirk had a ferret of his own for several years before he went off to college. Her name was Kit. He also had a pet iguana at the same time. Kit was absolutely fascinated by that iguana and it was almost impossible to keep her away from it. Until one day Kirk found both iguana and ferret with scratches on their faces. Other than being slightly bloodied, both seemed fine. But Kit never went near the iguana again. When Kirk went to college he gave Kit to a friend who had a pet skunk. What a smelly combo that must have been!

Kirk and I have both wanted the opportunity to raise a ferret right, realizing years later all the mistakes we made with our previous fuzzies. That and the fact that Kirk is allergic to cats and neither of us want a dog (at this point) ferrets were a perfect choice.

The Monsters

Tyanak (Shay-Knock) is a 5 year old spayed female albino ferret. She has had adrenal disease and had one adrenal gland completely removed, and the other partially removed.

Loki is a 1 year old neutered male white ferret, his is not an albino. He seems to be in good health, but has had the tip of his tail removed due to injury.

I learned about these two fuzzies from a co-worker that fosters exotic pets/strays for Cullen’s Archangel RescuE, Inc http://www.caretoadopt.org/ .

So, we have this dainty little lady Tyanak, and this rambunctious youngster Loki. He has tons more energy than she has and needs more attention. She is only up for MAYBE 2 hours at a time. She usually runs out when we let them out for play time and heads to her ‘outside’ food and water dishes (things always taste better out of the cage) and eats and drinks a bit. She’ll diligently use the litter box we have in the bathroom. Then she goes into investigative mode and checks out every inch of her area. THEN she will play. She seems to want to play with us more than with Loki, as he is much more aggressive, but she often runs from him and dooks (makes ferret noises) at him and hisses if he gets too rough. Usually we don’t know she’s done playing until we find her fast asleep back in the cage where she went all by herself.

Loki tries to stay awake for more than 4 hours at a time, but rarely succeeds. The first day we had them he was out of his cage wandering around his new ferret resistant area (our back hall/bathroom/kitchen/breakfast nook area) for about 5 hours. We found him standing in front of his cage, perfectly still. Kirk got up close to him, talking to him. No reaction. Finally when Kirk reached to pet him, Loki turned his head and kind of wobbled a bit. Then seemed to become more alert. Kirk put him back in the cage and he immediately climbed into one of his hammocks and fell asleep. I think he was just so excited about not being put back in his cage that he didn’t want to admit how tired he was!

Tyanak was left with CARE, Inc. by a guy in the military that got re-assigned to a base in California, where ferrets are illegal to have as pets. He paid for her adrenal surgery and even got to watch, as he is also a veterinary student. He was heart broken to have to give her up. Loki was left with very little information at a local animal shelter. They guessed he was about a year old, but with as much weight as he has already gained from when they got him, he may have been closer to 8 months. He is at least twice the size of Tyanak!

Ferrets being ferrets

They are both very good about not biting. They do nip a bit during play time, but that is unavoidable. He has bit my sock a few times, I think just trying to get attention. Neither of them have bit me while I’m holding them. All in all, they are VERY mellow for ferrets. She perhaps as she is frail and still recovering from her adrenal surgery which was only three or so months ago. Him, I am hoping it’s her good influence!

She is not very interested in snacks, but he will try almost anything, which is another confirmation of his youth and her age. From all I’ve read, after about 18 months, ferrets don’t tend to be willing to try new sorts of foods.

She is pretty good about her litter habits. She has made a mistake or two when she first got out of her cage and I didn’t have a litter box outside the cage for her. Since then, she runs straight to it after nibbling a little food. He misses his litter box in the cage often, but I think it might be because the 3 (yes 3!) litter boxes we have in there are so small that he can’t get all his feet in them. Ferrets don’t like that. But he does his business right in front of the box on the newspaper I line the cage with so it’s not hard to clean up. When he is out of the cage, he seems to want to poop in front of the plexi glass barrier we have between the kitchen and the living room most. I’m going to have to figure out how to break him of that habit as I don’t want a litter box there! We are lucky that we have a large area for them to roam around that is all tile floors, though they do get some supervised time in the room above the garage that has carpet. No messes there yet, because we don’t let them up there until they have both pooped and peed.

Here are a few pictures: Picasa Web Album

And a video of Loki investigating a tunnel I made for him out of pvc drainage pipe and leftover fabric (for the low cost of $6): LokiTube

Future concerns.

Little Tyanak is a middle aged ferret, and she’s already got some health problems. On top of the adrenal disease, she has an enlarged spleen (which she will be going to the vet to have checked out soon). Loki will probably outlive her. And since a single ferret is a sad ferret, we are considering getting another fuzzy soon. Yes, three monsters! How crazy is that?

There is a lot more skin in the south than there is in Alaska. No, I’m not saying the South is fat (but maybe it is? http://calorielab.com/news/2010/06/28/fattest-states-2010/ ). It’s just that in the south there are a lot fewer months of the year where you need to be covered for warmth.

I . . . → Read More: Different in the South – Part 2]]> Skin

There is a lot more skin in the south than there is in Alaska. No, I’m not saying the South is fat (but maybe it is? http://calorielab.com/news/2010/06/28/fattest-states-2010/ ). It’s just that in the south there are a lot fewer months of the year where you need to be covered for warmth.

I was thinking about this in Wal-mart the other day (yes I shop at Wal-mart, forgive me) when I was watching a woman juggling 3 children. She had her hands full, but I was still thinking how lucky she was that she didn’t have a whole shopping cart full of jackets and mittens and hats and boots that the children had shed as soon as they entered the store and no room for groceries unless she managed to somehow drive secondary shopping cart as well (Oh, and they are ‘buggies’ here, not ‘carts’).
There isn’t as much room for modesty here. Even I have experienced the difference. Being a large woman, I used to see my flabby arms and despair and NEVER wear a tank top in public or even short sleeves. The first Summer I was here, I got over that. So look at my arms and glory in their pendulousness! *waves arms flap flap flap*

Speaking of Wal-Mart.

I never met an Alaskan that hated Wal-Mart. I’m sure there were some, I just didn’t know them. I have met many many people in South Carolina that hate Wal-Mart… with various different reasons. Some which I can somewhat agree with, some that I cannot. But I’m not going to debate those reasons here.

Wal-Mart is relatively new in Alaska and always seemed to be a happy arrival in a community. With Alaska having such higher prices on retail items, groceries especially, Wal-Mart brought cheapness and competitiveness. But a cheapness without products being completely subpar. It also brought convenience. “One stop shopping” in Alaska is a wonderful thing when you live outside of one of the few “large” cities and have to drive the treacherous Alaskan roads and highways. And Jobs. Wal-Mart brought jobs. No, not the best jobs. But the starter jobs, or the after retirement jobs or the make ends meet jobs that are so crucial for a large part of our society.

I can’t hate Wal-Mart. Sorry.

Daylight

Having grown up in Alaska where it is dark all winter and light all summer (minor exaggeration here), I expected the complete opposite in South Carolina. And while it is not as extreme, the amount of daylight does change between winter and summer. In the winter there isn’t much daylight left when I get off work and not much light when I head in… which is still better than in Alaska where in mid winter it is dark going home and dark going to work and I only saw daylight looking out my office window in the middle of the day or on weekends. I’m in a cubicle here in South Carolina, but it’s not as depressing as it’d be in an Alaskan winter.

Even having lived there most of my life, I never felt that i got used to the major change in seasonal light. In winter with the darkness I’d feel tired all the time and just want to stay at home, in summer and all the daylight I’d be a restless insomniac. Here in SC, I feel that I’m on a much more even keel. Sometimes I do get a tiny yearning for the midnight sun… but the warm summer evenings here would be hard to give up, now that I know and love them.

Gardening

Nine months of gardening in a year in SC. NINE I tell you! My joy knows no bounds! I can grow tomatoes and I can start them from seed right in the ground and they have enough time to not only grow to maturity and bear tasty fruit, but I CAN PLANT A SECOND CROP IN THE SAME YEAR!!!!

Ok, so not all of those nine months can I grow tomatoes. But everything that was a summer crop in Alaska is a spring or fall crop here, plus I can grow tomatoes! From seed!! In the ground!!! And cucumbers and peppers without needing raised beds to keep them warm! If I really wanted to, I could grow corn! How crazy is that??? And asparagus and decent sized onions and sweet potatoes and so many others I am overwhelmed just thinking about it!

So I have to water a lot more as it’s so hot here, who cares? I CAN GROW TOMATOES FROM SEEDS IN THE GROUND CAN YOU UNDERSTAND MY JOY????? I’d grab your shoulders and shake you as I yelled that if I could.
With a simple greenhouse, I will be gardening year round some day, mark my words! Growing tomatoes!
Can you tell I like growing tomatoes?

I haven’t noticed any other major differences other than the soil where I live in SC is quite sandy. Where I was in Alaska it was almost perfect topsoil… but with lots of rocks. So here you amend in lots of organics, and there you were always digging up rocks.
Garden pests here are different, but not any more or less annoying. With the exception of voles. South Carolina might be the vole capital of the world, but that’s just a guess. I hate them so. Just thinking about them now and how last year they murdered my amazing 2 season old curled leaf parsley within a day of me transplanting it I want to kick something! Preferably a vole.

Football

Alaska does not have its own professional football team to root for or any college teams in popular leagues, so people pick another state to cheer on, or try to get interested in local college or even high school teams. But there is not the passion that you see here in SC about the sport, my theory being Alaskans don’t feel invested.

But here… things are different here. When football season starts… the decorations come out. Kind of like at Christmas time, but football themed. Here in Columbia, that means Gamecocks. Or as they are affectionately called, just “the Cocks”. All the expected jokes apply and are encouraged.

Houses will fly Gamecock flags and banners and other such things. Cars will have flags flapping out their windows. People wear Cocks t-shirts. There are other teams whose colors are flown but who cares about them? GO COCKS!!!

Surrounded by all this enthusiasm how could I not get sucked in? I never HATED football, I just didn’t care before. I even kind of understand the game a little bit now! I am really looking forward to football this fall. How odd is that?

Air Conditioning

The last summer I lived in Alaska I worked in a building downtown that used to be an old hospital. It was built in the 60′s and had no AC. Most buildings and houses in Alaska don’t have AC. Heck, until recently, it was hard to get a car with AC. Well, this building had an issue with the furnace/air system (no AC but it still circulated air). I had a corner office on the 5th floor with 2 windows. One window had been glued shut during the winter as the hinges on it were cracked and they were afraid if it were opened it would fall out. I could open my other window, but with no cross draft, it didn’t help much. On a daily basis that last summer, my office would get up to almost 90 degrees. Eventually I got a fan and it helped some.

So I thought that I was going to LOVE AC.

But I don’t. AC is too cold! “What?” you say. An woman from the frozen north thinks the AC which brings her house down to only 76 degrees is ‘too cold’? What the heck???

I’m not used to air blowing all the time! In Alaska a HUGE percentage of heating is radiant baseboard heating, powered by hot water and ‘heat registers’ along the walls. So, I’m not even used to heat blowing at me. In our last home, everywhere I sat, the AC seemed to be blowing on my feet. In front of the kitchen sink, in front of the bathroom sink, in my chair at my computer desk, on the couch… AC right on my feet. Brrrrr!!! So, I started wearing slippers. In the summer. In South Carolina. Seems silly, but if my feet get cold, I’m cold! Doesn’t matter what temperature it is elsewhere, just no cold feet please!

See Part 1 HERE

My favorite quotes are so varied that I thought I’d restrict myself to favorite opening line of a book. There are a lot of very famous opening lines out there, . . . → Read More: Favorite quote from a novel?]]> I got the idea for this post from http://www.practiceofmadness.com/ a post titled “What is your favourite quote from a novel of all time?” Here

My favorite quotes are so varied that I thought I’d restrict myself to favorite opening line of a book. There are a lot of very famous opening lines out there, “Twas the best of times”, “Call me Ishmael”, etc. But I have one in mind that so embodies the spirit and soul of the story that I have always loved and admired it.

“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” from “Scaramouche” by Rafael Sabatini

Not only did that line set the feel for the story so well, but it eventually became the epitaph on Raphael Sabatini’s gravestone.

What is your favorite opening line?

As a child, 40 was an immense age, how could I ever live that long? What would I do with all that time? As a depressed and overly sensitive teenager I was . . . → Read More: Forty]]> I turned forty this week. My feelings on the matter are somewhere along the lines of “Wow, would you look at that!?”

As a child, 40 was an immense age, how could I ever live that long? What would I do with all that time? As a depressed and overly sensitive teenager I was sure that it wouldn’t be worth reaching 40. How could I stand to exist that long? As a young adult and throughout my 20′s I just didn’t care about more than whatever made me happy at that moment. 40 was an insignificant, uninteresting concept. In my 30′s I started to imagine what being ‘old’ would be like. I’d made it this far, what if I made it all the way to (whatever age seemed ‘old’ to me at the time). I worried about it.

I could go into some sort of short version of a life story here to explain these phases, but that’s not what I want to talk about here. This will be more of a status report.

Physically

I am morbidly obese. I have been morbidly obese on and off throughout my life. Since moving to South Carolina in 2007 from Alaska, which had been the only place I lived before then, I have lost 60 pounds. Unfortunately, I have only managed to keep off 30 of those pounds. My diet is not too much of a problem, I don’t snack on junk, don’t eat fast food, eat pasta or bread rarely and when I do it’s whole wheat, and don’t hardly eat any sugar anymore, I just need to work on portion control. For the past 2 months I have been getting up half an hour earlier to exercise before work. I have tried many things, but the one I enjoy the most is watching ridiculous television shows while using my Gazelle Freestyle. Currently, I am watching half an hour of “Weeds” every morning.

At my last physical I got an almost clean bill of health. My blood pressure was a little high, but not by much. 124/83. My doctor wants to keep an eye on it, but not start me on any medication at this time. After last year’s scare with cervical dysplasia (ultimately leading to them finding nothing wrong), this seems like no big deal.

I have osteoarthritis in my knees from being morbidly obese, and I’m sure my genetics didn’t help. My knees click quite musically, especially when I go down stairs. I have some pain in them, but the worst part is the feeling that my knees don’t want to support my weight.

I am occasionally afflicted by vertigo caused by Meniere’s Disease. Cutting out caffeine and lowering my salt intake and taking Antivert regularly has helped a lot. Still, my ears ring and I’ve lost about 50% hearing in my left ear. But heck, if it’s worth hearing it’s worth leaning towards and saying, “What!?” a lot.

I still have long blonde hair (though not as long as it used to be since donating to Locks of Love last year) with no grey in it that I’ve found. It is perhaps not as thick as it used to be, but not too thin either. I think it’s a few shades lighter since moving to South Carolina.

My eyesight is still bad, but it has slowed the rate at which it’s getting worse. My eye prescription hasn’t changed much in the past 5 years. No bifocals yet!

I still get the occasional blemish on my face. I’ve never had much luck with maintaining a skin care regimen. Mostly because I hate using products that dry my skin out. To me, flakey skin is more annoying than the occasional zit.

Mentally

I am honestly probably the happiest I’ve been in my adult life. I could list all sorts of reasons why, but the bottom line is that I’ve come to accept myself. I am who I am. Flaws, fat, blindness, deafness, blemishes and all. Now that doesn’t mean that I don’t think there’s room for improvement, because there is. Lots! I just don’t think less of myself for admitting that.

I am still awfully scatterbrained… and not so much in an absentminded sort of way, but more in that I get distracted from things easily and have way too many unstarted and unfinished projects.

I still love to be creative and get great joy making things. Any things… it doesn’t matter what kind of crafty thing it is, I probably have or want to do it!

Spiritually

I’m still undecided. I have all the same questions with no new answers. I am not religious, and I’m not atheist and not agnostic. If I had to be categorized I’d say I’m somewhere between agnostic and atheist. I spent many years studying different religions and couldn’t find one that fits. I no longer stress over the subject though.

In Love

My husband Kirk, best partner in crime; friends, I know how to pick ‘em; family, crazy bunch of lovable loons and I wouldn’t trade a single one of them in for less than 6 figures.

So where does that leave me at 40? I’d like to think I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been overall… not in the details perhaps, but in the big picture. So, now I get serious on the details! But not too serious. Life is funny and I plan to enjoy that aspect of it as long as I can!

40? Pshaw!