WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE #569

Thank you Joyce.

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1. Something that's had you 'chuffed to bits' recently? 

I had to look this up....."Someone is very pleased or delighted by something"

Actually I had my bloodwork done on Monday. The results were in my email on Tuesday morning and I didn't want to look at it.  As it turns out I was very pleased. Since my bloodwork always says pre-diabetic my primary doctor decided to do further testing. 

I was normal all the way through each section. Also, my bad cholesterol levels have gone down. They are still above normal but I changed my diet back in November and it is working! 

2. Tell us about an instance recently where you were tempted to 'throw a wobbly' (expression used to describe tantrums thrown, usually by adults or people who should know better) 

This is something I should not have felt but I can't tell you how hurt I was. I'm embarrassed to tell you guys. Sunday was National Grandparents Day and not a word from Adam. They have extremely busy lives and I should never have felt this way. 

I was going to say that this day is a new thing but I looked it up and it started in 1978 which means that I never celebrated it with my grandparents. That's Karma for ya!

3. Something everyone seems to love but is not your 'cuppa tea'?

I am drawing a blank on this one. I will go with hot green peppers. We grew peppers this year because Mark like them but they are way to hot for him. This plant is producing better than anything else in the garden. 

As it turns out, Gabby's aunt makes salsa with them so we have been able to bring over several bags of them to Gabby and she gives them to her aunt. 

4. Fish and chips, bangers and mash, shepherd's pie, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding...which entree would you choose? Yes, you have to choose. 

I will go with roast beef but I don't have a clue what Yorkshire pudding tastes like. However, I bet it is pretty good. 

5. Something you want for your birthday this year? 

Honestly, I want to feel good. I had shots in my back on the right side months ago. I think it was February. They are supposed to last 3 to 4 months. At the time I also had shoulder pain and was set up to have shots in my shoulders. As it turned out the pain in my shoulders went away after the back shot. 

The middle of June my back started hurting again. It was pretty extreme and then it started to settle down. Since then it has gotten worse and the shoulder pain in extreme. Saw my primary doctor and he gave me pain medication which helped but now it's not helping at all. I have a referral for pain management but I haven't call there yet. 

I also saw my rheumatologist who did the previous shots. I am getting the shots next Thursday, two days before we fly to Houston. Hoping they work. Because of this I would have missed a few weeks of bowling so it is best that I left the league. However, it still is breaking my heart. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We did see Adam, Gabby and James last Friday and had a nice evening. We brought a watermelon that we thought was ready but sadly it wasn't. However, it did have some great flavor. 

On Sunday night, Adam, Gabby and James went to an evening Halloween event at Disneyland. Her sister and family went with them too so James got to be with his cousins. 

I asked Adam if James was crying in this next one but he said "no." He was just screaming! 

HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH

(Google search photo)

NOT ALWAYS....

This is basically what we saw, James crying a lot. He was not happy and as it turned out he wasn't feeling well. They actually took him to urgent care 2 days later. (no covid)

We were dropped off and Adam, Gabby and James went to park the car. I'll try to make this short. It took Mark and I over and hour in line to get into the park. Then we waited for Adam, Gabby and James for about another 30 minutes. The above pictures were taken while we waited for them to get in. 

 

The crowds were like nothing I have ever seen before at Disneyland. I remember telling Mark, as we walked through the gates into the Main Street area, that the crowds will thin out as people start going to the different destinations in the park. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Crowds everywhere!!!!

So we went over to the Autopia ride. The line of course was long and you were next to people constantly as you were weaving through the line. This seemed to frighten James. Let's remember that he was 1 1/2 when the shutdown happened and hadn't even been in any stores for close to a year. 

So he finally got to go on the ride, we did too, and he was smiling when we got off. He did enjoy it. Then we went over and road the train around the entire park which he also enjoyed. There was one section that goes through a tunnel which has dinosaurs which he wasn't thrilled about. After we got out of the tunnel he said "no dinosaurs!" 

Gabby's sister and husband were also there with their two children but we were doing different things. They went over to another ride so we took their son Dean with us to Mickey's Tunetown. The boys had some fun in Tunetown. 

Dean, Inara and James. (cousins)

Over at Cinderella's Castle there were some rides we would have liked James to go on but the ride for Dumbo was over an hours wait. James was miserable and the decision was made to take him home for a nap and come back later.  Adam and Gabby live nearby. James did however enjoy being on a bus to and from the parking lot. 

So in preparation of going to Disneyland Gabby was telling James that he was going to Mickey's House. When we got back to their house he kept saying "No Mickey's House!" Also Gabby had asked him if he was tired and he said "No, sick mommy." 

Before I tell you about the rest of the day I want to tell you that ornament premiere was in July and I try to get James a Mickey Mouse ornament. This is what I had bought him, beside a few others. I ended up giving this one to him at his birthday party. I wanted Adam and Gabby to see that the one ride he went on was what I ended up buying him in July. So now, over the years, that will be a story that will be told to him. 

So as we are driving home Gabby was on her phone and ordered food for us. We hadn't even eaten yet. We get home and they tried to give James something to eat but he ended up just going down for his nap. 

So the food came and not unlike the rest of our day, it was a disappointment. The Doordash person gave us the wrong order. A meal for one person from a different restaurant. We got credit and ended up eating left overs from the night before. 

They had decided not to go back. So we ended up going home. Now if we had gone back we would have experience a thunder, lightning, hail and rain storm!!! 

It just wasn't our day! We will however try again when he's a little older. 

OUR FAVORITE LITTLE BOY

So James is watching TV and I'm asking him to look at me and say cheese. As you can see his eyes never left the screen! This was on the 5th of July when we spent the day with them. 

Loving his Mickey Mouse on TV...

A mango fruit bar....

Papa, James, Roxy and Gracie. 

Papa was surrounded with love! 

I cropped it!

They also had some pool time. When James was done him and I went into the house to watch TV and play with his toys. 

I mentioned how we were not going to Disneyland at this time but we did end up going to Downtown Disney on Wednesday night. 

There really were no photo opportunities, but I do wish I had gotten him holding the bag from the Lego store with a Duplo set I bought him. He did love his balloon!

Also, remember the dinner that was ordered for the 5th with the marinated shrimp, veggies and filet  mignon, along with a pasta salad and strawberry short cake? 

It was absolutely delicious. I should have taken a picture. They even included a large can of whipped cream! Definitely worth the money. 

A FEW PICTURES TO SHARE

So here are a few pictures from our trip to Disneyland on Friday. I had decided to take pictures in B&W this trip. I don't even take that many anymore. I do have an awesome picture of the kids that I will share at another time. It was a perfect day, the weather was beautiful, we arrived around 10am and didn't leave until after midnight! Never waited longer then 20 minutes for a ride and most of them we got right on. Had two great meals and walked our butts off.

It was a wonderful day!

I just love the lanterns above the teacup ride.

A few fireworks. (I did turn my color on)

Had a great time shopping. $$$
Are these not the cutest magnets?

I pretty much layed on the couch all day Saturday. I was exhausted! I also found a really cute packpack for my trip. (Not too big/not too small)

IF YOUR LOOKING FOR ME.....

I'll Be Here All Day!

I am so happy about the results of last nights American Idol. Congratulations to Scotty & Lauren for making it to the final two!!!

New post at Debby's Tree!

DISNEYLAND AT CHRISTMAS

We had a really nice time. We arrived at the park around 11:00 AM and the main lot was already full! Not much of a line for tickets so we got into the park rather quickly. Stopped to see the Lincoln Theatre Show which was very good.

Since we were at Disneyland for my birthday in October (and road every ride then) we had decided that we were going to just go around the park, see the Christmas displays and not worry about rides. We did ride a few in the evening and they were fun in the dark! We saw "A Christmas Fantasy" parade, the "Wintertime Enchantment Holiday lighting of Sleeping Beauty Castle", we shopped 'til we dropped, ate a few great meals, watched the "Believe..In Holiday Magic" fireworks and then the Disney Fantasmic on the water! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!

My Christmas ears!

Mickey in the parade, of course he didn't look my way!

Mickey in lights that crossed the streets.

The Main Street decorated.

It was really pretty.

Couldn't resist this Snowman hat!

The fireworks at night. (not great shots)

My new Mickey Mouse ornament.

We did notice how crowded it got later in the evening. The shuttle driver told us that they had a record day of 78,000 people. The only other time they usually get that many people is on New Year's Eve each year. It was a great day!!!

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER

I had a magical birthday, one of my favorites for sure. It was a day filled with rides, walking, eating, drinking, resting and sanitizer. After each ride I made sure we all sanitized our hands just in case. Sure my ticket was Free but I treated my son who is 30, along with his best girl, my daughter who is 28 and my son-in-law. We had such a wonderful time. We spent 15 hours in the park going from ride to ride. For a Saturday we actually didn't have to spend too much time waiting for rides except for one. It was over a two hour wait and we did it around 10PM when we were all exhausted from the day. It was the wait from hell, not the best way to end the day but I really wanted to ride on it. (space mountain ) Since my husband doesn't like amusement parks he was the designated dog sitter so he watched Skye and our grand dog Charlie for the day.

These are the beautiful roses he gave me for my birthday!

The Magic of Disney is so much fun! Disney had the Free birthday pass offer this year so I decided I was going to go no matter what. They give you a button to wear all day and everyone in the park says Happy Birthday to you all day long. It was so much fun and I felt so special. If you live nearby one of the parks and still have a birthday coming this year you should really go. I don't think I've ever had more fun in my life. Being the selfish person that I am I decided to treat the kids so I would still receive presents! (Not an even trade but I wanted presents)

Everything was decorated for Halloween!
Always love the giraffes on the Jungle ride!
The Haunted Mansion was the best, inside & out!
Always take the trip on It's A Small World!
A tree decorated with Halloween lights!
The wonderful firework display in the evening!

Then we shopped on main street until it closed which was 1PM. Then we had a tailgate party in the parking lot so I could open my presents. I got a baby blue printer, scanner and photo maker, along with the first season of "Thirty Something" on DVD. A Wizard of Oz journal and a make-up bag from Ralph Lauren that I saw this summer. It was such a wonderful day. Thank you to my family for putting up with me all day.

P.S. It was also gay pride day, everyone wearing red t-shirts. It was a different kind of day at Disneyland!

THANK YOU FOR THE SPECIAL WISHES THAT YOU SENT TO ME!