WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE #640

Thank you Joyce

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1. What's something recent that had you 'tickled pink'? 

I'm going to go with my appointment on Monday with my cardiologist. I don't need to see her for six months. With everything else going on with my health, this was definitely good news. 

2. A bed of roses, everything's coming up roses, every rose has it's thorn, stop and smell the roses, rose-colored glasses, a rose among thorns...which rosy expression might currently be applied to your life in some way? 

"Every rose has it's thorn" but I'm hoping to get to "Stop and smell the roses" this year and get my health back in order. 

3. What makes you feel loved and appreciated? 

I enjoy getting cards in the mail. I love texting with Amber everyday and also talking with her on the phone. I love when Adam and Gabby have us over. We saw them on Sunday for the Super Bowl.

We will see them on Sunday to celebrate Gabby's birthday which falls on the 14th, Valentines Day, so we don't want to go out to eat on Valentine's day. 

4. A box of chocolates or a bouquet of fresh flowers-what's your pleasure? Any special plans for Valentine's Day? 

Definitely a box of chocolates. Dark chocolate hearts with peanut butter inside from See's candy. No we don't have any plans for Valentine's Day. 

5. Share a favorite quote, scripture, or song lyric relating to love. 

This is a famous love quote: 

“Take my hand, take my whole life too. For I can’t help falling in love with you.” —Elvis Presley    

My dad had met Elvis in person and he did sign a photo for him. This was back in the days when my father managed a movie theater.                                          

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

VALENTINE'S DAY

Sending my love to all of you....

WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE #538

Thank you Joyce.

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1. What does love mean to you? 

I'm going with the Urban Dictionary:

"The act of caring and giving to someone else. Having someone's best interest and wellbeing as a priority in your life. To truly love is a very selfless act."

2. Is love blind? 

I do believe it can be in some situations. 

3. How do you remember Valentine's Day as a kid? Do you have any special plans for the day this year?

I believe I remember decorating shoe boxes to hold the cards from my schoolmates. 

No special plans. I have bowling today and shopping afterwards. Maybe we will order in some food. It has never been a good day to go out to eat because it is so crowded everywhere. 

4 Are you a fan of the movie genre known as 'rom-com'? What's your favorite (or one of your favorites)?

Yes!!! It is so hard for me to come up with a favorite. I'm going to name a few older ones like "When Harry Met Sally", "You've Got Mail", "Sleepless in Seattle" and "While You Were Sleeping."

5. What's something you recently put your heart into? 

I'm going to go with the downsizing of my Christmas decorations. It was not easy on my heart. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GABBY!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH

LOVE, MOM AND DAD

We will see Gabby on Saturday!

(This was from Adam's 45th celebration in January)

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY +

Enjoy your day!

Happy Birthday to our wonderful daughter in law Gabby!

Love, Mom and Dad

We celebrated Gabby's birthday on Saturday the 5th because we were getting together to watch the Super Bowl on the 13th and I wanted Gabby's celebration to be on its own. We had a fun time and a great dinner. 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY + A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY

Hope you have a nice Valentine's Day!

A very happy birthday to our daughter in law Gabby. We love her so much. Can't wait to celebrate with her soon. 

Thank you Gabby for loving our son and for giving us our beautiful grandson James. I hope your day is perfect. We love you.....Mom & Dad

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY + A BIRTHDAY

A lot of things going on which have kept me from blogging and not feeling like doing anything but watching old Hallmark movies on TV. Sure I went to bowling on Wednesday, had a doctors appointment, got gas, a car wash and groceries. Then on Thursday I had a hair appointment, went to Trader Joe's and See's candy. 

My dad hasn't been doing well. Ended up in the hospital about two weeks ago and we thought he was doing better. He had been very dizzy and his blood pressure was very low. Spent the night and was released and has nurses coming in 3 times a week to check on him exercise him. 

So yesterday he slipped and hit his head. Had stitches and his BP was over 200. They sent him home and he sounds good today but we are thinking he is having mini strokes but they are not finding anything other than the BP and being dehydrated. 

So of course at my doctors appointment my blood pressure was 156/90 which isn't good. I'm really stressed about my dad and other things that are going on besides my dad. I also carry a great deal of stress because I am not there to help him and it falls on my sister and brother in law. 

So I was supposed to check my BP several times a day, if it didn't go down I was told to double up on one of my BP medications. So I did that this morning and it's better, not great but definitely improved. So I'm just laying low and resting but I can't stop the stress I'm feeling. 

So how about some pictures of James from last Friday.......

His little fort under his high chair.

 He loves doing this. He also enjoys spinning himself

around and then he does a moonwalk.

It's hysterical!!!

 Reading with Gramps!

 Enjoying his little chair.

Happy Birthday to our sweet daughter in law Gabby! We texted today and we will be celebrating with them on Monday. I can't wait. We love you Gabby and hope your day is perfect just like you! 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Hope you have a beautiful day!

HAPPY 35th BIRTHDAY GABBY!

We love you so much. You bring so much joy into Adam's life and ours. You have blessed us with a beautiful grandson and we are so proud to call you our daughter in law.  Love, Mom and Dad 💗

WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE WITH LOVE

Volume 341

~Thank you Joyce~

Click here to play along....

1. When's the last time you had a heart to heart talk with someone? A change of heart? Experienced figurative 'heart failure?'

Actually I feel like I have them almost daily. I am always building up my dad and my daughter. I'm not sure about a change of heart. I'll get back to you on the heart failure....

2. Champagne, chocolates, flowers...what's your Valentine pleasure? Any special plans for the day?

Actually I happen to have a crazy day today. I am feeling pretty close to norm now and I am going to bowling this morning. However I have my follow up doctor's appointment at 3 pm which is about 3 1/2 hours after bowling ends and it is just down the street from the bowling alley. 

So I will be running errands around the town near there until I have to go to my appointment. Not going to be fun. I need to go to Target, Trader Joe's, P.O. and then after the doctor's appointment I will be stopping and picking up our dinner. 

Since I'm going to be out and not to far from our favorite restaurant on my way home I will be getting take out from Panda Inn. We don't normally go out on Valentine's Day because Mark hates the crowds but we usually go somewhere on another day to celebrate. 

Yes bring me all of those things. Well wait, I guess I don't need flowers, I'd rather have a plant. I have a gift for Mark and he picked up a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake for me, my favorite! 

3. Are you a hopeless romantic or do you fall more in the category of practical and pragmatic? What's a gesture you find romantic?

I am definitely a hopeless romantic, always have been always will be! However Mark is not and he will never get me. At this point and time I am happy with a seashell from a walk he may have taken on a beach. 

I have to say that Mark has really pitched in while I've been sick. He has done all the things that I would have done so that way I wouldn't stress about them. 

I also felt good enough on Monday to clean out under my bathroom cabinet which I've been wanting to do for over a year now. I got rid of two full trash bags of stuff. So I have officially started my plan for 2018 of getting rid of the clutter throughout the house. Yay Debby!! 

4. Do you ask a lot of questions in life or are you pretty content with what you already know?

I do still ask a lot of questions, especially to God. 

5. Your favorite power ballad?

I remember this song having a big impact on me.  Extreme 1990.  I still love it.....

6. Insert your own random thought here.

 Happy 34th Birthday to our daughter in law Gabby.

We love you so much....

To my blog friends ....

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Hope this doesn't offend anyone,
I thought it was funny.....

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Here are some chocolates that contain no calories!!

Hope Your Day is Sweet!

ARE YOU PINTERESTED?

Probably not but here we go anyway.....I pin....so sometimes my family gets to eat! If nothing else Pinterest can be motivating or at least it's that way for me!

I started feeling better on Wednesday which was a good thing but it would have been nice if it had been Tuesday so I could have gone to bowling. Anyway I ended up making soup in my crock pot. I had come across this recipe for Slow Cooker (or Stove top) Vegetarian Black Bean and Rice Soup with Lime and Cilantro at Kalyn's Kitchen so of course I pinned it! 

 

I ended up doubling the recipe since I had the ingredients and was using a large crock pot. What I did do was leave out the juices from the additional cans used to double it. I was concerned that it might be too thin and we like a thick soup. I also added a small can of green chilies because Mark wants them in everything! This was so good and I will definitely be making it again.

 

I also wanted to share with you something I made a few weeks ago. I had never tried Spaghetti Squash and decided it was time. I had a recipe from Skinnytaste.com that I tried and of course I pinned it also. I loved it and will definitely be making it again. I also had some tomatoes to use up so this is what I did with the tomatoes and a pin from My Kitchen Affair for Parmasan Baked Tomatoes . So I buttered the spaghetti squash and topped it with the tomatoes. It was delicious!

 

 

 

 

Originally we were going to go out to celebrate Valentine's Day on Tuesday evening to avoid the crowds but since I was not feeling well that didn't happen. We have since decided to go out this weekend to see a movie and have a fine dinner. So on Valentine's Day I decided to make some PB M&M brownies and thought I would order a pizza since I had a 50% off coupon to use. We would have some wine and eat by candle light.

 

 

Well the Papa John's internet site was acting up and ended up being down. God forbid I need to make a phone call ....LOL! So I waited and tried again. It was working but it wouldn't go through. I ended up taking out our last Lou Malnati's which has to thaw for 30 minutes before we bake it for 40 minutes. Then the doorbell rang. Guess what?....yes the order ended up going through without confirmation to me. Luckily the Lou's pizza was still frozen so back to the freezer it went and off went the oven.

 

We had a very nice time at dinner and then we watched "What to Expect When Your Expecting." It was a lovely evening and just what we needed......

 

Card I got for Mark....