Birthday Boy Turns 9

 WHO LOVES THE THUNDER

and #35 Kevin Wayne Durant.

Being there warmed my heart.  
Being a Grandma does this to me.  Wonderful time.  
Wonderful child.

Enjoyed being there to see all the excitement,

d

Dining On The Prairie At A Kansas Cafe

Say Cheese or maybe Taco Salad

~DINING ON THE PRAIRIE~

WE DID.

LUNCH TIME SPECIAL of Chicken Salad, 

Fries, Drink and Dessert for me.

I shared my fries and split the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Dessert.

TACO SALAD for Daughter.

Daughter treated me 

to a middle of the week LUNCH at a little KANSAS Cafe.

Was great,

d

A Spread

One of my TEXAS friends went to a Bridal Shower 

in which she shared what the SPREAD looked like.

Could be copied.

No individual bowls for food items.

Wash, cut up, air dry and place on clean surface.

Large picture frame or framed mirror 

on the covered serving table 

filled with fruits, vegetables, breads, spreads, 

crackers and cheeses.

Could easily add nuts.

EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS.

TEXAS

is like a whole 'nudder country.

At least that's what I was told when I lived there 

many years ago,

d

Feeding Your Family For Less

Weighing In At A Whopping Dollar A Bag

'Feeding Your Family For Less' 

is a continuing challenge.

As I get even older as a matronly woman 

inching my way to RETIREMENT

I must make the dollar stretch as much as possible.

Being a virtuous woman calls for action.

I don't can my own home grown veggies,

so the next best thing is if veggies are given to you to enjoy 

or you're able to purchase them at bargain basement prices.  

Frozen is next to being fresh and even better than canned.

Shopping the Dollar stores that have refrigerated units 
can have discounted food just waiting for you to try.

That's exactly what I did,

d

Please Pay At The Door and Shame On You

Reflecting on my week-end with the TIME CHANGE having taken place, Saint Patty's Day approaching and SPRING showing up on the calendar next week.....Easter Baskets aren't far behind.

Had a very long COFFEE BREAK on Saturday morning with Hubby as we decided what we hope to get accomplished for the week-end.  He already climbed up onto the roof of our old house on Friday evening to tar an area around the chimney that had cracked away.  He'll be the one to re-mortar the brick in the future as we need to have this repair done to alleviate water leakage from rain.

This week-end repaired the Powder room toilet to stop unnecessary water running nonstop.

A funny the other day when our Granddaughter stood up and faced her Grandpa in the family room stating, "I have a  PROCLAMATION to make as to why you have such a high water bill."  This was her choice of words.  "The toilet is running all the time as the tub upstairs has a drip."

Right on she is.  

I'm continually thinking about ways to lower the utility bills. Continually.  So much of the time I mention water running and am ignored as my Husband doesn't hear me.  HOW CAN YOU HEAR OVER THAT DRIP?  

The news coming from a nine year old goes further than from me.  I could be upset about this, but hey...the right medicine has been taken.  He fixed the running toilet!  Hurray.

Back to Saturday SHOPPING.  Sams was having a 15 minute Health CHECK and I wanted to go to especially have my cholesterol checked for FREE.  Knowing my blood pressure is high as I am on meds for this, now I fully understand when one has no thyroid their blood pressure can be on the higher end of things even when on blood pressure meds.  I was aware of this before the 15 minute Health CHECK pressure was taken.  

I had my eyes professionally checked about a month ago being told my cholesterol was in the eyes and should visit with medical doc about this.  

Health CHECK indicated my blood pressure was way high and cholesterol as well.  The healthy cholesterol was good, but the other too high as was the BMI.  Completely am informed...no shocker to me.  

Unfortunately being obese is not a happy thought, but I'm in good company with all those football players being obese as well.  Touchdown.  I scored.  

The sweet young thang doing this 15 minute check politely told me to eat more protein and veggies. Yes, I politely answered back knowing that I already eat veggies and protein and also know that the meds I have been on for 5 and a half years causes high cholesterol, weight gain, high blood pressure, etc. 

ALSO, having Hypothyroidism is a great way to gain weight, have high cholesterol and have high blood pressure.  SHUCKS...doesn't everybody know that the thyroid controls metabolism?  WHat happens when you have NO thyroid at all?  You develop a new normal for optimal health.  No thyroid = challenges for me.

So stay away from carbs, eat more veggies, exercise when you can hardly walk and drink more water.  

Oh, if only everybody knew.

One of the side effects of taking synthetic T4 Synthroid is high blood pressure, high cholesterol, weight gain, menstrual issues, excessive sweating and the list goes on.  One week ago I switched from synthetic T4 Synthroid to natural Armour Desiccated Natural Thyroid Hormone which has more of the thyroid hormones a healthy thyroid produces than synthetic T4 only from Synthroid.

On April 9th I hope to go back to have another 15 minute Health CHECK to see if there's any change...hopefully an improvement.  I will have been on Armour longer then.

After being on Synthroid for 5 and a half years, I was a POSTER CHILD for the awful SIDE EFFECTS that's written up on the Synthroid print outs given with the drug.  Though I visited with my Endo and his Nurse....I suffered with the awful side effects.  My visits did not solve a thing.  

Reading and researching on the internet HELPED me be better informed.  I was actually told to not read about thyroid issues on the internet by the nurse.  How rude.  Haha.  If it weren't for the internet and shared info, I'd be staying with the prescribed T4 ONLY Treatment.

MUCH is shared about T4 ONLY TREATMENT.  MUCH.

When the print up says higher cholesterol, higher blood pressure, weight gain, excessive sweating, fatigue, etc. and you are having ALL the side effects....well what 'cha gonna do but visit with the Endo like the good paper says to do and do it... just to have the doctor look at you like: well okay... moving right along....we'll do nothing.  See you in 6 months.  Please pay at the door.

I have an opinion about the political arena in all of this.  If the T4 which is Synthroid were identical to what a healthy thyroid produces, the industry would not be able to patent it because in reality of the molecular make-up on this is not the same.  Synthroid is artificial T4.  Synthetic.  When something is synthetic it cannot have the identical make-up as natural.  Hello.  IF NATURAL it cannot be patented YET.  

Money money money it's a rich man's world. 

Getting credit for synthesizing T4 LEVOTHYROXINE were two men from English Aristocracy and certain royal clubs.  Members. Well.  How do you do.  

Do what?  Get recognition, awards and rewards for being in royal clubs.  Yes, it's all in the family sort of speak.  All in the club. 

The hormone was synthesized in 1927 by British

chemists Charles Robert Harington and George Barger.

Sir Charles Robert Harington, FRS (1 August 1897 - 4 

February 1972) was a chemist, best known for synthesizing thyroxine. 

FRS: Fellowship of Royal Society.

Although he was born and lived in Llanerfyl, north Wales.  

He was a member of the English aristocracy from the 

distinguished Harington family which can be traced back to 

12th century Rutland (then Cumberland).

George Barger FRS FRSE FCS LLD (4 April 1878 – 5

January 1939) was a British chemist.


Levothyroxine Makes BILLIONS of dollars.

Levothyroxine is the second most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with 23.8 million prescriptions filled each year.

Thyroxine was first isolated in pure form in 1914 at the Mayo Clinic by Edward Calvin Kendall from extracts of hog thyroid glands.  Armour Desiccated Natural Thyroid Hormone was used first then came along the chemist Barger and Harington.

Kendall

Harington

Barger

Who says T4 Only is the treatment of choice?  Did you know that the UN is the World Health Organization's PARENT Organization?  The United Nations.  We're in over our heads.

OKAY.  Moving right along.  

After we had our visit to SAMs, we went to early supper at On The Border.  One of my hubs favorite places to dine when in Topeka.  Appetizers were at SAMs as we sampled some of their delicious snacks.  Strawberry, Blueberry and Raspberry Fruit cup.  Parmesan Crusted Tilapia and Battered Cod.  Irish Stew.  Yogurt.  Psyche Department helped them display all these goodies around 4 in the afternoon as people are starting to want a snack.  Hungry shoppers are great buyers.

Went to the Post Office and drove past a beautiful brick Victorian House in the lower Silver Lake area. OH so purdee.  Decided to go to Kmarts near by. Discovered it was going out of business...closing soon.  The discounts were plenty.  We each got a pair of shoes.    

My heart sank a little because this was where I shopped the After Christmas Sales.  I will have to hunt high and low for Jaclyn Smith's snowflakes next Christmas Season in order to get my snowflake fix before Christmas. Can do.  Will do.

Discovered a new Sally's Beauty Supply.  Bought some OPI nail polish, STAYING NEUTRAL.  I know next time my Sis comes to visit I will have to take her there.  Very well stocked store and I bought some curlers.

  

Remember the commercials where they said, "Curlers On Your Head...SHAME ON YOU!  Curlers In Your Bed...SHAME ON YOU! Curlers In The Store...SHAME ON YOU!  Curlers At The Door.  SHAME ON YOU!"

GOSH...you've got to have a sense of humor.

Well then...shame on me, 'cauz I'm returning to this old fashioned treatment in hopes my natural curls will reappear and not have so much of what I call THYROID HAIR.

Well...I've had the heated curlers before and regular curlers like these and wanted to return to the regular curlers.

Hunting for curlers was exhausting as I could not find them. Not so popular anymore compared to curling irons or heated ones.  Blow drying the hair straight with product.  Finally found a nicely stocked curler display and felt victorious about the hunt.

Needed some cards from Dollar Tree and noticed a new THRIFT SHOP that I will have to return to to check out the prices.  The Dollar Tree we went to was the nicest and cleanest one I have ever been to.  Nice experience shopping there.

We drove HOME in the dark, unloaded and I fell into my easy spot on the sofa.  Really, really tired.  

Time change has happened.  This week I hope to try a new Bible Study.  I do wonder what this will be like.  Saint Patrick's Day on Thursday along with saying good-bye to WINTER on the week-end as SPRING is on the calendar. PRAISE GOD from whom all blessings flow.  

Our flowerbed has daffodils blooming with some hyacinths. Tulips are in the works growing buds.  Forsythia bushes are blooming with beautiful yellow blossoms.  Makes for a classy SPRING splashed with color to brighten our environment.  Mock Pear Trees are blooming.  SPRING has sprung...I am delighted.  

DELIGHTED.  No shame here.
All in a Spring-Like Day,
d

Deuteronomy 32: 2 and 3

King James Version (KJV)

2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: 3 Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

Clairol Kindness Commercial - "Curlers In Your Hair, Shame on You!!!"

A 1925 Wedding Reception

A lovely setting for a 1925 Wedding Reception 

on Season 6 DOWNTON ABBEY.  

Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Carson tie the knot.

The still pictures are worth studying and copying 

for other lovely gatherings of fellowship.

BLESSINGS,

d

Soccer Dads

It doesn't seem so long ago that I was what was called a Soccer MOM.  
Time flew and now I am a slow poke Grandma that has difficulty getting around.  

I get around none the less.  

Son's a Soccer Dad.

We made our way to see our Son and Grandson.  Grand played Soccer.  
So we watched him be in the game. 

Was fun!

Granny d Nanny on the move 

Prairie Smoke, Dishes and Different Medicine

Lil Miss is asleep on the sofa having stayed HOME from school today with a temperature, cough and stuffed up nose.  We'll take it easy as rest helps healing faster.

Kansas Flint Hills are being burned even on these extremely Kansas windy days.  Every year the rolling Flint Hills and landscape is burned from February to May.  Cough cough....don't open the windows as the smoke will invade your abode and make you sick.  So much of what is burned causes allergic reactions when you breathe the air in.

You can smell smoke in the air which plays havoc on HEALTH ISSUES pertaining to breathing with upper respiratory conditions.  The burning of the prairie may make the grasslands beautiful in the SPRING, but many cannot tolerate the smoky conditions.  Me included.  Hubby is coughing and I'm holding my breath.

Last week I ventured out of my comfort zone and traveled across the countryside to a small community of about 444 people and discovered a antique shop that use to have an old fashioned soda fountain in it ran by a Attorney that played SODA JERK to relax.  He's no longer there and is replaced by vintage items that others admire as they shop this place.

I toured the local Grocery Store and purchased a few items to take HOME.

I enjoyed my outing so much, I wanted to take my Husband there to see this quaint little Kansas TOWN named Alta Vista.  The countryside on the Old K-10 road is peppered with old stone houses.  

Since I live in a stone house, I thought it interesting that there are so many in the country.

Harvest-Milk Glass dishes with grapes was our find.  I purchased two dinner plates.  As we were walking out on Saturday, my dear Husband pointed out 6 more of these dishes and tumblers as well, hiding in plan sight.  We took them HOME with us and our Estate g r e w.

I'll wash them later today and place them with my collection that has grown over the years.  I didn't have many dinner size plates, so finding half a dozen more was a treat.  The tumblers are wonderful as I had none.  When the Luncheon size plates come forth, they will be nice to have.  These Harvest-Milk Glass dishes are plentiful, affordable and pretty to use.  Table scape Time.

Our week-end was pleasant and we took a SUNDAY DRIVE together.  Don't do this enough.  A Sunday Drive is pleasant therapy for weary souls when it is slow paced and the people out there don't run you off the road.  In fact when there are very few people on the road it is next to heaven as we glide across the hilly roadside with a multitude of curves to cruise.

I returned to my regular doctor to visit about Thyroid Health.  I am now taking Armour for thyroid hormone replacement.  I will write about this later in detail with an honest twist to it and not one that promotes a Billion dollar business and the new world order of dummying down the human race that cannot think as clearly as they should because their body chemistry is being altered due to not receiving all the hormones the human body needs for well being.

For three years or so, I continued to studied thyroid issues and meds out there on the market.  I kicked it around and hesitated changing meds as I was under the care of a endocrinologist that uses T4 Only Treatment.  Miserable TREATMENT.  I was more or less told to not read about thyroid stuff on the internet.  FORGET ABOUT IT.

I was told that at a conference the speaker shared lowering the room temps for burning calories.
Lowering the inside house temperatures will encourage speeding up our metabolism to burn calories.  If this were true, I'd be skinny as a stick because we keep our interior room temps lower than comfortable. 

I'm as heavy as ever and gaining on an average of 5 pounds a year.  

You see when you have NO thyroid or it's broken, you're broken and your body will not perform as a healthy person does with a healthy thyroid.

ON THE OTHER HAND...My Family Physician encouraged me to read about it.

Shall see how the new meds I am taking will help or hinder my thyroid health.  I stayed faithful taking a synthetic thyroid medicine for 5 and a half years that caused weight gain along with other ailments that made life miserable.

I wanted to give this synthroid health plan 5 years and 5 years I did plus half of another.  After being diagnosed with thyroid cancer, surgery followed to remove one lobe and then a second surgery took the other side.  Radioactive ablation was experienced.  What I called a Radioactive Vacation gave me some time out of our old house  where I read a lot and watched some television. Drank lots of water and prayed.

Three years later my Husband would go through surgeries as well.  We compare notes and his hospital stay was a better experience for him.  I felt like they killed my heart.  I was not instructed to change my pajamas, take three showers a day and change my bed sheets often.  I laid in the radioactive sweat and didn't know any better.  The medical staff did not instruct me to change my clothing often or to shower.  I'm not sure what to think of this.  We used different hospitals and different methods.

I have switched from T4 Only Treatment to Armour Natural Desiccated Thyroid Hormone.  Shall see how this works, but last night as I was walking about the upstairs I started to sweat and for the first time in about 10 years when I started to sweat I could feel my body actually cool off by itself as it is suppose to.  With the T4 Only Treatment when over heating, one just over heats and does not cool off quickly.  Very abnormal.  Last night I cooled off and could tell.  It was a very nice feeling that I have missed.  Like a breath of air from heaven blowing across me.  I rejoice.

Jibber Jabbering in the month of March.  I can hear the front porch wind chimes singing their song because the breeze is blowing.  So pleasant, but wished I was in a house in the country being isolated by the quiet.

Keeping Life Simpler but interesting.
Continuing to downsize, organize and clean.

God bless and all the best to you,
d

   

 

Daffodils

Slightly up the hill from where I live, the elderly neighbor's daffodils have bloomed in a magnificent way.  Took me by surprise that her flowers are advanced.  Full of beautiful yellow blooms similar to this picture.  She knows her flowers and uses old folklore that works.  

Our daffodil greens are sprouting upwards with no noticeable buds as of yet.  If I compare between mine and Eloise's, mine are in their infancy and hers are as they should be in SPRING.  

Seems odd that our SPRING has arrived so early compared to what my childhood memories reveal to me.  SPRING with flowers in bloom usually comes in April.  Why so early?  A sign of the times. Earlier SPRINGs with all seasons changing a tad bit through out the calendar year.

Not sure when our daffs will bloom, but alongside them are tulip leaves which are a welcoming sight and well received by one that grieves the WINTER's starkness.  Like a little kid being excited that it's Christmas morn with presents under the Christmas tree, I tend to get giddy that SPRING flowers have sprung.

This week-end morphs into a Spring-like Monday.  
Earlier than usual Spring-like Blessings to you,
d