Happy New Year!

I am so far behind with my blogs. When Sage goes back to school next week I hope to catch up.

We are having a quiet New Year's at home. I never go out on New Year's - too many drunk drivers.

Have a Happy New Year!

My Colonoscopy

I had another colonoscopy yesterday and the results are that I have Crohn's Disease. No big surprise there. I've had it for 14 years now. Each year my doctors seem compelled to confirm this. I think my doctor was really hoping that my stomach problems were due to the shortening of my bowel from my last surgery. I really don't see why this would have been good news. Every time I eat, I need to run to the bathroom. It keeps me thin but not exactly feeling healthy and it really interferes with my life. I was really hoping that my last surgery would have made me normal. It was far from successful. I guess I really needed it because at the time my intestine closed down almost completely. Now I have two ulcers and inflammation at the surgery site and inflammation in my rectum. What a pain in the butt!! For anybody who doesn't know: Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that could occur anywhere in the digestive tract. It causes inflammation deep into the the tissues of the intestinal wall. This can cause the intestine to narrow. I think of it as a kinked hose. The intestine is supposed to be opened and flow smoothly. If it gets kinked, a lot of pressure builds up until it finally pushes its way through. I am in lots of pain while it builds up and then I literally have to run to the bathroom. This is how my life has been for a long time now. Nobody knows what causes Crohn's disease. There have been studies linking it to a certain bacteria and other studies believing it has to do with missing chromosomes. There have been studies that have connect the two theories. It is hard to treat a disease when they don't know the cause. The one thing they do know is that something causes the body's immune system to become overactive thus causing inflammation. It's as if the body thinks there is something that needs to be attacked but since nothing is there, it attacks itself. There are all sorts of medications with all different ways of treating the inflammation. So far, none of them has ever helped me where I felt like I was in remission. All of them had some sort of adverse affect on me or just plain didn't work. I have gone the natural route to no avail. I hope someday I find something that will help me. Until then, I try to live every day as happy as possible and I try not to let the Crohn's disease get in my way too much.

Our Gingerbread House

We made our own Gingerbread House at home. We had a lot of fun. Sage had a whole bag of candy left-over from school and since I would rather her not eat too much candy, we used it for our gingerbread house. This is one of our family traditions.

Gingerbread House

It was Gingerbread House Day at Sage's school, Lost Lake Elementary. Every student in the school makes a gingerbread house. Each class has a different theme based on a book. The entire cafeteria was filled with kids making their houses and parent volunteers helping. In the morning the kids came over to build their houses using graham crackers and lots of icing. In the afternoon, after the icing set, the kids came back to decorate. The theme for Sage's class was Rainbow Fish. One of the parents volunteered to be the lead parent. Her mother made the huge beautiful display. Each of the kids received a bowl filled with candy and a tray of icing. They had about 30 minutes to decorate. They all had a bag for the left-over candy to bring home since we didn't want them eating it there. The kids had a great time. All of the houses from the entire school were displayed in the Music room. Lost Lake has been doing this for years now. There were wooden display benches with colored lights for each class. It reminded me of the Grove Park Inn during Christmas. It was absolutely beautiful. Of course, Sage was in a bad mood so I didn't get the pictures I wanted. I hope to go back this week to take better ones. The room smelled delicious too.

My New Camera

You know you're old if you recognize this TV show!

Sage's self Portrait

One of her zillion pictures of Princess. Torture time!

For Hanukkah this year, Scott bought me a camera. As you know, I have cursed my Nikon for years now. It has the slowest shutter lag I have ever seen. I have been researching cameras for months now. My main requirement was that it had to have a fast shutter lag. Meaning, when I press the button, the camera takes the picture. It takes my Nikon 5 - 6 seconds to snap the picture after pressing the button. I always missed my intended picture. I chose the Canon SD790IS because picture-taking seems instant even indoors with poor lighting. The second feature I love is the 3" LCD screen. Most cameras have a 2.5 screen. There are a lot of other great features. Since I am a technology moron, it will take a while before I learn how to use most of my camera. I already figured out most of the basics for my camera so get ready to see some great pictures coming up soon. One more great thing about my new camera - I no longer have to share my camera with Sage. I know she's only 6, but she loves to take pictures. She is actually very good at it. She practices all the time. Except she likes to take pictures of her toys, TV shows, the toilet, a zillion pictures of Princess, food, stuffed animals and so on. I have to delete most of them before I upload my card to Picasa. This usually results in a bout of crying because I erased her pictures. Now I will have my own camera and she could take pictures of every toy, toilet seat or anything else without me complaining. What a great gift!
Above are some of the pictures Sage has taken with her Nikon. The first picture of the Jetson's is a little blurry because it was on TV.

Great Thanksgiving Dinner

We had a small but really nice Thanksgiving this year. My in-laws, Hazel and Ed came down on Thursday and stayed until Saturday. Leigh couldn't make it because she was in the middle of moving. Vegetarians always eat well on Thanksgiving and this year was no exception. Since I was the one cooking, we had more than enough food. Actually, Hazel brought and cooked her own fish in my parent's oven. They chose not to eat turkey this year. I usually make a fake chicken pot pie but I couldn't find the right seitan. Instead, I bought a Tofurky turkey. It was okay. Scott liked it way more than I did. I also made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, couscous, corn and barley salad, tofu for Sage, and bread sticks. Hazel made some broccoli too. I had bought cranberry sauce, but forgot to serve it - dah!!! We had tons of left-overs. For dessert, I made two pumpkin pies. One with sugar and the other with agave nectar. I made the sugar one just in case the agave nectar was awful. It turns out, the agave nectar tasted delicious. Agave nectar is used as an alternative to sugar. It has a low glycemic index and doesn't cause the insulin jumps like sugar. Since Sage has insulin resistance, agave nectar is a good choice. It won't convert her sugar into fat. It is so much healthier than sugar and I find that I have been using it a lot lately. If you want to try it, the conversion is 1 cup of sugar equals 3/4 cup of agave nectar. It's stronger than sugar.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I've been very busy the past few weeks though my life is a little too boring to record any of it. I spend a lot of my time with the Moms Club. It's like a support group for moms where we do all sorts of activities for the moms and kids and we go on all sorts of outings. It keeps me very busy because I stupidly decided to be on the board this year. I'm the membership VP and not really enjoying it. It is way more work than I expected. I can't wait until its over in June.

I have also been very busy volunteering at Sage's school. I helped out in her classroom a bunch of times and I worked the book fair for the PTO. I also have lunch with Sage at least once a week. The PTO bought picnic tables so the parents can have lunch outside with their kids. It's a great bonding time.

When I'm not busy with the Moms Club or Sage's school, I'm busy taking Princess to the dog park or out for long walks. I also started selling Avon. I'm most likely going to stop in a couple of weeks. I I love their skin products and have been using them for years now. Everyone who knows me knows that I don't wear much make-up. Don't worry, nothings changed. You won't see me walking around with globs of make-up hiding my skin. I started selling Avon to get their great discounts. I just know that I have no energy or desire to sell to people. I did actually sell $10worth of stuff to one of the parents at Sage's school. That means I earned a little under $2.00. Wow I'm rich!

I'm starting to get my house ready for Thanksgiving. Scott's parents and his step sister, Leigh will be coming. Of course, we will be turkey free!!! After T- Day, I really want to get started on painting my house. I've been putting it off way too long. I'm just horrible at choosing colors. I'm planning on getting Ed's opinion since he is great with colors.

See, my life really is boring!

Princess's Birthday

Today we celebrated Princess's first birthday. We don't know exactly when she was born so we decided to make today her day. We had a mini party for her. She had Frosty Paws ice cream and Sage bought her a present. Of course, we all sang Happy Birthday to her. Yes, I know we are nuts! She loved every minute of it, except for the birthday hat.

November first is also Aunt Ray's Birthday. Happy Birthday Aunt Ray! We wish you were here.

Check out our pumpkins! Scott had a lot of fun carving them. I did the little one which was enough for me. I like pulling out the gook and toasting the seeds but keep me away from the knife. Mine turned out okay but I was so happy that it was small.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Hide all of your dogs, Cruella Deville is here! We had a blast this Halloween. Sage went Trick or Treating with our neighbor, Maddie (Cinderella). Sage had a bucket full of candy but since we have limited her sugar intake, my parents gave out a lot of her candy while we left for dinner. Sage had so much fun she doesn't really care about the candy too much.

We didn't even finish putting up all of our decorations this year. I usually get Sage to make a bunch of homemade projects and I still had a bunch of stuff left in our box. With Sage's bronchitis and ear infection and I had a stomach virus the other day, we never had a chance to finish. There's always next year. Tomorrow, I'd like to get out to the stores and buy the leftover Halloween decorations for next year. They're usually on sale right after Halloween.

We had another really fun Halloween this year!

It's Freezing!!!!!

And People say its always hot in Florida! Check out today's weather report:

Current conditions as of 7:53 am EDT

Fair
Feels Like:43°

43°High: 68° Low: 44°

And, its' only October!!!!! The good news: It's supposed to be in the mid 70's the rest of the week. I like that!

Of course, The Moms Club scheduled our Fall Festival today outside. I have to be there at 9:15 AM. We are going to freeze our rears off. Sage can't go since she's supposed to be in school but she is now home with an ear infection. Unless it warms up very quickly, there's no way I'm taking her. Any suggestions as to how to build up her immune system?

Fun At The Dog Park

We take Princess to the dog park at least once a week. It is such a great place for the dogs to play and run free. The park is completely fenced with lots of trees and space for the dogs to run. Most of the dogs are very friendly. You wouldn't believe how great the dogs get along. Once in a while there is an aggressive dog, but most of the time they just chase each other and roll on top of each other. It is so much fun to watch. Sage love to play with the dogs too.

Bronchitis

Sage has been sick on and off since July. I have given her natural and homeopathic as well as over the counter medicine. We have tried lots of different things. We always used to sleep with the air down to 73 degrees. We now have to keep it above 77 with the hot air humidifier on so she won't cough as much. Our room now always smells like menthol. This week has been the worst. Her cough was really, really bad keeping us both up every night. On Tuesday she woke up vomiting everywhere. On Wednesday, I brought her back to the doctors. We have been there many times already. She was finally diagnosed with bronchitis. I really don't like antibiotics but I am happy she is on it and hopefully she will get better soon. Now I've come down with a cold too. We are a mess!!!!!

Getting Ready For Halloween!

We've been very busy getting ready for my favorite holiday, Halloween. I love this time of year, though it's not as much fun in Florida as it is up north. We went to a pumpkin patch yesterday with the Moms Club expecting to bring home a pumpkin. We played around for a while and Sage bought a little $2 pumpkin to paint there. When we went to choose our big pumpkin I looked at the prices they wanted to charge and said no way! I went over to Lowe's and bought a pumpkin for $7. The Pumpkin Patch wanted to charge $15 for the same size pumpkin. We had fun anyway. Sage's friend from school, Calan, met us there and the kids had a great time together. I have finished most of my Halloween decorating. I still need to put up my outdoor lights. I'll do it before this weekend. Halloween is so much fun!!!!

The House Of Lunatics!

Sometimes I feel like I live in a mad house. This week, Sage was sick with the flu. She had a fever on Tuesday and part of Wednesday. By Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday, she and Princess ran around the house like raving lunatics. I can't wait for her to go to school tomorrow. I guess being in the house for two days straight was too boring and drove them bananas. I also didn't have internet service yesterday and part of today so I went bonkers too. I can't believe how much I rely on the internet for everything. Tomorrow I plan on going to my Zumba class in the morning and dance away all of my frustrations.

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

We attended the Halloween Party at Disney on September 26th. I know there's a whole month until Halloween but what a great way to jump start our Halloween preparations. We really had a great time. We went with Brandy, Clayton, Hayden and Emerson, just like last year. It costs way too much money but it's so worth it. The parade and firework show were absolutley incredible. We skipped the trick or treating around Disney because we don't eat the candy anyway. Instead, we went on the rides. There were no lines at all so we were able to walk right onto every single ride. It was awesome! We started the night off eating at the Liberty Tree Tavern restaurant at Magic Kingdom. The kids loved seeing the characters but the food was aweful. This was the worst restaurant I've ever been to at Disney. I was really surprised. I took some pictures at the restaurant but I only have one at the Halloween party because my camera refused to take night pictures. I really need to buy a new camera. Sage and I really had a great time and we can't wait to do it again.

More Disney

We've been spending a lot of time at Disney lately. Our friends Brandy, Clayton, Hayden and Emerson from North Carolina who now live in Colorado were visiting Disney. I love living so close to Disney because we get to see people who we otherwise would not get to see. Sage loves Hayden. She has been talking about him all year since we saw them last year. Sage, Hayden and Emerson get along really well. We were able to see them three times during their trip. On the night of our Animal Kingdom outing, we met them at Magic Kingdom for the Spectro Magic parade. I would have had pictures but my cursed camera didn't want to work at night. I really have to get a new camera. I was so mad!!!! We met up with them at Hollywood Studios on Wednesday and had dinner with them at the Sci-Fi diner. The ambiance was really fun. The tables are set up in cars that face a giant movie screen to resemble a drive-in movie. The food was great too. The kids really loved going on Toy Story and Star Tours. We had to leave early so Sage could go to school the next day. It is so nice to see Sage so happy!

Animal Kingdom

After the Tusker House we spent the day at Animal Kingdom. We went on the Safari ride twice and watched the parade. The second Safari ride was right near the park closing time, therefore, it was feeding time. We were able to see, up close, lots of animals. Animal Kingdom's Safari is on an enormous Savannah were the animals roam free. The few carnivorous animals they have are kept separated so the herbivores can live stress-free. The animals spend the day grazing or eating leaves from the trees but several times during the day, they are fed from Animal Kingdom. While on the ride, we were stopped by an ostrich crossing the road. A young giraffe walked along side of us for a few minutes and a small herd of rhinoceros crossed in front of us and walked beside us too. It was way cool! After the first ride, we took a walking tour behind the safari and saw a strange animal called on Okapi which is a cousin of the giraffe. We had a fun day.

My 39th Birthday

My actual birthday was mostly boring. Scott and I had our weekly lunch with Sage at school. I shopped and cleaned - not very exciting. Scott took me out to lunch the day before. It was a nice, quiet, child-free lunch. On Saturday, my parents planned a really nice day for me. We went to the Tusker House in Animal Kingdom for lunch. The food was absolutely great! It was a buffet with more vegetarian choices than I have ever seen on a buffet. There were tons of rice dishes, couscous, all different types of veggies, salad, breads, tofu, samosas, hummus, tabouli, and so much more. I never ate so much food at one time. This is, by far, my most favorite restaurant in all of Disney. I highly recommend it. I will definitely go back soon. Tusker house used to be counter service and we were all upset when it became a sit down restaurant, but now it is voted the favorite in our family.