WHEW, TWO YEARS

Unbelievably it has been two years since I contracted H1N1 which then set the Lupus which had been in remission into full force illness. I have spent a lot of days sleeping to heal and have had a lot of time to think. Here is what I think:

My body is not who I am. My spirit/soul/mind is who I am and that part of me is very healthy. During this entire two years I have had very few times when I have felt down or depressed. Of course I have been frustrated at the disease process, but that doesn't affect my internal self. I keep on thinking and looking for miracles and enjoying the things that I can.

Here is the best part: I have the most wonderful, caring, loving and kind husband in the entire world. I tell him this all of the time. We are both tired of the illness, but we have found happiness and communication in the midst of all of this.

I have been completely bound in bed part of the time, Bob takes me to appointments in a wheelchair because the hospital is so big. I have chemo every other week and it takes me 10 days to feel better which sometimes only gives me two good days before the next treatment. Sometimes it feels like I am fighting cancer, only we look at blood tests for signs of remission instead of CT scans.

For those of you who pray for me, thank you. I think that is part of why I am upbeat. Please keep on praying that this body will get the message to heal. I want to walk and exercise and do gardening and ART!

MEETING MY GOALS

Well, it has been two months since I began a 99% vegetarian diet and I have lost #30 as of this morning. I still can't believe it. I have looked at a 25# bag of dog food and it is big. I'm almost ready to fit back into my smaller jeans. It is amazing how good success feels after so many long years of being overweight. I think that this style of nutrition will be my way to eat forever. I really hate the way sweet things and things with to much salt taste. Two weeks of juicing began that process. I still juice, but not all the time like I did the first week.

RAW JUICE

July 13 I decided that it was time to do something drastic to reset my brain and my taste buds. I had watched the documentary, "Sick, Fat, and Almost Dead" and was impressed by the vitality that two very ill men had accomplished by using a raw vegetable and fruit juice diet that I went ahead and checked with my doctors and they gave me the go-ahead to use it. Their exception was that I add some more protein in the form of fat free milk or yogurt, beans and eggs because I have been very sick and am still healing. I bought my juicer - the cheapest one on the shelf which was a Jack LaLane Express It, and have now been juicing for 12 days. Result so far is that I feel better, have more energy, my brain no longer teases me in wanting bad things to eat and I have lost 11 pounds. After an initial big plunge in weight it has steadied out to almost a pound a day. I don't expect that to continue at that rate, but it has made my pants too big.

I am most impressed by the flavors of the juices I make and by the change in mind set. That was the first reason I went on the diet. For only 12 days, I am also impressed by the change in energy level, and what person wouldn't be impressed by the loss of excess pounds. The fourth thing I am impressed by is how little I crave what everybody else in the world eats and how disgusting fatty/sweet desserts seem to me now. I do crave hot foods, but not too much because it is summer and the produce is so amazing. Life will be so much different for me after the sixty days that I will be using this introduction to the flavor of food that is good for you.

ETC.

I'm here, I'm alive and I'm happy. It might be summer but I can't tell because I'm wearing my fleece in July.

CHRISTMAS GONE, CD'S SHIPPED

Finally Christmas decorations have been put away. After waiting a week for Chemo and then not feeling good for a week after chemo, I finally had the energy today to help Bob go through the Christmas decorations. We had so much more room for them in our large house and now I had to decide which special ones I wanted to keep. It will, in the future, make Christmas decorating and putting away much easier.

Bob has made a CD and many of you will be getting this via mail in the next week. He spent a long time working on it - many, many hours of thinking and creating to compose the work on this CD. I'm so proud of him and the quality of his composition.

As I sit here, I look at the new photos we got for Christmas of Sam and his family. He is so sweet and charming and well behaved and full of surprises. I could just hug him forever (but I won't). He wears an elf's grin all the time and one never knows what he will say next.

Daffodils are about 3" high and I'm looking for peonies to show their pink little heads. Soon the hosta will begin to sprout and we will have to be hot in pursuit as we plan to divide them this spring.
Our yard continues to grow and mature as we add new plants. Soon it will be warm enough to work in the yard again. Little green shoots show on our weigelia and I have finally discovered that it likes to be pruned in the spring after bloom. I thought it was a fall pruning plant. Learn, learn, learn.

We went on a drive to Marysville North of us last weekend and were in awe of the cantaloupe colored willows. There were also yellow weeping willow branches, but the orange ones were vibrant and delicious to look at. All of the trees looked as if they were just waiting for the flag to go down in order to start leafing out. How I love this time of year.

If you are wanting hosta starts, let me know and plan to pick them up when we divide them.

NEW PRINTER/FAX/COPIER/SCANNER

I've been watching the price on the HP 6500A all in one printer/fax/copier/scanner/web wireless for nearly a year. It started out at $229, then down to $199, today it was $149. That I could afford. $79 savings! It will take a bit to get it set up and it will probably be housed in Bob's office, but WOW, this will make things much easier and if you have a fax and know my number you can fax me your art or Christmas letter, or recipe. Our printers are going on 10 years old. It was time.