My morning ritual

of nourishing my infirmed body back to health would not have happened if I did not take sick leave from my employer. Tho the disease is a lifetime of pain and medications thus, manageable, I am forced to take a step back and take a closer look at my life and what I'm doing. The constant movement, travel, partying and not taking care of myself was running me into the ground. The pain of my disease, rheumatoid arthritis has given me a second chance to turn things around for myself. No longer do I eat at the airport restaurants (if my friends treat me to a salad, I won't say no) and fast food outlets, was a matter of convenience.
Now I eat breakfast everyday consisting of oatmeal or Malt-O-Meal showered with non fat milk and sprinkled with a healthy dose of wheat germ, no sugar, and two pieces of wheat or white toast, generously buttered.
Lunch might consist of a tuna sandwich, grilled cheese, banana and yogurt, granola cereal or a blackberry smoothie. A hot water kettle lives on my sink and is always hot for generous amounts of a variety of teas provided for by Lynn from her pantry.
Dinner varies on what is in the freezer and what I can thaw out in time. Baked salmon with lemon, Beef tomato stew, Enchiladas with green sauce, pork chops, kalua pig, rice a roni, brown and white rice and the ever faithful crock-pot for just about anything else. A big hit in my household has been tortilla wraps. The construction of my creation starts out with any type of cream cheese, vegetarian or chive with onions, as the base, then layering a generous amount of spinach and like a pizza topped with whatever you have in your refrigerator. I top it off with deli turkey meat, nonfat cheddar cheese, carrots, zucchini (sliced lengthwise) and when I'm done, I roll it up. I can either eat it like a burrito or cut it up in slices for bite sized pieces for a healthy snack. I AM A SNACKER!! I love junk which will be my downfall. Cheese puffs and Snicker bars are my weakness and won't resist them if offered. I have cut back on it but only slightly and it shows in my weight that I have picked up during these past four months off. Alas, I can truly say that I am eating healthier and better than four months ago and I feel better.

The Spirit of Christmas

After waking up this morning at 11:00am, my body is not in the Christmas spirit. I could have slept in for another hour maybe two! After shopping for two hours yesterday at Pak-n-Save and bringing home the holiday dinner, I didn't feel much of the spirit there either. My mother passed away on December 28th 2003 and my heart has been missing her tremendously around this time of the year. Almost to the point of my not wanting to spend it with family or friends. I would rather be a lone hermit tucked away in my shell on a beach somewhere in Molokai's solitude of heaven. The holidays can be a lonely time of the year and it is so for me. I'm completely surrounded by family and friends but still, I feel alone. I am missing my island of Molokai and all of it's spirit that I come home with when I visit there.
My brother is the only one looking forward to Christmas dinner and he appreciates that I do cook for the family. My son and daughter are spending time with their father. Lynn is spending the holidays with her family, also doing the cooking scene at her home. My very good friend Darrell stopped by after work for some holiday dinner and Christmas cheer. His parents are in Atlanta and he has not seen them in a year. He does have a brother who lives out in Mountain View and visits him once in a while. I sent him home with three plates of food and he was very ecstatic about that. Darrell rarely cooks for himself, his condo is immaculate, he puts Martha Stewart to shame and he is a genuinely good man. My spirit lifts when I'm around him. He makes me laugh and we have a wonderful time together. Darrell had to leave and be on his way home. My son, the card shark, challenged me to a card game of Black Jack for money. Within one hour, all of my change went to his side of the table. I told him, "When you turn 21, I'm taking you to Vegas!" As he walked away with the biggest grin and pockets heavy with coins, he asked to challenge his uncle. Being overly stuffed from tonight's dinner and smart, the uncle declined. Looking back at the end of my night, my spirit and mood better than before. I realized that I have wonderful friends and a beautiful family. Because of my mother and father, I have learned how to build solid relationships, drama and all, and I'm very thankful for such gracious parents. I will love you always, think of you often and miss you dearly.
Merry Christmas.

My son the Chef

Last night I had my 14 year old son help me make meatloaf. We took 5 pounds of ground turkey and mixed it with eggs, bread, seasoning and some catsup. I had him mix all of that together, since my RA was acting up and my fingers weren't being too cooperative, mold it and placed it into a pan and put it in the oven for about an 1 hours and 30 minutes. After letting the meatloaf rest, we sat down to a great dinner. The meatloaf turned out fantastic, almost better than grammas! It was moist, tender and well seasoned. Add some turkey gravy, mashed potatoes and veggies and that's dinner. He was very proud of himself for making such a tasty entree and we gave him unending compliments because it was really good.
I met Lynn for lunch today so that I could collect a "white elephant" gift that she was saving for me and I exchanged a 3 CD package of nursery songs that I was saving for her. Lunch was at a place in San Mateo called Wing Fat. It's a hole in the wall just on the corner of 3rd Ave and their lunch menu is great and very inexpensive. I had the chicken curry and vegetables over rice with hot and sour soup. Lynn had the chicken and snow peas with hot and sour soup. She looked a little tired from her night because had gone to sleep early. Then her daughter and husband were talking in a bedroom adjacent to hers and woke her up at 1am. She quietly told them to whisper or talk at the other end of the house. Then at 2am, her dog woke her up and needed to be let out to the garden. Then to wake back up at 7am and get ready for work, she was tired and I could see the tiredness as we ate lunch. With gifts exchanged for white elephant and her needing to go back to work and my needing to go to the lab and get my blood work done, we were off and running. I have a standing order at the lab for tests and need to come in every month. Next week is my doctor appointment with my RAtologist and I'm hoping everything will go well into the next phase of my medication.

Mz Chauffer for the day

I just came back from taking Carmen to work in San Jose this morning which is a 40 minute commute each way but going 90 mile per hour will get you there in 30 minutes which is what I did. She starts at 5am! Totally insane and I have told Carmen to get up earlier so I wouldn't have to rush like that and possibly get a ticket which would be a moving violation and hike up my insurance! On the return I drove 70 on the Highway marked for 65mph, reasonable. I also had to take her son, Maurice to school at 8:30am which he got a few hours to rest before I woke him up for breakfast, brush his teeth, wash his face and get his school stuff ready. Well, it wasn't happening at 7am. He didn't move or get up for no one, not even his auntie. So I had to bribe him to get up with the Nintendo Wii. Yup, that boy got up like a bolt of lightning and got ready so quick after doing all of the above that he had forty five minutes to spare for his Wii. Before dropping him off at school, he gave a quick call to his mom letting her know he's early to school and that he loved her. No mention of the Wii unless Carmen happens upon this blog. It's our secret.
I dropped my 24 year old daughter off at work. She sells the Kirby vacuum and is going away this weekend with her co-workers in a big company van to sell those things down in the Los Angeles area. She gave Lynn and I a demonstration a few days ago and it was a bear to put together, poor thing spent close to an hour just figuring out how to put it together. She finally got it hooked up and vacuumed around a bit. It didn't feel like it was a very powerful vacuum, i would rather go with a shop vac but I wouldn't tell her that. She's a hard worker and will do what she wants to do and will see this job through but only for awhile. So, she's dropped off and I'm heading home to take a nap until tonight for my final gig with Lynn. That's when we go to San Francisco for the dress rehearsal and dinner.
Dress rehearsal and came and went. Lynn and I didn't really need to be there. The rehearsal? Can you say Confused, Chaotic, and comical? That's how it was. I think I dozed off a few times only to catch Vanessa, one of the line woman, looking my way long enough to catch me dozing! Lynn finally got in two songs amid all the chatter about the placements and arrangements of the brides. A lot of work goes into getting married. It was over withing an hour and a half and off to the restaurant we go. The Italian restaurant where the dinner reception was held was like a step above a loud and noisy Chevy's but with great Italian food. The wedding party had pre-ordered everything from the appetizer calamari, to the shrimp pasta or chicken marinated in Marsala with mash potato and of course our "buttery" wine. I have to admit the brides looked beautiful. Seeing them through dinner and noting their immense generosity towards their families, i wish them all the happiness. It will be a beautiful wedding tomorrow.