Aaahh Weekends!

It is nice to relax on weekends. I slept in and it felt great.

I went to the Dollar Tree which was fun. I got some warm socks and snack food (Tropical trail mix, cashews and banana chips) and wrapping paper.

There is going to be a power outage tonight in our city from 11 p.m. for several hours while they work on some transformers. Since we are night owls we are going to another city to the movie theater to watch a scary late night movie. I am having a better tolerance level for scary movies now. I can handle a lot more than before meeting Armando. He loves scary movies!

I have not been able to read blogs as often lately since I have been studying. I am sorry for that. I miss reading your blogs but I have a lot of material that I need to cover and absorb well in class so most of my time when not doing the normal things that must be done is spent hitting the books. Some nights when I do not have my studying in I will stay up until early a.m. studying to get modules completed. It is so important to me that I reach the goal of completion that I have set for myself. I look at the date every day to motivate me to move forward. I am so thankful for having the opportunity and funding to study that I want to do my very best with it.

I have been making all family Birthday gifts this year. I want to make Christmas gifts too but I am not sure if I will be able to have time to do them all. Perhaps just some will be handmade.

I bought a book that had crochet and knit sock patterns and I tried to make two different crochet sock patterns and I could not do it. I will have to figure out where I am going wrong. I have never made socks before only slippers.

Well, I need to scoot. The lights are out in 30 minutes so that means I need to get my stuff together in preparation.

Cookie “Foot” in box

Cat in the box from Armando on Vimeo.

 

This video shows our cat Cookie. Armando was getting a box ready to send to Chile. Excuse my background noise. I was talking to Armando about a Birthday reminder that came on our cell phone and later realized he was recording! :0

Well, Cookie is funny. Enjoy another video from our Cat saga series! LOL

Fluffy and Mundo Nuevo (New World)

227 Waterfall video

 

227 Waterfall Guntersville from Armando on Vimeo.

We saw this beautiful waterfall today.

Armando made this video.

Enjoy!

Getting in touch with nature

Last week Armando and I took a stroll in the park. The evening light, exercise, and trees were a spirit booster.

Trees at Arab City Park Originally uploaded by alabamagal

Cats in a basket

Fun with the basket from Armando on Vimeo.

Chochi’s babies

Here is an updated video of our cat Chochi’s kittens. Haven’t they grown a lot?

 

Mundo Nuevo and Fluffy from Armando on Vimeo.

Weekend is here

I stayed up until the wee hours studying Anatomy. At bedtime I was struck with over-study silliness and telling Armando that I hoped his phalanges and radius were comfortable. :)

We were supposed to do a park photo shoot of a child today but the cloudy day was not the light we had hoped for so I called and rescheduled for tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be better then.

I have a nice study buddy now from Texas. We are both in about the same area of Anatomy. It is encouraging.

I finished my first ever doily and worked out where I had went wrong. I am starting this doily now.

Have a great weekend!

Body Talk

I am studying Anatomy and Disease. It is interesting.I am taking it slow so I learn it well. This will be very important later in Medical Transcription.

I am just beginning and so far I have learned Muscles of the Face and Head. I am working on memorizing the Muscles of Facial Expression and Mastication.

I never knew this before but there are over 600 muscles in the human body.

I have almost finished crocheting an Off The Grid Scarf like this one:

 

My scarf is in pink though.

1950s through 2000 Michelle

 

 

Yearbook yourself HERE

(They have it for male or female.)

I hope these pictures made you laugh!

Hi again!

I am sorry I have not posted an entry in a while. I have been busy.

I was struggling with some areas in English Grammar. I made it through the module with help from web sites and a book. Thank heavens! I averaged a 98 on the whole module. I made a 94 the first time I did the final test. I was not happy with that. I re-tested and made a 99. I am pleased with that score. :) The next module is Anatomy and Disease. It should be interesting.

My Mom and I preserved some fresh tomatoes recently. We had never done that before. I made spaghetti sauce with the tomatoes tonight and it was good. I want to make some salsa next time. We bought a pizza stone and it really does make a big difference in the pizza. I was amazed!

Gas prices have gone WAY up. It is $4.79 a gallon here  for regular. (That is such a bummer for our already tight budget.) How much is the price of gas in your neighborhood?

I have not been crocheting as much as normal. I did tackle trying to make a doily with a star center. All I can say is, some of the stitches were new ones for me and it just was not laying well. Last night I looked over the pattern and had an Uh-Oh moment of realization. I noticed that one spoke in the star was missing in the center. I will try to take the rows out and fix the problem.

Have a great weekend!

Quote

"Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands."

-Seneca

Good evening!

The last two days I have been a bit “off” on my study schedule. Yesterday I completed my studies at 9 p.m. which is later than I normally study.

I was relieved to learn in the student forums that I was going about my studies wrong. I had been typing endless exercises in Keyboard Kinetics for a few days now because I read you were supposed to do the modules in order. It turns out, I can just move onto the next module and study the keyboard kinetics daily just a little while at a time.

I am seriously happy I will not be typing those drills my whole study time. Imagine five hours a day of jnjnjnjnjnjnjn hnhnhnhnhnhnhnh etc (laugh)

This evening I start on the Medical Word Building module.

I will not attain five hours of study today as usual because my schedule will be different today and tomorrow.

I attended a work at home meeting this morning which was informative. I actually saw a girl I went to high school with at the meeting. It is a small world!

Thank you very much for the sweet comments about my crochet. You made me feel good.

I am off for a coffee and some studying.

Have a great evening!

My Latest Crochet Creations

Tiny Teddy

Blue and Red Crochet Purse

Sunflowers

Isn’t this sunflower pretty?

Upon returning home one day, we noticed a bunch

of sunflowers and a watermelon on our porch. It was a very sweet surprise.

Sunflowers are my favorite flower.

 

I think my cousins probably left them. They came while we were out grocery

shopping. The watermelon was delicious and the sunflowers in vases around

our house made my week brighter!

Today was my first day

I did the Career Step Orientation over the weekend.

Today was my first day studying and I am happy that I met my five hour study goal.

Last night I crocheted a purse and stayed up later than I should have so tonight it is early to bed!

Here is a song for you.

Night Night!

Pretty

Catching Up

I had two doctor’s appointments on Thursday. One revealed I have lost weight and more than I imagined.

Armando helped me. He weighed first on the scales and then kindly picked me up so we could do my weight on the stand-up doctor’s office scale. Being a paraplegic can sometimes offer plenty of complications in basic life functions. Thank goodness for creativity and problem solving!

I had a few lectures on eating high proteins and eating more. I was honest and just said I have not had an appetite lately. I love to eat in normal circumstances but I usually eat small amounts and often.

Actually, I am quite thankful Armando mentioned getting a weight because even though I knew my pants were not fitting, I never would have guessed my weight had gone down that much. When you know about a problem you can fix it, before it gets to be a big problem. So, now I am trying to gain weight and snack and eat high protein foods to help myself heal.

I got my student ID on Friday so Monday I will start studying at the Career Step Medical Transcription program. I am so excited about this! I can start studying online now while I await my textbooks to arrive in the mail.

Last week I cleaned out part of my closets and gave away two bags of clothes. We feel much better having more space in our closets. I had so many clothes that did not fit anymore and outfits that I did not wear that were just getting in the way. Now our closets have more space and that makes life easier.

This evening we are treating ourselves out to a movie. We are going to see The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. I watched a documentary on China’s First Emperor the other night that was interesting. This movie looks very action packed. I think we will enjoy it.

If you enjoy crocheting and like color, The September/October issue of Crochet Today! magazine has some really beautiful patterns.

See below for a few of my favorites in this issue:

 

I hope you have a great weekend!

Funding YAY!

Monday I register for classes at Career Step!

So soon I will be a student again. I have not been a student since 1994. Yikes! It is amazing how fast time flies. I am very happy though and looking forward to the experience. I have met a few other people on a message board for Medical Transcriptionist’s that are Career Step students so it will be nice to be in touch with classmates.

I have been doing several things lately. Including studying in the Medical transcription manual, helping my Aunt organize a bridal shower, advertising for our wedding photography business, helping my sister sell her antique snooker table, (Does anybody need one? She lives in Birmingham, Alabama, it is a 1920’s Brunswick ) and working on the Craftissima craft projects.

I have been using Microsoft Office Access and learning how to use it for our contacts and that is a very nice program. I would recommend it if you need a database system.

It is a stormy day here and I slept way too late. But it felt good and I know I won’t get to do that as often when I start studying. I am having a lazy day today and the cats are as well. Chochi and her baby Fluffy are curled up sleeping in my lap as I write this.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Early Morning Ramblings

Saturday was Armando’s Birthday. I made him a traditional Chileno dish. It was called Pastel de Choclo (Corn and Meat Pie), with Ensalada de Chilena (Chileno Salad) and we enjoyed a glass of wine. I made him Boston Cream cupcakes and put sprinkles with candles on them. It was my first time making Pastel de Choclo and I enjoyed preparing it. I had tasted that dish made by his Mom and Sister and I was only hoping mine met up to Armando’s expectations and gave him a little taste of home.

Here are some pictures I found showing:

 

A traditional Pastel de Choclo cooked in clay dish.

Ensalada de Chilena

 

In the evening we rented and watched a movie and that was fun. We had not done that in a long time.

I crocheted Armando a little bear. Armando and I both like the amigurumi crochet animals. So it was enjoyable to try a new pattern. I will show you a picture of the bear later. The next thing I want to make for Armando is a crochet dragon.

I am having a few issues with wounds again. Only this time I have three. One I have is the same wound on my ribcage that I had previously. I went to see the wound nurse and she said it was pressure from the bone on the inside. I do not have a lot of fatty tissue to pad in that area and surgery is out completely to shave the bone because it would mess up my seating alignment which is already compromised from past surgeries and scoliosis. Arrgh.

Only thing to do is eat well and get protein which doesn’t bother me, (because I enjoy food) treat the wounds and try to be very aware of positioning to prevent pressure points. I wish I could prevent these skin problems but I cannot. I had to have reconstructive surgery years ago on my back so these are just problems that could not be fixed and the aftermath. Just so you understand why this happens to me from time to time. I do not think I ever mentioned that about myself before on my blog although I know I have mentioned wound problems before.

I hope you have a good rest of the weekend!

I am off to bed. Night Night. :)