Self CPR? It really can save your life!

I thought I was reading the National Enquirer when I read an article on this, but after checking with a certified medical cardiologist, it dawned on me that this could be really helpful for rural folks especially. Called the cough CPR, it sounds impossible but it's very true and does indeed work! If you read this please pass it on to someone else and especially anyone that may be at high risk for a heart attack. If we can save just one life, it will be worth the effort.

Let's just consider a very possible scenario, say it's late afternoon and you're driving home alone after work and you've had an unusually hard day. You're tired, upset, and frustrated both physically and emotionally. All of a sudden you start experiencing severe pain in your chest and it starts to radiate out into your arms and into your jaw. The nearest hospital is seven miles away and you really don't think you can make it that far. You've been trained in CPR, but not for yourself. Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, this is what you should do. Act quickly because without help you can lose consciousness in as short as ten seconds. You can help yourself by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough and the cough should be deep and prolonged, like when you're trying to clear mucus from deep inside your lungs when you have a bad chest cold. This needs to be repeated every two seconds without letting up until help arrives or until your heart starts to beat normal again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing squeezes the heart keeping blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. This should allow you time to get to a hospital in time to save your life. Please pass this on!

I wanted Mexican for lunch, but I had half a panini turkey from DQ

I am going to critique the new turkey panini at DQ. It had way too much mayo. There was also too much lettuce, but the turkey tasted good. I was only able to eat half. It was a large sandwich, but cost about $4.

I would have been happier with some salsa/chips and a chicken taco, but Eddie was not hankering for Mexican chow today.

I am currently reading...Whistling in the Dark

Some new (random) pics

The scrapbook page I referred to in my last blog.

How do you like my coffee mug plant?

The baby chicks.

Don't let the sunshine fool ya...

Wow, even though it is gorgeously sunny out this afternoon, the wind has a bitter bite. Makes me shiver to the bone.

The chickens are all nestled up together in one tiny corner of their box under a flood lamp to keep warm. They are so cute. One has a blonde top and we call him Dennis as in Rodman. They spread their little wings out and run from one end of the box to the other. That, and the patter of little chicken feet and constant peeping sounds is hilariously funny to me. I could sit and watch them all day long.

Roger was not feeling well this morning, so church services were cancelled. That's what you get when you go to a very small (and I do mean small) church. So Eddie and I went to Marvin's and Wal-Mart. We bought all the Diet Twist-ups they had. We had lunch at Sonic.

When we got home we went and looked at the plants in the greenhouse that have already started budding out. Eddie has such a green thumb. I am all thumbs, but they are not green.

I made a scrapbook page. I will have to take a picture and post on a future blog.

I have Gladiator with Russell Crowe on the television (muted) and am mostly reading, but as Eddie is playing with his airplanes and listening to Oldies music I am somewhat distracted with all the surrounding peeps, scratches, thumps, and movement. Not to mention, the thugs and their boom-boxes blaring going up and down the road 50 million times a second. it's such a madhouse.

We are having sausage and butterbeans for supper with cornbread, tomatoes and onions. Come join us, but we might not have enough to go around. It's like slopping hogs around here as we devour the delicious, delectible dishes we concoct. We don't deliver, I say, we don't deliver. Shannon, you will just have to bring your pregnant self down here to have a heaping helping of goodness on a plate. Mmmm hmmmm, I know you are hankering for some of my homecooked delicacies. Maybe when I come up there, when you have Shawn, I will make you something scrumptious to eat.

Just now a guy from up the road has come by to holler at Eddie, so I will go for now. I have to go check the butterbeans. Talk at ya later. Have a great sunny Sunday.

My new baby chicks

I just finished reading...

It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me reminisce about my teenage years (riding bikes, roller skating, etc.). Wow, the book effectively mind-ported me back to the 70's. It made me miss my friends, my mom, and my daughter. This is a good chick book, I don't know why they haven't made a movie yet. I certainly want my daughter to read it, but it is so close to her due date, if she doesn't read it within the next few weeks, I'm afraid she won't be able to read it for a long while once MLM "my little man" (Shawn) is born.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book for a good read.

The soon upcoming arrival of my grandson has me looking at baby pictures...

Here are a few baby pics of me, I wonder if Shawn will look anything like my side of the family?

Did anyone else have Pixy Pin-Ups taken? That's the photographer who did the photos below. Mother constantly had them made of me and then we changed and started going to Olin-Mills for our photo-shots. I don't know if Pixy Pin-ups folded up their operation or why we stopped using them. After Shannon was born, I always took her to Sears for her annual photos.

I was born two months premature (3 pounds, 10 1/2 oz.). I had to stay in the hospital for two months and they let me leave before I had gained up to 5 pounds (that was a prerequisite back then to go home). Daddy says they brought me home in a shoebox. The nurse at the hospital was Mrs. McNutt and I was aptly nicknamed Pea-Nutt, as she was my caregiver during my stay at the hospital. (I wonder if that's why I don't like hospitals now.) Mother said I looked small for my age for years. I actually shocked some people when they would see such a little tyke as me walking around, or so she said. I was probably between two and three years old in these photos, they are not dated, and I can't remember how old mother said I was when they were taken. I'm just guessing, because of how many teeth I had. I might have been younger, who knows?

Ladybug Bracelets

My cousin is the teacher for a group of church cheerleaders called the Ladybugs. She wanted to make them something with ladybugs on it. I made bracelets for her and all the girls.

Valentine's Day Party at work

Okay, all you readers/stalkers out there...

My daughter is chomping at the bit for someone to read her blog, so she has asked me to promote her new blog page. Go say hi!

Shannon

It's Wednesday, what's for supper?

I have been washing clothes, working, rummaging around trying to find Valentine's decorations that I know are somewhere in the house or down at the big house (but I have yet to find), fighting the wind (it is horrendous today. We are supposed to get rain, but other than a couple of sprinkles, it just hasn't happened), cursing creditors (why do we get bills in the mail every single day), and drinking lots of fluids to stave off the hungries. It seems the hungries are winning though because now my mind is focusing on what to have for dinner although I just got through eating lunch. Not much of a lunch - Southwestern Tortilla Soup. Why do they call it that? There certainly aren't any tortillas in the soup, if there were it might taste better. The black beans tasted like dirt and I quit eating it halfway through the portion I served cause it just wasn't tasty. Back to the creditors, why don't they all send the bills at the very first of the month and give us the rest of the month to pay them. I hate getting bills and I don't really like getting junk mail and that includes store flyers and catalogues. I love getting cards and letters from friends and family, but those are very far and few between even if I count emails. I think that's why I blog so much. I want other bloggers to comment to me, so I can read them. Back to the quandry of what to have for supper, I guess we will have to have spaghetti. That sounds good and spicy to me. Eddie will just have to like it or lump it. He is not much of a spaghetti eater.

Ciao, baby! Good eats!

Happy Twosday

Hope you have twice the fun, twice the happiness, twice the pleasure, twice the love twoday. Hope you have a twin-kling of these same wishes for twomorrow.

Manic Monday 2-9-09 Valentine's Style

What is your favorite candy?

It was Russell Stover's Pecan Delights (Turtles), but since GBS surgery, I don't eat candy, sugar makes me sick (dumping syndrome).

Kalea_Kane stated in her blog that she loves Bazooka bubble gum, me too! Nothing compares. Double Bubble doesn't even come close. GBS patients are not supposed to chew gum either. SIGH!!!

Name one thing that you'd want to receive as a gift for Valentine's day.

I would be happy with just a a mushy romantic card, but if I received a small cute stuffed animal, a home-cooked meal prepared by my hubby with love and one red carnation, I think would just complete the day all round.

Can we truly love someone who loves another?

We can truly love someone who loves another. Unrequited love has gone on for centuries. It is one of the most hardest things a person can do. To see the object of my affection giving his attention to another would be truly devastating, but it happens to the best of us. Why, I don't know. I am happy and secure in my love for my husband and that he reciprocates my love ten fold. That is the most joyous feeling in the world.

I hope all of you experience that kind of love in your lifetime.

The following is a copy of a blog I posted a couple of Valentine's ago. I think this suffices for what my Valentine's Day will be like, I hope:

I have found that what I used to consider a "romantic" Valentine's Day is just not as romantic as I once thought. Being married to a "country boy" has changed my way of thinking.

A "city guy" will buy you a Valentine's card from the Hallmark store, but a "country boy" will carve your initials in a heart on the old oak tree in the back yard.

A "city guy" will buy you a dozen expensive cut red roses, but a "country boy" will plant you a row of daffodils outside your window so you can gaze at their beautiful yellow glow every year in the early spring.

A "city guy" will buy you a box of expensive chocolates, but a "country boy" will make you a batch of brownies with fudge icing because he knows how much you love them.

A "city guy" will take you to an expensive restaurant and wine and dine you, but a "country boy" will take you for a ride in his 4WD truck down by the lake to have a picnic under the stars.

A "city guy" will take you to the latest movie out in the theater, but a "country boy" will sit with you for hours gazing at a full moon whispering how much he loves you.

I don't particularly mean to diminish in any way what a "city guy" can come up with for a "romantic" Valentine's Day scenario, but now that I am a "country boy's" wife, I guess my tastes have changed. I love my country boy so much, he is the love of my life and now that I have found him, I can't bear the thought of living a day without him. He makes my life worth living.

Now that I have told you what a "romantic" Valentine's Day entails for me and my "country boy," please reply to my blog and let me know what you consider to be a "romantic" Valentine's Day for you.

I have a pain in the neck

OKAY...I know what your thinking!!!! I said I have a pain in the neck, not that I am one!!! Although I can be at times.

I came home with a pain in my right shoulder. I guess I held it wrong typing or slept on it wrong, but it didn't start hurting until this afternoon late. Since I got home the pain has moved up into the back of my neck. I am going to go take some Tylenol. I hope I feel better quickly.

I am planning to work tomorrow.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Started back up with Netflix; Eddie's complaints; and my reading lists...

We set up 2 movies at a time with Netflix, we ordered on Tuesday and received the movies on Thursday. We watched "The Invasion" with Nicole Kidman the other night and the other movie we got which is on hold til Eddie feels better is "The Assassination of Jesse James" with Brad Pitt. We enjoy watching movies, but we have a little bit of a difference of opinion on what we like. Eddie, as you probably guessed it, is a Steven Segal/Jean Claude Van Damme type of a guy, where as I am a "Must Love Dogs" kinda girl. Who knew? So we have a little trouble coming up with movies that we both will enjoy watching together, but we are making it. Keep your fingers crossed that we can keep up with this movie-time "camaraderie" feeling.

Eddie is still reeling from his painful gout attack. He looks so pitiful "hobbling" around. We are supposed to visit the doctor tomorrow to test for rheumatoid arthritis. We are praying that he is not also saddled with this disabling condition along with everything else.

Tell me what new "good" book you're currently reading.

I am currently reading:

The Last Summer of You and Me

I have 11 books I have bought which are in line to read:

Me & Emma
An Angel for Emily
A Woman's Place
Time is a River
Sunset
Someday
Summer
Sunrise
Sundays at Tiffany's
The Shack
Change of Heart

I also want to check out the following books to see if they may be worth reading (I know nothing about any of these books other than their titles and am not recommending them at this time, just stating I will be checking each one out for reading worthiness in the near future):

The Giving Tree
Lighten Up
The Ultimate Gift
Sister Eternal
Broken Things to Mend
The Someday List
Fireflies in December

Happy Groundhog Day!

The celebration of Groundhog Day began with Pennsylvania's earliest settlers. They brought with them the legend of Candlemas Day, which states, "For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May..."

Baskets for Office Charity Club Valentine's Luncheon

I made these baskets to sell at our Valentine Charity Luncheon set for Friday, February 13th. Each basket includes a stuffed animal, a candle, candy, conversation hearts, heart- shaped memo pad and flower-dy pen, and a balloon with a card. That just about covers everything except flowers, I think. Hopefully some of the office workers will buy them for their "honey" and then we will use the money towards our Charity Club donation at the end of the year. Do you think a $15.00 price is too expensive for these baskets?