A Memory Fading

As you know if you have read my blog, I am a huge Famous Quote addict. I have a new quote delivered to the blog daily. They always provoke a moment of thought and reflection. The quote today is: Memory is the personal journalism of the soul.Richard Schickel

This got me thinking about my mother-in-law. She is in her fourth year with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. We had to have her placed in a home that cares for patients with this devastating disease. She is more and more confused as the days go by. I can see changes each time I see her, which is about twice a month. Melanie sees her about four times a week.

I get to hear all about the interesting conversations. It is very sad to think that her personal journal is getting erased. Her memories are going away but her family will remember her as she was before. We will cherish the memories we have as she was and be thankful for them.

Alzheimer's sucks.

Your story

Every life is like a story. They all start the same and they all end the same. You are born and then you die. What happens in between is mostly up to you. In the early years, you are mainly directed, much like an actor in a play. Then you step up to the director position. You call the shots and set the scenes. What story will yours be. An action adventure. A love story. A comedy. A tragedy. You are the master of your world. You can choose to be villain or the hero. You can choose to be rescued or you can do the rescuing. It is all choices. Don't stay behind the curtian. Pick a part and play it. Mix it up. Only you can play your role. In interviewing elderly people and asking about what regrets stood out the most, it was not what they did but rather what they didn't do. Choose wisely and live well. What will your story tell?

Hot days and fewer clothes

I went to the zoo this weekend. I took the kids because they still like to go, even at 15 and 17 years old. I would go even if the kids didn't go. I like to watch the people even more that the animals in the pens and cages. As the Texas heat builds and gets hotter and more humid the fewer clothes are worn. Now I am an equal opportunity gawker. I watch the women and the men. I watch the skinny ones and fat ones. As well as the pretty ones and ugly ones.

I find it interesting the parts of the body that gets pierced and or tattooed. I have heard it said that you can tell if someone is bi-polar by the number of piercings they have. Any number over 7 is a sure bet they are. (Or 7 rings is a pretty good indicator!) I saw many people that fit this category. Facial piercings were the most common. I did see one guy with bars on his neck and there was a woman that was wearing a tee shirt and no bra. You could see her nipple piercings through the tight shirt. How tacky is that!

Even more interesting than the piercings are the tattoos. There were several people there that had full body tattoos, 3 women and 1 man. I saw everything from dragons and fairies to Koi and hibiscus flowers. I am amazed at how many people have names tattooed on various parts of their body. It seems like the neck is the most popular followed by the upper back just below the neck for the women. I was thinking to my self what is the point of that. So the guy can remember his name while doing it like the animals do? Please!

I will be glad when I can go to Six Flags this summer. I will park myself by the pool and keep entertained for hours on end!

Flan cake

It was my job this year to bring a cake to Dads house for Easter. Easter fell on the kids birthday this year so I made two. The one in the picture above is a milk chocolate flan cake. It came out delicious and it was very easy to make.

You will need your favorite box cake mix, or if your have a favorite homemade cake recipe that is just fine. You will also need 3 eggs, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, and one can evaporated milk.

Pre -heat the oven to 340. Spray Pam in your cake pan. Make the cake per directions on the box and pour into your mold. Blend the eggs and cans of milk. Gently pour over the cake batter. It looks strange but do not worry. Bake for 50 minutes. Let the cake cool down for 30 minutes then turn over on your serving plate. The flan settles to the bottom of the cake mold which is the top when turned over.Let cool 30 more minutes and then place in the refrigerator to cool before serving.

I used ice cream topping to drizzle over the top for a frosting. Any cake mix will work. You could use a strawberry cake mix and drizzle with strawberry topping. My second cake was a butter pecan with butter scotch and caramel topping. It was very good as well.

Enjoy!

Started

I started my P90X today. I could not keep up with the tempo of the Kempo DVD. My heart rate was past 180 and I had to let it go down. All that did was get me stoked to improve. I am going to weigh my self every Monday to see my progress on weight loss. Today I weighed in at 195

P90X and my fatty liver

In January I was feeling ill. I had my blood work done and it showed elevated liver function tests. So, I had it repeated several weeks later (as well as other blood tests). The hepatitis screening came back negative twice but the liver function tests still are elevated. Last week I had more blood work done to rule out other bad problems. All came back negative and the liver function tests were still high. The doctor said I have a fatty liver! I stepped on the scale and I was back up to 192 pounds. Time to do something about it.

A friend gave me the P90X DVDs, a muscle confusion exercise routine. I went to Wal-Mart today and picked up free weights and a combination pull up/ push up bar. I will start the program next week to see if it is all that. Stay tuned.

2010 garden

I planted my garden today. My garden isn't the traditional garden with straight rows or mounds planted evenly. I hand tilled the soil in the flower bed and tossed the seeds in randomly. I planted yellow squash, zucchini squash, cucumber, and egg plant. I only put half the seeds in the tilled up area. The other half I tossed in the rest of the flower beds and a few seeds in pots. The last time I planted a garden the squirrels ate the blooms off as fast as they grew. I hope that by using this scatter method some blooms will go unnoticed and I will get to enjoy the fruits of my labor, so to speak.