Posts

Showing posts from 2015

The Holidays & My New Year's Eve Tradition

Good evening, everyone. I know that it has been well over a month since my last blog entry.  A lot has happened since my last entry. Well, I have been having a doozy of a time between doctor appointments, a birthday, Christmas, and having both daughters at home along with their dad. I made three trips to Durham & Raleigh the first and second of December. One was to pick up my daughter from college and the other two were to the UNC Women's Hospital. As for the holidays, my family had a great Christmas. We got together the day after Christmas so my brother could make it and visit some. My brother travels for work and is hardly at home. His work has taken him to so many different places. My family is so proud of him. We always get together on New Year's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, and other holidays. So far, our family enjoys each others' company. We do this every year, and it never gets old. Tonight, though, I am hoping to work on some of my writing while the n

The Chili Cook-off Fundraiser

Good evening, everyone. I hope you have had a great weekend so far. All is as well as it can be right now. As you all know, I had my first annual chili cook-off fundraiser this evening. It was a great success. We had a full house to where we had to bring out more tables and chairs. We even had a live music guest. One of my best friends sings, so he did the music. I want to say thank you to all who helped make my fundraiser possible this evening. We had such a great turnout and raised $817.00. Thank you for everything. Ciao for now.

Fundraiser Reminder

Good evening, everyone. I hope you have had a great day so far. I just want to remind you all of my chili cook-off fundraiser on Saturday, October 24 @ 6:00 pm. If you have a crock pot of chili to bring, please make sure to get there before 6:00 pm. It is at Bethesda Methodist Church of Gastonia on S. New Hope Road. I hope to see you there. Ciao for now.

What a Great Game.

Good evening, everyone. I hope that you have had a great day. It has been a good day for me, too. Well, I am guessing that all of you have heard the good news. The Carolina Panthers won their game against the Seattle Seahawks yesterday 27 - 23. Everyone should know by now that I am a die-hard Panther fan. And if you know me well enough, you will know that I always talk positive about my favorite football team. I told everyone that I knew that the Panthers would win. I even had some to ask how I knew that they would win. I told them that I just had a good feeling. And the funny thing is that these same people still questioned my words afterwards. If you watched the game, then you saw a really good game. And you would agree that the Panthers played very hard. I just want you to take these words to heart.  When you have a honest to goodness good vibe about something, don't let anyone talk you out of your good mood. It can make you feel down and negative about things. Just keep a

College Break & a Birthday

Good evening, everyone. I hope you have had a great weekend so far. I have had a good weekend myself.  My youngest daughter came home from college for her fall break. It just so happened to be the same weekend as my birthday. Yes, today is my birthday and I spent it taking my daughter back to her friend's house so that they could take her back to the train station and then the rest of the day with my other daughter at the Cotton Ginning Days in Dallas.  We finally got home about 6:00 or so.  Right now, I am not doing anything but sitting back in my recliner and trying to rest. All in all, it was a good day for me. Spending time with my daughters whether they are together or by themselves is a great way to pass the time. Of course, it doesn't hurt when you have the best daughters ever. I love you, girls. Take this with you as you go through the day. No matter  where you are, you have the means to make the most out of time with loved ones. Ciao for now.

A New Fundraiser for Me

I know that I just posted, but I have some breaking news for everyone. My pastor is sponsoring a chili cook-off fundraiser for me on Saturday, October 24 @ Bethesda Methodist Church of Gastonia. Bring your crockpots of chili and try to win the top prize. If you would rather taste the chili, bring a donation to get in the door and taste them all. You can help pick the winner. If you have any questions, please contact me. Have a great day and may God bless you all. Ciao for now.

2 Years & A Vacation

Good morning, everyone. I sincerely hope that you are having a great day so far. I know that I am. I cannot believe that it has been two years since I started this blog. Wow!! Who would have thought I would last this long? I have always enjoyed writing, but I always thought that my writing would be my many stories that I need to finish. I have about four or five. Only one is about finished, though. I have been up and about since about 7:00 am. I have already read my Sunday school lesson and have done a little bit of stretching. My plans include going to church and then coming back home and fixing lunch with my family and watching the Carolina Panthers game against the New Orleans Saints. As you all know, I love football. (Especially if it's my favorite team, the Carolina Panthers.) The Panthers are going to beat the Saints. I feel it in my bones. Well, everyone, I finally got to go on a small vacation this past weekend. My family took my daughter, Ashleigh, and I to Myrtle

Labor Day

Good evening, everyone. I hope you are ready for this holiday weekend. It's going to be just another day for me. So, I will probably be staying at home with my husband and daughter. Who knows, maybe I will do something different. Usually, we all get together and have a cookout at one of my sister's houses. We would have hamburgers and/or hotdogs along with the works and some side dishes. This is more than likely the typical labor day  weekend food. Who doesn't like either one of these? Labor Day is one holiday that I truly enjoy. Ciao for now. Crystal

My Faith & Family

Good morning, everyone. I hope you have had a great day so far. So far, everything is good with me. Right now. I am sitting here in dialysis with two large needles in my left arm. I am in a decent mood today. It was a decent day to start out with anyway, and then when I got to the dialysis center, I got to go straight in. Normally, we have to wait before we can go in. We have to wait for our seats to get open and cleaned before they will take us in. There have been some times when I have had to wait a while before getting to go in. The later we get in, the later we will get off. All in all, the last several weeks have been hectic for me. My husband has been out of work for about two months and I have had to take him to the doctor, the psychiatrist, or the neurologist every week for about six weeks. I have come to realize that God has me in Richard's life to help him since there's no one else to help him out. I am trying my best with him, work, home, and everything else.

My Talk with a Couple of Strangers

Good evening, everyone. I hope you have had a great day so far. It has been a very interesting day for me so far. Let me tell you about it. This morning, I decided at the last moment to get the van inspected instead of going out this afternoon after dialysis. I guess it was what you would call a little bit of God intervening. At first, I had a notion to go to Pep Boys, but at the last minute, I changed my mind and went to a different place. It was here that I met a very nice young man by the name of Patrick. This young man was listening to some music on his phone and I made a comment about it. We got to talking and ended up talking about so many different things that we didn't realize how long we had talked until I had to leave. And this was for over an hour and a half! Patrick was such a great guy to talk to. The funny thing, though, is that I have a feeling this meeting was for Patrick and the woman that came in not long before I left. I found out that these two people had

What A Week

Good morning, everyone. I hope everyone has been doing well this past month. It really has been a doozy of a month for me, though. The biggest obstacle was this past week. Yes, that's right. And you won't believe what it was about. This past week, I was thrown a curveball. My husband was sent to a hospital in Hickory. Let me start from the beginning. Last Monday, I took him to see his psychiatrist. After the appointment, Richard came out and informed me that they were taking him to the hospital and that I needed to walk back with them to sign some documents. They gave him the option to go with them or to let me take him. Naturally, we agreed for me to take him. We got there at about 4:10. He got to the ER suite at 4:30 pm on Monday afternoon. He was there for 26 hours before they sent him to Hickory since the hospital here was not in our network. So, we are now visiting him up there at Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory. We went on Wednesday, Thursday, and yesterd

My Family

Good morning, everyone. I hope you have had a great week so far.  I would have to say that this past weekend was all about my family. First off, both of my daughters had friends over on Friday night. It also means that their friends are considered as a part of my extended family. They call me mom and I love it.  It also happened to be my youngest daughter's birthday on Saturday. Her day consisted of sleeping late, watching k-pop videos, playing the wii u, and just having an easy and awesome day. You are probably wondering what k-pop is. Well, I will tell you. ....it is Korean pop music.  On Sunday, we had a small birthday cake and ice cream party for Jessica. She is not a teenager anymore. She is an adult now. WOW! .....Since the cake and ice cream was a last minute get-together, not all of the family could make it. Think of it this way. I have four brothers and sisters, and all but one is married. Three of us have two children a piece. So, yeah, you could say that my family

The Ugly Truth

Good evening, everyone. Hope you are doing well tonight. I am doing okay considering that I have been on the road most of the day. My daughter and I went to pick up my other daughter at college and didn't get back until 5:30 pm.  It was a decent day. Usually when we go, my mother likes to go with us. She wasn't able to make it, so we went alone for our very first road trip. As I said, it was a good trip. The main reason for why I wanted to blog tnight was due to thi s last week. This last week has been really rough week. "Why?" you ask. Okay, I will tell you. The ugly truth is that I have been down. I say down because I don't like to use the word "depression". At least that is one way to look at it. I have to give credit to a smart person, though, for talking to me and making me feel a little better. Other than that, we should sleep well tonight. My point to ponder is this. Be there for others and talk with them and help them out. Ciao for now.

The Results Are...

Good afternoon, everyone.  I hope you are having a good start to the beautiful weekend that we will be having here in NC.  It has been a couple of weeks since my last blog. Well, we had my fundraiser two weeks ago, and the results are in. We made a grand total of $600. This is a good total for my spaghetti dinner, my book sale, and the raffle. The winners of the three drawings were Lydia from Faith UMC, Brenda from FUMC, and Linda P. These three won a gift certificate, a flower basket, and a set of social media pillows.  All in all, we had a decent turnout for a half a day's work. And thank you to all who helped me out in any way for this first fundraiser of 2015. Let's hope this ends up being a great start to a great year. Keep this in mind: if you know someone who is going through something where they have to fundraise, please get on their bandwagon and support their cause. Help them out in any way possible. Gotta go for now. Ciao for now. Crystal

Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser

Good evening, everyone. I hope you are doing well tonight. I have been busy all this week getting ready for my fundraiser on Saturday. We are doing a spaghetti dinner, a book sale, and a raffle. It will be from 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm.I am getting more excited than nervous as always. I hope some of you are going to be able to make it to my fundraiser. We are expecting a decent crowd. Ciao for now. Crystal

My Weekend

Good evening, everyone. I hope you have had a great weekend. It has been a couple of weeks since I last blogged. I have had a really good weekend myself.  I had my Saturday morning dialysis treatment yesterday early. I had church today and lunch with a great friend afterwards. Ashleigh and I then headed to the grocery store. Luckily, we didn't have a lot to get. Usually, we like to relax and enjoy the rest of the day. Today, we had more to do to get ready for my fundraiser this coming Saturday. My fundraiser consists of a spaghetti dinner, a book sale, and a raffle. So far, we have two prizes for the raffle. There will be a set of pillows made by my daughter and a piece of jewelry so far. Other than that, we are finally resting. Until next time. Ciao for now. Crystal

What ABout You?

Good evening, everyone. I hope you had a great day. I had a decent day myself. Tonight I just wanted to see how things were going with every one that is following my blog. What do you think about how I am doing so far? What topics would you like for me to talk about. This blog is all about you, my followers. What do you want to hear me talk about? I can talk qabout anything that you think I would be able to know about. Give me a chance to show you what I know. Don't forget that I have been through a lot in the last couple of years. So be kind and love those around you and be kind to everyone. Ciao for now. Crystal

On a Slow Train to Nowhere

Good afternoon, everyone. I hope everyone is really enjoying this beautiful weather that we are having here in Gastonia, NC. Not too much has been going on lately. Yesterday, I had my usual therapy session. My life has been on a slow train to nowhere lately, though. Why? You ask. Ok, I will tell you. Lately, I have felt like a chicken with its head cut off and haven't felt like doing squat or anything. I haven't felt like going anywhere. I haven't felt lik seeing anyone. And I guess that I just haven't cared if anyone came to see me either. Until yesterday. Here is the part that I can't understand, though. I had my 50-minute session with my therapist, and came out feeling so much better than when I went in. And I guess I had a lot of frustrations to get a handle on since I kept going over in my mind what to talk about before my session. All in all, I guess I really needed that session. Usually, I never know what I will say to my doctor, but this time was dif

My Daughters

Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you are doing well today and i hope that you consider all that I talk about here on my blog. My subject matter always depends on what I am thinking about around the time that I write. Right now, I am having my dialysis treatment at the fresenius medical center  in Gastonia, NC and have some time on my hands. My daughter, Ashleigh, called me earlier to ask me about staying at her friend's house again tonight. I told her that it was fine with me. As long as I know the 5 w's, I don't care. My daughters are two of the best things to ever happen to me. They may get on my nerves at times, but majority of the time, they are very good children.  Of course, they are NOT children anymore. Jessica will be 20 years old in May and Ashleigh will be 23 in December. Wow, my kids make me old.  Of course, 47 is NOT all that old. But all in all, they deserve so much for what all they do for me. I just wish I could give them the world. Have a great day, a

Depression, Anyone?

Good morning, everyone. Hope you are doing well today. As for myself, I am doing okay. This morning, I got up later than usual. My alarm goes off at 6:00 am every morning, but I have been getting to where I don't get up before 6:30 am. It seems as if I am tired when I get up. I know that there are times, though, that I do not sleep good at night. That shouldn't be the reason that I am tired, though. I know, I know. It would help me out a lot if I would just get up and move my body. I keep telling myself this, but for some reason, I still feel as though I don't care at times. This would probably be what my therapist would call my depression kicking in. Call it what you may, but I call this being lazy. Yeah, yeah, we all may call it different things, but it doesn't help me out. All I can say to this is to get out there and be a friend to your friends and family. We need active people in our lives for a reason. And we are silently asking for your help. Ciao for now

A Little Quiet Today

Good evening, everyone. Hope you have had a wonderful and beautiful afternoon. It has been uneventful here except for the fact that we just got my daughter on her way back to college. And it is crazy quiet here on the homefront already. I will see my daughter in another two weeks at Easter, so the time will go by pretty quick. She has grown into such an independent and strong young woman these last two years while away at college. I just ask God to take care of her while away from home. I honestly hope you feel the same way about someone you love. Ciao for now. Crystal

My Freedom of Speech

Good morning, everyone. Hope you are doing well today. Everything is going okay with me so far. If you are a UNC Tarheel fan, you know that they got beat by Notre Dame last night. Yeah, that's a bummer, right? Don't get me wrong. I grew up a devoted TARHEEL fan. And I still am and always will be. No matter what. What gets me, though, is the fact that we all can have a couple of favorite teams, and yet we still get ridiculed for liking the wrong team. Hello., freedom of speech, people. Well, anyway, I've gotta get ready for church. Talk to you later. Love to you all. Go visit someone and enjoy the weather. Ciao for now. Crystal

My Saturday Morning

Good morning, everyone. Hope things are going well for you. As for me, I am doing okay. I am at dialysis right now. They called me yesterday and asked if I would like to come in early today. I always tell them yes so that I can get out earlier than usual. So, it is not unusual for me to have half the day free. Today, though, my youngest daughter will be getting ready to go back to college tomorrow. I have to take her to get some snacks later and more than likely will go to my mother-in-law's house, too. So, my easy day ends up being a busy day. Sometimes, though, I will try to get in a quick trip to the grocery store, if possible. This way, I just might have tomorrow as my free day. I do try to make my way to my parents' house. This is a definite trip, except for last week. My parents are important to me. They have been there for me, so I am trying to be there for them. Along with me blogging, I am also watching my usual programs for a Saturday morning, the cooking netw

Dialysis treatment today.

Good afternoon, everyone. I hope everyone is doing well today. I am doing okay considering that I had dialysis earlier. The last couple of times that I have had my treatments, the nurses have put the needles in my upper arm. The two times that they have done this, my neuropathy has not bothered me. This is a good thing. When I hurt, I hurt so bad that I can't take it and I end up having a very, very bad day. Since then, I kind of dread my treatments at times. Well, let me get ready for choir practice. Gotta go. Ciao for now. Crystal

A Christmas Gift

Good evening, everyone. Hope everyone is well this evening. Things are going okay as of right now for me. With the tablet that I received from my girls for Christmas, I am hoping against all hope to keep my blogging going on a regular basis. The tablet was a gift that my girls said that I deserved. Their quote was "mom, you deserve something nice for once." What can I say to two wonderful daughters who say things like that? There's not a specific subject that I was thinking about talking about. But I do have to admit that I was thinking of all of my prescriptions that I have to take on a daily basis earlier. There's one medicine that I have to take with all three meals (5 pills w/ each meal) and when I eat snacks. These are not small pills either. But, I do have a bit of good news. I do not have high blood pressure, so therefore, I DO NOT have to take high blood pressure medicine. I do believe that this caused me to react bad because I was taking it when I didn

Weighing Heavily on My Heart

Good morning, everyone. I hope you are doing well today. I am doing okay so far. This morning, I would like to talk to you about something that really bothered me the other day. It may not mean much to a lot of people, but it has been weighing heavily on me like a ton of bricks. There is a show that my daughter has gotten me into watching this season. It has some of the best acting around. Well, anyway, one of the characters is gay and is in a relationship. They both decide to get tested to make sure neither one of them is HIV positive. This is the part that brought tears to my eyes. They were going to get their results together, but one got them before the other did. In the end, though, the one that suggested to get the tests done was the one that's infected. Truly, my heart felt the same as if it were me getting the results by myself. This is what I would like others to do. No matter what is going on in your life, take a moment to be there for someone else. They may need yo

Just Another Beautiful Day

Well, I know that it hasn't been that long since my last blog, but hey, what can I say? ....it snowed most of yesterday evening and into the night. Most people like the snow, love it, or hate it. I would have to say that I am an in- between person. Don't get me wrong. I love to see the wintery white come down. I love to watch my girls get out in it and NOT mess it up. But, hey, they like to mess the yard up. ....I have always liked the idea of a pretty, smooth snow-filled yard (that is, when we get a good snow). What can anyone say about this? Just take the day and have some fun while I still have to go to my dialysis treatment. Ciao for now. Crystal

My, How the Time Flies

Good evening, everyone. Or should I say late night? My gosh, I didn't realize that it had been so long since my last blog.  My last blog was in November and here it is the last February. There has been a lot going on since my last blog entry.  As of this week, I will have to see another specialist in a little over a month. That is the earliest that the neurologist could get me in other than on a day that I would also have my dialysis appointments. Yep, I have been having the signs of neuropathy in my hands, fingers, and feet.  I should have realized that I wouldn't get away from this one. Neuropathy is something that I just heard people talking about. I never thought that I would be one of many with this problem. What can I do to help this? I don't know, and I don't know where I will go from here. No matter what, though, I have to work through this. I have a family that needs me and I have to be the strong one. It's a fact that I have to deal with.    I wi