Day 233 (November 27th)--Bread Pudding

At Thanksgiving dinner we had many people bring in their signature dishes. Someone brought in bread pudding and I tried it. I did not like it very much. I like bread and I like pudding but warm bread pudding...not for me!

-Jackie

Day 232--(NOv 26th)--Peanuts!

I was flipping channels on TV tonight and found a special on Charles Schulz, the writer of the Peanuts comic strip. Being a MN girl and Charles Schulz being from Minnesota, this was a great documentary to watch. It was really interesting to see how he poured out so much of his heart and soul into the comic strip. The Theme park in Mall of America used to be Camp Snoopy which was a lot of fun...now it is Nickelodeon Universe and it is..dumb!

-Jackie

231--(November 25th)--what a disaster!

Tonight I had planned a gathering at Shout House (Dueling Pianos) on Block E. I have a tendency to get lost so I got my directions and left the house early. It didn't help---I for the life of me could not find the place....so I gave up and went home. =(

My hubby was hungry so we decided to go to a resaurant by our house. It was 8 PM. We went there and it was closed for the night. Restaurants closing at 8PM is STUPID in my opinion! So we went to a second restaurant and could not get in the parking lot. So we ended up at a hole in the wall (in a good way) pizza place we used to frequant more when we lived closer.

In a nutshell: I planned a gathering I could not find, went to a restaurant that does not stay open past a 8 years olds bedtime and had to go to 3 places before having some tasty food.

-Jackie

Day 230--(Nov 24th)---A triple Triage

I do not know if I wrote this prevously but this wknd I coughed so hard I bruised a rib on my right side! So last night I was in a alot of pain early on plus was physically sick so I called the after hours care plan # provided by my Health Insurance Provider. The nurse there was very helpful---she offered some great tips and I felt better towards the end of the night. Which leads me to my extra credit----I got 3 Yahtzees in one game last night while playing my husband and got a score of 452.

-Jackie

Day 229 (November 23rd)--Klutz!

After Church is morning I had some errands to run. Maybe I should have stayed home. On my trip to Target I knocked a bunch of clothes off the rack when checking a price on a sweater. THEN the Mountain Dew 12 pack I had came open and cans rolled along the floor. To add insult to injury, when I got to the grocery store my cherry tomoates spilled all over the floor. Here's the kicker---at church I coughed so hard I felt pain in my right rib--so now I have a bruised rib on top of everything else.

-Jackie

Day 228--(November 22nd)--Walking in someone elses shoes

Today I was walking to the store and there was fresh snow on the ground. On this fresh pile of snow was a set of footprints that led all the way to the store. I walked the whole way to the store in this set of footprints. The person who walked there had an interesting way of walking, putting me off kilter at some points. On the way back I made my own set of footprints. =)

-Jackie

Day 227---Saying goodbye to old "Friends"

I am a huge fan of Karen Kingsbury (the author). She has written 3 series of books revolving around a family called the Baxters and all of their trials and happy times. Each time I get a book of hers I tend to read it in one day. Today I read the last book in the Baxter series. The last two years have had some really high highs and low lows for me personally and over the last two years these books have helped me through some of those times.

(Note: There may be another upcoming thing regarding Karen Kingsbury soon. Be on the lookout! Also--if you have not read her books yet--I highly recommend them!)

-Jackie

Day 226 (November 20th)--Double time, go!

I strained by back last week from all the coughing that came with my Bronchitis. So last night I had a strained back AND was freezing because it was in the single digits and very windy here in good ole MN! To alleviate all of this I ended up taking 2 showers within an hour of each other AND to add some ambiance I took them by flashlight. I have this flashlight that is supposed to resemble the light of an Olympic torch (I got it at an employee appreciation event in August). It actually made the environment more relaxing. So my nighttime routine was done twice in a row last night!

-Jackie

Day 225 (November 19th)--Compression

EPILOGUE: I LOVE THE HOT APPLE Blast at Caribou Coffee. Delicious! My favorite drink there!

This is a small new thing but it is one of those little thing that tends to impress me. At work today I found we had gotten some compression dusters in for our computers. This is a good thing. I tend to eat my meals I have at work (breakfast and lunch) at the computer then the crumbs get in their and it is one big mess. I had fun putting the duster to work today...I think I need some of these for my home computer. =)

Extra credit: At 3 PM I have a meeting with my Mentor at Caribou Coffee. I am going to have a HOT Apple Blast which will be my new thing #2. I will post an addendum with my thoughts on this drink that is easy on the eyes. (I am NOT a coffee drinker....I rarely drink a coffee drink but do like their non coffee creations.)

-Jackie

Day 224 (November 18th)---The Center cannot hold : my journey through madness

In yesterday's post I mentioned the training I went to. Our keynote speaker was supposed to be Elyn Saks, a woman who with schizophrenia who studied at Oxford and went on to do many wonderful things in her life. Unfortunately, like me she was unable to do the keynote speech because she developed bronchitis. But she had written a book which was not read for me at the library until today. So I read Center cannot hold : my journey through madness by Elyn Saks. This is the first memoir sort of book I have read which covers the authors struggles with Schizophrenia. I am not finished yet as it is 300+ pages but it is really good so far.

-Jackie

Day 223 (November 17th)--A new form of First Aid

Today I went to a training my supervisor signed a small group of us on concerning Mental Health issues. It was really interesting. One of the breakout sessions I went to was called Psychological first aid. It was covering how to provide assistance to those who have recently experienced a traumatic situuation. Like First Aid, I received a card when the course was over but this card is a pocket guide to carry with me and go over when I may be in this situation. I really enjoyed the trainings I went to and just wanted to share with you one interesting point that was brought up in the keynote speakers time.

"I worked with a patient who was diagnosed with late onset schizphrenia. Prior to this she had been hospitalized and treated with cancer. She stated 'I was treated well when I had cancer.' When you or someone you love has an illess such as cancer people send flowers and come to visit. When you or a loved one is suffering from a mental illness, one tends to feel isolated. The flowers do not come and the visitors are few and far between."

(NOTE: This was a point that had a big effect on me. This is not a point to debate whether mental illness is as serious as other physical diseases. Thank you.)

-Jackie

Day 222--Nov 16th---The Early Bird and a Race to the Finish

I was having a hard day today due to the side effects from the Z Pack and having to turn back halfway to church due to the coughing attacks (for some reason I was hacking the most in my car).

Anyway, in efforts to cheer me up we put up the Christmas tree and decorations. We have never put up the tree before Black Friday before. I will have some cute pictures to post from this very soon. I am just waiting on stupid Qwest. I have had 2 months of no internet service and finally when I get a tech friend to look at the system it ends up being a bad modem on their part. Sheesh!

EXTRA CREDIT: Today marked the end of my rookie Nascar season. I finished 8/16 in the pack. I am not sure if I will do this again. I did this through my old church and decided to just finish it out. Nascar season tends to be a little long for my liking though. No wonder Jimmie Johnson won 7 million for finishing first this season!

-Jackie

Day 221 (November 15th)--DIY and John Wayne

I have been staying in this wknd because of the nasty nausea and tiredness I have been feeling. But since I have been staying in I finally have been able to do something I saw featured on the Rachel Ray show. I have been able to DIY (do it myself to fix up) my old clothes. I have this dress I got at the fall swap but it it too tight in the middle. So I made the dress into a babydoll top and a matching hair ribbon. It is not 100% finished yet (I need to find something to wear over the top) but it was a fun thing to do.

EXTRA CREDIT: My husband and I were having a BLAH day and were watching TV. We saw there was a John Wayne western on so we decided to watch it. I had never seen a John Wayne movie prior to today. It was pretty fun to watch. I cannot remember the name but the premise was John Wayne's brothers family was killed after an attack by the Indians and the Youngest daughter was kidnapped so John Wayne and the "adopted son" of the family go off to rescuse the youngest daughter. My husband says most of his movies end with him dying. This one did not.

-Jackie

Day 220 (November 14th)--Z Pack

I was given a Z Pack to help with my Brochitis. It is supposed to do the work of 30 doses of Antibiotics in five days. I have been feeling better in regards to the bornchitis but now I am on a med so potent it make me sick in other ways. It's so strong it gives you flu like symptoms like nausea and not being able to keep food down. It says only 5% of the population get these symptoms. After reading the online thoughts of those who have had a Z Pack...I beg to differ.

-Jackie

Day 219 (November 13th) F'REAL!

UPDATE: As I guessed I have Bronchitis. I also have a great doctor who took the time to do all the necessary tests and put me on some strong meds. I am doing better and hopefully will be back to 100% soon!

Today I was dealing with a raw and scratchy throat because of all the hacking I was doing. When I worked at the election I heard about these really cool milkshakes.....so today I went to the holiday station store and made my own F'real shake. They are $1.99 and are pretty big. You pick your flavor of ice cream and put it in the blending unit and it makes the shake for you. They are very tasty. I had a cookies and cream one. I wish they had more flavors of the shakes. They also have smoothies. I will have to try one sometime.

-Jackie

Day 218 (November 12) chamomile tea

So this cold is hanging on but after checking the symptoms on Wed MD I am thinking it is more of bronchitus. I will find out Thurs afternoon when I go see my Doctor I guess....

While looking on Http://webmd.com they suggested chamomile tea to help with the scratchy throat and to help me relax. I bought some and it is really cheap ($2.00 for a box of 20) and I actually liked it. It is relaxing and brought me a bit of relief. I am going to try and phase out some of the pop I drink and replace it with this in the PM. It's such a relaxing drink! (For those of you who do not know chamomile tea actually comes from the Chamomile flower and has no caffeine).

-Jackie

Day 217--(November 11)--Gargling Salt Water

I got the start of a Nasty Cold last week and it will not seem to go away. I have a nice scratchy throat and persistent cough. I looked online and it said gargling salt water would help relieve my throat so I would not cough as much. I tried it; worked okay the first time---the second time my throat would not tolerate it. I do not think it is good for more severe colds.

-Jackie

Day 216 (November 10th)--Random, very Random!

The day after the election I got hit with a nasty cold that reached full force on Friday. Last night I was having some quality couch time trying to get rid of it and was bored....so I watched and episode of the TV show Chuck. I generally do not like shows about undercover CIA agents but it was not too bad. He met up with his girlfriend from college and helped save people from a biochemical attack. Good times.

-Jackie

Day 215 (November 9th)

ADDENDUM--I actually researched Packer Backer bars here in MN...there are quite a few. I'd rather go to them from now on...

Today I went to a Packers vs Vikings themed party...and I did not think i will attend one of these again. There were a couple of people who took the insults too far and one of them kept slamming the Jets who he KNEW I liked and respected a great deal. Next time I am going to a Packer themed bar! I don't need that!

-Jackie

Day 214 (November 8th)--Listen to your stylist

Today I went to Fantasic Sam's for a haircut. I like my hair long so I am generally picky about what styles I will let them do. Today I listened to the stylist and let her put layers in my hair. See above for the result. I also decided I no longer like Great Clips--from now on I am a Fantastic Sam's Girl!

-Jackie

Day 213--November 7th---I worked how long to pay for this?

I have been reading books on stress management. In the book Stress Management for Dummies, there is discussion about thinking before you buy. Asking yourself a few questions including: is this worth the time I had to work to pay for this? So when I have been out shopping today I have asked myself these questions. It really makes you think!

-Jackie

Day 212 (November 6th)--Mad Money

I have a list of some new things I want to accomplish before the end of the challenge. Watching the above movie was one of them. I loved Katie Holmes from her Dawson's Creek days. It was a good movie and very thought provoking. It also covered the lengths some people will go to to get money......not one for my to buy list but it was enjoyable.

-Jackie

Day 211 (November 5th) People watcing

Today I was at Barnes and Noble enjoying my time off and taking in sme magazines. I decided to do some people watching and did a sort of case study of a job interview going on at the Starbucks in the store.. I asked myself; would I hire this person? Do they answer questions well? What are my impressions of this person? It was pretty fun!

-Jackie

Day 210--November 4th---Many things

Whew! What a tiring day. Here are all the new things I did today.

-Opened up the polls for the first time.
-Processed and fed in ALL of the absentee ballots
-Saw many people become voters for the first time.
-Got to print out the election results in my precinct and modem them to City Hall.
-While at City all on Election business, got to see it become official that we had a new President. =)

-Jackie

Day 209--The votes in my hands

Since I was promoted to head election judge, I was in charge of picking up the Accu-Vote and bringing it to the polling place the next day. So I had the privledge of having the voting machine for the night.

-Jackie

Day 208--November 2nd (Crystal Skulls)

Since we attended Church Saturday night, Mike Pretzel and I took in an early morning movie in our humble abode. We watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I am not a big fan of Indiana Jones but thought the movie was okay.

-Jackie

Day 207--(Nov 1st) Show me how to dance

Today I got a line dancing DVD from the library. I got it home and took the first "lesson" where i learned to dance the electric slide. It's a fun dance and I look forward to practicing it at the next wedding I attend!

-Jackie

Day 206 (October 31st) Garage Party

Tonight, in celebration on Halloween; Mike, Pretzel and I went to our friend "A"'s for a Halloween get together. We played games and ate in his garage while waiting for the trick or treaters. It was a lot of fun (Photos to come).

-Jackie