It appears that this entire menu was suggestions from DH..who'd have thought? heehee

Monday - Sausage and Peppers in the Crockpot (served with long rolls for DH, layed over brown rice for Little Bear and myself)

Tuesday - Crispy Fried Chicken, Buttered Noodles, Green Beans (Another request of DH's)

Wednesday -  Hot Sausages, Tater Tots

Thursday - Taco Bar (Little Bear loves making her tacos!)

Friday -  Assorted cheeses, meats, crackers, etc (We do this every Christmas Eve.)

Saturday - Christmas Dinner (Holiday Ham, twiced baked potatoes, homemade mac & cheese, peas, green beans, deviled eggs, desserts)

Sunday - Loving Leftovers. Spread out a buffet table of all the leftovers from the week’s meals. This means a day-off for the chef!

For a thousand more recipes and hundreds more menu plans, check out I'm" An Organizing Junkie!

*tap tap* Hello! Is anyone there? 

Goodness, it has been exactly seven months today since i've last updated this blog. My deepest apologies. I had a lot of personal stuff going on and had to let the blog slip to the side a bit.

I hope all of you have had a fairly good year. Please bare with me as I get back into the habit of posting to my lovely blogging home -- especially since these next two weeks will be busy between Little Bear's 3rd birthday (her party is Saturday!!!) and Christmas!

For now, I just wanted to say "HELLO" and dust off the ol bloggy.  I will come back with a post of more substance shortly...til then....

it's good to be back!

Tuesday -  Beef Stir Fry with Brown Rice
Wednesday - Chipped Beef, Buttermilk Biscuits
Thursday - Cheesy Ham Pasta Bake
Friday - Pizza Rolls
Saturday - Lasagna, Garden Salad, Garlic Bread
Sunday - Loving Leftovers. Spread out a buffet table of all the leftovers from the week’s meals. This means a day-off for the chef!

For a thousand more recipes and hundreds more menu plans, check out I'm" An Organizing Junkie!

Tuesday -  Salsbury Steak, Buttered Noodles
Wednesday - Beef Steak Tips, Mashed Potatoes, Spinach
Thursday - Crispy Southern Style Chicken Tendors, Fries (Hubby's request; my PT appt night)
Friday - Appetizer Night
Saturday - Spaghetti & Meatballs, Garden Salad, Garlic Bread
Sunday - Loving Leftovers. Spread out a buffet table of all the leftovers from the week’s meals. This means a day-off for the chef!

For a thousand more recipes and hundreds more menu plans, check out I'm" An Organizing Junkie!

....I've been hiding in the Twilight Series Books since the Friday last week. (Thus the reasoning for my lack of posting/commenting)

I'm usually not one to watch movies before reading the books. For some reason that ended up happening in this case.  After watching New Moon and discussing it with my collegue she informed me that I really should read the books because there would be a lot more into it once the other two movies come out. It was with that conversation that I ran to the local library and started my Twilight Saga Series book reading.  I haven't read a book that big, that fast in over four years.  I was finished "Twilight" in 48 hours.  I immediately picked up "New Moon" and that took three days but only due to life getting in the way *eye roll* (Doesn't everyone know I"m reading Twilight!?!). 

I've since been w/o a Twilight book in hand for almost 24 hours now and I am feeling lost and yearning for more. I had put a hold on "Eclipse" just this past weekend knowing I"d complete "New Moon" but it hadn't come in yet.  I was hoping "Eclipse" would come in by lunch today (Saw it was due to return today) but I didn't get the phone call. Le Sigh....

I'm happy to report, tho, that I just received THE CALL! I will be taking a small detour going home this evening to pick up "Eclipse"  I'm hoping Poppa Bear and Little Bear leave me alone enough that I can go and hide in my book!!! In the meantime, I'm off to "hold" Breaking Dawn because I have a feeling that i'll be finished this before that one is returned to the library. LOL!!!

If I don't pop back on in a day or two, you'll know where I'll be ..... Dreaming and Swooning over Edward in "Eclipse"  That's right folks...I'm all aboard for Team Edward!!! (Jeez, I am soo late hoping on this bandwagon, aren't I?! LOL Leave it to me)

Tuesday -  Crunchy Nacho Bake
Wednesday - Southern Style Chicken Strips with a huge garden salad
Thursday - Hot Sausage and Green Peppers via Crockpot (PT appt night)
Friday - Appetizer Night
Saturday - Lasagna with a huge garden salad
Sunday - Loving Leftovers. Spread out a buffet table of all the leftovers from the week’s meals. This means a day-off for the chef!

For a thousand more recipes and hundreds more menu plans, check out I'm" An Organizing Junkie!

As you know, I mentioned that last night would be my first appointment with the Physical Therapist for my MCL sprain on my right knee.  This appointment also meant having an evaluation before PT was started. The outcome was exactly what my gut had be telling me would happen for the last week. I am not a happy camper. However, I will admit that I am pleased in the fact that I learned a great deal at this appointment as well. I can now see why having a Sports Therapist would be such an advantage to one's network/health care plan.

I'm going to start off with all the good things........During the evaluation I learned quite a bit about my lower extremities. During the measuring process I learned that my legs are "hyper extended." This basically means if you look from the side that my legs look bowed in. The PT told me that I was born with this and it cannot be corrected. She also told me that people who have legs that are hyper extended also tend to have knee problems in the future. She also said this is why I over-pronate also. (Gee, thanks Mom for the lovely gift of hyper extended legs. LOL!) The good news is that as long as I continue to keep my legs strong and flexible that it will prevent future injuries. Apparently, even tho my quads are very strong and my calves, my inner thigh muscles are very week and very tight (along with my IT band) so the combination of the the two and all the stresses during that one week sent my knee into overload thus creating the MCL sprain.  This all explained SO MUCH to me...i couldn't believe it. It all made sense after hearing this.  So, I wouldnt exactly say this information was good per say but it really educated me on my body and the dynamics of how it works and why my lower extremities work the way they do. I'm no real stranger to knee pain - been dealing with it for a long time. I'm just glad to finally have answers as to why they were always causing the pain/discomfort because we never could really figure out why. It drove me nuts. Now I know it's just something I was born with and the consequence of such is this...ah well. Now we know the problem and how to fix/work with it in the future.

Onto the bad.....During the evaluation we learned that yes, I do have an MCL sprain. We also learned that my right knee also shifts to the right (This was found when the PT was moving it around). That's not really normal but she says it's probably from the swelling and tightness pushing everything "off" a bit.  That's right, even tho it appears by looking at it my knee isnt swollen when we went to do the measurements it was 1cm larger than the left. So, yeah, we have some inflammation. Blah! 

AnyWHO, after further investigation it appeared to her that I have an Meniscus tear. :-( We're not sure how bad of a tear it really is. Judging by my degree of pain and where it hurts we are thinking it's safe to say it's not a bad tear but we won't know for sure until we rehab the MCL Sprain and get the knee back into normal movement (apparently i'm lacking just a bit in this department). The PT said that some people can live with meniscus tears all their lives without problems. However other's need further follow up such as surgery. It would be outpatient and they would go in through a very small incision, snip the tear section, stitch the rest of it to the remaining, close me up and i'd be back in commission in 24-48 hours. She said if a person would ever need knee surgery this would be the one they want because it's so minimal and invasive.  We'll see how my knee feels after the four weeks of rehab and take it from there.

So, yeah, we won't know the extent of my meniscus tear until this rehab is over. Due to the expense of my co-payment (it is so high - $50/visit) we will only go 1x a week. I am to do my PT exercises 2x a day, every day. Take ibuprofen every 4 hrs and of course the R.I.C.E method to keep the swelling down.  My current restrictions are no running, no bouncing, no pounding. Fun, fun...not! She said next week we'll start strengthening moves in the gym. 

I'm a bit bummed. My gut told me all this past week that I knew I had a meniscus tear. I want to say a small one. My gut now is telling me that i'm going to end up needing surgery.  Gah! I hope and pray that's not the case. I've already went under the knife once this year (Gallbladder removal). I really don't want to go under again.

I am now going to research for a Sports Ortho in my area.  I don't need a referral and although my PCP will more than likely script me a MRI in four weeks I know I'm going to need one - especially if it is recommended to have surgery.  (Gah, I hope not!)

I'll keep ya'll updated (as always) and in the meantime will live through all of your posts and your fun running adventures.  Think of me while you're out there and run at a mile for me!! I've got a brande new pair of running shoes that only has 8 miles on them screaming and begging for me to take them out for a run. It's driving me MAD! LOL!

No internet access since Friday is a royal P.I.T.A. Let me just tell you...you really have no idea how much you use and rely on the internet until you do not have it for a few days. Yikes!!!  That being said.......

I've missed all of you so much. I tried to get around to everybody's blogs today but I might have missed a few. Sorry! I'm trying to get to everyone but it's hard to catch up on almost a week's worth of posts. Forgive me but i'll be back now. :o)

Here on the work front, my boss is officially on vacation until the 27th. Oh man, today is so nice!!!! I also was given a brand spankin' new pc. The old one was just not fixable. This one has Windows 7 Professional and it's SWEET!!!!!!

On the home front, today after work I will have my first PT appointment for my knee. I'm excited and nervous at the same time.  I haven't worked out in two weeks and I'm just going completely insane!!  The knee feels 100x better than last Mon-Wed but it's still very much aggravated with certain activities like climbing/walking down steps and moving from brake to gas in the car.  I made the mistake of forgetting my knee (I now only wear the brace when driving) and walked normal (for me this is speed walking) and well, the knee said "HELLO" in a not-so-nice fashion.  Blah! Pooters!! I'm hoping that this PT appointment will help me in assessing what I can and cannot do for working out during this rehabilitation process. If anything, I should be able to workout my upper body.

I am also tossing around the idea of seeing an actual Ortho.  I've been reading up on my knee symptoms and although we know I have an MCL strain, I feel there is more to it like Runners Knee or some small damage to my Meniscus. I'm sure the PT will probably be able to tell during my evaluation and/or PT appointments.  If she does, we'll see what she says. If not and they subside, I wont see an Ortho but I'm thinking I might anyway just to make sure my knee is okay. With getting into running more, it would be best to be proactive and "get 'er dun" - especially since I do not need a referral.  We'll see what happens....

We've had some crazy weather the last two weeks. All last week it was Summer-like weather in the hig 80's and now this week we are in the mid-high 60's topping out at 72 today. Big difference but with the sun shining BEAUTIFUL! Really makes me miss running outdoors. Le Sigh....

Found out yesterday that I can basically go/rent from any library in the County. This is FAB because our town library SUCKS!! Every book I want to read they dont have and I have to put it on "hold' and wait a few days before one is shipping from another branch. I forgot all about the fact that I can rent/go to any library w/i the County until I called the library here by work (literally two mins away). I used to go to this one but about 20 years ago.  Man, how things changed and didn't. It's soooooooooo much better than our town's.  Much more variety and they have a ton of media for rent also (DVDs, CDs). Our town library rents out DVDs but they want to charge you $2.00/rental per day. This one there is no rental per day price unless you are late (after your 7 day rental - i dont know about you but i dont keep movies that long). They also have a HUGE Storyhour room for the children and a HUGE children's section complete with computers and climb & slides.  Little Bear would LOVE it!!  Needless to say, this will be the library primary choice from here on out.  What's even better is I can return the book to whatever library is convenient for me - so if I cant return at this branch and want to return it at the one by our house I can. Wahoo!

I went to the library to finally rent and start reading the Twilight series. I know, I know. I'm normally not one to watch a movie then read the book but my co-worker said I am missing A LOT. So, I've officially started at the very beginning. And let me just say it's very hard to read a book when you've watched the movie at least six times. I want to skip around but I know I can't. LOL!! I rented another book too for educational purposes (and also my main reason for going to the library) but that's a different post all in itself. Such a tease, I know. ;o)

Well, I really must be going now....I have some more work to finish up around the office and paperwork to fill out for my appointment tonight. Wish me luck!!!

Please pardon me and the interruptions in posting this week.  Our internet access at home as been nonexistant since Friday due to a network problem on Verizon's part. We are hoping the problem will be rectified when we get home this evening.

In addition to the lack of internet access at home, I come into work yesterday only to find the "blue screen of death" on my computer screen. I did not have a computer on my desk until late yesterday afternoon. I am now catching up on the workload and should be back to our regularly scheduled posting tomorrow.  

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Thank you to Random.Org for helping to chose the winner of my Zevia Giveaway!

True Random Number Generator:

Result: 23 wins the Variety Full Case

Amanda Says: 3:45 PM  - I am an e-mail subscriber.

Result: 40 & 31 wins the 6-pack Variety Vase

Anonymous Says: 10:22 PM  - I got hooked on diet Coke when I was trying to stay awake while working night shifts. I would like to try Zevia because I'm sure it has healthier ingredients.

stash mama Says: 8:30 PM - I follow you on twitter

I will be emailing you later on today for shipping information... Congratulations again, Helena and Thank You to all who entered for making my first giveaway a success!!! I wish you all the best in my future giveaways!

Tuesday -  Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Spinach
Wednesday - Pork Chops and Apple Sauce (Little Bear and I's favorite)
Thursday - Crockpot Grillin Style Beans and Hot Dogs (Quick & Easy since I have my first PT appt)
Friday - Appetizer Night
Saturday - Homemade Macaroni & Cheese, Buttermilk Biscuits
Sunday - Loving Leftovers. Spread out a buffet table of all the leftovers from the week’s meals. This means a day-off for the chef!

For a thousand more recipes and hundreds more menu plans, check out I'm" An Organizing Junkie!

I am no stranger when it comes to injuries with my knee. It all started back when I was 12. I was/am a natural speed walker so it's not uncommon for me to walk that way. I was coming back from returning my lunch tray and as soon as I got back to my table BAM! My leg buckled under me and my right knee swelled up the size of a softball. The doctor's and xrays all showed nothing and couldn't figure it out. It has since flared up off and on since then - however, I could go years without a flare up at all.  Fast forward to the present.....


I would normally wait a few days before calling my doctor but I knew this was something different, something that had to have attention brought to it right away. That's when I put a call into our family doctor.  Now, I know my health insurance has a no-referral-needed policy and I could have immediately gone to an Orthopedic Surgeon but I did not want to go that route just yet. Given that my symptoms were pretty isolated and observing the information on Webmd.com I didnt feel that I would need to go that route just yet - plus, my Family Dr is pretty decent. Needless to say, I had an appointment with the Dr on Wednesday @ 3:30.  I had to wait two days but I already knew I was doing what I needed to be doing in the interim.


Fast forward to Wednesday and the verdict was pretty much what I had anticipated.  I have what one calls an MCL Sprain - a Grade 1 level (There are 3 grades). 

 The Medial Collateral Ligament is the knee ligament located on the inner side of the knee joint. It links the thigh bone and the shin bone. A knee ligament injury is referred to as a sprain, and this knee injury can occur if the knee is twisted or subject to force from an opponent during sport.

 The Medial Collateral Ligament is the large ligament on the inside of the knee that links the thigh bone and the shin bone. Damage to a ligament is referred to as a sprain, and depending on the severity of the injury it is classified as first, second or third degree:

• A first degree sprain is damage to only a few ligament fibres.
• A second degree sprain is damage to a more extensive number of ligament fibres, but the ligament remains intact.
• A third degree sprain is a complete rupture of the ligament. Because of the force involved in this injury other structures in the knee, such as the Meniscus (Cartilage) or the Anterior Cruciate Ligament can also be damaged.

Although any knee injury is bad this one is good because it means it's not severe to where a possible knee surgery is required - such as a Grade 3 injury. When I asked him what I did to cause this he said there was no one specific thing. He feels that it was the combination of all those little things in that one week that just aggravated it and one after the other and it was just too much on it and the MCL Sprain just happened.

After his evaluation, he had said that since I was so fit and that my Quad and Calf muscles were so strong and muscular that he feels that rehabilitation could easily fix the problem.  The prescription:  4 weeks of Knee Rehab, Follow up in 4 Weeks...if still pain or discomfort we'll do an MRI and take it from there but he feels it wont got that far.  Also, because my co-pay is through-the-roof high for PT he said that as long as I promise to go at least three times he trusts me that I can do the PT on my own at home. (YIPPY!!)

So, yeah, having this knee injury really sucks and burns my buns but hey! what am I going to do?!? Needless to say, I've had to put the 5K training on hold. I haven't ran in two weeks and it's driving me mad! I took last week off because of the knee flaring up and knowing it needed rest. Then this happened and this week is a full R.I.C.E week. Next week I'll probably be starting PT and judging by the Goggle Searching I did it appears that I should be able to start doing some sort of running during Week 2 of PT. Fingers crossed for that one! But I'm not going to rush anything. If knee injuries do not take the time to heal properly they will always be reoccuring and we wouldn't want that now would we?

***Don't forget to check out my Zevia Giveaway HERE

Easter Celebrations started early for us. We had more of an Easter Weekend Celebration than an Easter Day Celebration. It all started on Friday.

After work Friday, I came home and we had a visit from Little Bear's Great Aunt Debbie.  She had a special basket just for her.  Of course the Little Bear dived into it too quickly and I couldn't take a snapshot before she attacked it. The aftermath of said basket was this.....


Aunt Debbie filled the basket with a ton of water squirting toys, a pretty floral sundress, a blue marshmellow peep and a few packs of the Welch's Fruit Snacks that she loves.

Little Bear and I had at least two hours of paper filling throwing fun after the festivities were over. Oh the fun that was had and the mess that was made. LOL! I'm just glad it was the paper filling and not that plastic stuff. After the clean up we baked cupcakes together and called it a night.

Saturday we spent the day decorating the cupcakes with yellow icing and Easter/Spring Sprinkles. Oh did she enjoy that!!!! But certainly not as much as the Easter Egg Dying fun that was to be had next.  Little Bear just LOVES to dye the eggs. Last year, she only dyed a dozen. This year she dyed two dozen. Too bad it did not last very long. She was so excited that she went through them all in about 10 minutes or less. Crazy right? 
Yes, my friends, there is a lot of blue and green in there. Little Bear was given tons of colors to chose from. We had Yellow, Blue, Green, Dusty Rose, Violet and Teal. For some reason this year's purple and pink didnt come out very well - not that it would have mattered. Little Bear's favorite color is Blue right now and she associates the dark colors with Blue too so it was only natural for us to have the eggs be mostly that.

I do believe Saturday was exceptionally fun for Little Bear and I'm glad she had such a fun-filled and exciting day. I know Saturday night this Momma Bear was POOPED!!! I think I fell asleep as soon as we put her to bed - 8:30 because I woke up at 10-something and realized I still had to fill the Easter Eggs and get her basket together. Yikes!

Easter Sunday, Little Bear awoke to a purple (her other favorite color) easter egg in the middle of her bedroom floor. "Mommy, what's that?" she said. To which I responded "The Easter Bunny must have come last night. Let's go see." We went to brush our teeth and "Oh My! He must have came, look there's an egg on your stool." Oh the excitment was building for this little one.  She found one more on the landing of our steps and then when we got down the steps she saw all the eggs throughout the family room and living room. (We had our hunt indoors because it was way too cold outside). She loved that she never knew what she would find in the eggs -- stickers, jelly beans or money!

***Don't forget to check out my Zevia Giveaway HERE

I don't know about you but I sure love a good cup coffee - especially in the morning when I arise to start my day. If I do not have that first cup in the morning my day just doesn't get started. Yes, I am one of those people. I just cannot "get with it" without that first cup of joe. My husband, on the other hand, is not a coffee drinker at all. I don't know how he does it.

For years, I've always been a Dunken Donuts gal. Come on, we all know "America Runs on Dunken." haha!(That commercial cracks me up!) But i'm going to be real with ya'll....Dunken Donuts coffee isn't exactly cheap. Whether you go to the store daily to get your fresh brewed, tweaked to your perfection cup or get a bag at your local grocery market and brew it from home it still costs a good chunk of change. Around here, you are paying $7.00 for a 13oz bag if it's on sale. I'm all for paying a few dollars more and getting triple that in coffee. I love me my Dunken but it was time to find an alternative that tasted just as good.  That's when I found it....



 

**Don't forget to check out my Zevia Giveaway HERE

A month ago I was sent a free mixed case of Zevia to sample and review (thanks Margaret!!). I could not wait to try Zevia after I learned that it was a zero calorie, all-natural, sweetened with stevia diet soda. I stopped drinking soda a few years ago (aside from the occasional Cherry Coke Zero. I have a weakness for that stuff) and I have never been a fan of diet soda because of it’s bad rep (chemicals, artificial sweeteners, etc). I do not have my Cherry Coke Zero often but sometimes I have a craving for soda other than the Cherry Coke Zero and so these guys are perfect for me, as well as any other health conscious person who is trying to steer away from soda.

After trying all the flavors I am here to tell you that these diet sodas are not only healthy and all-natural, but they are delicious!

Cola :  I chose this flavor to test first because we all like a good cola. I found this to be less sweet than the regular diet soda. This is a good thing. The sweetness it has is also different in taste. It is a lot less artificial tasting (which should be obvious since there is nothing artificial about it. LOL) If I had to compare it then I would like to say that it tastes more like Diet Coke than Diet Pepsi.


Dr. Zevia: I tried this one next hoping it would be my Dr. Pepper alternative. Thank goodness it did!!! When I am not craving a Cherry Coke Zero it is a Dr. Pepper. I love Dr. Pepper (And the Diet Dr. Pepper tastes just like it!). This version definitely embodied all the flavors of a Dr. Pepper but was less sweet but the overall flavor was outstanding! Yes, I do believe I found my Diet/Dr. Pepper alternative!

Ginger Ale: I am not much of a ginger ale lover but every once in awhile I will indulge. Just like the other flavors thus far it did not disappoint. Tasted just like the usual Ginger Ale's you would drink but without all that yucky stuff inside. There was the tang of ginger but less intense than a regular ginger ale by a smidgen. I also found this soda to have a lot more fizz/carbonation than the other sodas.

Ginger Rootbeer: This tastes mostly like rootbeer but the added ginger flavor really takes it up a notch. It was hard for me to pinpoint exactly what it tastes like. The only thing I can really say is that it tasted really smooooth.

Lemon Twist: I wasn't really a big fan of this one. It did not really have much flavor to it. If they discontinued this flavor I wouldn't miss it or mind.

Black Cherry: Mmm Mmm Good - no Delicious!!! This had A LOT of flavor and just like the Ginger Rootbear it tasted smooothh. The cherry taste wasn’t too strong but it was just enough!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Orange:  I believe that it would be very hard to make an orange soda taste natural. If it did it would taste like orange juice and who wants an orange soda to taste like that? Having said that, this orange soda definately tasted less artificial than any other orange soda i've tried in the past.

************ 

Thank you to Random.Org for helping to chose the winner of my Chobani Giveaway!

True Random Number Generator -
Result: 24

Congratulations Helena Says: 8:37 PM

I found out that it takes 3 pounds of milk to make one pound of Chaboni! I need to win this because I can just taste it already and I know that it will be fabulous!

I will be emailing you later on today for shipping information... Congratulations again, Helena and Thank You to all who entered for making my first giveaway a success!!! I wish you all the best in my future giveaways!

Tuesday -  Crockpot Beef Stew, Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits
Wednesday - Pork Chops and Apple Sauce (Little Bear and I's favorite)
Thursday - Beef Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
Friday - Grillin on the ol' BBQ - Hot Dogs, Mac & Cheese (We did not get to do this last week)
Saturday - Grillin' on the ol BBQ - Hamburgers & Sweet Potatoe Fries (We did not get to do this last week)
Sunday - Loving Leftovers. Spread out a buffet table of all the leftovers from the week’s meals. This means a day-off for the chef!

For a thousand more recipes and hundreds more menu plans, check out I'm" An Organizing Junkie!

***Don't forget to check out my very First Giveaway HERE