Gastric sleeve surgery Dec.2 2015

I arrived the day before surgery along with my friend Robyn (also a patient). We came down with our husbands to do this journey together.. They checked us into the hotel rooms that we would be in for the duration of our stay. The next day (day of surgery)they transported us to the hospital to check in with the cardiologist, blood work and etc. Because I am older and they wanted to make sure I was a safe candidate for surgery, and it had been a couple years since my last EKG, so they took me to another medical facility to have an Echo cardiogram.. Everything turned out wonderful, and I was treated extremely well by everyone I came into contact with. 
 There were four of us ladies to have surgery that day, Heather (also from WA state, and Tammy from Texas, Robyn and I.. The others went before me, and I got back to the hospital just in time to meet Dr. Alonzo before I was whisked away to surgery.. No time for pictures with him.. =( The hospital was very clean, and the nurses were very good at what they do.
 The next afternoon we were transported back to the hotel, where we were greeted by our nurse with jello and apple juice. note:the restaurant at the hotel provided free broth throughout our stay. Later that day, our group went shopping! Yes shopping!! 
 Two weeks down the road I wish I had some of that energy! OMG!! I am sluggish, gassy/bloated and feeling sleepy all of the time.. Thinking we may have been slipped and energy cocktail in our daily IV of Antibiotics and pain meds... LOL I need some bad!! 
 My primary reasons for the gastric sleeve was because my Diabetes was getting out of control as well as my eating habits.. My blood sugar even with taking Metformin 2x a day reached 218, and it was bouncing all over the place, but never under 140,, Plus,,I could not stop eating even when I was full.. Dr Amonzo assured me after surgery I would not need to be on any medicine.. And he was so right!! 12 days post op- No medicine and my bs is under control and steady in the 89-109 range. YAY!! 
 The second reason my appetite... My cravings at this point are fleeting, they are gone before I know it.. Hubby is able to cook and eat in front of me and it does not bother me in the least. My husband was able to sabotage my diet before, now he cannot.. There is just no room in my tummy to take more than one or two small bites at a time.. I am going to make darn sure they are worth it!!
 If anyone reading this has any doubts about having this surgery for your health sake, just do your homework to make sure it is right for you.. I had doubts and plenty of them.. Surgery is a huge step, and doing it out of the country is huge.. My family was very much opposed to me doing it and thought I was out of my mind.. Granted I had my age going against me, plus I had a stroke last year.. But I did do my homework without them knowing, and when my BS hit 219 after Thanksgiving, I knew what I had to do to save my life.. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.. I believe this surgery will add years to my life. My mom is 93 years old and I expect to be around at least that long.

Counting down until Gastric sleeve surgery.

Scrap Kits - 5 of them!

Okay,,, I have been very busy trying to play catch-up here... =) Because I have had 3 computer crashes in the past 3 years, and hubby's retirement, I lost interest in PSP. Seems like I would just get all set up to play and I would have to start all over again.. Although when we went on the road with our motor home, I would bring my external hard drive, and I would save some of the scraps I created (when we didn't have wi_fi). =) Well,, because I was afraid of losing all of my goodies, I have put them all together and am posting them here, finally.. Hope you can use them.. Same TOU, for personal use only.. If by chance you use them in a tut please send peeps here to download.. Thanks & enjoy! Discovery Bay - Pictures that I took when on vacation in Discovery Bay, WA Download HERE BlueJeans Baby FIBJ - HERE Twinkle me please - HERE Twinkle Me Blue - HERE Sunflowers - HERE

Dianne Sierra's Clam Chowder Recipe

I made Clam Chowder for my ailing hubby today and a friend asked for my recipe.. So sharing here as well.. Enjoy! Dianne Sierra's Clam Chowder (I prefer fresh steamed clams, but use canned when not available, as I did here) 3 - 6.4 (184g Tuna sized cans) Canned Minced Clams 5 slices bacon cut into pieces and lightly browned 8 medium/large Red potatoes quartered and thinly sliced (w most of the Skin ON) 1/2 med Onion diced 1 Carrot diced 3 ribs Celery diced 1 Cup half and half 1 Cube Butter 4/5 T. Flour Salt and Pepper to taste *Oyster Crackers for garnish *Optional ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cook Bacon and set aside.. Prep all veggies At the same time.. Prepare potatoes and place in a large pot and just barely cover them with the JUICE drained off the canned Clams and a little water (but not too much water please) Cook potatoes , bring to a soft boil and simmer only as long as it takes the other saute veggies to soften.. You do not want them mushy.. In a saute pan add the whole cube of butter, celery, carrot and onion, salt and pepper. Saute on medium heat until softened. Stirring to keep from browning. Next: Spoon the veggies to the potato pot( but save the butter in the saute pan), and continue to simmer Chowder on low... Add the flour to the butter (in the saute pan) and stir it until it is smooth and well blended (about 2-3 minutes on med heat), add the cup of half and half (or heavy cream)slowly and stiring until smooth. I like to use a wooden spoon when I cook. Add this mix to the simmering potato pot and stir well 2-4 minutes, then add 2/3rds of the Bacon, stir, then when all is well blended, add the minced clams, Stir. Done! note: If the Chowder is too thick, add a little more half and half before you add the clams.. Do not cook the clams for long, they turn to rubber, so add them just before serving the chowder.. The clam flavor really comes from the juice from the clams that goes in at the beginning with the potatoes.. Serve with a few Oyster crackers and a few crumbles of reserved Bacon for a garnish.. Approx 6 lg. servings Total time about 30-45 minutes for me.. Enjoy I make this minus the clams and juice, for my Potato Soup or Italian Sausage Soup, you can also make Potato and Ham soup.... Just saying it is a great soup base recipe, one I concocted many years ago.. Enjoy!!!! ************************************************************************ ♥

and More

Hope you all can use at least some of these.. Enjoy ♥ Di

More Masks

Masks

I have been playing around and made some masks.. This is still new to me, so please be kind.. Just click to bring up and then right click to save to your computer.. Enjoy! ♥ Dianne

Cheryl's Garden

The widget on the side here is my friend Cheryl's garden.. She entered it in a contest.. Please vote for her. It is a tight race, and she would sure appreciate your vote. Thank you.
Hugs, Dianne

I was told that the masks were not in the kit.. So I will post them here.. Enjoy!

Golden Steam Punk Freebie

While I haven't done any PSP for some time.. I decided to try making a scrap kit again.. It has a steam punk theme.. Hope you all like it.. There is the link for download in the title of this post... Besides papers and elements, there is also shapes, a tag back, and 2 masks all made by me.. ♥ Enjoy!!


Here is a tag made by me using this kit.. I used the amazing artwork of Irina G.
she is a PTU artist..

Songs from the heart.. Darren T

My SIL's brother is a country singer/songwriter.
He has 2 videos posted on You Tube.
His name... Darren T. Maddy
Hope you will stop by and give a listen..
He is a real sweetheart of a guy, and really deserves to have his music heard..
When I was still working, Darren would come there guitar in hand, and he would say, I wrote a song Di, and I want you to hear it..
For all of those wonderful times, this is for you Darren T.. Lubsya

Here

and

Here

Sorry I have not been here lately, but my real life has been a real mess..


So there hasn't been much spare "me" time..


Thank you so much Gaylene for using my Polka Dot scrap kit in a tutorial.. This my very first, and I am thrilled beyond words.. You sure made it look good girl.. To do Gaylene's tut go HERE
Example tag is shown above..
Hope life is treating you all well..
Take care..
Hugs,
Dianne

An example tag

Here is an example tag I made using my latest kit posted just below this..

I used the incredible art of Dominic Marco.. You can purchase his tubes at CILM.

CILM has reduced the prices for some of their tubes.. BTW..

Hugs,

Dianne

New FTU Scrapkit ~ Polka Dots, Hearts, N Flowers

New FTU Scrapkit ~
Polka Dots, Hearts, N Flowers
Inspired by my papers in the previous post..
Made by me in PSP using my mouse, PSP tools, and filters..
I would love to see your results using this scrap..
Hugs,
Dianne


Download HERE

Includes:
9 papers
7 frames
3 flowers
2 swags
3 buttons
4 beads
3 heart clusters/tags
3 Bows
3 ribbons

Papers Freebie

Some Polka dot papers for you..

Download

HERE

Holy Moley!!!

My blogspot has been invaded by the MUNCHKINS!!
LMAO!!

St. Pat's Freebie

Freebie frame for St. Patricks day..
Tis a special day for me every year, because it is my birthday..
Oh how I have missed my PSP time..
I did this as a PNG file, if anyone has trouble getting it to open, please let me know by leaving me a message in my Shout Box here on this page,, and I will use a different format..
Hugs,
Dianne

Download HERE

Frame Freebie

I was playing today in PSP to reduce some stress, and came up with this.. Decided to post it here, as well as a challenge at PSP Hideaway.
Hope you like..
Hugs,
Dianne

Download HERE

Sorry I had not been around to post here..
As I mentioned before, my hubby had a stroke in January, then he had another one less than 3 weeks later..
He is doing great for what he has been through, but as you can imagine, it has turned our world upside down..
He will never be able to return to his position at work, as a crew lead and HEO operator.. Here we are less than 6 months until retirement.. Hubby will be 62 in June..
Just wanted to explain where I have been..
Have a good day, and I hope you like my freebies, when I can manage to put one up here for you...
BTW, I would love to see what peeps do with them..
Hugs,
Dianne