"We could not have grown into such a vibrant national movement without each of you who have embraced and elevated our cause. With 460,000 women dying each year, heart disease is still the #1 killer of women in America. But you can do something - for your health, for your life, for the women you love." - American Heart Association

 

 

For more information:
http://www.goredforwomen.org/

 

After being so worried about my heart lately I am so thankful for organizations like this that are doing fund raising, research and providing valuable information to the general public. It will be a simple thing to wear red on Friday. Oh, and for anyone who missed it... my stress test came back just fine and my cholesterol levels are all wonderful. Thank the Lord!

From 8:30am this morning until after 4:30pm I sat in a room with fellow co-workers and we talked about how to improve what we do and make things more efficient and how to communicate better. Let's just say it was a very, very - VERY long day. *smirk*

 

The meeting took place at the Botanical Center so afterwards I took the opportunity to head into the "big bubble" and look at the cactus, flowers, palm trees, the fish pond, waterfall and other summer things before heading out into the winter cold. It was really nice to just wander around and relax. I should do that more often. I took a ton of photos and they are in the new gallery there on the right. Enjoy. =)

 

I am absolutely stunned at the loss of Heath Ledger. One of the greatest young talents in Hollywood - gone.

 

    

 

Yup, it's the darling hubby's birthday! He received balloons and cookies at work today (which I got to deliver as I had the day off due to the state holiday of MLK Day) and then a home cooked meal tonight of turkey meatloaf. Hope that made the day special.

 

*HUGE HUGS* I love ya, babe!

 

 

 

PS: Got a phone call today and my stress test showed my heart is normal. How's that for awesome? What a blessing.

Today was a very medically intensive day... but I think alot was achieved.

 

It started out at the Iowa Health Center at 8:20am with a blood draw. to check various levels. No breakfast for this gal. The gal who did the draw was awesome and got it on the first poke - something not many are able to accomplish thanks to my small and rolling veins.

 

Following the draw I went upstairs for my chemical stress test. The test was made up of getting the IV, chest scans and the injection to stress my heart while walking on a treadmill. It was one of the most intense tests I've ever been through. They start you walking on a treadmill for one minute, then inject the medication for four minutes and then stop it and during the final minute it leaves your system.

 

While that medication is coursing through your veins your legs get so very heavy, my head was lightheaded and my chest burned and tightened up in a way I've never had it do before. I really thought I was going to collapse and that there was no way I was going to be able to complete the test... but I did. Five minutes later I was fatigued but I no longer felt like I was going to collapse. I'm glad it's over with and will be looking forward to the results in the middle of next week.

Grrr.

 

Tonight we are to get even more snow - in the neighborhood of 3-6" of it. And then the bitter cold sets in with single digit temperatures all weekend long. That's after a really windy day on Friday that they say can/will cause blizzard conditions. I get it - Iowa winters can be icky. But dang... can't we just have ONE day of sun and above freezing temp? I find myself staring at www.cubs.com just to dream of warm weather and the boys of summer.

 

In other news - work is busy. I mean really busy. Everything from general updates to new web applications, finishing up the installation of the new Google Search feature, changing ALL email addresses to our new extension, updating each of our 6,000+ pages and 12,000+ documents... etc. Crazy. It's proving to be even busier time then around the State FAir - and that's saying something!

 

I continue to struggle with some health issues and am seeing some new doctors. If you need a name of a good cardiologist - I found one on the west side of Des Moines. Good doctors aren't always easy to find. Hopefully we'll get things figured out soon and I'll get to be just a normal person again. It's getting so very, very old.

 

Hope each of you are well in your part of the world!

This off and on snow, fog, bitter cold and lack of sunlight is really starting to mess with my head. I'm one of those people who have a bit of a seasonal disorder and I swear my headaches and anxiety increase with every day that I deal with the cloudy skies and winter blahs. The sun will come out... hopefully tomorrow.

 

       

Went out on Friday afternoon for late muzzleloader and hoped to get my second deer - but ended up just freezing my hiney. The wind was also pretty bad and I was thankful I wear glasses or my eyes would have frozen open. Saw and heard a lot of turkeys but no deer. They were the smarter then we were and stayed down where it was warmer. Score one for the deeer.

 

And here's a shot from the treestand with the temp showing 36'F in the background. Brr!

 

Today is only a half day at work as I'm hitting the woods this afternoon and going to try for another doe to finish out my first hunting season. I'm very thankful that the weather has warmed up a touch as the past few days haven't just been cold - they've been bitter! I'll let you all know how things end up.

I'll be braving the cold tonight to head over to my local elementary school to Caucus for the Democrats. I'm pretty sure who my candidate will be - but as of this moment I would still say I'm undecided. It's a bad position when one candidate doesn't seem to jump out at you and says "I'm the one you want." There's pieces of each candidate that I like but I'm not seeing a whole package deal. We'll see how it goes.

 

That being said - I didn't think I'd have to think about it until after work tonight. However, first thing this morning as I stopped for my morning bagel and found myself behind a group of 3 FOX news reporters. Then, the Interstate was really busy and I counted three satellite trucks, a "Mitt Mobile" and a CNN truck. Also, hanging on some of the overpasses were large sheets that read "vote McCain." The capitol complex is buzzing with a ton of news media and Iowa is currently in the middle of everything. Tonight should be entertaining.