Signs of a stroke

I found this on another site and thought I should post it for you to read. Since we have a family history it is a good thing to know.

A Little Background Story:

During a BBQ, a woman stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening

Jane's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Jane passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Jane would be with us today. Some don't leave this world, they can end up in a helpless, difficult condition instead. It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist said that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions, remember the signs, STR:

• S *Ask the individual to SMILE.
• T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
• R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call an emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

Flea Market Fancy Freaks

I have found a new blog called Flea Market Fancy Freaks (what a name) and they are having a fabulous giveaway. Check it out!

I am old :)

I have just now, this second decided I am old. I am tired of waiting for this arbitrary distinction of age to get here. I want to do all the fun things that come with "being old."

When you are old you are not crazy or weird, but a cute little old lady. (Ok--- so I am not little. But in so declaring myself old then that will happen automatically. Now. NOW! Come on (insert amazingly small number here) pounds fall off. ..... now........)

I want people to look at me and ask if they can help to lift that 40 pound bag of dog food into the bed of my truck. I want people to think it is "precious" that I drive a truck. I can not tell you how many times grown strong men have passed me by in the parking lot while I struggle to heave the bag up out of my cart. Now that I am declaring myself old, I can stop said young hunks and ask for their assistance. After all I am now a "cute old lady."

I can wear tennis shoes to church. With my Sunday best dress. It will not be disrespectful but eccentric

I can eat cold lasagna for breakfast. I already do that. But now it is not strange.

And I can carry cute hand bags. Like this

Little House Pouch Tutorial and not be thought of as odd.



Yes I am old.

It's a wrap

This week at our church is vacation Bible school. A lady from our class called and asked if Jim or I would teach and I told her that I am sorry but we both realized a long time ago that working with children is definitely not where God is calling us to serve, that we are just not children people. She stammered and said "No one has ever been that honest with me before."

I have been feeling guilty because thus far I have not really served much in this church.

On Sunday a different lady said that she was needing food for the workers while they are on break. Yay-- right up my alley. Tuesday I took 4 dozen cookies and a coconut pound cake. The problem with taking a cake is that you can not snitch some for yourself. I need to make another one of those-- the smell is wonderful.

Today I took 6 dozen wraps. What fun they are to make. So girlie. And bonus--- easy to snitch one for your own lunch! As usual I did not taste test them until well after they were delivered. I made two different kinds:

Grilled chicken and artichoke

flour tortilla
chicken breast strips grilled in olive oil, lightly floured (salt pepper to taste)
cream cheese
sweet onion grilled in olive oil
artichoke hearts 1 can rinsed, pressed dry and chopped
chopped Romaine leaves

cut chicken in to thin strips then assemble ingredients on flour tortilla, roll into tube now roll into a piece of parchment paper. Secure with toothpicks one on each end, cut in half on an angle and viola!

Chicken Bacon Avocados

flour tortilla
chicken breast strips grilled in olive oil, lightly floured (salt pepper to taste)
ranch dressing (made from sour cream-- it is thicker than from a jar)
cooked bacon cut into1/2 inch strips
Swiss cheese cut into 1/2 inch strips
avocado cut into 1/2 inch strips
shredded Romaine lettuce
assemble as described above

Now that I have eaten them for my lunch I can tell you that I liked the avocado wrap better. The artichoke was good but not flavorful enough . Maybe the cream cheese needed some spice mixed in. Or maybe I needed to leave out the Romaine and add more artichoke.

I will try again someday. For now I need to clean up my kitchen. Blech!!!

Keyboard

My wonderful husband bought me a new keyboard that is raised in the middle. It is made to reduce hand stress such as carpal tunnel. It makes your hands turn inward thus your arms are resting on the desk.

My typing style is the hunt and peck method. I am actually quite fast with this method. This hill and valley thing has totally thrown me off my game. I can not tell you how many mistakes I am making (more than my usual spelling atrocities.)

I love Poog, and he certainly meant well. Poog likes to buy me things. He is not a shopper, but if he happens to be at a place that is selling something I often end up with a gift. Just so you know my husband is a workaholic. The only place he goes to is work.

One year I received a lot of jewelry. Some of it was cute and fashionable. Some of it, not so much. Turns out that his place of business was hosting crafters in the lobby on Fridays. My husband bought me a necklace set and when I loved it he thought he had hit the gift-giving-without-having-to-think mother lode. I received 6 gifts that year all jewelry, all from the same crafter. The last one was a pink daisy on a black cord. In my tween's, when I thought of myself as a hippie, I would of loved it, but I think I have grown a bit since then. (Though I still wear a pair of fun earring I bought when I was 15.) After the pink flower BD gift I asked Poog if his stash was depleted. He confessed 'Yes' the pink flower necklace was the dregs. I thanked God, and Poog, and told him I was well set up with costume jewelry for awhile.

My husband's job takes him to trade shows and conferences. Poog is a computer engineer (geek). I have a plethora of Microsoft gizmo's. Coffee mugs, flashlights, flashlight pens, flashing light pens, flashing light flying discs. Flashing is a very big product advertisement strategy in the geek world. Microsoft is great but I wish my husbands work would take him to a antique dishware fair. Or maybe advertise by giving cute crocheted hot pads.

This raised in the middle keyboard that I am typing on is a gift from his last conference. Sweet, sweet thought but it is making my typing slow and my wrist hurt. Go figure!

You know, lets nix the advertising on crocheted hot pads idea. I don't want a Microsoft logo on my hot pad. I can see them now, in each double crochet a little LED light flashing to illuminate the bottom of your glass casserole dish.

Whoa---actually---- the geeks might be on to something.

Turtle

Warning this is sad.

We have a few acres of land on which we would like to graze a couple of cows. Mostly I want the cows so that I can have the agricultural exemption on our property taxes. I also want them so my as yet unconceived grandchildren will have something to pet and feed Dandelions to. Dandelions I have a lot of.

It has been raining every other day for the past month. This is truly a blessing, the grass is growing, the wildflowers are gorgeous and the lakes are totally full. The problem is that the ground has been too wet to mow with the tractor. A heavy tractor can really rip up the ground. On Saturday it was finally dry enough for me to knock down some of the taller vegetation.

Monday morning I and my pup Reggie were out enjoying the morning. I am trying to give Reggie a bit more freedom thus I am letting him wander without a leash but with a large jingle bell clipped to his collar. Reggie kept going over to an area that was out of my sight as I sat crocheting a baby blanket (also for my as yet unconceived grandchild). I would go get him, get his attention focused on something in the front yard where he was in my sight and then go back to my rocking/crocheting. Reggie kept wandering back. After we had preformed this little dance about 3 times I decided to look at what had his interest. There on the freshly mowed ground was the bottom half of a turtle. The top had apparently been caught in the blades of the mower. Such a sad sight to my eyes, but pure heaven to a puppy. I got the shovel and disposed of all of the parts I could find.

Today Reggie is still sneaking off to that area of the land, called by his curiosity, I tell myself, surely not by his hunger.

Rain

It's a rainy day and I can't go out and play. Who needs the rain anyway?

This is a rain song that my children and I would sing when we were cooped up and going stir crazy. I don't know if I made it up or if it is off of Sesame Street or some such show. We would all sing the line and then someone would say an answer like "the trees." Then we would all sing the line again. Of course the fun in this was to try to come up with new and unique answers like "the earthworm." I know, you are thinking 'the earthworm' is unique? Yes it is, when the captive player is 5.

I have been singing this song a lot this week. I am no longer feeling blessed by all those things that need the rain. They and their precious rain are starting to get on my nerves!

Then tonight the sky cleared and I saw a hint of blue-- right before the sun went down.
I am dreaming of tomorrow and planting Zinnia seeds on my hillside for the forth time! I have become the Johnny Appleseed of Zinnias. If you are between Dallas and Houston and see Zinnias growing along the creek beds, I, the rain and my barren waterlogged hillside are to thank. This month I have personally kept the Burpee seed company in business.

The sun will come up tomorrow. The weatherman on TV is being a naysayer but I have hope. I saw the blue of the sky and all is right with the world.