I saw my friend at the grocery store yesterday that has been smoke free for 5 months. She and I talked about some of the problems we both have been experiencing since stop smoking. One of the things is being constipated. I know a lot of people do not like to talk about this subject. The other problem she has is low energy. With all the toxins we had put in our bodies all the years, we need to find a way to help detoxify our bodies more. One way is through Colon Cleanse.

I would want an all natural colon cleanser that I could take in a capsule form. Today with more toxins in our environment, it is essential to detoxify our bodies by eliminating alcohol, cigarettes, refined sugar, saturated fats and unnecessary waste. By this elimination, our bodies can start healing from the irritation and low energy. I sure look forward to feeling better more and having more energy plus help my diabetes.

Miss Kitty stayed by my side all evening long. She wouldn’t let me out of her sight for one minute. Around a little after midnight, she started waddling when she walked. She went up to both her son, Baby, and daughter, Noel, that I kept from her previous litter over two years ago. She kissed and licked both of them lovingly in the face and around their neck. Returned by my side and looked at me with the most funniest look on her face. Seem to be telling me that she was going into labor with the little noises she was making. Her way of talking to me.

Miss Kitty started giving birth at 1:55 AM to her first kitten in this litter that is gray. Since Miss Kitty is such a small frame cat, I watched her to make sure she was not having any difficulty. She tended to her newest kitten so lovingly. The miracle of birth amazes me even if it is a cat. Our pets bring so much love to us.

Within 8 minutes, she gave birth to her second kitten, a solid black colored. As she tended to this next newest kitten, the first one was already starting to wander off. I was in awe at how this beautiful newborn kitten had so much strength in its front paws and legs to pull itself around some distance minutes after being born.

Then another 18 minutes passed before she delivered her third kitten. It is pure white. All the years I have had cats and some of my cats have given birth to a litter, there has never been a white kitten.

I have waited over an hour to see if she is going to have anymore kittens. I thought for sure she was going to have 4 or 5 kittens in this litter, because her belly was so big and round. Think it is time for bed. I am very tired. Well, I’ll be, she just had her fourth kitten right now at 3:47 AM. Miss Kitty must be tired as she is not cleaning this last kitten as quick as she did the other ones. I am concerned since this one took so long to arrive in the world, there is something wrong with it. It is going on 4:15 AM now and I had a “talk” with her about caring for this one. She seemed to sense what I was saying and starting to take care for this beautiful multi colored kitten.

I need to take care of myself by getting some sleep. Will check later when I get up if there are anymore kittens. I have promised my family I will not be keeping any of these kittens. It is going to be hard to do as they are all so cute, especially the white one.

Update as of this morning, at 4:55 AM as I was getting ready to go to bed, Miss Kitty had a fifth kitten that is cream colored. This kitten is doing great. I am still concerned about the fourth kitten as it is so much more tinier than the rest of them. It is the runt.

When planning to move back to Florida, I have to consider an auto transport company to relieve me from all the driving stress. It would take approximately 29 hours on the road driving by myself. It sure would be easier for me to fly and have an auto carrier bring my vehicle to Florida. I want to be sure that the company is licensed, bonded and has proper certificate of insurance since my vehicle will be transported on the interstate and several states away. CarMovers.com can provide me with free shipping quotes on whether I want to use an open or closed carrier to transport my vehicle and to my door or to a nearby terminal.

I have definitely over did it shoveling concerning my neck, shoulders and lower back. My doctor warned me to be careful with my lower lumbar area due to the spinal stenosis. According to the spinalstenosis.org’s explanation:

A condition due to narrowing of the spinal cord causing nerve pinching which leads to persistent pain in the buttocks, limping, lack of feeling in the lower extremities, and decreased physical activity.

I don’t like to limit myself physically sometimes or I simply forget I have it as I have lived with this condition for a number of years. Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) affects over 500,000 people, usually over 60 years of age. There are 2 types of LSS, degenerative stenosis and congenital lumbar stenosis. I have congenital lumbar stenosis. Congenital lumbar stenosis usually affect people between 30 and 40 and is rare.

I am going to take a hot shower and rest today more.

I am very picky about what kind of coffee I drink. I have been drinking coffee for over 30 years. I found a website, Carolina Coffee Company that carries the finest hand picked Arabica coffee beans that are high quality and hand roasted. After reading about the Owens family and the principles of their company, it is exciting to find a company that cares about their coffee bean quality and process of delivering the coffee packaged straight from the roaster to their customer. They offer different blends of gourmet coffee. I love the gift baskets. They are so creative with the different variety of baskets.

What a day this has been! Having to shovel the sidewalks and work on getting our vehicles uncovered from the snow and ice of last night. I lost a lot of sleep from the snow plows continuously working through the night to clear the main streets around our city and county. About the time I got into a good sleep, another plow would come down the street scraping and banging waking me again.

I was not a happy camper when I had to get up this morning. My brain was telling me I needed some good sleep. My body was aching from these temperature changes. Then having to do the physical work to remove the ice off the windows of our vehicles and get the doors open is a real pain. I have some spray de-icer that works okay at getting the doors unsealed but not the best on the windows. It refreezes quickly on glass

Tonight, my youngest daughter called and asked to come early to pick her up from work due to it was raining a icy mixture there. As I went out of my house, I could see that my sidewalk was starting to ice over. I quickly threw some ice melt down. I definitely have a fear of falling and breaking my leg or any bone. Anyway when driving to pick her up, half way there the weather conditions had worsened. I could only drive 10 to 15 MPH on one of the major roads. I saw other vehicles ahead of me hitting on their brakes and sliding on curves ahead. So I drove slow and careful.

After picking up my daughter, I explained the reason I was late getting there because of the road conditions.  Since my daughter is just now starting to learn to drive in these wintry conditions, I had a serious talk with her about not driving so fast and to drive slower and let her foot off the gas if she starts to slide or fish tail. She confessed that while she was driving home last night with her boyfriend, she had slide and fish tailed 3 times. She said she remember me telling her not to slam on the brake when either of these situations happen. Her boyfriend even asked her to slow down. Maybe his plea and my words of advice, she will finally listen.

I have collected recipes and cookbooks ever since I was a little girl. Over the years, I have shared many of my recipes. I found a great website www.foodconnect.com that is a social networking site. As a member, I can share my recipes in a wide variety of categories. I can search through other member’s recipes. If a recipe is not on the site, I can submit a request for it. Members are able to rate and review the recipes.

They have many diabetic recipes available. This pleases me as I am always looking for new ways to cook meals.

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Already 3 inches of snow has fallen tonight according to my measuring stick. The weatherman just announced that around 5 AM tomorrow morning to expect ice. I don’t like ice storms. I think about my left leg being broken last year in February.

When I look out the window tonight at the falling snow, I got to thinking about last night getting to see the Total Lunar Eclipse.  It was amazing to watch such a beautiful site as the colors were changing on the moon. The stars were bright for a while till clouds appeared or the darkness overcoming the moon. The next  Total Lunar Eclipse is Dec. 21, 2010 and is expected to last for 3 hours 29 minutes compared to last night’s 50 minutes. Tonight is the full moon but it is snowing so much, we can’t see the moon or the stars.

The salt trucks and snow plows are going to be coming and going on the streets around town. We are already hearing them as they scrape the pavement. They also cause more potholes in the pavement having to scrape so close to get the snow and ice off. Will take months for our city to fill the potholes with new asphalt. It is near midnight and it continues to snow. It means the snow plows will be making a lot of noise throughout the night. I sure am going to be lacking on my sleep tonight. Someone just drove a snowmobile down our street, oh my! I doubt there will be any school tomorrow. I will be surprised if there is with the amount of snow that has fallen and continues to plus the ice that is due to come. My youngest daughter will love being able to spend more time with her boyfriend.

I have been thinking of moving for several years in the near future back to Florida. I have missed my daughter, friends, the Gulf of Mexico and beaches. Being disabled and on Social Security income limits me on how much I can save towards moving. Owning a house and deciding when to move takes a lot of planning, having to find a motivated realtor that would work with my needs would take lots of my time. With today’s economy, there are many houses for sale on the real estate market and the chances of my house selling quick are slim through a realtor.

I am so excited to find out about IBuyHouses.com. They specialize in buying houses quickly throughout the USA. They offer tips to get you started on the selling process. Knowing that my house can be bought in less than two weeks is terrific. It allows me to plan my move especially during the cold winter months. One of the features I really like with IBuyHouses.com is they are able to not only help me sell my home but find a new home in my new location. They are willing to work with people who have less than perfect credit to find a solution to owning their own home. Using their services seems a perfect solution to me.

The family held a party for Grandma’s birthday at the nursing home. Some of the family had to drive from some distance to attend. We were one of the families that did come from an hour and a half away. We did find the nursing home without much trouble. Grandma had only started living there in the past 6 months. I sure miss going to Grandma’s house. It has been sold now.

It was a delight to see Grandma being surrounded by all the family and friends. Her newest great-great-grandson who is 11 days old. As I watched her hold him in her arms, she looked a little scared. I asked Grandma what was wrong. She told me that she was afraid of dropping him. Someone took the baby from her after asking if she was tired of holding him. Grandma has tremors and is in a wheelchair.

Some of the smaller children from 1 years old to 9 years old played nicely with each other. It is great to see cousins getting to know each other. I remember going to visit my cousins when I was little.

After eating cake and ice cream and opening her cards and presents, we all could see that Grandma was getting tired. The dining room would soon need to be prepared for the evening meal for the residents. Grandma was wanting a nap before dinner.

As I kissed Grandma goodbye and promised to come back and see her soon, she reached up and gave me a big hug and a kiss and told me how much she loves me. She is such an incredible lady and shares her love with so many people and they each know she does love them. Happy Birthday Grandma M!

Birthday parties have their problems with being a diabetic. Most parties do not have sugar free cake and icing or sugar free ice cream. When I have my next party, I am going to surprise everyone with sugar free. They will probably never guess that all is sugar free because with all the wonderful products out on the market now, you can’t tell much of a difference. My favorite ice cream is from Super WalMart, Great Value no sugar added, reduced fat, cherry vanilla, which has pieces of cherry throughout the ice cream. It has only 4g total fat for 1/2 cup serving and the total carbohydrate is 16g. Another product that Super WalMart carries is Great Value Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup which is sweetened with Splenda and has a total carbohydrate of 4 g and 0g Fat for 2 Tbsp. So it is a treat to make my sugar free chocolate “covered” cherry vanilla ice cream sundae.