back to bloggin'!

Oh my! It's been almost two years since I last posted here on my blog. I thought I'd come back to blogging again and this time to pen about my quest to becoming active and healthy person.

I've been struggling with the ups and many downs of  the weights I gained within the 12 years span and because I didn't manage it early on it took a toll on my health and developed Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) and in a pre-diabetes stage. I don't want to bombard my FB wall since I tend to write a pretty long story so this is where blog wall comes in handy.

Here's the story:
Over a year ago I was prescribed a blood pressure medicine which I have been taking ever since...well except for the times I missed taking it.  Early this year I started having funny symptoms like unusual heart racing, fainting/passing out and very high blood pressure readings. One recent morning I started feeling these symptoms again and after taking my bp medicine and monitored my blood pressure it became alarming when my pulse went as high as 130 bpm while at home. By the time I got to the ER my pulse were up to about 160 bpm. Although I was still aware of my surrounding, I couldn't move or talk and my heart felt like it was gonna jump out of my skin. I don't know what the doctor said to the nurses or what to give me or put in my IV but my heart/pulse finally calmed down.
They kept me overnight and went through all these testing..EKG, MRI, CT, stress test and numerous blood tests. They poked me until my left arm is bruised. Not only they wrapped both of my legs in a blood-pressure-like pump,

they also pricked me with medicine-filled syringes needles in my stomach, twice, to prevent blood clot. I also wore a heart monitor overnight for obvious reasons.

After all the test were done, they didn't find anything alarming with my heart so that was great news. But what they found early on was my Potassium levels were alarmingly low, 2.1, caused by diuretics bp type medicine...so they gave me these HUGE pills at different times to take to bring up my Potassium before I left the hospital and was prescribed 50 mg of Beta-blocker.

And this Beta-blocker? I'll tell you more about it next time.

journally yours,
Gem

beading frenzy! (1)

After: Gemstone chips bracelet with accents closure

hi blogger world! I have been busy making jewelry from beads...some I made from my own ideas. You know those ideas running in your head while looking at tools in front of you then have that "aha!" moment. And while it's still fresh in your mind your hand started working and finishing that "sculptured" you pictured in your mind and voila! there it is...your finished masterpiece!
I am posting the before and after pictures  of jewelries I made from beads.

gemstone chips before

green glass beads before...

After: Matching earrings:
Swarovski crystal with green glass beads earrings

After: green glass beads necklace

Victorian necklace with clear crystal accents

Monalisa necklace with sheer ribbons and chains

I have more..will blog about it on my next post. I also want to thanks those who visited my blog and left comments a while back. I will be checking your blogs soon!
journally yours,
Gem~

P.S.
One day while taking a nap my sweet female cat "Mahiya" was taking care of me:

Here's one for my bucket lists

Today marked the 3rd day I'll be exercising. It's a combination of walking and running. My pace is slow as I'm just starting to get back to it. I started 3 days ago in the early evening exercising for at least a half hours and when I got home I REALLY felt good! Felt good that I'm ready to go full force back into exercising. I started drinking water too and it was very hard not to drink soda. I am also praying that I don't fall off  the wagon this time as I fell SO many countless times. The good thing about falling off is that I can ALWAYS get back up. Might have a little bruises here and there but that's what I get from falling off the wagon...imagine me falling off of it on my back and doing a tumble!

-motivation quote-

my scale is not even showing numbers!

Ouch!!!

There are SO many blogs I have to catch up reading. And I will get there. Meanwhile I'll be grabbing new friends from "Grab a friend Blog Hop" hosted by Noors and Aree.

                    ....and here's my Wordless Wednesday blog hop from Sincerely, Paula

R.I.P. Auntie

Her 66th birthday. May 2013

My aunt passed away this Sunday around 12noon. She had a headache the night before and took pain reliever. But the next day she  was very drowsy and Cheryl (my cousin/her daughter) told her not to sleep and left to pick up her 6 yrs.old daughter. When they came home she found her passed out on the floor. She never woke up ever since they rushed her to the emergency room. She died of aneurysm. She was 66 years old. She lived in the Philippines but we were very close to each other and even lived with her family when my sister and I were young. When my mom (her sister) and my sister and I moved here in the U.S. we communicate with them through letters and sending pictures of our lives but lost contact. After many years of lost communication I found my cousin on Facebook and have been in touch with them ever since. I got to see my aunt on Skype over a month ago and little did I know it will be the last time I will see her face and hear her voice. My sister was lucky to be able to see her in person because she went to the Philippines not long ago.
Years ago I wrote a poem:


"Love Ones"
There is going to be a moment in your day
Where you will suddenly realized
I am not there to see, to touch, or talk to.
That moment will be filled with sorrow, tears and longing..
You might even regret the times we'd never get to share,
All these you will feel the moment I joined God in heaven.

You see I didn't want to go..
Because I know I'm going to miss you too.
But when HE called for my name & held me by the hand,
"My daughter, it's time for you to come...I'm taking you to my promised land"
"No hunger, no pain, no past to look back.
"There is no tomorrow to worry & hurt.
I knew then that today will always last..it's all the eternity my heart desires.

So now I am with HIM and I see your eyes filled with tears...
Oh how I long to wipe the tears and wrapped you tenderly.
Please my dearest loveones, be not in despair
But if you must grieve..I ask you to not let these
....hinder you from all the wonderful things that's left for you to fullfill.

I know how much you love me....
You've shown me in many ways.
You are my blessings, and remembered I will always be
by love ones & friends, by you, most specially.

When it seems solace is so distant away...
That neither the arms of a friend
Or a love one's shoulder can comfort you,
Please close your eyes and envelope yourself
With the times of our lives filled with love, laughter & tears
and that moment I will be...right here in your heart.

Rest In Peace Auntie..until we meet again.
Gem

coffee break heaven

What is YOUR favorite ice cream flavors? I like strawberry and coffee ice cream flavors. I have been looking all over for Blue Bunny's premium "Double Strawberry" flavor but couldn't find them anywhere. A few days ago I looked for it again and still nowhere to be found. Instead I found this:

"Coffee Break" ice cream flavor by Blue Bunny.

My eyes lit up as soon as I saw it! a coffee! an ice cream coffee! Oh this is gonna be heaven! What I'm happier about is that my family only likes vanilla and chocolates ice cream so this means I get to eat this ice cream all to myself...yum! (and no this is NOT a paid reviews lol!)

Our home's AC unit finally shot down after 10 years and needed a new one put in. Well the night before, my dear husband moved the clothes, baskets and bins sitting in our closet/bedroom out of the way so the guys coming in to replace the AC unit can go through our bedroom and get up to the other side of attic.


This is what he left me to do on MY day off:

I know..I know...I cringed too looking at these pictures. SO messy and SO much to do!

Now you are probably wondering why on earth would I post pictures of my messy room for all the world to see? The answer is simple: I am doing this so I can see it myself. yeah, I know I DO see it in person but it's different looking at it in the picture. It's like being outside looking in. Seeing how messy it is in the picture motivates me to clean up because after all I have to show/post an after picture that I cleaned up the room right? Right.

So...here's the after pictures. Go ahead...take a peek. 

 Looked much better huh? It's cleaned and organized. And....oh look! I even made the bed.

Retail Funnies:
While I was a greeter, a father and daughter walked in..as usual I greeted them with a smile and handed them the sales flyer:
Me: "Welcome to our store...everything's 50 percent off today."
Daughter: "everything?"
Me: "yes..everything.." (while the dad was looking I pointed out an example of the sales)
Daughter: "Dad! did you hear that? Everything's 50 percent off!"
Dad: "yeah..give me back my credit card."

journally yours,
gem

native dessert..yum!

Well here's the latest pic of me. My hair is looking better now than it was a month ago. The recent haircut was botched. The lady just kept cutting my hair I had to tell her to stop..that it's short enough. I guess this is what I get for about $13.95 haircut. I'm never going back there.
TGIF!! I'm off this weekend and MUST do my project...I have no excuse not to do it. I can't take it anymore. You're probably wondering what it is I'm going crazy about. Hint: Cleaning and Organizing a part of my home. Ugh! lot's to do but it must be done if I want to keep my sanity. More on these later.

If you don't know yet I'm originally from the Philippines and came to US when I was 14 years old. So I still missed the native food which I learned how to make when I got married and started having kids. I make Lumpia  (eggrolls) and a few native desserts that are filled with sugar like the one I made pictured here. It is called Banana-que. Plantain Bananas are usually fried whole and it's eaten with a stick like barbeque. But the plantain that are sold in groceries here are longer than what is grown in the Philippines. My family likes it covered in eggroll wrapper but since I didn't have any available I just cut the plantain in pieces and fried it in caramelized brown sugar. So guess who's eating it all? Me. :)
Have a great weekend!
journally yours,
Gem

Philippine Plantain Banana

-Banana Que-Fried whole plantain
smothered with caramelized brown sugar.

Plantain cut in pieces fried in caramelized brown sugar.

Sweet Day Blog

When you have the chance, head on over to my daughter's blog-->>Rules On Being A Friend.