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dolariAt the last minute, knowing I had a Doctor's Appointment on Monday and canceling the comics for the same day, I suddenly had a very...blank...day ahead of my on Sunday. With my parents putting an unexpected $200 in my bank account ,I decided I at least owed them a visit, and since dressing female-casual didn't seem to register with the general populace at all, I took my chances here. :)
The drive down wasn't anything special, and I got home about 10:30. The folks were happy to see me, and we sat down and exchanged gifts. They gave me four DVDs (Fahrenheit 9/11, Passion of the Christ, Spiderman 2 and Prisoner of Azkaban. I didn't have anything to give back (I forgot my sisters gift, dammit!) except for one thing for dad:
My dad served in Vietnam in the early 70s, and he hardly ever talks about it. I know he does suffer from a mild form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder so I don't know how much to poke or prod him for information about it. He does have stories he likes to tell, about how beautiful the countryside was, or a dinner he and his group had with a Vietnamese family who invited them all in. I also remembered that he really liked C-rations, especially the cocoa from them.
When I was doing the research on the MREs (oh, there she goes again!), I did do some looking around for C-rations for him. While they do still make C-rations (mainly as food served while flying), I couldn't find them anywhere to buy - everyone was more interested in selling MREs. While digging around the pics on the MRE site, I noticed that the toilet paper roll, the matches and salt packets hadn't changed at all since at least 1972. I only hoped that the army hadn't "updated" the cocoa in an MRE. :)
So, for Christmas, I gave him the cocoa packet. I didn't want to give him the MRE because, again, I don't want to poke or prod anything bad from his time in Vietnam, but immediately his eyes just widened up, and he was really really happy that I had managed to find him military grade cocoa. :) And then asked where I got it.
Out came the MRE I dug the cocoa out of, and he was just in complete heaven. "Do these have the...THEY HAVE THE LITTLE TOBASCO SAUCE BOTTLES!" and then he started going on and on about the food in Vietnam, how a lot of it was really good, but some was really terrible (the ham and eggs were horrible!). And he told us stories about what they'd do in Vietnam with the food, mixing and matching cans to make good food (I'd take the pound cake and crumble it into the peaches for cobbler!) and little tricks they'd do (Sometimes we'd get shipped soda, but we weren't supposed to drink water or ice from the locals, so we'd roll it in their freezers!) He seemed really happy, and he took two of my MREs as presents. My sister took two as well and had one on the spot. He also wants me to pick up some for his truck.
All in all, it was a good Christmas with the folks. No griping, no angry, no off kilter moments. Everything was good. :)
Unfortunately, all was not to be good.
Monday morning, I went to the doctor for a follow up to my blood test and hormone shot. The shot went without a hitch, but my blood work, well...while I had lost three pounds since my last visit, tryglycerides had sudenly showed up in my blood, my LDL Cholesterol level was up and, worst of all, my blood sugar was up. He immediately put me on TriCor for the tryglycerides, wanted to up my Toprol and told me I really needed to check the sugar in my diet. He wnats me back in two weeks for a followup because he is worried about me developing Type II Diabetes.
I can't say I'm really surprised, to be honest. In my family, it's not a matter of IF you get it, but WHEN. So I've been expecting this kind of news since I was a kid. It's been a pretty hefty load on my mind of late...like a kick to the head. It's knocking at the door, and if 'm not careful, it's gonna break that door down. The good news was that I DID lose three pounds with only one week of really not eating Fast Food. I just need to push that weight down more, yet.
Anyways, I'm hopeful, not down. And frankly, it was a kick ass weekend...mostly. :)
Oh, and the cocoa IS really really tasty. ;)
The drive down wasn't anything special, and I got home about 10:30. The folks were happy to see me, and we sat down and exchanged gifts. They gave me four DVDs (Fahrenheit 9/11, Passion of the Christ, Spiderman 2 and Prisoner of Azkaban. I didn't have anything to give back (I forgot my sisters gift, dammit!) except for one thing for dad:
My dad served in Vietnam in the early 70s, and he hardly ever talks about it. I know he does suffer from a mild form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder so I don't know how much to poke or prod him for information about it. He does have stories he likes to tell, about how beautiful the countryside was, or a dinner he and his group had with a Vietnamese family who invited them all in. I also remembered that he really liked C-rations, especially the cocoa from them.
When I was doing the research on the MREs (oh, there she goes again!), I did do some looking around for C-rations for him. While they do still make C-rations (mainly as food served while flying), I couldn't find them anywhere to buy - everyone was more interested in selling MREs. While digging around the pics on the MRE site, I noticed that the toilet paper roll, the matches and salt packets hadn't changed at all since at least 1972. I only hoped that the army hadn't "updated" the cocoa in an MRE. :)
So, for Christmas, I gave him the cocoa packet. I didn't want to give him the MRE because, again, I don't want to poke or prod anything bad from his time in Vietnam, but immediately his eyes just widened up, and he was really really happy that I had managed to find him military grade cocoa. :) And then asked where I got it.
Out came the MRE I dug the cocoa out of, and he was just in complete heaven. "Do these have the...THEY HAVE THE LITTLE TOBASCO SAUCE BOTTLES!" and then he started going on and on about the food in Vietnam, how a lot of it was really good, but some was really terrible (the ham and eggs were horrible!). And he told us stories about what they'd do in Vietnam with the food, mixing and matching cans to make good food (I'd take the pound cake and crumble it into the peaches for cobbler!) and little tricks they'd do (Sometimes we'd get shipped soda, but we weren't supposed to drink water or ice from the locals, so we'd roll it in their freezers!) He seemed really happy, and he took two of my MREs as presents. My sister took two as well and had one on the spot. He also wants me to pick up some for his truck.
All in all, it was a good Christmas with the folks. No griping, no angry, no off kilter moments. Everything was good. :)
Unfortunately, all was not to be good.
Monday morning, I went to the doctor for a follow up to my blood test and hormone shot. The shot went without a hitch, but my blood work, well...while I had lost three pounds since my last visit, tryglycerides had sudenly showed up in my blood, my LDL Cholesterol level was up and, worst of all, my blood sugar was up. He immediately put me on TriCor for the tryglycerides, wanted to up my Toprol and told me I really needed to check the sugar in my diet. He wnats me back in two weeks for a followup because he is worried about me developing Type II Diabetes.
I can't say I'm really surprised, to be honest. In my family, it's not a matter of IF you get it, but WHEN. So I've been expecting this kind of news since I was a kid. It's been a pretty hefty load on my mind of late...like a kick to the head. It's knocking at the door, and if 'm not careful, it's gonna break that door down. The good news was that I DID lose three pounds with only one week of really not eating Fast Food. I just need to push that weight down more, yet.
Anyways, I'm hopeful, not down. And frankly, it was a kick ass weekend...mostly. :)
Oh, and the cocoa IS really really tasty. ;)
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Date: 2004-12-29 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-30 06:40 am (UTC)