A very inspiring Christmas video

I'm hoping you all are enjoying getting ready for Christmas. Amidst all your running around, however, take a moment to slow down, and listen to this very inspiring video. It'll truly warm your heart.

I watch this every year, yet it never ceases to be something special to me. I hope you enjoy it also! krissy :)

What was your favorite dish in your Thanksgiving meal?

What was your favorite dish in your Thanksgiving meal?

Just telling us is fine, but if you'd like to share the ingredients or a recipe, we'd like that too!

My answer: My Secret Cranberry Sauce

Cook the cranberries (a standard bag or two) in sugar water and when done (leaving the heat on low) add a little sweet orange juice, to contrast the tartness of the cranberries. Don't add too much orange juice, as you don't want to take away too much of the tartness!

Sorry my recipes aren't exact in their measurements; I've been taught to cook without a cookbook; I do the "a pinch of this and a pinch of that" method!

After the orange juice, you can zest up the cranberry sauce with some of the zest of the orange rind (grate some into the sauce).

If you'd like the cranberry sauce to be thicker than it is, add a few flakes of corn starch until it reaches the thickness you desire.

If you choose, you can also add a little 7-Up for even more citrus flavor. 7-Up is both tart and sweet, so goes well in this recipe. Remember to start out with only a little, and taste while adding more, because again, you don't want to drown out the tartness of the cranberries.

Finally, to have the cranberry sauce have the glorious flavors of Autumn spice, sprinkle in a little (much less than a tsp. of each) of the following spices:

cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice

Finally, sprinkle in cloves but do so even less sparingly, as cloves are strong!

Taste and make sure your cranberry sauce has the correct amount of spices, juices etc. If more are needed, correct accordingly.

Serve hot or cold.

we're going through our earliest snowfall on record

I only have time for a short post. John picked up the phone a short while ago, and it was from a local county emergency official, telling us that we may have to go to a shelter at any time. And if we have to go, we may have to stay for several days. If you don't find me anywhere online, you'll know why, I may not be able to get to a computer ...

This all started with a snowfall that began three days ago. It was Thursday morning when the snow started. Friday night was a little scary, as the electricity went out. I had intended to have candles or flashlights ready, but had forgotten, and John and I stumbled around in the dark until John found candles and lit them. I didn't like to have lit candles in the house with Michael. No, I'm not talking about our son. Not a human one anyway! Michael is our Maine Coon Cat, and I was afraid he'd knock over a candle and burn himself or the house down. Finally we found places to place the candles where the cat couldn't reach and went to bed. At 2:30 we awoke to blaring lights, noises from my computer, and the TV. It was hours before I was able to fall back to sleep, but I ran and blew out the candles before I did anything else.

By Friday morning we were blessed with six inches of snow. But in Pennsylvania we are not lightweights when it comes to weather, and the roads were plowed in no time, as were the parking lots. Although it was still snowing on and off, John and I made our way down to Wal-Mart and bought three flashlights and eighteen batteries.

Light snow kept up throughout the day. We started out to see a movie, Where The Wild Things Are (okay, I'm still a big kid!), but had to turn around and come right back home, because it was snowing to heavily, and we didn't want to get in a traffic accident.

No, we don't usually have snow in October in Pennsylvania. It starts in November. This was State College's earliest snowfall on record!

This morning I awoke, and there was more flakes coming down, mostly flurries. But enough snow to put a damper on the Homecoming Parade for Penn State University. Folks had come from around the country to see this parade, as their children were in it, students who went to PSU.

As John and I sat in McDonald's this morning after the parade, eating breakfast, we heard a lot of people griping about the cold. I laughed inside, because I had left the house initially this morning without a coat! I hadn't even put on a jacket.

Sure it must have been below freezing when we left the house, or at least freezing, as it was snowing again! But I didn't find it cold today at all. But I did think better of leaving without any coat at all, as I walked away from the house, so I turned back and retrieved a jacket. "No sense getting sick," I thought, "and besides, what would I use to put my cell phone in if I didn't have the pocket?" So I grabbed my jacket and out into the snow I went with John this morning ...

So, getting back to about an hour ago, and the phone call John got from the emergency official -- John was told that there were still "thousands" without power since Friday. Those without electricity have been staying at a local shelter, John was told, and that if power were to go out again, we were to go to the shelter also. He was given the shelter name. John said thank you and hung up the phone.

John and I have spent the last hour packing. I am writing this quick entry in case you don't hear from me for a few days as I don't know if I'll have access to a computer. I also don't know if I'll be staying with family, at a hotel, or at the shelter. It will depend on if I can even get to a family member's house, the street lights will most likely be out, and driving may be rough. I suppose I can wait it out at home, I think I'd rather do that. But John is a little concerned he may catch something at home, as we won't have any heat to stay warm. Our heat is electric ...

I'm hoping that no more power lines are downed due to falling trees ladened with heavy wet snow. I just want to stay home!

Okay, I need to post this, before the electricity goes out. I was attempting to post on Friday night when I lost everything, as I lost electricity ...

love you all, krissy :)

The Ugliest Sheep Contest

The Ugliest Sheep Contest

Welcome to the Ugliest Sheep Contest. Here's how it works.

Please vote for the sheep you find the ugliest. Vote only once, and for only one sheep. Please put your answer in the comment section.

Each week, on Sunday, I'll give you three more photos of ugly sheep. Continue voting the same way. At the end of September we'll have playoffs. A final sheep will be chosen by you all as the winner of the Uglist Sheep Contest.

After the ugliest sheep has been chosen, we will go on to have other subjects on which to vote. For instance, we may perhaps vote on the ugliest cats, the funniest babies, the scariest clowns, the funniest birds, and so on.

Please come back each Sunday to make your choice in each contest. Actually, each week you have from Sunday to that Friday night at midnight to vote. On Saturday morning I'll tally up the votes for the week, record the results, and post them with the winning photo in this blog. So please come back on Saturday if you can to see the winner!

The next day, on Sunday, I will post another three photos, and we'll begin a new contest.

I'm hoping you all will have fun with this! And now on to the first game...


Which sheep do you find the ugliest?


Yes, I've researched, and each and every one of these really IS a sheep! So which is the ugliest? Place your answer in the comment section. Thanks for playing! The results will be announced in this blog on Saturday, August, 29. Please return on Saturday to see the results!

The sheep (the one on the left) is #1, the second is sheep #2, and the last sheep is #3!

Monday Morning Question -- What would you like to say about your Summer so far?

What would you like to say about your Summer so far?

Or Summer in general?

Leave a comment. Let's get a conversation going!


My answer:

It's been a somewhat difficult Summer. My Dad had a heart attack. John's been sick some of the time. I missed my vacation to care for family members. I haven't had time to do many recreational or relaxing activities.

At the same time, this Summer has been good for me. I've met a lot of new people and made a lot of friends. And I've learned a lot. I'm learning new skills (writing, business, blogging, and other social media skills, etc.). I'm learning a lot more about myself, and who it is I want to be when I grow up! And I'm having so much fun learning! It's priceless. For me, this has been a growing time, and I wouldn't trade it...

Besides, The Lord allows everything for a reason, so I'm accepting the not so good things that have happened with the good, knowing "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28). If I didn't believe that, if I didn't believe the Lord was directing my life, and was working all things together for good, I would have quit a long time ago... But I know I can count on Jesus...

Please answer the question. You don't have to be as philosophical as me! Short and sweet is fine too!

Love you all, Krissy :)

So what's your answer?
Leave a comment below. Or post your answer in your blog and mention Sometimes I Think. Then come back and leave your link to your post below so we can all go read your answer. :)

Monday Morning Question -- Would you be interested in my doing a Twitter blog?

Would you be interested in my doing a Twitter blog?

If I were to start a Twitter blog, sort of an instructional one, would you be interested? I was thinking along the lines of starting out very basic. It would be for those who had never tweeted before, all the way to those who had been doing it for a few months, or even a year. I love Twitter, and I wanted to share my knowledge with others. I'm thinking we could all learn together. It wouldn't take up a lot of time, bc I am thinking we would learn about one lesson a week, perhaps at the beginning of the week, and then we would have the week to practice what we learned. We would also have some days where we would just have fun!

So, who's interested? I promise, it won't be intimidating, as I will help you, and we will all help each other! And Twitter is so worthwhile, you get to meet so many new people and learn so many new things. The people are so helpful... So are you in? :)

Blog's 5 Year Anniversary

I wanted to thank you all for sticking with me, even though I haven't posted in awhile.  I was sick for a month, and then three weeks ago, John was hospitalized for two weeks.  It's been a long month and three weeks.  I'll explain more later, today we have to go yet again to John's Bone Marrow Transplant Center and Hospital -- Hershey Medical Center.  

It's mostly for check ups, and a consultation to get his kidneys functioning better.  He's got one third kidney function (both kidneys).  He also has no antibodies.  This just means he can't catch any infections -- such as pneumonia or flus.  It figures swine flu just started, but we're not anticipating he catches it, and he's wearing masks everywhere!  He'll even have to wear the respirator kind some times.

Other than that, John is doing FANTASTIC, and we are actually looking forward to this trip to Hershey, as we will be getting out some!  We have been somewhat quarentined, as John hasn't been allowed to catch anything, because of his immunities which have been almost nonexistent.  So he was quarentined, and me along with, because I can't bring anything to him.  So we'll just wear masks on the trip, and have a blast.  

This time I'm going to perhaps go to a class and make a bracelet, go to some doctors appointments, go talk to the divisional Leukemia & Lymphoma Society campaign leader to tell her about some of my fundraising ideas I will be doing, and then do some photography if I have time.  We'll be back around Saturday.  

I'm actually looking forward to going out of town.

Now don't you all worry about John, this is the best he's looked in years!  He just must stay indoors most of the time, and when he ventures out, for example, to get groceries, he simply wears a mask.

By the way, I guess it was yesterday, maybe, this blog made five years!  I really can't believe it.  

It has been one of the best things in my life, and has led me where I never expected to go.  It has allowed me to be more honest, more open.  It has allowed me to have friendships I never expected.  Opened new worlds to me, caused me to want to learn, gotten me out of myself.  It has challenged me, caused me to not hold myself back, allowed me to decide I will NO LONGER fear success.  I have not held a job since I have been helping john for these past almost 4 years when he was diagnosed with this last cancer.  Actually 10 years with his 2 cancers I haven't held a significant job.  But that will change after I am able to work again -- when things settle down more with John and we don't have to go to the hospital as much.  I'll most likely work from home, because I still need to help John.  I'm most likely going to own my own business, because it's what I want to do, the way I want it to be.  No rose colored glasses here, yes it'll be difficult, but I want to do it, and I have=2 0enough confidence now, I'm just the entrepreneurial type, and that's that!  Yes, blogging, and online activities have allowed me to do it... 

What has blogging meant to you? What has it done for you?  Where has it taken you?  Has it changed your life? Even if you want to say -- I now have new friends! -- we want to hear from you!  What has blogging done for YOU?

Comments please!

John's Battle with Zoster

John and I have been in Hershey for the past several days. From Sunday through last night. That's the reason you haven't heard from me. I didn't have time to post because John had six medical appointments, and I of course accompanied him.

Overall, during his appointments this time at his bone marrow transplant center, John fared pretty well. He received better news than we both thought he would. John does have fungal pneumonia, as we suspected, but it has greatly improved according to the report given to us by one of his oncologists. The report was a result of a CT scan John had this visit to his oncologists. It was very reassuring to know he has greatly improved, as fungal pneumonia can be serious.

John has had viral and fungal pneumonia since September 2008.

John contracted the viral pneumonia in Sept 2008 when he was taken off Valtrex, a medication he takes to prevent viral infections. I remember sitting in Dr. Claxton's office last year, as he stated, "You can stop your Valtrex now. I'm sure you won't catch shingles at this point, this far out from your transplant."

So John went off the Valtrex, then promptly turned around and caught shingles! I don't know if participating in the Light The Night Walk, to raise money against blood cancers -- such as Leukemia -- had anything to do with John catching shingles. We were around thousands of people that night. Who knows? He may have gotten shingles anyway, because he was no longer taking the Valtrex.


John at Light The Night
Walk in Sept 2008

A few days after the Shingles started, John noticed Chicken Pox. Yep, Chicken Pox. His immunities had been wiped out by the bone marrow transplant he had had over two years earlier. Those who have a bone marrow transplant literally have their immune system wiped out, and they have to get their baby and childhood vaccinations allover again.


John with Shingles in Oct 2008

So on the last day of September, off John and I went to Hershey Medical Center, because he had very severe Shingles and Chicken pox. We went by ambulance, as I have narcolepsy, and I just can't drive. John was admitted, and we ended up having to stay in Hershey most of October. By the end of the visit in October, before leaving the hospital, Dr. Claxton told John that if he had waited another couple of days to come in he wouldn't have made it...

John said shingles pain was a 9.5
on a scale of 1 - 10.

John was admitted again to the hospital in November for Zoster Pneumonia. The Zoster (Shingles Virus) just wouldn't quit.


John with Zoster
Pneumonia in Nov 2008

John was discharged from the hospital and we got home the last week in November. I spent Thanksgiving and its surrounding days giving John IV infusions of viral medications -- through a port (PICC line) that had been inserted at the hospital -- to try to end the pneumonia caused by the shingles and chicken pox. The IVs were around the clock. There was no time to make anything for Thanksgiving, but we were just grateful to be in our own home...


John getting IV antiviral at home

I'm not real sure why the oncologist (I'm not referring to Dr. Claxton, but an oncologist subbing for him) let John out of the hospital before the pneumonia was cleared up, in the first place. I remember John feeling pretty poorly when he left. On second thought, I do know the reason, I believe, that John was discharged early by Dr. E., but that's a post for another day... I'll tell it later.

During the months of hospitalizations and home treatments, John just couldn't seem to get completely better, and just couldn't seem to get over his fevers and pneumonia. The viral medications he was given orally and by IV weren't improving his health completely. As a matter of fact, John hasn't felt significantly better until this month -- March 2009...

This is because, it was discovered, John also had contracted fungal pneumonia. The doctors were able to ascertain this by the pattern the pneumonia formed in his lungs. John had x-rays and CT scans which showed "multi-focal pneumonia."

Anyway, as I stated, we're thankful that per the report we received, John is doing so much better now. He will have to live with some permanent damage to his lungs on both sides. One issue is scarring. He has had some difficulty breathing, tires easily, and can't take in full breaths at times.

But I'm very thankful John's making great improvements, and it appears that things are looking up from here. I'm glad he's out of the woods!

I finally feel that we are out of a long, long Winter, and Spring has finally arrived.

Love you all, Krissy :)

Blogging Is In My Blood

I was thinking yesterday about why I hadn't been blogging the last month -- actually why I hadn't been blogging much for the last six months.

The answer came to me. I've been living in stress for six months -- and I almost let this stress drain me of my focus and energy, before I recently became aware of what was happening.

It's stressful living with a Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor. All the ups and downs can be particularly stressful. But I needn't focus on that stress, and allow it to take away my focus or energy. I needn't allow the stress to take away the fact that I want to blog and do other things in my life. I can't let the stress win...

Yes, it is stressful living with a bone marrow transplant patient. I'm not complaining, though. I wouldn't be with anybody else but my husband John. He means the world to me. Perhaps that is why it was so hard when he was hospitalized in October 2008, and then again in November 2008, and we almost lost him a couple of times at the hospital. Since that time, John and I have made frequent trips to Hershey Medical Center, his hospital and Bone Marrow Transplant Center, to take care of his health problems.

By the way, John had his three year anniversary of his Bone Marrow Transplant in January of 2009. When he first had the transplant I was imagining he wouldn't be having these problems at three years post transplant, but now I see it is something I'm going to have to live with. At least for now. He is just one of the survivors who gets many complications. He always has been. And he is always the one to survive against great odds! So I am thankful for that -- that he's a real fighter!

But while I'm thankful, I'm still very tired. That's really the reason I haven't written much -- I've been tired, and I've had a very hard time focusing on blogging, writing or photography. I've had a hard time focusing on just about anything in my life other than medical appointments. I've just been attempting to "make it through."

But it's not going to be like that anymore. It's time to move on. I want more purpose back in my life. I can still help John and focus on goals I have wanted to accomplish for a long time. And blogging is one of them. So I'm back to it.

Blogging is in my blood.

Monday Morning Question -- What is an important lesson...

What is an important lesson that you've learned recently?

My answer: I've learned that communication is very important. To have a relationship with another that is going to be in any way meaningful and something other than shallow, both individuals must communicate, and must risk in being open. If either one is not willing to do so, the relationship does not last long. This goes for any kind of relationship. Sometimes being open is a scary thing, because you have to risk getting hurt -- that is, risk rejection. But it's worth it, because if you don't open up, you'll never know if you'll win the friendship of the other person -- who just may be the best friend you'll ever have for life. By the way, I'm dedicating this post two my two Best Friends Forever -- You know who you are! :)

Now it's your turn, Readers.

What is an important lesson you've learned recently?

Please put your answer in the comment section below or in your blog with a link back to this post. If you post in your blog and leave a link here, I'll come read and comment there!

Thanks you all, Krissy :)

Writer's Block

"Writer's Block -- A phenomenom involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity.

That's what John says I have. Writer's block. What do I think? Perhaps. But not in the traditional sense, I don't think. I don't lack inspiration or creativity. And I certainly haven't been lacking things to write about.

Yes, I realize I haven't written in about three weeks. And I couldn't figure out why. There has been so much I have wanted to write about, so much I have wanted to tell you all. So many interesting things that have been going on in my life. So much I have learned. And so much that has happened. Some good things, and so many not so good things...

And I think therein lies the problem. The desire to include the not so good things along with the good things. I want to include those things along with the good things that have been going on, and the great things. Because they also are part of the story. My story. Let me digress for a moment.

A lot has gone on in my life since October 2008. Perhaps September 2008. I suppose that is when I had some major changes happen, both in my life and in my mindset. Wow, that's been almost six months now. I've wanted to tell you all about it.

So why haven't I? I sat down for the past few days and asked myself, now why haven't I been writing? I mean really writing? And when I do, why does it appear to be somewhat superficial? The answer finally came to me.

And the answer is pretty simple. John (my husband) has had health issues again. Don't worry, he's still in remmission from the two cancers he had. But he's had lots of complications as of late. From late September 2008 until now, he's been sick. I'm going to be straight forward with you. We almost lost him twice recently. Maybe more than twice.

And since October 2008 John has had pneumonia with fevers. It appears finally, perhaps, it may be clearing up. Maybe. In the past few days, his fever has been normal for the first time since October. It looks like this particular antibiotic is working!

But he's not out of the woods. His kidneys are giving him more trouble than they were previously. I believe he had about 35% kidney function until recently -- now I believe it's about 25%. That means the man is walking around with about 1/4 kidney function. That's both kidneys. Wow.

Don't get me wrong. He's not so disabled he's lying around in bed all day. He does do things every day. His condition doesn't stop him from doing every day things -- he just does them a little slower than the average person. He doesn't lay around in bed all day, however. But he does take naps -- one or two a day.

He also has a weakened immune system, and is going to get something called IVIG, probably in the next week or two . I'll tell you more about that more in the next few days when I know more. I'm a little nervous. The last time he got it, he ended up in the ICU at Hershey Medical Center (his bone marrow transplant center). So I'm somewhat apprehensive. I'll let you all know when that takes place...

So what does all of this have to do with Writer's Block? Everything!

I was told by a couple of bloggers to stop writing about John unless his condition was positive...

That's correct. They told me not to write if I didn't have positive things to say about John and what was going on with him. They said it would be too upsetting to you all if he wasn't in good health, and you just wouldn't want to know if he wasn't...

So to make a long story short, I merely stopped writing.

John is a large part of my life, as is what happens to him, so I just stopped writing rather than choose to leave him out of what I was writing about on a daily basis. It was a subconscious decision really -- I didn't realize what I was doing, and I didn't realize why I couldn't write until a few days ago. At first I was just going to write, not mentioning John, but still mention other areas of my life. But I thought tht would be superficial. I guess writing nothing at all was pretty superficial in and of itself, now that I think about it. But I thought it was what everyone wanted.

Until I talked to John. He said, "Krissy, you write. I believe most want to hear what you have to say. say. Whoever doesn't, doesn't have to read it. Besides, I do think they want to hear about what's going on with me." So tonight I'm coming back to write, and I'm including John in what I have to say. I should have done that all along...

And for that I'm sorry. I will start writing again. The good, the bad, the average, the interesting, the ugly, and the fun! All of it. Stay tuned for an interesting and sometimes bumpy ride!

Have you all missed me? I've missed you very much! Krissy :)

Do you like my new blog header?

I have a new blog header.

I want to thank Valerie Fisher of There is a Season for creating it for me. That's her own photography.

I told her I absolutely loved the colors in the header. The red is so vibrant and high energy. I've been feeling sort of high energy lately! I guess you've observed, by now, that I like red.

For those of you who have a Blogger blog, the header wasn't difficult to install. I even played around with the html code a little in the template, but if you're thinking of changing your header to make it uniquely yours, you shouldn't have to do much html coding, if any, to get what you basically want, as Blogger makes it pretty simple for you.

So how do you like the new header?

And yes, I will be back with the post I promised. I know I've been lagging lately on posting. The housework has been horrendous, and I've had so much "stuff" to do here at home playing catch up, as John was in the hospital about half the time in the last three months. I'm getting caught up, so I'll be back again later today to catch you all up on what's been going on...

Love you all, Krissy :)

I'm still here

Hi, you all. Yes, I'm still here. A lot has been going on lately -- I'll be back later today to tell you about it.

For now I'll show you a quick video of one of my favorite singers. Yes, it's Connie Talbott again. Yes, the 7 year old. So shoot me, LOL. Love you all, Krissy :)

YouTube - Connie Talbot 'Three Little Birds' slideshow of video shoot