A post a day in 2019

Last year I meant to deliver to you a post a day on this website. I failed miserably. I was a bit ashamed to be truthful!  Well here it comes to you.  I guarantee I will deliver a post every day this year. This is number 1 of at least 365 posts this year!   All right, let's Rick!

Christmas Falalalalaala

If you have never been around a Christmas falalalalunatic consider yourself a lucky duck. I'm sitting here watching some Christmas movie that is just another version of the 3 that have already been on today. It's usually just another variation of the movies we have all seen before. Different actors, different basic plot but all will be good in the end. Or not. The more I see the less I enjoy them. Give me a David Hasselhoff.  At least he was a bit funny as he chewed the scenery.

While I slept 2

So last night I had a journey.  I took a trip to the local sleep station to be hooked up to monitors while I sleep.  I would have posted from the center but the nurse there didn't want me doing ANYTHING other than sleeping. The only problems I had were getting my pillows set up and the volume of the TV.  The nurse's speech had me being prepared for being woke up and trying to find the perfect match, in masks, for me. But none of that happened. I slept straight through. I don't know if I passed or failed. I suppose they will call me with results. We will see!

Well here we are weeks later and I got the call yesterday. I need a mask so I will have to go back and get fitted etc.

Restaurant Review 1 - Bison Witches Bar & Deli

While driving on Main St in Norman Ok, if you go far enough east, you will get to restaurant that will call out to you and dare you to come in. If you are brave enough, welcome to Bison Witches. If you aren't, keep going and hang a right and get you some overpriced gyros. Bison Witches has finally enticed me into eating there. Here is what transpired... 

We got out of the car and there was a crowd of about 4-5 smokers out front, getting a few puffs in. We stepped through the door and to my right there is a stage set up for something. I am thinking spoken word. We ventured back and found a seat beside the wall. The waitress, a punky little brunette, came back and dealt with us. I am not, repeat am not, a fan of the shi shi places around so this place was tweaking my senses. Would it be good or would it be a failure? Well, to my relief and chagrin, it wasn't either one.

I ordered a Beef & Cheddar sammich and a side of chili and waited. And waited... People came in and put in their orders and got theirs before mine came out. But wait .... no keep waiting... ahh here it comes. Basically I think the chili was okay. It was like good old Wolf Brand chili with a little cheese grated up on it and a couple small pieces of tomato. It was good but not exquisite, I guess there has never been an exquisite chili made, so I ate most of the chili and a little of the bread. The sandwich was bland. Just not a great taste to the Beef. It was just a beef sammich. Not incredibly seasoned... just sorta laid there and let me eat it. Didn't jump into my mouth and light it up... didn't make me want to hurl either. The chips were those hard old toothbreakers you find everywhere when you just need a Lay(s). Ahhh there I go trying to be Mr. Funny Pants.

I am not saying I will never go back. But it would pretty much have to be the only place open to get me to stop there again. It reminded me of The Mule in OKC. If the friends are going just sit and enjoy a drink. If not, just skip it. 

Highlight - Watching a drunk guy at the bar sing Bye Bye Miss American Pie.

Lowlight - pretty much everything else. 

Final thoughts; skip it unless you really like sammiches!

Where am I going with this blog?

I have a habit of starting stuff and then losing momentum.  As witnessed by the irregularity of posting on this blog. But that's going to change... (pause for guffaws) and it starts now. I am going to post whatever comes to my mind. Now that is a scary scary thought.  My mind is a depot for many MANY different things. But since my stroke, a lot of these thoughts don't last for long.

I may want to review a movie or TV show. I may want to review a restaurant. I may want to tell you a story about what happened to me or what I saw. I may just want to share something I read. Whatever it is, and if it is important enough to me, I will post it.

So I am going to carry a notebook or tablet with me and take notes on what I see. Don't freak out if I see you and start writing. You may have just reminded me of something I needed to share. I am going to grind this stuff out and get me a blog chock full o' stuff.

On this blog I vow!!!           

Wade "The Great"

Alright... Alright

I tried to diet and got down to my lowest weight since high school.  Then gained all the way back up to bad guy territory!  I am going down and staying down! I swear this time!

So how is my diet going you ask?

Well it has been nearly a week since I started this diet. I can tell you for sure that it is not even that hard right now. The meals that I have eaten have been satisfying enough to where I am not really craving anything.  Now this week is my anniversary and my wife says she is going to pig out. (I almost want to believe her and buy in but I think she will be sensible. We are going out to Trapper's to eat dinner. I have looked at their menu to get my mind set on something good. I normally got the blackened chicken and it is nearly $15! Oh well it is only one time... and it is my anniversary so I will do it. I am just happy I don't like the expensive stuff. Sheesh!  But what I do love over there is the salad. It is just the best ever!


>>>> So we got to Trapper's and they had done away with the chicken breast dinner.  The waiter said they would still fix it for me but I didn't ask them to make it. I ordered a large salad and it was sooooo bland. I guess I should have asked for more dressing but I didn't. It was the worst experience there ever. I don't think my wife really liked her lunch either. One more place gets knocked off the lunch list.

A New Diet starts tomorrow.... I think...

For those of you who know me, you know that I have dieted off and on for most of my life. I was once near 300 pounds and almost died over at an OU game. I went down to the concession stand and when I came back to my seat I had to use the hand rail to pull myself up. It was crazy. 

Well, I am going to try and lose weight again.  This time my wife is going on the journey with me. I am sure I may lose her pretty quickly but we will see.  I am going to be doing the Keto Diet which is a low carb diet. It is very similar to the Atkins Diet so I already have a pretty good idea of what I will be facing.

I have a few things I don't like to eat that are definitely on the diet, like fish and avocados, so it will be a bit challenging. Actually, it won't really be a challenge. I have ignored them all my life so I will just have to stay steady. 

Yesterday...

I was going to post yesterday but I got caught in a whirlpool of abandoned blogs. Google allows you to go through blogs and check them out.  Well I found a blog and was reading it. It was amazing. Well thought out, well written just amazing!  Then I realized it was my old blog. Haven't written a thing or two on there in a year or two but it was so well done! I may have to go back on it and do the crazy stuff I don't (or can't) do here.

So I forgot...

My dream to post a post per day has already been shot.  Yesterday I just wasn't feeling it. The Sooners lost in the national semi-finals and it shot down my chances of a clean sweep of all championships. The Astros win theirs and it was up to the Sooners to keep it rolling. They didn't so my deal is already shot.  Oh well.. on with the show!

A post a day in 2018

So I decided I was going to do at least one post per day this year.   Then I got distracted and almost missed it.  I will post my entire plan tomorrow most likely. But the superblogger in me is unleashed this year!

That Day

Wade Blogs

by Brother Wade

It's a long story but a fairly boring one.....

 January 22,  2016 was an average and ordinary day around the farm. My wife , Valerie, was in the city taking care of her stepmother, while her dad went to the emergency room with some health issues. I was at the farm trying to get the water pump fixed again. It was a vicious cycle... Fix the pump, fix a broken pipe, repeat.  It came to dinner time and I had skipped lunch. Nothing, foodwise, around the house sounded good; so I was there waiting for her to come home with the dinner she had cooked. All that day I was drinking soda. And I do mean ALL THAT DAY!  I would probably run out of fingers (and be well into my toes) counting the sodas that I had downed. She made it home s uper lateand I ate but things were really weird in my head. I was super dizzy and  felt like a puddle of goo. I was wanting to go to the Blanchard lodge the next day to eat pancakes but I might miss it,  the way that I was going.

The wife decided I needed to go to the emergency room, so we trekked over to Grady Memorial HAHAHAHAHAHAHospital ( I call it that because EVERY time I have ever dealt with the place, it has been a joke!).They told me my blood pressure was high and my blood sugars were super duper INSANELY HIGH!  They gave me a few things to get it back into check and I waited there until things were more normal. Finally after being there until about 4:30 am-ish, I was sent home. My wife woke me up about 4 hours later because she was heading to get my blood pressure medicine. I laid back on the bed and waited for her and that was when everything turned upside down! Literally!!!! EVERYTHING in my head and body was somersaulting around like Shannon Miller on crack!!
I fell out of bed and pulled the five feet tall stand. next to the bed, over on top of myself!  It wasn't looking good for your boy over here!!!!  I texted my wife and let her in on the situation.  Somehow, I made it back into bed and pulled the stand upright. (Like that was the most important thing in the stinking world!)  Valerie made it home and told me I needed to go back to the hospital!  We had some guys working on the guest house at the farm and I made it to the back door where they were waiting to carry me to the car. ( I Had to use my right hand to lift my left hand to help steady myself.)
We started on our way on the drive over to meet the ambulance in Naples. (Yeah we are THAT rural). Things were going crazy in my head and body!  The left side of my mouth started drooping and boy I tell ya .... that  was when I got really scared! Stuff got EXCEPTIONALLY real!!  Valerie pulled the car into the parking lot of the little country store and said a prayer for me (and her). Honestly, I know this sounds dumb;  but, until that moment it was so scary neither of us could think right. I looked to my left over at the little old country church that sat there and I remember thinking to myself "Well, we are in a good place because I know God is here!"  Right about that time, a peaceful feeling started running through my body. It was so calming and soothing!

The ambulance arrived and they talked my wife into taking me to Norman instead of back to the home of the Fightin' Chicks. They put me inside the ambulance and they tried to hook me up to an IV. The guy was having a horrible time getting me attached to it though! After at least 4 attempts;  he finally got me hooked up and they started giving me some stuff to quiet the pain. But I was already on a natural (or supernatural)  pain reliever I guess!! I remember the ride and remember the hospital very well. I remember the day and most everything about it. It is all wrapped up inside my brain.
So fast forward several months and some of our kid friends who were staying at the farm were invited to go to Vacation Bible School at the little ol' church. The wife took the kids up and they enjoyed their time up there. I got to take my first look at the church, from the inside. It was quite a bit different than I imagined. Basically it was a lot more alive than I had pictured. One of my best friends as a kid, and #1 bus riding buddy, was going to church with his wife there. She was the one who had roped Valerie into going, and she put on one heck of a show.  A guy I remembered from school was the pastor. Plus there were several people I have known or know of scattered throughout so it felt good!

We were still going to our other church at the time so I would drop in on a Wednesday night here, a Sunday night there etc. Then, at the other church, we ran into a problem. That church had grown stale with it's views and practices. So when we came in with a new spirit and new ideas; the pastor seemed excited. Go for it! Sounds good!!  These are the things we heard, Then all of a sudden it was  ..." Uh we decided not to do that. " "We don't feel comfortable with that."  Apparently his wife and family had changed his mind on what was needed there. Well, that is okay, we don't want to put you in a bad place but  we also need a church that celebrates God and each other. Not just a show up for the sermon and go straight home church. They wouldn't even allow a Christmas tree in the hall! We decided not to go back any more after that.
So on a Wednesday  night we went back to the little old church and it was almost like that day when I had my attack. I walked in to the church and it was brightly decorated and, believe it or not, had 2 Christmas trees!! The angels were singing again just like that day when I had my stroke! It made me smile and l was pretty sure I had found a spiritual home.
In the next several weeks, I got baptized at the church (I could hear both my Granny and my Auntie Beulah rejoicing there with me!) and when I came up out of the water I let out a whoop that pretty much frightened everyone up there I think!  My wife and I helped out a few to several  times up there. It had been a pretty wonderful place. I looked forward to seeing where it went.  7 months we stayed there and then it all went straight to heck! Straight to heck! My wife was being blamed for being part of some stuff that was just pretty dang grade school! I walked out of our meeting just about as angry as I have been in a long while. I didn't want to hurt any feelings so I left; because the people there were handling the whole situation as badly as possible. Sadly the people there didn't even care enough to try and straighten the situation out.  Maybe they figured they had talked themselves into a hole and they did not know how to get out?
Oh well.... off church hunting we went and we decided to try going to the Methodist church in Blanchard that we had visited to say goodbye to some outstanding youths from Texas. They had visited our town to do odd jobs for people to help them. We like the church that night and it was our first choice to go visit and see wht the services were like. They seemed nice enough and offer a lot of good studies on Wednesday night. So that is where we are right now. I can't tell you if we will be called to another church or become a part of this one. 
One thing is for sure though.... I guess it IS all about the journey!

New stuff from an old mind

Hello all!

It is me....  You Know...... Wade...  Yeah, that Wade.

I am about to light up the internet with my thoughts once again! I promise!