My First Blogoversary

May 14, 2011 By 4 Comments

BloboversaryToday my blog turns one! Yay!  Happy blogoversary to me.

Yesterday I happened to be watching my traffic and I noticed that I reached unique visitor #2650!! I still can’t believe that many people have seen my blog. Thank you SO much for reading!!  I love all the comments, emails, and facebook messages I’ve received from my readers sharing a similar experience to what my blog post was about or just letting me know that they enjoyed one of my recipes.  Keep the feedback coming!

I was looking back at my first couple of posts and I think I have improved a lot as a blogger. I have had lots more practice writing over the last year, which has never been one of my natural strengths. My next goal for my blog is to improve my pictures. Jesse and I have been saving up for a nice camera that we have had in the back of our minds for a while now. We’re thinking that we should be able to buy it as our anniversary gift to each other. After we get the new camera, I’d love to take some photography classes and learn some simple Photoshop techniques on how to make my pictures look the way I want them to.

According to Google Analytics my site has seen 6,973 visits from 64 countries/territories. Yes, I know it’s kinda geeky to look up that kind of information, but what can I say? Jesse’s geekyness is contagious. Check out some of the countries that have visited my blog:

Countries 1Countries 2

Neat, huh? Thanks again for reading, and keeping coming back for more!

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Cystic Fibrosis: Germs

May 13, 2011 By 1 Comment

May is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness month! Since I didn’t know anything about CF before I met Jesse, I’m taking some time to learn and share some information about CF.

Ordinary germs can be particularly dangerous to people with cystic fibrosis. When I catch a cold I typically feel crappy for a day or so and then I get better. However Jesse usually isn’t so quick to recover. Even after he gets over the cold, his lungs have to fight the effects of getting sick for a longer time. He’s tried to explain to me how his lungs feel after being sick or overly exhausted. He says they feel like plastic. Hard to imagine how that really feels. I think of trying to breathe in and out of a two liter bottle, having to inflate and deflate it with each breath.

Of course (like everyone else) we try our best to avoid people who are sick, but it’s really impossible to avoid all situations. Everywhere you go there are people coughing, sniffling, and sneezing. I tend to not get sick very easily, but it doesn’t take much exposure at all for Jesse to catch a bug. In the end you can’t think about it too much or you would drive yourself crazy.

Germs

The infection that Jesse is always working to keep under control is called pseudomonas. Once a CFer colonizes pseudomonas it’s pretty much impossible to get rid of it. CFer lungs are just too perfect an environment (like a nice warm and gunky greenhouse) for the bacteria to ever want to leave. Eventually pseudomonas takes over the lungs and becomes resistant to many antibiotics. That’s where Jesse is at now, and that’s why he often needs IVs when he does get sick because oral antibiotics are no match for his bugs. Luckily, the last couple of clinic cultures have shown only light growth of pseudomonas, which is pretty much his best case scenario.

Back in the day, Jesse used to go to CF camp to be with and get to know other CFers. Then they realized that all the campers were sharing all of their super bugs with each other, and camps stopped. Then they said CFers could have no contact with each other because it was too easy to get sick. That’s why the nurses make all the CF patients wear a mask at clinic, you never know what kind of germs are floating around those halls. Now we’ve been given permission to meet other CFers as long as we’re careful… three foot rule and no sharing drinks and such.

Hopefully I didn’t gross you out about germs too much, but now you know!

Filed Under: Cystic Fibrosis Tagged With: , , , ,

Lemishine

May 12, 2011 By 2 Comments

LemishineWe are completely thrilled with our new dishwashing discovery, Lemishine. We thought that our dishes were getting all grimey and gross because of something in our water, but it was just our dish soap. Apparently in an effort to be more “green” many states have banned phosphates from all dish detergents. After a friend suggested we try Lemishine, we did some research and found that phosphates not only clean off food and grease from dishes but also prevent debris from getting reattached later during the wash. After using phosphate free soap for a while, the build up was getting worse and worse. Yuck!

We had resorted to hand washing all of our good serving dishes when they used to go in the dishwasher. We would also rewash glasses when we would have company because the glasses looked so bad. After just one wash our dishes were honestly just as shiny as when they were brand new!

Glasses

Here is our glasses before and after. I’d say the results are just as advertised on the package… definitely worth every penny!

Filed Under: Food Reviews, General Tagged With: , , ,