2015 has been an amazing year for Don and I.  Don, the Motor Doctor, as I prefer to call him, traveled around 50,000 miles to work at destinations in Wyoming, Montana, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Texas which kept several hotels in business, no doubt.  He’s a very hard worker and incredibly dedicated but he did manage to fit in his annual fishing trip with his Dad in June.  In July he orchestrated one of the very best “50th” birthday parties ever for the very unsuspecting love of his life that ended up being an experience she will NEVER forget as long as she lives!   In August he found some time to roll into a Chevrolet dealership and rolled out with some wheels that were designed to make him never want to use the “P” in the gear shifting column! He found a few weekends to do a bit of pheasant and deer hunting so the freezer is stocked and ready for “smoking season” that began last weekend and will most likely continue again after the first of the year.  In October we removed his birthday gift (concert tickets) from underneath the magnet that held them on the refrigerator since his birthday in May and we thoroughly enjoyed the Tesla, Styx and Def Leppard concerts those tickets gave us access to!  It’s pretty safe to say, Don has had a very busy, productive and enjoyable year.  Did I mention that most of this is because of this rather awesome woman he now has in his life that rocks his world?

I, on the other hand, turned a half century old, killed the mower, quit my job, broke the only part on the “Sherman Tank” version of our existing vacuum that wasn’t replaceable, started a new job that initially gave me more stress and more gray hair than the old job I quit, found out my old job wasn’t going to pay me my leftover PTO hours because they aren’t like “other” companies and the Cobra insurance information I received informed me that I could continue my old employers insurance benefits until my new job benefits started to the tune of $601 per month!  I’m not sure why but after all of this I ended up with some blood pressure numbers that weren’t anywhere near the “normal” readings the enclosed chart said they should be.   I was somewhat thankful nothing worse happened health-wise and I knew the blood pressure issue would be an easy fix.  All I would have to do is go to the doctor’s office, they would prescribe some pills and I would take one every day and life would be back on track again….or maybe not.

The first innocent little pill caused an “a-fib” situation I wasn’t particularly fond of when I learned the facts.   I was immediately placed on a newly developed blood thinner that gained it’s fame by going to work immediately, significantly diminishing my chances of having a blood clot in my heart.   Woohoo!  Who wouldn’t be happy about that, right?  The down side was that if I were to get in a situation that would cause substantial blood loss there was no way to stop the bleeding.  They told me I would have to wait for it to stop on it’s own.  My translation of this was an easy one.  The blood would stop running out when there was no more in there to run out.     I added their “try not to get in an accident or anything else that may cause excessive bleeding” suggestions to my “I’m a walking time bomb” list which helped me to feel a whole lot better….yeah right!  Like everyone “plans” the accidents they have!

When prescribing the blood thinners they also prescribed a different medication to address my elevated blood pressure.  This second innocent little pill caused my brain to feel as if it should seriously start researching how high of a cliff one would have to jump off in order to cease existence.  I’m not saying it was worse than the first one because this one didn’t make my heart feel as if it was bouncing up and down on a diving board.  It just removed that “get up and go” part of me that I typically use the majority of the awake hours of my day, seven days a week.  The cardiologist couldn’t believe my doctor prescribed that horrible pill and proceeded to tell me he too, had tried taking that pill and then he told me just how horrible it made him feel.

Before long, my system was introduced to innocent little pill number three!  After about a week and a half it found a way for my system to experience a reaction from the “rare and severe” side effects list which caused my lips to swell so much that I was sure I could see “Good Year” stamped on them when I held the magnifying glass up to them!  About the time I thought the sun was about to come out I ended up in the emergency room twice but I learned it’s the place to be if you want to experience more drama than you already experience at work, like that’s possible!  I’m officially on my fourth different blood pressure medication to see if “this one will work.”  I’m not sure if hearing those words from your doctor would make you uneasy at all or give you the feeling that you are, indeed, an experiment but I found it somewhat unnerving, to say the least!

Now that you’ve been updated on a few of my rather unfortunate events in 2015 it’s time to let you in on all the incredible blessings I’ve enjoyed.  In February, with the amazing technical skills of my future nephew-in-law, I launched my blog!  Bevitized! has reached readers in 105 countries and in all 50 states since it’s launch on February 10, 2015!  I’ve received several beautiful floral surprises from the love of my life throughout the year and a 50th birthday party that tops the list of the world’s most AMAZING parties ever thrown!  I planted a garden, learned how to shoot a 9mm handgun, a 45 calibur handgun and a 17 Super Mag and according to Don, hitting a target at 25 yards is pretty darn good!  Don and I bought some land that will one day change our address once the house and garage are constructed and we are officially retired.  I relinquished ownership of my Optima and I’m now driving the vehicle that I have wanted for over 10 years!  My doll business is booming, my scarf business is doing well,  my new job is beginning to give me a sense of finally belonging somewhere and I’m happy!  Did I mention that most of this is due to the fact that I have an awesome man in my life that rocks my world?

Don and I have so much to be thankful for.  We’re healthy (and now that the swelling has gone down in my “blimp” lips we’ve put off our plans to search for a bigger place for the rest of our “working years”, just sayin), we’re happy (honest, I didn’t know that part on the 38 pound Dirt Devil wasn’t replaceable before it turned up smashed to oblivion….okay, so Don weighed the stinkin vacuum and it only weighed 16 pounds but it felt like I was pushing a steamroller through the living room every time I tried to use it and that didn’t mean I necessarily hated it and would want something to happen to it, just sayin), and we’re thankful (thankful Don had a ton of overtime hours which helped to finance the new vacuum, the lawn mower and the unmentioned, rather messed up weed trimmer, just sayin)!  We had the pleasure of spending some much needed time with family and friends this past year and we’re looking forward to making that happen again in the year ahead!   We wish you all the very best and send our love to each and every one of you!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!