"Pop" goes the vein.....

As many of you may have read in Talmadge's recent blog entry, we went in to give blood today. A local business was sponsoring a fundraiser/blood drive to benefit the victims of February's Sugar Refinery Explosion. They had a little carnival set up, complete with all the little inflatables that my fat butt isn't allowed into for fear of deflating the inflatable. And in the midst of it all was the Red Cross Mobile Blood Donation Rent-Me RV.

Unlike Tal, I had a pretty good breakfast - sliced banana with lite raspberry yogurt and 1/2 cup of Kashi Mountain Medly granola (for a free sample, go to Kashi.com - and once you receive your sample, email Consumer Relations and let them know how much you liked it, and they'll send you some coupons!) - because I have experienced just what the guy who had the fainting/seizure spell at the blood drive did.

This was back in 1988, and I had only had a banana for breakfast. I gave blood, then was sitting on a cot eating my cookies and drinking my juice when all of a sudden the edges of my vision started getting dark and fuzzy. I looked toward one of my classmates and she says, "Amy, are you OK?" Only she sounded like she was tallllllllllkiiiiiiiiiiing in sloooooooooowwwww mooooooooootion. I thought I was going to be sick, so I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, locking the door behind me because I didn't want everybody see me do that! I was sitting on the toilet leaning against the sink. Of course, I didn't get sick because I didn't have anything in my stomach. The nurse and my classmate are outside banging on the door, "Unlock the door, Amy!" I was feeling better, so I opened the door and walked out. Boy, the nurse reamed me good for doing that! "What if something bad had happened to you? We wouldn't have been able to get the door open to help!" And she took me back to the room and had me finish my juice and cookies and rest a while.

So, anyway, to avoid the same thing happening to Tal, we drove up to Bluffton's Golden Corral for some lunch (a big-ass salad for me!! - more on that later). We also made a short stop at the Salvation Army up there because I wanted to look for maybe some gloves, wacky hat, costume jewelry, or other things for our annual mother/daughter banquet at my grandmother's church. This year's theme is "Tea Party". Well, I found not only a pair of long gloves, but also a Pyrex pie plate, a nice and heavy tea kettle, and a pair of Kenkoh Japanese Massaging Sandals.....ooohh, heaven for the feet!! All for a grand total of $9.00 (such a spend-thrift I am!). The lady at the counter is all like, "$5.00 is a good deal for those gloves, because they're antiques." Yeah....whatever.........

Between I-95 and Rincon, we did some videotaping of Hwy. 21 along that route. There's so much developing going on the the scenery is changing every day. Talmadge videotaped the same area a few months ago. We'll probably do it a few more times, just to be able to compare the growth and development of the area. One day, we'll be telling our grandchildren, "I remember when Hwy. 21 was nothing but woods the whole way into Effingham County!"

And so back to the Red Cross Mobile Blood Donation Rent-Me RV. It was pretty neat to walk in after lunch and see Congressman Barrow sitting there. He's a nice guy. Tal was in the "interview room" and didn't hear the Congressman say to me and a couple of others who were waiting, "Well, here's a unique opportunity for you. Congress is always sucking the blood out of the people - here's your chance to witness the blood getting sucked out of a Congressman!" LOL!

Then it was my turn in the "interview room", or I like to call it "The Room of 100 Pointless Questions". No, I haven't had sex with anyone who has visited Africa between 1977 and 2007. No, I have not visited a foreign country in the past six months (and NO, going to Alabama does not count - and apparently the lady interviewing me didn't think that was very funny). No, I am not currently pregnant, nor have I been pregnant in the past three months (no uterus - remember?). No, I do not know the way to San Jose. And, yes, I do really want to hurt you.

So, once I'm finished with my inquisition, I go back out and get sent to one of the beds. I WANT one of these things!! It's like a contoured recliner, really comfy. I'm sure Tal was wondering if they were about to perform surgery on me as he watched from his recliner. First, they blood pressure cuff wasn't long enough to fit around my bulging bicep, so they had to tape the darn thing on. Then they were having trouble finding a big enough vein to tap. Then finally, when the nurse poked me, blood spurted out on my arm (which answered my earlier curiosity about the "Caution: Blood Spray Zone" signs they had posted here and there). I got a little woozy when that happened, but then recovered. Man, that was a BIG FREAKIN' NEEDLE!! Tal had already filled his bag, got his juice and cookies, and was standing in front of me (with ice water from the juice dripping on the floor), "Are you doing OK?" he asks. "Yeah, I'm good." was my replay. So he goes to eat his juice and cookies while I fill my bag.

And so, with bag filled I am sent on my way with apple juice, Lorna Doons, and Fig Newtons in hand. Now, to decide which movie I want to watch first - Juno, Nanny Diaries, Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story, or The Sasquatch Gang. Decisions, decisions! Well, at least I know what I am going to have to eat later.

Oh.....yeah, I promised I would talk about my salad at Golden Corral! So I loaded up my plate with mixed greens (love the spring mix!), shredded carrots, broccoli, green pepper, black olives, cherry tomatoes, a sprinkling of shredded cheese, and a sprinkling of real bacon bits (probably about 2T. each of cheese and bacon), and a spritz of red wine vinegar over the whole lot. In a soup bowl, I mixed a cup of cottage cheese and 2T. of the regular ranch dressing, and would get a tiny bit of that on my fork then spear some of the salad. I think that was probably the best salad I've had there! After that, I got a bit of the Bourbon St. Chicken, 3 meatballs, a little BBQ meat with sauce (the sauce is good with the chicken, too) about the equivalent of 3 small red potatoes (I wanted a baked potato but they just had baked sweet potato which I didn't want - I love red potatoes anyway) and some steamed sliced squash. My splurge was a slice of chocolate chess pie with some sugar-free whipped topping! Not too bad!

With all that, I don't have a whole lot of Points left for the day. I've figured out that tonight I can have 1 cup of Egg Beaters, which I am going to make omelet-style with some fat-free cheese and some chives (from my patio garden - woo hoo!), a multi-grain light English Muffin, and some Spring Mix salad with tomato, and red wine vinaigrette spritzed on. YUM!!

Dunno what Tal is going to have............ ;-)