Water Date

Good Thursday morning!

The Gallery Pics are of Roxie and Ally's "run" after church. We'll see if it becomes a habit!

RANDOMNESS - Fun fact for you... When you have panic attacks on a regular basis, AND your panic attacks are the kind where you think you're having a heart attack, blood pressure readings become a way of life. I mean, if I see a blood pressure machine in a gas station next to the beer display, I'm all over that, baby.

The last couple of weeks have been trying, at best, so I've been hitting all of the blood pressure machines around town... CVS, K-Mart, Wal-mart, etc. And since I ALWAYS have a low blood pressure reading, imagine my "panic" when my blood pressure was 134 over 64 at the K-Mart blood pressure machine last night on the way to church. It has never been that high! Never!

For those of you who may be peacefully unaware, anything under 120 (top number) is normal and anything under 80 (bottom number) is normal. That being said, my bottom number was normal, but that is not good enough. No, siree!

The kids had already made it to church, but I decided to go to another drugstore before heading to service. This particular drugstore does not have a machine. The pharmacists take the blood pressure personally.

A nice young girl came out from around the counter with a blood pressure cuff. She put it on, pressed a button... and nothing happened. "Hmmm. Someone said this one was broken." She reset it. Pressed the button. Again, nothing. She did it again. Nada.

"Maybe they were right. Maybe it really is broken," I offered.

"Yeah. Let me get another cuff," she said, and off she went.

She brought the next cuff out and wrapped it around my arm. It was a manual cuff. She quickly pumped it up, listened, watched and announced, "Okay. It's 120 over 100. Hmmm."

"What? Five minutes ago it was 134 over 64. My bottom number isn't supposed to be over 80. In fact, the chart on the CVS machine clearly says 100 and above is DANGEROUS."

"Yeah. That's definitely not good," she agreed.

"Do you think we could do it one more time?" I asked. She was a VERY sweet girl, and I was being equally sweet, too. You know, since I was on my way to church and all.

"Sure." And with that, she re-cuffed me, pumped it up, listened and watched. "Hmmm. Now I'm not getting anything at all. Like, I'm not even hearing your pulse. Do you feel okay?"

"Well, I know I'm still feeling alive," I answered. "Tell you what. Let's start over, and try just one more time, and then we'll decide if we need to call the ambulance or not."

"Okay," she said, cheerfully. Again, a very sweet girl.

Third time was a charm. I had a reading of 110 over 70... both very good numbers.

"All right. I'm going to church (to pray), and then I'm going to come back over and get it checked one more time before I head home. Is that okay?" I asked.

"That's fine. I won't be here, but someone else will be able to take it for you."

"Perfect." So I headed across the street to pray.

As soon as church was over, I headed back to the drugstore and a new young girl came from around the back of the counter with the broken cuff.

"That cuff is broken," I told her.

She smiled sweetly and put it on my arm and pushed a few buttons. "Hmmm. This cuff isn't working."

"No, it isn't," I agreed. "I think it's because it's broken, and all. You're probably going to have to use the manual cuff." (I knew God was very pleased at how "sweet" I was being... but it was getting harder by the minute.)

"I don't know how to do that yet, and there isn't anyone else here tonight who can read blood pressure. What are you going to do?" I could tell she was genuinely concerned, so I told her I was going to run to a couple of machines and then visit my friends, The Paramedics.

They know me by name, and if it is a slow night, they'll even let me bunk on a cot. I don't know about you, but the next best thing to staying with a relative in the hospital who has just had surgery is staying with The Paramedics. They have heart starting machinery, oxygen and my snoring doesn't seem to bother them a bit!

DISCLAIMER - Please know I do not sleep at the local Fire Station. That part is a joke. But, please know I have asked if I could. Seriously. I did.

A few more stops at local blood pressure machines around town, a few more good readings, and I was ready to head home and go to bed.

I don't know how you spend your summer evenings, but I'm not going to recommend "blood pressure machine hopping" as a date anytime soon. I think we can come up with something better than that, don't you?

Blog Linkage - Today's linkage is all local, but all good. It is very light, summertime reading. Enjoy!

1. If you want to experience summer in Canada through the eyes of a family who has just moved to that part of the country, click on "The Phillips Home" under My Blog List.

2. If you want to experience summer in Texas with no air conditioning through the eyes of mom who has recently gone through that traumatic experience, click on "Big Mama" under My Blog List.

3. If you love dogs with floppy bellies, click on "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman" under My Blog List.

4. If you love newborn babies (and we all do), click on "a little bit of me" under My Blog List.

5. If you are on a budget and try to look for free things to do on vacation... and sometimes it just doesn't work out, go to www.coalcreekfarm.com.

Water Date

How many of you have ever gone to Spring Valley Beach? I think I am one of the few who have not been, but I have always heard wonderful things about this water park.

It is not an inexpensive date and it is a large, "spread out" kind of place. However, one-on-one with your date would be a perfect way to spend plenty of quality time keeping cool during these incredibly hot summer days.

Birmingham Bargain Mom readers will receive a $2 off discount on admission (per person) when they print the post found on her website and present it at the ticket office. Go to http://blog.al.com/bargain-mom.com. Scroll down until you see Spring Valley Beach Promotion. Click on the title and print off the information. They have to see the paper. They will not give you the discount because you have read about it. The discount is good Monday through Friday, anytime during the day.

To get directions and see what Spring Valley Beach is ALL about, go to their website at www.springvalleybeach.com.

Take a picnic and sunscreen, and make it an all-day date!

Have a terrific Thursday. Is that right? Can it really be Thursday? Oh, my! This week has flown! Slow down, Summer! Friday, as always, I'll be sharing Weekend Happenings and a couple of pics... and depending on what happens today, maybe a story or two.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda