New Christmas Traditions! - Lumpiang Shanghai

One of the great things about Christmas is tradition - old & new!  For the past 58 years of my life Christmas traditions have changed.  Sometimes the transitions into new traditions are difficult, but other times new traditions are awesome!  This year, we are excited to have a new family member - Erliza!  Jared, my oldest son and Erliza we married 11/11/11!  A special day for many veterans across the country & now a special day for our son & new daughter!  After ten years in the Army, Jared found his lovely wife Erliza, who is from the Philippines!  And here is a new tradition for Christmas - Lumpiang Shanghai!


The new Christmas tradition for our family is a new FOOD!  Erliza has added many new & exciting things to our family.  Check out one of our new Christmas "FOOD" traditions!

Lumpia (Filipino Spring Rolls) Recipe

Smart Heart Living - Part II

One section that proved interesting was:

Smart Heart Living - Your Stories

Take a look at some of the stories!  I just submitted mine!

Smart Heart Living

Found this new web site to help educate us on a healthy heart!  It is called:

Smart Heart Living

The reason I like it is it tackles many heart issues - Risk Factors, Medication, Healthy Eating, Cardiac Tests, Chest Pain, Cardiac Rehab, and many more!!

This week I thought I would focus on things that interest me.  The first one that caught my eye was:

New options for life saving heart surgery through robotic heart surgery.

It is too late for me, but I found this to be fascinating.  I know our local hospitals are beginning to use these procedures.  Mine was old school, completely open the chest & crack to ribs open - 10-12 inch scare & a longer recovery time.  The good news is the doctors can get both hands on the heart!  Here is some of names of less invasive surgery:

Mini Sternotomy

Mini Thoracotomy

Endoscopic Approach

Robotically Assisted Endoscopic Approach

Take a look and see what other methods there are for by-pass surgery.  If you or a loved one faces heart surgery, there my be alternatives!

Last Year - I Missed My Packer Hobby

Last year at this time I missed one of my favorite hobbies!  Traveling to see my favorite football team - the Green Bay Packers.  In fact, I know this is stupid, but one of the reasons I delayed my trip to see a doctor was trying to get through December and travel to Green Bay, Wisconsin!  I was telling myself, I can get to Christmas & then see a doctor!  DUMB!

Lucky for me, I decided to see a doctor!  The rest is history!  This year I have been blessed to see the Packers 3 times!  This weekend was the first time that they lost in a YEAR!  We had a great time & the fans from Kansas City were great!  Another reason to be thankful this Christmas!