Amazing Grace Under Pressure

This is my first blog...not sure even how it's supposed to work. So, friends, please be generous with your advice as well as your patience. Thanks.

My name is Grace. I live in New Mexico with my husband Bill, and a bird named Oscar. We're retired. Our son is 42, and the daughter is 39. Also 3 very precious grandsons. Anthony is 5, and the grand-twins, Andrew and Jacob, are 3. David, our SiL, is like having another son. He's wonderful. Oscar is a cockatiel. We've had him since 1987, and he was a couple of years old then. How long do these guys live, anyway?

I knit. My father taught me the basics when I was about 9 years old, and my passion for the craft just grew from then on. Projects include afghans, lace doilies, sweaters, hats. Cables and fisherman knits are especially interesting to me.

I'm a born-again Christian. While only God knows for sure, I'd have to say that Bill isn't quite there yet. We're working on him.

In July of 2009 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Surgery for the lump and some nodes, then other tests, and treatment. Mestasticized to bone. Doctor prescribed a pill instead of chemo or radiation, at least for the time being. I feel as good now (or maybe even better) than I did before this all started. Life is good. I walk every day, pay attention to what I eat, and look forward to each new day as a gift. Mainly I don't want to blog about the cancer, although it will probably be mentioned from time to time. I'd rather talk about other stuff.

I spend a good deal of time in the kitchen, working up new recipes to use in one of my pressure cookers. This might be what I'll talk about a lot. Whenever I plan to cook something, my first thought is how to adapt it to the cooker. It's amazing how versatile these pans are!

When the weather is good, I walk on the 1/3-mile track near our home. Today I did 2 complete laps plus the walk to and from. That equals one mile. I've done more. On April 25 I joined with about 2,500 others in the Make Strides Cancer Walk in Albuquerque. That was 5miles. Other than a blister on my pinkie toe, I did really well.

Thanks for reading. God Bless. Grace