MIA!

Yes, I have been missing in action! I needed to take a bit of a break with the hectic work schedule going on currently. Plus, some of my ongoing health issues have been diagnosed. I am in the process of trying to get my upstairs ready so that hubby and I can move to the upstairs bedroom my son left behind. Our daughter is ready to go into her room upstairs as well.

We have a forced hot air heating system, and every winter I am incredibly sick. Blood tests show I have a hypersensitivity to mold dust and now things are starting to fall in place. Of course, one of the treatments is to avoid the dust and get mold abatement. That costs in the thousands and is WAY out of my pocketbook range. Hubby has taken steps to clean up a bit in the basement and add cement around the house so that water flows away from the foundation, not towards it. Snow run off has been a big problem, and for several years it has been leaking into our foundation wall... causing mold, mildew and then forcing all that dust into the house via the air ducts. In the summer, the humid, moldy smell was terrible. A dehumidifier has helped quite a bit.

I now sit in my bedroom, the heating grate is covered with cheesecloth to filter out some particles, and hubby changes the furnace filters every month or so. I have a HEPA air purifier in my room and use it daily. I see a pulmonary doctor every 6 months, and have to undergo breathing tests along with blood tests to monitor the level of damage to my lungs. I will tell you, it sucks. Some people are allergic (or as they say hypersensitive) to the mold-I am one of them. Other people it won't bother. I noticed a big difference when I was in Guatemala earlier this year, I was actually well with no chest pain or shortness of breath for 3 weeks out of the 4 that I was there.

Anyways, I have been busy moving upstairs... cleaning out things, throwing out things-but it all takes time, and I can only do a little per day with a mask on to avoid getting particles in my lungs. (Yes, my CT scan shows damage to the lungs) By keeping primarily upstairs where there is no forced hot air heat (I will be using electric heaters, there goes the light bill lol) I hope to reduce the amount of damage being done-walking away from my home is not feasible right now-but one day I do hope to return to Guatemala and at least there I will not have to use heat much-and when I do, I will use a clean wood burning stove and/or gas monitor built into the wall to take the chill off. Living in Maine, the heat is on most of the year-and then with the humid summers the mold growth really takes off, so it has become a vicious cycle.

So there you have it, I apologize to my readers for this break in posting-I hope to post again soon but it promises to be a crazy few months until I can get established upstairs. Kind of sucks being a prisoner in 1-2 rooms (though I will have to go downstairs to cook, for the bathroom etc...)but so be it as I want to be healthy. Have a great Halloween everyone!

check out the awesome ribs (the day before we had burgers and hotdogs) and of course guess who we got to see? Yup, Montgomery Gentry was playing and their bus was right behind the Coors Light VIP bus... so what do you think I did?

Sharing some pics from the races!

We had a SUPER time thanks to Coors Light Beer who provided us with a VIP Experience at Loudon (Who'd have thought you could win something like that from a text message?!) We had to provide our own way down and stayed a couple of nights in Nashua, NH (and got to try out a nice small Brazilian buffet restaurant called Sabor Brasil on Friday night too)-but MillerCoors Brewing Company provided us with a fun experience right from the start.

We picked up our credentials on Friday night, and got to the track nice and early on Saturday. I was impressed that we got picked up and dropped off in their cute little Coors Light golf carts...boy those things go fast! And of course a bit shocked to find out that we were not getting seats, but would be watching the races from the middle of the field where all the famous drivers etc... were parked! Wow! Now I was not about to climb up on top of the bus like hubby did since he was much more adventurous than me... (and I figured I would fall on my fat butt and make a fool of myself)! Hubby loved the bird's eye view of the track and I loved watching him have fun and drink those free beers ;) Me? Well, I was driving back so let him enjoy himself both Saturday and Sunday. Plus, I wandered around a bit and got pics of the cars close up and sat down under the tents and watched the race from the TV that was on the side of the party bus. (heat and I don't always agree-and it was a hot weekend for Mid-September)

Those buses are amazing! Inside and out, total luxury... I was sooo jealous! These people definitely ride in style. Sunday, with all the people at the race, and hubby having to get back early for work-we didn't stay until the end of the main event... With traffic and all, it might have been hours before we got home-so although we really didn't want to, we had to leave with 64 laps still remaining in the race. But heck, that's what I have a smartphone for-at least we got to keep track of what was going on via my smartphone and see who won :)

We had great food, lots of beer provided, great conversation with some of the other people there, and of course a wonderful behind the scenes NASCAR Experience that will provide us with lots of great memories for many years to come. (Does hubby posing with the Coors Light girl count?) lol! I'm sure he won't forget THAT memory!

So for your viewing pleasure... enjoy a few pics on this post and a few others of the great experience we had at the Sylvania 300 in Loudon, NH thanks to MillerCoors Brewing Company and Hollywood Productions!