Ultimate Blog Challenge - Resources List

Welcome to Day 7 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. today's assignment is to list my handy resources. Coincidence has it that I already did this in November, and my list remains unchanged:

Among my favorite free tools are Canva that I use to create anything that combines pictures and text. 

Sometimes pictures have backgrounds I want to get rid off. In that case I refer to Remove. 

If I don't have my own pictures for a post, I often find fantastic photographs on Unsplash. 

For my YouTube videos I can find uplifting music on Bensound and Purple Planet. 

If I need help translating, I quite like Deepl.

With this out of the way, I have an opportunity to give you an update on my Godfather. I reached out to his wife, and this is what she said:

Thank you! You don't have to be frightened, He is fine and it was not a heart attack or an emergency. Angina pectoris has slowly manifested itself and is now fixed with the stents, just as many years ago your Dad's bypasses brought widening and flow. Thanks to heart surgery  ❤️👨 ⚕️🍀 

That's good to hear. I did not know it wasn't an emergency. He didn't tell me he had a procedure scheduled when I called on his birthday. 

May imagination may have ran wild, but I imagined he collapsed, and she had to call an ambulance. 

So he's expected to be released from the hosptial tomorrow and will hopefully recover and carry on enjoying his life.

He's my Dad's (the one on the left) younger brother. 



They have two younger sisters. When my Dad was 12 (and the youngest sister 6) their mother died of congestive heart failure, which was devastating for the young children - and the widow. 

The kids were temporarily placed with family and friends until an in-house houskeeper / nanny was hired. She stayed there many years, basically until the last of the grown-up kids moved out. To me she was sort of my paternal Grandma I otherwise would not have had. Like my "real" materinal Grandma she shared her exact birthday with me. How special is this?

My Dad's Mom's early death triggered a medical investigation, and they found out that the entire family suffered from high cholesterol, so the kids grew up watching their diet, no - or reduced amounts of - butter, cheese, eggs, bacon, sausages, french fries, cakes or cookies, and that's also how my brother and I, as well as our cousins were raised. 

My Mom may have turned a blind eye to when it came to pastry.

When my Dad was in his early 50s, he experienced shortness of breath, chest pain and other typical symptoms, and it wasn't hard to guess what was going on. Several of his coronary arteries were severely blocked and required not stents but bypasses, six of them, if I remember correctly. 

I'll spare you the gruesome medical details of the surgery, recovery and rehabilitation. 

Fact is that the doctors told him they'd probably see him again in 10 - 15 years' time. See, even though he was watching his diet, being physically active and taking his meds vicariously, they fully expected to repeat the entire operation a decade or so later.

Well! My Dad turns 80 later this year, and while he has a few medical challanges regarding his back, he's doing just fine. Apart from routine check-ups, he has not been seeing anybody within the cardiology department ever since.

Here's to hoping that my Godfather, who is carved from the same wood after all, will push through equally well!

I want to thank everybody who's been sending positive vibes his way! Much appreciated.

By the way they found out that the kind of cholesterol that our bodies produce in abundance, does not come from food. While we're not going crazy and stuffing our faces with meat and dairy products, we don't have to feel bad about enjoying a nice pizza either. I recently found a new GP who suggested to try a "natural" cholesterol-lowering drug. I wrote about it here. My bloodwork will be done next week. Wouldn't it be great to go without chemicals?

Wrapping up the original subject: What's on your resources list?

Comments

  1. Well…my main resource is my phone.
    Then Pixlr for making my images from photos.

    I hope your blood work is positive! Some find that with exercise and a plant based diet, you can get your body into good shape again!

    Blessings,
    Laurie
    Ridge Haven Homestead

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  2. Thanks for the resources. I had not heard of a few of them. I have used Canva in the past but did not find it as user friendly as some other programs but maybe I should revisit. Have a great day.

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  3. I use Canva, Adobe, and Powerpoint...

    Good luck on your blood work!

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  4. I use several of your resources, too. My dad had congenitive heart disease and he had several procedures over the years. He lived to be a spunky 82. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

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  5. I use Canva, and also take my own pictures for the blog.

    Heart disease is such a common malady in humans. My husband was diagnosed with hyperhomocysteinemia, which is remedies by folic acid, B12, and other B vitamins, and is an Irish thing. That did work for awhile. We came to find others on the Irish side of the family died early of heart disease. Even though no one was tested, we surmised that was the culprit.

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  6. Love all the resources thanks for this

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  7. I'm always on the lookout for resources to share with my subscribers. I'm familiar with many of the resources you listed, apart from the ones relevant to video, as I don't do that and 'Remove.' Love that and saved to my pocket. Thanks for sharing:)

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  8. Thanks your resource list. My list is short - Wordpress and my own photos. I press multiple buttons till things work out. Glad to hear your uncle is ok. My father had a quadruple? bypass must be about 10 years ago. He is 90 and hasn’t seen a cardiologist since. My mother is also 90. They’re still in their own house. We’re doing shopping for them because of Covid. Take care.

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  9. We have so many resources at our fingertips now days, unlike the old days when with photos we were screwed and couldn't change a damn thing.

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  10. Some excellent resources here. I actually just paid for a yearly license to a different place for music with YouTube as the library had so many things, including great song with lyrics etc. Hopefully I get my money's worth! Artlist is the spot.

    I use DepositPhotos a lot for graphics, and I also have another music place (Audio Hero) where I have a bunch of credits I bought a few years ago. They never expire, so that's nice. Font Bundles is my go-to for typefaces and other design things when I am creating different publications for work, or graphics for myself or others.

    I'm trying to work on other resources as well... it's something I felt would eventually be good for my blog as a page people can see.

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