Living that plant life

*233*

     Last week, I purchased foil dryer vent tubing to replace the old shit we had downstairs. Whilst I was working on getting that attached, I realized that when the new furnace was put in...there is no room for the dryer and washer to leave when they die! We are going to have to break through the wall behind it and reconfigure shit. Not that bad since all the stuff is right there just have to turn shit around. But still. Fuckers! Plus, I was not successful getting the hosing attached because I am too short for the vent window and I am a quitter. Hubs attached everything for me, thank goodness.
 I did not need all that was bought so I returned said things back to Home Depot. That is when I spied this little girl (i just watered her.) She is a grafted Ruby Ball cactus. I paid $4.95 for her. I have done very well with cacti and some succulents so this is a good plant to add to the menagerie.

I do not like my new Gastro

   I said I was not going to talk about health so this will be brief. I am dealing with some gut issues. I saw the gastro yesterday (I miss my old gastro mucho) and after some talk it was decided that she is going to do an upper endoscopy on me on the 16th. Yay! I get to wait with 11 more days of pain and wonder. To be perfectly honest, I think I need a colonoscopy. It is a colon issue most definitely but she is the one with the degree. That sounds snarky, yes? See. The gastro that retired (she took over his office), he had been around for all my gut issues so when I would show up sick and in pain..he listened and he did what had to be done. This feels like I may end up in the ER at some point because she chooses to use the soft approach to things. I am going to probably have to look for another stomach dr at some point. We shall see. She actually asked me if I was depressed. Yes bitch, I have depression but I am not going to tell you that because you will not treat me. You will tell me to see my therapist for *warning! gross* pencil thin stools. Google pencil thin stools with stomach pain, gas, bloating, and nausea. I am thinking it is probably a polyp that has gotten large and needs to be taken out. But we will do an upper endoscopy cause she wants to look at my stomach. <---this is all the reason why I did not post yesterday. Kinda livid after that appointment

 Okay, enough of that. Food is a better subject

  No new pressure cooker yet but I did some research and I will probably be getting an Instant Pot this time. My gifter was waiting to get the money back from Amazon before she ordered me a new one. I have been dying to cook in it. Dying. Like I have no idea what I am going to cook today. I have to cook on the stove or in the oven. I would rather throw shit in the pot and forget it. I will not talk about that or the recipes that I want to try until I get my new one.  As for cooking, I am planning on making some chocolate covered coconut bon bons for Valentines day. I am also going to look up how to make like chocolate truffles cause Kid #2 does not like coconut. This and This link of recipes look good. I will do some more searching to find the right one.  Kid #1s birthday is coming up soon and I have to plan for that too. She does not eat cheese and limited dairy. We were thinking I could make a vegan cheese cake. I really need to sit down and look through our raw cookbooks. We have a couple of Ani Phyo`s cookbooks. They are good to have on hand when you are in the mood for a nice fresh meal. We have Ani`s Raw Food Kitchen and Ani`s Raw Food Essentials. I might cook dinner for her birthday also but I need to discuss with her what she would like to have.  Money is not what it used to be plus we are in the thick of snow season. Best to have a nice in home back up plan just in case of blizzard.

Walking for yer health

  I admit that I have not walked for a week but I will give you my valid reasons. I wanted to but my body said no. First it was because of the methotrexate, I think. I was having some major nerve pain in my foot, leg, and hip all last week. Like the kind that feels like cattle prod shocks. I was thinking I busted a cervical because I was having shocks in my arms too. Then I noticed I had pins and needles in my face. I realized that it was the dang pill. My psoriasis is disappearing but I adopted some gnarly pain instead. I am not really noticing any of my joint or back pain getting better but I digress. The weird nerve pain has subsided so I think it is just a side effect of the pill.  I did not take the pill yesterday because of my gut issues. I was told to stop it whenever I am sick.  So between the shocks and my gut, walking is not on my immediate horizon. I will try again in a couple days. Even if I can get a mile in, that will be better then nothing at all. Right? Like right now, My head feels like she wants to take a walk. But my gut is like *Bitch, you know better*.  I am still losing weight so I am moving in the right direction.

Bits and bobs

The stone mason is outside fixing a crumbling step as I type. It cost $50 so far. I wonder how much he is going to come at me for the rest. It best not be more then $100 or I will lose my shit.
 I have a dress and a shirt to do some sewing too.
I have a job interview for a job I probably do not want on Thursday. I will probably just go for the interview for the experience. I have a couple jobs that I have applied for floating out there that I really want. I think this one was one that my job coach applied for me in the beginning of our search. It is part time. I am looking for 32 hours or more. Working for 10 hours a week is a waste of my time when I need money. If I already had a job and this was a nice little filler job, that is different. I am not feeling it at all but I will show up and interview because they will be interviewing a bunch of people that day. Good interviewing learning experience
The kitchen is a disaster. When is it not? So I have to pick my ass up, take my medicine, and start dealing with that shit.

 I am sorry this mostly a negative post but my gut is sick. I am not in a good place to spread positivity. I mean, the cactus is positive. You can just read that paragraph over and over. :)
 I hope you have a great week. I hope we do not get a buttload of snow (maybe a little tomorrow) and I hope that I can get out there and walk!

Ta Ta for Now!


 

Dreaming of Spring

Cortlands and MacIntosh

*253*

   My dining room table has these three bags of apples on it. Macs and Cortlands. The room smells nice. I was able to get these for $5 a bag. They are each almost 20 lbs each. That comes to 25 cent a lb. I have decided to do some apple sauce but also some apple jelly. I have to see if I have any more cheese cloth. I love being able to buy something cheaply, make it into something good, and it saves money.

  But first I have to clean house. Ugh.

  I am a person that has a really tidy and well ordered house...in my mind. Yeah, not so much in reality. I have dusty window ledges. How do I tackle that when I have so much to do? It is my running theme in my life. I am a sick person who likes to live in a clean home but lives with family that has ADHD.  It is a freaking party! I try to rein in my ADHD tendencies by sticking with one or two areas of interest a day. The kitchen is always part of that list. It is always a mess in the morning. Always! I never wake up to smooth counter tops and everything put away. Today I will also tackle the downstairs bath. That is the *children`s* bathroom but it is also the one that people would use if they came to the house. It is like a fucking swamp. I leave it till I cant take it anymore. Those will be my two areas of interest. The vacuuming, recycling, mopping, dog washing, stair sweeping, dusting, laundry, and general decluttering will just have to wait it`s turn for more energy.

  Yeah, more energy. That is a funny notion. I miss the days of being able to do what I want and my body doesnt betray me.  I will need to muster up plenty of that fabled energy soon. My bestie, A, has some very bad bad back issues. She will need surgery. She is weaving through the maze of worker`s comp now. I am her friend and she will need my help through this. Rides to the Dr. Care after surgery. I have already started cooking meals and slowly cleaning her house. Cooking and cleaning for her but there are her Mother and Son living there also. Yeah, you read that right. I have two homes to clean. I am not complaining. I love her and it has to be done. I just dont know how.  If you have any ideas, just let me know. I fear that this could hurt me. I am already dealing with something neurological that I dont wanna talk about. It will have to wait cause I dont have the time or the money to afford being laid up right now.

  Positives for today are always good.  The furnace is wonderful. I have it on the low side. It is 20 something out but the house is good. You need a light sweater but we aren't millionaires.  I bought a primrose plant for 25 cents. It breaks my spend fast but I needed to see the flowers that it brings. My friend gifted me a blu ray player. I have to hook it up. Very happy about that! Hubs birthday is next week. I havent decided on the menu but he will have a Almond Joy cake. Oh yeah.I am actually starting to like my grey hairs that are popping up. I have decided I wont color. I earned every one of them!

I will post about the spending fast this weekend. While it supposedly snows.

Fall Projects 2014

*246*

    I always have something to do around here. I have a objective to accomplish before it gets super cold. I want to paint Kid#2`s room, paint the living room <---yeah..still hasnt been done..paint my dresser (halfway there), paint and re-upholster a couple chairs, and get set up for Christmas. If I could do all that in two months time, that would be amaz-balls! We shall see though.

 

 

I did start repainting all the rough plastic pots that I bought this summer for super cheap. I bought about 8 of these large pots for $5. The Rustoleom spray paint costs $4 a can. This was done first because my Mother in Law`s tongue was pot bound and I wanted to give it a good chance at settling in before it gets cold. I have a couple blues and black. Every week I will buy another shocking color. I will paint them till it is too cold to do it. They will be nice to have pops of color around the yard.  I also have some Jeep tires that I am thinking I might paint and make into garden beds. 

  I won these two pretties on Ebay. They are Birkies from Birkenstock. I was lucky. The blue island theme cost $16 and the fans cost $24. They are exclusively made in Germany and not sold in the US. When people buy them on trips to Europe, they throw the boxes away because they need room in their suitcases. So if you see them new w/o box, this is why. They are orthopedic for your feet. You have to wear them around the house, preferably barefoot, to form your foot to the insole. It took me about 2 days with the black ones. The other pair took about a week. When I wear them, my feet feel really good. I dont have heel pain. Major score with the shoes!

  Today I am going to work on the dresser..I hope. The white needs a touch up. I already painted the drawers and the top. It is a rough dresser but that is okay with me. It is big enough for my abundance of shit.





Halloween and Kid #2`s birthday s coming fast. I ordered her carrot cake. She MAY have decided on a place to eat. She wants a gift to open! So much money spent on a 21 year old. More updates as we get closer.

Big Girl Decisions

Hilda- plus size pin up

*248*

  I have some decisions to make. This ketogenic eating is really hard. I just cannot maintain on 20 g of carbs or less a day. It makes me feel like mega shit. I can eat 40-50 carbs a day and feel really good. That is way less then what the recommended amounts are. Alot of these women (in the fb group) are in starving mode and so nasty to each other. It totally turns me off. If somebody even hints they are not eating *clean*, they jump on them.  That shit is not for me. Look! I have lost quite a bit since I started this. There have been a shit ton of bumps in the road. I cant even exercise properly cause of my damn feet. But I will not let some stranger guilt me because I ate a baked pretzel today for a snack. I have only consumed 663 calories so far today.  I will never eat another 700 for dinner. I am going to keep my calories low, eat low carbs, more fats, and hope my feet heal!

 That is big girl decision #1.

   Last week, I was bored. I went poking around on FB. For some reason, I got the urge to look up my sister`s name. She has never been on FB for the umpteen years that I have been on. My brother`s either. Well guess what I found. My sister is on FB. It freaked me out. Just from what I saw. She looks so much older. It has been almost 15 years. She has her shit on public, so she has a ton of people that just added her. It is sad. It made me sad. For a fleeting moment I was going to friend request her. I would tell her that this was strictly online for now. I am not going into specifics but if someone hasnt talked to their older sibling for almost 20 years, they must have a good reason. I didnt friend her. I just sat on that decision to see how a few days would make me feel. I decided that I was going to leave it be for now. I may revisit this at a later date. I will also talk to the therapist about this tomorrow.  That can of worms is staying closed.


Big girl decision #2 down!

Major pressing issue, the boy that needs to grow up to be a man. He is coming back here on Friday. He has been gone more then a month. He calls it his vacation. Vacation from what, I dont care. I was supposed to write out a *contract* for my therapist to see tomorrow. It would outline all that we want him to do so that he can continue to live here. He has to get a job. He has to pay us $50 a week. He (and everyone) has to limit their showers to 15 minutes. Winter is coming and oil is expensive.  He has to save money throughout the Fall and Winter. If he is still here, he has until April 1st. He should have enough saved to move out. If he misses a week paying, he has to pay both weeks the following week or he will have to live somewhere else.

   It is so simple. We have thrown family out before because they were not holding up their end of the bargain. I just dont see why this is so hard. He has been here more or less since March 2014. He has never given us a penny towards his living here. So things are going to change.


Big girl decision #3..I am on a roll.

   Lastly, I have been really working on this house. We own a older, wooden, short, and orange colored tv stand. It has been in this house over 10 years. It hasnt been used forever. I was gonna toss it. A lightbulb went over my head. We are going to give #2 our flat screen from our bedroom and get a slightly larger one. I measured the base of our tv. It will fit on said tv cart/stand. Today I washed it and used a entire can of gloss black Valspar spray paint on it. I need one more can. It will go in the kid`s room after we paint. I brought all the houseplants inside. I am going to try to overwinter my wax begonias from the porch pots. They are so pretty that they deserve to survive! If they die, they cost me next to nothing. 


Okay, I gotta get moving again. I have to bring the tv stand inside just in case it rains. I have dishes to finish and I got to work on dinner. Sausage with potatoes. Yummy!


Have a great week!