You can have too much Vitamin D

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   I was scolded at the Endo this week. He said I was taking too much Vitamin D. He was worried I could get hypercalcemia and that was extremely bad. He didnt want to have to treat that and I did not want to experience it.  Luckily, my level was only double what it should be. I threw away my 5000mg pills (in one of those pill packs) and I bought a bottle of 1000mg. I can start the new pills in two weeks. Vitamin D is a fat soluable pill so it stays in your body longer. I can go awhile without taking it and let the levels get down to normal. I wonder what that will mean for my psoriasis. It is not super bad like some people but it is annoying. The dots of it keeping coming up and I keep slapping steriod cream on them. I am going to try this lotion, Dermarest, and see if that helps at all. I am not super self conscious about the lesions that pop up but some of them can get really big and I hate those. I will report back on whether it works or not.

   My appointment with the endo was interesting . No change in my insulin (yes).  He is sad because I am allergic to all the pills for Cholesterol. He has no way to treat me and it is putting me at risk for heart disease. He told me to lose weight. Lose alot of weight. And he said that not eating animal fat would help alot too. I dont think I could be vegan or plant based. I have talked about it. I have dabbled in it. But I have to be honest. I like to eat meat. I have practically given up on dairy. I will have some here or there and it will hurt me but most of the time, I do not have it at all. Eggs I have very rarely because they hate me too. This morning I am partaking on some low carb toast with some mashed avocado on top. I am a basic bitch. I know it. But it sure tastes yummy. Gives you some perspective on your life and what you have to do to prolong it.

   The kitten is doing very well. She was named Keiko but I do not like it. Basically, I got this kitten, I searched out this kitten, I paid for this kitten, I will have to pay for her first appointment, her fix, her food, and her life but I did not get to even choose her name. I call her Kitten Boo. That is her name to me. That is me feeling a bit bitter and bitchy this morning. Forgive me. My period is late again. Lack of estrogen.  Plus I am tired from cleaning yesterday, I have paperwork I needs straightened out, and I have to drive Kid #1 to New Haven for a Doctors appt. 1 hour drive one way. I do not mind it because she needs to go, I am just tired today and do not wish to go. Eh.

   That is it for now. Short post. Nothing fun. I have to get dressed and go to the insurance agents this morning. It seems they did not inform DMV that our Jeep was totalled. I received paperwork that needs to be rectified. Can I just not adult today? I would like to lay on the leather couch I bought but it seems that my oldest thinks it is hers and hers alone. I have yet to take a nap on it. Yes, that is me being bitter again but still. I have not laid on it and all.

Okay...i am gonna go now. :)

No Spend June Week 1

Hot Flashes SUCK!

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  I am warning myself and anyone that is reading. I have to leave here to take Kid #1 someplace so this post can be really good and at some point it drops off a cliff. If I stay here and write, I can keep my train of thought. If I have to leave and come back hours later and I do not have any notes as to what I wanted to talk about, this post get real boring, really quick. With that being said, I will tell you how my past week has gone.

   We will start off with the spending. I did cave a little bit. Someone gave us a never used fire pit. Oh bestill my beating heart. I have always wanted one! We will use it up in the top yard. Anyway, I was at Walmart picking up cleaning stuff and a bit of groceries and Hubs NEEDED a pair of readers cause he finally decided to fess up. So everything on that day was within the bounds of need except for two tiki torches. Total for the two was a little over $8. They will keep us from being bitten when we are burning the woods. No excusing what I did but I said I would fess up. As for how I did this week, I did pretty good. I stuck to the plan. Since last week was a short one, I did not spend $150 on groceries. I spent 88.53 on groceries, that included those glasses, toiletries, dog and cat food. I paid all the allotted bills for this week. I did spend $50 for our portion for a cookout that is coming up next month. I could have said no, I cannot but that would have started a major shit so I decided to treat it like a bill just for this month.  I have been bringing water with me and I bring my coffee in metal coffee cuppy thing for the car. There will be no stops for nothing unless my blood sugar is tanking and I have stuff in my purse for that anyway.  So yes, I did not completely no spend this week. I am hoping this week will be much better.
  I am not much of a coupon person because I do not buy many processed foods. That is where most of the savings in coupons comes from. You never find a coupon for a gallon of milk. At least, I never have. I do not have the cognitive patience to hunt down, sort out, and use them. I will just try to shop less. Keep within the budget boundaries and see how I do this month.  I took out a ham for dinner. I read that you can cook it frozen. It will take 4 hours to cook but that is okay. It is only 1pm. That ham will give us a few meals this week. Pea soup included!
   Today was my last day of PT. We mutually decided that two months was good. It really isnt helping me so I have to follow up with my massage therapist. Soft tissue injuries can be a pain in the ass. I know that is true. I am tired of being in constant pain in my neck and head. If you had a daily headache, you would be in a pissy mood also. I sent message to the lawyers office and to my massage therapist. Once a week should be good to help out. I have a TENS unit here so I will use that and my traction. I will not let this get any worse if I can help it.

   I read an entire book this weekend. That hasnt happened in ages. The book is called Wheat Belly. It talks about how the wheat and grains we eat today are nothing genetically like the wheat and grains our grandparents ate. Wheat is the reason many of us are sick. I knew this already but I needed a refresher. It is basically talking about keto without actually saying keto. It is not a keto book. It is a really good book that will open your eyes. If you can get a copy, give it a gander. My next book is about sugar addiction. I cannot remember what it is called. Let me find the picture.....

The Sugar Detox one. That is what I will read next. I read all about Perimenopause in the dummy book but I have to read the rest. The houseplant book will be a fun book to get different ideas on houseplants. Speaking of, I am going to repot my tall cactus today. Wish me luck. I do know how to handle them (use a newspaper lasso to hug around the plant for lifting). She is need of a bigger pot and fresh soil. I will do that after I drop the kid off. But these are the books I bought at the library book sale. I cannot believe I have gotten back into reading. It has been so hard the past few years to have some kind of cognitive skill to pay attention or have the want to read. I was a big time reader. BIG! I know that it could disappear again just as quickly as it came so I will enjoy it while it lasts.

  Hot flashes suck. I have been suffering so badly the past 10 days or so. All I have to do is bend over to pick up a fork and I break out in a flop sweat. We have been having a very cold Spring and still cool into the 2nd week of June. Part of me hopes it stays this way but we know that will not happen. Summer has to show up eventually. And I will have to find a block of ice to sit on.

   I am really tired of younger people acting like their auto immune issues are way more important then mine. It seems that age doesn't matter to some people. I can be over 20 years older then a person but supposedly their aches and pains are more significant. Because I know how to pace myself, I should be the one taking care of them. Even though I have alot of bad days, I am expected to forgo my own health plan to make sure others get what they need. I want to say bullshit really loudly. But I have been told that wouldnt be fair. I just sit and ignore the moans and groans. Most of the time, those noises are a signal for ME to do something. Nah! I had to say it! It has been bugging me lately and especially today.

 Oh...I got my mouth guard this week. Happy Day! It is used for people that grind their teeth at night. The grinding is really not good for the periodontal. I did have a guard that I bought at the pharmacy. It worked really well but they are only good for a few months. I hope to see some really good results with my teeth numbers when I go to get counted in July.  When you have periodontal disease, they count the spaces between your gums and your upper inside teeth. It is not a pleasant experience. It is looking for bone loss. Each tooth is given a number. The lower the number (0,1,2,3) the better. Upper numbers are bad. My back lower right molar aka problem child is a lost cause. It is at an 8 at this point. We keep it because it is still rooted in my mouth. You want to keep the teeth in your head as long as possible.

  That is about it for now. Send out positive thoughts to me this week. NO SPENDING! NO SPENDING! NO SPENDING! You can do it Heidi! We have faith in you!

Have a good week, all.

Oh Spring!

*231*

  I am dealing with the return of hot flashes and fibro flare so I am not a happy or cognitive camper right now. I will try to be uber positive even though I feel shittay. We had pizza for dinner last night. I ate 3 pieces of mushroom from a small pizza, so not large slices. I am paying for it in many gut wrenching ways. But that is life, and I move on.

   Except for it being really cold, Spring is moving along nicely. I am going to wash all those pots and spray paint them. I was going to do it before Easter but we had that snow storm and lots of rain and wind. I have to catch a day with sunshine and no wind so I dont paint myself.

   This poor duck had lost all his paint and started to become waterlogged. I dried him out and spray painted him with Valspar gloss. I covered his eyes and spent a couple days doing it. He is now rain proof and a nice bright makeover for the quacker. I am trying repurpose what I have to save money. That is the plan anyway.

   I have been eating more veg since Monday. Easter was my last day of not following the cdiff rules eating. I have a fridge full of vegs and chicken. I will try my hardest to lose the 30lbs or at least 20 And to make my gut feel better. I have like a week of feeling great then I eat pizza and set myself back. I definitely have to stay away from grease and dairy.

  Lu is not doing well. Her heart meds were upped again. She has fluid around her heart.  She takes a diuretic and another pill. I wonder if she will survive this year. She is my love. I have never loved a animal as much as I love her. Because of her age, there is really nothing to fix it. I just love her and spoil her rotten while I still have her. She is 8 years old. We have had her for 6 years.

  Okay, I am done for now. I am cranky and I have a sink full of dishes waiting.
Have a great week!

I had a turkey feast

    I am up uber early this morning. Hubs has to work 630-3pm this week and the beater car still needs brakes (next week).I take him to work and bring him his lunch. That is gonna change. He will get a coffee cup and insulated bag. It will save on gas. Hopefully these hours dont become a thing. It will suck in the cold.
   I wanted to share our Halloween. (Turn up the volume!) We had 15 kids total. We scared a few with our layout. Imagine the darkness of the back yard. hehehe Yes, 15 is sad but if you have read here enough, you know that 15 kids was a hit! And those kids will tell others for next year. Kid #2 did most of the decorating and she was proud of herself. She did a good job.

  We had a whirlwind blow thru last two weeks. I went to see the neuro. He wants me to have a MRI/MRA/MRV done of my brain. That will be done this Friday. He wants to see if I have a malformation of vessels in my head that could be causing the pressure. They need to call back because I will need drugs for that. 
 Then I saw the gyn. He told me that I am starting the process of perimenopause. My period is MIA and I have hot flashes. Like all the fucking time. I never experienced this before. It is awful. He said that if it continues, I can go on a short course of estrogen. I have to wait a couple months. I also have to have a ultrasound. It is a pain issue I have been dealing with since my ablation. I might have a hysterectomy in my future. I am partly ready for it cause the pain is enough to warrant it but I will do research first. I have two choices. The pain will go away with full on menopause when...early 50s. Or have the uterus taken out. Yup. Yup. Yup.

As I was leaving the gyn, I got a call from Cambridge Ma. It was the geneticist`s office. They had a cancellation the next day for me. Kid #2 and I gathered up our courage and set off at 530am the next morning on the Amtrak to Boston. We got on the T to Cambridge and we had a good visit. He feels because of my age, we cannot physically prove that I have a connective tissue disorder. I am too stiff. I used to be able to do all the tricks (hypermobile) as a kid till up to my 30s. He needs enough proof so the insurance company will pay for the blood work. He sees a couple variants in me and my family history. BUT he feels that Kid #2 definitely will pass the physical tests. Her blood work will go through and he will have a better case for them to accept mine. Let`s just hope it happens before January.  We did good. We went on a trip and navigated and didnt freak out.  They gave me her March appt for my followup. They will squeeze her in for a cancellation. I hope I have the cash to pay for it. I have been socking money away for it.

 Oh wait until you read this shit......Okay. So I like to enter contests. I have won some pretty neat stuff. I never have the expectation of winning the grand prize. If I can win anything else, that is cool. Odds of winning top prize are slim. Except this time. I had entered a recipe contest for Fisher nuts. You had to submit recipes using one of the Fisher nuts (walnuts, pecans, or almonds) I wanted the prize of getting all three of those in big bags. I was thinking of the holidays. I entered my pesto pork chops.
 I get a call at like 8pm at night from Illinois. I was going to ignore it but they called three times so I answered. Good thing I did! I am a finalist!
 I am one of 20 that were chosen. There will be a national voting of our recipes from the 3rd-20th. After that, the three highest voted will be judged by a panel which includes Chef Alex guarnaschelli.  The winner gets a 3 day/2 night trip to nyc, hotel, meet Alex, eat at her place, Butter, and a bunch of other stuff. The other 19 people get her new cookbook and those bags of nuts. In my eyes, I am already a winner!

  I will post the link tomorrow and if any of you want to help me win, I would be so grateful. 

I had some stomach yuck the past few days. I am feeling oh so normal today..at least for me. I am going to make some pumpkin bread this morning and possibly pull out my winter clothes. With these hot flashes and hot body...I will probably just be wearing t-shirts all winter. 
 As for the turkey feast...They dont like turkey at all. We will probably have a chicken for unthanksgiving. So they obliged me yesterday. We cooked the hotel turkey breast I had in freezer. Mashed tatos, stuffing, and veggies. I was in heaven. I LOVE turkey. I know they love me cause nobody made a face. And there are leftovers!

BTW..I had 3 hot flash moments while typing this. 1. I need a new computer cause it took way too long with all the letter n and e issues. 2. I told you they were bad. Damn hormonally challenged.

Happy Monday!