I must be broken or something

*230* <---all scales are subjective


   I suck. Shake your head at me. I cannot follow through on shit. This was supposed to be No Spend June and it turned into OMG SPEND SOME MONEY BITCH!  I had a vet bill, I had to put oil in the tank, we had to have a dying tree cut down ($600!!!), and I had to buy work clothes for the Hubs new job. Plus I just have no fucking self control when it comes to spending. It started off innocently enough. The heat wave hit and I realized after pulling out all my summer clothes that I owned 2 pairs of shorts total. And one pair was to short for my liking. So i decided that it was okay for me to go to Goodwill and buy some shorts. And I did. I spend $25 on a few pairs of shorts. That is all I bought and I felt okay with that. Then it just snowballed. Again with the take out food. Again with the multiple trips to the grocery store. What the literal fuck, Heidi?

   But if any of you have read here at all, you know that I am a fighter. I will do this again. I am not calling this month a lost cause but I am going to start again fresh for July. Hubs has a new job with different hours. I will have to do all the stuffs around here because he wont be around during the day. When he is around, I do not get much done. I dont know why. Now that he will be gone during the day....I can get the ebay started up again. I can get projects done. I will clean. I will be bored because he is not here so I will do tasks around the house. We shall see if the change in venue will give me a boost of NOT SPENDING. I really am ashamed of myself. I could not even do it for a whole month. There are people out there that have done it for a year. A freaking YEAR!

Okay..I am done flagellating myself.

   Today is the last day of Spring 2017. So far the veggie garden sucks. The only plants that are doing well are the tomatoes. They are growing really nicely. The peppers are not doing well at all. This weird weather has not given them an opportunity to grow. The ones at the community garden looks like they need to be pulled and start all over again. I have time I guess. Yes, buying plants for the garden is spending money. But I place them in the category of food so it is added to the grocery budget.  Since we had the tree cut down in the top yard, we also had some branches trimmed. I got rid of that big one in the side yard that was almost touching the house. Super happy that is gone. We were getting mossy on the roof on that side of the house. Let`s see. Oh yes. I broke the sink upstairs. Dont ask (unless I already told you but I am not searching to see if I did). That was another $200 for a new sink/cabinet/faucet plus give friend some cash for helping. The sink looks faboo though. The old one came with the house and it was supposedly built in to the wall. Like they made it. This one is smaller which is good. Gives the bathroom a little bit more leg room. See, I can be positive.

  Let me think of some positives for this post. Hubs got a new job. We have a beautiful new bathroom sink. The tree that could have fallen on our house is gone. There is more sun in the yard. I took a walk at the beach yesterday......Oh yeah.  Yesterday it was overcast and I decided to take a walk on the boardwalk at the beach in the morning. I did the full boardwalk once. I did not have my sneakers on (last minute decision to go) so I did not want to hurt my feet. I always say that I am going to walk for exercise but I do not. It is because there is this level of guilt that if I go without others, I am a shit head. I do not want to wait until other people decide they want to go. I want to just go. It is better for me to just do it in the morning before it gets hot. Take the two mile walk that I have mapped out, come home, take a shower, and start the rest of my day. I had already decided that tomorrow will be that day.

  What else? Positives! I dont know. I just know I need to get off this computer. I have to strip the bed and wash all the bed linens. I have to water the plants upstairs and vacuum. I have a mountain of my clothes to put away. That is what I will miss the most. Hubs did all the laundry. Now that his shift has flipped, he is going to be too tired to be doing that. Did I just say that? LOL I think he needs to know how much I appreciate him. Oh. I forgot. I had an MRI on my cervical spine. It shows arthritis but there is not bulges or herniations. Yay me!

That is all for now. I am sorry that I missed a week. Last week, I had a UTI from hell and I was just not in the mood for anything. If you have ever had a UTI, you will completely understand.
I will be back next week with more of my whining.

No Spend June Week 1

Hot Flashes SUCK!

*233*

  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.

Life can be a bowl of cherries

*2??* <---ignoring for now

  Hey there. How are you doing? I have been up to so much stuff lately that I completely forgot about last week. I am not going to look back at what I posted the last time. I am just gonna move on with my life and if I forgot to share something, you can always leave a comment..or not.

  Today was a good day. I had my 2nd appointment with Bureau of Rehabilitation Services. I was accepted to be in the program. They are going to help me find meaningful work. Real work. Like career shit. I will get help with a resume, interview coaching, looking for work in what I want and what I am able to do, coaching on the job, and all kinds of stuff. This is a major big deal for me. They are going to help advertise me to places so that I have a better chance of getting a good job. I have to do some assessment tests this week that I bring in next week and then do some more. This will not be super fast but it will move along at a good pace and they will stick with me until I am ready to fly. Very happy.

  If it rains one more day, I will officially become a mushroom farmer. We have had more rain than sun the past couple weeks. And it has been so cold here. Like I had to throw another quilt on the bed and close all the windows. Hopefully they are correct that it will be in the 70s mid week. My lettuce is not growing very fast because of the lack of sunshine.  It has to warm up before I plant the peppers and tomatoes too. They will have issues if I buy them now.  I do have all my annuals out now. They will have to sink or swim because I love to have those punches of color.  There are impatients in the hanging cones and a mixer of different annuals in the hangers in the yard. We had a bit of wind on MD and one of my new Pinwheels died. I brought them all in. Once they have dried out, I will woodglue them all so they are sturdy. That is what I had to do with the last batch I bought a couple years ago.

  Health wise, I am doing ok. The lump left over from the breast biopsy is still there. It doesnt hurt like it did but it unnerves me that it is still there. I figured it would have shrunk by now. I will tell the Dr if it is still there in June. I had to go back to the dentist this past week for a cracked filling. Thankfully it was one that had been filled recently so there was no charge for that. So instead I had them make molds for me to get dental guards for my grinding at night. The one that you get at the pharmacy is okay but it is not as good as the real deal ones that you have made for your mouth. I want to save my teeth from the damage that I am causing and this is one of the culprits.

 The other culprit has been my eating. Look. I have been talking so much as to how I have to get back to eating right because I gained 10 (really 13) lbs. This morning, I had a lightbulb moment. I started this way of eating because of what happened in the Doctors office last year on a particular day. He upped my night time and day time insulin. He told me that I was at a medical cross roads. I will gain weight with the increase of my insulin. Then he will have to increase it again because I gained weight. I do not want to die before I am 50 because I chose Lay`s potato chips over life.  But I have some adjustments that I had to make to this for my own well being. It will not be high fat. It will be moderate fat. Low carb, moderate fat, moderate protein.  I will not do cheat days but if once in awhile, something comes up that I want to eat, I will. Like tonight I will have strawberries with whipped cream.  With keto there would have been no strawberries allowed. So I am not doing keto. I am just doing low carb with the option to buy. Low insulin numbers! That is what we are striving for. No more ruining our good name in our diabetic meter because we wanted a candy bar! We can eat a Quest bar instead!

  What else? I had a really good Mother`s Day. Kid #1 acknowledged me. Kid #2 cleaned the house and helped Hubs cook dinner. I got Lush products and flowers. I did do some stuff but that is how I am but afterward I laid around and watched Simon and Martina on Youtube. They are funnier than all get out. But I warn you. Once you get sucked in, do not blame me for the wasted hours of funny food porn. Can you believe it though?? After all of those years of sucky MDs..I finally got a good one? Makes me extra happy about that.

Okay..I am going to go. I have to go pick up #2 at work and dinner will be done soon. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead with lots of sunshine and no ants!

The Tax Man Cometh

*22?* I really have no idea

  No Boob Cancer!

  I was so preoccupied with life that I plum forgot to post what I found out. I am forever sorry for that. I have a lesion. No cancer. Basically aging boobs. I had a friend PM me on Facebook to talk to me about it. She has had extensive reconstructive surgery from cancer surgeries on the breasts. I have a HUGE hematoma but I was told it will go away on it`s own. Not to worry about it and I will not. All is good. Phew!

   Monday I went to the Bureau of Rehabilitation. It has been a few months of waiting for this appointment. They are going to help me get back to work or try to get back to work. They can actually hunt down jobs for me. I decided that I want to try part time first and gradually see if I can add hours if a particular job allows. I want to work in an office with the ability to move around from seated to standing positions. I will be able to get job training, resume help, interview skills, and head hunters looking for jobs for me. I am actually a bit excited about it. It has been a long time since I worked but I think I am ready to try.

  Today I will do our taxes. I hate it. It is not super hard. I had no issues last year. It is just we do not get a refund so there is no fun in it. Do the taxes. Pay the bill. It is done. So I always wait to the last minute. This is where I wholeheartedly say I procrastinate. Since Kid #2 is working, this will be the last tax season we can claim her. At least I think it is. I know there is an income cut off where I cannot claim her anymore. I figured I would do it this time and then next year let her be her own adult person.

   I had to leave and run errands and take the Kid #2 to the dentist. It is like 5 hours later so I am here to finish this up. I learned something on my travels. I found out that I cannot ever take statins for my cholesterol issues. My issues are genetic, not food based. I have allergic reactions to two statins so that basically means I cannot take any of them anymore. My Endo is putting me on Zetia but that is a supplement to add to statins It is not going to help me. So I asked the pharmacist what to do. He said becoming plant based. You eat vegan and your cholesterol numbers fall right into line. How sad does that sound for me? Plant based (no meat, fish, eggs, or dairy), no grains or wheat, no rice, and no higher carbohydrate foods. I am smart. I know I could eat fake meats to supplement my meals. Most are soy based which is not the greatest. I could eat beans which are higher carb but I have to eat something. I am going to give it time. I bought some Morning Star fake meat crumbles. Tonight is taco salad night. I am going to use that as my meat. I am not going to use cheese or sour cream either. Stripped down taco salad with fake meat and no corn chips. Yup. Is it gonna come down to me eating flavored cardboard for meals? Seriously!

  I was supposed to do our taxes today. That aint gonna happen. I got home at 5pm and dinner has to get started. I will do it tomorrow. I promise. I swear! I have a bath bomb that is calling my name too. I want to soak my sore muscles and shit.

Okay...let me get off this thing. Let me cook my plant based meat and see how it tastes. You all have a wonderful Passover and Easter. If I do not post on Sunday, I will see you on Monday. Have a good night!

April Showers Bring on Rheumatism

*230* <---fat ass

  I woke up to rain hitting the roof above my head. It is a soppy April rain out there this morning. Supposed to be like this all day. I had no idea. I have been so preoccupied with life shit that I have not even paid attention to the little things, like the weather.  I am surprised I dont feel very bad. Usually rain makes me feel like garbage in the head. Days like this make many of us FEEL the weather. We will see how the day goes and how much I get done.

   I am sorry this has been delayed by a day or two. I had some stuff transpire and my mind has been elsewhere. The thyroid is fine. There is no cancer. I do have a 3cm nodule that you can feel cause it is right on the front of the left side of the thyroid. I also have a larger one in the very center, called the isthmus. I went to see my endo yesterday. I had blood work done and most definitely thyroid was in those tests. For right now, we are going to leave the nodules alone. He is definitely sure that they are not the reason I am having difficulty swallowing. If the swallowing becomes a major issue for me (it isnt just yet), I will make appointment for my ENT office. This is what I have to say about the biopsy of the thyroid..If you have to have one done, do not be afraid. They numb you enough that you do not have any pain. You WILL feel the pressure of the needle touching your thyroid. It is unnerving but it is not really painful. Maybe a tiny bit. But not gonna kill you and it is quick quick. If I have to have it done again, I wont be a chicken shit.

  As for what happened yesterday, that was a whole different scenario. Let me refill my coffee cup. Okay, let me back track a bit. I went in Thursday for my second mammo. It was done on the left breast only. Then I had an ultrasound on the same breast. They found something called a architectural distortion.  They basically said that it could be cancer or something called a radial scar. They cannot tell what it is because it is not palpable like a cyst or a lump. So they had to do a biopsy of it. Yesterday I think if I could have shit myself without embarrassment, I would have. I was having a Stereotactic Core Biopsy. That even sounds scary to me. They sat me in a chair, pushed me up to the mammo machine, pressed my boob in there to position where they could see the distortion, numbed the skin, numbed deeper in the boob, and then the mammo has a hollow needle that is attached that goes down into your.... Okay. You get the idea. Anyway. Because I am a freak of nature, I could feel the biopsy. They figured it was because my breast was so dense. There was no mistaking my facial expression. I could feel it and it hurt. The doctor just did what he had to do in a hurry. I just trooped it out because where the hell was I gonna go. They had me by the boob.

  Right after that, I went for my 3 month check up at the endo. He said I do not have to wait until Thursday. That would be cruel. He told me to call his assistant in the morning and she will call pathology to get the results. I am really afraid of the results. Radial scars are rare unless you have had previous biopsy or breast surgery. I have had neither. Even if it is a radial scar, that has to come out. They can be a precursor to breast cancer. And now I will have to have mammos every 6 months instead of every year. Fuck me!  My joke always was *if it isnt killing me, I am okay* Cancer is a whole other ball game. Plus with diabetes. That is no joke. I am sorry to sound morbid but it could be my ticket out of Dodge. Let`s just be as positive as we can. None of you will probably see this before I get the call back, but if you see it today...give me some warm positive thoughts. Let`s hope for the best outcome.

  Okay..I gotta be positive. Right? Did you all see my Beemo in the Instagram feed on the left?? Isnt she the cutest? She is a 2011 x5. She has leatha seats. She has all the bells and whistles. She is GOR--G-OUS! She rides like a dream. There is no owners manual so I have been watching YouTube videos so that I know what all the gadgets do. I should get the title in 2 weeks. I will mail out the Jeepo`s title today so that the insurance company can cut the check. I am happy to not have to drive the 16 year old Nissan around. She is a good around the town car but she does not deserve to be used for day to day use. We still have the rental. We will have it until they send us the check for the Jeepo. Since we already bought a car, we will not have it for an extra week for buying a car..since we already did that.

Kid #2 and I went to the garden on Sunday. We cleaned out the beds. There was not much weeds which was really good. We have to top them all off with compost but that can happen this weekend. We purchased some lettuce seeds and I had some radish seeds already. I am glad we did not plant them on Sunday because they would be gone now with all this rain. We have planned to dedicate one bed to just peppers. We want an abundance of cayenne peppers so that we can make some more roasted red pepper flakes in the Fall. We all loved the jar of homegrown so much. We used it all. Our plan is to grow enough to fill at least three canning jars full. That should last us through the Winter and into the next growing season. We also cleaned out the strawberry patch. There is room in the middle for something. I was thinking one cantelope or one watermelon plant but I dont know. One solitary something that can use that space to its advantage. I have to think about it.

  My fat ass has been eating crap. I gained as you can see. Fuckers. I wont hit the 240 mark. I will NOT! I REFUSE! I need to just hope to get in a better mindset. After I find out if I have breast cancer or not.

You all have a wonderful week.  I am going to take my meds, drink my coffee, eat some eggs, and clean my room.

Peace!

March Bleezard 2017

Picture courtesy of Southern Connecticut Weather on FB

*22-something* <---I have been eating better but I haven't weighed so I have no idea

    Fucking Blizzard! Are you kidding me? I am not in the mood for 18 inches of anything right now. Because of there we are on the map, we will get dumped on. Like 20 inches locally they are saying. Not in the Mood, I tell ya. We did find some rock salt at the last place we called. We have a bucket on the porch that is always full. It is down to the dregs and that would have not been enough to satisfy me for this storm. We have food and flash lights and kerosene just in case. I am going to go to the store super early so that I can pick up foods for cooking. We are going to do a roasted butternut squash soup. Part in the oven, the other half in the crockpot. We will roast a big chicken with potatoes and carrots. Also mashed cauliflower. I will pick up some raw veggies and dip and we need a couple boxes of tea for when it is blowing cold and we want to sip while we look out the window.

   Of course the new furnace is acting up just before a storm. We have four zones. The zone to the first floor is not clicking on. We do have the basement zone though so the heat can rise up to warm us up. It just sucks. I texted the furnace dude to see if he can come around tomorrow before the storm, if he is available. It is much warmer up here now. i went down there, turned up the heat, pulled stuff away from the registers, and did some laundry while I waited. I came upstairs after about 15 minutes and it is not as cold as it was. I was wondering why it was so fucking cold when the heat was on, the furnace was kicking on, and we have oil. It seems we have more trouble with the new furnace then we do when we had the 30 yr old one. Isnt that always the way?

 Our new fridge came on Friday. We did have some snow earlier in the day but it never stuck to the pavement so the drivers were able to bring her. She is a Frigidaire Gallery Stainless Steel baby. We went with a local appliance place so we did not pay as much as Home Depot was charging. She is beautiful and she purrs like a kitten, sort of.  They took away the old one and I am happy. The old one did us justice but she was freezing stuff in the fridge. I had tried to fix that by unplugging the fridge to see if a line had frozen. It would work for a little while but then it would freeze up again. It was time. We have the money to buy it so I just pulled the plug. Surprisingly, the floor underneath was not that horrid. Lots of bottle caps from the cat but it didn't make me want to run screaming from the room.

  My stretches and not using more then one pillow has helped alot with my arm falling asleep and hurting. I am not saying it is 100% cause that would just jinx it but it feels damn close. Getting rid of the high pillow for a flatter one has helped the Hubs too. If you suffer from neck pain, think about going to just one flat pillow. You will be surprised at how you feel. I also have to say that I am liking the new electric toothbrush. It is making my teeth nice and sparkly. I have to also keep my blood sugars down more. I am eating less crap but I have not cut out completely. It is like I lose my mind when I am hungry. I really need to just eat more fat. Eat more fat. Eat more fat! EAT MORE FAT! Ugh. I think the stresses of life are part of the reason I cannot fully commit to LCHF at this time. But I have to do it. I have to. I dont want to lose my teeth. I do not want to lose my eyesight. I just have to be stronger. It sounds insane and unhealthy to some but I have to really analyze every mouthful for awhile. If I do not eat enough fat, I will fall off the wagon. I will hard boil some eggs and fat bombs tomorrow.

  Otherwise my health is good. I feel okay. I am moving along in my life. I have been walking more. I can do a mile in 25 minutes. As it gets warmer, we will want to add on and do two miles. I will map it out online. If you have not seen it before, I have used Walk Jog Run for that. You can map out walks in your town and know how far it is. They even do stuff like the grade of the walk as to how many calories you are burning. It is pretty cool. The mile was easy. Two miles will be a little harder. We shall see how far we can get by the Fall. I want to go slow so I dont kill my feet. I need to buy some inserts for my sneakers too. Just to be on the safe side. I am really trying to get myself into better shape so that I can live a bit longer on this Earth. Plus I get to spend time with the kid and she gets healthy too.

  That is about it. I have no gardening stuff to talk about because of the snow. I am doing more decluttering but nothing amazing. A book here or there. A knic knac or two. They all go to donations and hopefully happy homes. I am done with the clutter. I dont want my family to have to figure out how to get rid of all my shit. So I will do it for them. It is my gift to them. Hopefully I will have more garden and plant talk next Sunday or Monday.  Have a great week and if you are gonna have some snow, I hope you are safe!

Fat Tuesday Gorgefest. Not Really

*228* <---I lost 3 lbs so far!

  The sad assed eat-a-thon is over for me. I am going to use Lent (and today and yesterday) as my jumping off point back into full keto. I even made a declaration on IG. I want to see if I can lose another 50lbs by October. That is how much I lost the first go around. I lost my way but I am back on track. I am not looking at it as a failure if I do not lose another 50lbs by the Fall, but I have had better lost something. At least 20-30lbs! I have goals!

Yesterday I went to the pharmacy to fix the mess that is our insurance. I talked to the pharmacist about my gut issues. I bought a bottle of pancreatic enyzmes to help aid in my digestion because I do not have a gallbladder. You take a pill with meals. We shall see. I just started it today. He also bestowed the virtues of peppermint oil. If you ingest small amounts (i dip a toothpick in the bottle and stir it in my coffee) it helps with spasms, gerd, ibs, and contractions of my colon. I started it yesterday so I cannot say anything yet but I will come back to it at a latter date to give a full report. It helps with alot of things especially appetite suppression. Supposedly if you take a few sniffs or put a dot under your nose, it helps you from being hungry or gorgy. I will definitely need that in the coming weeks cause that is why I have failed to get back on the wagon with Keto.

 We have insurance until the end of April. It has been a bit of a hassle getting stuff kick started but Hubs talked to somebody yesterday, I sent out a check (we pay what he paid as employee) and it will be turned on soon. This is why I am thankful that we cashed in the money. If we had not, we would be up shits creek. I have made some appointments coming up for mid March. I still have to have the MRI on my neck to make sure if all is ok. Part of me just doesnt want to know. I wont have real insurance to have it taken care of so why bother. Hospitals and Doctors treat you differently when you are on State Medical. This is another reason why we are going to get back to eating keto and losing more weight. The weight loss will help with the health aspect and keep us out of the doctors office.

     We have not had stuff done around the house yet. I want to hold off at first. We are going to have Venus in retrograde for the first 2 weeks of March and it is NOT a good time to have work done or make major purchases.  This I just learned and I am going to follow that advice. We have a few things that we want to do around the house that are necessary like fix the fascia around the border, find out about new gutters, get the house painted in the Fall, etc. And I dont want anything to happen to fuck that up. Waiting a couple weeks wont be a tragedy. I already talked to a friend about the garden beds in front of the house. She is gonna crunch some numbers. I do not want to spend alot but I am not gonna be cheap either. Mid range is the way to go. If they are up before the summer, I will be happy!

  I did not hear from the place that I put in my resume. But I went in to pay the bill yesterday. The lady at the front told me the hiring manager is on vacation and will be back next week. That is why there was no call! She said that when they are hiring, they like to have both the manager and the supervisor in on the interview. Her face told me not to worry, I would get a call. Oh my word, how am I going to deal with two people asking me questions?? I am going to have to just be cool, be myself, it is okay, and ask my higher power to help me with this aspect of my life. I need this. I feel it is a perfect fit for me. I have done it before. I am healthier now then I was back then. I can contribute to our lives with medical benefits. The money is not great but it will get better with time.

   Today is Fat Tuesday. It is the last day to gorge yourself before the 40 days of Lent march on until Easter. I am a Catholic by trade so I know these things. I guess eat sugar free Twizzlers for dessert last night would be considered a bit of a gorge? I dont know. Hubby and I made THE best keto stuffed peppers. I dont even have a website recipe. We just made it up.

Heidi`s Keto Stuffed Bell Peppers
-Four Red Bell Peppers, tops cut off, dig out the seeds. You are going to want to steam them for about 10 minutes to get them a bit soft but not too soft. Stand them up in small baking dish.
-One and half cups of riced cauliflower. You can get this in the produce section. It has a steam bag for the microwave.
-Half a yellow onion, minced and sauteed
-3 cloves of garlic, minced and sauteed
-1 package of Hatfield loose Italian pork sausage and 1 package of Hatfield loose chorizo sausage, sauteed till brown
-Pasta sauce of your choice, either home made or from the jar.
 Mix the meat, riced cauliflower, cup of sauce, onions, garlic, salt, black pepper, basil, and garlic powder. Fill each pepper with the mixture. Top with Mozzarella cheese. Pour remainder of the sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. Cook in a 350 deg F oven for 30 minutes. We went to 45 because we like it to have a little brown on the cheese.
I do not have nutritional information cause I just made this up but if you wanted to know, you could look up the ingredients on MyFitnessPal. This dish makes four servings. It was really good. I was saying Yumm as I ate it. That will be made again.

  Oh! I bought myself a pair of sneakers! Real Nike Sneakers. I tried them on and I like them. They are hard soled but have squishing bottoms. You feel like you are walking on air. Since Meteorological Spring is here tomorrow, my ass it going to start walking again. Up the street, around, and down the street. Gotta take care of the ass jiggles. My legs are so cottage cheesy from losing weight. I know that it wont all go away because of my lack of collagen but I could try to tone a little bit. I also know that moving my booty will help with the arthritis in my hips and back. It is not bad yet but if I do not move my ass, it will be.

That is about it. There is nothing spectacular going on this week really. Just paperwork and ideas of things to come. As it gets warmer, I will have better stuff to show and talk about. I hope you all have a great last day of February. Get out and enjoy something yummy! Let`s hope NO MORE SNOW!

Namaste.

Deactivate or Not Deactivate?

*219*


 That is the question of the day. I am struggling with possibly unplugging from Facebook for awhile. I spend way too much time on it and there is so much disgusting negativity. Not necessarily from my friends but their friends who like to leave troll like comments and think they are witty. They are not. I have been pretty surprised who many would probably love to meet The Donald and the model in person. That is far as I go with the political today. I feel like I need to protect myself from the negativity. It makes me feel gross and I dont like to feel that way on a daily basis. My dilemma is do I just stay away or actually deactivate. I have turned off notifications on my phone and my iPad for actual Facebook, which is nice. I feel that if I go complete cold turkey, I will fail.

   I left here, went to the grocery store, got a coffee, put everything away with the kid, and I am sitting down with an avocado, a pickle, and a big bowl of carrot tomato ginger red pepper soup puree. So good! I was given it on the day of my upper endoscopy and this is the last of it. So I will try to eat and type.

   The endoscopy was fine. I have the same erosive esophagitis (and duodenitis and gastritis) but it seems to be a little bit more. He did not need to stretch my esophagus open because there were no stricture. I will wait for the biopsy results like a good girl. I will probably have to take another zantac a day and something else while TRYING to stick to the no wheat, no eggs, no life meal plan. Everything is making me burp and feeling like I have to flush food or pills down with water on a regular is not fun. I love food. When I tend to cheat it is not hugely. Little bits here and there during the week. But those little bits are making it hard for me to lose weight. The more I lose, the better for me.

Yesterday I was presented with the opportunity to try little french macaroons.  *I do not have a picture of ours because we all gobbled them up before a good pic could be taken*. The ones I bought were very small, quarter sized. I chose the pistachio one and that was that. It was enough sugar to raise my bs up there. This is something I had always wanted to eat. I had one. I am happy I did. Next. So it is cheating like that. I either have to get over myself and these little food transgressions or....just get over myself.

   Tomorrow is a big day. We are having a Nor`easter. It is going to be an all rain event. But it will rain for two days and there will be wind. I hope our power stays on.  I will (hopefully) be getting my temporary MMJ card in email. I will have to call the dispensary to set up appt to have orientation and buy my first stuffs. I hear they have a nice lotion for rubbing on your aches and pains. I cannot wait for that. And I see the neurosurgeon here in my neck of the woods. I need an MRI of my neck and I want to get back to PT at some point. Crossing fingers that I have good experiences tomorrow.

Mmmm! Soup...

  I have been watching more Netflix lately. I have finished two tv show series so far. I really like Black Mirror and will be looking for new seasons. It gives you the right amount of creepy to make you uncomfortable but not so much that it is cringy. I really am a lover of Sci Fy. I finally finished The Magicians and I am told the new season starts at the end of this month. I always wanted to watch it but it was on late, my tv upstairs doesn't have a dvr, and I would fall asleep in the middle. So I never really knew if I really liked it. I really liked it! I have to see what show I want to watch next. I am trying to get into one of the Netflix Originals but I haven't decided which to dive into. I had really started to shy away from watching any tv series because my attention span sucked ass. It is still not the greatest but good enough to let me have some enjoyment. I guess watching all those YouTube videos helped out a lot.

It feels like Spring for reals. But it is still January. I have at least 2-2 1/2 months till I can really enjoy the kind of weather I crave. I have a literal shit ton of dishes waiting for me. SHIT TON! I have finished my soup, and my pickle. After I finish this, I will eat my avocado and get to working on that pile in there. Hubby is getting a massage right now so he will be no use to me for the rest of the day.

Signing off till next week. Have a good one.

24 years of wedded bliss

*222* <--stuck there for a couple weeks

 **I have had a issue with the app for Instagram on here. I have tried to figure out how to get it back on but it hasn't worked. I will not give up but just not in the mood to fiddle with that shit right now**

   Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. I have sauce cooking while Italian sausages are braising in it. There are two small spaghetti squashes roasting in the oven. Those are for hubby and I. The girls will eat spaghetti. I have not made sauce in awhile and I was in the mood. Wedding anniversary is just as good a time as any.

    I am on the new laptop. It is actually a Samsung Chromebook. It is much smaller then what I had before so it has taken me a few days to get used to it. Do you know I still act like I dont have a letter N sometimes? Look at that capital N. Isnt she the sweetest thing you ever did see? I have transferred over all of my bookmarks and photos that I wanted to save. The clunker is sitting on the table, awaiting it`s fate. I have to figure out how to pry it open to get pull out all the pieces. There is alot of information on that hunk of junk that I do not want anyone getting ahold of. All and all, it is a really nice little computer. It gives me what I need and I have not sworn at it once. It took less then 2 minutes to set it up. That is crazy. Remember when you would get a new computer and it would take a solid hour to get it set up? That included getting the internet working. Times sure have changed.

 We did get some snow for Saturday into Sunday. I would say it was about 6-7" max. It was a very light fluffy snow so it was easy to shovel. I drove around in it the next day in the Jeepo without much trouble at all. The city sanded the hill so I have no worries at this point. It will jack up to the 50s later this week and we might get another storm on Saturday. Hopefully it is just rain. Only two months and 11 days until the first day of Spring, so says Alexa. I ordered a couple blueberry bushes through our community garden. I am HOPING to have garden beds in front of the house this year. HOPE HOPE HOPE!

      Yes, I did shovel. It is weird how my back and sciatica have been. Just really weird. I could feel like I am losing my grips with my lower half of my body and sometimes my arms and hands at the same time. Then it is like all is right with the world. I cannot explain it. I do still have lower back pain. Right now most of my pain is really low like my tailbone. But there has been no sciatica in either leg. No spasms. No awful electric shocks. Not a damn thing. I am not dumb. I know it hasnt gone away. It is still there, waiting to make me suffer once again. But for some reason, I get these *arthritic* reprieves. I guess I could dig into the internet and try to figure it out if I really wanted to.  I see the local neurosurgeon at the end of this month so I hope to get some answers.

Beef bone broth

I made this over the weekend during the snow too. My first batch of bone broth. I am so Martha Stewart right about now. This is the recipe for it.  I used bone marrow bones only this time around. I think the next time I do it, I will use marrow and oxtail bones. You can do this with pork bones, chicken bones, and fish bones too. You just roast whatever, eat the meat, and use the bones to simmer for hours and hours with veggies and such. This made it to the 12 hour mark. Somebody turned it off in the night so I did not get to do the full 24 hours. I told them the next time not to touch the heat. It tastes really really good. Now, it is not salted. It is bland as fuck but that is what broth/stock is supposed to be. This is something to use for making soups or just drinking a hot cup (with a bit of salt added). I put them in the freezer. I have to get over my fear of the pressure cooker. I could totally can these so that they can go in the cabinet. I will do some major research before I do it. I cannot believe I have never done this before.

  Okay, I just whizzed this post thru in no time. That is what happens when you have a proper keyboard. You do not feel like murdering your Dell cause it keeps deleting your thoughts. I have to go now anyhoo. Kid #2 will be done with work soon. I have to go out in the dark cold night to fight her. Then I will come home to try on my first pair of Lularoe leggings. Yes, I fell into the LuLa hole. These are what I got. Arent they sweet?
Have a great week! Try to make a snow angel if you get a chance!