Praise! It is 30 deg F!

*230-something* <---i have not stepped on a scale in a week or two so I really do not know. 


      We survived the Bombogenesis. Our little neck of CT received a generously heaping spoonful of snow. It was about a foot with nice snow drifts. The temps have been rock bottom too. Not been fun for my skin, I can tell you right now. I have been coconut oiling myself every day to combat the psoriasis and the old lady crepe from the heat being on constantly. Today is going to be in the 30s and by the middle of the week it will be close to 50. Be gone you evil snow.

   Today I have stuffs to do but I feel a little shitty so I will be going slowly while doing them. I think my head is a little fucked because of the barometer and we are supposed to get a little snow this evening. So if I can get out of my pjs, that will be a major accomplishment. One of the things we have to do today is our DNA. Hubs and I have two 23andme DNA kits aka the government has got your ass now kits. You have to not drink or eat anything for 30 minutes and then you spit in the tube and send them off. We get to see where we came from. I have always known that I am Polish, Italian, Swedish, and Norwegian. Now could my Polish grandmother have had some Jewish ancestry that we do not know about? I guess I will find that out in a few weeks. The girls at first were a little miffed because they did not get kits. Why should you both get kits when you have the same DNA? We, as your parents, can do it and you will get the same answer. *eye roll* I will share those results when they come in.

  My lofty plans of walking have been curtailed by the weather. My plan is to get out there tomorrow morning if it is not icy from the storm and I feel okay in the head. I have been fairly active the past few months so it isnt that I have to start slow or anything. I just did not want to freeze my tookas off. See, I could go to the Mall to walk but then I end up shopping instead. I could get a gym membership but you all remember how I paid for two years and never went once. Walking the hills of my neighborhood is the safer bet for me. My house is way too small for any exercise equipment. We tried when we bought a cheapo elliptical at Salvation Army. It worked great and it was a folding one. That shit sat in the corner. Got unfolded a couple times. Sat next to the tv set, mocking me because I never used it or even dusted it.  I have a couple walking routes that I have used in the past. I just have to get dressed and do it.

  Yo. The pressure cooker is the best thing ever. Myself and #2 have made about 6-7 meals in it so far since Christmas. I went out to Target and bought a rack to put it on. It has it`s own area by the kitchen window with it`s own plug. No need to move it off and on the counters. We have very limited counter space. We have a galley kitchen. Only room for 1-2 butts at a time. Anyway...the pressure cooker is really good. I made fork tender pulled pork in 1 hour and 30 minutes. What! And it tasted like it was cooking for hours. We cooked chili, a few soups, pulled pork, a chicken dish, hamburger dish, and all were good. You can find many recipes online for using the electric pressure cooker. I still say, if you do not have one..beg borrow or plead to get one.

   I had a revelation last week after posting here. I am not doing AIP and Keto. When I try to eat that way, I do not eat at all. I practically starving and I am not being literal. It is so hard to keep your blood sugars low but also stick to the strict Auto immune way of eating. You just cannot do it. Unless you have unlimited grocery resources and/or you have someone to cook for you. I just couldnt do it.  I have decided and started to eat keto but I am not going to eat certain foods like nuts and peanuts. I will eliminate all nightshades except tomatoes because they are life. And I am going to eat limited dairy. Sometimes I need it in a pinch if I am hungry but I will not seek it out and especially in large amounts. Back on track. Keto for me is the smart solution to alot of my medical problems.

  I had a birthday. Saturday I turned 49 years old. It was a good day. Of course it was not keto complaint but that was my last food thing until October comes around again. Hoping I am thin as a reed and have a stronger constitution by the time it is Halloween. We have a couple more birthdays coming up but I can say no to cake. I had my slice...okay two slices. It was Red Velvet and I was not gonna say no. Someone that is way young was shocked when he saw my FB post about turning 49. He said WTF! I thought you were 32!
He either does not know how to determine someones age or he needs a new eyeglass prescription. But I will take the compliment as the best present ever.

  Okay. I need to get going. I have to be a taxi today and I have to get out of this feeling like crap mode. I hope you have a wonderful week and I will see you on the next.

Life can be shit

 *225 at gastro, 230 at the hospital*

  The massively large blizzard with two feet of snow will not happen for us on the shoreline. We had some snow early this morning but it quickly changed over to ice and rain. That is gonna be fun to clean up. We will have to go out in it while it is still relatively warm so it doesnt completely freeze. Ugh

 I started this blog post before the blizzard. Stuff got in the way and I never got to it to finish it. Oh well. Then life shit all over us. Let me get a coffee while you watch Jenna put rhinestones on her face.....Okay, I am back. Instead of another cup of coffee, I made myself a horking big salad. That is how I roll at 10am. I went to get the cream and forgot I bought a rotisserie chicken breast the other day. Salad it is! I have been eating alot of crap lately and not following the way I have to be eating. I have not fallen completely off the rails but... cookies and crap have happened. I have to just do this one day at a time and fight the urges to eat garbage. It is my addiction to sugar and wheat that I am fighting. So this morning I will start off with a mixed green salad with half avocado, cut up chicken, a couple cherry tomatoes, a tablespoon of blue cheese, and some dressing. Good start to the day. At noon, I have an appointment to get a massage. A well deserved one after the last week I have had.

This is my poor Jeepo. She is totaled. She is no more. Last Friday, a guy veered in front of me as I was going straight and we had a head on collision. Kid #2 was my passenger. We are sore from the accident but no broken bones thankfully. We have a rental until the total loss paperwork goes through. That could be about 2 weeks. Our mechanic has gotten his license to sell cars. He has been going to the auctions to get for him to sell. He is going to get us a new to us SUV and only charges us a small finders fee. He will be able to check the vehicle to make sure it is not a piece of shit. We are hoping for another Jeep but we have a few specifics that we asked for. He goes every Wednesday, we gave him money for the auction, and he will text us when he sees something. If we do not get anything next week, we can get something the following week. I dont want to wait for the check for the total. Let`s just get something so I do not have to drive the Nissan aka clown car around. She is a good old car but she is rickety and 16 years old. I do not want to kill her. That is why I am glad we have the rental.

  And the other shoe is health wise. So I went to have a mammogram and have my Thyroid biopsied. Insurance is going away so might as well get these things done. Next day I get the call. I have to redo my mammogram which is not a big deal to me at that point. The girls are dense and I always have to have a redo. But I stupidly went on MyChart to check my appointment times. My boobs have two appointments. One for a mammo redo. One for my left breast only for an ultrasound. That does not make me happy at all. The second part of the phone call was about my thyroid. It seems that the nodule (or more) have grown to the point that I need a biopsy. That is next Monday. I am scared shitless of needles in my throat. Shitless! I have finally figured out a few things though. The swallowing issue I have been having that is not my esophagus is most likely my thyroid. And my itching is most likely my thyroid. I worry that they will want to remove it. I am not worried about cancer with the thyroid because that is a very remote possibility and if it is, it is one of the easiest cancers to survive.  So yeah. Life is shit right now.

And it is fucking cold! It is Spring and it is freezing.

I gotta go. I took too long to write this and I still have to take a shower before my massage. I will report back on Monday after the biopsy unless I have died of fright.

Namaste

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!

Was that a blizzard?

*232*

We had blizzard warnings. We had coastal flood warnings. We had fools buying up all the french toast supplies. It was gonna be Snowapolis!! It was for many many many. Jersey shore was flooded. D.C., Maryland, and nyc got feet not inches.
Our little neck of the woods got 4 inches. I think it is cause I really prayed hard. I was not in the mood for full scale shoveling. We may get another storm on Thursday but we best not. It is the Man`s 50th birthday and we have plans.
 I am trying to eat some breakfast this morning. My gut has been ick the past few days so this morning I have 2 scrambled, microwave cup eggs, a 8oz cup of plain kefir, and a bottle of water. Yeah I just threw the eggs away. I will stick with the kefir this morning.  My gut is like an amusment park. Tons of fun until you puke. 
  First week of Feb will be fun. I get to have a routine mammo and a roto rooter. Upper endoscopy and a colonoscopy. Yummmm!
   * I am irritated because my period is late and I dont feel good in the gut and the house is a mess. Watch out. I might bitch!*
   I was told by the gut dr that I caught the C-Diff too easily so that could mean there is a underlying reason. She threw out Inflammatory Bowel Disease aka Crohns or Colitis but I dont shoot blood out my butt so I think that could be a no. I worry what the underlying reason could be. I am being good and not dwelling on that. I might also have a esophageal stritcher which will need to be tapered. I have been having issues with food getting stuck in my upper chest when I swallow. I had a small ulcer and esophageal irritation two years ago, so we shall see if that has gotten worse. She is concerned that I am not back to normal yet and I am still losing weight.
All I know is all of my clothes are hanging on me. My favorite pants dont fit at all. I have not gone out yet to buy new sizes but if this weight loss is a trend, I will have to. 

  I am doing things to make me happy. I have been watching some shows on hulu and netflix. I have been making arm scarves. And I have been resting my body when I need. I have realized I have to do for me now. I dont know how much longer I have on this Earth. Could be decades, years, or months. I want to make the most of every moment. And if I am a skinny bitch in the process, so be it.

I hope you have a great week!

26 inches for your pleasure

This is a before on the back patio of the Blizzard....

After....

Before...

After....

Officially 26 inches of the white stuff here in my small city. It took us yesterday and today to shovel out the front porch, walkway, steps, brush off both cars, dig them out, and clean up around them so that it was relatively neat. I also had to save the azalea out front because it was completely flopped over from the ice and snow. I shoveled a square for the dog out here in the patio.. Her runner is frozen to the ground in the pile.
 Fred, Natalie and I did a great job. Chelsea did not shovel BUT she saved the day by making dinner last night. Pancakes,eggs, and sausage. I consider that a contribution.

Gonna rain all day tomorrow and it is going to be a high of 45 deg F. That is a scary scenario. I am worried about basement flooding. I hope not. Jesus, I hope not.

It`s a BLEE-zard!!

 I am sitting here in my comfy clothes. Those consist of sweats, an old Old Navy t-shirt, and my favorite house only cardigan sweater. No constraining qualities at all in this ensemble at all. We are all set for the blizzard. It is weird to look out in the yard and see no snow on the ground. It melts away as soon as it gets here. This snow is going to stay for awhile.

I live near the border of CT and RI. Now this map is old already, I bet. It was saying that we on the coast would get 6-12 inches. Now they think it will be more 15-20 inches. If we get extra sleet/rain, then it will be 15..if not then we will get a buttload. I just looked and the watch has been upgraded to a warning. FUN FUN FUN!!

About 2 years ago, we had a really snowy winter. It just kept coming and then in February we got a bombogenesis. It is like the storm let off a bomb over your area. Worse than a blizzard. That was about a foot or more of snow. I think the rain and sleet will cut it down to about a foot or a foot and a half. Fred and I can handle it. We have special shovels. We discussed last night that we are going to help our neighbor across the street. He is almost 60 years old and lives with his wife, his 30ish daughter and son in law, and two teenage grands (girl and a boy). Not one of them helps him shovel or do any work around the house. This time it will be different. We are going to help because we feel it is just not right.

So Heidi is gonna protein up. I have some left over cold meat balls from early this week. They are mini in sauce. Gonna eat them up because I will need it for tomorrow and Saturday.
If you are in the path of the storm, please be safe. And throw a snowball!

We are gonna have a Bleezard!

12/26/10 8am

*286* It was higher but I laid off the crap

The National Weather Service has issued a Blizzard warning for my area (Southeastern Connecticut). Accumulations from 11-16 inches but if the snow bands come in just right..there could be lots more! I went out this morning and covered the motors of both lawn mowers. SOMEBODY neglected to do this in the Fall. They will be okay. After I finish up here, I have to go outside, under the front porch, and find the second shovel. That picture up top is part of my back yard. I am standing on the patio and those stairs lead up to our top yard. Pretty cool huh? Since my back is better, I think I am really going to do something with that area up there now. I wanted this to be a marker for you all. So when the dust has cleared, I will take another picture of the same area..then you will get an idea. I probably wont even go out in it..Just open the door and take a picture! LOL
We have heating oil and portable heaters. We have food and beverages. We have entertainment. Fred has to work tonight unfortunately. He is acting like it not a big deal. I hate when he does that. Big bad Fred is not afraid of some snow flakes. He is going to go in early and TRY to stay overnight at the hospital. That way I will not worry and his ass wont be trying to drive home in that shit. Mucho overtime, Mucho money to spend on oil for the tank and my birthday next week!

So I am going to start working on this half scale Arthur. I have built 3 full size Arthur dollhouses but never another scale. So I am familiar with it but it will be different. It is going to be wedgewood blue on the exterior. I think I will do that first and then I am work on painting the exterior trim. It is a laser cut kit so it should be a snap to put together! This is what I am going to do during the blizzard.
I am also going to cook. I cook when I am worried and nervous. I want to make a jambalaya. I have all the meats for it so that will be easy. Shrimp was cheap during the holidays so I bought a big bag for the freezer. It will last us for a month or two, depending on what I make.
Natalie`s bestie Raymond is going to probably stay over tonight. They are going to watch the Twilight movies that she has (all three so far), play the Just Dance 2 game, and just hang out. I love Raymond.
Okay, time for me to go. I need to dig out that shovel!
Send thoughts out for Fred tonight.