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!


 

MLK Jr Birthday and Housework

*222*

  I am still getting used to the fact that I have a new keyboard. I have been conditioned for so many years to use the mouse to paste the letters that I forgot what keyboard freedom was like. I just went with the flow. I realized that I never do for myself that much when I should. I will be more aware that sometimes, I deserved a new computer!

   It is a holiday Monday so the Man is home to hang out. He has already started some housework. He washed down the stairs and they smell lovely. We are going to shampoo the carpets upstairs and I am going to do a thorough scrubbing of the upstairs bathroom. Under the sink type of stuff. I like when he has the day off because I get some help with bigger stuff to do. One thing is I have a ugly purple ottoman that I won from a contest that needs to go. It is up at the top of the stairs. I also have alot of art posters that have been sitting in the same spot for over a year. They have to be gone through. I will keep some. Get rid of others. I want new stuff on the walls when I paint. It will be a busy and productive day with some meatloaf at the end.

   I had my very first massage last week. I found out later that it was a deep tissue massage. I know this because I was in agony for two days afterward. I felt like my back and neck had run a marathon. WTF! But I feel better somewhat. I will see her again in a month. That is about all I can afford at this time. Kid #2 has offered to pay half the cable bill every month so that little extra cash will go toward two massages a month for me and the man. She is a social worker plus she is also very metaphysical is that completely explains it. She told me something I kind of already knew about myself but never owned it. I am a empath. This is why I suffer so much physically. I take on every persons feelings, emotions, and energies. This is why I am good at clearing a place for people. Meaning..is this new apartment I am about to rent full of negative energy or evil spirit? I feel weird in places that just do not have good intentions and I always remember those places. The evilness that I felt is printed on my brain. It only has happened a few times in my life. She does alot for you and charges so little for it. It is truly worth it. It is like I had a good therapy session on top of a deep tissue massage and a cranio massage. I can see me going to her on a regular basis. Maybe I will get in touch with what I am in this world.

  It wouldn't be a blog post without a bullshit piece of medical stuff, am I right? I called the gastro and got into the office right away on Friday. I am having issues with swallowing and temporary impacting of food/pills in my esophagus. This has been going on for about 6 months to a year. Maybe longer but I never really paid attention to it. It would happen rarely. You know how you would swallow a pill the wrong way and it would get stuck. You would flush with water and all would be good. Or you took a too big of a bite of food that you did not chew well..same thing. It has been happening more frequently. It is not every day but it is definitely not rare anymore. Friday scared me. My pills kept getting stuck in my chest right below my throat. Then I ate some breakfast and the same thing happened. I ate a piece of cheese and it took awhile of drinking water to make it go down. I am having a upper endoscopy on Thursday. He told me to chew chew chew my food. Eat soft foods. If anything get stuck and I cannot make it go down, I have to go to the ER.  He said that it could be a yeast infection but who knows. I have had a bunch of ideas thrown at me about it but I have symptoms for all of these things and not of others. I cannot pin point and say..It is that! So I will wait for the endo and see what he finds.

  Otherwise, except for my regular old pains that I have (storm brewing?) I am feeling good. My mood is good. My body has a bit of energy today. I am not feeling pissy or bitchy at all. I like days like today. Make me feel like my old self. I am not worried about the upper endo cause I have done it before. Easy Peasy. I am just going to live my life, have the procedure, find out what he sees, and proceed with life.
  Is it Spring yet? We had some really warm days last week. Like in the lower 50 deg f range. It teased me. It made me think of planting. It made me think of warm sunshine. I was ready honey.  Then it crashed into the 30s and it snow. Boo!

 Okay, I am still in my sleep clothes. I have to get dressed. Need to go out and rent a steam cleaner. One of these days we will just buy one. One of these days. I hope you have a wonderful week and a sunshine filled holiday Monday.

Snow Bound-ish

*225* <---I thoroughly admit I ate stuff. Back on the wagon!

    I hate this computer. I really fucking hate this old ass Dell laptop. It deleted 1 and 1/2 paragraphs. Poof! Those thoughts are just gone. I wish I had a rich aunty so that I could have a fresh new Mac sitting in front of me. A huge ass desktop. It is like I am talking about it so that maybe Santa is real and will bring it to me. I will die holding my breath!


  Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. I am posting on a Saturday. It is snowing at a steady clip out there so we are in the house this morning. It will start to warm up (60s tomorrow..What!) and rain and melt. So we are gonna do our Saturday stuff tomorrow. I figured I am sitting here drinking my coffee, I could get this week`s blog post up. I am on my first cup so we shall see how coherant I actually am.

  I blame the weight gain on December and I had a coat on when I weighed myself. I have a local friend that eats Keto too and we had a good discussion about it. You eat healthy for all your meals and all day every day. But if something crosses your path like say a home made chocolate chip cookie..you eat it. Most keto people would blast me for that but that is their path and I have mine. If i do not relax about my food, this way of eating will become a issue for me. Hubs and I eat LCHF for all of our meals but since it is almost Christmas, if we are offered a small little something or I have to taste test a bon bon again and again and again, that is okay. For us. On another note, I can feel my collarbones. Yay!

  I have talked about Christmas dinner on here before but I have to type it out so I can look at it. I am getting no help with decision making. This is like a list that I can stare at and add to. I already have the ham. Yesterday I picked up a shrimp ring and that is in the freezer. We talked about doing brie cheese with crackers. This may or may not be wrapped in filo dough.  I also will do a small veggie platter with bodacious onion dip. I want a small batch of my pasta sauce with sausages braising in it. Mashed potatoes and mashed cauliflower of course. I am gonna probably do garlic green beans. We all want a repeat of the roasted bacon and brussel sprouts. ummmm. There was talk of a small veggie lasagna but that is too much work. Maybe for the new year. That is four sides. I will only eat like two of them cause I dislike green beans. I need to figure out another veggie side. 

  Of course, because of the work that we had done on the Jeep, money is tight this month. TIGHT! I have to wait till Friday December 23rd to go shopping for our dinner. Yup. And that is the same day that I go to Providence for my follow up with the transplant gastro. The train leaves at like 536am. I get into Providence at 7am. My appointment is at 830 am. It is just a follow up so that could be a half hour or so. I take a Uber back to the train station. The mall is right across the street. My train doesn't leave until noon so I will see if I can find a gift or three. Home by 1pm. Then I have to go to the grocery store and the pharmacy. I will be okay. I will have a list! I have shopped during worse times. I do hate too many people all in one place though so I may need an extra Ativan later.


  Oh yeah, the appt with the gut doctor. First off, his scales are off by like 8lbs and I love that. I weighed 215 at his office on Monday. I know they are wrong but it boosts your ego a little bit. So, he says that we have to wait for the cdiff to be gone before we can see if I have MC. When you are infected, a biopsy cannot tell you if it is UC, MC, or colitis from the cdiff. He showed me the results from a biopsy before that he gave me, before cdiff, and the MC was negative. It doesn't mean it isn't positive now but I have to wait for a clean biopsy. So probably sometime in January, we will do a colonoscopy and upper endo to check to see how everything is. I do feel like mega shit with foods. It could be colitis or it could be the healing process. I will have to just be patient.

 This Monday, I go to the spine center. I know that I will have to do another MRI but on my upper spine and neck. If whatever I have wrong is not immediately dangerous, I want to do PT, anti inflammatories, walking, and swimming if I can find a place that is close. That is all I will say on this for now cause I have no clues as of yet. 

  I miss Lu but it is getting better. It was hard this morning cause she was my little snow bunny. Perl wont go out. Ruby will just go out on the edges by the house to do her business. Lu would go right out in it, walk around, poop and pee, and come back looking like a dirty snow ball. I don't want another dog to replace her. I am leaning towards a kitten but not now. It will be a long while before that happens. But I would like another black cat. We haven't had one in 5-6 years. It is time. 

Coffee is cold, dishes are dirty, and I have said enough this morning. I hope you have a great Saturday. Get your shopping done!

Oliver looking at the storm