MLK Day doings and goings

*236* <---weighed on scale at Vet office. 


   I do not know how long this post will be cause I am in some amount of pain this morning and sitting still is not an option. I blame it on over doing it this weekend and the weather. This too shall pass. Look at me! Three weeks in a row. I am getting some kind of blogger momentum going, huh?  I and the man have to leave here in a few so I will be semi brief..maybe. We shall see how fast my fingers can fly.

  I wanted to first share a recipe with you. Last night, Kid #2 made Indian Butter Chicken in the pressure cooker. I went to the co-op to get garam masala because we did not have any more.  OMG this was soooooo good. She used coconut milk instead of regular milk. There was the butter in there but it was not enough to hurt my stomach. I had this nestled over a bed of salad. Now, this is a Instant Pot/Pressure cooker recipe. But I bet you that you can figure out how to make it if you do not have a pressure cooker. If you like Indian food, this is one is a keeper. This website shows all types of Indian recipes. I think I may have to make a trip across the bridge to replenish our spice stocks at the local Raj cash and carry.  Soooo gooooddddd!

I said so good twice so that means something.

  The job hunt for me has been slow and not so slow. I have been putting in my cover letters and resumes to many many job listings. My job counselor has been doing the same. I have not heard a peep from any of them. She told me that this time of year is hard to get a job. And when jobs come up, hundreds of people apply. I guess I have to be patient. But it is hard. I know I am doing everything correct. I am working on my skills at home with the internets help. Just have to be patient and send out those positive vibes I guess. I just want a little office job. I just want someone to give this old lady a chance.

   I had a long conversation with some people in the AIP community. I found a place that is actually nice and helpful. I was told that I might have histamine intolerance. This might be the answer to my itching. And alot of my other issues. Even my low blood pressure. It was like a lightbulb clicked on in my head. Eureka! I have found my answer to my problems. It is a really sucky outcome but I can work with it if it is going to make me feel better. They said that when I take a zyrtec, and it helps, that is histamine. It is in the foods that I eat. Now I cannot possibly do Keto, AIP, and Histamine protocol. That would be ridiculous. I can eat low carb and work on the eating lower histamine foods. You treat all the histamine foods like you do with the AIP diet. You eliminate them all, you wait a couple weeks, and you reintroduce them one at a time. The ones that give you a reaction are out, the rest can stay back in.  I have to type something up and print it out so that I can stick it on the fridge. There are alot of no no foods for me at this time. But I am tired of feeling like shit all the time.

  I have not been completely keto either. I dont feel like a failure about it though. I just have to try every day to get it right. Yesterday was actually pretty good. Except for the 4 hershey kisses that I ate in the evening. When you have three other adults in the house, you cannot really dictate what foods come in. I am not a dictator. I just have to not eat those things. What I need to do is eat more fat during the day. Then I wont be apt to fuck up in the evening time. Today is a clean slate.

  Okay. I think that is all I can do for now. I have been sneezing up a storm the whole time I have been typing this. I hope to GAWD that coffee isnt a histamine food.....*looking*..... I do not see coffee on this list or the last three I scanned. Probably something else.  I heard that dealing with HI is a major pain in the ass and it is a life long struggle.
Again...I need to get going over here. I hope you all have a lovely and productive week. I am going to do some more sorting of the ebay pile behind me. We are up for some snow either Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully it is not alot because that foot of snow we had is all gone now from the warm up last week.
I will see you next Monday.

I am not talking politics..today

*223* <----I could be. I could be not. Whose to know?

  First off, I am not gonna talk politics on here. If something horrifically horrifically worse then what is going on happens. Say eminent nuclear destruction, assassinations, or national famine..I am keeping my opinions to myself. There is enough bad energy swirling around. We do not need me adding to it.

   Yesterday was the Hubs birthday. 51 is a very good year. He was feeling under the weather though. This weather takes a toll on you sometimes. Kid #2 and I shopped and cooked a big dinner. We treated it like a holiday as it should be. I made carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. And no, they were not LCHF/Keto. The meal was. The dessert was not. If was a beautiful day, he was/is loved, and I have a shit ton of dishes awaiting me after I finish this.
   I had two revelations this weekend. One is that popcorn in any form is a big no for me. When we went to the store, there was a chic handing out a free coupon with a bag  of something called Kernel Seasons Chrunchin Kernels Ranch flavor.  Basically they are flavored half popped popcorn kernels.  I have basically stayed away from popcorn since the cdiff. I might eat one or two stray pieces here or there with no problems. I wanted to see how it tasted. I am not exaggerating when I say that I ate probably a 1/2 to one full teaspoon of it.  It tasted good. I would highly recommend as a snack if you are not eating LCHF or if you have gut issues.  But if you are like me, stay the fuck away from them. It felt like nails going through my colon. I had to lay down for an hour while it worked it`s way out of me. I felt so sick. My gut is still sensitive today after the fact.
Revelation #1: Stay the hell away from popped corn in all forms. 

  I am not going to talk about why Hubs was sick cause that is none of our business. But it lasted for a couple days. It was unpleasant but he is much better this morning. I was trying to figure out what triggered it. The only thing that came to mind was our diet. We had been eating full fledged keto from May-November. Then it slowly flew off the rails. We still eat low carb high fat but not to the extent that we did before. We would cheat here and there. I think the woe that we were doing was helping him immensely. He did not suffer at all the whole time we were eating that way.  So yeah.
Revelation #2: Eating Keto is keeping us healthy. 

  I will just deal with the keto flu and the massive cravings to come. We are back on this WOE!  I packed his lunch this morning. He will have foods to eat while on the road. I have to go to the store to pick up cheeses because we are totally out. I have to hard boil some eggs too. I have been doing that all along but they will save me in the coming weeks. I am also going to make some fat bombs for the freezer. We have like 6 cupcakes left from yesterday. I am hoping that Kid #2 just brings them to work tonight. That would be ideal. They were faboo btw. I used Paula Dean`s recipe for both the cakes and the frosting. I cooked them for 35 minutes. Those are chopped pecans on top.

  Kid #2 has brought up a interesting proposition. She wants to start a YouTube channel with me. I want to research it all first. I will have to have the laptop my friend gave me worked over. You really need a good lappy to edit your videos. This Chromebook wont cut it. We could use our iPhones to record. She wants me to do cooking and mukbangs but with a keto twist. She wants to do her own mukbangs also. A mother daughter kind of thing. As you can see, I love to blog so I would be doing it cause I like to do it. If any followers or money comes with it, that would be great too.  I will let you all know if and when that happens. Mukbangs are gonna blow up in the Youtube world like they do in Korea. I love to watch them. Dont ask me why. I cannot explain it. It is not like a feeder thing. I like when they eat and talk. Kind of like you are sitting there with them. I also like ASMR but that is something totally different.  That video is of Keemi. I like her. She cooks, talks, and eats. I started watching her when she had a small following.

   I went to the neurosurgeon`s office last week. I saw his PCA.  He had a really good energy. I liked him. He listened to me. My lower back is arthritic. He could see my last surgery on my L5 S1. He used to work for the surgeon that did it. He said that my L4 L5 is not that great but he suggested that I go back to PT (yay!) and have the shots. I decided later that I am not doing the shots yet. I will do the PT and massage. If they do not help, I will try the shots. I told him about my neck hurting. My arms, hands, shoulders, etc. He wants me to have a MRI of my cervical. Then he does all the customary shit they do at an appointment. Heart beat, lungs, blood pressure, and pulse. He checks my pulse on my left hand, looks up at me and says *that is a weak pulse and your hands are cold*. He says I might have to see the vascular surgeon in the building. WHAT?? I asked if my low blood pressure be a reason too. He said yes. After much talk, we will wait till after my MRI is done. If I have to see the vascular guy, he will send me. Of course I googled that shit and I must be a fucking magician. I was thinking I had an issue with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome months ago. I talked about it to the massage therapist two weeks ago. I am not saying that I know that is what it is but who wants to bet me a $3 bill?  If it is just the nerves, I will learn how to hold my posture and techniques through PT. That is in like 95% of the cases. Very rare to have to see a vascular doctor about it. That would be if the area in question is impinging on your artery or veins. I am not gonna super worry about it.

  That is about it. It is Monday. I have to do laundry, water my plants, go buy cheese, and work on a little arts and crafts project. I have a wood octopus that I am painting. Yeah, I will share when it is done. I still have not figured out how to get the IG back on here. It is making me a little bit mad. My fishes are gone too. Grrrr.
I need a blogger guru, I tell ya.

Have a good week! Maybe some snow on Tuesday!

Forty Eight Years

*220-something*

   It is 1pm and I am still in my jammies. The impending temperature change from 50 today to the 30s tomorrow is giving me body issues which in turn makes me moody. I will be okay. I just have to roll with it. We are forecasted for some snow possibly on Friday, my birthday. And possibly more Saturday evening into Sunday. We shall see. It almost always snows on my birthday so I have just learned to live with it. I have a recipe for my cake. It is a chocolate brownie cheesecake that is LCHF. I bought all the ingredients for it. Cheesecakes are easy to make for this way of eating. I am not in the mood for dealing with different leavening shit.
*********************************************************************************
Ok. I let the dogs out and I went upstairs to change my clothes. It is progress. It would have been way better if I took a shower, washed my hair, washed my face (toner and moisturize) and brushed my teeth but a depressed girl could only do so much. I am body depressed basically if that means anything. The barometric pressure changes, my wacked out hormones, and at the tail end of a nasty head cold has wiped me out physically. Part of me knows I should just lay on the couch and watch streamed tv shows but the other part of me sees that the kitchen needs cleaning. It is a sick bitch balance.

   Let me share this recipe here before I forget. It is Egg Roll in a Bowl.  I made this the other night and everyone LOVED it. I used shredded rotisserie chicken instead of pork. I also added some shredded purple cabbage, a teaspoon of sesame oil, and sriracha to taste. So good and low low carb. I am having some leftovers for lunch now. If you have ever eaten crack slaw, it is like that. I love crack slaw too. Mmmm! Give it a try even if you dont eat the way I do.

  Speaking of eating the way I do, I am a fucking keto loser. I keep eating crap. I ate bread the other day. I dont eat bread! I am all bloated and that is also making me feel shitty. I have to declare it here for posterity. I will deal with the keto flu! I will start eating correct for my health starting right now at 130pm. I will stop eating carbage that is not good for my diabetes! It is so easy to slowly slip back into my food addictions. I knew that the holidays would ruin how well I was doing. A little bite here. A lots of bites there. I have maintained my weight loss but I am back to being bloated from the grains. I am totally not gonna make excuses or concessions. It will take a good week of strict eating to stomp the cravings down. I have to do this so that I can live a long life. ROAR!!

*i am back on track cause i gotta be*

 I bought myself a birthday pressie this week. I had a $25 discount on Amazon (one of my freebies. So I bought a Echo Dot and a speaker to listen to music from it. I love Alexa! I know people do not like the idea of having a microphone in their house. I love it. It plays my music. It tells me the weather. I am a happy birthday girl. I am also getting something else for my birthday. Kid #2 bought me a new lappy! It is coming in the mail tomorrow. This will be my last post with this disgusting Dell with the missing letter n.

    We are supposed to go out to lunch and dinner for my birthday on Friday also but we shall see how the weather holds up. Hubby wants to take me to David Burke`s Prime for lunch. That is some snazzy eating. I will have to be strong though. There will be no frites with my steak!

  This leftover eggroll in a bowl is actually lifting my mood a little bit. It isnt helping with my pain but you cannot have everything. If you make it, let me know if you liked it. I used a whole chicken shredded, a whole bag of coleslaw, and half a bag of shredded red cabbage. I doubled all the other ingredients.

That is all for today. I have some stuff to share the  next time I post. I have started the ball rolling for something.

Ah! January!

*267*

  January is my favorite month of the year. I get to celebrate my birthday on the 6th but when I was younger, we celebrated my Dad`s birthday on the 5th. We always had two cakes! There was no sharing. He made sure of it. He was brought up in the Depression and at Christmas time, his Mom would hold back a couple of his gifts so she would give them to him on his birthday. I understand why she did it, but he should have never had known it. So when I came along, he said that we were two different people and even though our birthdays are one after the other, we both deserve to be sung to alone AND have our own cake!  I have made sure that people in my life get a cake if they would not normally get one. Everyone deserves to get sung too and blow out some candles. Period!

   Then we celebrate our wedding anniversary on the 9th. We have been married 19 years this year. We have been in each others face since 1986, which is 26 years. Loving every moment of it. We do not really do anything on our wedding anniversary. No cards. No gifts. We do not even say Happy Anniversary! I lost Fred`s wedding ring and mine does not fit my fat finger anymore. Sometimes I think we should get a tattoo on the tops of our fingers that looks like a wedding ring. I wonder if he would go for that? That could be something we do for our 20th wedding anniversary.
 Then Fred`s birthday is on the 28th...the 29th? the 28th? I do not remember. Natalie and Fred have 28th and 29th as their birthdays and I can never keep them straight. They think I do not love them but it is just my faulty brain. I can remember obscure trivia but not when your birthday is. LOL

On my birthday, Fred and I have cake with the girls (cake lady),  go out to dinner and go to Foxwoods..unless it snows. Then we stay close to home but still go out to eat.  Then on his birthday we have cake (cake lady), I make whatever he wants for dinner, and we exchange small gifts. So all month long we celebrate. It is like January is OUR month. When we met, I was a 17 yr old that was failing all her classes her Junior year of high school. I was dealing with the death of my father and having to live with my Mother (dad was a buffer) and my awful sister and her husband. Fred was a 20 yr old, living in the projects with his large family, having days at the end of the month when there was no food, and working jobs that were not helping him get out of his situation. We were perfect for each other. We both rose the other person up and we are what we are. Chunky older people in love. This year I will be 43 and he will be 46.
Damn. We are old! Like getting close to AARP old. That is not cool. I want to go back when we were young.

I can keep on dreaming, I guess.

January Snow ,12 hour shifts, and drunken sailors

Half Scale Arthur window trim

*284*

  No walking the hill today. First because it snowed and secondly..I am only working on one piston today. Right now it is 4am. The Navy dudes across the street and two houses over are dickwads. I woke up to the sound of someone`s car stuck in the snow. If you live where it snows, you know what that sound is. It is the constant revving of an engine. I tried to ignore it but it was too late. It was 2am and I was awake. I also wanted to know if the kid got home okay. Natalie went to a show (music) outside of Providence, RI last night with a bunch of friends and one Mom. Mom stayed for the show. I found out that it was not snowing in RI so I fell asleep. They had to drive on I-95 to get home and it can be mighty messy.  She got home okay. I got to let her grow up, you know?
As for the Navy dudes, after the revving of the car, they decided that they wanted to show off their sound system in their car. They had spent some money on it because the base did not vibrate the car at all. But it was 2am!! And it is snowing, so what cop is gonna want to navigate our area for them. They are true assholes. I hope they get shipped out to Timbucktoo!
Since I am not walking the hill, I will do some Just Dance. I have done the intense workout of 6 songs. It makes you sweat. But I will have to sleep first.
I have so much fat work ahead of me. I am sick of looking at myself in the mirror. It is so hard. I know it is not instant and I do not expect it to be but I do it and I see nothing. NOTHING. So it is very discouraging. I really think that I am going to have to stop eating. Not in a anorexic or bulimic sort of way. I mean my ass is so fat, my metabolism is in the dumpster, and the insulin is making life really difficult. I am going to have to just eat rice and veggies..oh wait. I cant eat the rice. Veggies and meat and beans. I have to stay away from the carbs because I am not moving anywhere.
My feet are doing amazingly well..which I am so happy about. I just have to lose weight!!!
 Fred got a call from his boss yesterday. She wants him to try out working a 12 hour shift tomorrow. 9am-9pm. She wants to implement it in the whole department but many of the nurses are saying NO. But Fred and his 1st shift counterpart are all for it. They would work three 12 hour days and have four days off..I think that is how it works. Then they would have to work four 12 hour days. It balances itself out. I say that he is going to be a royal bastard. Lack of sleep, long shifts with the bitches..Yup..I am in for some nasty attitude.