Anton Gudin

Had my eyes checked today. Need new glasses. Surprise. Told my doctor about the ultrasounds for the temporal arteritis. This is the same doctor from whom I learned that I was being jerked around by my rheumatologist and that is why I have been in prednisone hell for over a decade. Anyway, told him I was put on high dose prednisone and then three weeks later had the ultrasound of my neck arteries to see if I have the temporal arteritis. NO! It has to be a week or less after starting prednisone, or the condition is masked and undetectable. BUT even more disturbing is that you don’t do ultrasounds for temporal arterits, it has to be biopsies. I had that when I first became ill in 1997, and it turned out I did not have it then, just the fibromyalgia which can also cause similar issues. Apparently fibro can present as a lot of different illnesses, none of which you may actually have. So I think this means I have to start over, but I’m thinking I may just see how it goes as I eep decreasing the prednisone, very, very slowly, which is how you are supposed to do it. I will be discussing this with my new rheumatologist, who I like and seems to be more up on things than the old one was. We’ll see how it goes.

This has nothing to do with anything, except I love it. Spring.

https://www.reviewgeek.com/148051/hp-blocks-affordable-ink-cartridges-to-make-a-quick-buck/

“We are not ‘born to die’. Yes, we are born with the inevitable fate of death, but that is merely the final act of the play. We are born to love, be joyous, to move, learn, cry, and feel. We are in fact born to live.”

About history:

“It’s a fallen tree covered in new growth.” @english-history-trip

Stonehenge:

Meteorologically speaking, that is. Bright, cold, sunshiny day here in Mass. After the snow. Yes, we had winter. A real snowstorm. It was beautiful. Not all melted now, either. Winter. And now it is spring.

After my really good day, was up all night and yesterday was recovery day and I slept almost all day til 6:30 pm. Up all night again, slept a bit this morning, and yet am sort of functional. Yay. Hoping to cook something later, but we’ll see how that goes.

Happy Spring, everyone in the Northern Hemisphere. Happy Autumn to the rest of you. LOL

Today is the fourth day in a row I have eaten meat. Beef, to bespecific. I made onion burgers the other day, cook the hb, add a can of Campbell’s French Onion Soup, simmer a bit to reduce liquid, serve on toasted buns with chips. Had it two days in a row. Yesterday I made the meatloaf, had some, had some more today. The reason I’m telling you this is because today I am much, much better. I have done several things, in spite of being awake til broad daylight and only sleeping maybe three hours this morning. I am back to jumping up to do something I just though of, which only happens on the very best of days, which are extremely rare. Is it the beef? I know I have always been anemic and am taking iron pills, so maybe I am lacking whatever you get from beef. I have tried going vegetarian several times over the years, but eventually I remember I feel better when I eat meat. And here seems proof. So happy me is happy today to be Getting Things Done. Yes!!

I made meatloaf. It took about three hours, because I had to sit down after scrubbing the carrots (did you know you don’t have to peel carrots if you just scrub them well?) and washing the mushrooms. Then I chopped them in the food processor, had to sit down for a bit, crushed in the crackers, added the onions my friend Tess chopped a big bag of for me a couple of weeks ago, added the seasonings (tons of pepper. I like pepper) and the eggs. sit down again. Add the meat, mix it up, sit down. Put the mix in the pie pan as the pan I had intended to use had been put away not really clean (not by me). It is now in the oven for about 90 min as it’s a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. But I did it. By myself. Woo Hoo I’d love it to wind up like this one, but not holding my breath.BTW, it is midnight.

There’s a post on Bored Panda about someone having to explain the difference between being hungry because you cannot afford food, and being hungry because you are on a diet. Reminded me of a time I shopped with someone who complained the entire time that they only had x amount to spend. I said I only had this particular amount to spend. I meant I only actually had x amount of dollars. They meant they had only brought x amount of dollars with them. Not the same thing, people. Not even. People with money do not get it. Really.

Fox News stars and executives privately trashed Trump’s election fraud claims, court document reveals

If this does not tell you all you need to know about Fox News and truth and integrity and ethics, there is just no hope for you at all. Anything for ratings. That is not news. That is propaganda and entertainment. For shame. Not promoting this book, just the title. 🙂

medicine today is about your health, think again.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/02/11/1154962356/ers-hiring-fewer-doctors

Republicans are despicable. Social Security is your money, taken from your wages and your family’s wages, and your friend’s wages.

https://www.newsweek.com/list-republicans-suggested-cutting-medicare-social-security-1779917

I started to watch it and I just couldn’t continue. This is a traffic stop. A traffic stop. And they came at him furious, like he was a mass murderer they had been chasing forever and were in fear for their lives in case he was still armed. But it was a traffic stop. Routine, right? Why on earth were they so angry? Why were they so violent? Did they know who was in that car and targeted him on purpose? I don’t understand where their attitude came from, or why. That could have been me, or you, or your child, your husband, your brother. What on earth is going on in my country? This is extremely scary, because there seems to be absolutely no reason or justification for their behavior, except that they could. They could do that to another human being because they are ‘cops’. Who up until now seemed to never be held to account for the horrific things they do. I hope they get every book it is possible to throw, thrown at them and they spend miserable, horrible, unpleasant, painful rest of their lives in prison. My god.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/27/us/tyre-nichols-memphis-friday/index.html

bathrobes for women. An article on Lifesavvy. This, and remember, these are the five BEST bathrobes for women:

Where have I been? I have no idea. Been a weird kind of month. Had a couple of really good days before I had to decrease the prednisone, but it’s been downhill ever since. That Getting Things Done was great while it lasted, but it didn’t last very long, unfortunately, and I am back to hobbling around and lots of pain and bah. Also, humbug. Anyway, just saw an article about how science doesn’t really know what has caused the rise in obesity since the 80’s. Well, taking prednisone is one thing, I can definitely vouch for that. But maybe it’s all the sugar that’s been added to foods that would not normally have sugar in them. Sugar is addictive, adding it to everything means you eat more and buy more because money is the only thing that matters. It could also be the fact that there are zillions of chemicals in everything we eat now, chemicals our bodies were not designed to process. But hey, let’s just pretend we don’t know what the reason is, right? So over humanity. So over us.

It is a bright, sunshiny day. Warming up. Oh, Mother Nature, I am missing real winter. But it’s the new world, right? Having a good day so far. Up at 8! A.M! In the morning! I know. Made a cooked breakfast. Yes, I cooked. Guess I am getting better, slowly. I baked Birds Eye frozen potato thing, with potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots, which I usually just eat on it’s own. But I saute the leftovers in a bit of butter and scramble in two eggs the next day, so I just did that for breakfast instead of waiting. Tasty, pretty easy, and filling. Add pepper and you’re good to go. I put pepper on just about everything. Great on cantaloupe. AND I made perked coffee. Woo Hoo!

Yesterday started badly. Found out my rent is going to increase dramatically in March, after going up twice this year already. Turns out its not the landlord, except for March, as he can only raise it once a year. It’s Housing. They refigure the number (Did I get more income and no one told me? NO.), so what they base it on I have no idea. But they are sending me a moving packet so I can maybe look for another place, although my caseworker said all the landlords are raising the rents hundreds of dollars, which is their right. Housing will only pay so much, and any extra is on me. I have been homeless before and lived with friends for several months. Really do not want to go through that again. Especially now, when I am so not well. But you play the hand you’re dealt, is my take, and I make the best of it if I can. Other fun things from yesterday: It’s been two weeks and no plumber. There is a steady stream of cold water running in the bathtub, and I am draining the rivers dry, I think. My homemaker came back from the laundromat claiming I did not have enough money in the coin purse for the machines. Yes, I do. I counted it and put in the the bag right before you came. Well, only about half was in the bag. OMG, I have finally lost my mind, thinks I. Turns out the bag was unzipped and upside down in her pocket and there was the money. Sheesh! Then Gertrude jumped on the printer and the thing made that weird noise that connecting your computer to the internet used to make, and jammed itself sideways. Thank you so much, Miss G. I was able to unjam it, unlike my other printer, which she messed up so badly that I cannot figure out how to make it work. Cute kitty is cute, and it’s a good thing or she might wind up stuffed. Not really, but sometimes……….

Tomorrow is the ultrasound. Really curious to see what, if anything, they find. Hoping I don’t need the biopsies later, as it’s one more hassle and one more thing I have to ask my friend to take me to and wait around for. I am so over that. I keep thinking that next time will be the one too many and I will lose a friend. She says not, but it’s happened before when it wasn’t actually my fault. I was NOT being needy, but friend perceived it as such and just cut me right out of her life without a word of explanation. Anyway. Long sorted and over.

So hoping to get better enough to sort out my disaster of an apartment. Too much stuff. Where did it come from? It’s not like I’m buying new things or anything. I think it’s like paperwork. It reproduces as you are sleeping.

I can tell I’m better, because I am very wordy today, which if I am NOT better, does not happen. So yay. Opened the bedroom door after a week or so due to it freezing in there, and Miss G is delirious. She keeps coming out, and then running back in. Weird cat really is. Weird. Had to unplug the fireplace because I inadvertently unplugged it when trying to unplug my firestick, and the plug was HOT and scorched. So an unplugging mistake saved me from a fire, which would no doubt have happened sooner or later. Whew! So I am heating the place with my little heater fan. I am going to go bankrupt from an electric bill, no doubt. Ah, well. I have asked a few times now over a few years for someone to please come and clean the ducts and change the filters, as it’s been maybe ten years or more for the ducts, and a couple years before the pandemic for the filters. Maintenance. Do you want your building to burn down, Mr. Landlord? This is why I am getting a moving packet from housing. Along with the upstairs neighbors who seem to be over fond of moving furniture for a few hours after 2am almost nightly. Remember houses? I used to live in one. Detached, too, not stuck onto another one. Neither of these are the ones. 🙂

Have a great day, everyone, and wear your masks. Please.

So I am watching episode one on Paramount +. I remember watching this show ages ago. Anyway, Allison is being tested by the Texas Rangers, and first her plane is met with maybe ten cars, and every place they go Allison and the person testing her are accompanied by a dozen or more Rangers. Why? They start right off with stupid. Seriously. The Texas Rangers don’t have anything better to do than follow around one of themselves and a woman who is not under arrest or anything? Are there no crimes outstanding in Texas that day? What? I mean seriously. I watched the first Episode of JAG, which show I have not watched before, and OMG. TV was really, really bad back then. Really bad. It’s really, really bad now, but in a completely different way. Good grief.

Happy Solstice, everyone. Yes, I know it was actually the other day, but celebrate the season. Today is the first day of winter based on temperature. Anyway, I read an article about how people get offended if you say ‘Happy Holidays’, like Christmas is not a holiday, so Solstice it is. Why is wishing people good will a bad thing, however you say it? I am so over humanity. The stupid runs strong with these ones.

to what is wrong with us, I think, a quote from the New York Times article by Margaret Renkl: “Media and political figures alike profit when we are angry or afraid.” This also makes it much easier to divide and conquer, which is exactly what they are doing, in case you haven’t noticed. “The meaning of DIVIDE AND CONQUER is to make a group of people disagree and fight with one another so that they will not join together against one.”

On the bright side, today is the Solstice. The ORIGINAL mid-winter celebration. The days will slowly begin to lengthen now, as we are ‘marching towards spring’, a quote from something I read a long time ago but have forgotten.

Also, could somebody cook this for me and deliver it, please.