Yes, I have been really struggling the past couple of days, after having a couple of good ones (not sequential, but still) where I made tuna soup one day, and a couple days later made Nancy’s Casserole, which is cottage pie but I didn’t know that when I got the recipe from my friend Nancy, so it’s always been Nancy’s Casserole. Easy and so good. I was not up for mashing potatoes so had my homemaker person get me some Bob’s Mashed Potatoes and just whacked them on top. Over-whipped, and whipped is not mashed, people, but tasty. Can of creamed corn (you can use any veg you like, I like creamed corn), jar of Heinz gravy, lots of grated cheese on top the last ten minutes. Yum. Probably four meals for me out of one pound ground beef. I have not bought ground beef in literally decades, except for premade black and blue burgers from Market Basket, they have blue cheese in them and are rolled in cracked peppercorns. Oh, yum. But I am trying to eat more beef because I think my body is lacking whatever beef brings to the nutrient table. Iron pills just don’t do it, and I recently learned that beef has extras that you cannot get from supplements. So. Anything in hopes I will have more ‘yes, I can get something done’ days. Anyway.

So much bad, bad, bad the Republicans are doing and no one seems to be doing anything to stop them. There must be something other members of government can do. I do not get how one or two people can just run rampant and change things for everyone in the country with none of the checks and balances our government is supposed to have. It is very concerning and disturbing, and I am angrier and angrier with the mindless drones who just keep voting them in. Get a brain, people. Do some research. Think about consequences for everyone, including yourselves, not just the people that you don’t like or approve of. It affects us all, not just them. How do you not see that? Somehow, somewhere, we have really failed in the education of our citizens. Badly. Very, very badly failed.

Is it Florida that is freaking out about Michelangelo’s David being shown to young people? This is a bad thing, because we all know the human body is to be shamed and hidden, right? It’s okay to show graphic murders on tv, but a bit of the human body that we normally hide behind clothes is horrific to some. We only seem to get crazier as time goes on. Is it something in the water? This is a naked man. What is smutty about that? I have lost all hope in humanity. Seriously. If you’re all about your god, he made people like this. Are you saying your god made smut? What?

I doubt it. I have become very, very cynical about my country. Not good. Not good at all. From Bored Panda:

“Back in 2011, Roman Ostriakov, a homeless man from Ukraine living in Genova, was convicted for theft after he stole cheese and sausages amounting to €4 from a supermarket. A customer had seen Ostriakov put two pieces of cheese and a packet of sausages in his pocket and only pay for breadsticks at the cashier. He was subsequently sentenced to six months in jail and a €100 fine in 2015. The case went through three rulings in court before it was rejected in May 2016 in a historic ruling citing that the ‘right to survival prevails over property.’ It cited the importance of maintaining a shared humanity and that no one should be allowed to starve in a civilized society.”

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