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.”
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.
“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.”
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.
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. 🙂
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.
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.
strangely peculiar 