Are we ever tired of looking at butterfly photos? The correct answer is no. Female Black Swallowtail; She looks like a work of art to me.
I’m a supplement whore
I take the bulk of my vitamins and supplements in the morning. However, I’m not one to ingest them all in one big gulp {gag}like someone who is very close to me does.
I take one to two at at time over a 30-45 minute period.How my brain works: Taking all of my vitamins at once might confuse my body, so I spread the process out over the early part of the day.
This next part really has nothing to do with that, but:
I noted after a conversation with Lolo a few months ago, that she might have something similar going on in her brain. She didn’t mail ALL of her Save The Date wedding notices at once, but instead spread them out to about a dozen a day over a 3-4 day time frame. I can only assume she didn’t want to overwhelm the post office.
OR she just didn’t address them all at once. I didn’t ask.
BTW: Several of her ‘save the dates’ never made it to their destination. Post office be damned.
Which makes me wonder if my vitamins are actually making it to where they need to be or if they’re in limbo; perhaps hanging out in my esophagus or trapped behind a lung, confused as hell.
The Bumper Sticker(s)
Recently, I was behind a car that had two cute bumper stickers; I’ve blogged before about how I don’t fully comprehend the allure of bumper stickers, but these were giggle worthy.
One sticker said: Grocery Gettin’ Loser Cruiser.
It took me a minute, but then I gathered that this person had a life similar to many of us; their biggest outings were to the grocery store.
And the other bumper sticker read: Honk if a kid falls out.
That one was pure gold.
I really wanted to catch up with her at a light and let her know she made my day, sadly the traffic didn’t care about me trying to give compliments and effed up my opportunity.
Well, that’s all the head scratching entertainment I have for you this week. I’m not even going to bitch about mention the gas hoarders and the fact that they almost ruined my road trip yesterday from FL to GA .
Anyone else worried about confusing their insides? Bueller.Bueller?
The other day I was driving down the road and noticed a gentleman driving a convertible with the top down while wearing a mask. He was alone. He was not an uber driver. Yet, he was wearing a mask. Outside. Alone. Me thinks he might be on the weird side.
After I pondered on it for a minute, I decided I should NOT be so judgmental. Perhaps he’s afraid of the pollen that has taken over the South.
I’ve been getting these alerts on the daily.
I also get these alerts regarding our place in the GA mountains. What UP Mother Nature?
Hiccups. Literal hiccups.
Last Wednesday the Coach arrived home from exercising around 8am. Shortly thereafter, he had a case of the hiccups. We all get them, right?
I’m not sure what he did wrong that the universe felt like punishing him, but his case lasted around 38 hours.
He puts in a full day of work running our empire business and has softball practice each night. He’s a BUSY BEE. He was drinking lots of water all day long, and that paused the hiccups for a few minutes, but they would come back. So, when we went to sleep Wednesday, they would slow down, but as soon as he got up to empty his full bladder, they would rear their ugly head again.
A vicious cycle.
To say he was exhausted is an understatement; Ya’ll he tried every remedy known to man and the internet.
Thursday late afternoon he threw in the towel and called Teledoc. After a conference with the Dr. he was given an RX for Prilosec. The Doc said that hopefully this was just a type of acid reflux that instead of affecting you in a form of heartburn or indigestion, it was affecting his diaphragm. The Dr. said that if two doses of this didn’t affect it, he would need to go to the hospital for some sort of IV that would help.
Luckily, the first dose stopped them for about 40 minutes. And over the course of the night, he was having more ‘breaks’. Do you remember timing contractions; he was kind of like that: 30 minutes since the last one. 45 minutes since the last one...He went to bed at 9:30 Thursday, exhausted from it all and he was able to get about 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Friday he took his second dose and things were starting to get better. He was afraid to eat though; thinking that anything that added/changed the acidity in his belly would bring back the hiccups. He was having a bit of PTSD if he felt one coming on. I felt so bad for him. By Saturday all seemed to be back to normal, but wow.
What a weird ordeal.
It’s Monday and I’ve enlightened your life with weird mask habits and weird hiccups. How’s it looking from your corner of the world?
Do you enjoy reading good news? I hope so, even if that good news solely pertains to ME.
Do you recall back in November when I had my bloodwork tested, and my cholesterol numbers had shot up by 41 points? I can 100% blame the pandemic and my slacking because of said pandemic. Well, I vented about it to all of you and, you guys, being the best of the best, had some kind & encouraging words to say about it.
Thank you, thank you and, thank you.
I was terrified of going on statins. Honestly, I just can’t imagine being on medication daily. Listen, I know many people NEED to be on medication, and it’s not a big deal, but for me, it felt like a big deal. Therefore, I buckled down as I’ve never buckled down.
Here are the things that I was ingesting either on the daily or several times a week that I gave up and how I adjusted, if you care to know:
Cheese-GONE (A few slices of cheese used to be a favorite afternoon snack)
Cottage cheese-GONE. (Oh, how I loved cottage cheese for breakfast)
Bacon-(Coach still prepares it 3-4 times a week, and I think I’ve had 4 pieces over the last 4 months)
Eggs with yolks-GONE. ( I DO prepare egg whites with veggies about 3-4x a week for breakfast)
Yogurt-GONE. (I loved greek yogurt.)
Butter-GONE. (I wasn’t a big butter user before, but now I ONLY use olive oil for cooking or this for spreading)
I also started eating more fruit, which I used to fear because of SUGAR. Fear no more.
I’ve adjusted my meals so much, and at first, it felt weird, but now it’s the norm. Here’s one thing about me, and maybe you were this way too. For many, many years, I had a fear of carbs.Carbs are bad. Carbs come from satan himself. Now? I do have some carbs because I’m so limited elsewhere. I’ve added Raisin Cinnamon English muffins to most of my morning meals, and I freaking love them. Why was I so scared of bread? Pasta? Potatoes? Now, I don’t go overboard, but I do make a bit of pasta here and there, and we both enjoy a sweet potato (or rice) with dinner. It took some time to get rid of this fear of carbs, and I feel effing liberated.
Can we go all Cher and turn back time for a minute? I meant to share this back in December when it occurred, but I didn’t. The Coach insisted I go and get a full-body scan. This is a proactive step and not ordered by my Dr. (we paid out of pocket, but it wasn’t as crazy as I thought it would cost). They checked me from my brain to my toes; with a CT scan of my heart. (Spoiler alert: it’s lovely) My heart shows NO calcium buildup, which is what usually occurs when people have high cholesterol.
They also told me I have ovarian cysts & fibroids in my uterus. {BTW: NO PRIVACY with this scan even if I was FULLY dressed} This is not unusual for me, though. I’m continually growing all sorts of barnacles inside. I’ve since had a follow-up ultrasound, and all is well. This test also confirmed my suspicion that I HAVE A HERNIA; I didn’t really want to acknowledge this, but alas, it is there, and there it will stay. I’m sure it happened when the Coach made me carry something heavy. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
I had bloodwork done again last week, and then I visited my Dr. this week, and let me tell you, I was ANXIOUS. I kept telling Coach: If my numbers have not gone down after ALL the changes I’ve made, well, then I’m done like dinner. Give me an RX ’cause there is nothing else I can do.
Guess what.
Can you guess?
But it’s fun to guess!
My overall cholesterol number went from 259 to 225 in just over four months.
And my good cholesterol was excellent; I’m practically an overachiever at this point.
That change with the fact that there is NO calcium around my pretty heart, well I can forge on, hope to improve even more and, NOT go on medication.
Also, I did not gain weight with my dietary changes; I’m down about 5lbs.
If you could see me now, I’m doing A Happy Dance. Well, I’m glad you can’t see me, though, because this bra I’m wearing is NOT made for happy dancing.
WHY do I love that silly movie so much?
So. Are you happy for me enough to share some good news from your end?
If you need me, I’ll be out in the garden dancing like no one is watching because they aren’t.
