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DRAFT TODAY, POST TOMORROW: Some posts may be in draft status until I (aka procrastinator extraordinaire) get around to posting them.



Friday, August 31, 2012

Dinosaur BBQ Sauce

St. Louis ribs on the Green Egg
The man wanted homemade barbecue sauce, something like "dinosaur sauce" someone made that he liked but knew I couldn't have. He needed it today while I was at work, so I stayed up extremely late making it and helping with the rib rub as well. I was so exhausted, I can't even explain it. I was a tad grumpy. (If by tad, we mean, GRRR.)

We found a recipe that I could use and I made some minor adaptations. I left out the bell pepper and jalepeno because I didn't have them, substituted yellow mustard for the spicy mustard for the same reason, and left out the liquid smoke because I doubt I can have it so I don't have it. Also, now that I'm looking at the recipe again, I realize why it was so hot and awesome. I used cayenne pepper instead of cayenne pepper sauce! Oops. Well, it turned out friggin' awesometastic.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

So many movies, so little time.

I am not a Twilight fan and I kept running across this comparison on Pinterest. After all the hype, we had to watch Hunger Games. (Who can be a Twilight fan if they watched Lost Boys and Queen of the Damned type vampire movies back in the day? Seriously.) While I thought Hunger Games was crazy unbelievable, I really liked it. My husband was too distracted by his opinion that that could never happen so he didn't like it as much. Maybe I was distracted by my love of seeing a chic kick ass so I liked it too much. Whatever--she kicks ass. You go girl. And can you kick Bella's ass while you're at it?

I watched 21 Jump Street on TV back in the day; my husband apparently did not. I almost fell over laughing when Holly Robinson showed up in the movie version of 21 Jump Street; he had no idea who she was. I let him know I was waiting for Johnny Depp to show up and he was still mystified. And when Johnny showed up, it was awesome. I liked it more than he did, so maybe it's a retro thing. (That means I'm old, y'all.)


A friend recommended Dale and Tucker vs evil. It was a spoof horror movie and it was pretty funny, although seriously predictable and gory and silly and unbelievable.


When we saw the trailer for God Bless America, we knew we had to see it. It was hilarious, in the vein of Office Space or Idiocracy. See it. Unless you're old; the old people said it's "different" which is old people speak for WTF. At 2:08, that's just awesometastic. Don't lie, you know you have thought about doing it!


We also saw Raid Redemption. It was so terrible, I'm not even giving any more information. 

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Brisket

Brisket going into the Egg
Update: it turned out awesome. He thinks it's too much work and money for the amount of meat you end up with--probably half the size it starts at. But it was seriously fantastic. Especially the "burnt ends" but it was all good in my tummy.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Overdressed and undertattoed

My grandma has nine children. One of my uncles died last week while in hospice. He was the first of her children to predecease her. I haven't seen my uncle's kids since I was in high school. I remember seeing them at the dairy he worked and at my dad's house.
Yes, that's me holding my cousin, surrounded by cousins, circa 1988.
Three of his four kids are in this photo, along with some other cousins, at my dad's house. After years of hating how I look, I had finally "found" myself. My twin cousin on the left is my opposite.

Anyway. At the memorial, I wore a black sleeveless dress. It is fitted, and I think it shrank a little after I got it but it fits and I got compliments at work. My grandpa made a comment that I immediately forgot but made me feel overdressed. The two young girls in the photo above were also wearing black skirts. Everyone else was completely casual. Jeans, cotton dresses with scooping low necklines, flip flops, lots of tattoos. Well, I thought a black dress was appropriate for a memorial service. What do I know.
I know I want my remains, if any, to be placed someplace with vegetation of some type. The view of the mountains is nice but the barren landscape kind of distracts from the view. Yikes.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Stealing magic

I had one to three students in the room today and Dr. M instructed the girl I had met before on how to ask the questions and follow up and how to take notes. He told her that the notes are not for her, but for anyone who reads them later. I thought it was interesting because that is true in my job sometimes too. He meant it a bit more as a CYA, though.

When I woke up this morning, the left side of my face was hurting. My jaw hurt so I just thought I had clenched my teeth or something. Based on his questions, I told him that it was kind of an ache when I woke up and it decreased over the next couple hours. The last thing was my left ear, which was still hurting when I left the house but was okay when I got to work.

He did "cranial" adjustments on my face to address the facial pain. He did various adjustments of course. When he got to my neck, it was all out of whack, I think he said the C3 and C5. It felt like they were on different sides of my neck--so weird.

While the students were asking questions about the cranial adjustments, one asked a lot of questions about the back of his own misshaped head. Another student felt it and agreed. Dr. M eventually checked it out while he was moving to the other side of the table. He showed the second student where to put her "magic finger" to start adjusting the first student's cranial plates. Yeah, the skull is not one piece; it's made up of plates that "breathe." The second student got tired of holding her finger there and wanted to change and said he was "stealing" her "magic" which we all thought was kind of funny. Or odd.

I've been having a lot of trouble looking at myself. My left eye has been very disturbing--with white showing above AND below my beautiful brown eyeball. It's just freaky. When he was done with my adjustments, Dr. M said that he could see a significant difference in my eye. I looked and was skeptical. I could still see the white but he pointed out that it's only on the bottom, that the inflammation improved quite a bit.

And then I read this article about using a chiropractic approach to treat MS. Okay, I skimmed it. Maybe I'll take it to Dr. M so he can read it!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Go away.

I waited about half an hour for my appointment with Dr. M. The new student didn't introduce himself, but Dr. M was in to see me pretty quickly so I could bypass the overly detailed questions. As always, he worked on the front first, starting at the feet and working up. He did a lot of work on my left knee area, and my left arm (kind of the bicep area) and it HURT.

He worked on the back quite a bit, then the neck. It seemed to be getting better, then I could barely turn to the right, but he fixed it again. We talked throughout; mostly about marriage and relationships, joking around with the two male students. Dr. M, who is divorced, apparently found someone special (his next ex) about 8 months ago; they met through a friend.

Near the end of my appointment, I told him that it could be a coincidence since I sometimes go some time without having major pain issues, but I didn't have any while we were traveling. There were several differences, like I wasn't sitting at a computer all day, I wasn't driving...and he said, and you weren't dealing with work or the usual family issues--you weren't stressed out. Well, okay, that may be.

He suggested that I should go away; I should be taking an overnight or weekend trip every month with my husband (since I can obviously travel with him--he didn't stress me out during the Austin trip.) My mind immediately wanted to protest--the time, the money, the planning, the arrangements, the dogs.... And he pointed out it's not that much money, there's lots of places to go, family can help with the dogs (or a friend), that I should try to go Friday night and return Sunday, but overnight Saturdays would be okay. I agreed to consider the recommendation.

I also asked about my thinning hair which he said could be due to stress in addition to my thryoid. He suggested zinc but I'm not sure I can take it with my MS. He said magnesium and potassium would get me the same benefits--electrolytes. I may need to get more then--my hair is coming out fast. O_O

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Last minute vampire bait

My window for my thyroid labs started before I left for vacation and ended today. I thought about going to have my blood drawn before I left. Then I thought, it's kind of awesome that I'm not on thyroid medication right now, and I would hate for someone to call me while I'm on vacation to go get new medication. So I waited. Until the last day. And I didn't even get my reward latte (with almond milk) from Ground Control because they. are. closed. I know they are reopening somewhere even less convenient for me. I'm so disappointed. I'm pouting. I may have to go out of my way to a Dutch Bros or Luci's this week. Or not.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Austin prequel - Family background

When my mom got pregnant with me, the guy didn't want me (because he had MS and didn't want to pass it on) and his friend married her instead. That is my dad, the father of my sister C. Soon after my mom had C, dad got the babysitter pregnant and A was born.

My mom married my first stepdad. Unfortunately, he was a terrible man and was responsible for C and I being taken away and forced to live with my mom's mom P. Fortunately, mom did not have any kids with him (there was a stillborn). Then she married my second stepdad and had 2 more kids. Later, she would have another kid with another guy, then marry her fourth husband, who she is no longer with. To recap, my mom has 5 kids from 4 guys and has been divorced four times.

When I was 14, C finally got the attention of CPS and was able to move to dad's house, where he lived with his third wife and her youngest daughter M, who is about a week younger than me. M had an older brother and sister. The following year, I was given the choice to stay with P or move to dad's. To "inform" my decision, P told me that dad is not my dad. He wanted me anyway, and she was evil, so I went. I didn't get to know M's family too well since our parents got divorced shortly thereafter.

Dad was married to his fourth wife J, who had a son M a few years younger than me. I moved out when I turned 18. To recap, dad has three daughters (one not DNA related) and four stepchildren and has been married four times. While dad lived in AZ for most of my life, he followed M's family (grandkids! follow the grandkids!) to TX several years ago.

A while after I moved out of my dad's house, I found out about A, the babysitter's kid. Her mother had killed herself so A grew up with her grandmother too. She came to stay with dad and I met her husband T. I wasn't impressed with either one of them.

A and T later had 3 girls. Dad visited and told us how deplorable the living conditions were for the girls. CPS was coming to get the girls and T took off, went to a hotel, and killed himself. (Now I understand he was abusive; it was not just neglect.) The girls ended up with their grandparents, either T's mom or dad and the spouse.

A went on to have 2 more kids in TX by 2 different guys she wasn't married to. One lives with a grandparent and one lives with the dad. Just to recap, A has 5 kids and has custody of none.

I have been in touch with her oldest three on Facebook for some time now, as my dad and his sister (my auntie) have been. Dad decided to pay for the girls to come visit him for his and A's birthdays. I decided to go for five days with my husband. I told my grandma (dad's mom) that C couldn't afford to go and dad arranged her air travel for a long weekend trip. M's daughter was in AZ visiting her family and would only get back right before we all left. So dad wasn't really able to get everyone together at once but it would be a family filled trip.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Trial update

I had my short visit today--blood, urine, vitals. Done.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

The V-safe challenge

At our party last night, we provided pulled pork (and buns), chicken and peppers, and salad. Since many people want to bring something, we suggested sides and desserts. And for those who wanted to accept the mission, I gave them my "no" list; I didn't expect too many "safe" dishes.

There were things I couldn't eat: a standard veggie tray with ranch dip (and another ranch dip, which seemed kinda random), a pot of canned baked beans, chocolate cake, something like an upside down cake, some chocolate bundt cakes, and cookies--both homemade and store bought.

And my friends came through in a big way! They took the V-safe challenge. There was a bean salad, baked beans (family recipe), beet orange fennel salad (I had leftovers today with goat cheese and candied walnuts), dill cucumber salad (this was very popular), corn salad (from Whole Foods), and vinegar coleslaw (the closest I've ever had to KFC slaw).

But the hit of the night was the "jello" shots my friend made. Go ahead, be jealous.


Judging from the rate they were consumed, the popularity was: dark chocolate mocha (Patron cafe dark cocoa), coconut (Malibu), ginger coconut (Malibu), peppermint mocha (peppermint mocha Kahlua, Patron cafe dark cocoa), hibiscus blackberry (vodka), and blood orange margarita (Grand Marnier, rum). Both the mocha shots were like pudding and the coconut was like flan. REALLY--everyone was asking for another "flan." It looks like she did an amazing amount of work. They were made with half alcohol and half other liquid and some agar. I hope that wasn't a secret now that I've told my huge readership!

I bought some cheap forks for parties and lose one or two almost every party. I have about half of them in my kitchen drawer. But when we ran out, I forgot that was only half of them. I put out the rest of our "real" forks, some plastic forks. And then I remembered I have a whole stash of party supplies. It's not that I forget; I just take a long time to remember!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Is it sinusey or sinusy?

I was invited to lunch at Revo. I used to go there a LOT. Half of their menu is gluten-free. But then I realized that they are not super careful about cross contamination, and they often put chips (gluten-free until they fry them) on TOP of my gluten-free food. *SIGH*

So I went and had the chicken fajita rice bow with brown rice and corn tortillas instead of chips. And they got it right. Sweet!

The co-workers who invited me had a groupon for the Gelato Spot, which is almost right next to Revo. I went with them but didn't understand why P was asking me if I could eat sorbet. (Yes, if it doesn't have dairy or bananas.) As they were ordering, they told me to pick a sorbet. I talked to the guy and they just have fruit, sugar, and water in the sorbet. Nice! I got pineapple after a little taster spoonful.

I took my pineapple sorbet home with me and had it after a pasta and sausage dinner. I ate it with some Enjoy Life gingerbread cookies. I probably should have eaten half tonight and half tomorrow. But I didn't.

We were watching Burn Notice when I noticed that my throat was "sore" a little. Kind of stuffy or something, I'm not even sure how to explain it, but that feeling when you might be getting sick. Except that I get this without getting sick. And all these thoughts start going around in my head. Is this an allergic reaction? Did that guy at Gelato Spot use the same scoop for my sorbet that he used for the gelato? Was there something wrong with the pork sausage (I usually use chicken, but I had this in the freezer from some Sprouts sale)? Is it from the dust I stirred up cleaning the dog room and washing the dog bedding? What. is. wrong. with. me?!

I've been keeping a food diary that includes columns for BM times and Symptoms. Once I started feeling better and wasn't filling the whole symptoms box with some version of low-, moderate-, or severe-level butt/low back pain, cramping, or bloating, I (re-)noticed something else. And I wrote phlemy one day. Then sinusy. Or is it sinusey? That *is* a word, right?! Cause I'm sinusy. Not all the time. But I have some notion that it's related to my other symptoms. I just haven't paid attention since it's the least problematic issue I have going on. But the throat thing--that made me think, I've had this before. I didn't care because I felt shitty. Really, that is *totally* the right word. Like sinusy.

Bloomers.

It took longer than usual to get in to see Dr. M, my naturopathic "chiropractor" for my adjustment. I was feeling okay, no real complaints, just my near-constant popping in my right shoulder. The student, who I've seen once before, seemed surprised when I answered that I don't eat any of the things on my allergy list. She has a dairy issue but says she sometimes cheats. And pays for it. And that would be why I don't cheat--paying for it sucks.

Dr. M did more adjustments around my knees than usual. He asked if my knee was hurting. Actually, it was hurting a couple times very recently; I felt like I was favoring it and was worried about what that would do to the rest of my "structure." He also asked if I had been, I don't recall exactly, but this is the second time he has implied that I'm laying or sitting on the couch in a bad position and that I shouldn't sleep on the couch. He spent some time on the shoulders and neck area, of course, among other things.

I told him that I started taking the magnesium he suggested (I'm taking it twice a day along with a cranberry pill*) and that the twitching in my eyes actually went away the first day. It has come back, but not as severe as it was. He commented to the student that a lot of people, to his surprise, are shocked when something he suggests works. He clarified that he wasn't talking about me. (Hmm, are you sure? I'm surprised that doctors, etc. think that I won't take their advice or do whatever I need to do to feel better and be healthy.)

He mentioned to the student that the magnesium helps with spasms and tremors. Well, now that you mention it. I'm trying to think back. I've been having almost daily "numbness" in my left calf area; it goes away and comes back, not lasting long enough to be an MS relapse. I have less frequent "numbness" in my midsection (stomach area, usually on the left but not always) and in my fingers. I don't think I've had any of this numbness since I started the magnesium last week.

We talked about upcoming plans and he offered this tidbit for someone who may make a "funny" but mean comment to me in front of a group of people. Ask: when I am dead, is that is what you want to remember saying to me. WOW. Harsh. But maybe effective for some passive aggressiveness. He warned that it should be saved for a really terrible comment.

For the situations when I don't want to pull that one out, he suggested that I picture the person in old time bloomer underwear. For the guy, have them pulled up to the ribs over the protruding belly. I don't know if this will work when I'm pissed off, but I know what he means. If I can laugh in their face when they are being asses, maybe they'll shut the hell up.

*I stopped taking a lot of supplements but not all. I currently take flax/borage oil, magnesium, cranberry, Culturelle, and Provigil in the morning and flax/borage oil, magnesium, cranberry, Culturelle, and a multivitamin at night.