Thursday, October 21, 2010

Distracted.

Since I'm already distracted from my homework I figured I might as well type just a little bit here.  Life has been good.... a bit achey, but good.
What has me distracted you may ask?   Oh... nothing.  Just Halloween.  AND CHEESE!
The party is around one week away.  I'm getting nervous.  I have at least ten people coming.  I have a costume (Joan of Arc, now).  And I've started buying decorations.  And today I made cheese puffs.
These cheese puffs are from the Pioneer Woman collection.  I liked her description of these little nibbles.  Bake in the day (before I was born, for sure), appetizers for parties were easy.  Nothing fancy.  No crazy ingredients you couldn't find or pronounce.  These cheese puffs have cheddar, Dijon mustard, cream cheese, butter, garlic, shallot, and egg whites.  Then you dip French bread cubes into this delicious fondue-like sauce.  Then you bake them.
Needless to say, they are VERY good for you.  Especially the soul part of you.
The recipe can be found here. I'm not going to post a picture for fear of infringing on copyright stuff.
The best part is that you can freeze them, uncooked, and then throw them on a cookie sheet the night of the party.  It's going to be a big help.  The meatballs I'll be making are a crockpot food (easy), which just leaves me with my stuffed mushrooms and sangria.
Before the day comes we need to clean.  Big time.  I also have this great plan of taking all of our condiments and such out of the fridge and hiding them in a cooler in the closet.  To make room for beer.  Thoughts?  It's just a small fridge and I'd like to be able to keep beverages cold.
The other thing on our to-do list is to buy a shelf to go behind the couch.  That means, off to Ikea! The shelf, which we've been wanting for awhile, will make more space for food and such.
Yes, the shelves are irregular.  Because we're hip like that.

But before the party I REALLY should work on my homework.  I have class that Sunday and I'm betting that I may not be in the homework mood the day after the party.  Probably more-so in the cleaning and sleeping in mood.
Toodles!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

I'm very lucky

I felt mostly terrible the entire weekend, but I had my Kevin.  :)  When my hands were aching terribly he did the dishes for me.  When I had a migraine while we were out and about and I needed to settle my stomach with some food he turned into a McDonalds and ordered me a McChicken.  And when I flipped out because it appeared that the pharmacy had given me the wrong medicine, he affirmed my feelings.  I'm blessed to have such an amazing husband.

The medicine I'm speaking of is my birth control.  I'm finally throwing in the town with these once-monthly periods.  I switched for peace-of-mind, and instead got terrible flares, cramps, and backaches.  Kevin and I talked over our options and decided that it wouldn't do for me to be miserable for a week every month.  So, I'm going back on Jolessa.  As for the peace-of-mind, we've agreed to keep pregnancy tests on-hand for any time I feel the slightest bit funny.  Yes, I'm paranoid.  But it's not baby-time.

I spent some time talking to my friend Maria about this.  She also has a diagnosis and it's just fantastic to have someone to compare treatments and symptoms with.  We had a discussion about how we can't have "surprises".   We sometimes take some pretty hardcore meds that would be pretty detrimental to a fetus.  Vicodin, steroids, blood thinners, etc... not to mention my nightly glass(es) of wine.  I think the closer we get to actually thinking about starting our family the more worried I get that it will happen before we're ready.  I'm hoping to be able to make my body a bit stronger before that time comes and to have more support close-by in case I get put on bed rest, as well as for after the baby is born for childcare.

Babies are stressful, even before you have them!  Yikes.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Thoughts for the evening.

1.) If you are hoping to dip your aching hands into paraffin wax after going out for dinner, make sure the wax bath is turned up past simply "warm".

2.) If upon arriving home you find that your wax is not actually melted, don't apply pressure to the "squishy wax" for fun/investigative purposes.  It will go terribly wrong. Your finger will go through the squishy wax into liquid wax and you'll splash wax all over the counter.  Then your husband will HAVE to make a smart-ass remark.  Because that's just the way he is.

....but hey, he took me out for a nice meal tonight.  I guess I can let this one go.

Also, I slept for almost 12 hours last night! That's the way to attach a lupus flare head on!

Let's go see if I can do it again.  The crazy sleep, not the splashing wax everywhere. I'm sure I could do that again.  I'm very good.

Good night everyone!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Okay, NOW it's the first flare of the school year.

We've passed aching and moved towards the kind of pain that makes me bitchy.
It's that whole first day of my period BS.  Extra estrogen.  Etc.
So, I'm back at home after a long day of work. Comfy pants.  Red wine. Great husband who picked me up a hamburger with extra pickles (a common craving for me on the first day of my period).  Life can't be too bad.
Now we're watching Shaun of the Dead and I'm contemplating taking a pre-bedtime nap.

Thoughts?

Friday, October 8, 2010

Quick post!

Let me start by saying that I wrote this entire post yesterday.  Then something happened and it all went bye-bye.   It was supposed to be quick because I had a ton of homework to do before class today.  So then it went away and I didn't have time to re-write it.

Now it's Friday and I'm taking the evening to relax before I go crazy on the huge pile of homework that needs to be done.  So, here we go again.

The big flare that I thought was coming never came.  I was a bit achy and tired but functioning was still possible. I went to physical therapy yesterday and I had a decent workout.  Like I said, I was tired, but I still felt that I had accomplished something by getting into the pool and doing some work with the "dumbbells".

You know... I think I'm going to go ahead and say it: I'm proud of myself.  I do what I can to stay in shape.  I've been rockin' my shape up shoes and walking extra whenever possible. I've also been consistently counting calories on my new smart phone.  I'm averaging between 1500 and 1700 a day.  I think if I keep it up I may continue to lose small amounts of weight at a time. Maybe I'll be able to fit into those dress pants I bought last year before the car accident.  (One can always hope, right?)

Also, I'm pleased to announce that Mr. Cyst has left the building!  Yay!  Sometimes I think going on the Lupus Foundation message boards makes you a bit paranoid.  Tons of women seem to have polycystic ovarian syndrome... or whatever it's called.  A couple women have had to have their ovaries removed.  It's frightening.  Anywho, I'm glad that drama is over with.

Did I mention that we've decided to throw a Halloween party?  It's basically a terrible idea, but I've already sent out the Evite.  I'll have to clean the house and everything.  Kevin and I are going to dress up, too!  He's going to be a magician and I'm going to be his rabbit.  Cassie says it's going to be adorable.  I usually trust her on all things costume-related.  We're going to make some sangria and some appetizers.  I hope it goes well.  I've got a few "yes" RSVPs and a couple "maybe" responses.  Cross your fingers for a successful and not-overcrowded party.

Weekend plans: Cleaning, homework, class on Sunday (boo), bicycling (hopefully), and Kevin owes me some frozen yogurt (for not eating the candy at work).

Sunday, October 3, 2010

First flare of the new school year?

I'm achy today.  I was achy last night, too. It could just be a bad day, but I believe I've been feeling this come on all week- lots. of fatigue, even when I got a full night of sleep.jn  Probably started when I got hit by that idiot on the trail.  Normally I can tell what my trigger is for the flare.  This time that's the only thing I can think of.
My plan?  More sleep, of course!