Doctor's Report...
So today was (finally) the follow-up from the "roto-rooting" of last month. Overall, good. But -- esophagitis and a bit of gastritis. That's not good. I'm back on the Rx version of Prevacid, 80 mg (40 mg 2/day). They want that to heal.
But on the plus side: no celiac disease, no h. pylori, no candida. A few other issues that are, frankly, age-related. And "being a mom" related. They're delighted with my (now) 8-lb. weight loss and consequently lower BP. And they said "keep it up."
I'm a bit dismayed, but glad. Esophagitis in particular is something that folks like me, with GERD, want to avoid at all costs. It's nasty and it can be deadly if left unchecked. They seem to think that 3 months of this high-dose Rx will fix it. I'm also thinking the anti-inflammatory gut reset will, too.
The Knitting...
I've turned the heel on Petty Harbour #1. It's going ok. I love heel turns. I'm actually, now, on the closing of the gusset. This time, I'm going to keep the pattern down the instep. We'll see how that goes. Normally, I like a plain foot, mainly because of comfort. But these are a really nice pair of socks, and frankly: they're beige. I need patterning. If only to keep me awake during the long foot part.
Speaking of long feet parts... I screwed up on the Green Traveling Sock #1... As you can see in the picture, the foot is "kid-sized."
No, honestly, I do NOT know what I was thinking. Or not thinking, as the case may be. I know I wanted a star toe and I looked high and low for a pattern, like the 3 or 4 other pairs I had. Could I find it? Nope.
So I winged it with web directions: "star toes for everyone" kind of thing.
Obviously, I started the toe about 2" too early. I'm thinking of steeking - a/k/a "cutting into live knitting" and adding more at that green stripe. That's just below the closed gusset, which I think is the best place to do it. I can add more; then re-knit -- maybe not a star toe this time, but either way. Re-knit so I can wear it!! I've tried it on and it fits. But it's so, SO tight that it'll wear badly. Not to mention crunching my toes.
I'd like to do a different toe. I do wedge toes on 90% of my socks. Either that, or I buckle down this weekend and finally clean up my office space, hopefully finding the notebook or pattern that has an actual star toe pattern that I can follow.
I know - I've got my MBA, and you'd think I could figure it out.
I can't. I don't like math, and I'm too old to change. Besides, my MBA was in marketing and HR.
I ordered the Etude #1 shawl AND yarn from Expression Fiber Arts. Yes, in those colors exactly. I think they're stunning. And another thing I'm not necessarily good at is colors. I love color. But I'm not particularly adventurous at matching and setting up colors for patterns.
Hubby shines at that. I'm boring. I swear, I'd stick with grey gradients.
Anyway, Etude #1 will be the next project I cast on.
And I managed to do something weird with Kid #2's afghan. I think I can redeem myself if I have really managed to miss a stitch. It's not that I dropped one; I'm actually OVER by 1 stitch; so I used K2tog to get the count back where I think it should be. If I'm wrong? I add a stitch. He won't care if there's a "make one" in there. It's also coming along. Almost ready to change stripes again. Picture next time.
Paczki Parade...
I work next(ish) to a Polish Deli. It's hopping this time of year with the sale of paczki (poo-nch-key). That lovely and now popular Polish donut which, in my great-granny's time was a way to use up all the sweet stuff before Lent. Lent starts, if you're interested, on March 6th.
So I saw these at the local "health food" store. No, these little beauties are in no way 'healthy' even if you want to say it's traditional. Traditional isn't always healthy, as we all know.
When they're home-made, or made by a real Polish bakery, they're not light. They're full of sugar. And when Great-Grandma made them, they were fried in lard. Or, in her later years, shortening.
Dusted (in her kitchen) with either white sugar or powdered sugar if she wanted fancy, they were stuffed full of fruit.
Now-a-days, you can get them filled with just about anything. And there's a local brewer who's doing "paczki-flavored" beer. Can't even wrap my brain (migraine or not) around that. Because there are at least 15 flavors. Which goes in the beer?This was the parking lot Thursday. From 8 a.m. till I left at 5:15 p.m. Cars in and out all day.
Many buying lunch, but lots of them carrying boxes of paczki out.
They're getting another 2,000 this Tuesday, for Fat Tuesday.
How do I know? I asked my mom if she wanted a couple of them, to which she replied, "Is the Pope Catholic??"
I went to the doctor's office on one side of town, and it ran late. All I could think of was, "Boy, I'd better get there before they close" as I dashed across town to the very opposite side.
There weren't many left. I got her a Bavarian Creme with chocolate, and a "strawberry & cream" - which wasn't exactly what she wanted, but it was either that or prune...or blueberry, and I couldn't remember if she liked blueberries!
These? Well, no, I'm not planning on eating them. They're a unique flavor: rosehip. Very nice and light, slightly floral. I thought if Mom didn't like the strawberry + creme, I'd take that home for Hubby.
And I told Hubby that if he didn't want them, I'd be perfectly happy bringing them to church on Sunday.
I have a feeling these aren't going to make it to church.
I'll be texting the kids a picture of this. One of them lives far away, out of the reach of paczki. The other? I can see him driving down for these.
Everyone Gets a Cone...
Yeesh... Two of the 3 dogs are in cones. Tippi is in a cone because she gnawed the crap out of her back leg. It's healing nicely, but she managed to confound the Inner Tube of Shame and the soft cone. So Hubby went out and bought her a "satellite dish."
The dog isn't happy. But the leg is coming along very well. It was so bad that we had to skip our last therapy visit. I had to leave it open so that it could begin healing, and that's against the rules.
And it's not safe.
And it wasn't pretty.
So we think she'll be ready to go back to work on this Tuesday, which will be nice. I know she's anxious to get back to work.
I started her on Turmeric butter. Not actual butter, but you mix turmeric with water, heating it up a bit to make a paste. Then you add coconut oil (which she loves anyway) and keep it in the fridge. She gets 1/2 tsp. total, split up at breakfast and dinner. It'll take a few weeks to see if it takes down that inflamed lymph node. Fingers and paws crossed.
Raisa, on the other hand, has some sort of skin rash. We've started to add a little olive oil to her food, and Hubby is getting something called Linatone, which is what the elkhounds had when we first got them. She can still get to a dry spot on her chest; we're hoping to get that under control. Her coat's a mess. Thanks to backyard breeding, she's got one of the worst coats I've ever seen.
Her head is gorgeous. Well-shaped, and the coat is just what it should be; nice and fluffy.
From the back of her head on down? Not so good. And the scraggliest tail I've ever seen on a husky. Not to mention the coat's thinner than normal. The vet says "it is what it is." She can't make it grow better.
But we've got to do something with the state of the itch.
So we'll try the Linatone and see where it gets us.
Beverages, etc...
Apparently, CBD is now all the rage. One of the patients gave Doc a tiny vial of hemp oil for him to try. Not likely... And I saw these supplements in the local Meijer. Not sure how I feel about that. I mean, I do give it to the elkies when there's thunder coming. We call it "boom boom cookies" and it seems to at least calm them a bit.
But randomly swallowing these supplements? I can't see it.
I have no problem with alternative medicine. I'm sitting here in this picture with my "Mermaid Latte" to help me sleep. It coincidentally matches my shirt! Using Ayurveda, it's got some herbs + chamomile in it. I make it with coconut milk. Not the coconut milk in the cans, but actual "milk stuff" made with coconut, since on this cleanse, I'm non-dairy and for a while, no nuts either. It wasn't bad, though I do miss my almond milk. Or "almond milk-like beverage" since "nuts don't lactate."
But a coconut DOES have milk. So there.
Anyway, I think people need to evaluate before jumping on a bandwagon, that's all. I'm all for it for pain relief, and relief from chemo and glaucoma.
I just don't think it's right for everyone.
And it's incredibly ironic that it's next to the Doritos...
It Was Windy...
The Sunday before last, it was really, really, REALLY windy. We went out to church, and when we came back, this is what we found in the back yard. I mean, it's ours. But this is how we found it after the service.
This is solid cedar and it had about 80-ish pounds of dirt in it.
There's no way it should've blown over. Except that the winds were in the neighborhood of 40-60 mph.
Everything got whomped on.
Lucky for us, we didn't lose major tree branches. Nothing fell on the cars.
Hubby righted this and put the basin of the concrete bird bath in it. At least, now, if we have anymore wind, this thing shouldn't move.
I hope.
It was really freaky hearing the wind moaning through the high-tension wires. Haunting.
Random Picture...
Every once in a while, there's a really pretty sunrise. This isn't much to look at close-up. But look at the sky and see the pinks and lavenders? I caught this on the drive into work one morning, when sensible folk are still in their pjs...
I live in the semi-urban 'burbs and we still get to see a lot of sky around here.
Even in the dead of winter, in the icky February/March dullness? If you look up, you're usually guaranteed to see something beautiful.
It's there. Just gotta look up.
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