Keppra Countdown...

Well, we're a month in to the "Keppra countdown" and results are mixed. 

First off, no migraines to speak of. I mean, there are twinges, most every morning. But there's been no big full-blown migraine. I've downed a couple of Excedrin Migraine tabs over the past few weeks, but so far, the "detox," if you will, is proceeding. 

What I am having trouble with is the plethora of side effects. Woolly-brained (nothing to do with knitting!), sleeping trouble, intense hot flashes (different from menopausal hot flashes by about 10 degrees or so!), mood swings, sometimes an unquenchable thirst, depression... I'm having a hard time with all of that. It's impacting areas of my life that I don't want it to impact, and I don't know how to explain it to anyone. 

In fact, last Tuesday, I had a major melt-down. I mean, everything went wrong, at least in my head. I was headed to my women's group meeting, but when I got there, I was hit by a wave of depression so heavy that I almost couldn't get the words, "I can't stay for the meeting because I'm not feeling well" out of my mouth. The tears threatened to overwhelm me. I dashed out of there, got into the car, and actually shuddered with sobs. It was an interesting ride home. I got home, sobbed some more, and finally, eyes gritty and jaw clenched, I stopped. I felt like my insides were being ripped out. 

Yeah. It was awesome. The cloud hung over me for a few days. I had thoughts that I hadn't had for a long, long time, and they scared me. I'm hoping that once all of this is done, my brain gets back to normal...or "normal" for me, at least. 

Next week, I go down to 500 mg at bedtime... So now, I'm at 500 mg twice a day; then I go to the bedtime-only dose for 30 days. Then, if that lasts - if there are no major migraines, which is the criteria I'm using (twinges don't count), I go to "every other day" till the Rx is done. Then I'm finished. Hopefully off the Keppra forever. 

It's nice contemplating being 60 and GETTING OFF a prescription, rather than adding more. Now, I suppose, I will need to get myself to my primary care doctor - it strikes me that I haven't been in 2 or more years. That's not like me, but I've been busy. 

Yes, I know that's no excuse. But it's what I have. My next thing will be to change my MedicAlert bracelet - which I'll still wear, because I think that it's a good thing to have in an emergency. And as far as I know, I'm not sure that the tachycardia will be relieved when I'm done with the Keppra. My cardiologist thinks the Keppra is "contributing" to it - but we won't know how much of it is Keppra and how much is the result of the PVI I had done. We have to wait on that. 

It would be great to get off the beta blocker. And it would also be great to get off the GERD medication - that's the NEXT next thing. Whole 30 starting April 2. 

Lenten Fish Fry...

The Croatian Cultural Club in town has one of the best fish fry dinners imaginable. We're a big fish-fry town. There's the Knights of Columbus, Cro-Club (as it's known locally), The Elks, and a few church halls that do them regularly during Lent. For our money, we love the Cro-Club. The fish, a lovely whitefish, is done nicely, there's buttered parsley potatoes, and a salad with a basic sweet vinaigrette. And 2 slices of "Italian" bread. You can buy a piece of cake or pie if you want dessert, but as you can see, there are two very nice slabs of fish - you'll be full after you eat this dinner.

I always steal Hubby's tartar sauce, because he uses lemon juice on his. 

You have to pick up the dinners by 4:30 or you're going to be standing in line forever. You can eat in, but I've never done that. Maybe it's just me - I kind of like eating at home. 

Hubby and I did go out for dinner tonight - it's been a long, long time, and it was nice to get out. Went to Hamburgerseria - yes, that's a restaurant name! I've linked it here - you'd love it. If you have a chance and you're in the area - stop by. I had the "Grilled Cheese Burger." Hubby had a basic cheeseburger with bacon. 

This weekend, we have a fundraiser dinner to go to. I'm sure it'll be chicken of some sort. It usually is. Dessert will likely be the best part of the dinner. It's an annual function, but somehow, this year it crept up on us both!

Easter Potica...

So this time, we did 4 poticas. I used the old family recipe, but I doubled the filling. I shouldn't have doubled the filling... I had a lot left. The dough behaved beautifully, and rolled out very even. The single batch makes 4 large (almost 3-pound) loaves, using my grandma's long pans. 

Hubby bought me Pullman Loaf pans, but honestly, they won't work. Our table is 52" square and I'd need a bit longer of a rolling surface so that the loaves would have more rings. 

I have two "pretty" ones and I've sold one of them. The other will stay in the freezer till Christmas or till someone says they want one. I use the "not so pretty" ones for the family because my family doesn't care what it looks like. They want the taste!

I got to use the copper bowl that The Kid (#2) bought me for Christmas. It's beautiful, and has the rounded bottom that allows you to whisk by hand. 

I started whisking by hand and by golly... The copper bowl really DOES work more quickly. The caveat is that you need to have the egg whites at room temperature, which I did. 

Usually, I use cream of tartar to puff up the whites more easily, but honestly, with the copper bowl, I didn't need to. I ended up going to my Little Red Kitchen Aid hand-mixer, and I'm telling you - those egg whites were whipped in under 2 minutes! Granted, it wasn't the usual amount - normally we double the recipe which means 3 times the filling. 

I'm pretty sure that the "regular" amount we make won't fit in this bowl. 

I wonder if they make a copper whipping bowl for a 5-quart Kitchen Aid mixer. A quick Google search seems to indicate that the answer to that is a confirmed "No."

Anyway, I felt a little bad making "mixer marks" on the bowl, but I don't care - it's a bowl to be used, not just sitting there looking pretty. I want to make sure it's well-utilized as I bake and I'm not going to "save it for later." Time to use things now. 

So, I said that I made too much filling. Well, it doesn't freeze, and I had no more dough. Hubby made his Grandma's "Never Fail Pie Crust" recipe and we stuffed mini-muffin tins full of it, and used up all the filling for "potica pies." I thought we'd have enough for church for coffee hour, but we've been munching on them steadily... We didn't even roll out the dough - just pulled knobs of it, tamped it into the muffin tins and baked for about 25 minutes. Only because of how thick the filling is. 

They freeze nicely, which has enabled us to have them for a few more weeks. 

I may see if I can snag a few for my mom - when we did this for Christmas, I thought I was going to have enough of them for the cookie trays. Except that Hubby ate them. 

All of them. 

Granted, there weren't as many then, but still. He ate them all. And I can't say that I blame him. Had I been home, and not working all day, I'd have eaten 90% of them all... So, in explanation, Hubby works - but he works at home. I work outside the home for the most part. 

It's probably safer for my waistline and my snacking habit that I do. 

Knitting...

Sorely lacking in the knitting department - as you can tell, there's been a lot going on. The Close to You shawl is coming along, though I did have to tink back one row. Somehow, I screwed up the 14-row repeat and was merrily doing TWO 14-row repeats in a row. Not cool. But I caught it and fixed it. I can tell you it wouldn't have been "merry" if I hadn't been paying attention and had done most of the blasted thing before tinking it back. 

This yarn, while yummy, definitely has a different feel to it than my own version with the sock yarn. I think my friend will like it, and I'm anxious to see how it blocks up. I think hers will be quite a bit larger than mine. 

That's ok. I can get more yarn like this if I want to do one in purples for me. 

I might do that. Or at least try it in another sock yarn. Or maybe Cascade cotton - it would be kind of heavy, but I know that their Pima cotton yarn drapes deliciously - and the colors are so saturated that they just glow. Potential, potential, potential!


Oh, and I'm having a little fun with the unicorn bowl. I wear this chalcedony bracelet a lot, and every so often, like when I'm working at the laptop, it "clacks" because it hits the base of the unit and it annoys me. 

I had to stick it somewhere, and the unicorn's horn seemed to be a logical place. I may make this my profile picture in Facebook! Or maybe this blog, but I love my picture of my adorable, much-missed husky River. 

The yarn bowl is working nicely, and is certainly heavy enough to take the tugging I'm giving it. However, tomorrow I'm putting felt dots on the bottom; it's got an unfinished ring on it and it was scratching up the Arlo table. I have it balanced on that notebook where I keep my sock patterns, but I need to put the felt under it so that it doesn't scratch, and doesn't slide off the notebook. 

Tomorrow I also have to work on the...

Baby Tomatoes...

My kid's friend AJ let me borrow this catalog and gave me some of his leftover seeds from last year. No, those aren't altered by Photoshop -- they're heirloom tomatoes, and while those aren't the seeds he gave me, I'm going to get my own copy of this catalog and get those for next year!

They're called "Atomic Cherries," and they look amazing. I'm growing, from seed, 3 different varieties - and I've set aside 2 of the little grow-pods for Kid #2 - he can put them in pots and grow them on his front porch. 

I'm hoping I have better luck. I think this year, we'll make sure the vines don't go nuts. Lately, we've been having these 12' tall tomato plants - seriously - you've seen the pictures - but no fruit. Or what fruits we get are small. I think the plant puts so much into trying to reach Heaven that it has no energy to produce tomatoes!

So we'll see (a) if these seeds germinate; and (b) if they do, we'll pinch them back to keep them bushy rather than rangy. 

Random Pictures...

It's a two-fer tonight. And both are sunsets. The one with the two houses is across the street from me. It was a stunner. I ran out in the snow in my house slippers to snap this one. 

The other is outside the studio on a Sunday evening. Lately, we've had the most amazing sunsets, and I've tried to get each of them when I can. 

I know - seems like I'm trying to live life through the lens of my camera (phone...), but I really just love the incredible colors. 

Each of these sunsets are a reminder that one day ends and another will begin. It's a reminder to do as Emerson says, "finish each day and be done with it."

The whole quote goes like this, and it's a good thing to contemplate, especially when you feel like things are beyond your control:

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

Random Saturday Morning...

  Yesterday was "let's get this crap organized" day and I did ok. Ish. I can't see much floor in the office, but I can see desk space. I organized the yoga stuff, at least in the same pile. I filed the Estate stuff. I stuck the music sort of where it was supposed to be. And I plopped a bunch of knitting patterns into a separate pile. 

I also downloaded all the pictures off the Sky Drive onto the NAS at home. I still have to clear out the Sky Drive so that the new phone/camera has a place to store stuff. All that was left were the yoga videos from various trainings I've taken. I find it easier sometimes to watch the instructor and tape what's going on so that I can take notes later. 

Hey, organizing is what you make of it. I didn't get it completely where I want it, but it's coming along. 

Knitting...

Pink Sock Progress

But I didn't knit a blessed stitch. Anyway, this is what the Pink Sock looks like so far. It's about 2.5 - 3" along on the foot, so I have another 2" or so to go before I can even contemplate the toe decrease. I'm just taking it easy. 

I think that after I'm done with this, I'll plow along on the Blue Jacket for my "carry along" project. I will alternate it with the February Lady Sweater, which really, truly needs to be at home. You don't want to deal with lace when you're at work. 

I also think there's a frogging in my future. The blue lace scarf -- it's just not possible for me to figure out what I did wrong with it. So I'll frog it. Set the yarn aside to relax. Then re-start it WITH LIFELINES to help keep me straight.

And as always, there are socks, washcloths and the like to just get stash busted. 

Garden...

Actually, I had a really hard time concentrating yesterday. The seeds came in!!! And then it was all about do we get starter pots? Do we plant straight in the ground? What's the weather say? 

Veggie seeds

And that's even before we concentrated on the fact that we still have some herb PLANTS to get, as well as a couple of tomato plants. Not to mention the rest of the flowers to complete the floral part of the yard.

There's a farm locally that I found, but I need to know if they have non-GMO plants or are certified organic. If I want to buy "mystery" plants, I can go to the local big-box. But I'd rather get some stuff from the locals. I e-mailed them, and I'm awaiting their answer. I suppose I could call, but I'd rather e-mail. 

It seems more healthy to try to buy organic, and it's certainly better for their bottom line if I buy from a local farmer. I haven't even begun to contemplate the hanging baskets yet. We're concentrating on hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. The birds will come because we have a whole "feeder complex" that we'll be stocking. Also have to think about what we'll be doing to keep the bird bath's bubbler going. We have a solar one, but the water is so gunky... Have to find a solution to the algae which is healthy for the critters. The garbage that floats in there (floaters from the trees)? We'll just have to skim more. 

By the way, all the seeds were from The Seed Exchange, and most are certified organic. I love the website; it's easy to navigate and you can actually participate in helping to keep heirloom varieties alive as well as helping people plant seeds that are good for the planet instead of the Monsanto-fied crap that you can get if you're not paying attention.

Flower packets

I see the seed packets for the flower garden look a little "purple-heavy" but like I said -- there are still the hanging baskets and some other stuff we want to put in. And we have to see what survived the polar vortex. We know for a fact that our Icelandic Poppy survived - it's already greening up nicely. And the Monster Bleeding Heart is back for its next year. That thing just loves that north/west corner. 

I haven't seen any lily of the valley yet, but I've seen a few randomly planted snow drops - thanks to the squirrels. We'd dug up all our bulbs years ago. But I think there are a few rogues on the south side of the house. 

Hubby bought us a planter called a "Herb Trough" which will be nice. I can get rid of the various pots I lined the sidewalk with, and this also has a nice net to keep out the pesky squirrels, too. It came in, so if he's on the ball, it might actually be full of dirt by the time I get home today. If not, we have plenty of time; the weather is set to get near-freezing (welcome to Spring in Illinois before Mother's Day), so I'm partly champing at the bit to get planting, but the common-sense side of my head tells me to just relax. We have plenty of time. 

I'm not even sure where we want to put the trough. It doesn't have wheels, which makes it something we really have to think about. 

My agenda for today is to work till about 1 p.m. (seriously - our Pathophysiology professor is amazing -- even I get what he's talking about and I'm not exactly conversant in this stuff!) And then if all is well, perhaps Hubby and I can drive out to the garden center a bit north of us? Not sure yet. Frankly, I need to be patient! I always get nuts about the planting, but we still have lots of bed prep to be done. So maybe I get my Vitamin D while digging up the dandelions.

I know - I should probably save them, since dandelion greens are now "gourmet" and about $3.99/lb! My great-granny would be rolling in the aisle at that. 

Miscellaneous Happenings...

Chocolate chip cookies

Kid #2 decided to bake. A new chocolate chip recipe. I had two. They were really good. He needs to stop... No, really, I'd rather he baked than wasted his money buying stuff he's perfectly capable of making himself. 

I'm starting on the Atkins program in May. I need time to finish the book, so I know what's going on, and stock the kitchen with me-friendly items. At least this gives me a similar plan to work on that I've had success with before. I think this will help get rid of the weight I gained back after my brother's death. I need to get rid of it. 

I have some of the protein shakes (the vegetarian powder ones) that I need to use, and I'll probably use this next week to clean out my system a bit. I not only fell off the wagon, I rather jumped off whole-hog. 

And I'm feeling it. Not happy, sluggish, the "fat pants" are back out. I really think I need to ditch those once the weight comes off. Let's face it: if I know they're in the closet, I always have something to wear, right? If they're not there, I have to pay attention to myself, which I haven't been doing. 

Since it appears that I'm going to Florida to our club's Convention, I really would like to go there healthier. Slimmer wouldn't kill me either, but just healthier would be nice. 

African Violet

I'm trying my hand at propagation again. No, not PROCREATION - propagation like I used to do with African Violets. I trimmed up the one in the office and I had 2 good leaves. Didn't want them to go to waste, so I clipped them, rigged up my little "propagator" device and we'll see what happens. I have several of the Texas Pots - they're a self-watering pot that works very well with the Violets. They've got fuzzy leaves, so it's important to water from the bottom. 

The Texas Pots have 2 parts and seem to handle the vagaries of this plant particularly well. I have enough sunny windows at the campus to have these in quite a few places, so why not?

The one that's blooming right now is a dark purple, very pretty. If this works out, we'll have 2 little clones. 

Way back in the dark ages, I used to grow and exhibit them. So propagation was a way of life; I always had a shelf of leaves sprouting. It's taking me back, but in a good way. It'll be nice to raise seedlings again. 

Random Picture...

Husky-cat

Not that this post hasn't been full of random pictures. Raisa's in heat. Finally. It's gross and messy, but I think the importance of the hormones will be seen later on in her life. 

Yesterday, she actually was contemplating getting all 4 legs up onto the bird's table. You could see the gears turning in her head. 

Unfortunately, Kid #2 gave Hubby a harmonica. And of course, Raisa sings to harmonicas. Loudly. And piercingly.

I told them both yesterday that I was taking away all the noisy toys. Then I asked Kid #2, "What were you THINKING???" 

At least he admits that the idea seemed "like a good one at the time." But not so much in real life, right?

Anyway, it's after Easter, so we're into "relax" mode for church, and I can just chill out this weekend. Maybe it'll finally be time where I can mark The Pink Sock at 100% and get them all done! That would be cool.