A fear realized...

Having been through two full days and then some without erythromycin, I am thinking that there is little difference in the level of my innards misery.  In the wee hours of the morning, I still awake so violently nauseous that my main thought is hoping the world will end immediately.  I am still nauseous after I eat.  And I am nauseous in the late evening.  All that is the same.  My abdomen is more tender.  I do think, though, that as more days pass without the medication, I will have a better indication how much it is or is not helping.

Yesterday, I painted a birthday gift with acrylic spray paint to protect it even more and then set it out.

This Texas Toad will be there to greet me each time I leave for doctor appointments or to fetch food and medication!  Oh, how well Celia knows me!!

[Please ignore the part of the garage that needs painting.]

I also took a photo of the Easter lilies.  This is the first year that they have bloomed before the day lilies.  If you look closely, you can see that this photo was taken just after a bit of rain.

A few hours later, a rather fierce storm rolled into the area.  I took this just before the rain and hail came down.  The grill moved a bit on the back porch because of the strong winds accompanying the torrential rain.  The awesome part of the storm rolled out not long after it began and just left a rainy evening.

I love my airing porch.

I also opened and installed the new filter for the refrigerator that I bought with my birthday Amazon gift certificate.  I would have preferred something more entertaining, but since I did not include the two water filters and the air filters in my longterm budgeting (my attempt to even out all expenses), I thought it was fitting to get the filter.  I used the tiny bit left over and my promotional credit balance to buy three books I already own through the Kindle Matchbook program.  It is so very hard for me to hold books now that my hands are weaker, especially ones about three inches thick.  I don't mind paying for a book I already own if it is just $2-$3 when it is one I regularly re-read.  The filter purchase itself earned me another $1 of promotional credit since I opted not to use the Prime service.  I am really enjoying being able to earn those promotional credits.

Today, well, no photos and no home tending, but I did make another batch of my Black Bean Soup with Roasted Bell Peppers (my recipe I tweaked last time to achieve magnificence).  I discovered a while ago that I can get some extra sodium in me if I crush Hint of Lime Tostada Chips onto the top of the soup.  When I was at the store on Saturday, I got two bags of the chips on sale and some bell peppers to make the soup.  Just to be on the safe side, I also bought more dried black beans.  I have not yet checked the extra food storage in the basement to see if I actually needed them.

I have had several ... thoughts ... dawn lately.  One of them is realizing that I keep on hand a rather full larder, something that I never did before moving here.

When I first was felled by the innards misery just after moving here, I couldn't go anywhere. I was quite ill.  And I literally ran out of food.  I had no one to bring me food and even though Becky talked with the pastor at the church I was attending, I did not receive any help fetching it.  My realtor came by and made me some fried eggs, about the only thing I could eat, and eventually I got some food.

Later, after I joined the church where I have my membership here, I was ill again and was low on food. I asked my pastor if someone could fetch me some groceries, either using my credit card or by a check repayment.  He told me that the church didn't have a mechanism for such help.

Both times of trying to get food—being seriously in need and coming up empty—has stuck with me more than I realized.  I mean, I believe that it is more than just economizing in my shopping that has led to a rather full larder, led to quite a bit of staples stocked up in refrigerators, freezer, cabinets, and basement shelves.  It is fear, too.  I am afraid of finding myself without food again and being too ill to fetch it.

Other than the black bean soup, I haven't cooked in quite a while. I might make some Chipotle Chicken Chili tomorrow.  But since I am eating smaller amounts and consuming lots of Ginger Ale and saltines I have not been going through my mason jar freezer meals at the pace I normally do.  Plus, I feel ... safer ... now that I have several bags of lentils, split peas, black-eyed peas, and even 15-bean mix that I can throw on the stove, add some sort of protein, and end up with something I can eat.  Plus, I have enough Honey Nut Cheerios for Mary's, Celia's, and Becky's families, were they all to visit at once, since it is one of the least nauseating things that I can consume.

And, of course, I do keep a fully stocked cheese drawer now.........