A few tips...

The majority of my grocery and household purchases this month have been health related, angus hotdogs nonetheless.  [I still have six more to eat!]  I am going to be trying those healthy smoothies (ICK), so I ordered ground flaxseed and chia seeds.  I also need to incorporate a whole lot more bran in my life, so I ordered both wheat bran and oat bran, plus I now have wheat germ.  I bought multiple packs of Red Bob Mill's because of the savings and learned that Red Bob Mill's has some rather wonderful recipes on its website.  I also bought cornmeal (opting for blue cornmeal), but have already lost the recipes for that.  Bottom line:  my basement stash of food got a whole lot larger and I have a lot of new "cooking" to learn.

To make the smoothie process easier (translate that: so I don't have to keep bending over to fetch the blender and then cleaning it up all the time), after much research, I settled on the NutriBullet.  It arrived today, but the flaxseed is still in transit.  For a brief spate of time, I am spared the dreaded GREEN smoothie.  Somehow, I fear I just might encounter another GREEN thing I very much dislike (no green beans or peas for this gal).  However, back in the dark ages, I used to drink V8 juice even though I was fairly certain it was the most disgusting thing on the planet.  I am going into this with the idea that even if I do not like healthy smoothies, I will gut them down like the V8 (double ICK).

My "grocery" run also included the purchase of some hand weights.  Now, exercise is really tricky for Dysautonomia sufferers because of ever-increasing muscle weakness. It is really, really, really easy to make yourself worse with exercise.  However, I am dropping and breaking so much stuff that I wanted to see if I could work on my arms a bit.

These are 3 and 5 lb. weights, bought rather economically (I think) at Walmart. I had planned to get the 8 lb. ones as well, but thought I would wait and see.  That thought really is a joke because I struggled to use the 3 lb. ones!  The first few days, I forgot about sitting when doing the exercises so that you are only using your arm muscles to get the weights up.  However, I found an article of 10 simple exercises for disabled people and it mentioned sitting for arm work.  I printed the article and hope to start doing the simple leg lifts, too.  However, that is a lot to remember daily and a lot to do.  We shall see.  Yes, I was tickled that the 5 lb. weights are GREEN.

I am also hoping that the gentle exercises for my now chronic tendonitis in both elbows that my old GP had me start doing might be a bit more effective with a bit of weight behind them.  I very much dislike the constant stabbing pain in my elbows.  SIGH.

And my groceries also included more legumes and raw beans, to help me up a bit the amount of protein I am consuming.  I did three weeks off of the erythromycin and am back on it.  I am convinced, now, that the efficacy of the medication has definitely waned, so I am not sure about staying on it, especially given the price.  I thought I would do three weeks back on and then see.  However, with the freedom of that medication over the past two years, I have, unfortunately, gotten out of the habit of having those tiny meals and eating far more protein than anything else.  I was very, very pleased with the first mason jar of frozen simply split pea soup.  So, I plan on making split peas and lentils more frequently than I have been doing. Also, back in the dark ages, I used to eat 15 bean soup with sausage.  I bought both to try again, to see if I could make a tasty version.

Today, I went to fetch prescriptions and ended up with more groceries.  In anticipation of the whole smoothie thing, I bought yogurt and frozen fruit.  Now, because I am Myrtle, I also bought a cake mix.  Daily I am aghast that I did not have a birthday cake this year.  Soon, I shall be chowing down on a yellow cake with milk chocolate icing.  Maybe after my appointment next week with the surgeon ... as a reward.  I also bought some champagne, because I just love the stuff, and thought I would have it on July 20th, the first day I move to taking the Xanax every other day.  Plus, I bought more shells for my chalupas.  I did not find the pork I use for my pulled pork tacos.  I am hoping to find it again soon (and very soon ... being an ex-evangelical if you caught the hint).

The cardiologist emailed to let me know he was in absolute agreement about not taking the increased dose of theophylline.  He did not like the symptoms I was having either.  So, today and tomorrow, I am theophylline free and will start back Saturday or Sunday at the now official dose of 400 mg, which is half of what I need to be a therapeutic dose for me to combat the fainting and near fainting.  Since I have a significant respiratory benefit on theophylline and have no other means of safely treating my asthma, he does not want to try any other medication to artificially increase my heart rate and blood pressure.  As least the decision is made, the trial period over.  I am most looking forward to an end of the incredible abdominal pain the increased theophylline triggered.

I can be rather grumpy when I am in great pain.
And despairing.
And overly weary.

I am trying very hard not to get my hopes up, but Firewood Man might just be back on Friday to finally replace the warped balusters in the stair railing.  And he would power wash the porches.  That means I would need to re-seal the porches.  Still, I am practically dying over the lack of closure on the back porch railing.  I NEED the step railing to be done.  I have resigned myself to not having his help with the last bit of (ladder) painting until the fall, but I want the steps completely quite badly.  He did warm the cockles of my heart by admiring the treads again on the back steps.  He is still rather impressed at how well they turned out and how well they coordinate with (if not quite match) the very old wood of the back porch.  I, too, remain pleased.  Every time I walk up or down them, a little thrill washes over me.  What an incredible difference to the back of my house.

Old paint-peeling mess.

New porch awesomeness!  I ought to thank my insurance company for requiring the railing upstairs (which turned into restoring the airing porch because that was the cheaper option) oughtn't I?

First tip:  Today, I started applying the Bayer advanced 12-month bush and tree systemic.  In case you are wondering, the iridescent GREEN stuff does not wash off of wallpaper if you mix it up in your kitchen sink and accidentally splash some onto your wall.  SIGH.  I was right.  I need a second bottle.

Another helpful tip:  Say that you are tired and tried to use the end of your long-stick lighter to dig out the remaining wax so you could put a new candle in the holder, only to discover that doing so rendered the lighter inoperable.  And say that after digging out all of the wax from the end of the lighter tip the lighter is still inoperable.  Well, if you stick the tip of the lighter into the flame of a candle, the lighter will catch on fire and start burning itself.  However, this means the remaining wax will melt off and the lighter will become usable again.  It might be best not to use your long-stick lighter to clean out the bottom of your votive candle holder.

Final tip:  If you take your wallet pouch out of your purse to fill out the form for a saliva test, it is vitally important that you put it back into your purse so that, for example, the next time you drive all the way over to Target to fetch prescriptions, you can actually pay for them without driving all the way back home and then back to Target a second time before you hand over your credit card.