What's Been Happening

My husband was off work from Good Friday until this past Monday. He first started taking a Spring vacation when the kid was in elementary school and had the week off, and just continued to take them even after he (the kid) was homeschooled, then in college and beyond. I was not looking forward to it this year, since I'm still not 100% recovered from that darn bronchitis. I still have the occasional coughing fit, my voice is still "off" and some days the laryngitis returns, and my strength is still only about half of what it should be.

But we had our schedule to keep, and every day we had somewhere to go, something to do. We had hair cuts, I had lab work, we hit some stores a half hour a half hour away and others more than an hour away, we had both cars brought in for Spring checkups, then wound up needing work done on one of them, then had an even bigger problem with it the day after we got it back. Of course, the garage couldn't reproduce the problem so have no idea what caused it or how to fix it. We now live in dread it's going to happen again.

One of the good (?) things that happened during vacation was my husband buying me an iPad Mini as kind of a get well gift, something to try make me happy again after going through these 2 months of coughing and extreme fatigue. It's my first Apple product, and my brain is as fatigued as the rest of my body, so of course I'm having problems understanding how different apps work and getting frustrated because the Apple mobile versions of various programs are so stripped down from the PC versions that I use. I've threatened to hit the "Return to factory defaults" button and return it to Best Buy a few times already, and have until next Monday to do so. I'm still not sure I want to keep it today, 10 days after purchase. My son is mad, because he's the one that suggested to my husband he should buy it for me, even though he (the kid) knew my objections to mobile devices for over a year now. The only reason I didn't already return it as this guilt trip I knew he would lay on me if I did and how disappointed my husband would be in "rejecting" his gift. I'd rather he spent the money on a VitaMix.

Another day we hit Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, usually an hour drive away, but thanks to roadway construction on almost every road between here and there, it took over 90 minutes each way. It wasn't worth the time or aggravation. The selection in both stores was awful, and almost everything I touched in Whole Foods was outdated, one jar of engine 2 sauce dated October 2015 - yes, 2015! It was the trip home, after being detoured for the third time in 5 miles, when the car started acting up, the engine revving at a high rate while we were stopped at a red light. Although in drive, the car wasn't trying to race forward - it was just making the revving noise. We got home, tossed frozen food in the freezer, refrigerated food in the fridge, and called the mechanic who worked on it the day before, who said to bring it right in. He kept it for 3 days, using it as the shop car all that time, and not once did it happen again. He blamed the car's age. It's only 25 years old! 

I got my yearly labwork drawn on Wednesday. Great news for a change when we went on Friday afternoon for the results. Here's just a snippet of it, but the most important part:

When I have the doctor's phlebotomist draw the blood at the office, my LDL and trig results had been high; but when I go direct to the LabCorp lab in town, I get results like these. Needless to say, I'm not having his phlebotomists draw blood ever again.

Both the student and the doc did their exams, and the doc was happy to hear how clear my lungs are, even though I'm still not 100% recovered from the bronchitis. He said it's going to take time. It's been 2 months, doc! My vocal chords are still inflamed and my voice is weak from it, and I still have a cough, but thankfully not as bad as before. I told him I'm still weak and fatigued, not even able to get through the grocery store without having to stop and rest every few aisles. "Keep at it" was his response. I was told to go and live my life, not come back unless I get sick again, that I don't even need to repeat labs next year. Office policy has changed and I can now request renew for my meds on-line, without having to make another office visit. Now if only the state of NJ would change their laws and let us get our own labwork without a prescription, I'd be a happy gal.

Toss in a trip to the laundromat, another to DMV, 2 visits to the local grocery store, one to Walgreens, and that's how we spent our April vacation. Hubby's next planned week off work is in August. He already made me promise not to drag him to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's again. I made him promise not to buy me any more electronics. Already that vacation looks better than this past one.

Dr. Esselstyn's Greens Mantra

Local on the 8's from The Weather channel

I used to be such a Weather Channel geek! Jim Cantore with a full head of hair, being referred to as the Italian Stallion by his castmates; female forecasters with growing bellies suddenly appearing with flat tummies and no mention ever of the pregnancy or birth; the cheering in our home when one of them appeared in a place we knew, or taking bets on who would get stuck there for that particular storm (usually Sea Bright, NJ during any hurricane. More than once they stood across from my uncle's former home).

Heck, I was trying to find someone who went to Starbucks so they would buy me the CD of the songs they used on air, but at the time we had no Starbucks near us. Even now we don't have one in our city, but I do know of 2 the next city over, but I doubt very much they carry a 20 year old specialty CD.

TWC changed so much over the years, and now I can barely get a weather report on it because every time I tune in they're airing something like "So You Think You'd Survive" or "Highway Through Hell". Just tell me the temperature!!!

And that's all this 1 hour video is - snippets of local weather reports and Local on the 8's. None of the on-air personalities, just samples of the actual weather reports across the years. Sometimes I play this while at the computer just for background music as I do other things.

Yeah, I'm weird, but you guys already knew that. 

It Looks Like A Jungle In There!

That's what my husband said Friday afternoon after all the groceries were put away and some batch cooking was done.

Top shelf: Almond milk, on top of that is a box with "live" Bibb lettuce, asparagus in a cup, bottom container - roasted Brussels sprouts, middle container - hummus, bag on top - broccoli crowns, the next pile is washed and dried romaine, 3 pounds of mushrooms on top of that, an open bag of uncooked kale on the bottom. Ignore my son's bottle of orange soda in the back on the left side.

Second shelf - container of diced red onion, container sliced tomatoes; squirt bottle of Sweet Fire Sauce from the Engine 2 Seven Day Rescue book, behind that assorted jars of pickles and other condiments hubby uses on his sandwiches, a jar of leftover rice and veggies, a few bottles of water in front of a container of nooch, 5 containers of roasted Normandy veggies for VFB, and a package of Ezekial English muffins. The open applesauce is leftover from my son's breakfast he inhaled before he left for work.

Bottom shelf - a few 1-cup containers of cooked brown rice, 2 packages of pre-cut butternut squash (BOGO sale!), behind that is a container of cooked kale, more leftover rice and veg in a jar, this one with nooch sauce added, bottom container is cooked beans, top container is more kale. Behind them are bags on Lundburg rice.

In the left drawer I have vital wheat gluten, garbanzo flour, some ww pastry flour, and a bag of flax seeds, In the right drawer is celery, 2 bags of carrots, some white potatoes, scallions, and the remnants of a bag of celery. Behind the squash is a few bags of soy curls.

And this doesn't count what's in the freezer - over 20 bags f frozen veggies.

I don't know what he's complaining about. The only thing different I bought was the asparagus.

Another Dr. Lisle Q&A Webinar

I haven't had a chance to watch this one yet, either. Had the landlord up doing work in the apartment. I was able to tune in for a minute about half-way through, saw comments were turned off, shook my head in disbelief (How does one have a Q and A without questions?) and planned on watching it sometime today while my husband watches his Netflix rentals.

It's Always Kale!

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