VERY VEGAN LUNCH

I went to a vegan food festival today.  It was great! I was so overwhelmed but all the choices.  Normally I go to a restaurant and there are one maybe two choices for me to eat.  Today at the festival there were about 40 choices of food for me to eat.  I literally walked around in shock looking at all the different types of food.  Burmese, Thai, Korean Barbecue, Israeli, Italian, and a bunch of desserts.

The Thai noodle place seemed like something I could get easily anywhere, so I skipped it.  The Korean BBQ seemed too spicy, so I skipped it.  The pizza looked great but I wasn't in the mood for pizza.  It was a warm day and hot pizza seemed not very appealing.  The Burmese place was in the running but I didn't really want a salad and the other dish was super spicy.  That left the Israeli hummus place.  I was worried the hummus would be too garlicky but the man explained to me that in Israel they don't put garlic in the hummus.  I tried it and he was right.  I got the mushroom bowl.  It consisted of hummus, garbanzo beans, sauteed mushrooms, tahini and some spices on top.  Then some EVO on top of that.  It was served with some super good, warm homemade pita bread.  Yum!  I wore some of the EVO home on my pants but who cared!

Then I went over to the vegan cupcake girl and bought myself not one but two cupcakes.  Chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting and coconut cupcake with chocolate frosting.  I have not tried them yet but my mouth is watering just thinking about them.  I hear they are great.

I didn't get the vegan custard.  I don't know why.  They had all these custard sundays but none of them peaked my fancy.  I decided to go to the supermarket and get some mocha chip coconut ice cream and make my own sunday.

There was music playing at the park and the sun was out.  It was a nice afternoon.  Good food, good music, good weather.  What else could you ask for?

Until tomorrow...

RELAXATION

I spent the afternoon in my newly cleaned up backyard sitting at my picnic table under the umbrella eating my lunch and relaxing. It was so nice. The dogs were at my feet basking in the sun. Listening to the pond gurgle. It was really nice.

Until tomorrow...

SMART DECISION

Today was not a great day. I think I am flaring. I felt good when I woke up but as the morning went on I got achy and got a migraine. I took medicine but that didn't do the trick right away. I tried to eat lunch but couldn't. So I went to bed and tried to sleep. I slept on and off until my helper came to finish the backyard. I let her do all the work this time. 

I also got a call from a potential new client. They wanted me to take on a huge project.  I thought about it for a few moments and then I politely declined.  I need to focus on my current clients and maybe take some time off. Slow it down before I really flare. Me, making a smart decision? You bet!!

Until tomorrow...

NEEDLE AND COMPRESSION SOCKS

Today has been a day of the ankle.  I got up early and saw my ankle doctor.  She pulled out the pages of MRI photos.  She kept pointing out "see this, it means _____".  OK.  Whatever you say.  "The white means fluid on this scan but not on this scan."  There was a LOT of fluid.  She had no idea why I have so much fluid in my ankle and leg.  Then she started pushing and poking.  The part I hate the most.

Poke.  Ouch.  Poke.  I almost jump off the table.  Poke.  I want to scratch her eyes out.  Poke.  Doesn't hurt.  Humm.  Why doesn't that hurt?  I don't know.  Poke.  Eek.  That hurts. Okay you can stop anytime now.  We know it hurts. 

She decided that the first step is to stick a long needle full of some fluid in my ankle.  Yeah that hurt.  Not as much as last time, so that is something.  After a few hours it was clear that the injection did not help the pain but made it worse.   I chipped the cartilage on my ankle but it is not causing the pain.  Thank goodness because fixing my ankle would require a horrible surgery.

Then because my leg has what she called "bubble wrap" under my skin, I had to go buy compression socks to wear for a week to see if they help.  The question is if the varicose veins in my legs are causing some of the pain.  I get to wear these fashionable compression socks for a week:

Sexy, huh?!

Until tomorrow...

MOVIES

Tonight I went to see the movie, Minions. It was cute. How can you no love a Minion?! It was very geared toward kids. I would give it 4 stars out of 5. I not sure the 3D was necessary. 

In the past weeks I have seen a few movies. Jurassic World. I thought that was way better than I expected. I thought it would be a 2.5 but I would give it a 4.5 just for the ending. 

Then I saw Inside/Out. I thought that was great! Definitely geared toward both adults and kids. I would give it a 5out of 5 stars. 

Then I saw a DVD of Big Hero 6. I thought that was a cute movie with a good message for kids. I watched it with a 14 year old. He loved it. I would give it a 3.5 or 4 stars.

Then I saw Ted 2 for free. I say for free because I would never have paid for that movie. It was cute and had an actual story. It just had so much raunch that I don't find funny. 1.5 stars

That is my movie extravaganza! Thank you to my friend for going with me!! 

Until tomorrow...

MRI RESULTS ARE NOT HORRIBLE

I called to get my MRI results.  The doctor rambled off a bunch of words that sounded Chinese to me.  All I heard were "ankle joint" and "cartilage ding".  It turns out that a bunch of stuff is wrong but not what I thought.  They didn't see a ligament tear.  They saw a thickened healed ligament with synovitis.  Synovitis is an inflammation of the joint lining. 

There is also a cartilage ding that is 7mm long with edema on my ankle top on the inside of my ankle.  I find that weird since it doesn't hurt there. The doctor asked me if I fell down and hurt my ankle.  Not that I remember. 

There is arthritis (duh) on the outside top part of my ankle.  I bet if you did an MRI of our bodies you would see arthritis on all of our joints!  There is also a weird brightness on the MRI on the inside above my ankle.  Like I have a giant bruise.  I don't have a giant bruise or a little bruise.  Or any bruise.  It is so odd.  I can't wait to see the MRI.

This was a surprising result.  So the short term plan is to inject me and try to get some of the joint swelling down.  I am not looking forward to another injection in my foot/ankle but I guess it is better than having surgery right away.   Yay!

Until tomorrow...

NEW RA DOCTOR

In the new year I got a new RA doc.  I had heard all kinds of things about her; she was cold and not very warm and fuzzy.  She was the best RA doc around.  I had a grandmotherly type doctor so I had to go through and huge transition.  I was willing to give her a trial.  She is supposed to be the top of her field and some brilliant doctor.  I think that is physician speak for cold and unfeeling. 

The first meeting went well enough.  The second meeting was in the middle of an emotional time and she asked the right questions but was standoff-ish.  This was my third meeting with her and she came in the room with no file, no notepad, no iPad.  Okay, maybe that is her way.  She stood way across the room leaning on a counter.  She was only interested in whether I had decreased my prednisone.  When I told her I was still having an emotional time, she said okay but decrease soon.  Then she brought up taking another drug that I had stopped taking years ago: Plaquinel.  Then she offered to give me sleeping pills and anti-anxiety meds.  I explained that I do not like taking medications anymore than I have to.  Then we talked about my ankle surgery and she said once again that decreasing the prednisone would be helpful.  Then she said okay, well let me know how it goes and left the room.  No follow up appointment, no nothing.

It was the coldest doctor's appointment I have had in years.  Maybe she was off or maybe these are her true colors.  If this is how she really behaves, I'll take the second best RA doctor.  I want a human doctor rather than a perfect doctor. 

Until tomorrow...

HAD MY MRI TODAY

I had the MRI today on my ankle.  I know this sounds weird but I like MRIs.  I fall asleep.  I find them to be very zen.  Very relaxing.  The clicking and banging is white noise to me.  I was thinking while I was in there that maybe I need a white noise machine.  My doctor gets the results tomorrow or Tuesday.

Then my helper came over and we worked on the backyard.  We are 95% done.  There is a little spot under the deck that needs to be weeded and the helper will come sometime this week and finish it.  The backyard looks great.  I didn't get enough mulch so I need to go back to Lowes and get some more.  Happi loves the mulch and ran around immediately messing it up.  We filled up the compost bin plus four 50 pound bags.  The backyard looks like my oasis again.

Tomorrow I am putting my umbrella up on the table and I will be eating my lunches out there again!  I am ready to enjoy the summer!

Until tomorrow...

INDEPENDENCE DAY

Happy 4th of July!  The banging and booming of fireworks is all around us.  The dogs must be getting used to the noise because they are both curled up asleep in their beds.

It was a good day of finishing tasks that needed to get done.  Haircut, food shopping, trip to Lowes to get some mulch, and some cooking.  Weird that that filled up the whole day.  I used the peaches my neighbor gave me to make a glaze that I put over vanilla soy ice cream. I can also use it on baked tofu.  I also made vegan sweet potato salad.  I mixed 1 potato with 2 sweet potatoes so it has some flavor.  It tastes delicious. It will taste better when it gets chilled. 

I am having a flare I think.  Yesterday I may have overdone it working outside in the yard.  I am sore all over and my hands are killing me.  I am very tired.  I fell asleep watching the news today at 5pm.  I am going to take another Advil PM tonight and see if that will help.  Maybe another bath?? 

Overall it was a good day.  I really like looking at my backyard.  I just can't wait to use it. 

Until tomorrow...

CLEARED OUT THE BACKYARD

It was a long day.  Got the On-Demand fixed on one of the cable boxes. Good news: the cable guy didn't charge me! Then while I was letting him out, I closed one door and turned around and I was locked out! He and I tried to break in the door but that didn't work. I had to call an emergency locksmith ( my second in two months) to drill out the lock. Last time I locked my keys in my trunk.  I guess my brain is not focused on the task at hand.  I got back in about 1.25 hours later.

I was happy because I hired a girl to help me clear out the backyard and she showed up just as I got in the house.  In three hours we went from this

To this

There is still about two or three hours of work left to do and we will finish it up this weekend. But it looks great so far.  It was a very busy day! I took a bath and fell asleep in front of the TV.

Until tomorrow...