I bought The No-Salt, Lowest-Sodium Cookbook right after I was diagnosed with hypertension.
I never actually used the cookbook, but instead opted to make more things from scratch, read more labels and select things based on their sodium content.
So in no particular order:
According to this story (and a few others), it appears as if my poor short term memory problems are related to my sleep apnea. While this probably doesn't mean anything to anyone else, it's nice for me to know that it wasn't necessarily related to things I did during college.
Jimmy's 30th Birthday Party
Last Saturday, we headed up to Boone, to help celebrate Jimmy's 30th. On the drive up we passed through lakes...well...they looked like lakes, but really it was flooded out farm fields and what not. One of the gas stations near the I35 - Highway 30 exchange almost had the floodwaters up to their back door. It was quite crazy. We got to Boone, I handed Jimmy the dozen and a half or so oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, which he proceeded to go hide. It was a nice meet up with many salt of the earth people, kids, parents, grand parents, friends, neighbors. Quite the gathering.
A few things I noticed, quite a few smokers...but I rarely saw any name brands...or at least not that I recognize. Lotta love (even though there was a lot of jokes thrown around). Worry and tension about the economy and jobs.
A few interesting things. Both Bob and Jackie (who were dating when I was in college) got married on the same day (to different people). Their receptions...were well...right across the parking lot from each other. It sounds as if Bob had checked on where Jackie's was, but it was already booked. It was a strange to hear the stories. Jackie's got a beautiful child.
As night grew on, many got quite a bit on the drunker side of life. Eventually we headed home.
Just a s a side note, we did drive Shannon's car to save a few bucks...though driving with no cruise control...kinda sucks....my car is more comfortable anyways...at least for me.
Ahnaka's 2nd Birthday Party
Last Sunday we went to Backyard Adventures to celebrate 2 years of life in Jerry and Nay's oldest, Ahnaka's. It was actually quite fun, because the equipment is apparently built well enough that even my fat self can play. Shannon slid down a few slides, I did some swinging and even made a silly attempt to shoot some baskets (I suck).
It was fun, got lots of pictures of silliness. They put out some cupcakes, ice cream treats and we fun...
There was a like a old peoples swings and I gotta say i'd like that by it's self...put it in the back yard, and just sit out there and ready while swinging.
Ground Chicken?
So we used a coupon to buy some ground chicken on our last shopping trip. I combined it with some leftover ground pork and made mini burgers for movie night. Spiced it a little (I didn't think enough), used some of the Gateway market dinner rolls, some arugula, some Bubbies pickles, a sliced up tomato, several types of mustard, catsup and mayo. Quite good. That with some over baked fries...mmm...pretty good...and simple too.
Cleaning!
We both had the day off today, so I spent the day doing some outside work, while Shannon got some parts done on the inside. I mowed the lawn, and after a bit got to cleaning the garage. I threw a way a bunch of stuff (some left behind by the previous owner...yeah yeah I know I've lived here for over four years). And then decided to leave more for next week (since the garbage can was filling up quick). I also filled up the divot in the side yard with a bag of dirt that Brandon gave me. Then covered it in grass seed, fertilizer and some water. Shannon got quite a bit of the walls in the dining room cleaned off, from the remaining paste and what not left from peeling off the wall paper.
Medical
My foot is feeling better, walking is no longer a challenge. Though rotating it to the left and the right, still feels wierd and a little painful. I went for a blood draw today, to find out how my liver is doing after being on the Tricor for 3 months. I'm gonna try to restart exercising on Monday, and see how it goes.
My foot feels pretty good right now. A little tight in certain positions, but overall, not to bad. Got a call back and it is not broken either. Basically we're on the wait and see, right now, if it gets better over the next week or so, then we'll call it good, if not, I'll end up at a podiatrist
For as much crap as I've taken over the years from being from the backwaters of Iowa (even if the smallest place I've lived was Ames at around 50,000 people), all I can say is that at least I'm not from West Virgina...The interviews they had from people there are just shockingly misinformed. From what I've read, it didn't take much for the reporters to find those people.
Yesterday, my dad, youngest sister, Lovina, and her two girls drove through and I fed them dinner. It was nice, but the children were obviously a bit restless, considering they have driven from California (Lovina's staying with my parents while her hubby finishes up the last parts of his military training).
Saturday, I missed out on Django's preview (My boss used the tickets in my name, said the food was great), but I had the opportunity to go see Shannon's niece and nephew in the Cherie's Dance Studio Recital. It was...well...long. Obviously parts of it was cute (the parts with them in it) and parts were interesting (the elite dancers are pretty good), but over all, by the end of the night I was anxious to go home (2.5+ hours is a long time to sit). As a note to my siblings who wonder why I don't go to their children's activities. If we can drive to it, and you give us enough notice and we're not already doing something, then we'll consider it. But if you call me the week before and ask me to attend, don't be surprised if we can't make it.
Our upcoming camping trip with friends, got it's location changed from the Decorah area, to much closer to home, and with the price of gas, I'm quite happy about that.
My foot/ankle is betterish, though there is still some residual pain...I thinking about seeing the doctor again this week...
So I woke up on Tuesday morning (the same day that the) with some pain in my foot. It was hard to move it beyond a certain range. So I limped around, and on wednesday, I woke up with some muscle spasms. Followed by a day's worth of them....Finally got to the doctor on Thursday afternoon, and because of the sudden onset of the pain, with no real cause, my doc decided to schedule me to get my leg scanned for blood clots. Luckily, there were none. So no I'm an 600 mg of Ibuprofen, 3 times a day. for a few days, to see if the swelling goes down on it's on. (This has actually happened before).
We'll see what happens.
Early looking into the pain in my hands, it looks like a possible case of tendinitis and a probable early stages of arthritis for many of the joints in my hands...
Whee...
I'm already a chemical playground, I wonder what else they'll add to it...
Cozaar 100mg + 25 mg HCTZ (couple of years)
Benicar 20mg + 25 mg HCTZ (couple of weeks, switched because bp was getting higher)
Benicar 40mg + 25 mg HCTZ (couple of weeks, felt tired all the time and like someone was constantly punching my kidneys)
Avalide 150mg/12.5mg (couple of weeks)
Avalide 300mg/25mg (couple of weeks, again felt tired all the time and eventually like someone was punching my kidneys
Avalide 150mg/12.5mg + Metoprolol 25mg (couple of weeks)
Avalide 150mg/12.5mg + Metoprolol 50mg (~3 months, felt tired a lot, near constant headache...obnoxiously so sometimes like stabbing pain usually localized on one side of the brain or other, mild most of the time)
Avalide 150mg/12.5mg + 12.5 HCTZ 6 months For BP, under control
Prevacid 30 mg 6 months, for acid reflux
New Addition (first Pill today)
TriCor (fenofibrate) 120 mg has been added to control my triglycerides. The side effects seem to be fairly minor, though I'll not be thrilled to be woken up by abdominal pain, if it happens to occur. I guess we'll see how it goes. I'm supposed to go in for labs in 3 months and labs + doctor in 6.
Work continues, deadline nears, I'll probably be working this weekend. Whee...
The other day, it snowed...a lot. In the morning I was shoveling snow, cleaned off the walks and driveway. Got some of the snow out into the street. I started to work on the intersection, to get rid of some of the snow. While I was working on it, one of my neighbor's nurses (she's under 24 hour nursing care) tried to drive down 43rd...with not much luck at all. In fact she compacted the snow down that her tires were barely touching the snow...meaning she wasn't going anywhere. A man, who I suspect was from the church down the street, who had snow blown the sidewalks from at least 42nd all the way up to 44th, came back and he helped me push, remove snow around the car and finally to use the shovels to get the snow out from under the car. With a few more pushes she was able to get down the street. The phantom snow blower, continued down the street...
Early this morning, the snow plow finally made our street, so with a bit of clean up, we're setup for the next storm...if there is one.
I haven't felt much like cooking lately...so the meals have generally been repetitive for the most part, a few highlights here and there...I've been practicing some knife skills and cooking things and paying close attention...but I'm generally really tired.
I've been staying up a bit later, and getting up a lot earlier. I've been working around 8 until 6, and I've pushed the start time back to 7 to 7:30. I've been on a total caffeine binge...coffee, tea and soda...though still no mountain dew (I have a bad history).
My 401k is moving, generally, back up to where it was before...though it is still off 13%...at least I'm hoping it's it's going up.
I got our taxes done. We, once again, used TaxAct (my dad works there). Did it all on the web this time...since they don't have an OS X client. It worked pretty much the same, I was fairly impressed. Anyways, big fan, support my pops, get your taxes done.
Obama is holding his own. I still feel very connected to him being the next president. I've watched election results...even stayed up late to watch them...it's like I care. I must say that he's a powerful speaker. Even his words put to music are impressive. The victory speech in South Carolina was amazing.
A while ago, Shannon bought a kitchen cart with money she inherited. I got it put together...but here's the rub. I had to stop the first time, because we were missing a couple of back pieces. Got those sent to us, got back to work on it. Only to finish it but using extra pieces... The cabinet doors had a few problems. On one side it was missing the door hinge thing...which I used a metal piece to replace, so I could get the door on, and on the other it had mis-drilled holes. So the handle went on, but it is not totally connected. I could drill another hole so it could fit...but then I'd have an extra hole... The customer services has been ok...not to bad on the hold times to talk to a person... I got the door parts ordered...so we'll see if we can call it done.
Due to the new places ot put things, I've been able to reorder the kitchen...it's been nice...the spices all in one place, in alpha order (save for a few that didn't fit in the drawer). All the hard alcohol in the cupboards...places to put some storage containers... and able to put the cat food out of sight...except the stuff in the bowls...but it's better then nothing...I still have some space to figure out what to do with...but in doing this latest reorganization I was able to finally get the massive amount of cookie cutters (most from the wedding) put away.
I think I really need glasses...I was looking for the spelling of one of the managers name on his placard...and I had to move my chair to see...it wasn't that far away. I did put money into our flexable spending account for this...so all I really need to do is go out and do it...but...I don't have the time right now to do so. I'm curious if the headaches I've been having are related to the caffeine, the long work hours, or the need for new glasses. I guess it could be a combination of all of them.
My car went in for service the other day. After sitting out all weekend, I went out to warm up Shannon's car and my own, and get set to go to work. After a rough start with my car, the engine light came on, so I turned it off...read the manual, called in and they told me to drive in...which I did. After resetting the light, they said they couldn't reproduces, I ended up with a new battery (was reporting poorly, prorated), tires (really needed, driving on snow has been like driving a sled), wheel alignment and an oil change. It's been driving really nice (especially over the snow, at least by comparison).
Working more hours, and bringing in my iPod charger into work, have really drained my primary listening list (4 or 5 star that hasn't been played in 3 weeks). A bit over half has been played in the last 3 weeks...it's kinda crazy since there's about 7.5 days of music...
I've been wanting to journal, but haven't been feeling up to it lately...so apparently it all comes out at the same time. I think I should probably stop now...
This past weekend we headed down to Cedar Rapids. Scott and Jessica hosted a wine tasting party for a "January is Boring" party. It was quite fun. They had quite the spread of both foods and wines. Some brought and some for tasting. They had bottles that we all tasted, and were given clues as to what type of grape it was and where it came from. It was certainly a way to think of it. They also had an extra bottle of each wine that was the prize for the best written statement. I was a bit tipsy, so I got a bit silly....but I did win 1 of the 2 wines that I was very enamored with (the Matta's got the other). It was kind of funny, that after a bit the crew from Go Daddy (Jessica's Co-workers) who were apparently part of the marketing team, wasn't even trying to win...I asked about it, and it seemed to be related more to the insane hours that they've been working preparing for the Super Bowl. When we left their house, it was dreadfully cold, even through the alcohol haze....but after we got back to the Matta's I slept well. I had a lot of fun, I didn't make to much of an ass out of myself and I hope to go again. Certainly a good idea and fun too.
Monday we had a movie night. It was a bit off because Holly was taking a class on Thursday nights. I made a new recipie of bake make and cheese. I did some early prep work (grated cheese and made bread crumbs) on Sunday, which made monday go a bit smoother. I also used some La Quercia pancetta in the baked mac. It was quite good. I also cut off the pork skin from it and fried that up in a pan to become a wonderful crispy goodness.
After a good recharging weekend, I went back to the drudgery of work. I've by making my new hours 8-6 (about 35% more then my normal day). Quite a bit longer then my normal work day, but I am getting a lot done. Progress is being made. Am I going to make the dead line? I have my doubts, but I'm ok with that. It's still affecting my sleep, but when I actually get down, I tend to sleep all night.
I went to my sleep and lung doctor yesterday. My pressure level on my CPAP has been upped to 10 (of some measure of pressure).
I finally broke down and brought my iPod charger to work. It had stopped making it through the day (even the shorter one). Being that it's on it's second battery, it's not that surprising, but it's still a bit annoying. But it has been nice to be able to get all the way through the day with my iPod...