Update on Throat and Lungs…

I went to the doctor’s today. I was lucky enough to be given an appointment with my actual doctor today so that was nice. She did talk to me first about getting my A1C’s down and to try to lower my blood sugars as she feels this is help me feel better and lower the chance of complications of everything that is going on. She says I should limit my carb intake. I tried to explain that most of my food comes from a food pantry right now, and it’s hard because everything that isn’t a meat or veg that is offered has a grain. And it’s for my household, so I can’t really say no to bread and pasta when my household eats it. I take as much veg and protein that they offer me, but it varies with visits. Plus I’m allergic to nuts and eggs. Hopefully I’ll be able to afford to get groceries soon so I can get more veg, fruit, and protein as it looks like that is what I need to be eating more of.

She then asked about what was going on with my throat and lungs. So I explained that the doctor at the urgent care I went to last week said that he thought it was some chemical irritation from the job that I’m trying to work right now. She took a look at my throat, ears, and listened to my lungs. I mentioned that for the last few days that I had a slight fever as well. She then asked if I had traveled outside the country in the last 30 days OR if I had been exposed to the Coronavirus. I told her that I have not traveled, and that to my knowledge I had not been exposed. I do not meet requirements for testing at this time, as the chances of having anything is low. I’m not sure how I feel about this, as I’m afraid of what to think if I actually did end up having exposure.

She did prescribe a round of antibiotics as she felt that there was a risk of infection due to the fever. She also prescribed me an inhaler in hopes that it would make breathing hurt less. And I had to get X-Rays done. I’m waiting for the results. As of right now it just really hurts to breath even with the inhaler, and my throat feels like its scraped raw, as if I’ve been screaming for hours.

I’m nervous because I can’t afford to miss another day of work. The rent needs to be paid, and if I can’t it affects my roommate too, this is not a just me issue. My car payments due, I’ve already paid half so that’s okay. But we also need to go grocery shopping, I’ve got collection bills that need to be paid, and I have medical bills that are coming in. Medicare only covers 80% and I’m responsible for the rest until I hear back from DHHS on if I can get assistance. I’m also needing to pay my Medicare premium as well. The medications today cost $20 that ended up having to come from the food money that I had managed to get from a friend.

I’m hoping to get the results of the X-Ray tomorrow which will hopefully let us know if there is anything in my lungs that we need to worry about. I’ll post another update then once I know more.

Kitty

Presley is settling in nicely. He’s become a very big boy in the past two months. When we took him to the vets about six weeks ago, he had fleas.mites, and runny poos. He had some parasites and stuff. We gave him meds, and fed him. He’s grown at least twice the size he was when he came to live with us, and is still growing.

My other kitty, Miss Murder Cat, is slowly adjusting to life with her little brother. She is slowly accepting this fluffball that is trying so hard to play with her. He also tries to cuddle up with her. She is tolerating this right now.

Presley has now been properly vetted, has been neutered and has one more vaccine booster to go. As of right now his favorite activities include driving his Mama and his cat sister crazy. He loves making mischief, and cuddles.

He is enjoying Christmas with all the wrapping paper, he seems to think he’s helping wrap everything. He also got some presents already and is running around with all the jingle balls he’s gotten so far. I think he’ll be very excited to see what Santa brings him!

This, That, and Other Things

I think I’ve missed a few weeks in updating. I’m sorry.

Things that are stressing me out right now:

– The fact that I may not be able to work my job

-The brakes in my car are not working right so I can’t drive.

-The car needs more repairs and I can’t afford them

-Money

-My health

-Food

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My car is not safe to drive, and my job is an hour drive away. So that is a problem. My boss is super amazing and was able to put together a way for me to work from home. Kind of a save up money and get that car fixed when you can sort of thing. But then I get a letter from HR and a contract. They contract me to two weeks. Yay. I’m not sure what I’m going to do at the end of this next week. There is no way my car will be safe to drive by then.

So.

Yeah.

I’m freaking out.

The car just needs to have the brakes figured out, new tires, and a new lower control arm. I just don’t have the funds for it. At all.

I don’t know how to make up $600 in a week.

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My health is just as bad right now. I’m in pain 24/7. But because I don’t have a working car right now, and my work schedule, I can’t get to the doctors I need to see to correct the problem. The best I can do is a Saturday appointment but I need to have a way to get to the appointment. And the next available one is like three weeks away.

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The whole food thing is stressing me out, not so much due to lack of it, but more of not having enough energy to do what I want with it. I’m so tired even working from home that I just can’t do anything.

This also includes cleaning and trying to find rides so I can run errands. I don’t have the $30 a trip one way to go to the grocery store and I only really have cash for spending so getting things delivered is out of the question. And walking is kind of out of the question. My body barely allows me to go up and down the stairs on a good day.

I’m looking for some more vegetarian ideas to make as well. I want food that feels good after it’s eaten. And that has a lot of nutrition.

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I feel like I’m just running in circles. I know I need to relax a little but it feels like it never stops. And I just want to sleep.

Anyway…. That’s all for now. I’ll write a kitten update soon.

New Kitty and Lots of Laundry…

It’s Sunday again!

This week was busy with me working extra hours again at work. I think I need to find something to do on the side on the weekends so that I don’t have to do extra hours. It just really really tires me out. Something that I can do from home or something because I just don’t think I have the energy to go out and work a second job when I can barely do the first one.

Anyway, this week I brought home a new kitty. Miss Murder Kitty is not happy about this development and has let me know so by peeing on the bed – while I was laying in it. She’ll get over herself eventually. I hope. But I’m also so amused by how dramatic she is being. The kitten is a good boy though. He’s pressing his boundaries with her a little, but he is giving her space and is pretty much ignoring her. The dramatics are very much one sided.

Because Murder Kitty peed the bed, I had to do laundry. It took about three hours, but I managed to do the huge backlog of laundry I’d been putting off doing. I finished the five load but now have to fold and put away everything.

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Yesterday my daughter and I went grocery shopping together. She got her own groceries but also we picked out a few things for me to make for prep meals. I’ve currently got meatballs in the slow cooker with grape jelly, ketchup, and bbq sauce. I’m going to make rice to go with it and that will be dinner.

She helped me prep my lunches for this week. I have little cups made that have salami and ham in them. I bought some string cheese to go with those. There is yogurt. Crackers. Also mini packs of cookies and chocolates. Mostly healthy. Mostly nutritious. Will make the day easier by having snacks handy. Right now I end the day by eating a few Sour Patch Kids to keep up my blood sugars before I drive home. Not the best.

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I’ve only managed to write half a page this week. I know that I need to be easy on myself with this process but I wish I had more time to write. I was gone for over 14 hours a day this week and it just made for no time to do anything. I’m so tired. I’m hoping to get a little more written today but I’m not sure.

Well, that’s my update for now. Maybe will post some kitten pics later. I posted a few on my instagram. You can find me under @M_is_for_Mo.

Always busy it seems…

I spent most of my waking hours today driving around to stores to get what I needed to make my meals for this week. My daughter asked for some chili and we both wanted meatballs. I also decided to make some spaghetti sauce for the winter as well. My sauce is always different because I cook it based on what I have available to me, so sometimes it tastes better. Right now it’s too acidic so it may take longer to cook as I even out the flavor. I still have to cook up some chicken and veggies for us this week as well.

I worked some over time hours this week at my job and will be doing a lot more next week as well. The extra money is going towards my savings account that I’m trying to establish at a credit union, but they need all kinds of information from me just to be able to apply for the account. I’m hoping to have a good chunk saved up towards my $1,000 goal by the end of the month. Hopefully my body will cooperate. I’ve already missed a day due to being in so much pain I was near tears if I had to sit in one spot for more than five minutes.

Last week I wrote about a page and a half. This week I’m hoping to get a bit more done. I’m also hoping to work on some stuff for my Patreon. I’m always so tired, I think my chronic fatigue is kicking up and it’s so not a good time for it. I have a long list of things that need to be done. But I’m hoping to get at least 3 pages written this week. I really need to just sit down and write a bit while I’m on my breaks at lunch. I’m going to try to remember that this week.

I hope to have some writing to post for everyone soon. And I hope I have something more exciting to write about next week. Maybe I’ll post my meat ball recipe or something.

Money may be tight but I still eat well

The other night I made fajitas. I was wanting tacos, but since I had onions, peppers, and precooked chicken strips, I decided on the fajita kit. I picked up sour cream and cheese. Cost maybe $5 total. I got two meals out of it. I got a bunch of yogurts at $.50 each, so I’ve been adding that with meals.

I’ve also been making sandwiches. Deli meat on store baked country bread. I’ve been cutting the meals in half and then eating it with a yogurt. I also have cut up slices of cucumber to eat with the sandwiches.

I’m working on making sure I have good nutritious meals that don’t cost a lot. I do shop at a store that’s considered pricy, but I use the store’s loyalty program and coupons. This store doubles coupons under a dollar. I also don’t buy a lot from the middle aisles. Fresh veg, meats, and dairy are my main buys. Then I usually will see what I have coupons for before I hit the middle aisles. Frozen helps as well.

But just because that works for me doesn’t mean that it works for everyone. It’s taken me years to reach being able to do this. I just know I have to eat better, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.

Relaxing

Today was supposed to be busy and filled with doing some independent contractor work. But it snowed pretty much all day. So that didn’t happen.

I spent the day playing with the cat, doing some work on my Facebook pages, and I took a bath. Now I’m watching 20/20 on Hulu and laying under my ‘fairy lights’. It’s been a good day. Work tomorrow, but for now just relaxing. S

Yummy eggy veggie sammich

I was craving bacon hard today.

It didn’t help that I made Crack Chicken in the instant pot and I had eaten half the crumbled bacon before it was done. I had an Instacart shift today with no orders, so I was waiting around and hungry, dreaming of bacon. I was given the option of ending my shift early, so I did and went to work cooking the rest of the bacon.

I had bought a loaf of multigrain country bread at the store yesterday. It was a little pricey at $2.99, but it was fresh baked so I figured it was worth the price. This is a nice dense bread. I decided to make a veggie omelette and use the bacon and bread to make a sandwich.

I took a slice of onion, a little broccoli, and two small sweet peppers and diced them into tiny pieces. Cooked them up and threw in two beaten eggs. I added a handful of shredded cheese and let it cook up.

Two slices of bread were toasted, a layer of bacon, the veggie omelette and a smear of salsa. Sliced in half. It was delicious. And cheap.

I’m all about making yummy food and not spending too much money. The two other meals on my list for the next week or so are tacos with precooked chicken in the freezer, spaghetti sauce, and sandwiches. I have yogurt for snacks. Which is good because I’m hungry ALL the time right now.

Food and making it

I recently decided to buy myself an electric pressure cooker. My friends all have Instant Pots and they raved about it constantly. The thought that I could make easy, healthy food quickly won me over and I found one on sale that I could afford.

I had to wait a week for it to come in and that was a week filled with anticipation. A friend of mine also started to show me recipes that I could use in it once it came in. I then had to wait for the delivery driver to make three attempts before it was delivered. I kept missing him.

I used it the day it came in. I had country style ribs that were in the freezer that I had gotten on sale. They were still frozen but I had been told that I didn’t have to defrost the meat. I was skeptical but I threw them in anyway. I added some beef bullion and water to the bottom of it. Then I just sprinkled some salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic onto the meat. I drizzled some barbecue sauce on it. Then locked the lid, pressed the meat button and set it for 45 minutes.

The ribs came out amazing. Only 45 minutes from frozen and the meat was falling off the bone! I was so impressed. I then made pasta in the cooker, which took all of five minutes. I just poured the dry pasta in, followed by a jar of sauce. Easiest meal I’ve ever made.

Quiet entertainment

I’m currently trying to get everything ready for laundry. While trying to write. While trying to get the motivation to clean the kitchen.

I changed the bed sheet from a flannel sheet to a micro fleece one. Miss Murder Kitty seems to like it. She’s been bouncing and chirping all around it.

My brain is so over tired right now it’s not funny. I just want to sleep, but I’ve got so many things I want to do and it all seems overwhelming. So for now I’ll just sit around and watch the cat.