TMI WARNING!!!!!
I promised you all last week that I would share my results, so that if it helps even one person, it will be worth it for me.
I had my ultrasound last Monday, and a thorough explanation of the blood work that was done the week prior. Here's the results:
Through a process of elimination and my physician's expert knowledge, she has deduced that I have a condition called Adenomyosis. I had already assumed this, as my previous physician told me 2 years ago that it appeared I may have this. Here's a good definition of it:
Adenomyosis (ad-uh-no-my-O-sis) occurs when endometrial tissue, which normally lines the uterus, exists within and grows into the muscular wall of the uterus. The displaced endometrial tissue continues to act as it normally would — thickening, breaking down and bleeding — during each menstrual cycle. An enlarged uterus and painful, heavy periods can result.
I won't totally gross you all out by listing the symptoms, but if you Google the condition you can find the list of symptoms and guess what?! I have ALL of them! Not to mention my uterus is almost twice the normal size. (yay me! NOT)
One of the "cures" for this condition is menopause, which is where we get into the blood work results. It appears, based on my results, that I am at least several more years away from "the change", and since my cycles are almost like clockwork, I have many more months of agony to go along with the wait. Other treatments include birth control pills to supposedly lighten things up (they never, ever have), an IUD (been there, done that, didn't work for me), continue taking Lysteda (helps some, cuts it down by maybe 40% if it's a lucky day), ablation (I'll explain in a minute), or having a partial hysterectomy.
Lysteda has been a help since I started taking it, but cycles are still painful and what I would think are heavier than the average woman's. I'll continue taking it for now, until we can decide on a more permanent solution.
Ablation - simplified definition - the inside of the uterus is burned to destroy the lining. Up to 40% of women cease having periods, and for those that continue having periods, 80-90% of those women have much, much lighter periods (and based on my luck and track record, I will be in the 10-20% that still have ball-busting periods). The doctor also requires one spouse to be "fixed", as a pregnancy after an ablation can be life-threateningly dangerous.
Partial hysterectomy - removing the uterus. The only 100%, sure-fire way to "cure" adenomyosis when you cannot wait for menopause.
I have shared on here before that I would love nothing more than to be able to have another child, so I asked my doctor what my real chances were, based on my hormone tests and the adenomyosis. Her response - "if you got pregnant naturally, you and I would both be famous, and I'd be writing papers and getting published". Statistics I read for women my age were that less than 1% of women would get pregnant without some type of intervention, and with adenomyosis, the risk of uterine rupture in the 2nd and 3rd trimester was fairly high. Not to mention the risk of having a child with down syndrome and other birth defects is about 1 in 30 for us old ladies. Risks to my health and a possible baby's health that I just cannot take.
I would honestly love to never worry about having a period of any kind again, but a partial hysterectomy is a really major surgery, requiring 4-6 weeks out of work, and while technically I can do that, I really don't want to do that. Plus, insurance likely wouldn't pay for it, as I don't have signs of fibroids or cancer or other issues that generally warrant a hysterectomy. So most likely I will be doing the ablation to give it a shot and see if that will help. I really think it would probably be beneficial, I just worry that I will still have the ovary pain that is like knives stabbing me in the groin.
I suppose it's time for me to start coming up with all the questions I can, to get those answered so I can make a final decision.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Friday, August 28, 2015
TGIF!!!
I am so glad it's Friday, and that I don't have anything solid planned for the weekend. I'm just planning to lay around and not do a lot. May go piddle around town a little tomorrow, but who knows. I'm tired and I need to rest.
I have an ultrasound scheduled for Monday - need to get the lady bits checked out, as I've been having some of those fun, period-related issues the last few months (more than I've shared publicly in a while). I imagine it's probably nothing, or something related to either the fact that I'm getting older and about to hit menopause soon, or maybe it's something to do with the adenomyosis. I will post more info once I know what's going on - y'all know I don't mind sharing the gory details, if it will help just one person that may be having similar issues.
Our garden is officially kaput. I picked the last of the butterbeans last weekend, and I discovered that my potato tower was a complete and utter FAILURE. I was so looking forward to having a shitload of fresh potatoes, and unfortunately my potato tower turned into a giant ant farm. I mean seriously, when we pulled the tower down and pulled away the wire caging, the entire mass of dirt was nothing but a swarming pile of ants. Not a single piece of potato was anywhere to be seen. I need to check my sweet potato buckets and see if those turned out okay. I'll be pissed if those are ant farms too, but I haven't seen any ants around them, so hopefully we'll have some yummy sweet potatoes soon.
The pepper plants have been quite productive, so that's been nice. We always manage to grow a bunch of peppers, more than we can eat, and end up pickling a lot of them. We probably have 2-3 cases of pickled peppers and pepper sauce.
I can't wait until next year's garden - we are going to double the size of the garden, and plant a few more things!
I have an ultrasound scheduled for Monday - need to get the lady bits checked out, as I've been having some of those fun, period-related issues the last few months (more than I've shared publicly in a while). I imagine it's probably nothing, or something related to either the fact that I'm getting older and about to hit menopause soon, or maybe it's something to do with the adenomyosis. I will post more info once I know what's going on - y'all know I don't mind sharing the gory details, if it will help just one person that may be having similar issues.
Our garden is officially kaput. I picked the last of the butterbeans last weekend, and I discovered that my potato tower was a complete and utter FAILURE. I was so looking forward to having a shitload of fresh potatoes, and unfortunately my potato tower turned into a giant ant farm. I mean seriously, when we pulled the tower down and pulled away the wire caging, the entire mass of dirt was nothing but a swarming pile of ants. Not a single piece of potato was anywhere to be seen. I need to check my sweet potato buckets and see if those turned out okay. I'll be pissed if those are ant farms too, but I haven't seen any ants around them, so hopefully we'll have some yummy sweet potatoes soon.
The pepper plants have been quite productive, so that's been nice. We always manage to grow a bunch of peppers, more than we can eat, and end up pickling a lot of them. We probably have 2-3 cases of pickled peppers and pepper sauce.
I can't wait until next year's garden - we are going to double the size of the garden, and plant a few more things!
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Weekends - are NEVER Long Enough!!!
Nope, they never last long enough! I fixed the fagioli soup on Friday night (I fixed frozen country fried steaks Thursday because we didn't have a couple of the necessary ingredients for the soup). I thought it was really good. Also, the country fried steak was awesome - I'd been craving that on and off for a while, and I think I've satisfied the craving for now.
Last night I fixed the fried rice and egg rolls I'd fixed a couple of weeks ago, and tonight, I fixed Chicken Cacciatore. I don't have a link to the recipe, but here it is to the best of my recollection (well, it's how I fixed it not exactly like the recipe is listed but I didn't have bay leaves):
5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
1 Tbsp diced garlic
oregano
basil
Italian seasoning
Place the chicken in the crock pot, and place the onions and peppers over the top. Mix the other ingredients together in a separate bowl, then pour over the stuff in the crockpot. Turn the crockpot on - low for 8 hours, or high for 6 hours.
Cook pasta separately, and serve chicken and sauce over the pasta. I used rotini noodles. Clydie and Steven liked it! (and so did I!). (Brian is out and missed dinner, but I fixed him a plate for when he gets home)
This is what I'm cooking tomorrow for dinner Crock Pot Easy Swiss Steak, along with some rice and another veggie (to be determined later).
But enough about food - I've got puppy antics for ya! I posted on Facebook earlier about terrorizing Gabriel with the compressed air can (he was scared by that over a year ago, and now the mere sight of the can will scare him) - he was in the bathroom and heard me using it in the bedroom and ran out, trembling like crazy. After he settles down, he decides to wedge himself in between the loveseat and the piano. He's resting comfortably, when all of a sudden a small plane flies low over the house, making this really loud buzzing sound. Gabriel shot out of his hiding spot like a bullet, causing Dominion to jump up and look around like "what the hell?". Gabriel was pitiful, looking around, obviously traumatized yet again by another sound. Yet this is the dog that will try to duel with the weed eater on the regular. Oddball!
I'm cleaning out my closet, as far as stuff that was floating around in the bottom, and not in a box. I also packed away some of my clothing, and even pulled a few pieces to get rid of. Boy is our bedroom a holy mess right now! There is so much stuff on the bed that there's not even room to sit on it anywhere. I've also gone through some boxes of papers that were in there, getting rid of some outdated paperwork, and separating things for further review or filing. So exciting, I know. And, I'm doing laundry all day!
So folks, I hope you all managed to have more fun and excitement than I've had all weekend!
Last night I fixed the fried rice and egg rolls I'd fixed a couple of weeks ago, and tonight, I fixed Chicken Cacciatore. I don't have a link to the recipe, but here it is to the best of my recollection (well, it's how I fixed it not exactly like the recipe is listed but I didn't have bay leaves):
5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
1 Tbsp diced garlic
oregano
basil
Italian seasoning
Place the chicken in the crock pot, and place the onions and peppers over the top. Mix the other ingredients together in a separate bowl, then pour over the stuff in the crockpot. Turn the crockpot on - low for 8 hours, or high for 6 hours.
Cook pasta separately, and serve chicken and sauce over the pasta. I used rotini noodles. Clydie and Steven liked it! (and so did I!). (Brian is out and missed dinner, but I fixed him a plate for when he gets home)
This is what I'm cooking tomorrow for dinner Crock Pot Easy Swiss Steak, along with some rice and another veggie (to be determined later).
But enough about food - I've got puppy antics for ya! I posted on Facebook earlier about terrorizing Gabriel with the compressed air can (he was scared by that over a year ago, and now the mere sight of the can will scare him) - he was in the bathroom and heard me using it in the bedroom and ran out, trembling like crazy. After he settles down, he decides to wedge himself in between the loveseat and the piano. He's resting comfortably, when all of a sudden a small plane flies low over the house, making this really loud buzzing sound. Gabriel shot out of his hiding spot like a bullet, causing Dominion to jump up and look around like "what the hell?". Gabriel was pitiful, looking around, obviously traumatized yet again by another sound. Yet this is the dog that will try to duel with the weed eater on the regular. Oddball!
I'm cleaning out my closet, as far as stuff that was floating around in the bottom, and not in a box. I also packed away some of my clothing, and even pulled a few pieces to get rid of. Boy is our bedroom a holy mess right now! There is so much stuff on the bed that there's not even room to sit on it anywhere. I've also gone through some boxes of papers that were in there, getting rid of some outdated paperwork, and separating things for further review or filing. So exciting, I know. And, I'm doing laundry all day!
So folks, I hope you all managed to have more fun and excitement than I've had all weekend!
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Cooking Again!
Yes, I've been cooking again. Clydie had her surgery Monday, and I've taken over the cooking while she recuperates and heals. More on the cooking in a minute, here's the info about Clydie:
Three years ago, Clydie had an AAA repair (abdominal aorta aneurysm). The surgeon inserted a stint into the artery, and we thought she was all better and had been released by the surgeon after the required number of follow ups. Purely by accident, her oncologist found a leak around the stent (she'd had her 4 year scan and normally the scan doesn't go low enough to see the aneurysm and for some reason this year, it did - blessings!), and immediately referred her to a vascular surgeon and scheduled a follow-up scan with contrast. Sure enough, the aneurysm had grown, and she had to have surgery to fix the leak.
She has done amazingly well, and in the words of the new surgeon her outcome was "best case scenario" and she wished that all her patients had such great outcomes. Clydie spent the night in the hospital, and was discharged yesterday. I told her this past weekend that I wanted her to take a break from cooking, that either Brian or I would handle the cooking for at least a couple of weeks until she felt up to getting back in the kitchen. And boy, does she HATE not being able to get in the kitchen and cook, or at least assist in cooking.
Last night, we had Italian Chicken with Tomatoes. I've fixed this before and it's been pretty well liked for the most part. Steven didn't particularly enjoy it for some reason, but ate it anyway. I didn't brown the chicken before putting it in the crockpot, and fixed it slightly different than the recipe calls for - chicken in the bottom, poured some olive oil over the chicken, mixed the vinegar and random herbs and garlic together, and spooned this mixture over each chicken breast. Then I poured the tomatoes over the chicken, and on the cooker went on low for 10 hours. I fixed angel hair pasta and warmed some seasons French bread, and we had salad, as well. Yummy!
Tonight, I tried something different - Grilled Beef Chimichangas. But I didn't cook them on the grill - I used my electric skillet. I browned the beef in it, added the peppers, garlic and onions (no hot peppers, as Clydie can't tolerate the stuff too hot) to the beef, then poured it out in the strainer, rinsing the fat off. Mixed in the taco seasoning, added some extra cumin and some cayenne pepper powder, and homemade salsa. We didn't have any cilantro, so it was just sour cream mixed with the garlic that was smeared over each tortilla. I made homemade Spanish rice - cooked the rice in my rice cooker and added a can of Ro-tel tomatoes to it. When I built the chimichangas, I used the sour cream/garlic mix, shredded cheese, rice, black beans, and meat. Folded those suckers up, toothpicked them together, and grilled them in my freshly cleaned out electric skillet. Man were these things good! I fixed an extra one for my lunch tomorrow, and Brian ate it, so I hate to make and cook another one to pack for lunch.
I think I'm making Crock Pot Fagioli Soup for dinner tomorrow night. The only thing I don't have for it is the celery, and I think it will be just fine without it. I'll have to do some prep work tonight and probably go ahead and sauté the veggies so I can just put it in the crock pot in the morning. Of course I'll have to cook it on low since it will simmer all day.
I'll keep sharing the new recipes we try and let you all know how they turn out - I know I've enjoyed the ones I've found so far, and am looking forward to making some of the others that I've stumbled across (chicken cacciatore anyone? that'll be what's for dinner on Friday night)
Three years ago, Clydie had an AAA repair (abdominal aorta aneurysm). The surgeon inserted a stint into the artery, and we thought she was all better and had been released by the surgeon after the required number of follow ups. Purely by accident, her oncologist found a leak around the stent (she'd had her 4 year scan and normally the scan doesn't go low enough to see the aneurysm and for some reason this year, it did - blessings!), and immediately referred her to a vascular surgeon and scheduled a follow-up scan with contrast. Sure enough, the aneurysm had grown, and she had to have surgery to fix the leak.
She has done amazingly well, and in the words of the new surgeon her outcome was "best case scenario" and she wished that all her patients had such great outcomes. Clydie spent the night in the hospital, and was discharged yesterday. I told her this past weekend that I wanted her to take a break from cooking, that either Brian or I would handle the cooking for at least a couple of weeks until she felt up to getting back in the kitchen. And boy, does she HATE not being able to get in the kitchen and cook, or at least assist in cooking.
Last night, we had Italian Chicken with Tomatoes. I've fixed this before and it's been pretty well liked for the most part. Steven didn't particularly enjoy it for some reason, but ate it anyway. I didn't brown the chicken before putting it in the crockpot, and fixed it slightly different than the recipe calls for - chicken in the bottom, poured some olive oil over the chicken, mixed the vinegar and random herbs and garlic together, and spooned this mixture over each chicken breast. Then I poured the tomatoes over the chicken, and on the cooker went on low for 10 hours. I fixed angel hair pasta and warmed some seasons French bread, and we had salad, as well. Yummy!
Tonight, I tried something different - Grilled Beef Chimichangas. But I didn't cook them on the grill - I used my electric skillet. I browned the beef in it, added the peppers, garlic and onions (no hot peppers, as Clydie can't tolerate the stuff too hot) to the beef, then poured it out in the strainer, rinsing the fat off. Mixed in the taco seasoning, added some extra cumin and some cayenne pepper powder, and homemade salsa. We didn't have any cilantro, so it was just sour cream mixed with the garlic that was smeared over each tortilla. I made homemade Spanish rice - cooked the rice in my rice cooker and added a can of Ro-tel tomatoes to it. When I built the chimichangas, I used the sour cream/garlic mix, shredded cheese, rice, black beans, and meat. Folded those suckers up, toothpicked them together, and grilled them in my freshly cleaned out electric skillet. Man were these things good! I fixed an extra one for my lunch tomorrow, and Brian ate it, so I hate to make and cook another one to pack for lunch.
I think I'm making Crock Pot Fagioli Soup for dinner tomorrow night. The only thing I don't have for it is the celery, and I think it will be just fine without it. I'll have to do some prep work tonight and probably go ahead and sauté the veggies so I can just put it in the crock pot in the morning. Of course I'll have to cook it on low since it will simmer all day.
I'll keep sharing the new recipes we try and let you all know how they turn out - I know I've enjoyed the ones I've found so far, and am looking forward to making some of the others that I've stumbled across (chicken cacciatore anyone? that'll be what's for dinner on Friday night)
Saturday, August 1, 2015
It's my birthday!
Party Time!
Not really - I don't party much any more, I'm getting too old for that shit! LOL The last time I partied hard on my birthday was 5 years ago and I paid quite dearly for it. For 3 (yes THREE) days! I won't be doing that again. Maybe a drink tonight after dinner, maybe not, just depends on how I feel.
I've had a busy day today so far - Clydie and I went out and picked the pink eye peas and a few more cucumbers, shelled the peas and put them in the freezer (3 bags), canned some pickles with the multitude of cucumbers that we have, and now she's canning some tabasco & cayenne peppers for pepper sauce.
While we were picking the peas, I noticed Dominion was pulling at something on the fence - he was pulling himself a 2-3" cucumber off the vine! He got it, ran up to the patio and ate it! Then he came and got a second one! Looks like next year we will have the plant the cucumbers where he can't get to them, otherwise he may eat them all. And his love of cucumbers is probably all my fault. When I had the first cucumber of the summer, I had sliced them and put them in vinegar with a touch of salt. He was begging at the table, so to be funny I handed him one. He promptly spit it out, but a moment later he picked it up off the floor and ate it. He also had a bite of dill pickle yesterday as well. Oh and he apparently now likes salt & vinegar chips, too. Weird ass dog.
Poor little Gabriel was totally humiliated yesterday - seems one of his butt glands abscessed so it was off to the vet we went. They shaved his behind and he just looked so embarrassed! He was so glad when they were finished working on him - he very quickly turned around and sat down so they couldn't mess with his butt anymore.
Oh and I almost forgot - Steven got his actual drivers license yesterday! I am so happy for him. And now I have a chauffer. LOL
Not really - I don't party much any more, I'm getting too old for that shit! LOL The last time I partied hard on my birthday was 5 years ago and I paid quite dearly for it. For 3 (yes THREE) days! I won't be doing that again. Maybe a drink tonight after dinner, maybe not, just depends on how I feel.
I've had a busy day today so far - Clydie and I went out and picked the pink eye peas and a few more cucumbers, shelled the peas and put them in the freezer (3 bags), canned some pickles with the multitude of cucumbers that we have, and now she's canning some tabasco & cayenne peppers for pepper sauce.
While we were picking the peas, I noticed Dominion was pulling at something on the fence - he was pulling himself a 2-3" cucumber off the vine! He got it, ran up to the patio and ate it! Then he came and got a second one! Looks like next year we will have the plant the cucumbers where he can't get to them, otherwise he may eat them all. And his love of cucumbers is probably all my fault. When I had the first cucumber of the summer, I had sliced them and put them in vinegar with a touch of salt. He was begging at the table, so to be funny I handed him one. He promptly spit it out, but a moment later he picked it up off the floor and ate it. He also had a bite of dill pickle yesterday as well. Oh and he apparently now likes salt & vinegar chips, too. Weird ass dog.
Poor little Gabriel was totally humiliated yesterday - seems one of his butt glands abscessed so it was off to the vet we went. They shaved his behind and he just looked so embarrassed! He was so glad when they were finished working on him - he very quickly turned around and sat down so they couldn't mess with his butt anymore.
Oh and I almost forgot - Steven got his actual drivers license yesterday! I am so happy for him. And now I have a chauffer. LOL
Monday, July 27, 2015
Time Flies When You're Having Fun!
So a follow-up from the last post (which was almost 2 months ago!) - I did have poison ivy, but it was contained to about 3 small bumps on my arm and thankfully didn't itch nearly as bad as I was afraid of. I really hate getting that stuff, and am absolutely miserable with it, but thanks to some kind of steroid cream that Clydie had, we nipped it in the bud pretty quickly.
What have I been up to lately? Putting veggies in my freezer and canning pickles! I know I've posted this stuff on Facebook, but in case any of you have missed it - we put up a bushel of black-eyed peas a while back, and shortly after that, we put away a bushel of purple hull crowder peas, a bushel of speckled butterbeans, and snapped a bushel of green beans. We froze the peas and butterbeans, and canned the green beans.
The quality of the 3 bushels we got last time and the one from a couple weeks earlier was better than anything we've gotten at the farmers market before - absolutely fantastic! Very few dried out bean or pea shells, and the amount of beans that we got on the green beans was phenomenal! Those green beans came in a small wooden crate, and it was absolutely packed FULL. We ended up with 24 quart jars, a gallon Ziploc we gave to the neighbors, and a huge pot we cooked for dinner (expecting leftovers for another meal, but nope, we ate them all!)
And our little backyard garden - oh my at the stuff we're getting out of that! We've already been able to put up about 10 bags of pink eyes, 2 bags of butterbeans, and we've canned at least 20qts (between the quarter and pint jars) of pickles. I've also had to give away cucumbers, we can't keep up with how many my 4 little plants are producing! We pick 6-9 cucumbers 2-3 times a week! I finally have 2 cantaloupe growing - they are each about the size of a racquetball. We also got one meal of pole beans (those didn't do very well this year), and we've had zucchini about once a week or so.
Oh did I mention our peppers?!? We have ghost, reaper, habanero, Hungarian hot wax, cowhorn, jumbo jalapeno, Serrano, and an assortment of cayenne and tabasco peppers. Clydie has canned at least 2 dozen half-pint and pint jars of pepper sauce, made some home-made sriracha sauce, and of course we eat the peppers with dinner frequently. Well, I should say Brian eats them with dinner frequently. Clydie can't do the peppers so much anymore, Steven doesn't care for them but is usually a good sport when Brian wants him to try one, and I dabble in them occasionally.
I got the "pleasure" of trying out a Carolina Reaper pepper a while back. It's supposed to be the world's hottest pepper, but I just didn't get that out of it. Not that it wasn't the hottest damn pepper I've ever had, but still. I expected more. To be fair, I only ate 2 small pieces of it (when I say small - each piece was maybe 3mm in size). The first bite produced a very warm sensation but not a lot of stinging. The second one required a milk chaser! But the burn was quite different than when I eat a hot jalapeno, it's hard to explain, and it really wasn't that painful. Even wiping a piece of meat or some of the mac&cheese we had that night over the spot where the pepper had been cut was enough to heat your mouth up. The flavor of the reaper was really good (and yes, I could actually taste the flavor of it over the heat).
We had a surprise in a cowhorn pepper recently - those aren't supposed to be as hot as jalapenos, so normally when Brian eats one, he just bites off a big chunk and enjoys the flavor. He did this the other night and his whole head immediately went bright red and he got the hot pepper stomach lurch! It was really funny. He cut me a slice and I tried it and holy hell it was hot! That was another night of milk with dinner.
The pleasant surprise so far is the Hungarian hot wax. Those are very mild so far, like a hot banana pepper. We shall see if they continue to be mild, or if they have gotten hotter from lack of water. We have read several articles on caring for peppers, and all of them say to withhold water for hotter peppers. You let the plants get to where the leaves are wilting before you water them. Water them sufficiently to end the wilting, and let them wilt again. Apparently that worked really well on those cowhorns and they weren't even ripe yet!
One final note - my birthday is Saturday. I haven't thought a lot about it so far, but it's kinda weighing on my mind. I just can't believe I'm going to be 39. Again. LOL Seriously, I will be 47. FORTY-SEVEN!!!!! I don't want to dwell on it too much, some birthdays are worse than others. 30 was really hard for me for some reason. I remember thinking I'd be in my 20's forever, and 30 was just unbearably difficult. Cried for at least a week before. 40 was easy. Other than the early night and following hangover. 41 was brutal - thanks to the 3 day hangover (thanks Brian!)
I think we're going pretty low-key this year - I love going to a Mexican restaurant for my birthday, so we're going to La Vaquerita here in Carrollton. If any of you would like to join us, please feel free to do so - but let me know (or message my husband or my mom-in-law Clydie Cote or my son Steven if you want it to be a surprise) - not sure what time we'll be going, I'm guessing around 5pm.
What have I been up to lately? Putting veggies in my freezer and canning pickles! I know I've posted this stuff on Facebook, but in case any of you have missed it - we put up a bushel of black-eyed peas a while back, and shortly after that, we put away a bushel of purple hull crowder peas, a bushel of speckled butterbeans, and snapped a bushel of green beans. We froze the peas and butterbeans, and canned the green beans.
The quality of the 3 bushels we got last time and the one from a couple weeks earlier was better than anything we've gotten at the farmers market before - absolutely fantastic! Very few dried out bean or pea shells, and the amount of beans that we got on the green beans was phenomenal! Those green beans came in a small wooden crate, and it was absolutely packed FULL. We ended up with 24 quart jars, a gallon Ziploc we gave to the neighbors, and a huge pot we cooked for dinner (expecting leftovers for another meal, but nope, we ate them all!)
And our little backyard garden - oh my at the stuff we're getting out of that! We've already been able to put up about 10 bags of pink eyes, 2 bags of butterbeans, and we've canned at least 20qts (between the quarter and pint jars) of pickles. I've also had to give away cucumbers, we can't keep up with how many my 4 little plants are producing! We pick 6-9 cucumbers 2-3 times a week! I finally have 2 cantaloupe growing - they are each about the size of a racquetball. We also got one meal of pole beans (those didn't do very well this year), and we've had zucchini about once a week or so.
Oh did I mention our peppers?!? We have ghost, reaper, habanero, Hungarian hot wax, cowhorn, jumbo jalapeno, Serrano, and an assortment of cayenne and tabasco peppers. Clydie has canned at least 2 dozen half-pint and pint jars of pepper sauce, made some home-made sriracha sauce, and of course we eat the peppers with dinner frequently. Well, I should say Brian eats them with dinner frequently. Clydie can't do the peppers so much anymore, Steven doesn't care for them but is usually a good sport when Brian wants him to try one, and I dabble in them occasionally.
I got the "pleasure" of trying out a Carolina Reaper pepper a while back. It's supposed to be the world's hottest pepper, but I just didn't get that out of it. Not that it wasn't the hottest damn pepper I've ever had, but still. I expected more. To be fair, I only ate 2 small pieces of it (when I say small - each piece was maybe 3mm in size). The first bite produced a very warm sensation but not a lot of stinging. The second one required a milk chaser! But the burn was quite different than when I eat a hot jalapeno, it's hard to explain, and it really wasn't that painful. Even wiping a piece of meat or some of the mac&cheese we had that night over the spot where the pepper had been cut was enough to heat your mouth up. The flavor of the reaper was really good (and yes, I could actually taste the flavor of it over the heat).
We had a surprise in a cowhorn pepper recently - those aren't supposed to be as hot as jalapenos, so normally when Brian eats one, he just bites off a big chunk and enjoys the flavor. He did this the other night and his whole head immediately went bright red and he got the hot pepper stomach lurch! It was really funny. He cut me a slice and I tried it and holy hell it was hot! That was another night of milk with dinner.
The pleasant surprise so far is the Hungarian hot wax. Those are very mild so far, like a hot banana pepper. We shall see if they continue to be mild, or if they have gotten hotter from lack of water. We have read several articles on caring for peppers, and all of them say to withhold water for hotter peppers. You let the plants get to where the leaves are wilting before you water them. Water them sufficiently to end the wilting, and let them wilt again. Apparently that worked really well on those cowhorns and they weren't even ripe yet!
One final note - my birthday is Saturday. I haven't thought a lot about it so far, but it's kinda weighing on my mind. I just can't believe I'm going to be 39. Again. LOL Seriously, I will be 47. FORTY-SEVEN!!!!! I don't want to dwell on it too much, some birthdays are worse than others. 30 was really hard for me for some reason. I remember thinking I'd be in my 20's forever, and 30 was just unbearably difficult. Cried for at least a week before. 40 was easy. Other than the early night and following hangover. 41 was brutal - thanks to the 3 day hangover (thanks Brian!)
I think we're going pretty low-key this year - I love going to a Mexican restaurant for my birthday, so we're going to La Vaquerita here in Carrollton. If any of you would like to join us, please feel free to do so - but let me know (or message my husband or my mom-in-law Clydie Cote or my son Steven if you want it to be a surprise) - not sure what time we'll be going, I'm guessing around 5pm.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Time is Flying!
Damn, why does time fly by so fast?! I mean, I'm glad when time flies at work, although it rarely does, but weekends, and time off, just goes by too damn quick! And my mother's visit to the states is almost over! She's been here just over a month, and goes back to England on Friday. I'm not ready for her to leave!
So here's the latest on me - had an echocardiogram back in early May due to family history of heart stuffs and I've been getting winded pretty easily and having some minor chest pains. Thankfully, the echo was normal, and the doctor doesn't feel any further heart tests are warranted just yet.
My blood work has changed somewhat since last done in February - cholesterol went back up a bit (206 now), and the triglycerides, while still high (251), they're down from where they were a few months ago. My sugar is still a little high (102 - high end of normal is 99), but the doctor isn't worried about that yet, even with family history on both sides.
The post-nasal drip has been off the chain lately, almost choking me, so she added Singulair to the Allegra that I was already taking, and believe it or not, 2 days in, and I can feel a difference in the drip. It's still there, but not nearly as bad.
Had my mammogram in April, and it took almost a month for them to get the films from the previous place I've had them done. They thought they saw something in one of the girls, so I had to go back last week and have more images made. More thanks, it was nothing and I have the all-clear to wait for a year til my next episode of flattening the girls.
***TMI WARNING***
For those of you who personally experience or know of someone that experiences ungodly heavy periods - there's something "new" out there that may help (well, not really new but it's never been mentioned to me before by my previous doctors). My doctor prescribed a medication called Lysteda - it was originally for bleeding ulcers, but is being used for menstrual bleeding, and also to help minimize bleeding during surgery. Anywho - it's one of those things that it either works or it doesn't (according to my doctor), and I must say - last cycle, after just ONE dose, I could tell a difference. She suggested I start with the maximum dose, then cut it back some, and based on my results I need the maximum dose. It doesn't help with cramping or all the other fun stuff that goes along with "the curse", but I can handle those (if you call curling up in the bed with the heating pad, crying, handling those). But I'm able to go to work and not have to run to the bathroom every single hour for 3 days straight.
***END TMI WARNING***
And now I think I have poison ivy. DAMMIT!!!!!! I don't handle itching very well at all. These spots started out as small red dots on my arm, 3 of them, then 2 of them developed small blisters, and now tonight the blisters are noticeably larger, and there's 2 more tiny dots. And OMG they itch like a Mo-fo!!!!! I think I'm going to soak them in some vinegar, and then go shower and see if I can find my hydrocortisone cream. This shit drives me NUTS!!!! I don't tolerate itching - AT ALL!!!
I hope you all had a happy Monday!
So here's the latest on me - had an echocardiogram back in early May due to family history of heart stuffs and I've been getting winded pretty easily and having some minor chest pains. Thankfully, the echo was normal, and the doctor doesn't feel any further heart tests are warranted just yet.
My blood work has changed somewhat since last done in February - cholesterol went back up a bit (206 now), and the triglycerides, while still high (251), they're down from where they were a few months ago. My sugar is still a little high (102 - high end of normal is 99), but the doctor isn't worried about that yet, even with family history on both sides.
The post-nasal drip has been off the chain lately, almost choking me, so she added Singulair to the Allegra that I was already taking, and believe it or not, 2 days in, and I can feel a difference in the drip. It's still there, but not nearly as bad.
Had my mammogram in April, and it took almost a month for them to get the films from the previous place I've had them done. They thought they saw something in one of the girls, so I had to go back last week and have more images made. More thanks, it was nothing and I have the all-clear to wait for a year til my next episode of flattening the girls.
***TMI WARNING***
For those of you who personally experience or know of someone that experiences ungodly heavy periods - there's something "new" out there that may help (well, not really new but it's never been mentioned to me before by my previous doctors). My doctor prescribed a medication called Lysteda - it was originally for bleeding ulcers, but is being used for menstrual bleeding, and also to help minimize bleeding during surgery. Anywho - it's one of those things that it either works or it doesn't (according to my doctor), and I must say - last cycle, after just ONE dose, I could tell a difference. She suggested I start with the maximum dose, then cut it back some, and based on my results I need the maximum dose. It doesn't help with cramping or all the other fun stuff that goes along with "the curse", but I can handle those (if you call curling up in the bed with the heating pad, crying, handling those). But I'm able to go to work and not have to run to the bathroom every single hour for 3 days straight.
***END TMI WARNING***
And now I think I have poison ivy. DAMMIT!!!!!! I don't handle itching very well at all. These spots started out as small red dots on my arm, 3 of them, then 2 of them developed small blisters, and now tonight the blisters are noticeably larger, and there's 2 more tiny dots. And OMG they itch like a Mo-fo!!!!! I think I'm going to soak them in some vinegar, and then go shower and see if I can find my hydrocortisone cream. This shit drives me NUTS!!!! I don't tolerate itching - AT ALL!!!
I hope you all had a happy Monday!
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