And Upgrade to Life

At my November doctor's appointment, I discussed everything with my "new" doctor. I'd seen her once before and she came across as very understanding and empathetic. I was, and still am, very impressed with her. In that November visit, we went over all my meds and all my lifestyle choices. One thing I brought up was alcohol.

Since March of 2012, this has been wine.

I like sparkling grape juice so I didn't feel I was missing out on much. Alcohol and medications go through the liver and alcohol can cause problems with the liver and methotrexate. So, depending upon how much methotrexate you take, doctors will tell you not to drink so your liver just processes the drug, and not the alcohol. There could be liver damage. I decided, when diagnosed, that my health was more important than alcohol so it was not an issue to remove this from my life. I even created a "Poor Man's Mimosa".

I don't know why I haven't ever noticed these individual orange juice bottles before. I love orange juice but can't always consume a whole carton before it get, shall we say, "ripe".

But, since the middle of last year, I'd been reading a great deal of information on how alcohol in moderation is good for those with RA. It should be noted I'd seen studies conducted in Europe, but not much in the US. One of the RA sites I frequent commented on the older studies of the general population which detail how a glass of red wine at least 3 times a week, was beneficial to one's health. There was no mention of conflicts with methotrexate. So, can I or can't I? Dr. Francis said I shouldn't be drinking, period, in spite of what studies may be saying. Okay /shrug. I can live without alcohol. There are some cool mugs out there which liven up my non-alcoholic ways. Witness the mug my friend, Pam, gave me for my birthday.

(Yes, this celebration was at Steak 'n Shake.)

Still, there was enough "noise", if you will, over the alcohol issue that I raised the point with Dr. Gierut. What did she think of all of this? She said there are three schools of thought. One, the European school, feels one alcoholic drink, per day, is okay for people on any RA meds. European studies have not shown a correlation between moderate alcohol consumption with methotrexate, and liver damage. Many US doctors feel the studies are very flawed and no one taking methotrexate should drink alcohol. And there there are doctors, like her, who fall in the middle. If I limit myself to three drinks per week, she feels that's a good middle-of-the-road answer.

I did not, dear reader, rush out and toast this news of being able to break my abstinence, with a beer or 3. Nor have I rushed to Binny's Beverage Depot and purchased a shopping cart full of beverages. My first beer since 2012 was at the company Christmas party last December.

It was a vanilla porter. I've always said I like beers I can chew. I did go to Binny's to get beverages with which to ring in the New Year.

Oh Belhaven, how I have missed you. And you now have a stout? Yes, please. And I got a beverage with which to lace my hot cocoa.

In the years since I quit alcohol, Godiva discontinued their white chocolate flavor. No matter. This will be fine. I've consumed "so much" that I have one shot glass left in the bottle before I have to replace it. I'll drink hot cocoa at any time of year. When I'm feeling a lot of stress, it's a good relaxant. But, yeah. It's taken 6 months to finish the bottle off. I'm not in any danger of overconsumption.

Currently, there is a regional stout in the fridge. I bought it in, um, March, maybe? I wasn't a big drinker before the ban and I'm not going to be a big drinker now that I can. Three glasses of alcohol a week seems like a lot more than I was drinking before, even averaging an evening out where two or three might be consumed, with weeks of nothing.

Still, I see this as a victory of sorts. I'm doing well enough that I can, with great moderation, toast my friends or relatives with alcohol. The upcoming Disney trip features brunch with "all you can drink" mimosas. I love mimosas, which was why I replicated, somewhat, the taste. "All I can drink" might be a couple, but at least I can have a real one.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

After a Nap

I'm standing in the kitchen with the realization that is it supper time and I really do need to cook something. I've made snack cake. I used up the rest of the frozen rolls and made a bunch of them so I can make mini ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch this week. But I really need to cook a supper, a real supper, not something scrounged that, at 9:30 p.m., I'll regret wasn't substantial. It needs to be enough for lunch tomorrow so I don't skip lunch, bad, or go buy lunch, six times bad when I can't afford my meds. I am, however, not motivated in the least.

Standing in the kitchen with the fridge door open, I was drawn to the smoked sausage I got at the beginning of the month, one of those "Buy one-get one" deals. What could I do with that?

A long time ago, I had a recipe for sausage kebobs. You alternated sausage with chunks of pineapple and peppers and baby tomatoes and basted the whole the kebobs in this wonderfully tangy mustard-based sauce. I have sausage and peppers, but no grill. If I could find the recipe, I could probably either broil the kebobs or just saute the pieces.

No luck. How hard could it be to make a mustard-based sauce? I sliced the sausage and, while it cooked, mixed honey and dijon mustard, tasting liberally to make sure I had the right amount, for me, of tangy-sweet. Once the sauce was made and the sausage cooked, I added the sauce, the diced peppers and the last of a bag of peas. I can hear Jessie now, "You put peas in everything! I'm surprised your cake didn't have peas in it." I cooked everything until the peas were hot through and there is supper.

While looking for the box of baking soda this morning, I found a box of strawberry Jell-O. Jell-O is perfect for summer meals. 

This is the last beer in the fridge. Once I get the meds on Tuesday, I shouldn't be drinking alcohol with them anyway. It seemed like a good time to finish this one off. 

So, here is tonight's toss-together supper. There's extra so I have lunch for tomorrow, except, of course, for the beer. There's none of that left. 

Beverage:  Belhaven

Deb

Scottish for Breakfast

I've been out of Scottish oatmeal for over 2 months now. I love cooking this on weekend mornings. Add some brown sugar, raisins and walnuts and I've got a hearty breakfast that tides me over until early afternoon. But Dominicks doesn't carry Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oats. They offered to order some for me but the cost was more than if I trundled over to Whole Foods and bought it.

On Saturday, I went to Woodfield Mall to check out the large JC Penney there for shoes for the wedding. Across the street from the Mall is a Whole Foods twice the size of the one in Wheaton. I can just pop in here and get my oats. However, this is always dangerous because I could, very easily, overspend simply because they have so much more than my local store.

What I really like about Whole Foods is that I walk straight into the fresh produce when I enter the store. The Domincks near me remodeled the store to do that same thing while other stores do not. The best stuff for you assaults your senses the second you enter the store. It's hard not to pass through the fresh produce without picking something up. I got a bag of red, orange and yellow peppers. I love to eat raw peppers, no dip added. The colored ones are sweeter than green, which is very appealing.

Deeper into the store I went. I got turned around in looking for the breakfast aisle which is where my oatmeal is kept. The store layout is different than the one in Wheaton. I found myself walking through the pasta. There was an organic white cheddar and shells boxed pasta that looked good. I'll add organic frozen peas and Spam to it and have enough for two meals. (Don't bother pointing out how the Spam cancels out any feel good from the rest of the organic ingredients. I love my Spam.)

Oh yeah! I need beer. I've been out of beer for a month. I can afford to buy one six pack since I really don't drink it that often and it will probably last into June. Whole Foods has Belhaven and in 6-pack form. "Okay," I tell myself. "You're going shopping at Dominicks later. Get out of the store."

I set my purchases on the belt at the check out and the cashier asks, "Did you find everything okay?"

 

I said, "Oh yes, I got my oatmeal. I've been out of it for a couple of months. I can go back to oatmeal for breakfast now." 

The gal bagging my purchases looks at the oatmeal and the beer and says, "Mmmmm beer and oatmeal for breakfast." 

"Of course," I said. "What could be more Scottish than oatmeal and beer, especially if I make the oatmeal with the beer?"

You should have seen the look.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

Happy July 4th a day late.

I've spend a leisurely weekend just lounging. I have to head to Iowa in the next few hours. I will be installing equipment on a road construction job in Fort Madison tomorrow morning at 10. I'm going to see my mother. It won't be a long visit. I'm fairly certain I need to be on the road early tomorrow morning to be where I have to be on time. The weather is supposed to be nice. Rain on Tuesday so I think just taking off the windows is all I can do.

It rained most of yesterday. For some reason, it was far noisier around the neighborhood this year than in past years. Fireworks, beyond sprinklers, small firecrackers and smoke bombs, are prohibited in Illinois. Certainly what went off several times over the last 3 days has not been of the "small" variety. I was tempted, when one blast shook my house, to call the constabulary, but I know they had their hands full last night.

It got really foggy last night late, the kind of fog I love to walk in. When I went to bed the fog had blurred the house lights across the street. I almost expected to see Humphrey Bogart, trench coat and cigarette, leaning against the street light north of my house, as he waited for Lauren Bacall or Sydney Greenstreet.

Shall I go see "Public Enemies", the new Johnny Depp movie about John Dillinger? I have a date Wednesday night. He has suggested dinner and a movie. I'm not a rabid Depp fan. I would probably go to see the locations around Chicagoland which were used for filming. I heard the ending is not how Dillinger died. As it's something of shrine in Chicago, perhaps I should go so I can say, "That's not what happened". Some day, I should take the "Gangster Tour".

I was invited to the neighbor's cook-out last night, but the thought of jockeying for protection under a tent from the steady rain was not my cuppa. I made cheeseburgers and cottage fries and had myself a Belhaven Scottish Ale. Perfect holiday fare.

Time to move on to other things. I don't like leaving a messy house. Pam is coming over to feed the girls tonight and tomorrow morning. I'll be back in the late afternoon. I need to clean litter boxes, damp mop floors and pack a bit for myself. Then I head over to the office to pick up the equipment and I'm good to go. Gas here is $2.79/gallon. What will it be in Iowa, I wonder?

Beverage: Orange juice

Deb