TWO!

Yesterday was a bad day. I awoke with a headache. I cannot tell you the last time that's happened. Since starting this regimen of drugs for RA, I rarely get headaches. No stress headaches. No tension headaches. Whatever would cause those things seems to be either kept in check or abated since adding RA drugs to my life. So, waking up with a monster headache, actually, having the headache wake me up, another rarity, was strange.

I've been having a bit of an RA flare since coming home from vacation. I'm pretty sure it was a result of the long distance and the lack of cruise control on the rental car. We stopped frequently, but it wasn't enough. My right eye has been red, a sure sign of a flare, since midday on Tuesday, and really goopy, proof of a flare. I know how to handle that, warm compresses over my eyes and sterile eye drops, but it takes time, once I'm in a full-blown flare, to get it under control. My sleep gets disrupted, too. But, thanks to the physical therapy, my sciatica is nowhere to be seen. That, alone, makes handling a flare easier. I even mowed the lawn in one sitting on Sunday, 45 minutes. After I did that, I spent 2.5 hours in the recliner with my feet up.

But this headache... There is a perfect Yiddish word for this, "Oy". I had breakfast and took a shower but the warmth of the water and steam didn't make it go away. I warmed a wash cloth and lie down on the bed, with it over my face. I lay as long as I could, grabbed left over spaghetti for lunch, and headed to the office. One aspirin and an allergy pill later, it seemed to abate, but it was never gone. I also found myself dozing off frequently throughout the day. It was a bad Monday.

And then I came home. Look!

The prairie flowers that I have at the southeast corner of the yard are in full bloom. I will take a photo tonight when I get home. The purple coneflowers and black-eyed susans are beautiful this year. Maybe it was all the rain? And you know I don't mow off the common milkweed that grows in my yard unless it's really not in a good spot. I've actually mowed around 5 plants in the front yard. They look kind of silly but I want them to grow specifically for monarchs.

There were actually two monarchs in this patch.

Such joy! I sat in my driveway and tried to capture their swirling dance around each other as they flitted through the plants. Later, as I watered the flowers on the deck, one came around, probably looking for water in the birdbath. It was so dirty that I had dumped it out in the morning and hadn't refilled the bowl.

This makes me so happy. I wish I could find a cocoon. I would photograph the heck out of that. I've never seen one and it's obvious I've got something of a habitat for them. As monarchs are endangered, this brings me a great deal of happiness.

Last Wednesday, a perky young woman stopped by my house to offer me bug killing services. "We'll rid your yard and house of bugs and spiders," she said enthusiastically. I was shocked. She couldn't guarantee that beneficial insects, such as my monarchs, wouldn't be harmed when their pesticide was applied. Why, on earth, do people want sterile yards? She gave me some clap trap about how spiders only remove 1% of the bugs in your yard. But they, and the bugs I see around me, are part of a broader ecosystem. If we remove the bugs, then there's nothing for birds. She couldn't or wouldn't, give me the scientific proof that spiders only eat 1% of bugs and she was stumped when I said, "Then there's nothing for birds or bats to eat." And, when I pointed out that you cannot completely eradicate bugs because your neighbor's property may not be sprayed, she said, "Well, we just spray everyone then and it all works out." No. No. No. It doesn't work like that. When she told me I was wrong for wanting spiders in my yard, I told her to get off my property and take her pesticide with her. I may have said, "And get a real job where you're not lying to people" as she walked away.

I'm right. We're all connected. I thought about the neighbor who wants no bugs. No butterflies? No moths? No ladybugs? No dances of orange wings on a Monday afternoon. I don't get it, but maybe I'm weird. My headache didn't go away and I wound up going to bed early and sleeping for 10 hours. I feel fine today. I hope the butterflies are back. I really want to capture the joy in watching them fly. That's happiness.

Beverage:  water

Deb

A New Favorite

In the post below, I mention having cereal for breakfast. If you're a long-time reader of this space, you know I adore Cheerios. While I like their fruit-flavored ones, my all time favorite is original Cheerios. I find them to be perfect World of Warcraft raiding food and will, sometimes, have a bowl next to the computer when I'm playing. Most of the time, ice cold milk and a bowl of Cheerios is a meal, any time.

One thing I've noticed as a difference between Mariano's and Dominicks is the smaller selection of cereals. Dominicks had one full aisle, both sides, with cereal. They jumped into "organic" or "natural" cereals in a big way a couple years ago when they remodeled the store. The selection was huge and included brands I had, heretofore, only seen at Whole Foods. I was thrilled that I didn't have to drive to Whole Foods to get Barbara's Puffins cereal in peanut butter flavor. Dominicks had it.

Mariano's doesn't think like that. Cereal is on one side of one aisle. I can't even tell you what's on the other side. It's divided into General Mills and Cheerios at the west end of the aisle and Kelloggs and Rice Krispies at the east end with a middle section that contains the "organic" and "natural" cereals. The selection overall is thin and, if you are looking for sales, they are few and far between.

I don't have time...well, actually, that's not completely true. I don't make time, during the week to have pancakes or an omelet or yogurt and toast for breakfast. This meal is very important to me because I have to take medication in the morning and some of it needs to be taken with food. Cereal, with it's quick fix speedy glory, means I don't forget that pill line up. Those times I'm really late and swing by Dunkin or Panera for a quick breakfast are the days that I find my medications still in my pants pocket at 3:30 in the afternoon. That's not a good thing. Plus, it just starts your day out better when you can collect your thoughts over a bowl of Cheerios and explain to Mija that she has to wait until the cereal is gone before she gets the milk residue.

At Dominicks, I could count on some cereal being on sale every week. If it wasn't an advertised in the flyer sale, it was a sale by virtue of being a frequent buyer. It wasn't uncommon of me to have 6 boxes of different kinds on the shelf. Ah choice. How I love thee.

Mariano's hasn't, at least in the last 3 months that I've been going there, put as much cereal on sale as Dominicks did. I wonder if cereal on sale was a "loss-leader", meaning dropping the price of a box below or a few pennies above the cost to the store, was a way to get people in the door knowing they would probably buy something not on sale. And there isn't the large selection at Mariano's. Perhaps that is by design. They seem to be more conscious of the subtle and not-so-subtle shifting of the American palate to more healthy foods. I wouldn't buy a box of Frosted Flakes, although if it was on sale for $1.50, you would certainly tempt me. That kind of cereal isn't as readily available as at Dominicks.

One day, while standing in the aisle, looking forlornly at the offerings, I chanced to see a small selection of cereals in the middle, between the General Mills and Kellogg's behemoths. These cereals, limited in kind, were the same size as the box of Cheerios I usually buy but priced a dollar less. Ever conscious of my pocketbook, I bought a box. While it won't replace Cheerios as my all-time favorite, when I'm low, and cereal is on the list, I buy a box of this.

These are good. I bought them because of the price. I go back to them because of the taste. It's comparable to Cinnamon Toast Crunch but different in that it's not as sweet. The cinnamon sugar flavor is there and, if you eat them right out of the box, they are messy. They leave a cinnamon residue in the bowl which prompts Mija to give me a disgusted look because she won't lick out the bowl with the residue in it.

I'm leery of companies that tout their environmental awareness. Mom's Best Cereals doesn't trumpet what they do for the environment on their spartan web site. It's more on the box, itself. All boxes are made from recycled materials. They don't use preservatives. They buy wind credits to off set what energy they use. There's no high-fructose corn syrup to be found in any of their sweetened cereals. While the above kind is my favorite, I have also had their "Blue Pom Wheat Fuls", very similar to Frosted Mini-Wheats, and those were good. They have 6 kinds of instant oatmeal as well as quick-cooking and regular oatmeal. When I make oatmeal, I use Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oats, but, when I need to use oatmeal for something else, I reach for Quaker. I would be hard pressed to change that unless there was a clear price difference, but I'm thinking of giving their instant oatmeal a try. I shy away from instant because the ingredient list on a package of Quaker instant oatmeal reads like War and Peace. I don't need all that stuff in my body.

The take away from this is that, if you chance to see this brand on your store shelf, it comes with my recommendation on a couple of kinds. There are three kinds that I will be trying the next time I need to get cereal. I'll never not have Cheerios on the shelf, but for a change of pace, this seems to be a new, good find. That the boxes are cheaper is a huge plus.

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb

Chocolate for the Whole Body

Cooking Light magazine is one of the only magazines I still get. It's also one that I read shortly after it comes and I can usually find something in it each month to add to the stash of recipes that I'll never make or make once and then wonder what I was thinking when I thought this sounded good.

Every month, they spotlight some fruit or vegetable or grain or other plant material that is "all the rage" in cosmetics or other preparations designed to "take years off our frames". My opinion on that is a blog post in and of itself. In February, they, of course, featured chocolate. One of the products they featured is at the upper right, Premium Dark Chocolate body scrub by a company named Shea Terra. The blurb in Cooking Light described the body scrub as smelling like "ultra-rich brownies". Well, that alone sold me on at least trying it. Plus, if you check out their web site, they also sell organic chocolate and the white chocolate with strawberries bar caught my eye. Here is the contents of the box.

I've used the body scrub twice now and would recommend this. When you open the jar, which took one of the rubber discs Meredith sent me last year, man was it on tight, this is what you see.

Too bad I can't do a scratch and sniff because this smells exactly as advertised, ultra-rich brownie batter. The ingredient list reads like something you'd throw together in the kitchen; organic sugar, chocolate liqueur, shea butter and pumice. It is really dense and the only quarrel I have with the product is that it's hard to get a handful out of the jar and to get it working. Part of the top had dried a bit when I opened the jar this past weekend, but I added about a teaspoon of water and that got the consistency back to spreading quality.

I used this on my legs and elbows. The aroma filled the bathroom with chocolate. You can do a lot worse if you love chocolate. It takes a bit to rub on and I had chunks of the amount I scooped out on the tub floor. But once you get going with it, it spreads very evenly and rinses off cleanly. My dry skin instantly felt softer and that softness lingers for a couple of days. It's wonderful to use before shaving but it's not for use on the face. They have other products for that area.

This jar is going to last a long time. You don't need much. It was reminiscent of the hand made coffee grounds exfoliant Melody gave me several years ago. Hers was a bit messier than this but made with the same sense of responsibility towards the earth.

And you're wondering about the candy bar. Here is the shocker, it was so rich, I couldn't eat the whole bar in one sitting. I know. I know. You have just fainted. It was wonderful. Organic chocolate marketed by corporations and, let's face it, no matter how Shea Terra bills itself, it's still a corporation, can be somewhat tainted in the drive to expand market share. Corners get cut and, really, I have only what I can scrounge about the Internet to go on. Shea Terra seems to do exactly what it says, provide quality products using sustainable resources and give people the chance to better themselves through that sustainability. I'm paying for an easing of my conscience, but, I feel I've received an exceptional value for the price.

I have not tried the Argan and Ghassol bar sample they sent. This is a product for use on skin and hair in the bath. I also have not tried the African Blue Calming oil, again for the bath. I don't really take baths so it probably won't get used. If one of my readers would like to try it, let me know. I'm happy to send it to you.

If you're looking for something exotic as a gift, go here. Although I've only tried the body scrub and a chocolate bar, I feel confident the other products offered will be just as good.

Beverage:  Yorkshire Gold tea

Deb

Let The Summer Bounty Begin

Zeke stopped by last night. First of all, it was to check on the yard. While it doesn't crunch anymore when you walk across it, it's still brown. The rain we've had lately has caused the back to start to green up and it will probably need a mowing in another week. I've got all this Queen Anne's Lace everywhere but it's kind of neat.

The second reason was to see if I would like some of his excess produce.

He dropped off two cucumbers. Now, I'm not a real big fan of them, particularly when they get large. The smaller of the two, I sliced this morning and will dip in garlic dressing as a side with lunch. I like them when they are small. The larger one, I'll bring into the office tomorrow and see if someone wants it.

Zeke asked if I would take fresh tomatoes. Now, I love tomato sauce and tomato juice but raw tomatoes just aren't my fancy. The guys at work, however...

This has been a perfect summer for tomatoes, other than the need to water them every day due to the drought. Tomatoes love hot weather. Zeke said he's got dozens of green tomatoes on his plants so in the next week, he'll be bringing some over. Depending upon the kind, I can probably turn some of them into juice or sauce. The rest come to the office.

Handing me fresh picked produce makes me kind of long for a garden of my own again. I did that years ago. I grew all sorts of things. Not only were you guaranteed of fresh picked and organic produce, it reduced your food budget. I froze a lot of things. There's almost nothing to compare with fresh garden peas in January.

Wheaton has a rather large farmer's market on Saturdays just off the downtown. I've never been there. I should go see.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

And I Forgot...

the ketchup.

Seriously. I did.

Over one hundred dollars in groceries and I didn't get ketchup or catsup. I use it rarely. I don't know how long the bottle just finished was in the fridge for. While I had to wait for my hair cut, I dashed over to Dominicks to get ketchup. I usually buy what's on sale but this time, I looked at the ingredients. I'm sure I heard that high fructose corn syrup was in ketchup but it wasn't until I looked at the ingredient list that it was real to me. Why do I want Karo syrup (that's what it is, really) in my ketchup again?

So, I bought organic. Remember this is going to sit in my fridge for awhile. That makes organic ketchup as cost effective for me as any other.

Now to make bacon cheeseburgers.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

$182.67 and I forgot bananas.

So it's Memorial Day and I was up until the weeeeeeeee hours. You know you should go to bed when 1) the cats think you should be providing the morning feeding and 2) that's that annoying robin you hear every year singing in the neighbor's trees. Yeah, yeah, I didn't get up until...well...I'm not telling. Dishes are in the sink because I'm out of spoons and I read all the errant newspapers in the pile. (Hey Carole? Catalani made $306,000.) And I'm paying for the lateness with dry eyes just when they were 98% healed. I'm thinking this getting old business is not for wimps and sissies.
Explaining what I was doing up at that hour requires being able to insert photos into these posts and, for the life of me, I can't figure that out. (JESSIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!) That will come and will explain why I know several of the people who will, no doubt, publish random comments of the kind I adore and will explain a good bit of what I do with myself.
Random note: I added a link to my daughter's blog and to April and Perry's blog at the side. Carole said she was, "Scared" when I sent her the link to this blog. When asked why, she responded, "Because you're joining the technology age, invading my internetzzzzzzz." And in learning all this new stuff, I am effectively tossing aside 17th Century British poetry. That's a whole 'nother blog post.
But, as the dishes soak, I'm trying to clear off the kitchen counter so I can bake cookies. I bought the missing ingredients for three kinds; butterscotch, chocolate chip and peanut butter. As I have been so sick, I have only barely done any sort of kitchen maintenance so the stacks just got taller and taller. I have this craving for brats or hot dogs which necessitated the store run. When I started looking through the freezer and fridge, I realized, dang it, I'm out of a lot.
It's just me and the cats and they don't eat much people food, although Rascal ate some of my dry Cheerios last night. I have to share MY Cheerios with this cat now? I had not gone to the store since the first of May-ish. I went to visit Carole and I've been sick, so I cleaned out things rather than buy stuff that would just sit. (Promise you won't look in the vegetable or fruit drawers. I'm getting there. Kthksbai.) I'm out of toilet paper, kitty litter, pasta, cereal (including the aforementioned Cheerios-best cereal on the planet), cough drops, orange juice, hot dogs, brats, bread (How can I have the 10 p.m. pb sammich?), butter and the all important Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli.
I was going to go to Whole Foods, but, the more I realized what I really wanted, I wound up at Dominicks. Increasingly, the mainstream groceries have organic foods on their shelves although Dominicks NEEDS to stock Bob's Red Mill Scotch Oats. I'll have to go to Whole Foods for that. So, I can choose to be lower on the food chain in terms of my eating even if it's chips and hot dogs.
I get home and unpack my 6 bags of groceries and realize I have no bananas to go with my Cheerios. I think it's because the organic bananas were not available and I made a conscious choice to not buy conventional. Oh well, Whole Foods will have organic bananas. Time to refresh the Blackberry Sage tea and wash the bowls and silverware. To quote Christopher Robin, "Tut tut. It looks like rain."

Deb