Javier Mendoza @ LaGra

Tonight we headed to LaGra to grab dinner and catch Javier's first show of the year! Javier has been in Spain for a month so we were ready for a show!

"AIN'T NO THING LIKE A CHICKEN WING"

On a weird note, I have been craving meat. So far this week I made a beef roast, Italian breaded chicken breast, BBQ chicken wings, and used ground turkey in my pasta sauce. Not sure the significance of this craving. Normally, I'm on the meat-light diet preferring tuna, egg whites, legumes, nut butters and the occasional steak to fill in the protein requirement. While I was off my medication I craved carbs....bread, pizza, potatoes, crackers, oatmeal, no grains were safe but as soon as I was back on my medication for a few days the meat obsession kicked in. I even told DH that at one point I could actually smell a pot roast dinner just by thinking about it. Right now if I think about BBQ wings I can almost taste them. The brain is a scary thing and can't be trusted!

I did make some fabu wings in the crock pot. I bought a package of wings, chucked them in the crock with a small bottle of sweet & tangy BBQ sauce (KC Masterpiece) and some water. Put it on high for 4 hours, drained the wings (the sauce was really thin), poured some more BBQ sauce on them and stuck them in the fridge. The next night I just microwaved them and swirled them around in the BBQ sauce and OH MY GOSH! They were fall off the bone deliciously good. DH and I had them with a side of asian veggies (that's how we roll). There "AIN'T NO THING LIKE A CHICKEN WING"

Patience...

I had to reschedule my Endocrinologist appointment due to icy weather, so now it will be a couple of weeks before I can get any answers to the thyroid nodule situation. I am back on my medications and feeling somewhat better although yesterday was a bad day. In my morning rush I missed a dose of T4 and had some swelling again by mid day...not sure why that happened so quickly. It is my first day off steroids, but those were tapered down and should not have cause a rebound effect. There was some stress which could have driven up demand for T4/T3 I suppose. Additionally, shoveling all that snow the prior day may have also driven up demand. I do know that my arms and legs feel extremely weak and my arm muscles are definitely painful from the minimal exertion. Even today I am feeling like my face and tongue are swelling again. My fingertips are tingly and painful and I have been having muscle cramps in my legs and back. On the plus side my eyelid swelling is down and my eyes are no longer tearing up every 30 seconds. The photosensitivity is down as well and my brain fog seems to have lifted.



I called the Endo's office to see if I could get my appointment moved up, but they do not have any openings at this time. They did say to keep checking back for possible cancellations, so I guess I will try to do that in hopes of getting in sooner.

Saving Versus Buy Now!

The Simple Dollar Blog has a great article about saving for a large non-essential purchase versus buying it now. Check it out! I like the way he has calculated the savings. It really makes you think twice before making these types of purchases.

Power Shovel!

Well, we finally got enough snow that I was able to try out our new Toro Power Shovel. The Toro Power Shovel is an electric snow throwing device. I ordered it a few months back in prep for winter weather but as luck would have it the weather has been holding out...until now.

The thing is pretty amazing and throws snow about 20 feet. It took me a bit to get the hang of using it and I doused DH and myself with a good portion of snow before working out a technique.

It was a bit hard to use in the grassy areas, but worked quite well on the sidewalks and driveway. Also, having an electric cord attached to the device was kind of awkward, but for the small area we have it worked fine.

I would definitely recommend using goggles and dressing in snow gear. The wind was blowing a lot of the snow back onto me so that made it a bit of a challenge.

MORNING UPDATE: I got out this morning at about 6:30am to clear the walkway again. We had about 4" - 5" of new snow and the Toro Power Shovel worked great, also there was no wind so that made it easier to get the snow going AWAY from me. I made quick work of the walkway and the driveway, although when I got to the street and the deeper snow it failed to perform very well. The instruction manual indicates that 6" deep snow is about the max it will do and I have to agree. It also stated that deeper snow can be handled by removing it in "layers". My arms were too weak to handle too much of that business, so I let it go for now and hoped that the street plows would come by and clear it off.

Thyroid Awareness Month

Ironically...January is Thyroid Awareness Month so here's a PSA about it featuring model Kim Alexis, who was diagnosed hypothyroid several years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uRK2yrFSyM

Mary Shomon (patient advocate) has a Thyroid Awareness Month Kickoff page on About.com. Check out the link for information on her Check Your Neck, Change Your Life Campaign.

http://thyroid.about.com/b/2009/01/15/thyroid-awareness-month-2009htm.htm

It's estimated that there are 60 million Americans suffering from thyroid disease, a majority of which are undiagnosed. Getting your thyroid checked is simple so ask your doctor about it. It could change your life!

UPDATE:
I just finished reading a copy of the Thyroid Awareness Edition of Power Of Prevention, The Magazine. You can find it here. I have to say it is an excellent source of concise information on thyroid disease and a must read for anyone dealing with the issue or anyone who just wants to better understand the impact that the thyroid gland has on the body.

Feeling Better...

This is my 4th day back on my thyroid hormones and I have to say I am starting to feel better. I still got weak and winded from vacuuming last night, but after a nap I was better. This morning I actually got through blow drying my hair without a break! And I cleaned up the kitchen before heading out to work. So my energy level must be improving.

I also got a flu shot on Tuesday and have had swelling and tenderness in that arm so I put on an ice pack....trouble is I had pain in the opposite shoulder from bowling (what was I thinking?) so I put a heating pad on that side. I felt like one of those McDonald's Mc D.L.T burgers, the "keep the hot side hot and the cold side cold" ones from the 80's. Does anyone else remember those? The burger came in a two compartment styrofoam container with a bun, lettuce, and tomato on one side and the burger and bun on the other. That just seems funny now!

Anyhow, a lot of my face swelling has gone down. I've had these strange tingly feelings in different parts of my face the last two days. I guess that is the fluid leaving the tissues, but it feels weird and makes me want to wrinkle up my fore head or do those face stretches. My doctor had offered me some low dose prednisone (Steroid) for the swelling I had as it was causing me some pain in my ears. I declined but then decided that I would take him up on it and called to ask him to phone it in to the pharmacy. I'm hoping that will hasten the recovery a bit and not turn me into Arnie "Vwe vwant to pump...You up!" Swarzeneggar. He swore it wouldn't.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, got a couple of "to-do lists" and it appears I may have the energy to get them done!

Blog Revamp...

After 4 YEARS!!! I thought it time to revamp the look of the blog. Plus I have a few more readers than I thought I did so they're probably ready for a new look as well. Additionally, I've added google adsense. If you read a post and like it, please click on an ad that interests you. It's only a few cents but it may incentive-vise me to post more often and write more often and that may (or may not) be a good thing.

Also, if you have any suggestions for content, subject matter, or layout changes, please post a comment and let me know.

Thank for reading!

Grandma's Obituaries

Here are the links to my Grandma's obituaries in the Washington Missourian and the Connecticut Post:

http://www.emissourian.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20244206&BRD=1409&PAG=461&dept_id=33075&rfi=6

http://www.legacy.com/ctpost/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=123090440

RAIU Results

The results of my thyroid scan were several nodules found to be hot and one found to be cold. "Hot" means it behaved like active thyroid tissue but took up more iodine than the surrounding tissues and is thus "overactive". Cold means it took up little or no iodine and is not behaving like thyroid tissue. The cold one has a 10% - 15% chance of being "a problem" which mean 85% to 90% chance it is nothing to worry about and just something to watch. I'm being referred to an endocrinologist and will see him on Tuesday. I'll know more after that visit.

Based on my research it is likely that they will opt to do a FNA (Fine Needle Aspiration) biopsy of at least the cold nodule if not the hot ones as well. For now I just feel better knowing a little more and also being back on my medications. The brain fog has lifted slightly, but the swelling and fatigue are still around. It's only been two days but I'm sure it will continue to improve.

I recently found out that there are at least two other people in my family on my Mom's side with thyroid issues and one of them had actual surgery to remove part of the gland due to a nodule. It eases my mind knowing that there is a source (genetic) for this problem and that I am not alone in dealing with it.

My Coworkers Rock!

Some of my co-workers and co-bowlers had flowers sent to me today. It
really cheered me up and they are just an awesome group!

Grandma Elizabeth M. Ploskunyak

Grandma_B&W
Originally uploaded by dehmystic

Born: May 27, 1926
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Departed: January 17, 2009
New Haven, Missouri

The wake for Grandma was held this evening at Antioch Christian Church. It was nice that the family all gathered together to have time to pay our respects and grieve. Several picture panels from Grandma's 80th birthday and also a new panel that my cousin created were brought to the church. It was great to look over the photos and point out our favorites and talk about the memories, not just the ones with Grandma but these led to other stories and discussions about family and times. Very therapeutic.

There were quite a few people who came by to pay their respects, mostly church friends, or coworkers. One special person was Grandma's friend from the nursing home, Betty. She and Grandma spent time together and performed together in skits, went on trips that the home would arrange and play bingo or fold towels together. It was great that her son was able to bring her out to the church.

On Monday, I head to the hospital at 7:30 for my Thyroid scan then on to the funeral at 10:30am. We're passing on a meal at church and just the family will head over to the Szakals for sandwiches, drinks, and our usual family get together game of dominos.

I'll have to break away at 1 and head back to the hospital for another scan. Not sure what the plan will be after that. Possibly back to the Szakals....we'll see how it plays out.

Visitor

I've been working from home the last two days because this hypothyroid thing is playing havoc with my energy level and my emotional state. You can't cry or nap at work and still be respected so I've opted to work from home. I have radioactive iodine uptake tests on Monday and Tuesday which will hopefully show that the nodule is nothing to worry about and then its back on the meds and back to normal, well normal for me. Not too soon either, I am offically back to my pre-high blood pressure weight. I know that a lot of it is just fluid retention from the hormone deficiency but I still feel really depressed that I was unable to keep the weight off. The holiday and being off my meds did not help and I knew it was going to be a challenge but I really didn't expect to see that number on the scale again.

My Grandma is on hospice at the nursing home now. We really have no idea how long she will be able to hang on. She's on morphine and isn't responsive. She was able to get out for Thanksgiving and Christmas and was able to socialize a bit although she would get confused and mix up her time periods even then. She ended up in the hospital last week for a few days and it's been downhill since.

My cousin, Lena, is flying out here this weekend and staying with us. It will be nice to visit with extended family but sad due to the reason. I'm trying to get things prepared in our spare room in between some work stuff. We're going out on Saturday night for my Uncle's birthday which is actually Sunday. Happy B-Day Uncle Ed, I'm buying the Pina Coladas!

Other than that, be sure to check out DH's blog: http://thephotogeek.blogspot.com as he's been posting some awesome stuff again after a summer hiatus.

DH at Vallarta

After two margaritas...isn't he cute?

I am the ALPHA and the OMEGA 3...

If I take any more fish oil I will either grow scales or have mercury poisioning. Neither is appealing.

Birthday!

Celebrated my birthday by bowling with my brother, then meeting him, Anica, Mom and DH for dinner at Hawthorne. It was a nice laid back meal, with some fab gifts. A funny card from Kevin, and a gift card to the local liquor store (nicer!), plus an aromatherapy unit from Mom with lavender and citrus oils. Now I can get some wine AND relax...awesome!

Javi at La Gra

HOLIDAYS!

javi0137_n
Originally uploaded by dehmystic

The Holiday has officially started for us, we're off from work until Monday! We had our Departmental (I.S. and Accounting) Holiday lunch this afternoon at Hawthorne and headed out after that. Made a couple of quick stops around town then headed home for some last minute email and work related stuff...then hoping to relax a bit, make another cheesecake, and make sure all the gifts are wrapped and plans for tomorrow and the next day are set.

Thyroid Holidays

I found this old post on http://www.bigdumptruck.com/thyroid/ and thought it was pretty funny and timely.

And what holiday season would be complete without listening to Christmas Carols? None! Thyroid disease sufferers, whether over- or underactive, love nothing more than hunkering down in an overstuffed comfy chair with that special blankie and some snacks, to listen to holiday music and watch holiday specials on television. I could just do that all day…and I have!

And the more thyroid-specific, the better, right? Here is a list of my favorite Thyroid Carols:

All I Want for Christmas is my 2 TSH
Silent Night Sweats
What Diet is This
Goiter to the World
Little Saint Neck
Little Gland of Bethlehem
Away in a Brain Fog
Oh Come All Ye Top Docs
Oh Holy Nodule
Oh Thyroid Gland
Have Yourself a Hypo Little Christmas
Little Endocrinologist Boy

Not available in any store!

Here's a few more funny thyroid stories:
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/personalpages/a/hypobarbie.htm
http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa121301a.htm

Help Support the Franklin County Humane Society

Here's a copy of an email that a friend sent me today, please help with this cause. It only takes a few moments to get signed up!

Hey, all!

Consider joining the following website to vote for the Franklin County Humane Society to win a million dollar makeover. This is where we adopted Bog from, so of course it is close to our heart! :-)

http://www.zootoo.com

When you head to the site, there is a link by a red heart called "Help Your Shelter Win a Makeover!" and you sign up and then confirm your subscription. This automatically gets the shelter 50 points. You can do additional stuff to get more points! Even the top 20 shelters get $5,000. There was an article in the paper that stated that our shelter was at #37 - but when I registered, they were up to #35! :-)

Feel free to spread the word!

Even colder....Brrrrrrrrr

Holy Crap it's COLD!

Mom's Snowman Wreath

My Mom made this adorable wreath for a benefit raffle at the hospital.
They judged the wreaths before raffling them off and she won a First
Place Blue Ribbon!

Tis' the season

Sign

Sign on the women's restroom at Jimmy Johns sub shop. The women's
"can" I suppose. There's a mens version too!

Thinking about money...

This is the time of year when many people overspend because of the Holidays. This year, due to the economic situations, this appears to be less likely. Due to our personal experiences of having our own business and nearly going broke from it, I have a keen interest in money management and financial security. I also witnessed many arguments between my parents as I was growing up which centered around money. I won't go into that here but I did find a web site that dicusses financial topics in a clear, concise and down to earth way. check it out at:

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/

A recent post had this to say and I think they're rules to live by:

"I’d go so far to argue that dishonesty is at the root of almost every significant personal finance problem people have. Let’s walk through some of them.

Not planning ahead for the future If you tell yourself that you’ll always be young, your health will always hold out, and things will take care of themselves, you’re lying to yourself. Everyone ages. Everyone has misfortunes in life. Choosing not to plan for them to at least a degree is lying to yourself, nothing more, nothing less.

Arguing with your spouse about money Almost every spousal disagreement about money results from some level of dishonesty from one person or another. Either one partner is directly lying by hiding information or mis-stating facts or is indirectly lying by hiding expectations and hopes from their partner.

Spending money to feel better about yourself If you spend money on a regular basis in an attempt to make yourself feel happy - or even merely feel adequate - you’re lying to yourself by telling yourself that these material purchases will make you feel better. True happiness comes from within - external signals merely confuse you and mislead you.

Making poor investment choices Even poor investment decisions are a form of dishonesty. If you don’t adequately research your investment choices and invest the time to come up with a plan, you’re investing blindly and convincing yourself that blind investing decisions are good ones. The only way to invest honestly is to do the footwork - know what you’re buying and why, not just following everyone else.

When you fall into each of these traps - and many others - you’re falling into the trap of dishonesty. You’re convincing yourself - or attempting to convince others - of something that’s untrue (or, at the least, unfounded). Every time you fall into that trap, you end up hurting your own financial future.

Here are some tactics to add honesty to your life and decision-making processes.

Strive to always tell the truth about money, especially to your partner. Tell your partner the truth at all times. If you make a spending mistake and charge up a bill, tell your partner. If you’re unsure about your financial state, talk it over. Don’t hide things - be open with the information and with your feelings about it.

Face the real numbers at all times. When you get a credit card statement, don’t avoid looking at it. Look at the real numbers and face it. Keep track of your net worth and update it every month so you can see your real progress - and aren’t just relying on telling yourself everything is okay.

Don’t buy without a concrete reason. Work hard to separate emotional and tangential reasons from your buying. Every time you go to make a purchase, think about it carefully. Ask yourself why you’re making that purchase, and don’t make it unless you have a real reason for doing so.

Don’t make a financial move unless you know exactly what you’re doing and why. If you’re investing in something and you don’t know why, find out why. Research your investments, know your reasons for having them (both in terms of what’s good about the investment and what your goals are and how this investment will help you reach it), and if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.

Being honest with yourself and with those around you can go a very long way towards keeping your nose clean in terms of financial issues. As Mark Twain put it, “Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it.”

Dinner with friends...

We had a great dinner and visit with some friends in STL tonight. The
wine, food and conversation were amazing!

Sent from my iPhone

T4 on the down low...

Why oh why did my Doc decide to schedule a Thyroid Scan for January?! Now I am facing the Holidays without any supplemental thyroid hormones save for some T3 which I'm afraid to take too much of due to side effects....like sweating and tachycardia...ugh. I have been off the T4 for a week and half and I already feel like someone has beat me about the arms and legs with a rubber hose. Saturday was a total waste...I slept in until 9:30am, got up, drank coffee, fed the dogs, took them out, then took a NAP UNTIL 1pm. WHAT?! Then I was cranky and DH convinced me we needed to get out, so he drove me to dinner and to see Javi. We had a good time but I slept all the way home.

I know it is not Lacubrious at all to be complaining on a blog like this, but it's my blog and I can do what I want! Oh oh, here comes the irritability! Anyhow, I am feeling down but I only have 4 more weeks to go and then I can get back on track with my meds and hopefully the scan will show everything is normal. In the meantime, God help those who have to deal with me. I am using as much restraint as possible to avoid ripping you a new one if you annoy me the least little bit, but the process really exhausts me. Hopefully my Friday's off of work will help....a little anyway.

If I could save Javi in a bubble...

This is just me messing around with a new camera application on my iPhone.

Javier @ La Gra

300 Series on 10/22/08

120 Game on 10/8/08

Thanksgiving...

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year...tried to plan ahead to ward off the craziness.


DH and I have both been sick so I put off any shopping until the Tuesday night before, ran out and picked up everything I needed, then came home and proceeded to make broccoli rice casserole and a cheesecake with strawberry swirl.


On Wednesday night I had to bowl league, plus it was pre-Turkey Day happy hour so I kicked back a couple of drinks with the girls before calling it a night. Had a bit of a scare with Grandma getting a ride to the E.R. then back again, all okay there.


Thursday morning I got up, packed up the wine, took the dogs for a nice walk, then got ready to head over to my Aunt's and Uncle's place to meet everyone for dinner. Deep fried turkey this year, it was TASTY! Actually everything was good. Finished off the wine along with dessert. Mom's apple pie and pumpkin pie, Holly's birthday cupcakes, and cheesecake.


Then we vegged in front of the TV until 7-ish and then rolled home.


DH and I picked up a redbox movie (Get Smart) and went home to watch it.


On Friday we got up and headed to Williamsburg to see DH's Mom and Brother and have ANOTHER meal. All good there.....got to see Doug and Joyce's little dog Jocko. So Cute!



On Saturday, we went to Lowe's to pick up some stuff then DH convinced me to go bowl a few. My heart wasn't in it so the results were poor, but at least I got some practice in.

On Sunday, we met my Bro at the bowling alley for our every other week bowling bonding time. I kicked his butt...amazingly enough breaking 100 on all three games. Wish I could do that on league night!!!

After that DH and I went to see Quantum of Solace...then headed out for some Mexican food. That's when it really got crazy and we called the Weber's out for a little happy hour, which turned into a happy hours and concluded with ANOTHER bowling match, just 2 games a piece and a couple of drinks. Good thing I had Monday off from work! Whew!

Jason Mraz Show - 11/23/08

2008-09-23-mraz-FinePix 060_n
Originally uploaded by dehmystic

IT ROCKED!!! DH and I barely got tickets because I waited so long to call. We were on balcony 2 at the Fox Theater. DH got this great shot by dorking with the settings on our little point and shoot Fuji camera....amazing! So wish he could have brought the 30D.

One cool thing is that they were running a backdrop on stage that let you email a picture to it and it would randomly appear with whatever text you input. I sent one of DH and I that I took right there in our seats. The usher near us was in awe of our "skillz".

Sneak peek!

Other Blog Updated

http://domus-dulcis-domus.blogspot.com/

Check out our recent postings...

Javier is FINALLY playing!!!

What I'm drinking right now.

I got my spine and I've got my...

Sunmotel

Upright Animals

Kurtis is now available!

Improvement-Ville

Check our other blog...we're back on the train to Improvement-Ville!

http://domus-dulcis-domus.blogspot.com/

Sweety Linus

dogs0079_n
Originally uploaded by dehmystic

DH took this pic of Linus chewing his "soft" toy. We broke down and bought him one recently. He LOVES them but a little too much as all the prior stuffed toys have been shedded. With this one, he only gets it when we are there and if he starts biting it too much I just "Easy, don't tear it up!" and he stops and lays his head on it! He's a good boy!

Baby Dog!

dogs0104_n
Originally uploaded by dehmystic

DH took this sweet photo of Baby last night. What could be more Lacubrious than this face?!

Cheesecake with Strawberry Swirl

My first attempt at "doctoring" the classic cheesecake recipe. This is
at the request of my brother.

And here are the animals!

Wild Animal Bandages?!?!

Javier @ The Old Rock House

Auset @ The Old Rock House

Caleb @ The Old Rock House

Hermann, Mo.

Kansas!!!

Michael Stanley

Mmmmm Dewey's Pizza!

LacubriousToo

???

Khits Rock N' CholesteRoll 2008