As much fun as detoxing and cleansing your body out sounds, it's not nearly that much fun. Not nearly.
I started with the 3 day juice and fruit cleanse. Hey, it's summer! There's fresh fruit everywhere and I love fruit. What could be bad about this?
Have you ever had a colonoscopy? You know the whole 24 hours ahead of that when you cleanse your whole colon of everything that has ever been inside it? This is similar to that.
Here's the good thing; I have never eaten so much in my whole life. I am continually grazing on watermelon, pineapple, grapes, honeydew and jicama. It's all been really good, but I had to throw in the jicama for a crunch and a change in texture.
Oh! I was at Central Market today to load up on more fresh fruit and vegetable goodness and there among the grapes was this:
And I was starving, so I took one to try them. OH MY GOD!
This is the most horrific thing I have ever put in my mouth! Vile, disgusting, putrid with a lingering aftertaste that will make you want to chew your own arm off if it would make that flavor go away. And I have eaten some gross things but this was just the worst.
I had to sample every other grape in the store to finally get rid of it. Even now, the memory of that flavor is making me nauseous just writing about it. Please, for the love of God, get rid of these abominations.
If I have saved even one person from this atrocity, it was worth it.
I have no idea how long it will take my body to adjust to being mostly all vegan, and gluten-free. Nor whether this will be a long-term change or just a temporary thing. I am willing and ready to give it a try to regain my health and hopefully reverse some of the inflammation going on.
If you are so inclined, give me a thought or a prayer tomorrow as I am seeing the pulmonologist at long last. I don't know if the scope and biopsy of the lungs is still a reasonable choice or if I am past the stage where that would be valuable information.
And I am off to brush my teeth again to get rid of the memory of those disgusting fake-flavored grapes.
I saw a commercial for a new Amazon Prime series called Catastrophe and it looked interesting. So last night when I got into bed I pulled out the Kindle and headphones and watched it. And let me just interject here to say that I LOVE my headphones. Love them!
Let me find a picture of them so you can see all the goodness of them.
They are wood. They make them out of all different kinds of wood. But think about it, what conducts sound better than wood?
Pianos are made of wood. Guitars are wood. Violins are all wood.
See what I mean? Anyway, these things have wonderful sound.
Back to the show.
These are the stars/writers/creators named Rob and Sharon. And their characters are named . . . .
Rob and Sharon.
Within the first few minutes I was laughing so loud I damn near woke up sleeping deaf Mr. Ed. And before I knew it, that episode was over. Of course, I clicked on episode 2. And that's how it went for 6 episodes. And that seems to be it. 6 short 24 minute episodes was Season 1.
Anyhoo, as I was watching this in one of the scenes there is a phone call between Rob and his mother. And I kept thinking her voice sounds familiar but her face, not so much. Who the hell is she?
And during the credits there was her name! First look at this picture and see if you know who it is.
Did you guess?
Did you guess Princess Leia? Because I sure as hell did not.
Yep, that's Carrie Fisher. How do people change so much?
So if I were giving stars, which I am. This show gets 5 *****. It is that good.
I decided to strike while the iron was hot. And in typing that I FINALLY understand that damn saying! Yes!
But in my case it means more about continuing to write now that I have gotten the momentum rather than being hot, sweaty and an ironworker.
I do not remember ever, ever blogging about my health or health issues. Either the physical or the emotional ones. Now, that doesn't mean I haven't it just means I don't remember it. But if you asked me I would tell you I am pretty healthy. Healthy for a short fat person anyway. I mean, my blood pressure is always low, my temp is always on the low side, my blood sugar remains level, that sort of thing. However, my ailments were mounting. First there was the flares of arthritis in my fingers. I remember clearly the first time I felt that shooting, stabbing pain in my finger. It was in 1997 when we had just moved from Buenos Aires to Santiago, Chile and I sort of assumed it had to do with the carrying and unpacking of boxes.
After the finger then it moved to a different finger. And occasionally, like every year or two, not anything you could really see a pattern in, my lower back would go out. Sciatica is a bitch, let me tell you. After we moved here I got sick in the fall and everyone said "oh, your body is just adjusting to all the crap in the air. Once you go through a full year you will acclimate."
This is a big fat lie. Every single spring and fall since I have been sick with all the sinus and throat stuff. And it seems to get worse every year. And this year has been the mother of all illness years. For 1 year now I have had what they call a frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) and I have done 9 months of physical therapy and have about 85 - 90% of my range of motion back. While that was going on I had the worst sciatica I have ever had kick in and I was down. It was excruciating. And before THAT healed up I started with the sinus, cough stuff.
I said to myself, "hey, let's be proactive and get this treated asap and not let it go into bronchitis like last year". This was the first of April and 4 1/2 months later and oh so many doctors and prescriptions and x-rays and finally CAT scans they finally diagnosed me with a bad sinus infection and pneumonia. I am currently on my 5th round of antibiotics along with a shit ton of other drugs. I don't like taking this stuff. I would rather keep my liver around for the rest of my hopefully long life, thank you very much. Oh, and every thing I have is an inflammatory issue. The arthritis, pneumonia, everything.
And I started doing what I do best which is to worry and project possible events in the future that could be horrible. What I was seeing is that having one health scare on top of the next and then the next before any of them could be cleared up was not boding well for the coming months. And I got determined to put myself on the top of my list and do whatever I can to get healthy.
So I talked with a friend of mine who is a nutritionist and we are working on getting my adrenals and kidneys working and my lymph moving and that seems to involve a lot of cleansing and detoxing, so far.
I am not sure how well all this is working while I am still taking the medications for the pneumonia, but I am hopefully making some good habits that will be there to kick in once the meds are finished. What it seems to entail is getting rid of the meat, dairy and gluten to get detoxed. A vegan, gluten-free diet, if you will.
I have ordered some supplements that are arriving today and once I get things going I will post some updates on what is working and what isn't. Also, I am scheduled to see the pulmonologist next week to see about biopsying the nodules in my lungs from the damn pneumonia. Which sounds scary, but if it will get rid of the coughing I have been doing since the first of April, I am all for it. This is month 5 of The Cough That Wouldn't Quit. I have become a recluse because I don't want to be annoying to others. I am so annoying to my own self with all the damn coughing. Other than the coughing, I have absolutely no energy, no stamina. I swear I get one thing done in a day and then I am wiped out. I am blaming that on running at 93% oxygen saturation for the last 4 months. Also, I am too tired to run two thoughts together. You might be shocked at how long it is taking me to just type this!
The plan is to get rid of the pneumonia and the sinus infection and the fatigue and to gain some energy, some health and good spirit. Please, wish me well and send some good thoughts my way when you can.
I want to take a few minutes of your time to tell you how special your father was way back in the day. He could not have been any sweeter or more generous with me. I have no idea what kind of man he grew into, nor husband or father. But I know this, he was funny and he was gentle and up for adventure. I always felt completely safe with him and that is a huge deal for me.
When we knew each other I was at a place in my life that was not good. I was struggling to figure out who I was and what my place in the world would be. I had no self esteem and covered that up with being loud, out-going, gregarious and having a devil-may-care attitude about tomorrow. Let's face it, I was a mess. A loud, crazy-acting person who could not find her place to fit in. And he saw me as worthy of spending time with. And as a person worthy of opening his heart and life to. I never felt judged or coming up short.
We went to the movies, restaurants that he most likely could not afford, concerts, bars, parties at the lake, all the usual high school stuff. And there was lots of craziness going on. Picture the movie, "Dazed and Confused". That was parties at the lake. But I always knew he would make sure we got home safe. He spent many hours helping me study to pass a class that I hated or I would have never graduated. I really didn't even care about school at that point, but he still helped me.
After we graduated I moved away. I moved 600 miles away. Not because I wanted to and not because I wanted to be that far, but because I had no other place to live. Circumstances being what they were, it was best that I left my home. And I am eternally grateful for the chance I was given at a fresh start and this is where I ended up meeting my husband, but it was really sad for me to leave. We had no concept of what a long distance relationship would be like, especially back in the day of super expensive long distance calls or slow hand-written letters. But we tried it for a while, a good year of writing, occasional phone calls and even less-occasional visits. And then we made the decision to just give in and call it quits.
And I missed him. There were things that came up in my life and he would be the first person in my mind to call and share these things. But that time had passed and it was just not appropriate for me to do that, so I missed the opportunity to re-connect and stay friends.
So when I came across his sister on Facebook a few years ago, I immediately friended her and was glad to get in touch with his family again. I knew that he had married and had a child, as had I and I wanted to be respectful of those boundaries and not reach out to him directly. Occasionally, when I would speak with his sister she would say that he was very glad that she and I had gotten in touch and that he was happy to get my news through her. I thought we would bridge that gap and communicate directly sometime in the future.
But life being what it is, that future was not to be. The day that I got a message saying that he had passed away from a heart attack in the middle of the night was just unbelievable. I had to read the message 3 times before it soaked in to my brain that this is what had happened. I kept putting the word "almost" in there, as in, we almost lost him last night. Why would my brain do that? Made me wonder what else I am missing. This hit me like a ton of bricks. I know people say that but it truly felt like that. And I mourned the loss of his life, I mourned the lost chance to ever get to see him and look in his eyes and say thank you. Thank you for all the times you were sweet, loving, protective and strong. Missed opportunities to tell someone how much you appreciate them are just so damn sad. For weeks afterwards I had vivid dreams of him and I could smell him.
I have been working hard the past few years with a therapist and going to Al-Anon and learning how to not be such a codependent person. And one of the things I have learned is to quit making decisions based on fear. I don't want fear of the unknown or whatever to rule me and keep me from doing the things that I know I should. One of those things that I should be doing is grabbing opportunities to say the things that should be said. Say the thank yous, say the I love yous, and mostly say the I am so sorrys.
So, to the child of my high school boyfriend, I want to say how deeply sorry I am that your father was taken from you too soon. I am sorry that he and I were not friends and didn't get to sit with you and tell you stories of when he was young, handsome, sweet and loving. The story of us driving to Ft. Worth to a Gregg Allman concert and getting lost on the way home, THAT was a great story. I hope that other friends from different stages of his life will find a way to share memories with you, too.
Well now, it has been 18 months since my last post. Sounds like the start to a great confession, doesn't it?
I was feeling like I had nothing of value to say or to put down in black and white, so I just didn't. I missed the process and there were many times I would come across some topic and think "oooh, great blog material" but I just couldn't make the leap to actually opening up the blog and getting to it. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't laziness or lethargy but more like a feeling of that I needed to learn to express myself better.
So, here's my rant for today.
Quit describing food as "to die for" or as "crack".
Just stop.
There is not one food out there that is good enough to die for. And even more so, there is not one food I would want to ingest if you describe it as a drug that will make me lose my family, my home, my teeth, my self-respect and my desire for all those things.
Whew! That has been bothering me and I feel better just getting it off my chest.
Today is the 7th anniversary or sobriety birthday of my first-born child and what better day to tell people to stop trivializing crack? It's not funny, it's not cute and it just needs to stop. Can you imagine people saying "Hey, try this lip gloss. It's so good it's like shooting heroin!"
Also, it is almost the birthday of my sister who committed suicide so when you say "this cake is to die for" I don't find that appealing.
So, please, just stop with that shit.
Now that I have THAT out of my system I want to tell you something so cute that I read in the obits recently. There was an older man who passed whose name was Burl Lester, which is a great name all on its own. BUT! It gets better because Burl Lester has a twin sister by the name of Pearl Lessie. Now, how flipping cute is that? I guarantee you I would love their mama so much for just being that clever.
I have an uncle whose father was named Earl and he had a twin sister named Pearl too. Anyhoo, I had a list of the most popular names by state from the Social Security Administration and they also compiled a list of the weirdest name by state and now I can't find it. I WILL find it and post it soon. You won't believe the horrid shit people are naming their poor innocent offspring.
So, happy to be back and I will try to get to this on a somewhat regular basis and as always I appreciate any comments or input.
I know I just re-posted my Nana's Pineapple Upside Down Cake and said it was the best cake in the whole world. And it is.
But! Some people are chocolate lovers and think chocolate anything is better than all other choices. And for those people?
This is the cake. I have made this cake since I got this cookbook as a shower gift in 1980 right before I got married. You want to know how good this is? Well, every time I pick this book up it falls open to either this recipe or to a salad dressing recipe that I love.
And speaking of the cookbook, it is the Dallas Junior League Cookbook first published in 1976. I occasionally find copies of this book at used book stores. If you see one, pick it up. I promise you it's a keeper.
So without further ado, here is the best chocolate cake recipe you will ever make.
Old-fashioned Chocolate Cake
recipe submitted by Mrs. Searcy Ferguson, Jr.
1 stick butter
4 Tbsp. cocoa
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup water
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
Icing:
1 stick butter
4 Tbsp. cocoa
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 lb. box powdered sugar
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 tsp. vanilla
In a saucepan put butter, cocoa, shortening, and water and bring to a boil. Pour over the sifted flour and sugar. Add eggs, buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla and beat well. Grease and flour the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan and pour in batter and bake at 350 F. for 40 minutes.
For icing: Bring butter, milk, and cocoa to a boil. Sift powdered sugar and pour liquid over it. Beat with cream cheese. Add pecans and vanilla and pour over hot cake.
**My notes: Yes, pour the icing over the HOT cake and let it stand. It sort of turns into a 3 layer affair. Cake on bottom, fudgy middle and icing on top. It has to be served in this pan so make sure you bake it in a presentable pan.
Also, I think it is just a tad too sweet. I think I might use less sugar the next time I make it. But try it with the full 2 cups the first time you make it to see what you think.
A small scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side or a glass of milk and boy, oh boy, is that good.
Here is the recipe for my Nana's Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I swear to you that this is the single best cake ever made.
Melt a stick of butter in a heavy cast iron skillet. Then add 1 cup of brown sugar and bring this to a boil. Take a large (around 16 oz.) can of crushed pineapple and drain it well, reserving the juice. Then add the pineapple to the skillet and mix well. Let this continue to simmer on low heat.
Meanwhile, separate 3 eggs and to the yolks add 1 cup of white sugar and beat well and add 1 cup of the reserved pineapple juice. Then mix in 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 tsp. baking powder.
In a separate bowl, beat the 3 egg whites till stiff. Then fold into the batter mixture. Spread this over the pineapple and bake at 375 F for about 25 to 35 minutes. Let stand to cool in the skillet and invert on to a cake plate. Keep away from large dogs.
