Less Hustle More Coffee

Well, it’s payroll day but I got up early to do a blog entry since I’m feeling better. I’m not out of the woods yet as whatever things I eat now have to be able to successfully “complete their journey”. But I’m pretty confident in it. There is little to no pain now. My stomach is not as tender in that area. I do however get very full on even just water – so things are not totally up to par. My real appetite is not back either as you would think I’d be fiercely hungry after 2 days of not eating anything but liquids and jello and broth – mainly liquids. However, I’ve had moments of hunger in which I’ve craved a piece of bread, eggs, and of all things a bologna sandwich with mayo. lol.

Yesterday at 7 a.m. I went to West Wilson Medical office and had my follow up. The doc said “oh I can tell you feel better” (I was also dressed in work attire, had make up on, and had done my hair). She was so confident I was better so she told me to go on to work that she felt the white count would be ok but she would call if it came out low. I didn’t get a call so I guess we are good. She told me not to eat meat for a week, but to eat softer things and work my way up. So George and I brainstormed back on forth on email a few grocery items (the dogs needed more Fresh Pet anyway). And when I got home at 6, he left out for grocery shopping again for me. Bless him.

The day was pretty easy yesterday as far as getting through and feeling good. I had a lot of things hanging over as I still needed to do about half of last week’s work load since I was working on taxes and unemployment and year end stuff. Of course while trying to get things done payroll and HR are getting slammed with requests for their W-2 saying that did not get theirs yet b/c they had an address change. I don’t know if these are younger folks (new workers in the work force) but most of know if you move to change your address with your employer so you get your W-2. Shaking my head here. In the meantime we are trying to deal with all that and do the 2nd issue of W-2’s. Nothing new. I’ve been involved with payroll many times before and that is the norm. lol. Either that or they lose it so you get another surge in April. lol. Just part of the business. Still amusing to me, since I’m such a planner. lol. It seems like such an obvious thing. It’s like if you know you are going to make a recipe, you gotta have the ingredients. You gotta go to the store and have a way to get there. When you pay taxes, you gotta have the documents to do so and if it’s mailed to you – it’s not like it has a loader that will find you (at least not yet) – it takes a correct address. lol. So we play the game. It’s ok. Still amusing.

I’m also hoping that people are not freaking out that I was at work yesterday after having a fever on the weekend and hearing that I had stomach issues. Some freak out when they don’t understand. I guess I get it if people hear and don’t know what is going on and speak before they fail to find out what has transpired. Rumors spread like wild fire. Yes I was very ill. This can be fatal if not handled quickly and appropriately. (But gosh folks. Do your research please before going to others and whooping up a conversation and subsequent panic). No I’m not contagious. I’ve been very open about what is going on. So it’s not so hard to google diverticulitis to realize that I am not going to spread an epidemic. No I’ve not been to China and don’t have the Corona virus. It’s gonna be ok. (Get back to work, lol).

Some days you kind of feel like Emelia out on the ranch, lol:

This is Katy’s niece that came to visit on the ranch. I took the liberty to “snag” the photo since there were no faces. I love love love this photo. I love the curiosity of the cows. One or two would not be as funny, but there is something hilarious about that many cows just standing there looking at you. Why are they so taken with things? Cracks me up!

Ok someone wanted the recipe for the Chili Mac Casserole. It’s on Food.com and search for Chili Mac. I will try to put a link here: CHILI MAC CASSEROLE RECIPE

But here is the screen shot. I did this while waiting in the waiting room yesterday, lol.

Well it looks like it didn’t open all the directions, sorry, but I think you have enough here to find it on line and well, it really wasn’t that difficult. You just made the macaroni – it doesn’t take much – and cook it al dente (not all the way b/c it keeps cooking in the oven). You make the sauce kinda like you are building up a spaghetti sauce, starting with the onions beef, chili peppers, etc. Then you mix it up in a casserole dish with the beans and bake it – according to directions. I mean it’s really mostly cooked at that point so just until it’s bubbly – about 30 to 40 minutes I think and add the cheese and then continue baking.

We decided this recipe was a keeper. I had rather have something better than enriched flour noodles next time. But this time I wanted to use elbow macaroni as I love the shape. It’s hard to find elbow macaroni in a healthy form, lol. So I will probably switch to spirals or rotini as I’ve seen some of those out there. I’m thinking it needs to be a hearty size pasta because it cooks twice. Spaghetti would get so limp and almost disappear.

It’s a great dish for family on a winter night, or super bowl, or Friday nights! Even weeknights b/c it’s easy to fix. A fun version of this would be to add it over tortilla chips, and toss on a dollop of sour cream. Just saying.

Someone else wanted the apps for the web cams. I will take a screen shot of that on my phone so you can see the app icon, but… I think it is just called “Web Cams” it’s kindof a green and white icon with a camera shape. I just realized it’s almost six and even though I got up at 4, my blog time is almost gone. It’s payroll closing day too. I normally don’t blog on Tuesday b/c of that. But I got up early. My how time flies.

Anyway, the past day I’ve been trying to figure out how to avoid this diverticulitis thing. I mean before there was always warning signs. No warning this time and it was different. Usually constipation is a huge sign. There was no issue.

I mean we can blame it on popcorn but they say as long as you are not constipated then things like popcorn and nuts and seeds are not a problem. The medical studies have said it appears to not be the case.

So yes, pop corn has been involved every time I’ve had it but I eat pop corn every week. I eat nuts every week. I also drink water every week, rice every week, ____, blah blah blah every week so just b/c it was eaten does not mean it was the culprit statistically. You can say anything is likely to be the cause (I eat a lot of stuff during the week) if you are looking at statistics. I DID wonder if leaning over my desk for countless hours on end mashing against my midsection made it happen – I mean reasonably you could conclude that “could” be the problem. I noticed how hard I was leaning over my desk days before this occurred as I had pushed my monitors back to have work space in front of me. Well today I moved it back forward closer to me so that will not be an issue. I talked to IT about a standing desk as well as I know sitting all the time is not really good for this condition either. I need to move around more. But the cost is $500 for a standing desk and they are asking us to cut office supply cost. So I hate to ask for one. I see others with them though. It’s something to think about. Anyway since we are chest deep in storage boxes as archives has not been picked up yet, I have a great standing desk for a temporary option for when I am doing something that doesn’t take the computer. I did time sheets yesterday for the initial look through and stood and got that done. So I will figure it out. I just don’t want to keep having these episodes and it really bothers me how this came up so quick without warning. What was different? Who really knows, I just don’t want it to happen again so I’m trying to stand more, move around more, and yes, cutting out popcorn and anything with sharp ridges. I just don’t know if I can give up tomatoes. lol I’m not sure I can give up popcorn either. I’m bothered by the lack of warning signs so that you can get yourself out of this. But I guess it is what it is. I’ll probably do more research. But I kinda think that things like putting pressure against your tummy and sitting too long can play a part. So I’ll focus on that. So weird. You gotta try to fix something. I don’t want it to happen again! I mean at some point it seems like the colon would just get so funky you would finally have to have surgery and I don’t want that.

Now that I am taking the antibiotics I have to watch the kidneys. So I have cranberry juice and yogurt going on for today’s world.

And I need to hurry and get dressed and lunch packed, make up done and hair done and out of here. I’d like to be leaving right now but…I should have known if I sat down to blog I’d be later than intended. But sometimes you just got to blog your feelings out!

Ya’ll have a great day. Probably be back in – in a couple of days! Much to do!