Less Hustle More Coffee

So, something happened a couple of weeks ago. Thursday went missing. lol. It’s aggravating when things start to disappear. But my life has been in somewhat of a shuffle this month. I always take good care of things and try so hard to put things back where they go so they don’t get lost. I keep my pill case in my work bag. At work, I always take my meds for the morning and then toss the pill box back to my work bag and the next morning when I get the new one out of the case I put the old one (yesterday’s) back in the case. Well I had other things in my work bag too, including a box of Triscuit crackers and other things.

I told George I’d lost Thursday. It was kinda funny. I just had used a baggy for the pills in hopes it would show up. Well it did.

I got a text from George that said. I found Thursday. It was in the Triscuit box. lol lol

So you are looking at my pill box and wonder what all those pills are? No problem.

I only take one Rx and that is for blood pressure. I’ve refused Metformin and other drugs. I chose to just eat better and take supplements and exercise more. I have a physical tomorrow and we’ll see how I do. Still prefer not to put a lot of chemicals in my body but I’m ok with supplements and vitamins. I have found a mix that finally work for me to aid me in staying as healthy as I can to avoid diverticulitis, lethargy, brain fog, moodiness, helps with heart issues, etc. Who knows if I’ve chosen well but I’ve come off the pricy multi-level marketing (MLM) vitamins and supplements that I liked, for a less expensive approach. I think I was getting overloaded with the MLM stuff anyway. It’s been confusing making the switch in the last year and a half, and who’s to say I won’t still mix things up from time to time.

Here is what goes in my pill box:

• Rx for blood pressure
• D3 – it’s just so important for regulating everything and women don’t get enough
• Vitamin C is there because somedays I don’t get enough fresh fruit in. If I do I will leave it off.
• Active B Complex – This has been vital for my emotional well being. If I get sad and moody – I probably need more veggies, greens, fruits, and B-Complex! If I don’t take this B Complex as a supplement I start having bad days.
• Omega-3 – (Fish oil). I just recently started taking this for my heart as we don’t get enough fish in our diets. I really need to work at that. I used to eat a lot of salmon but it’s gotten expensive and the restaurants are different in the new area I work. I eat tuna fish but not near enough. This one has a vanilla taste and is much smaller of a pill to swallow. I first ordered some big honkers and had to give those to George as I was afraid I’d choke.
• I have to take Calcium for my bones per doctors orders, but I don’t take near enough. I kinda felt like the calcium was blocking my blood pressure for working. I am only suspicious of that. But I try to take half of what he wanted me to at an alternate time of day from my Rx. I also try to eat mozzarella cheese or the lower fat cheese sticks, and I drink Glucerna “Snack” drinks periodically all in an effort for increase dairy with doing damage. We have been eating more sour cream though b/c some of it comes with Hello Fresh in making the drizzle over sauces. Might be good, might be bad.
• And turmeric is supposed to be good for inflammation and several other things so I faithfully take it now.

I take some in the a.m and some in the afternoon, just to NOT take so much at once.

Also at night I have my probiotics and magnesium and then a couple of squirts of melatonin. For the most part these things tend to work.

Do you have certain supplements that you take? Let me know if you have found something that works well and why you like it.

Updates

So I got a crown at the dentist office Monday morning and was very impressed with their service and the crown itself. They brought a warmed blanket out. I’ve never had that before. And the technology was incredible. They had my tooth up on a 3 D screen and got it exact. I cannot tell the crown from my real tooth. It was so fascinating how they used graphics to do it. I wish I’d gotten a pic for the blog but my phone was in my purse across the room and I was under a warm blanket. They even provided dark glasses for over my regular glasses so the dentist light wouldn’t be in my eyes. Oh my gosh I love this dentist office. They also put on HGTV for me. Does your dentist do all that? Come move to Mount Juliet, just for the dentist, lol!

Monday night George fixed us a great meal! A good salad and then also the Hello Fresh meal as seen below. So good with the yogurt sauce. I forgot what it was called but it’s kindof a Greek dish. Hello Fresh always has good flavors and layers of flavor.

Also Monday night George and I had to go get my car. We had put it back in the shop (again) Sunday once we found someone that had a key/note drop off. Our favorite place had shut down. George had a half day Monday and the car was ready so he ran by and paid for it and then we went to pick it up Monday night.

Mom had asked every day since we borrowed it if we got the car fixed and/or if we brought the car back so it makes me uncomfortable borrowing it. I’m not sure if she is worried we are not going to bring it back or maybe she was just genuinely curious but every day she asks “did you bring my car back?” So I will be glad to get the car back over there so she won’t have to worry about it or ask about it every day, lol.

Mom’s ’bout with gout is back. Tuesday I get to work and about to start payroll and Mom calls and says she can’t walk at all that the gout is back and that she can’t feed Fancy or let her out and she needs me to come over after I do payroll. I told her I’d come at lunch so Fancy would not have to cross her legs. The dog uses paper most of the time but Mom lets her out some. Mom said not to come at lunch and admitted that she had been able to get the dog some dry food and let her out once already. She wanted me to come after payroll and not at lunch. She gave me a list of things to get at the grocery and added to it with texts during the day. She accidentally texted the neighbor to bring her cherry juice thinking she was texting me. So the neighbor brought cherry juice. lol She also asked me to stop and get her dinner. I called George and told him I’d be home for dinner eventually that I had to go do all that.

I ended up leaving around 3:15. I made good progress with payroll and did about three tax returns while waiting for our deposit to load to the bank. I only have two returns left. It broke my heart to have to pay penalties and late fees and interest fees yesterday, but when you don’t get the info in time you can’t do a month work of work in the last week of the month, so everyone has no choice but to live with the results. We had special circumstances I guess but still, it’s not how I like to do things. I like to get things done early and certainly by on time.

I went to Kroger and got Mom’s things and killed two birds with one stone by buying her baked chicken from the deli and it will take care of several meals for her. I got potato salad also and some kind of chicken salad with cranberry and pecan for her to eat for lunch and a pre made salad that has to be eaten in the next day or so. Hopefully this will get her taken care of til she can get around better. So I took care of the dog, fed her, put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, got her mail and she asked if I brought her car back, again. “No Mom when I left the house this morning I didn’t know I was coming over here so I’m in my car.”

Fancy’s eyes look swollen around the rim of her eye like she is allergic to something. Fancy looked rough yesterday. She will be to the vet soon.

The phone call yesterday has made George and I realize that assisted living is coming sooner rather than later. We have already known it would be a short stint in the house but if she keeps getting gout, which can do permanent damage if not put in control, she will be less likely to get around much. So we began talking about where do we go from here. George and I have to work still. We are not at the point of retiring and cannot just go and take care of Mom’s needs every day. I’ve said before we are not assisted living staff. The past few days have already been so stressful for me with everything going on: car, work crunch as QE is late and it’s already month end again, family birthday’s to prepare for, plans being made for this and that, and the dog, and Mom’s dog, and all of Mom’s needs stacking up. I’m about to lose my sanity. It’s just hard working FT and trying to deal with everything we have been dealing with. It’s times like these when I remember my sibling is out there living her best life hanging out on beaches, and not here to pitch in to help the mother that raised her. It’s her choice but I have to give it to God continually in prayer because I’m trying not to sin during these times when family needs to be supporting one another. My sister knew this was coming I guess I didn’t want any part of it. But God keeps telling me to take one day at a time. Otherwise I will end up unable to function. When I get overwhelmed to a point, I get paralyzed and can’t do anything and have to shut down for a day or two.

I immediately googled assisted living places near us. And George knows of an agency that helps you find a place for Mom. But he said it goes quickly. Once you sign up with them Mom would be in a place within 6 to 8 weeks. So I think it is time to start considering this. She is going to have to eat better. My guess is she is eating only starches and sugar and her body is reacting. She needs greens and fruits and grains (not white bread) and a balanced diet. But I think she reaches for unhealthy things and apparently doesn’t want to cook anymore. She is so addicted to sugar. Something really needs to drastically change because we can’t just get to work and be called to come take care of her. I already miss enough work as it is. This is not working for us. I don’t mind taking her things once or twice a week but we just can’t be there every time we get a call. This has all just been so much. I never dreamed things would be like this. With Dad dying, my sister taking off into the blue yonder and leaving us here to deal with this, and the time this would all take. I don’t mind helping – that is not the point. If I minded, I’d be on the beach too. But I’m doing my God given responsibilities but it is still overwhelming trying to get it all done. Time is the problem. I’m behind on everything in life. The older I get the more behind I get. Well at work I’m not the reason for the lateness, it’s because the numbers were not given to me in time but all the rest, it’s just because there is no time to cover it all.

We are also headed into the busy time of the year and that scares me. Of course we are and of course we will be stupidly and insanely busy again. So I am going to just have to rely on God to get me through these insecure times.

Today I have my physical at 7:00 a.m. I am sure my BP will be sky high. I’m behind at work and have all these appts this week. But it is what it is. I’m trying to be happy and take one day at a time.

Overnight I felt I was coming down with something. The dentist asst and dentist sounded like they had a cold, but they were wearing masks. I just felt really run down over night. I didn’t exercise this morning but rested instead as I sat under a quilt and sipped coffee. Anyway off to the doc and then to work and will check on Mom. Her foot was a little better but it hurt to walk on it. George said you can walk with gout but it is painful. I reminded him she had a lot more weight on her than he did.

Anyway, we’ll see how the rest of the week goes and where we go from here. But if things don’t change I think we are going to have to talk about assisted living where she can be assisted and fed three meals and have her needs taken care of. We just can’t wait on her like they can.

I’ve not forgotten that several of you asked for recipes of things cooked/fixed in my YouTube video. I have pulled the recipes and have them here and will get them posted in the next few days. I’ve run out of time today. :-).