Woo Girls

Yesterday turned out to be a fairly lazy day. I got some things done, but at a very slow pace in between a lot of slacking off.

Finished our seating chart for the wedding, and it looks pretty damn professional if I do say so myself. Which, is admittedly pretty unnecessary considering it's for me. It's not like I'm making it for a client, but hey, it's pretty! We have roughly 95 guests coming to our wedding, roughly twenty of them being children.

It's a bit higher of a count than I expected, and it doesn't seem like that many people looking at the list. It is though; I double counted.

Got a letter in the mail from Geisinger today that they're cancelling my insurance as of 9/30 for non-payment, and to call by 10/31 to avoid cancellation.

Extra Virgin

I was so tired last night. I was a bit worried I'd read the blog I wrote last night and what I thought was an account of my day would read more like 'purple unicorns glitter gasodjoiwi pizza woijiodfjso cheesecake'. Thankfully that was not the case. We went to bed and Chris put on Scream because he's in Halloween mode and I've never seen it. I'm a child when it comes to horror movies. I'm always paranoid I'm going to have nightmares and what not.

Wedding Hair

Wow, today has been insanely busy. There's so much more that I would have liked to get accomplished, but just not enough time or spoons in a day.

Woke up about a half hour before the alarm would have went off and did some things around the house. Tinkered around with the blog a bit and discovered all types of cool features I didn't realize existed. You'll be seeing the layout and features here gradually changing, and a great deal of things under construction until after the wedding when I have more time to really dedicate to making everything look fabulous. I'm really excited about it. It lets me share more with all of you even more effectively while simultaneously making this endeavor even more enjoyable and profitable for me. Win/win!

The day started out with my bagillionth wedding dress fitting. My dress is getting really pretty, but they weren't nearly as far with it as I expected them to be by now. They don't have much to get done yet though, so I expect to get it shortly after my final fitting next week. It's pretty. I just hope Chris is wowed by it. Every girl wants that 'Oh my gosh' reaction from their husband when they walk down the aisle. I mean, I can't exactly certify that fact, but I'm running with it.

My poor Mom, they altered her dress and put the shoulder straps together wrong totally flipping the angle of the dress and making it look terrible. I don't know how they did it. Luckily they still had the same dress in another size that I think fits her perfectly fine.

Due to cold weather by our wedding day everyone's breaking out shrugs for their dresses, but they're busting them out in the wrong colors. Mostly white ones are appearing. I haven't been bridezillay about much, but I don't want my wedding party looking like a purple and white mismatched Easter basket. Go shopping for gray peoples! Gosh! Hahah.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Pancakes

Today's been a really great day here. Chris and I went to bed super late once again. We started watching Food Network's 'Worst Cooks in America' last night on Netflix. We watched eight episodes last night. It's a really fun show to watch. You learn some great cooking tips, feel a great deal better about your own cooking skills (hopefully), and get to laugh at all the ridiculous stuff they do.

Chris and I have had some good laughs together watching it, and it's fun to try to pick who's going to win, and who's going to get kicked off next.

Chris helped me get the chores done around the house, and things got knocked out pretty quickly. Laundry was put away, pets were fed, dishes were washed, straightened the house.

After some ridiculous cravings last night resulting from surrendering on my steroid taper and going back to 15mgs, I decided to make chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes. Chris was really excited about the chocolate chip part. He was even nice enough to peel, cube, and boil a neck pumpkin from our garden for me. Knife work with dense food items are very hard on my hands because of the rheumatoid arthritis. So I never refuse help when it's available.

This recipe was a bit of an experiment for me, and I'm pretty proud of it. They're really tasty.

Man's Unborn Twin is the Biological Father of his Son

So I was reading this article: Man Fails Paternity Test Because Unborn Twin Is The Biological Father Of His Son

And while it sounds like a headline you'd read on the front of one of those trashy magazines right next to 'My Pet Cat Controls my Husband's Mind', it's actually real. Mind blown.

You'll have to read the article for yourself to get all the details of it, but the short version is that the guy in question got fertility treatment with his wife done at a clinic. Originally they assumed samples got mixed up when the babies blood type was off based upon that of the parent's.

After lots of testing they discovered the father was a chimera. Two separate DNA's in one person. His semen was 90% his DNA, and 10% the DNA of his twin brother, that is part of him.

Crazy right?

I can't imagine getting news like that. Finding out that my twin is literally part of me. It makes me curious about some cases of multiple personality disorder. I wonder if a small portion of them are a result of chimerism?

We don't really know where consciousness is stored, and if a body can hold two separate DNA's what's to say there can't be two separate consciousnesses? I can't imagine how confusing that would be.

Floid, a Maine Coon Chimera

There's tons of cases of conjoined twins, some of them more extreme than others, but in those cases it's obvious there is more than one being present. In a case like this though it's the existence of two separate people in one otherwise seemingly normal body.

Turtle Power!

We've only been awake for about four hours so far and today has already been crazy. We stayed up pretty late last night, and I actually slept really good for a change which was nice. We got up at about one, Chris helped me do some chores around the house, and then we had to scurry off to my rheumatology appointment.

I love having Chris with at my appointments. He remembers things that I forget about. Also I have a bad habit of downgrading my symptoms and pain for some reason. While I might tell the doctor that I've been okay, Chris is quick to jump in and say that I've been struggling to wash dishes all week because my hands hurt.

The doctor was actually running pretty on time. He's usually running extremely late, but we never mind because he's one of the few doctors that runs late because he actually spends time with his patients. They really should schedule his appointments differently though, but oh well.

Anne was his nurse today and I haven't seen her in ages. He usually has Ashley, she must be on vacation or something. Anne was excited to hear about the wedding. She checked my vitals, my BP was great, 110/70. My temperature on the other hand was 101 for some reason. Not sure why because I feel fine. Well, no worse than usually that is. Haha.

Griffin came in and we talked about Jefferson and how I was feeling. He agrees with their erythromelalgia and fibromyalgia diagnosis. We played the 'does this hurt?' game. He's keeping me on the Xeljanz, upped my Rasuvo dose to 25mgs. I told him how the longer I was down to 10mgs of steroids the worse I was starting to feel instead of getting better with time. He says I've been on steroids for years so as the dose starts to get lower it's going to be harder and harder. He said I should wait until after the wedding and start doing 15mgs two days in a row, and then 10mgs, and then 15mgs two days in a row, so on and so forth. Then starting the new year start doing every other day switch between 15mgs and 10mgs. I'm determined to get off of this crap, and I'm glad he's supportive of it. Chris brought up what a jerk Kolva was about us getting married, Griffin was like well that's not very nice. He was like I think that just shows just how meant to be you guys are. He gave me some scripts for the next two months so I don't have to worry about stopping in until my next appointment. And some samples to hold me over until he gets some things put through and changed with the specialty pharmacies.

Griffin was amused by my Ninja Turtle Band-Aids I had on.

I love wearing fun Band-Aids. People can be way too serious. Why not make something sucky (a booboo) more positive?

Salmon with Lemon Dill Sauce

Tonight for dinner I'm making us salmon with lemon dill sauce. So far it's been an awesome dish to make.

To make it, take a medium baking pan whether it be throw away aluminum or glass and lightly butter it. Melt 1/4 cup butter or margarine (half a stick) in the microwave. I've found 30 seconds does a good job of it.

Mix 5 tablespoons of lemon juice, a tablespoon of dill weed, 1 and a half minced garlic cloves, a dash of onion powder, and however much sea salt and pepper make your little heart happy into the butter.

Put a pound of salmon (generally four store bought filets) into the baking dish and pour the mixture over it. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes in an oven that's been preheated to 350 degrees. The salmon should flake easily with a fork when it's finished.

Random Acts of Kindness

Once the stiffness wore off I actually got a lot done today. Anyone with RA will tell you that if you stay in one place for too long (like bed) it takes awhile to grease up the joints.

Got all the little trash cans collected, cleaned up Tux's mess (masterpiece), collected the laundry, made two gallons of juice, and straightened the house. Chris took the scrap out and burned it for me, and is going to take out the garbage and recycling.

We watched The Flash for awhile. We really enjoy this show. I suggest it. It makes sense whether or not you watch other Marvel shows, but if you do there's some pieces that'll excite you more. I'm thinking we're going to likely finish the first season today.

The Giants beat the Cowboys yesterday which was fun. Chris is a Cowboys fan; I'm a Giants fan. So, it's always fun here when they play against each other.

I planned our dinner for tonight: Salmon with Lemon Dill Sauce, Rice Pilaf, and a vegetable yet to be determined. Got a pound of salmon out of the freezer to thaw. I'll let you know if it's a rave or a bust.

Chris and I went to the store for my missing ingredient, dill weed. Also to grab a bag of chips and some rice pilaf for a side.

Tuxcasso?

I managed some determination to at least get the dishes done last night, and Chris was kind enough to cook dinner. Now of course, it looks like I did no dishes. I got a whole lot of nothing done yesterday. Today seems a bit more promising, but I'm still not back to what I usually do in a day.

Relaxing when I feel like garbage is really hard for me. I feel like I need to tough through it. Show the disease who's boss! All that really does though is make me feel like garbage for even longer.When I just rest though I wind up getting anxious about all the things that aren't getting done that are going to pile up into a monstrous disaster. 

Chris is really great about helping me with things that I need done. When it comes to regular chores though he's the King of 'It can wait till later'. He doesn't understand how the piling recycling, dishes, and laundry lying about cause me anxiety. Things are easier for me to accomplish in small doses. Mountains of shit to do all at once make me sad. So as I watch them turn into mountains it makes me anxious.

But I'm trying to let it go until I feel back to normal. Trying.

White Flag

Tux is extremely talkative today.

He's usually only this talkative when he wants something, but he has all the basics so I'm not sure what he's up to.

He was laying on top of Daisy earlier giving her a bath. It was adorable, and in his defense she really does need one.

I woke up this morning feeling awful. I've been down to 10mgs of steroids for a little over a week now and I assumed it would get better with time. Instead though it's getting worse.

My joints were all ridiculously stiff and painful this morning, and it's not letting up. I don't want to feel like crap for our wedding and honeymoon so I surrendered and went back to 15mgs.

Honestly, feeling like this makes me worry how I'm ever going to tolerate totally getting off of them. Which sucks, because I really want to.

The way I'm feeling today not much is going to get accomplished.

For the Aspiring Cult Leader

This news article is ridiculous!

A friend of mine shared a news article about a real estate listing in Texas for this house:

It has 46 bedrooms, and 26 full bathrooms.

What the fuck does one do with that much space?

Semi-Homemade Apple Galette

Man am I on a roll of doing stuff today. Unfortunately, I'm not getting anything done that I need to do, but there's time. We got a ton of Fuji apples at the farmers market and I've been craving something sweet and fall themed. So, I decided to tackle this Apple Galette.

We had to run to the store again today because I was missing ingredients. I needed lemon juice, heavy whipping cream, and raw sugar. I've never baked with raw sugar so I was a bit intrigued about that.

It honestly wasn't very hard at all, and clean-up was minimal. Chris peeled four small Fuji apples for me. I used an apple corer/slicer to cut them, and then cut the slices in half again. I put three and a half small apples into a mixing bowl and added 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice, and a sprinkle of cinnamon and mixed it up.

I put a piece of parchment paper on a baking tray and unrolled a piece of Pillsbury pre-made pie crust.

Off-Balance

Today's been a busy day. Started it off putting my beef in the crock pot. I used a Hawaiian BBQ sauce, half a can of Pepsi, salt, and pepper. I put it on low for eight hours. I'm hoping it gets good because we've never used this flavor of BBQ before, and when I opened it later to check on it the BBQ smelled questionable. We'll see.

Tux created yet another disastrous mess out of his litter today. On the suggestion of a friend I removed the liner from his litter pan. Hoping that makes a difference. Otherwise I may need to go out and purchase a different style box.

We got our wedding programs back, cut, from my grandmother's brother. They look nice. I'm pretty proud of them. They took me awhile, but saved us some money.

Free Candy

Tux tried to get a shower with me, and he quickly learned that he had made a huge mistake and promptly ran away.

Watched The Flash for a bit and made fish sticks, mushroom rice, and southern style butter beans for dinner. Ran out to the store with Chris. Now he's playing Fallout. We preordered Fallout 4 ages ago and the strategy guide. He's really excited for it to come out, but I told him no playing it until after the wedding and honeymoon. Otherwise, he's going to be completely distracted and that would suck.

It's soon only 21 days (three weeks) until the wedding. I still need to write the hand fasting ceremony. Probably do that tomorrow. I'm certain there's something silly we're going to totally forget about. Unity candle and no lighter, something. Hopefully nothing too serious. Luckily if it is the lighter we forget Chris generally has like six of them in his pockets.

Imaginary Arguments

Today was my neurology appointment. Somehow we overslept and were almost late. Luckily my grandmother called and woke us up at about twenty of ten. My appointment was for ten. I never got dressed so quick. I'm not sure if I turned off the alarm and just don't remember it, or if the batteries are dying on the clock and it never actually beeped.

We got there on time though. My neurologist was running late though as usual. Where his office is positioned it's a decent walk and my ankle was killing me the entire time. Later when I came home I discovered I forgot to take my meds last night before bed. That'll do it. I've been really bad with that lately, especially my blood thinner injections. I need to do better. Chris used to be really good about reminding me which was helpful. I need to set an alarm on my tablet for it or something.

A Hen Into the Wild

Turns out no one can outrun pain. Life is tragic. But it's also precious, and sweet, and extraordinary.  

-The Flash

Today was an off day for me. It started out great.

Went to the dress shop with my Mom, Gran, Auntie Sharon, and Maggie for the zillionth fitting of my wedding dress. It's really looking nice. They didn't get a ton done since my last fitting, but the dress that was ahead of mine is done, so now it's all me until completion. Normally the fittings aren't so frequent and numerous, but I'm making a wedding dress out of a plain bridesmaids gown with the assistance of fabric, embellishments, artistic vision, and skill. It's saving us a ton of monies. It was Maggie's first time seeing my dress. She said I'm going to be the prettiest bride ever. While that's a bit of a stretch, I'll take a compliment when I can get one.

From there my Mom, Aunt, and I went to BJ's to look for some stuff for the wedding reception. I found some adorable plates and napkins in a silver and purple theme. I also found some very affordable plastic cutlery that's really well made/durable. We checked out some snack options that we'll be picking up next week, and did a bit of wandering around. Next time Chris and I get a discount membership offer for BJ's I believe we may sign up. 

I mean, c'mon, they're practically begging for it.

Snowball Fight!

Steroid withdrawal is kicking my butt today. My joints and back are hurting something fierce. There's so much I want to get done but my body is just not agreeing.

Finally made myself something to eat. I made corned beef hash and dippy eggs with toast. I somehow managed to burn the bottom of my eggs, but I was hungry so it didn't really matter.

I have two baskets of laundry to put away and I'd really like to finish the bathroom closet at the very least, plus I have forty more wedding programs to do. I just don't see it all happening.

Just took a pain pill an hour early, which I rarely do. Hoping that will maybe catch up with my pain level enough that I can get motivated to get some stuff done.

In my organizing yesterday I moved my bedroom touch lamp from the top of the one bureau onto my nightstand. Last night Tux turned it on not once, but twice. And not on the soft light setting either. He committed and turned it all the way up to prison escape neon bright.

Have I mentioned lately that he's an exceptional bastard?

Anywho, it seems Chris is finally done playing football so I'm going to procrastinate my day some more and play Frozen Freefall Snowball Fight!

Possibilities

So, I never did figure anything out to eat last night. In fact, I still haven't. Chris ate the other half of his cheese steak we got the night before. I didn't feel like cooking for just myself that late anymore, and couldn't think of anything easy.

I woke up at like 4am starving and remembered we got burritos the other day that we never wound up eating with our potato skins. What the hell, I thought, and went out to make one. I discovered like a moron I got myself hot burritos. I don't do super spicy stuff. Mild spice, sure. Super hot stuff gives me the hiccups for hours though. Fuck that.

Damn my lack of observation to hell.

I went back to bed defeated.

I've since been up for a few hours doing things around the house. Chris is still sleeping. I still haven't eaten, I really need to do that.

Moon Face

Chris and I worked on our wedding programs tonight. I somehow only got enough card stock to make eighty, so I'm going to have to get another pack and do some more tomorrow.

I was glad when we were done with this batch. Even with Chris' help it was time consuming, monotonous, and tiring. I did a couple on my own while he downloaded a free Frozen game on the Xbox One for me. It's something like Bejeweled. It's pretty cool. Then he started putting them together and I lined up the pages and stapled. They still need to be cut down to size.

Daisy kept climbing onto Chris' shoulder like a parrot while we were trying to work. Then her and Tux kept making themselves comfy on our page piles.

It wasn't exactly helpful.

It's 11pm and we have yet to make a meal today. We snacked on some chips earlier, but that's been it. The days are going by too fast lately. Way too much to get done.

I've been tapering down on steroids too which I think has been playing with my appetite. A little over a month ago I was up to 60mgs, and I'm down to 10mgs. My joints aren't very thrilled, but I'm determined to get off of it this time. Probably not going to drop below ten until after the wedding though. I don't want to risk feeling crappy for the wedding.

I've learned from all of the times I tried and failed at getting off Prednisone that you must do it slowly.

While Prednisone does a great job at covering up some of the symptoms from my diseases, the Cushing's Syndrome side effects got to go.

My vision's been pretty bad off and on the past few days. Worried my MS is misbehaving with the lower dose of steroids. Hopefully it will calm down. The Xeljanz seems to be working surprisingly well for my joints this time around. Soon time for another dose of Tysabri already.

It's amazing how understanding Chris is with all of it.

I suppose I better figure out something for us to eat before I fall asleep! Haha. Tomorrow shouldn't be super busy, but Thursday we have a lot going on.

Meatloaf

Today's been stressful. I'm not even entirely sure why. Chris is all stressed out too. Ever have one of those days where stress is just in the air for no particular reason?

I'm one of those people that cleans when I'm stressed out. I'm not entirely sure why. It's just what I do. Normally I focus on one area or room, but my organizing today was super scatter brained. I did some in the bedroom, TV room, and kitchen. All impressive improvements which is nice. At least my anxiety is productive.

Got my wedding program ready to give to my grandmother's brother. He was going to print them for us since he owns a print shop. I just found out he can only do black & white. So much for that. So we ran out to Wally World and got paper, a new stapler, and staples. My printer is currently getting one hell of a work out, and then I'm going to work on putting these puppies together. I'm already sad for my hands.

Tux has been super energetic today. Dashing from one room to another. Mostly inspired by a fly he's been fascinated with. Anyone know why cats make clicky noises at bugs? Is it like dolphin sonar for cats?

I wish I had half of the energy he does. He's currently being a meatloaf cat. Sometimes when he sits somewhere and he's annoyed he looks like a pan of meatloaf. It's pretty amusing.

Time to stop procrastinating and get these programs done. If I don't blog for a few days the pile has taken me captive.

Sneak Peek!

A sneak peek of our photo shoot today! I told you it was adorable! :)

I'm using this collage Tania made for the front cover of our wedding program. I'm pretty excited that she did it already because now I can get my programs done, printed, and assembled. Chris keeps saying they're more of a book than a program. They're only 5x7 though, and come on, programs are supposed to be informative! We have the added feature of our hand fasting ceremony too to add into the program and explain since most people do not know what it is.

Only 26 (25 in about twenty minutes) more days until the wedding! So much to do yet!

Well, It Doesn't Say Keep Off the Grass?

Today was an exciting day! Engagement picture day!

Yes. We really did get our engagement pictures done less than a month from our wedding, haha.

But no really, we don't procrastinate that bad. It's just we weren't planning on getting engagement pictures, but they came with the package from our wedding photographer.

We decided to get our pictures taken at Schell's Mini Golf.

We enjoy golfing together, and their mini-golf course is really pretty. Plus I thought it would be sort of unique.

I had to get up at 6am in order to get ready because I had an 8am hair appointment and had to meet Tania (our photographer) at ten.

So Much for Early!

After our chestnut experiment we wandered out to get some things done.

Our first stop was CVS to pick up some more prescriptions and Halloween candy. We keep buying Halloween candy with coupons for trick-or-treaters, and it keeps disappearing before Halloween. It's a problem.  It's mainly my grandmother and Chris dunking into it. I'm generally not a big candy person, but I do seem to have a weakness for Kit Kats as of late.

CVS has these giant blended bags of miniature candies for twenty bucks. I just so happened to have five dollars in extra bucks and a three dollar coupon, so I got them for roughly twelve, and it totally filled my candy bowl at home. My grandmother already found her way into it. 

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire....

So the other day we got a pint of Chestnuts at the local farmer's market for only three dollars. Neither of us had ever had Chestnuts, and it was quite the hot topic last year. They had them for sale at our local Redner's last winter, but they were super expensive and we didn't have money to blow. We were pretty curious as to whether or not they sucked though.

Three dollars didn't seem like a bad price for an adventure.

We weren't too sure what to do with them. Chris tried to eat one raw. After I reminded him that we had no idea what we were doing and he was probably going to poison himself, we consulted the internet. He was not going to die, but they're apparently tastier roasted. So they've been hanging out until I had time/energy to play with them.

Instructions said to cut an 'X' through the shell on the flat side. I started working on this while Chris was in the kitchen doing other things, there was an 'ow' with a knife slip, and suddenly I was no longer allowed to X the chestnuts. 

Chris took over, and I was given the steps that didn't involve sharp objects.

Like preheating the oven, and soaking them in hot water for a minute.

Chris was not having such an easy time cutting the X's. Many knives were employed.

After soaking I had to pat the Chestnuts dry.

Then they were to be tossed in a butter and seasoning blend. I used sea salt and oregano.

After tossing they were to be laid out on foil in a single layer.

And then wrap the foil into a packet around them.

Instructions said to bake for thirty minutes.

It says to peel them while still hot, otherwise it becomes seemingly more difficult. Some were easier to peel than others. We peeled about six until we stopped.

Why did we stop do you ask?

They suck. Peeling them sucks, and in our opinion they don't taste all that great. They have an odd texture and leave an even odder aftertaste.

Chris didn't like them at all.

I didn't like them enough to make them even remotely worth peeling.

Into the garbage they went.

So we learned that chestnuts will not be a new holiday tradition for us, and we do not like them.

Have you ever had chestnuts? Do you like them? Do you make them any differently than we did? Share in the comments!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow....

Got up and started doing my chores around the house. Changed Tux's litter, I started to do the dishes, and I see this outside the window.

Snow.

In the middle of October. What up global warming?

I blame Chris for this. He kept saying that it would be cool if it was snowing during our engagement pictures. (Which are tomorrow)

It has since changed to rain. It's rather cold in the house today so I think I shall do things today that involve the oven. (Like roasting my chestnuts, which I still haven't accomplished.)

Money to Burn

Today is a serious lazy day for me. It was one of the rare days that Chris got out of bed before I did. It took much coaxing for him to get me out of bed.

I was not interested in doing the adulting today. I got up though eventually after some prodding from Chris.

Shortly after I got out of bed Chris' Mom stopped by for a visit and to drop off my bridal shower gift. She hurt her shoulder at work and couldn't make the shower. She got me a really pretty sterling silver decorative plate and a gift card for Cracker Barrel that Chris will probably commandeer for pancakes. (Pancakes actually sound pretty good right now, with chocolate and peanut butter chips. Mmm... Ihop.)

Off topic: I rarely partake in peanut butter or peanuts anymore after learning that peanuts aren't the greatest for inflammation and joints. I try not to add insult to injury when I can.

On an amusing note, the card she got me is adorable, and it's also the third time I've received this same card. We had a good laugh over it.

Chris and I gave her the gifts we got for her for helping with the wedding and we all hung out and chatted for a bit. Chris got to show off his learned skill of giving me injections. I think he was a bit proud. Tux is quite a fan of Maggie. (Maggie being Chris' Mom for those of you in the audience that don't know)

My garters for the wedding came in the mail today and they're really pretty. I'm glad they came already. Shipping/turnaround time listed on the website I ordered them from was vexingly long, and I was a bit concerned I would not get it in time, but voila!

We ran out to CVS to pick up my prescriptions so that I can fill my ridiculous pill case for the week. I was out of a few.

In the car on the way to CVS I discovered I had been wearing my shirt backwards all day. Luckily all day hadn't been very long yet at that point, and the only people who could have noticed were Chris and his Mom.

 Our local CVS is remodeling. They switched sides for pickup/drop off at the pharmacy counter. Being the creature of habit I am it throws me off every single time I go in there now. CVS is one of my favorite stores to shop in. I always do well there savings wise. They have a bit of everything and frequently freshen up their inventory with new items. So, we generally mosey around and look at what's new while we're waiting on my scripts. Today they had a GIANT stuffed Minnie and Mickey mouse, for $69.99 each. Crazy. I can't picture ever spending that much money on a stuffed animal, even if I had money to burn.

I can't really picture anyone that goes into CVS having $70 to burn on a stuffed Minnie Mouse. But hey, what do I know? Clearly their marketing department is onto something I'm missing.

We then went to Wendys to get foods because I was starving after last nights cooking fail, didn't much feel like cooking yet again, and my Aunt gave us a gift card for there at my bridal shower.

Chris took a detour to Hamburg Redners on the way to Wendys to get his Java Monster he's very much addicted to. Hamburg Redners just got added onto the list of local places that are sold out of them. Probably solely because of him. Oddly enough, their Coca Cola Machine was standing open, completely empty, with not a vendor in site. I was going to take a picture for your viewing pleasure, but we went out without any electronics. So you'll have to take my word for it. It was strange.

So now we're home gorging on chicken nuggets whilst being guilt tripped by Daisy. I believe she's guilted us out of three so far. It's a nice brisk fall day here so I believe I may attempt roasting the chestnuts that we got at the farmers market later.

Nerves

I've been diagnosed with a variety of auto-immune diseases/nonsense that causes an even bigger variety of issues. One of my main issues is pain.

I have all types of pain.

Muscle pain, nerve pain.

Honestly, I think the nerve pain is the worst. There's no massaging nerve pain to try to get some relief. It's really hard to find any way actually to soothe it. 

People often ask me to explain how it feels, and the best relatable way I can explain nerve pain is by comparing it to a toothache. In reality, a toothache is nerve pain. When a tooth hurts it's generally because a nerve is damaged, exposed, or having pressure put on it by your sinuses.

Because of multiple sclerosis many of my nerves are damaged and stripped of their protective coating, leaving them much like an exposed nerve of a tooth.

Think about how well your TV or charger works after a pet chews on the cord and exposes the wiring.

The nerves start to misfire causing a myriad of issues, and pain. I get nerve pain from other things too, like fibromyalgia and erythromelalgia. Sometime's it's hard to tell what's causing the pain.

My neurologist put me on Cymbalta which so far has made one of the most noticeable differences in quality of life compared to any other treatments. I started on 30mgs and am up to 90mgs. My new rheumatologist at Jefferson is considering adding Lyrica in the future. Cymbalta has drastically cut down on my nerve pain.

Do you suffer from nerve pain? What gives you relief? What analogy do you use to explain your pain to others?