Bloomin' Bullshit

Yesterday turned into a busy day.

My Pop's been socializing with the construction crew that rebuilt our local bridge pretty much since day one. He watches them work and bullshits with them. They've been working on black topping the past few days, and yesterday he was talking to them about how he wants to get stone for our drive way because it's getting such bad dips and holes. Didn't they bring their equipment over and fill in and tamp down all of the problem areas for free. It was really nice of them.

So, last night I baked a batch of sugar and chocolate chip cookies, put them in a tin, and made a nice 'thank you' card for him to give to them.

My Aunt ran me out to the store with her. We went to Dollar Tree and Wally world. It was nice hanging out with her, and I got some neccesary shopping done. We checked out their garden section for awhile, and I found lots of inspiration for gardening at home. They have a ton of plants on clearance. I'd really like to do some gardening. Maybe Chris and I will try to budget it in this weekend.

Started working on my project to make some magnet boards for storage. They're getting really nice so far. If they get as nice as I think they will I may make a tutorial. It doesn't look like much yet, but soon. Sooooon. The paint I found will match our bedroom really well.

I did a ton of chores around the house. Made some iced tea, lunch. Then I made some sugar water for the hummingbird feeder. We finally got that hung up yesterday, and we've already had a hummingbird! I'm pretty exicted about it. Where we hung it I can see it from the front door, or our TV room window which is nice.

Before I knew it Chris was home from work. He washed and brought a giant glass jar home that they had mild pepper rings they bought in. He said he wanted to have it to put change in to save up to take me back to Cameron Estates. I thought that was really sweet. So I made a sign for the jar.

I found some laminate paper so that it'll be protected and last, but it wasn't enough to do both sides. I'll have to get a pack to finish it before I put it on the jar. I'll hopefully grab some today. I haven't used laminate paper since I was working. I was always making signs or charts for something or another.

I don't think we'll be able to afford to go back to Cameron Estates this year unless a miracle happens or my disability suddenly goes through, but it would be nice. Eventually.

It's really nice there.

After that I worked on making dinner. I decided to use the video below and make bloomin' onions. We get one always when we go to Outback and they're good. So I thought I'd give it a try. Yeah, it was a bloomin' mess. The video doesn't show you half of what the written instructions do, like having to freeze them before frying. It doesn't tell you at all that you need an onion corer to finish it. Nor does it tell you you have to slam the onions on the counter to separate the petals. Chris told me that, after it was way too late.

 One of my onions came out in a huge fried ball, and the other was meh. I wound up destroying them trying to get the center out, and wound up throwing them back in the oil and making onion petals. They looked like garbage, but they didn't taste too bad. The sauce is definitely not the kind Outback uses, but it's still good. It was pretty much the only part that got like it should have, and the one part Chris didn't eat. Pfeh.

My muscles and joints were killing me while I was trying to do it too, which didn't help matters much. I was pretty damn frustrated until it was all done, and wound up making pepperoni rolls in the oven to go with them instead of chicken breast. Hahah. I generally have good intentions at least. Thankfully my husband is flexible.

He was full of advice for how they could have gotten better. So, next time he can try to make them. I've scratched them off my culinary resume. I'll go with onion rings next time or let the professionals make them.

By the end of the night I was totally exhausted, and really tired of not getting any sleep. I gave in and dug my bottle of Ambien out of my closet. I haven't taken one in over a year. I don't like them at all. I wind up doing all types of weird shit in my sleep. Sleep eating. I punched Chris in the face while on it one time. I needed sleep though. It worked thankfully, but I had one hell of a time waking up this morning. I was on auto-pilot for a few hours while doing chores and things around the house. Coffee be damned.

No packages today, but I just checked the tracking on my FitBit. It was delivered to the post-office. Stupid UPS. And of course I didn't notice it until a half hour after the post office had closed. So, I'll have to wait until tomorrow for it. I can't wait to fiddle with it and start tracking things!

I had to run to my rheumatologist's office to pick up a prescription, and then it was off to the dermatologist. They are all used to seeing Chris with me, but my Pop had to take me today because Chris was at work during my appointment. My Pop wouldn't come in because he knew I had to get a lot of injections and it skeeves him out.

I've been having flares of my erythromelalgia (Also known as 'Man on Fire Syndrome') thanks to the heat lately. It sucks. It's a shitty disease. Before I found out what it was I was diagnosed with all types of crazy things, even Slapped Baby Syndrome. Today was the first time seeing this dermatologist that I was having a flare of it. As soon as I showed it to him and said 'this isn't a sunburn' he knew exactly what it was. He asked if the heat made it worse, and what I use to relieve it (ice). He agrees 100% with the erythromelalgia diagnosis. The heat is my enemy. I have it on my face, arms, and chest. Narcotics and steroids help keep the pain from it at bay, but even so right now it feels like I have a wicked sunburn. There's different calcium channel blockers and anti-seizure medications he'd be willing to try if I'm desperate for relief, but he knows my plight of wanting to get off meds, not on more. Depending on how this summer goes with it I may become open to something topical.

You can learn more about erythromelalgia here!

And the next person to go 'Trisha, oh my goodness, you're really red!' is getting a major stink eye.

Then it was on to my eczema. It's worse than ever. He did a ton of IL (intralesional) steroid injections (at least 30), and an IM (intramuscular) injection of steroids. As hard as I was trying to get off of steroids, I've honestly surrendered for a bit. I'm tired of feeling like garbage and fighting a losing battle without them. We talked about my chemo and other treatment plans, as it all affects my skin and what not. I'm going back in a month for a full skin-check and to probably reinject steroids. I'm also being sent to an allergist since my immune system is psycho. I know I developed food allergies to shrimp recently, and it's possible I've developed other food allergies that could be the source of my chronic eczema. The IM steroid injection was in my right arm and is really sore for some reason, and I had to do my methotrexate injection in my thigh today. Meh.

Chris was home from work by the time I got home, and I commenced smothering him and whining. I was incredibly hangry, still sleepy, and sore. He tamed the beast with cherry cheesecake icecream. He's a good husband.

I commenced writing this blog while he played video games, and then we ran out on errands and picked up a few things. Now we're home and I'm finishing this up. I'm going to make pastelillos for dinner tonight. It's one of the few Puerto Rican dishes I knew how to make before I even met Chris, and I'm actually really good at. Speaking of pastelillos, I just discovered this amazing piece of equipment:

I can't believe how cheap it is, and that I don't own it. My pastelillos would be perfect! Chris says they're already perfect, pfeh. But seriously, they'd be perfect. And I could make fruit pies, and, and....I need to order this.

Tomorrow is going to be another busy day. Chris works all day. I have to get a bunch of ultrasounds done on these tumors. My FitBit is coming in the mail! Busy, busy, busy.

But now to go make pastelillos, and try not to eat them all right away. Yay, steroids!