September California Vacation

In August of this year, my husband and I had been married for a year and half.  I still hadn't met any of his family except for his father.  They all live in California and we didn't have the money to take a trip out there.  We wanted to go last Christmastime during his Holiday stand-down but plane tickets are ridiculously pricey. So we've been saving and in September, we finally took a trip out there.

Of course, whenever I fly, I run into flight delays.  Our flight out of Norfolk was delayed so bad that the plane was still in Texas at the time it was supposed to leave Norfolk.  We thought we would miss our connecting flight but that plane also had a delay.  It was delayed by about an hour and then once we were all boarded, they found electronic issues that needed attention.  After two hours of sitting on the plane, we were finally on our way to California.

It was great meeting my husband's family.  His grandmother is a gem.  She is a three-time cancer survivor and 80 years old!  She let us stay in her spare room on her gorgeous farm.  So many fruit trees, I loved it!  I tried persimmon for the first time (I had never heard of it before).  I also got to try out a Washlet Toto, which is as closest to a bidet as I'll probably ever get.  I was scared to try it out at first.  It's actually quite nice and wouldn't mind getting one myself if I ever own my own home.

During the first week, the hubby and I did some sight seeing at Whiskeytown Lake, Burney Falls, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and other places around Redding.  We also scored a free annual National Parks pass.  Active duty military should know that they can get one for free!  The sights were just amazing!

On the trail going down to the bottom of the falls, we were following a deer and two fawn.  We spent so much time at the falls that by the time we got to the Volcanic Nat'l Park it was getting close to sunset and we didn't get to walk any trails.  We did stop at the stinky sulfur works...because men are interested in things that produce stinky gas?

For our second week, we headed south to Morro Bay.  Sadly, this part of our journey was not very fun.  We made it down to Los Banos from Redding and got a hotel room.  The next morning I woke up with a stiff neck, a whirring sound in my left ear, a bit of vertigo, and a big fat sinus headache.  With all the driving my husband had to do and being warn out from the daily activities of our first week, we decided to stay another night.  When I woke up the next morning, I felt a million times worse.  The vertigo was so bad it was making me nauseous.  

TMI WARNING!  I do not vomit if I can help it because it goes up my nose/into my sinuses and it burns.  I do breathing exercises to keep it down and I can successfully go years without vomiting (unless given vicodin but I know now to instruct doctors to never give me that).  This was too much to keep down though.  It came up with a violent burp every time.  TMI?  I warned you!  I didn't have a lot in me so what came up was yellow and what I thought was a bunch of sinus fluid from over the night.  Between 7 and 9am I vomited the same stuff four times total.  Same yellow stuff, yet my stomach, aside from sipping water afterwards, was empty.  It burned too, so at this point I'm wondering if it was stomach acid and from what I've read online, could have been bile?  Anyway, we checked out and just a few miles down the road I threw up again (I brought a black plastic bag just in case).  We had a couple hours to go so I pretty much passed out the whole way.  When I woke up we were about an hour out and I vomit again.  It wasn't getting any better.  I felt no relief after I threw up each time.  As soon as we got to Morro Bay we said a quick hello to Lanny, my husband's friend/second father figure and then we were off to Urgent Care.  I was told I had some kind of infection and was given antibiotics, a shot for the nausea and a prescription of the same shot just in case the nausea came back.  Boy did that shot ever make me drowsy on top of already feeling tired from the sinus pressure.  We filled my prescriptions and I almost fell asleep standing up while we waited.

A friend of Lanny's let us stay in their guest apartment, cute little place.  The nausea stopped and I slept for a very long time.  I still felt sick and tired so we didn't do much sight-seeing.  We did go out one day that I felt better.  I got to see some of the houses Eric's father owns and we walked around San Luis Obispo a bit.  We saw Bubblegum Alley (it's disgusting) and ate at Eric's favorite restaurant.  He had some turkish coffee, which he was raving about ever since he finished boot camp in 2010.  I tried some baklava and creme brulee.  I also got some gorgeous pictures of Morro Rock.  As my husband would say, "Three stacks and a rock, yo."

                           

During our delays on the way out to Cali, a friend had mentioned to wait in the USO lounge.  Wish we had done it on the way out, but we definitely took advantage of it on the way back.  It was so nice.  That's definitely where I'll be waiting during future (inevitable) delays!

We had hired a pet sitter for our two week vacation.  Sadly, the kittens were scared of the sitter and never came out while she was here.  They hide in the cupboards or the back of the closet whenever someone knocks on the door.  They're so scared of strangers.  I paid her extra to come twice a day occasionally because she lived close but I doubt she came twice at any time.  The litter was definitely not scooped to my satisfaction.  She hadn't used any of the cat litter I left for her.  With three cats, you need to scoop every day or it gets stinky.  She didn't clean up all the litter that accumulated around the box like I had included in our contract and when we returned home, the bottoms were lined with clumps of urine because she didn't do a thorough job.  

I had to scrape the heavy piss clumps off the bottom of the boxes and wash them out completely.  It was so heavy and was killing my back.  The hubby had previously noted how painful it was for me to bend over to scoop every day for three cats, two of which are pooping and peeing machines.  All the piss and shit for one day weighs down a full garbage bag to the point that I can't even take it outside to the dumpster without dragging it.  Even when we just had one cat before we were married, the hubby noticed how bending down to scoop strained my back.  He mentioned there should be some kind of catbox that washes the litter and flushes it.  He did a google search and found the CatGenie.  It was really expensive and I always said we didn't need it.  Well, after coming home from our trip, that's the first thing I wanted!  Eric was on board and ordered it right away.  A review of that is in the works!

My Trip Home - July

In July, it had been a year since I moved to Virginia and I hadn't seen my family since.  A trip home was definitely in order.  I was flying into Milwaukee and it just so happened that the cab driver that took me to the airport was from Milwaukee!  Small world!

I rented a car from the airport and drove home (in the wrong gear) to Burlington.  Spent a couple days visiting my family there and then took my two nieces and their cousin on a road trip to Upper Michigan to visit my mother and other family there.  The youngest slept most of the 6 hour drive.

My Uncle lives in Texas and every summer he makes a trip with his two kids to Upper Michigan to visit.  My mom always throws the older cousin a birthday party because it happens to be during the summertime.
I painted the balloon toss trophy rock and helped fill up the water balloons for the toss.  This was the first time I attended my cousin's annual party.  I partnered with my mom in the balloon toss, we didn't win, but it was definitely fun.  Afterwards, we had a water balloon fight to get rid of all the extra balloons.  The rest of the party was fun, the food was yummy and I'm going to try to schedule an annual trip back there.  I definitely miss spending good quality time with my family!

The rest of our trip consisted of playing croquet, swimming in my mother's inflatable pool, sidewalk chalk, a trip to Lake Superior, rock painting, s'mores, and other sightseeing.  I always sleep well when I'm visiting with my mom.  There's nothing like Mom's home cooking plus daily activities to wear you out!

We spent a week or so up there and then headed back down to Burlington.  I had a few days left before my plane was leaving.  I had planned on visiting with some friends in Illinois but plans fell through.  I sat around bored for two days.  Then on the evening before my plane left, my dad got an offer from a friend to go to a Brewer's game with some of the best seats in the house, in a founder's suite, right next to the manager's box! It was amazing, once in a lifetime seats (for us average folk).  This was the best Brewers game I had ever been to!

Kitchen area, bar, and there's a private bathroom back there too!

Seating area, flat screen tvs. 

Inside was air conditioned (it was HOT out), there were tables in front of the glass doors...yes, they did slide open completely.  Lots of leg room on the chairs plus that little table in front.  So nice!

The two monitors outside.  Manager's box on the other side of the railing with much nicer seating.

I headed to MKE the next day and experienced some major delays.  While waiting for my jumper from Baltimore to Norfolk, I saw a few things.  First, I saw a mouse.  Not the kind you use for a computer.  No one else seemed to notice it.  Then I noticed this family of three, a mother and two kids, stop a man, shake hands, get a picture and then autographs.  I have no idea who he is.  Do you?

I was anxious to get home after spending hours waiting in Baltimore's stinky and cold airport.  When I arrived home, it was anything but inviting.  It was a pig sty.  The kittens had gotten into everything and the hubby didn't clean up anything, not even after himself.  There was garbage, toilet paper (that the kitties got into), plastic bags, clothes, papers, everything scattered all over the floor.  It got worse as I ventured further into our apartment.  The litter boxes hadn't been scooped in two weeks.  The garbage was overflowing.  The dishes were dirty and the hubby had taken everything out of the cupboards looking for anything he could use that was clean, instead of washing the dishes.  He mistakenly thought we had a garbage disposal because the sink was clogged and disgusting.  I will spare you pictures.  It was very disheartening and stressful.  I had no idea where to begin.  I learned to never leave the hubby alone for more than a weekend.  If I ever leave for longer than that, I will hire someone to clean up and take care of the cats.

Chaotic

As I write this, I have less than 6 hours before a cab picks me up to bring me to the airport.  I'm going on a trip to visit my family.  There's still so much I have to do!  Here's a quick update on what's been going on.

Salmon dinner was a flop.  Threw that out and made the monte cristo crescent sandwiches again.

I made this ranch potato dinner recipe (below)...yummy.  I used sour cream instead of mayo and the consistency of the sauce isn't all that appealing, but it tasted good.  Didn't have corn flakes for the top, so I dug out a cup or two from the Raisin Bran box.  :)  Recipe also called for 5 red potatoes, but they had huge gashes in them at Kroger.  I opted for a small package of baby red potatoes and it worked out just fine.

Ranch Potatoes

5 red potatoes
Butter or cooking spray
2 packages Hidden Valley Ranch buttermilk ranch (ingredients needed milk and mayo or sour cream)
8 oz. Cheddar cheese
2 cups Corn Flakes
2 tablespoons butter

Make ahead: 2 packages Hidden Valley Ranch buttermilk ranch, follow directions.

Boil and drain potatoes.  Put on low heat for 5 minutes to remove water. Cool in 9 x 13 pan.
Butter pan, cube but don't peel the potatoes.  Pour dressing over potatoes.  Sprinkle with 8oz. cheddar cheese.  Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter.  Combine melted butter with 2 cups Corn Flakes.  Spread over potatoes.
Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Hiatus Explained

It's been over two weeks since I last posted.  I have fallen back into my old habits of eating poorly.  I've had Carnation Instant Breakfast just about every morning even though I was wanting to cut down on it.  I need to stop buying it and get into the habit of making breakfast in the morning.  The last two weeks of my online JavaScript class really wore me down and stressed me out.  On top of that, I adopted two kittens somewhat on the spur of the moment.

My husband and I have, for some time now, been wanting to adopt two kittens.  Why two?  I have an 8 year old cat, Shadow, who doesn't like other animals.  She has had kittens in the past so I thought she might like them better than an older cat.  I always feel terrible about leaving Shadow alone and thought she would eventually get used to the kittens and they could keep each other company.  We wanted two kittens just in case Shadow didn't get along with them so that they would keep each other company.

My vehicle registration and plates expired at the end of June.  I was out running errands after getting my vehicle safety inspection sticker.  I wanted to get a public library card and went to the nearest branch.  (Off on a tangent, I really miss the Palatine Public Library and Schaumburg Library from back in Illinois.  The branches out here do not compare.  There are too many branches and they are all very small.  They are closed on Sundays and they mentioned they will be closed on another day starting this month.)  Just outside of that library was a Petco.  Every time I'm near a Petco or a Petsmart, I have to check to see if they have kittens for adoption.  Before I found the adoption center, I wandered around the store and saw 3 people who had kittens in boxes!  Once I found the adoption place there were two kittens, two brothers.  I find out they are having a kitty-palooza...one kitten for $25 or two for $40!  Petsmart wanted $100 per cat!  This was too good of a deal to pass up.  The lady set up gates surrounding the adoption area and let me play with the kittens.  I was so torn between getting them or not...I was there for over an hour!  We had nothing prepared at home, but they were too cute and it was such a great deal.  I got them!  Meet Thor and Loki!

It's been about two weeks since we got them.  We kept them and Shadow separated for the most part during the first week.  Except at night, the kitties and Shadow now have free range of the whole apartment.  At first, Shadow was reluctant to leave my bedroom (where we have her food, water and litter since she spends most of the day sleeping on the bed or on our dresser anyway).  She hisses at the kittens when they get too close but they all sleep on my bed now during the day.  Shadow shows an interest in the kitties, but likes to observe them from a distance.  It's a good sign that she will get used to them.  I don't know if she'll ever be cuddle buds with the kittens, but I can hope!  They will at least keep each other occupied!

When we first got them, Loki was the friendly one and Thor was scared of us.  Now, Thor is my new shadow, so loving and very vocal.  Loki is still loving, but not as much as Thor is.  Loki is scared of the brightly colored cat toy I got for them (string on a stick) and Thor attacks that thing and never stops.  Thor does this weird meow and sometimes it sounds like he is a creaky door.  He also snores!  See the videos below!

I need to get back on track with eating healthier and preparing meals.  It's not going to be easy considering I am taking a two week vacation to visit my family soon (so yes, expect another two week hiatus!).  I'm excited but nervous about flying.

If you want to see what I've been eating, follow MyFitnessPal food diary.  I usually struggle to meet the full 1200+ calories each day and I always go over on my sugar intake.  Nothing new there I guess!

Summer Solstice

I got a decent night of sleep last night.  It's going to be another early night tonight.  I am hoping I have officially reset my circadian rhythm!  I am going to try out that zumba class tomorrow...so long as I don't back down. I'm pretty apprehensive about going to a new gym for the first time.  I take comfort in familiarity.  I need to just force myself to go...it will be fun!  And I need the exercise.

I attempted a Pillsbury Monte Cristo Sandwich recipe but didn't read the recipes when I grabbed a few things from the commissary last week.  It called for two Pillsbury crescent rolls and I only grabbed one.  So my sandwich is a little smaller.  I also didn't get ham because my husband won't eat it.  I make this food but he usually eats breakfast, lunch and dinner on the ship.  When he comes home, he's not hungry.  So I guess I need to start cooking for one.  That raspberry-lemon no-bake cheesecake I made a couple days ago still has two pieces left...I've been trying to eat it, but I just wish my husband would scarf down the rest.

I also hate my oven.  When directions call for 15-20 minutes of baking time, mine cooks in like 8-10 minutes.  The edges of this sandwich on the bottom are slightly burnt.  I checked it a minute before I took it out and it was still a light golden brown.  One minute later and it got pretty dark.  It was good. I really like the raspberry preserves on top.


I obviously haven't been doing well in terms of meal planning.  I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow but still don't have recipes in mind.  I'm getting tired and will probably get to it tomorrow morning.

June 19

I didn't sleep at all last night.  My husband had to wake up at 3am for an early day of work, so I figured I would stay up until he left...then I caught my fourth or fifth wind and somehow managed to stay up until 9:30am.  Napped for only 3 hours so that I would be tired and able to go to bed early again.

When I woke up, I found out from a friend that Sallie Mae has changed their policies on private student loan forbearance.  It used to be up to 2 years and now it's only 12 months.  So in the 10-30 years of repayment one has on their private loans, they only get 12 months of forbearance.  It's ridiculous!  She was told she had three months left of forbearances and now, because of the policy change, she has none left!  I was pretty enraged.  They can just change the terms and not notify borrowers until it's too late.  More borrowers will be forced to default.  Sallie Mae benefits more when people default, so I'm not surprised in their evil policy-changing tactics.  It just pisses me off!

June 18

It's a Pie Day

I watched Forks Over Knives on Netflix last night while trying to relax after stressing out over my difficult homework.  After having difficulty falling asleep, as usual, I watched Burzynski, followed by The Gerson Miracle.  I recommend all three of these videos to everyone.

Being a brain tumor survivor, the way the FDA and the Texas Medical Board were treating Burzynski really pissed me off.  The guy was saving lives and using a treatment that doesn't poison the cancer patients.  What is so wrong with using a better alternative?  Why is the government so resistant to change if they won't profit from it?  I couldn't sleep after Burzynski.  I especially couldn't sleep after spotting this guy crawling around my bedroom door and probably all over the sweaters I had hanging on the knob (I washed them before I wore them again).  Not sure if you can see him on top of the door to the right, but he was huge...over an inch long!  I really hate living here because of these damn roaches (they're so huge!).  I am hoping that we are able to afford to move to a nicer neighborhood that is roach free at the beginning of next year.

After watching all three of these videos, I have come to the conclusion that if I ever get cancer again, eating healthy would be my first attempt at treatment.  I am trying to eat healthy now, but after watching these videos, I realize that I don't need as much meat, egg, and dairy as I am getting each day.  I could eat a lot healthier.  I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead a couple months ago and would love to try a juiced diet to see what kind of effects it would have on me.  Having a juicer would be helpful.  I have a blender, but it's still a pain in the butt.  If I still weren't better from just eating plant-based foods, I would try to seek out Burzynski's treatment.

I didn't do very well with sticking to my meal planning for today.  When I woke up, I was going to make eggs, but didn't feel like it.  I made some oatmeal and followed the directions on the package.  2/3 cup is A LOT!  It spilled over the edge of my bowl in the microwave and I still have a bunch left for breakfast tomorrow.

I didn't make a smoothie.  I have a tendency to skip eating when I'm busy.  I was busy doing laundry all day.  I found out that if I just add minutes to the dryer time, I can save about .50 per load.  In order to do that, I had to wash a load, and while that load was drying, wash another load, and while that load was drying, wash another load...I ended up saving $1.00 today.  It costs $1.25 each to wash/dry.  It's kind of time consuming, having to go back and forth to the laundry building and up and down the stairs.  In between I would either be folding clothes or doing dishes/preparing to make dinner.

When the laundry was done, I began preparing dinner.  I made the cheddary chicken pie.

I swear my oven is messed up.  The recipe called for 35 minutes of baking total.  I had this in for 20-25 minutes and it got pretty dark.  I had forgotten to get a pie pan when I went grocery shopping last week, so when Eric had to go to the NEX to get his hair cut on Friday, I quickly ran into the commissary to grab a tin one.  All they had was an 8 inch cake pan.  The recipe called for a 9 inch pie pan, so this has a bit of extra crust around the edges.  It's still good.  Should I make this again, I need a pie pan and one of those pie servers.  I would use less chicken (I like the veggies better), include potatoes, and have more gravy/creamy filling.  I bet I could use cream of chicken soup with this instead?  Maybe I will experiment sometime.  The cheese is nice in this and I liked it a lot.

While dinner was cooking, I gathered all the ingredients I would need for this no-bake raspberry-lemon cheesecake.  While it cooled, I began preparing it.  If I ever make real cheesecake, I need to get a hand mixer!  My arm will probably be sore tomorrow from mixing up the ingredients!  I didn't want to wait 3 hours for this to cool, so I definitely licked up any remaining batter before I rinsed the bowl out and the spatula off.  It was very yummy!  It's very creamy, not like normal cheesecake, but I guess that's to be expected as it's a no-bake.  It has fresh raspberries in it and I like it.

I drank over 5 cups of water today.  Good for me, as I've been averaging four.  Five is what I should be getting in a day, at minimum.  Since I skipped out on lunch (I did eat half an Atkins bar), I'm pretty short on my calorie intake.  No wonder I was so tired and exhausted all day!  Only 29g of sugar for today...not bad.  Oh crap, I forgot to log that I had added brown sugar and honey to my oatmeal.  I'm sure it's waay over that, lol.

Tomorrow (is today)'s meal planning...leftovers!  Leftover oatmeal for breakfast, leftover cheddary chicken pie for lunch and dinner, leftover cheesecake for a snack/dessert and hopefully I will have energy to throw in a smoothie somewhere!

Meal Planning

Based on my height, weight and age, I should be consuming daily 5 ounces of grains and things from the protein group.  I should be consuming 2 cups of veggies, 1.5 cups of fruit and 3 cups of dairy each day.  I figure once I can do this on a daily basis, I can up the ante to the recommended food pyramid guide.  1 ounce of grains is one serving.  A piece of bread is one ounce, so is 1/2 cup of rice or pasta.  I've been counting 1 cup of pasta as one serving, oops!  3 ounces of meat is about the size of the palm of my hand.  2 tablespoons of peanut butter is one serving of the protein group.  I took all this information and tried to do some meal planning for today.  After a while of trying to figure out where I can add things to get the RDA, I was starving and opted for a quick fix of carnation breakfast essentials...the stuff I'm trying to cut out of my diet.

I figure I really need to start having a real breakfast in the morning.  Not just carnation or just a smoothie.  I need to make eggs or pancakes or french toast; something to get more grains and proteins in.  Smoothies are my best option for getting my fruit intake since I don't eat a lot of fruits.  I snack too much on chocolatey things throughout the day and it would be nice to eventually snack on fruits instead.  I should try making smoothies as a mid-day snack.  Especially if when I start working out, it'd be a good boost to have afterwards.

Here's what I should be striving for when meal planning:

Breakfast:  1 serving proteins, 1 serving grains, 1 serving dairy.
Lunch:  1 serving veggies, 1-2 serving grains, 1 serving protein, 1 serving dairy
Snack (post-workout smoothie):  All the fruit I need in a day, 1 serving dairy, 1-2 servings protein
Dinner:  Remainder of proteins, veggies and grains (should be about 1-2 servings each)

With that in mind, here's what I hope to eat tomorrow:

Breakfast:  2 scrambled eggs with cheese  (I really need a toaster, and some bread...not sure how else to throw grains in here for now)
Lunch:  1/2 to 1 cup of creamy garlic pasta (whatever is leftover from today's leftovers), 1 cup mixed veggies with some grilled chicken.
Snack:  Smoothie, be sure to add 2 tbsp peanut butter (or snack on a handful of nuts)
Dinner:  One piece of cheddary chicken pie (with veggies)
Dessert:  One piece no bake raspberry-lemon cheesecake

I am missing about one serving of grains.  I really do need to get a toaster.  Having some toast with the eggs for breakfast would be nice.  Maybe I can try throwing some oatmeal into my smoothie.  My blender doesn't grind it up very well but I guess I'll let it run for a few minutes before I add any other ingredients.

update:  Ate horribly today.  I spent most of my day finishing up a chapter for an online JavaScript class I'm taking.  I tried to follow along with the book example but it just wouldn't work for me.  I truly want to understand what I'm doing, so I went back and tried it two more times and it still wouldn't work.  So I continued ahead with the homework assignments.  I get two case projects to do; usually have to make a mock website and it ends up taking over 3 hours to do one of the case projects.  Of course the ones my instructor assigns are ones that the book doesn't really cover.  Like in this first one that I'm still stuck on, it requires you to validate a check box (user has to select a check box before they can press the enter site button).  Well, the book says that since the example they use is optional, they skip over the validation code...the code that I need to complete this project!  It was really stressing me out yesterday.  I searched google and finally found one code that works but I spent hours trying to understand why it worked and got no where (the code is more advanced and doesn't reflect what I should know so far in the book).  It's frustrating.  I think I am just going to stop stressing over this homework so much and just find code that works and use it.  Since I'm learning entirely from the book, I will go back when the course is over and try again from the beginning.  JavaScript just hasn't clicked for me yet.

I didn't eat much yesterday, but what I did, was crap.  :/