Losing Momentum ...

I don't know if it was the craziness of the holidays, stress at work, or the cold weather, but I am really feeling it. I spent all of Sunday either sleeping or just feeling down right sucky with a headache and nausea. Yesterday was even worse getting through eight hours of work and I was dying to go back to bed when I finally got home. Unfortunately with all the crap on the floor in my bedroom, I did not notice that I had knocked over the humidifier at some point that morning. So instead of getting under the covers, I proceeded to muster up the drive to clean our bedroom.

Pushing myself yesterday has left me in even worse shape today. Joints and muscles that I did not even know existed are screaming in pain. And the popping! I sound like a human pop corn machine the way my joints are popping and crunching.

At least I managed to pack up my dad's birthday present and with any luck he will get it in time.

Now to bed and if I don't feel any better tomorrow, maybe having Thursday off will help.

Thanksgiving!

Rommel and I had a pretty relaxed Thanksgiving, which is exactly what I was looking forward to. After sleeping in as late as I could, which was about nine, we went for a walk to pick up coffee and something for breakfast. We also grabbed a newspaper because Rommel wanted to check out the sales even though I think you would have to be insane to fight those crowds. (Despite my best intentions, we ended up hitting some sales on Friday and Saturday after work. It wasn't too crazy, but god, it was exhausting.)


Then we started the charcoal for the turkey. I ended up doing it all myself because I am a control freak like that and wanted it done right. That did not work out so well. Even after adding charcoal every hour for five hours, etc, I could not get the temperature of the turkey above 160. We finally brought it inside and while some parts of the turkey were cooked, other parts were not. We ended just nuking what we wanted to eat and settling in for our meal. It wasn't great, but we might try it again with some adjustments.


While the turkey was cooking, I worked on clearing out the garage so Rommel could get all the Christmas decorations down. I usually hit up the after Christmas sales every year and it's amazing how much I have accumulated that I completely forgot I had. For example, after deciding that I did not want to put the dogs through Christmas pictures, I bought Christmas cards at the bookstore. Then digging through my Christmas stuff, I found at least ten boxes of Christmas cards.

We put up the Christmas tree, hung all the ornaments, and did a little decorating inside the house. But now that I am looking at the picture I took of the Christmas, I am realizing that it is kind of lopsided. I might have to work on the tree a little bit more. Hopefully we will get to the outside lights this weekend.

Even with all the decorating and Christmas shopping we ended up doing, I managed to finish the most important item on my list - the baby blanket for my friend. I had intended to finish it by the time she was born, but I started crocheting it around the same time I began to have a lot of pain in my hands. It ended up being a very slow process, but I managed to get it done by the time she turned six months. I was so glad my friend loved it and hopefully her daughter will hold onto for a long time.



I am extremely happy that I have tomorrow to recover from the last few days. I definitely enjoyed every minute of the holiday, but I am also feeling it. Between the cold and being so busy, my hands and feet are incredibly achy. It will be nice to take it easy tomorrow and see if it helps relieve some of the pain before work on Monday.

I hope everyone had an amazing holiday weekend!

Having a holiday flag in front of our house makes me feel way too domestic, but it was too cute to pass up.

Justification ?

My husband and I decided to take a short walk to some local shops the other day. I was hoping the movement would provide some relief for the achiness the cold weather was causing my hips and knees. We walked into the first store planning to head to the second floor when I noticed the yellow tape letting customers know the escalator was out of service. The other escalator was turned off so people could use it to walk up to the second floor. Apparently my husband recognized the look on my face that says "that is going to cause me pain" and he began looking for the elevator. I was definitely relieved because I was in enough pain that I would have rather left the store than walk up those stairs.

We found the elevator and while waiting for it two women with a cart came up to wait next to us. I was probably just paranoid, but I felt like they were giving me a weird look like they were wondering why a healthy looking woman was taking the elevator instead of the stairs. I could not help feeling like they were judging me. When we eventually got on the elevator, I felt compelled to mention out loud how the cold weather caused my knees pain or something so they would know I was not being lazy.

I know that I should not let it bother me, but even a few days later, I am still thinking about it. I guess it is just one of those things you have to get used to when you have an "invisible" illness.

Random Thoughts ...

I watched the American Music Awards last night, which honestly was not very good but I am far from being a Justin Bieber, Usher, or Keisha fan. I somehow made it to the end of the show and who should appear on the stage? NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!!!

I was so in love with them in the fifth grade, especially Donnie because he was the bad boy of the group. I remember when they had a concert at a local stadium and everyone I knew seemed to be going, but my parents refused to buy tickets so that my younger sister and I could go too. They forced us to go out to dinner the night of the concert even though we were still holding a huge grudge (because this is a life and death matter when you are ten/eleven years old). We ended up in the stadium parking lot. They had bought tickets but wanted to surprise us. I think I even have pictures somewhere.

Not long after the concert, Donnie broke my heart when he was caught with an underage girl at some hotel and proceeded to light the curtains on fire.

Anyway, now I cannot get "The Right Stuff" or "Step by Step" out of my head.

Rainy Weather and Other Stuff

I grew up in the Midwest where there are definitive seasons throughout the year, so the constantly sunny weather in California can get a bit monotonous. The recent cold, rainy weather is a nice break and makes it feel a little more like the holidays. Give me a good blanket and I am usually a happy camper, but since developing RA, I am definitely feeling that fifty-six degree cold in my joints. (My parents would so make fun of me for complaining about it being fifty-six degrees, which is nothing to them.) Not only do my hands and feet hurt, but every other joint in my body is aching too. It's like I just cannot warm up or get comfortable.

At least I started my knew medication today, which is called sulfazine. The doctor wants to try this before trying mtx again. From what I read the most common side effect is stomach issues, which is a little funny to me considering they also use sulfazine to treat IBS. But the pharmacist said that the pills are now coated so there should not be too much nausea. The two things that I was told to remember were to wear plenty of sunscreen because of sun sensitivity and drink lots of water. We'll give it a couple of months, have another blood test, and see if anything changed.

I also called the weight loss program that the doctor mentioned. Yes, it is doctor supervised. Yes, a very small portion may be covered by insurance. But I do not really have an extra $4500 in my bank account to throw around. I also wonder about their methods, which includes a six week liquid diet and then the transition back to solid food over the remaining weeks. I did quite a bit of research about the program and people do lose A LOT of weight in a very short period of time, but it sounds like people have a hard time keeping it off. Honestly, the only upside I could find to the whole thing was not having to think about what you are going to eat for twelve weeks. But I would still have to think about what my husband is going to eat.

So I was thinking I might just start green smoothies again. It is honestly the easiest way to get a lot of good things into my diet that I normally would not eat.

Anyway, I do not know anyone who wants to think about weight loss during the holidays and I am definitely ready for the holidays! I was originally going to order a pre-made Thanksgiving dinner for my husband, mother-in-law, and I, but that changed. I happened to mention that a coworker cooks her turkey on a charcoal grill and Rommel got all excited about the idea. I finally agreed that we could try it this year, which means that I will be cooking the turkey on the grill and Rommel will watch me. But he will be cute doing it!

I am also ready to get the Christmas decorations out. I got a great deal on a new artificial tree at work and it is sitting in the living room begging for ornaments. I just need to convince Rommel to dig everything out of the garage since it is a little to difficult for me.

Then I need to get some pictures of the fur babies for our Christmas card. They looked so cute last year, I hope I can top it this year. The wild card will be Zooey, our six month old kitten. She has definitely gone through some changes in the last couple weeks and seems feistier than ever. She was supposed to be spayed a couple of weeks ago, but just happened to go into heat a few days beforehand. We did not want to complicate the surgery even more, so we had to push it back a little. I think everyone in the house in glad she is past her "phase" now because she was driving us all a little crazy. We tryed to make her comfortable, but she just kept wandering around the house crying nonstop. Then one morning I woke up to her biting my feet and knew it was over. Now we are dealing with the fact that she has finally discovered the doggie door. It's always something! But I cannot say it enough - get your pets fixed people!


Anything else? Oh yeah, sparkly shoes! They may not be the most comfortable shoes, but if I cannot wear hot heels anymore, then by god, I am going to wear fabulous tennies. I have actually been looking for these forever, but Converse only made them for little girls. Then I walked into a store the other day and a glowing light shined down on them from above. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little, but they are AWESOME.