Good morning – velkommen!

I probably didn’t spell that right and don’t care, because just for the moment, all is right with my world.

The house is cleaner, I’m snacking on a grapefruit as a break before doing more housecleaning, and my tummy/head feels over 90% alright. 100% would be great but these days I shoot for more than 90%. My doctor’s appointment got kicked back until who knows when because the test administrator is “not well” and “will call me at a later date to reschedule”. Oh, how thoughtful. If I think about that too much I get angry and realize how my health still sucks, so… next subject!

Random factoid: WHY is there information out there that grapefruits can cause cancer? I hate you, Internet. I refuse to let that little worm get into my brain.

There’s some cheesy poppy hip hop on my Pandora station, that’s nice. The kitty isn’t being a jerk, and the weather’s good. This week I plan on seeing Hunger Games. That’s right.

Last year my friend loaned me the series via Kindle. It was GREAT. It only dawned on me a couple of months ago that a movie would be coming out, so I’m doing my best not to feel elitist and also not look up any photos, trailers, or info on the movie. It would be nice to be pleasantly surprised. Also, I read the books long enough ago that the details have blurred. From quick glances around the Internet it looked as though Owen Wilson is playing Haymitch, when I wanted (essentially) Mad Eye Moody to play him, but that decision wasn’t up to me.

That’s what’s going on with me right now. What about you?

A prize AND a kitty meme? Consider today an accomplishment in my internet life. I approve of this post – you should too.

Prawn And Quartered

Sir, as today is Tuesday, it’s my feeling that Wednesday could occur, officially, as early as tomorrow.

~H.M. Murdock

One thing I know for sure about myself? When I make a promise, I deliver. Even if it’s a little later than I expected. (Hey, I work for the government. Cut me some slack here.)

You may remember, faithful readers, a little post called “Your Burning Questions, Answered!” about a month ago. I did promise to answer some of those awesome questions. That’s what today’s post is for. Since it’s Wednesday, I am going to do so in meme/pictorial format. This may be a recurring feature here at P&Q if the gremlins don’t interfere.

I had a lot of questions asked and, while I can’t answer them all due to time constraints, have picked some great ones. I know you’re all taut with suspense so I’ll cut the chatter now and…

View original post 192 more words

Please Sir May I Have Some More

A brownie. Some fudge brownie ice cream. A slice or four of fudge cake. A bar of chocolate. Even those little wrapped Dove squares that you find stashed away in your purse after a month that are STILL good.

Do you sense a theme? Why yes, I would like some chocolate.

This week is my no caffeine/sugar/chocolate week (as per the doctor’s orders, on Official Paperwork). It’s not even a full week that I have to go without, it’s just today through noon on Friday. The hardest thing about all this is sitting in the office, because my brain doesn’t turn to Really Really wanting chocolate or sugar when I’m out walking around on the beach or vacuuming the house.

It’s also the cusp of GirlTime™. Yes, having minimal to zero caffeine/sugar/chocolate will indeed help the symptoms, but more than anything, all I want is a piece of fudge cake. Or a handful of Oreos with milk.

To paraphrase a friend, denying ourselves instant gratification on something that we want is very much an adult trait. So this apparently makes me a responsible adult. Sort of.

I’ve been doing my research on all this, because if I have to give up my now-twice-weekly morning grande soy chai, no matter how First World that sounds, I want to know exactly when I can get away with having it again. Not just because it’s tasty, but because losing the ritual of it makes me more uncomfortable than I care to admit. I’ve even grown fond of the instant decaf crystals from Folgers, and heard they have no caffeine so I’m waiting on a response from the company to see if that is indeed true.

For months now I have been cutting back on things I enjoy. It’s been good for me (nobody needs a grande white mocha AND a cup of coffee every day), but also makes me sad to really have to get down to the wire. Please let a solution for all this occur soon – not that I want to go on overload, but my work week just seems messed up without something coffee-ish in the morning. I’ve been drinking guava leaf tea, which tastes like a version of green tea, but it’s not the same. There’s been no alcohol in my body since November, and no soda for further back than I recall, but to drop everything except water and herbal tea is proving to be a very tough battle.

As an aside: I’m not saying every day I stuff my face with multiple mugs of coffee and half a pan of brownies, followed up by a quart of ice cream, I’m saying if I drink one cup of decaf during the morning four times a week and snag a piece of candy now and then, how is it going to affect me?

Here’s some of my research towards beverages and food I consume or have consumed on a regular basis.

CAFFEINE LEVELS (# denotes mg unless otherwise noted)

LIPTON TEAS (est. for 1 cup brewed 2 – 3.5 min)
Black Tea – 1 cup, 55mg
Black Tea Decaf – 1 cup, 5mg
100% Green Tea – 1 cup, 45mg
100% Green Tea Decaf – 1 cup, 4mg
French Vanilla Black Tea – 1 cup, 30mg
Spiced Chai Black Tea – 1 cup, 55mg
Earl Grey Tea – 1 cup, 45mg
English Breakfast Tea – 1 cup, 55mg
All Herbal Teas – 1 cup, 0mg
Tea, brewed- 8 oz., 53mg (range: 40-120)
Starbucks Tazo Chai Tea Latte (Grande) – 16 oz., 100mg
Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar – 1.45 oz., 31mg
Hershey’s Chocolate Bar – 1.55 oz., 9mg
Hershey’s Kisses – 41g (9 pieces), 9mg
Cream substitute, flavored, liquid – 1 oz, 2mg (4g fat, 22mg sodium, 9g sugar)

Health updates

My specialist finally got the thumbs up from my insurance to get me into Scripps Memorial for an ENG test. Two hours of more fun than should be allowed – be prepared to be jealous!

I had to fill out a questionnaire, which was less exciting than you might think. Here’s my questionnaire on dizziness and imbalance disorders, in hopes that someone else might see it and not feel like they’re going through things alone. It did make me feel better to see how in depth it was, because I know they wouldn’t ask all that if no one else had ever suffered this stuff.

dizziness and imbalance inner ear problems pg 1

dizziness and imbalance inner ear problems pg 2

Next Friday. Get excited for me!

I’ve Got My Decaf and I’m Ready To Rumble

It’s a nice morning. There’s a breeze blowing in through the window, my coffee tastes alright, and I am gearing up for the million errands of the day. Admittedly there was a two hour delay in getting going later than planned due to Comfy Unconsciousness, but that’s what days off are for, right?

One of the glorious things I get to do should be doing today is laundry. Thrillist reminded me of how envious I’ve always felt of males because it seems so easy for them to get dressed. They don’t have curves. They can wear khakis and a t-shirt every day and it’s fine. Then I saw Two Inch Cuffs and didn’t feel so envious anymore. A thirty dollar cotton belt and some three hundred and forty dollar jeans. Alright then.

One of my goals is to go to Old Navy or Target or one of those stores, buy three pairs of pants and five shirts, and just put them into rotation. Like a uniform. As much fun as it is to dress up, I get frustrated because things don’t fit a certain way and really don’t want to take the extra twenty minutes to play Oh No It’s Thursday And What Clothes Fit Me Today. Ladies, you know the feeling (and shut up if you don’t). I’m 5’0″, and 39-29-39. Life is not easy.

But the breeze, oh the breeze. I need to go do some business-related paperwork downtown, meet up with a client, go to the post office, and try to find some pants. The AWESOME news is that my tax refund came through, just in time for me to pay off some bills that have been behind since last summer. It would be nicer to try and get a new wardrobe/haircut/mani/pedi/facial, but …yeah. It’s one of the pros/cons of adult responsibility, which will also be my next post (spoiler alert).

I need another cup of coffee. Brak is being a cat: searching, inquiring, making his cat face. The face that looks like he left his monocle and top hat at the cleaners (which he did).

I had to make this awful high-pitched noise for almost two minutes to get him to turn around and stop shuffling about.

Yesterday was spent at traffic school. It was as much fun as it sounds, because the option to take the course online was not available. After sitting in a very uncomfortable chair (with no table) for 400 nearly-consecutive minutes, it seemed like a very good idea to take a walk. So that happened, and a walk by the ocean turned out to be just the thing.

Upon arriving home, my buddy Steve brought us bean-and-cheese burritos. The rest of the evening was spent watching silly movies and I worked on a painting. Speaking of, Bunny2 is almost done. The background layers are all in, now he just needs a few more layers and then it’s time for the details. I’m digging it.

Time for another cup, then off to get cleaned up and errand-ed out. Envy me.

Cough Hack Cough Cough Hack

Last week, right after going to my specialist to do a followup on my weird ear condition – which might be Meniere’s disease – I got pretty sick. Most of February has been spent being exhausted (from the ear stuff), but last week I got the plague again, which happens usually twice a year. Unfortunately right about this time last year I caught the same style of plague which is why my ears are all messed up to begin with.

My college classmate used to call me “squirrel ears”, and I’m okay with him doing that. Only him though.

Anyway. I’ve basically been asleep since last Wednesday, and it wasn’t that fun. I’m ready to be healthy again. I’m well out of sorts but am trying to not sound super loopy or medicated. Finally getting better but am pretty ….eh.

Here’s what I’ve been getting my paws into lately as well: Fight Back San Diego – Artists Against Cancer. I really want this to happen. I really want awesome artists to be involved. Like Craola. Please help me make this happen. If there was more energy in my body right now you guys would hear more about it, but I spent almost 36 hours straight making the website and all the other stuff AND promoting the crap out of it. So tell someone; I’m still here but am on a break from that for a sec.

What else. Well, below are some things, and yes the photos are sort of stretched out but you can click them and they’ll be normal size. So do that if you want.

Um, I helped my friends Jim & Linda adopt a puppy named Jack.

My friend Joe turned 40 and his wife, Jen, threw him a really fun birthday hotel soiree last weekend. There was a lot of drinking and hugging and debauchery. This is me and Jen; she is awesome. I put on a very good drunk face, even though alcohol is not – and has not been – in my cards. No booze for this chick anytime soon.

Look at us, we are Lovely Ladies!

Jen & I love hugs 🙂

That was last Saturday. Last Sunday my friend Maria threw a birthday/graduation party for her husband, Trent. It was down at Mission Brewery, a very cool building that tortured me because… NO ALCOHOL. I did have a sip of one of the super-dark porters just because I really miss that taste, but just a sip. It was delicious.

Here’s a photo of some of our crew – from left,
Sean, Rod, really unflattering shot of me, Maria, random girl, random guy, and Dylan.

I love when the Phoenix crew comes out:

Sunday was also my buddy Shinn’s birthday. I had to go from Maria & Trent’s thing to Steve’s thing.
From left: Jason, me, Rob (behind), Steve-o 🙂

From there, last Monday was the doctor’s appointment, after which I didn’t feel awesome, and then Wednesday morning woke up with crazy fever chills and now we’re to today. The coughing is subsiding slowly, my appetite is coming back slowly. Life is a little weird right now; I’m sleeping through most of it and drinking lots of tea. I’m also closing in on the final chapters of Game of Thrones (book 4) and also just starting to watch the episodes. It’s good.

Stay healthy, my friends.