Last Minute Road Trip - Cousins Dinner

It was after 11 on Monday night when I got up for the day after my horrible headache. I made a comment on my cousins post on Facebook being in town for a funeral. 

I commented on the post saying that we should have had a party with them in town as we could have caught up and visit. She mentioned that they were in town for another day and asked if I was in a place where I could take a road trip and visit with them. 

I contacted Princess Two and asked if she wanted to travel with me to see them and I could pick her up on my way through her city. She said she could take some time off and go to dinner with us. 

I only got a few minutes sleep due to being in bed with that horrible migraine all day and was grateful it had finally left but I will say that my ribs, shoulder, and diaphragm were SUPER sore from all the vomiting and dry heaving I did the day before. 

We arrived about an hour before the dinner and stopped off at a thrift store to see if we could find some jewelry, but there wasn't any jewelry, but we both found a few treasures while we passed that hour. 

We arrived at the Indian Restaurant and immediately were in heaven visiting with cousins we haven't seen in many years. I LOVED visiting with them and they all looked so wonderful. All have moved from the from larger cities through the East to Midwest and West Coast cities. Another had been living in Thailand and came home during Covid. I was so glad that I was able to make that trek to visit with them. 

We had a video call from my cousins cute wife and children as well. I was also able to visit with my niece and nephew and my sister and her husband. I love that I was able to visit with them. I drove home after the dinner and arrived really late / early. 

I don't like driving that much in one day, but seeing all those people I love made it worth the long day! 

Have a blessed day!

Thyroid Medication and Specialists - Praying it goes well.

I tried some thyroid medication last month. It was levothyroixin. Withing a few weeks, I was feeling terrible. I was starving hungry and couldn't get enough food. I normally eat one meal a day with a protein bar or fruit 

I gained 10 pounds in just a few weeks. I started having insomnia where I didn't sleep but a few hours in three nights, heart palpitations, headaches that were more vague than I normally get, and I was tired as normal, and the last day of taking it, it felt like my skin was on fire. I kept trying to find cold things I could put on different areas of my skin that were burning. 

I stopped taking it and then when I looked up the side effects, I had many of them. I looked into medication for Hashimotos disease and they suggest a T3 medication rather than the T4 meds I tried many years ago and recently. 

I talked to my Dr. at my recent visit, and he said we could try the T3 medications suggested. It is called Liothyronine. I have only been on it a week or so, but with the headache today, I didn't take it. I was on the other med for a few weeks before having the problems. The only problems I am having so far is really long and increased heart palpitations. 

I am hoping these new medications will help me start to feel better, but I am still feeling a bit more hungry but I think that is still a lingering situation from the other medication getting out of my system as it has been getting a little less each day. I

I appreciate my Dr. once again listening to me and after getting my abnormal results and test back, he has referred me to three specialists. One for my thyroid, one for my lungs, and one for my liver. I am so grateful that he is willing to help me try and figure out these issues. 

Have a blessed day!

Mother of a Migraine - New Meds Not Working

I woke in the night with a nightmare headache. I went back to sleep praying it would go away and I could sleep it off. I turned on a show and went in and out of sleep but woke feeling terrible. 

The Dr. gave me some new migraine meds to try recently. I tried Nurtec and it worked in about 45 minutes. It dissolved in the mouth and didn't completely take out the pain, but enough that I could function and the headache began to get worse in four to six hours but you can't take more for 24 hours. 

However, for me, just taking the edge off made my life functional and I wasn't throwing up so that was a big happy for me.  When I talked to my Doctor about it, he told me he could give me another drug that works through the mouth and it could be used for the break through headache as they work on different mechanisms. 

However, when I went to pick up the medications, only the second one was in the pharmacy. The Nurtec was not available at the pharmacy as they don't have it in stock, and it needs a prior referral for my insurance. My Dr. gave me some trials and I used them all in a few weeks as I had so many storm headaches the past month. 

The Rizatriptan was the only one I had but haven't tried it yet. I tried one this morning and felt like it made me throw up more quickly than I would have taking some of the other meds I usually take. I usually take Sudafed, acetaminophen, and drink 20 ounces of Coke quickly. 

I threw up soon after taking it. I drank some Coke and took another Rizatriptan and within a few minutes, I was throwing up again and it was really violent dry heaving. It was awful. I decided not to take the Rizatriptan again. I decided to try taking the anti-nausea medication the first Dr. ordered for me that is also a dissoluble pill. It is called Ondansetron. I don't know if it was that or the meds I then took that are the normal cocktail I take and was in bed literally all day falling asleep for a few minutes here and there while distracting myself listening to shows. I got up twice more and took more acetaminophen. I wasn't feeling well enough to get up until after 11 p.m. I was finally feeling well enough to get a few things done and blog. 

I am going to talk to the Dr. and see if he can get approval for me to get the Nortec approved so I can not lose out on full days again. It has been a horrible day and I am sure I am going to be sore tomorrow from all the vomiting today. 

It is nice that there is medication available to help people in my situation. I just hope that I will be able to get it as it was so nice to be able to not lose days last month feeling terrible and not getting anything done. 

Have a blessed day! 

14 Karat Gold and Lots of Sterling in a $20 Thrift Grab Bag

I am SO excited about the new ladies working at the thrift store in town. Every week she is putting new jewelry out. She puts five or six bags out a week. 

I have missed lots of bags, but I have lucked out getting about six different bags over the past month or so and each of them had at least one piece of gold and silver in each. 

The other things, is that each of the bags has at least one good piece it in, however, I don't want to spend $20 or $25 a bag for one piece of silver, so I have been holding out and only buying the bags that have some gold in them or lots of silver. 

Even the smaller $10 bags lately have had some gold that she may not realize is real, such as cheap Disney, or Olympic pin bags, but then I find a real gold pin of 14 karat gold, that is a big score for $10 depending how large of a pin it is. 

I still have jewelry bag videos from a long time ago I haven't posted, so I am going to try to get all these new videos out this week if I can as it takes me a bit of time to get them posted on YouTube. I have spent lots of time on a project this weekend and hope I can figure it out tomorrow and maybe post that this week as well. 

In this $20 bag, I got one larger 14 karat necklace that is trashed for wearing, but as far as gold value it is well over $20! There were also many pieces of sterling silver which themselves are over $20 in value. 

I feel so grateful to have a new person at the thrift store which makes treasure hunting so much fun!

Have a blessed day!

14 Karat Gold and Sterling Silver for $10 in a Kids Jewelry Grab Bag

I am LOVING having a few new workers at our local thrift shop. It is amazing to me what one negative person can do to a working environment. 

It is also amazing what one or two POSITIVE people can do to an environment. I love going in to the store now and visiting with the workers. It is like it was a few years back when everyone was friendly and happy. 

I have shared with those friends who used to shop there that things have changed as many of them stopped shopping there do to the grumpy worker. They are slowly coming back to shop there as things change. 

I have been able to get four or more jewelry bags with gold and silver since the new people are there. They are so friendly and will give me an idea when new jewelry bags and collectables will be coming out.

I found a little bag that was $10 and was full of kid type jewelry and I almost overlooked it as junk, but on more than one occasion I have found silver and gold jewelry stuck on kids jewelry in those type of bags, so now I take a closer look before passing over those type of bags. 

I found 14 Karat gold earrings, and three different silver items in the bag. Very good finds for $10. 

Have a blessed day!

Bread Of Life Activity - Giving Away Homemade Bread

Our local church had an activity tonight. We were able to get people to sign up to make loaves of bread. White, wheat, fruit, nut, or any type of bread they are comfortable making. 

People identified homes that they thought could use a visit, and compiled a lists for us to visit. They had the young women in our congregation tie on little messages from the scriptures about Christ being the "Bread of Life" and inviting them to a few different activities we will be having in the near future.

They put each persons address on a slip of paper and had each member get into teams of two and take and deliver them to people that they may know or want to get to know. 

I went with a friend to a lady I met living a few blocks away when I was delivering food for the food bank. She lives close to the friend I went with, so we had a good visit and I talked about having this woman help me with a craft project I want to make. 

The second lady we visited moved in during Covid and was interested in helping with the new service group I am working with called "Sleep in Heavenly Peace" or SHP making beds for those who don't have one in our community. See a post about that here. She is also a single mom whose kids are grown and has grandchildren. 

We talked about going to dinner sometimes and I will invite her to help with the next bed build we do. 

We had the wrong address on one house and then looked it up online and it was the wrong address online as well. After visiting with a few different people, we figured out where we were headed and it was someone that moved into my friends home after she moved. I stopped on the way home and they didn't answer so I will stop over tomorrow. 

The other house we tried, the woman had moved out and out of our area, so I took it to my neighbor who is a bit of a hermit. When I dropped it off, I guess she was gone and had someone watching her kids. I was able to leave them with a loaf and message. 

I thought it was a fun activity and way to reach out to all the neighbors who have moved in during Covid that we haven't gotten to know. So many of my friends have moved or are moving soon. I could use some new friends! I was glad to have the opportunity to meet some! 

Have a blessed day!

Recycling Plastic Containers in Your Own Way

I live in a very small town. There is no recycling in our town. At one point, they had a few dumpsters for paper recycling but they found that the gas they used cost more than they made in recycling income. 

We did have a metal recycling in town for many years until the owner had a stroke. He was such a good man and helped me in so many ways allowing me to collect metals in a dumpster and giving the income to the local drill team which my kids were in at the time. Here is a link about that back then. 

We have never had any recycling of plastics that I know of in our town. Everything ends up in a landfill. So, I started looking for places where I could recycle my plastics. I have a container for batteries to recycle, one for metals to recycle, and a larger bag for plastics that can be used for other things. 

I keep some of the better recycling plastics for the kids when they come home so they can take food home. For example, Princess One and her family were here this week and I made chicken enchiladas for them. I am gluten free and can't eat it, so I had half a casserole pan left over, so I put it in one of those plastic containers and sent it home with them sandwiched between two pounds of very frozen beef so they could take it home to eat it. 

I also have done many funeral meals volunteering at our church building and they are always looking for containers to send food home with the family. There are usually three or four different congregations meeting at each of our church buildings, so the containers go quickly. I save any plastic bottles, yogurt, ice cream, or take out containers that have good fitting lids. 

I have used the plastic containers to send home soups from the church, or gravy from the Christmas meals. This year, I used one of the containers I donated during covid to take home mashed potatoes from our Christmas dinner. I was glad there were still some containers there. We used many of the containers I took during that time and the supply was low. 

Since I live alone and have some fatty liver issues, I don't eat yogurt and my daughters that went through the large containers no longer live with me, my donations have slowed, but I do get some plastic jars in daily living from spaghetti sauces etc sometimes. I used to be able to fill a small garbage sack in a few months, but now I donate a bag a year or so now. 

Another place I have donated is the food bank. Sometimes, they get donations in large containers and can't distribute that larger amount to people, so being able to put it in smaller containers and sticking a label on it can be helpful to distribute the food. 

Another place that may be able to use them is the local seniors center. Our local senior center makes lunches several times a week and can use the containers for left overs. They are also the place that makes meals on wheel, but they have bought containers for that. 

That same senior center and a local youth center are both rented out for weddings, family reunions, and other activities. We have had our last few missionary farewell and homecomings there. It would have been very handy to have extra containers there for family to take home some of the leftovers we had at those events. 

I never throw out any containers as any and all of those places can use them for left overs. Of course, it does take some effort to drop them off every so often, but in the end, I can't tell you how many times I have used them to take food to families in need. When we have lots of left overs it is nice to be able to make sure it gets to those who can use them the most. 

I thought maybe people would think this is a lame post, but I figure if it can keep the plastics out of the earth and help others at the same time, it is worth posting about. 

Have a blessed day!