My Monday

I didn't go. I know some of you were wondering and a lot of you were praying but ultimately I realized it was not wise to drive so far in so much pain. I know there are lots of people in the world who push through pain - and you have my respect, no doubt.  I have a pain thresh hold that, once passed, leads to dizziness, nausea, vomiting, reduced response time... I could go on. The bottom line is that I knew it wasn't wise to undertake driving 200 miles in two days in that kind of pain. I shed a few tears overnight Saturday when I woke up in the middle of the night and knew Sunday was not going to be one of those days that I could leap tall buildings in a single bound. It was not even a day where I could leap small buildings in a lot of bounds. And... truly... still having too much stinking pain today to be comfortable so I know I made the right decision. I just hate being THAT person.

I'm still waiting for an update on the doctor visit and doing the Jewish mother thing where I assume no news is bad news.

But... in way of distraction... my parents went to the grocery store for me over the weekend to stock up on stuff that I can fix for myself in the Whine Cellar Commissary. They bought this Tai Pei brand of Chinese food that I had never tried and it is REALLY good! They're on sale at Ingles this week and I think a lot of grocery stores use January as a big month for sales on frozen food so you might check your store to see if they're on sale. It's a nice sized portion, the rice doesn't have that weird texture you usually have with rice in frozen food and the meat seemed like real meat, not is-this-really-chicken?. My favorite frozen meals are Kashi, especially the Mayan Bake which has plantain and lots of healthy stuff in it but 1) I can't every find that particular flavor and 2) they are too expensive. I consider it reasonable to pay up to $3 for a frozen meal and after that amount... I'm better off cooking from scratch in bulk and saving individual meals (if I ever had that energy to do that). The Tai Pei was on sale for around $2, I think. It's way high in sodium so not an everyday meal for me but good for an occasional Chinese food craving.

My favorite meal at the Whine Cellar Commissary is baked sweet potato with butter and brown sugar. It's cheap, high in fiber (which I always need) and is mostly clean (I'm sure butter has some kind of preservative or chemical added but still...). And my favorite treat is still Luigi's Italian Ice - Mango flavor. I'm totally addicted. I also have a thing for butterfingers and there is no stopping once I start eating them. For the most part I don't have any appetite. I eat to be able to keep meds on my stomach and to prevent headaches from not eating. I get full really fast because when I'm full the back pain and EGP go into overdrive. So when I gorge on things like candy that don't feel you up as quickly as something like a baked potato, I eat until I run out. This is why, despite having no appetite, I maintain my "girlish" figure. Not.

And of course, my mom had made cookies to take to Cody and Marquee and since we didn't go down there I'm having to help use all the cookies before they go bad. She wanted to put them in the freezer and I veto'd that.

One political statement for the day - what happened in France last week was horrible, tragic, scary and all that. More than one day I kept my tv on news all day, riveted to the story. Seeing over three million people come out in force yesterday was amazing... the world leaders linked arm in arm... moving and inspirational. Today over 2000 people are dead in Nigeria by Boko Haram and it's barely a postscript to the news. If you want to see TRUE racism, look at what stories the mainstream media promotes. Seventeen dead in France last week trumps 2000 dead in Nigeria. And I'll also add that it's pathetic that our country sent NO ONE stand up to terrorism with the other leaders of the world. Eric Holder was IN FRANCE and couldn't be bothered. We can't afford NOT to be in solidarity with the rest of the world regarding the threat of terrorism. We can't forget that you show your true character by how you treat people who can't do anything for you. Yes, definitely grieve those in France who lost their lives. Stand up for freedom of speech and freedom from terror. But don't gloss over the others who are victims just because they don't look like us.

And that's it for today. Back to the needle and thread. Happy Monday!