This holiday was yesterday. Tigers are one of my fave animals. More specifically, the white Siberian tiger. It's a day to raise awareness for tiger conservation. It was created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit.
I forgot to mention last time that I got new jeans. I was wearing my oldest pair for a while beforehand. The ones I mainly wore on laundry days. The 'newer' pair had a huge hole, so they had to be thrown out. They were also a couple of years old, the oldest pair was a few years older. I'm still in the 'Misses' department instead of 'Women's'. Women's is for the bigger sizes. Yay! I've gone back up a size, though. The pair last time was the same size I was in high school. Maybe keeping up with adding more exercise will help.
I've decided to switch up my strategy for my walks. I thought just before dinner would make it easier. However, that's often around the time when it starts to cool off during a hot day. It's often still too hot for me. So, I decided that right after breakfast or brunch would be best. It's usually not too bad then, and it'd probably fit for any season. I remember in the past I'd get up early enough to do one of my walks around sunrise. Easier to do that during winter. I'd also take a walk at sunset. This way I'd have incentive to go out. Might change to that sort of thing during fall and winter. If I do it after breakfast, I might be able to motivate myself to go again later in the day, too. I started this new way today. Was going to yesterday, but I was doing laundry for most of the day. Went out for a while for shopping and dinner. Probably got enough walking in with just that stuff anyway.
I thought about planning my meals for the week on Sundays. This way, at least for dinner, I wouldn't waste time thinking about what to have. I can plan out those Pinterest recipes then, too.
There have been 'new' visible symptoms of whatever's going on lately. I've had a weird blister-like or 'waxy' patch on one of my fingertips for a few months. It started small and barely noticeable. Mainly it was through touch, not much to see. It's grown and thickened over time. Much more visible and almost looks plastic-like. Takes up roughly 3/4 of that fingertip now. I've started to get more on other fingertips. They seem to be growing and thickening faster. They don't necessarily hurt until I grip something with them. Then, it's a searing pain. They're not callouses. I definitely know what those feel like on my hands. They're quite different.
My knuckles and skin have gotten shinier and tougher. I've also found lumps near some of my knuckles. They're growing. Most of the time they don't hurt. They just feel weird. There's another lump on the back of my neck that isn't growing, but is bigger than the others. Wonder if that's an enlarged lymph node?
I've also been getting weird flakes coming from the edges of my right eyelid. It seemed like it was around my tear ducts, but the flakes are slowly coming out of the upper middle edge area, too. I don't think I have ducts there. They're getting bigger and harder to pluck out.
Looking most of this stuff up, it seems I might have scleroderma. (Sclero is lit. 'hard', and derma is 'skin'.) It seems to fit even more than when I thought it was dermatomyositis (a skin and muscle disease). Especially, with these newer symptoms. It tends to start with joint pain, joint swelling, redness on the face and scalp and other areas, and muscle pain/weakness. That's how mine first started, that I know of. It often progresses slowly at first, and is misdiagnosed at the beginning. I haven't been tested for it yet. One of the few that I haven't had.
I almost wonder if I've been experiencing symptoms for longer. It can also cause collagenous colitis, which is a type of microscopic colitis. It's a more rare form of IBD than UC and Crohn's. A collagen band wraps around the colon while it's being attacked like colitis in general, with the ulcers/sores eating away at it inside. It creates scarring in the colon, too. The GI that told me there was a lot of scarring in mine was slightly puzzled at first by it. It would explain that. It also can cause LPR or larynpharyngeal reflux, which is what they said I probably have. It can cause dysphagia, too. It can affect the lungs, which makes me wonder about the lung issues I had a long time ago. It stiffens and hardens skin, blood vessels, the lungs, heart, the digestive tract, etc. It would explain a lot if that's what it is.
I plan to make an appointment to talk about this stuff with my primary doc soon. At least someone on my 'team' will know about it. My next rheumatologist appointment is at the end of September. That's a long time, but it's the soonest they had. I plan to make an appointment to see a dermatologist, too. Hopefully, it'll be for sooner and they might be able to help before that other appointment.
I plan to get back to playing my clarinet in September. My hands are still in a lot of pain, and I think my circular breathing is a bit more difficult now. Hopefully, it'll either calm down more by then, or I'll be on some sort of treatment to help. Even if it's the same, I'll try to push through it, but not push myself too hard. Hard to find that balance. I'd like to work up to practicing for an hour each time, too. Haven't played since February, because of this stuff. Long time for me. When I was playing more regularly, I thought it'd be great after a certain amount of time (playing more up to par) that I'd listen to recordings if there are any of the pieces I play. After a while of doing that and playing those pieces again, I was thinking of recording myself. Then, I'd play it back and try to correct things more. Eventually, I'd post the more 'perfected' recordings as vids to youtube. I don't want to share an actual vid of me playing. I'd probably mess up. It'll be interesting to read the feedback from it. I'll have to filter out the trolls.
I'm also thinking of doing my own vlog on youtube in September. I tried once, but my phone wasn't the best for it. I now have a webcam built into my 'new' computer. (It'll be a year old this October. I think that's still new.) I've never used it, so it'll be something to test out. It should be better. I've always had a weird thing about seeing/hearing myself in media. Even after losing so much weight and having my hair styled the way I want. This might help with that. I'll do an intro vid, then some vids about what some things mean (like aro, ace, etc.), details, and my story with things. Then, either go over topics people ask about or updates on my life. Some ideas for it, at least. I'm thinking of doing it once a week like many youtubers.
I want to be more observant, so I'll try going in steps. Little things at first like, at the very least, lighting the candles/blessings at the start of Shabbos (Friday night). Doing that either before dinner at home, or if I eat out, when I come home. I can have my own services with the siddur or prayer book I have, or follow online streaming ones. The online one I tend to use the most is Central Synagogue in NYC. Might try others in the future, but it's a beautiful building and I like most of their services. They stream them live every Friday night and Saturday morning. So, you know they're consistent. They're archived, too. So, if you miss when they streamed it, you can still catch it. That's handy considering they're 3 hours earlier. Start with doing the Friday night ones every time. Then, add Saturday morning ones. Read the weekly parsha, eventually do Havdallah (the ending ceremony), and more. The siddur I have also has weekday prayers. More observant Jews pray 3 times a day. (Morning, afternoon, and evening.) I might add that, too. They're shorter than the ones for Shabbos. We'll see. I might add in the blessings before and after meals in the distant future, as well. I've just been off and on with Shabbos stuff. Sometimes I'll go for a few months without even lighting the candles. I feel I need to change that. I'll also try to cut my social media time more that day. Eventually, it'll be great if I stayed away completely from it then.
Since I've been immunosuppressed, and my current med works similarly, I've stayed away from going to shul. (Shul is Yiddish for synagogue.) I felt weird about our local ones as it was at the time, anyways. The last High Holiday services I went to, which was just after starting my 1st med for colitis (azathioprine, which is a strong immunosuppressant), I was very sick afterwards. I think that was the last time I went to services. I'm not taking that risk in the future. Even if I did things like put a high-grade hospital mask on and sat as far as I could from people (and told them not to hug me), it wouldn't seem right. There's also still that risk. I feel even more nervous then before when I'm in a very crowded room in general because of it. Before being on immunosuppressants, I only had to handle having agoraphobia, which is bad enough.
I'm going to try and cut down on social media during the rest of the week, too. It's just felt like too much. I still want to stay on top of it, so I'll go through it occasionally. I'll time it in small chunks. I'll always check notifications if I have them, and will post personal stuff like statuses, my blog posts, art, check-ins, etc. the rest of the time. I might go through more of my feeds when I'm waiting for food or something. This will help a lot. It already has a bit this week.
I got my haircut recently. I was hoping to get it dyed at the same appointment, but they didn't have the time. They cut it a little shorter than I expected. I told her shoulder length, and she did it a little shorter. Took off 6" or 7". About 4" or 5" of that was from the 7 months in between. It's been growing faster than it used to. It's falling out a lot more than it used to, as well...Makes it feel a little weird. The bald spots still aren't that visible unless you lift up certain patches of hair. A shorter style is good for the summer, but next time I might say a touch passed the top of my shoulders. They had a 'color consult' at the end. I want to have purple, green, and blue in it. I imagine those colors being a mixture throughout. Hard to describe, I guess. I was able to show them something similar from a Google search in pics. Some call it a mermaid style or oil slick. They'll bleach my hair first, then tone it and add color. Everyone there sounded so excited about it. Even about the concept. Those 3 colors are in the LGBTQ+ flags I'm under. They told me they get a lot of enby clients that get theirs dyed. For many people it's a thing because that's what they can have control over, and may be able to afford more than the medical stuff for transitioning. It'll be my first time, and I wanted something different. Also, the hair loss makes me feel like doing something fun with it for the time being. Getting more of those white hairs, too. Lots of reasons for me, actually. They told me it'll take 4 hours. That'll be interesting. I'm having it done next month.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
13th of Tammuz
Sunday was International Non-Binary People's Day. Since I'm agender, I fall under the umbrella as well as the genderqueer and trans ones. Enby is a popular shortened form. Apparently, using nb is controversial. Yet, they sound the same. Some find enby too cutesy. I like it, though.
Agender means I don't have a gender. Despite not having one, I think it's amazing to learn about all the different genders out there. It really gives a broader look of what makes us human. Men and women are only a small sliver of them. I think a lot more people would realize they're enby if they were introduced to it. It's still not talked about seriously that often.
Bigender's another one. They experience 2 genders at the same time. That can be any combo. Man and woman, or man and an enby gender, woman and an enby gender, 2 enby genders, etc. Similar with trigender, but with 3. Pangender (meaning all genders) is controversial, considering there are genders that only come from certain cultures that people can experience. Like, 2-Spirit for Native Americans. Polygender (many genders) has been more accepted recently. Genderfluid's when people are fluid through genders. So, for a time they might be a woman, later a man, then agender, etc. They could flow through many genders, not just related to the binary. There are genders that only intersex people can have, too.
Apparently, in the past, Judaism had 6 genders. Although, it was more related to sex. Looking at it gender-wise, I think according to that I'd be considered a tumtum. They were told they should try to fulfill all of the mitzvot. Mitzvot are commandments, but they're more like good deeds. There are 613 of them. Traditionally, there are some that man are permitted to do, some women, and the majority of them everyone's encouraged to do. Of course, it's ok for either gender to do the other's mitzvot, but that's considered doing more than they need to. Tumtums apparently also could step in for many different traditional roles. I'm sure people of many different genders would have been similar. It'd be cool if we went back to a multiple gender system.
There are also some genders within or related to agender. Demigenders are considered apart of it. They could be demiboy or demiman, or partially a boy/man. Same with demigirl or demiwoman, and many other enby identities. There are also some that are slightly masculine or feminine leaning. Personally, I'm not partially any gender. I don't have a masculine or feminine side. I just am.
We got a new TV. It arrived today. A TV stand will arrive soon. We got a new receiver, too. So many new things! It might be a pain taking down the old TV stand/furniture, put the new one up, take out the old TV, and put the new one up. Somebody's coming by to help with putting the TV up. That'll be great. My wrists and arms are still not doing great, and I have a hard time picking up things sometimes. This is 70 lbs, so I don't think I could help. We needed an upgrade. The current TV is around 10 years old. It's time. The receiver and stand are older. Both the receiver and TV sound much more advanced, and will probably give an even better experience.
Made a 2nd recipe I found on Pinterest yesterday: Crockpot Sausage and Potatoes. Seem to be following that at least 1 or 2 recipes from Pinterest each week so far. Although, it's only the 2nd week...It called for pork polska kielbasa. Instead, I used the beef version. They wanted me to use 28 oz, but I used 24 oz. They were 2 huge links. It was plenty of meat. It used frozen shredded hash browns. They had me let it defrost for 2 hours. It was still somewhat frozen by then. I was able to chip at it, though. I thought it wouldn't fit in the large mixing bowl. It seemed to shrink a little after a few minutes, and I was able to fit everything in. The other ingredients were cheddar cheese soup, evaporated milk, and garlic. I wasn't used to using evaporated milk, so that was interesting. It called for 4 minced garlic cloves. I added roughly twice as much. It really came through, which made it even better. That combined with the seasonings in the sausage made it burst with flavor. The cheddar I think made it richer tasting. Maybe enhanced it. It didn't really taste like it had cheese, which is all good to me. Kind of suspected as much, because it didn't seem like a central ingredient. Most of the hash browns turned into mashed potatoes. That was an interesting reaction, and a plus to me. After mixing everything together, which was a bit difficult because of the quantity of things, you add it to the crockpot and cook it on high for 3 hours. That's the only thing I don't like about crockpots. The wait and smelling it throughout the house in the meantime. It's a good thing at the same time, though. You don't have to think much about it unless you need to stir it halfway through or something. They suggested sliced green onions as a garnish, and adding salt and pepper. I didn't do either. It didn't need anything more. Pretty salty anyways.
I've decided the last couple of nights to not use the wrist splints. I think I've been sleeping better and a little less painfully since. This makes me wonder... Roughly a year or 2 ago, I noticed a lump in the crook of my left elbow. It's been there since. Checked it out a few days ago and it's gotten much bigger. The crook of my right elbow has a smaller one, but it wasn't there in the past. They're both hard when I press down on them. I'm curious as to if they've grown so much they're interfering with things like tendons. Pinching them off, for instance. That would make sense with my wrist thing. I had a sebaceous cyst in between my spine and left shoulder blade a while back. It's tendrils grew long enough to wrap around things, making me think there was something wrong with my left shoulder/arm. It was affecting my nerves, veins, etc. Eventually, it got so bad I went to Urgent Care. The nurse looked at my back and noticed the huge lump. She took it out, but had to really dig to get most of it. I think she told me it was the worst one she's taken care of. I wonder if this is similar. I would hope they're not dangerous lumps. I'm nervous to bring it up with my primary.
Keeping up with walking most days. Often when I don't do my 2-mile walks, I've already walked plenty while shopping or something. This week I'm doing 15 sit-ups 2x a day. I'm starting to feel those more.
I've decided that when I get my next haircut I'll dye it, too. The white hairs are coming in more often. Plus, it might be fun. Those white hairs have been popping up since I was in junior high. (I wonder if it's a hormonal thing...) I used to pluck them out. Now it's just too many to do that. I would like to have it in colors related to the flags I'm under. I'm thinking purple, green, and blue mixed throughout. Purple is in the ace, genderqueer, and enby flags. Green is in the aro, genderqueer, and agender flags. Blue is in the trans flag. It would look somewhat sea-like. I don't want white or grey in it, which is what most of the flags have. Another idea would be red with yellow highlights. It'll look somewhat like flames. I'm obviously going to have it done professionally. I've never dyed my hair before. I remember the smell of when my mom would do her own. She dyed it red for decades. It was difficult and that was in an enclosed space. I haven't been following the haircut every few months thing that I promised myself. Last one was around my birthday, so 8 months ago. It's too long at the moment. I've been unsure of it since it started coming out, but a trim shouldn't hurt. It'd be nice to dye it before our local Pride, but that's on Saturday. Not sure if they'll have an opening before then. I don't think anyone would get it, though. I can always explain it. It's cool if it's after Pride, since it's really for myself anyways.
Agender means I don't have a gender. Despite not having one, I think it's amazing to learn about all the different genders out there. It really gives a broader look of what makes us human. Men and women are only a small sliver of them. I think a lot more people would realize they're enby if they were introduced to it. It's still not talked about seriously that often.
Bigender's another one. They experience 2 genders at the same time. That can be any combo. Man and woman, or man and an enby gender, woman and an enby gender, 2 enby genders, etc. Similar with trigender, but with 3. Pangender (meaning all genders) is controversial, considering there are genders that only come from certain cultures that people can experience. Like, 2-Spirit for Native Americans. Polygender (many genders) has been more accepted recently. Genderfluid's when people are fluid through genders. So, for a time they might be a woman, later a man, then agender, etc. They could flow through many genders, not just related to the binary. There are genders that only intersex people can have, too.
Apparently, in the past, Judaism had 6 genders. Although, it was more related to sex. Looking at it gender-wise, I think according to that I'd be considered a tumtum. They were told they should try to fulfill all of the mitzvot. Mitzvot are commandments, but they're more like good deeds. There are 613 of them. Traditionally, there are some that man are permitted to do, some women, and the majority of them everyone's encouraged to do. Of course, it's ok for either gender to do the other's mitzvot, but that's considered doing more than they need to. Tumtums apparently also could step in for many different traditional roles. I'm sure people of many different genders would have been similar. It'd be cool if we went back to a multiple gender system.
There are also some genders within or related to agender. Demigenders are considered apart of it. They could be demiboy or demiman, or partially a boy/man. Same with demigirl or demiwoman, and many other enby identities. There are also some that are slightly masculine or feminine leaning. Personally, I'm not partially any gender. I don't have a masculine or feminine side. I just am.
We got a new TV. It arrived today. A TV stand will arrive soon. We got a new receiver, too. So many new things! It might be a pain taking down the old TV stand/furniture, put the new one up, take out the old TV, and put the new one up. Somebody's coming by to help with putting the TV up. That'll be great. My wrists and arms are still not doing great, and I have a hard time picking up things sometimes. This is 70 lbs, so I don't think I could help. We needed an upgrade. The current TV is around 10 years old. It's time. The receiver and stand are older. Both the receiver and TV sound much more advanced, and will probably give an even better experience.
Made a 2nd recipe I found on Pinterest yesterday: Crockpot Sausage and Potatoes. Seem to be following that at least 1 or 2 recipes from Pinterest each week so far. Although, it's only the 2nd week...It called for pork polska kielbasa. Instead, I used the beef version. They wanted me to use 28 oz, but I used 24 oz. They were 2 huge links. It was plenty of meat. It used frozen shredded hash browns. They had me let it defrost for 2 hours. It was still somewhat frozen by then. I was able to chip at it, though. I thought it wouldn't fit in the large mixing bowl. It seemed to shrink a little after a few minutes, and I was able to fit everything in. The other ingredients were cheddar cheese soup, evaporated milk, and garlic. I wasn't used to using evaporated milk, so that was interesting. It called for 4 minced garlic cloves. I added roughly twice as much. It really came through, which made it even better. That combined with the seasonings in the sausage made it burst with flavor. The cheddar I think made it richer tasting. Maybe enhanced it. It didn't really taste like it had cheese, which is all good to me. Kind of suspected as much, because it didn't seem like a central ingredient. Most of the hash browns turned into mashed potatoes. That was an interesting reaction, and a plus to me. After mixing everything together, which was a bit difficult because of the quantity of things, you add it to the crockpot and cook it on high for 3 hours. That's the only thing I don't like about crockpots. The wait and smelling it throughout the house in the meantime. It's a good thing at the same time, though. You don't have to think much about it unless you need to stir it halfway through or something. They suggested sliced green onions as a garnish, and adding salt and pepper. I didn't do either. It didn't need anything more. Pretty salty anyways.
I've decided the last couple of nights to not use the wrist splints. I think I've been sleeping better and a little less painfully since. This makes me wonder... Roughly a year or 2 ago, I noticed a lump in the crook of my left elbow. It's been there since. Checked it out a few days ago and it's gotten much bigger. The crook of my right elbow has a smaller one, but it wasn't there in the past. They're both hard when I press down on them. I'm curious as to if they've grown so much they're interfering with things like tendons. Pinching them off, for instance. That would make sense with my wrist thing. I had a sebaceous cyst in between my spine and left shoulder blade a while back. It's tendrils grew long enough to wrap around things, making me think there was something wrong with my left shoulder/arm. It was affecting my nerves, veins, etc. Eventually, it got so bad I went to Urgent Care. The nurse looked at my back and noticed the huge lump. She took it out, but had to really dig to get most of it. I think she told me it was the worst one she's taken care of. I wonder if this is similar. I would hope they're not dangerous lumps. I'm nervous to bring it up with my primary.
Keeping up with walking most days. Often when I don't do my 2-mile walks, I've already walked plenty while shopping or something. This week I'm doing 15 sit-ups 2x a day. I'm starting to feel those more.
I've decided that when I get my next haircut I'll dye it, too. The white hairs are coming in more often. Plus, it might be fun. Those white hairs have been popping up since I was in junior high. (I wonder if it's a hormonal thing...) I used to pluck them out. Now it's just too many to do that. I would like to have it in colors related to the flags I'm under. I'm thinking purple, green, and blue mixed throughout. Purple is in the ace, genderqueer, and enby flags. Green is in the aro, genderqueer, and agender flags. Blue is in the trans flag. It would look somewhat sea-like. I don't want white or grey in it, which is what most of the flags have. Another idea would be red with yellow highlights. It'll look somewhat like flames. I'm obviously going to have it done professionally. I've never dyed my hair before. I remember the smell of when my mom would do her own. She dyed it red for decades. It was difficult and that was in an enclosed space. I haven't been following the haircut every few months thing that I promised myself. Last one was around my birthday, so 8 months ago. It's too long at the moment. I've been unsure of it since it started coming out, but a trim shouldn't hurt. It'd be nice to dye it before our local Pride, but that's on Saturday. Not sure if they'll have an opening before then. I don't think anyone would get it, though. I can always explain it. It's cool if it's after Pride, since it's really for myself anyways.
Friday, July 12, 2019
National Pecan Pie Day!
I love pecan pie! Pecans are one of my fave nuts (walnuts are up there, too). The only downside to pecan pie now is I can't have whole or a lot of pieces of nuts. It's somewhat of a trigger food. They irritate the scarring in my colon. Sad that I'm supposedly in remission and still have to look out for that stuff. Maybe I can have it if it's the ground up filling. It's not the same, though. I'm happy for those that can enjoy it the way it should be.
For Dutch, I did all of the Pr. Per. 2 unit and some of Food 2 in Duolingo. The Food 2 one has been funny and interesting. Quite a few idioms. One of them translated to: You are a pancake! Apparently, this means the person's an idiot. They seem to have a thing for pancakes, too. There was another one that was kind of sad: I eat and sleep with mice. Haven't found anything on that one online, but it certainly sounds like one. Peanut butter is pindakaas. That's lit. peanut cheese. I was a little puzzled and grossed out by that and looked it up. There are a couple of reasons why they refer to it as cheese. They were introduced to a peanut product in Indonesia that looks and is sliced like cheese, before they heard about the modern day version of peanut butter. Another reason is they can't call something butter or boter if it doesn't have dairy. However, doesn't cheese normally have dairy? Someone asked in a forum about calling it pindapasta or peanut paste instead. They apparently use paste to refer to something sweet. Another person asked about the word for spread or smeer, and people agreed that would have been better. There's no reason why it shouldn't have been that way. I guess peanut butter's a mystery thing there.
Tasha decided to pee on my closet door/carpet under it a couple of days ago. She did it while standing, which was weirder. It threw me off. She doesn't usually throw up, pee, or poop in my room. Even to her it seems off limits. Once I yelled at her, she stopped, acted confused, and ran away. That makes me wonder if she's got something going on. She is the eldest at around 13 or 14 years old. Rosie's 3 years younger. She's peeing more often out of the box. I've seen 'evidence' on my bathroom floor often. I keep it closed, but it seeps in underneath the door. Anyways, I cleaned what she did to my closet floor with carpet cleaner. Ever since, she's been avoiding that area. That's a plus.
Even though I'm still in a lot of pain every day (not just in my wrists), I managed to sweep and clean my bathroom floor. It was so bad, I had to get on my hands and knees and scrub it with a sponge (that had Mister Clean) after I swept it. A mop wouldn't have helped. With the excess grime that came off, I used a towel to wipe it away. Now it looks nice and clean. I also got to cleaning the mirror. Pretty proud of myself for getting to all that. Hurt a lot afterwards, but it really needed to be done. The only reason it had been such a long time was because of my health. Hopefully, I can get the rest of the room done soon.
Youtube:
Bungou (Literary) Stray Dogs:
Black Clover:
For Dutch, I did all of the Pr. Per. 2 unit and some of Food 2 in Duolingo. The Food 2 one has been funny and interesting. Quite a few idioms. One of them translated to: You are a pancake! Apparently, this means the person's an idiot. They seem to have a thing for pancakes, too. There was another one that was kind of sad: I eat and sleep with mice. Haven't found anything on that one online, but it certainly sounds like one. Peanut butter is pindakaas. That's lit. peanut cheese. I was a little puzzled and grossed out by that and looked it up. There are a couple of reasons why they refer to it as cheese. They were introduced to a peanut product in Indonesia that looks and is sliced like cheese, before they heard about the modern day version of peanut butter. Another reason is they can't call something butter or boter if it doesn't have dairy. However, doesn't cheese normally have dairy? Someone asked in a forum about calling it pindapasta or peanut paste instead. They apparently use paste to refer to something sweet. Another person asked about the word for spread or smeer, and people agreed that would have been better. There's no reason why it shouldn't have been that way. I guess peanut butter's a mystery thing there.
Tasha decided to pee on my closet door/carpet under it a couple of days ago. She did it while standing, which was weirder. It threw me off. She doesn't usually throw up, pee, or poop in my room. Even to her it seems off limits. Once I yelled at her, she stopped, acted confused, and ran away. That makes me wonder if she's got something going on. She is the eldest at around 13 or 14 years old. Rosie's 3 years younger. She's peeing more often out of the box. I've seen 'evidence' on my bathroom floor often. I keep it closed, but it seeps in underneath the door. Anyways, I cleaned what she did to my closet floor with carpet cleaner. Ever since, she's been avoiding that area. That's a plus.
Even though I'm still in a lot of pain every day (not just in my wrists), I managed to sweep and clean my bathroom floor. It was so bad, I had to get on my hands and knees and scrub it with a sponge (that had Mister Clean) after I swept it. A mop wouldn't have helped. With the excess grime that came off, I used a towel to wipe it away. Now it looks nice and clean. I also got to cleaning the mirror. Pretty proud of myself for getting to all that. Hurt a lot afterwards, but it really needed to be done. The only reason it had been such a long time was because of my health. Hopefully, I can get the rest of the room done soon.
Youtube:
Bungou (Literary) Stray Dogs:
Black Clover:
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
7th of Tammuz
Been mostly keeping up with my walks and sit-ups. This is the 2nd week of doing the sit-ups, so I'm doing 10 of them 2x a day. It's starting to feel more substantial. I'm getting more used to the roughly 2-mile walks. I just have to plan when to go each day, because of the weather. On really warm/hot days it'll be a bit late in the day. If it's going to rain, I try to look at the forecast for when it's either dry or lightly raining. If it's going to rain all day, I do have a nice new umbrella, just would be nice to not need it. I've been meeting more of the neighbors this way, too. That's been nice. One of them recently got a smoker and has been smoking meats almost every day since around the 4th of July. It smells so good walking by it. On the 4th, as my parent and I walked past, they told us about it. They were smoking chicken that day. I almost thought he was offering it to us when it was done. That would have been awesome!
I've decided to make at least 1 or 2 recipes from Pinterest a week. I keep finding great sounding ones. I didn't have the motivation to do them mainly because of my health stuff. Sometimes it was because I thought they might be too difficult. Despite searching for single serving recipes, most of the ones I've collected are for multiple servings. Although, maybe I should separate those from the others to see how many there actually are.
Some pins have multiple recipes. Those have themes like casseroles, single serving dinners and/or desserts, slow cooker meals, etc. As it is right now, I've crammed everything into either my Mouthwatering Fare, Cheesy Goodness, Sweet Endings, and Refreshing Drinks collections. Probably need to split them further. Apparently, you can create collections within collections. That might be handy. I can have the main ones, then split them up. The Mouthwatering Fare is more for things that aren't cheese-based. Some of them might have a little, but it's not central. Some of the ones completely without it I might be able to share with my parent. (There are a lot.) She hates cheese. I love cheese. Thus the Cheesy Goodness collection. It'd be fun to create my own desserts, too.
I'm surprised I found any non-alcoholic drink recipes. They sound really good. Some are Starbucks copycats, special tea lattes, milk drinks, different flavored hot chocolate, homemade root beer, ideas for making your own lemonades, and non-alcoholic versions of alcoholic drinks. The ideas for lemonades one has things like watermelon lemonade, strawberry lemonade, pomegranate lemonade, blackberry lemonade, lavender lemonade, etc. Sounds fun and perfect for summer. There are also lots of other pins that are similar that have ideas on making your own version of things like soups, ramen, butters, and flavored salt. I could put those in their own thing. They're like templates. I did the ramen one once, and it felt more 'real' or authentic, but it also felt personalized. I like that sort of thing.
I decided to start with the most recent one I pinned in my Cheesy Goodness collection, which is Spinach Tomato Tortellini. I'm also going to print each recipe out that I try so I can keep track. It's easier to read than on my phone, and I might want to make it again. If it's not a good one, I can toss it and maybe drop the pin from my collections.
This one called for plain tortellini. I got a spinach and cheese bag of them. It really seemed to fit. It was nice to have herbs in it. (It had basil, oregano, and thyme.) Not used to using thyme, though. There was 3 cups of spinach, and they wanted me to chop it up. It's pretty easy to do, but it was a lot. It was the only thing I needed to cut, so that was a plus. I didn't know there was a petite version of canned diced tomatoes. Another interesting thing. I can see why it called for it. I wasn't sure if it needed the juice or not, since they didn't say. I added it and it seems it was perfect that way. The heavy cream and flour were whisked together on the side, then eventually poured in with grated parmesan (used the real stuff) after cooking the other stuff a little while. With the heat still on and whisking it all, it thickened it up. More than I expected. Used quite a bit of garlic, but might have been even better with a little more. After the sauce thickened, they have you add the cooked tortellini and toss it in the sauce. I wasn't sure if the pan I was using was big enough at first. It was just right, though.
It makes a lot. They say 4 servings, but those are way too huge for me. It's more like 8. The good thing about the ones that make so many servings is I can have them for my dinners and/or lunches for the week. Makes it so I don't have to make something more. I think it's healthier this way, too. A lot of homemade stuff can be packed with more nutrients than something from a box, can, or bag. Putting this in My Fitness Pal, it showed that it has a ton of protein, vitamins like vitamin A, calcium, iron, and more. The only downsides are it's slightly high in calories and fat. Another way to look at it is that they're not empty calories, at least. I was able to figure out the portions by putting it all in an empty tupperware container that was on a scale, weighing it at the same time, then dividing it. It was really heavy. Made it easy to figure out. I tried to give myself a full serving the 1st night, but realized it would have overfilled the bowl. I had a little less. Filling up half the bowl I was using with anything is usually a lot for me. Half a serving is plenty. Measured that out for lunch today, and it was enough to feel really satisfying. Also, it tastes better the longer it sits. Becomes more garlicky and I can taste the herbs more today. Seems like a complex and interesting dish.
I think the next dinner thing I'll make is a beef kielbasa, hash browns, garlic, and cheddar soup thing. It's very simple and a crockpot recipe. Just have to slice up the sausage and dump everything in the crockpot (it only has 5 ingredients, 5th being evaporated milk), wait a few hours, and then eat. Makes quite a lot of servings, but again, I can make multiple meals out of it throughout the week.
I'm thinking of making blueberry scones that week, too. However, the recipe's not on Pinterest. I have a mix that has been sitting in the pantry for a while. Why not finally make it? I think I was nervous if it'll turn out. It sounds simple, though. Just need to add an egg, butter, and milk. Then, mix it up, drop them on a cookie sheet, possibly cut them into triangles (don't need to but they tell you how on the package), and bake them. That's another tasty thing to look forward to.
Finished editing Alliance. I might go back to the very beginning. Not sure. Soon, I'll start going through the sequel, Alliance: Dawn. I've been planning out how I want to draw the full-body of Junko. It's mainly been by collecting pics for ideas on it. I'll start actually drawing her soon.
I've finished watching Gunjou no Magmel or Magmel of the Blue Sea. It was ok. Not the best. From looking at comments and reviews about it, I think some people were confused. They were expecting something not as cerebral or complex and more action oriented. Some said there was no plot, but they forget that it was mainly about exploring the dangerous and mysterious new continent, Magmel. Not really about the characters. Although, the main characters were developed and their backgrounds were introduced. The last couple of episodes were mainly about Zero, who's Inyou's assistant. So, that was a bit different. The rest of it kind of reminded me of what Kino's Travels 'theme' was. It wasn't necessarily about Kino, but on the places she explored. Makes the main characters mysterious, too. You don't know much about them, but you still feel something towards them. Another part of GnM was how brutally violent it was when they did fight with either the creatures, plants (there were a lot of carnivorous ones, and some could move), or humans. Similar to KT, as well that way. I don't think it was nearly as good as KT, though.
Finished the 2nd season of One Punch Man. They left it wide open for another season. I hate how Saitama doesn't seem to get much credit. When he fights, most of the time, not many people see it. His fights are often over in a few seconds, and he's growing more bored of them. He should be at number 1 in the rankings. Garou is an interesting character. Reminds me a little of Stain from My Hero Academia. He wasn't really evil or good. He thought both the heroes and villains were unfair with their approaches. He was dubbed Hero Hunter, because he'd pick fights with the heroes to see if he was better than them. He never killed them. Won most of the fights. He wanted to make himself into a monster without actually becoming one. He had a couple of brief encounters with Saitama. So brief, they didn't really see each other. Saitama tends to act on impulse, and the 1st time he immediately thought that Garou was a mugger. He punched him unconscious in a split second upon seeing him. After waking up, he vowed to meet that powerful hero in the future and surpass him. 2nd time, I think Saitama thought he was some random person threatening his friend King. He never looked at the news about the Hero Hunter. Maybe he'll actually meet him next season.
Finished Kenja no Mago or Wise Man's Grandchild. There were some good points to it, but I don't think I liked it. I wanted to. There were a few really odd ecchi moments that almost made me want to drop it. I liked the idea of Merlin adopting a baby he found and training him. He ended up surpassing Merlin early. Shin, the one who was adopted, actually was from our world but he died in a car crash and was reincarnated into that world. In their world, he was found in a carriage accident where his parents died. He was all alone. He doesn't have memories from his previous life, and none of his 'parents' in their world. It was also cool that Shin would think about scientific properties and not need to do an incantation for his magic. Made his magic more potent and faster. Also, made it so he could do anything he thought of. The romance thing wasn't really needed, and I don't know why, but I didn't really like Shin's love interest. She seemed 'off' somehow. The 'villain' was interesting. I don't think I'll watch a 2nd season, if there is one.
Finished the 3rd season of Bungou Stray Dogs. It was good. Nice to see the leaders of both the detective agency and Port Mafia fight, and to know a little about their backgrounds and friendship. Apparently, the detectives, the Port Mafia, and the government are all working together to keep the peace. Interesting to see the man that's basically the boss of all 3 factions. He's supposedly the strongest, yet they said the only ability he had was to turn into a cat. There's something more behind him. No one knows much about him, including those leaders. Most of the time, he apparently acts like he's one of the members of the detective agency's (I don't think she's actually a detective, more like a secretary) cat. She said he usually disappears just before a big calamity. The villain for this season was really cool! No one truly knows how his ability works. He sends messages to his lackeys through playing certain classical pieces, so it's nearly impossible for the detectives to trace what those messages mean. He seems to never be around the people that follow him, which was another surprise for the detectives. They made him out to be slightly smarter than Dazai. He was a few steps ahead most of the season. However, Dazai did manage to outsmart him. I still don't know how they know each other. Maybe they'll cover that in future seasons. They left it open again for one.
Tried to start watching the 2nd season of Dark on Netflix. I remembered that it seemed too convoluted by the end of the 1st season. They tried to make it more so with the 1st episode of this season. It was too much. I normally love cerebral or complex stories, but this was too out there even for me. It seemed there were too many plot holes, too.
Started Ultraviolet on Netflix yesterday. It's a Polish mystery/detective show. Ultraviolet is an online forum for amateur detectives. They solve the cases that police won't touch. Very interesting. They seemed to work much faster than the police, too. In the first episode, the members never meet in person. Not sure if they will. The main character, Ola, was frustrated that the police dismissed a murder she witnessed as a suicide. She saw someone that was pushed over an overpass. So, she went online for help with the case. There's also a retired detective, Henryk, that is like a father figure to her; and a friend, Michal, who actually is a detective. They helped with the case, too. It's highly rated. I haven't watched too many Polish shows. Another interesting side to it.
Finished reading the manga Mother Keeper a while ago. It was ok. Interesting concepts. Started reading Animal no Kuni or Animal Land yesterday. It's about a baby raised by tanuki (raccoon dogs) in a world without humans. I don't know if he was transported to that world or if he's the last surviving human. Before he was carried away by a river from his parents in a basket, they told him that he was a burden. This made him stop crying and give up on life. The tanuki found him, and managed to get him to cry and feel more alive. Their world is interesting. Looks like it'd be even better if it were an anime. The design of the tanuki's faces is really weird. Might take some getting used to.
I've decided to make at least 1 or 2 recipes from Pinterest a week. I keep finding great sounding ones. I didn't have the motivation to do them mainly because of my health stuff. Sometimes it was because I thought they might be too difficult. Despite searching for single serving recipes, most of the ones I've collected are for multiple servings. Although, maybe I should separate those from the others to see how many there actually are.
Some pins have multiple recipes. Those have themes like casseroles, single serving dinners and/or desserts, slow cooker meals, etc. As it is right now, I've crammed everything into either my Mouthwatering Fare, Cheesy Goodness, Sweet Endings, and Refreshing Drinks collections. Probably need to split them further. Apparently, you can create collections within collections. That might be handy. I can have the main ones, then split them up. The Mouthwatering Fare is more for things that aren't cheese-based. Some of them might have a little, but it's not central. Some of the ones completely without it I might be able to share with my parent. (There are a lot.) She hates cheese. I love cheese. Thus the Cheesy Goodness collection. It'd be fun to create my own desserts, too.
I'm surprised I found any non-alcoholic drink recipes. They sound really good. Some are Starbucks copycats, special tea lattes, milk drinks, different flavored hot chocolate, homemade root beer, ideas for making your own lemonades, and non-alcoholic versions of alcoholic drinks. The ideas for lemonades one has things like watermelon lemonade, strawberry lemonade, pomegranate lemonade, blackberry lemonade, lavender lemonade, etc. Sounds fun and perfect for summer. There are also lots of other pins that are similar that have ideas on making your own version of things like soups, ramen, butters, and flavored salt. I could put those in their own thing. They're like templates. I did the ramen one once, and it felt more 'real' or authentic, but it also felt personalized. I like that sort of thing.
I decided to start with the most recent one I pinned in my Cheesy Goodness collection, which is Spinach Tomato Tortellini. I'm also going to print each recipe out that I try so I can keep track. It's easier to read than on my phone, and I might want to make it again. If it's not a good one, I can toss it and maybe drop the pin from my collections.
This one called for plain tortellini. I got a spinach and cheese bag of them. It really seemed to fit. It was nice to have herbs in it. (It had basil, oregano, and thyme.) Not used to using thyme, though. There was 3 cups of spinach, and they wanted me to chop it up. It's pretty easy to do, but it was a lot. It was the only thing I needed to cut, so that was a plus. I didn't know there was a petite version of canned diced tomatoes. Another interesting thing. I can see why it called for it. I wasn't sure if it needed the juice or not, since they didn't say. I added it and it seems it was perfect that way. The heavy cream and flour were whisked together on the side, then eventually poured in with grated parmesan (used the real stuff) after cooking the other stuff a little while. With the heat still on and whisking it all, it thickened it up. More than I expected. Used quite a bit of garlic, but might have been even better with a little more. After the sauce thickened, they have you add the cooked tortellini and toss it in the sauce. I wasn't sure if the pan I was using was big enough at first. It was just right, though.
It makes a lot. They say 4 servings, but those are way too huge for me. It's more like 8. The good thing about the ones that make so many servings is I can have them for my dinners and/or lunches for the week. Makes it so I don't have to make something more. I think it's healthier this way, too. A lot of homemade stuff can be packed with more nutrients than something from a box, can, or bag. Putting this in My Fitness Pal, it showed that it has a ton of protein, vitamins like vitamin A, calcium, iron, and more. The only downsides are it's slightly high in calories and fat. Another way to look at it is that they're not empty calories, at least. I was able to figure out the portions by putting it all in an empty tupperware container that was on a scale, weighing it at the same time, then dividing it. It was really heavy. Made it easy to figure out. I tried to give myself a full serving the 1st night, but realized it would have overfilled the bowl. I had a little less. Filling up half the bowl I was using with anything is usually a lot for me. Half a serving is plenty. Measured that out for lunch today, and it was enough to feel really satisfying. Also, it tastes better the longer it sits. Becomes more garlicky and I can taste the herbs more today. Seems like a complex and interesting dish.
I think the next dinner thing I'll make is a beef kielbasa, hash browns, garlic, and cheddar soup thing. It's very simple and a crockpot recipe. Just have to slice up the sausage and dump everything in the crockpot (it only has 5 ingredients, 5th being evaporated milk), wait a few hours, and then eat. Makes quite a lot of servings, but again, I can make multiple meals out of it throughout the week.
I'm thinking of making blueberry scones that week, too. However, the recipe's not on Pinterest. I have a mix that has been sitting in the pantry for a while. Why not finally make it? I think I was nervous if it'll turn out. It sounds simple, though. Just need to add an egg, butter, and milk. Then, mix it up, drop them on a cookie sheet, possibly cut them into triangles (don't need to but they tell you how on the package), and bake them. That's another tasty thing to look forward to.
Finished editing Alliance. I might go back to the very beginning. Not sure. Soon, I'll start going through the sequel, Alliance: Dawn. I've been planning out how I want to draw the full-body of Junko. It's mainly been by collecting pics for ideas on it. I'll start actually drawing her soon.
I've finished watching Gunjou no Magmel or Magmel of the Blue Sea. It was ok. Not the best. From looking at comments and reviews about it, I think some people were confused. They were expecting something not as cerebral or complex and more action oriented. Some said there was no plot, but they forget that it was mainly about exploring the dangerous and mysterious new continent, Magmel. Not really about the characters. Although, the main characters were developed and their backgrounds were introduced. The last couple of episodes were mainly about Zero, who's Inyou's assistant. So, that was a bit different. The rest of it kind of reminded me of what Kino's Travels 'theme' was. It wasn't necessarily about Kino, but on the places she explored. Makes the main characters mysterious, too. You don't know much about them, but you still feel something towards them. Another part of GnM was how brutally violent it was when they did fight with either the creatures, plants (there were a lot of carnivorous ones, and some could move), or humans. Similar to KT, as well that way. I don't think it was nearly as good as KT, though.
Finished the 2nd season of One Punch Man. They left it wide open for another season. I hate how Saitama doesn't seem to get much credit. When he fights, most of the time, not many people see it. His fights are often over in a few seconds, and he's growing more bored of them. He should be at number 1 in the rankings. Garou is an interesting character. Reminds me a little of Stain from My Hero Academia. He wasn't really evil or good. He thought both the heroes and villains were unfair with their approaches. He was dubbed Hero Hunter, because he'd pick fights with the heroes to see if he was better than them. He never killed them. Won most of the fights. He wanted to make himself into a monster without actually becoming one. He had a couple of brief encounters with Saitama. So brief, they didn't really see each other. Saitama tends to act on impulse, and the 1st time he immediately thought that Garou was a mugger. He punched him unconscious in a split second upon seeing him. After waking up, he vowed to meet that powerful hero in the future and surpass him. 2nd time, I think Saitama thought he was some random person threatening his friend King. He never looked at the news about the Hero Hunter. Maybe he'll actually meet him next season.
Finished Kenja no Mago or Wise Man's Grandchild. There were some good points to it, but I don't think I liked it. I wanted to. There were a few really odd ecchi moments that almost made me want to drop it. I liked the idea of Merlin adopting a baby he found and training him. He ended up surpassing Merlin early. Shin, the one who was adopted, actually was from our world but he died in a car crash and was reincarnated into that world. In their world, he was found in a carriage accident where his parents died. He was all alone. He doesn't have memories from his previous life, and none of his 'parents' in their world. It was also cool that Shin would think about scientific properties and not need to do an incantation for his magic. Made his magic more potent and faster. Also, made it so he could do anything he thought of. The romance thing wasn't really needed, and I don't know why, but I didn't really like Shin's love interest. She seemed 'off' somehow. The 'villain' was interesting. I don't think I'll watch a 2nd season, if there is one.
Finished the 3rd season of Bungou Stray Dogs. It was good. Nice to see the leaders of both the detective agency and Port Mafia fight, and to know a little about their backgrounds and friendship. Apparently, the detectives, the Port Mafia, and the government are all working together to keep the peace. Interesting to see the man that's basically the boss of all 3 factions. He's supposedly the strongest, yet they said the only ability he had was to turn into a cat. There's something more behind him. No one knows much about him, including those leaders. Most of the time, he apparently acts like he's one of the members of the detective agency's (I don't think she's actually a detective, more like a secretary) cat. She said he usually disappears just before a big calamity. The villain for this season was really cool! No one truly knows how his ability works. He sends messages to his lackeys through playing certain classical pieces, so it's nearly impossible for the detectives to trace what those messages mean. He seems to never be around the people that follow him, which was another surprise for the detectives. They made him out to be slightly smarter than Dazai. He was a few steps ahead most of the season. However, Dazai did manage to outsmart him. I still don't know how they know each other. Maybe they'll cover that in future seasons. They left it open again for one.
Tried to start watching the 2nd season of Dark on Netflix. I remembered that it seemed too convoluted by the end of the 1st season. They tried to make it more so with the 1st episode of this season. It was too much. I normally love cerebral or complex stories, but this was too out there even for me. It seemed there were too many plot holes, too.
Started Ultraviolet on Netflix yesterday. It's a Polish mystery/detective show. Ultraviolet is an online forum for amateur detectives. They solve the cases that police won't touch. Very interesting. They seemed to work much faster than the police, too. In the first episode, the members never meet in person. Not sure if they will. The main character, Ola, was frustrated that the police dismissed a murder she witnessed as a suicide. She saw someone that was pushed over an overpass. So, she went online for help with the case. There's also a retired detective, Henryk, that is like a father figure to her; and a friend, Michal, who actually is a detective. They helped with the case, too. It's highly rated. I haven't watched too many Polish shows. Another interesting side to it.
Finished reading the manga Mother Keeper a while ago. It was ok. Interesting concepts. Started reading Animal no Kuni or Animal Land yesterday. It's about a baby raised by tanuki (raccoon dogs) in a world without humans. I don't know if he was transported to that world or if he's the last surviving human. Before he was carried away by a river from his parents in a basket, they told him that he was a burden. This made him stop crying and give up on life. The tanuki found him, and managed to get him to cry and feel more alive. Their world is interesting. Looks like it'd be even better if it were an anime. The design of the tanuki's faces is really weird. Might take some getting used to.
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
30th of Sivan
The month-long holidays for July are: National Grilling Month, National Hot Dog Month, National Ice Cream Month, National Honey Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun.
For the Jewish calendar, there are a couple of pairs of Torah finials. Ones from around the 1920s, and the other's from the late 19th century. The older one still looks somewhat new. Must have been well taken care of. The elements calendar features iodine this month. The main pic's of it being gently heated to slightly melt. It gives off a purplish liquid as it's melted. They mentioned a few of it's uses.
Recently started taking a non-gendered gummy vitamin. My previous one was Women's One-A-Day Vitacraves. I got tired of misgendering myself everyday. I like the gummy version of vitamins. They're kind of fun and I don't have to swallow another pill. The gummy versions of their multivitamins are for men, women, and adults. Like many brands. I find it funny that it seems to imply that men and women aren't adults...Or, that adult is a gender. Anyways, their 'adult' version is much more expensive than the others. So, I looked at another brand's. Plus, I was tired of their flavors. Got VitaFusion's adult version. All 3 (men, women, and adult) are the same price. Seemed more balanced with the vitamins than my previous one, too. I'm glad I now have vitamins that aren't gendered. I know it's a small thing, but it does feel a little better.
I've been using Selsun Blue, and I'm surprised at how well it's working. I don't have as many flakes and they're drier/much smaller now. The scalp oil stuff arrived in the mail on the 1st. It's aka Derma-Smoothe Scalp/FS or Fluocinolone Acetonide. Scalp oil just sounds funnier and darker to me. It's an oil-based steroid that helps with seborrheic dermatitis and other skin conditions. It's supposed to help with the 'scale', redness, itchiness, possibly with hair loss, etc.
Tried it that night. It comes with 2 clear plastic shower caps. (Pretty flimsy looking ones.) There are 2 options of caps for the bottle, too. You're supposed to wet your hair, apply a 'thin film' on the scalp, massage it in well, put a shower cap over it/your hair, sleep with it on, and wash it out with shampoo in the morning. It says it should be every night until it clears up or a certain amount of time. I was going to take a shower anyway, so instead of covering it up with my regular shower cap I went in without it and let the water soak in. I normally wash my hair once every 3 days in the morning, and shower every other night. My hair gets in the way while taking showers, and I normally can't do my hair that often. I coudn't really do a thin film of it. I poured some into my hand, took some in the other, and rubbed it in. Tried to cover as much of it as I could. Hard when I still have such long hair. It did feel a little greasy, but not bad. The shower cap seemed way too loose. Luckily, I managed to get most of my hair to stay in. It stung a little in some patches for a short time. Wasn't too bad with that. I can't tell if it did anything more yet. I've decided to not do it every night. Only the night before I wash my hair. That way I'll already be washing it the next day, and I won't dry my hair out too much. I think she mentioned that it'd be best to not do it every night, yet her instructions for it are different...
I've managed to keep up with doing one of my 2-mile walks a day, and 5 sit-ups twice a day this week. Yay! Hopefully, I can keep it up. With the sit-ups, my plan is like it was when I did them regularly: adding 5 to both times each week. So, next week it'll be 10 twice a day, in 2 weeks: 15 twice a day, and so on. If I don't do it for a day, I'll either start at the beginning with the 5s or go back to however many I was doing the previous week. Just like before, I'm also doing them when I wake up and when I go to bed. It's a good way to remember. 5 of them both times feels more like a little warm up for the 'real' ones. If I keep up that walk every day for a month, I'll add another one in. I think that'll be a wise way to do it. Have to get used to it again first before that. If I skip a day, I'll start that month over. It seems strict, but it might be a way to motivate me, too.
I've also been walking with my iPhone, which I didn't do last time I did this on a regular basis. Interesting to see how many steps it takes me. Also, I've been trying to have it on me during the rest of the day just to see how many steps I've taken in general. I think I've actually been doing that more this past month. I normally just leave it charging most of the day or sometimes forget. Anyways, it was interesting how many steps and flights of stairs I got in yesterday according to it. That was just over 9,000 steps and 6 floors. On Monday, I did 13 floors, but 6,318 steps. I'm not trying to shoot for a number of steps, like some try for 10,000 a day. Some medical professionals say for some people that might be too much. A better one is 5,000 a day at the very least to start with. Everyone's different. 9,000 steps was one of the highest it's recorded for me. I didn't have it track me well during trips and such where I most likely walked more. (Like Montana.) I go up a lot of flights on Mondays and almost as much on Fridays. It's mainly because those are my laundry days. I'm going down and up a flight of stairs constantly those days. (I use them a lot regularly, too.) I think the most it had for flights on there was actually 16.
I've been trying protein bars. Just recently finished a box of Special K chocolate chip protein bars. Felt like I was eating a candy bar every time. I noticed it had a little too much sugar for me, so I wanted to try something else once I finished it. Started eating Power Crunch French vanilla protein bars last night. One bar is humongous! It's coated with what looks like white icing and that easily melts. There are wafers with a vanilla cream in between the layers. It feels like a giant iced cookie. It only has 5g of sugar, which was really surprising. There isn't any nut products in it, either. The protein mostly comes from whey. The other bars had nut powders. That's ok, but I do have to stay away from whole or pieces of nuts. That can make it difficult when looking at protein bars in general. Most of them rely on nut protein. I'm glad this new one doesn't have any. The only downsides I see are the messiness with it melting easily and how big they are. It has 14g of protein, while the other had 12g. Another plus.
Yesterday, I got breakfast chicken sausages from Costco. The same ones I used to get a long time ago. They're handy and add another boost of protein. I don't normally get much protein with my breakfast. They're not bad in calories, too. They're a savory maple flavor. I think the only reason I stopped getting them was because I was tired of them. With this and the protein bars, I should be pretty set with getting enough protein. At least, closer to what the average healthy person's supposed to have. Having 2 conditions that make me need more than that makes it difficult. I don't think I can stomach more, and this is a very big step in the right direction. I still get it from my normal stuff like lunch meat, meat and/or pasta meals, a little from cheese, a little from certain breads, some from beans, etc. Another one I might need to focus on more is potassium. I'm usually very low on that.
Went to World Market yesterday, too. Found more cool things to try. My parent and I will share a pack of Indonesian stir-fry noodles called Mi Goreng. I think there are 4 or 5 single serving packages inside it. It sounds good. They have another one that's labeled hot and spicy. I'm glad they give an option. Despite eating quite a bit of sodium normally, I'm usually low in it with blood test results. (Still within normal range, but very close to the minimum every time.) I've heard many people have a hard time with eating too much of it, but I never have. So, things full of sodium aren't that bad for me. A lot of instant Asian food is like that. The noodles don't seem too high in sodium, though. I also got a type of instant udon that has bonito and sardines. It sounded great. The sodium is a little higher, but not too bad. I have to remember that it doesn't really matter for me personally. Although, I should still not go too overboard with it. It looks like the container has a huge amount. I expected a serving to be half of it. It's actually the whole thing and it's pretty good with the amount calories, too.
I plan to try one of Central Market's quiches for a small dinner before the local trans meeting. It's a single serving mini goat cheese and onion quiche. Sounds amazing! I think there's one other flavor I can try there: spinach and cheese. The others have pork products and/or mushrooms. I don't usually think about things like quiches. They're another way to have some protein, since it's egg and some of them cheese based.
Finished the Imperative, Demonstr., and Geo units in Duolingo's Dutch course yesterday. I'm breezing through it. The Geo unit was the most interesting to me. A lot of the terms were similar to what they are in English. Rivier is river, kanaal is canal, zee (actually pronounced as zay) is sea, etc. I made it to the top 15 of the Ruby League.
Edited more of Alliance yesterday. With the ebook, there are only 8 pages left. With the print version, 10 pages. Not much. I might still go over the beginning stuff again after that. Then, I'll start editing Alliance: Dawn. I want to put out both revised versions at the same time. Smashwords has a 'new' thing with highlighting a series of books that I want to try. Amazon will also have the revised versions. I can't decide if I want to edit what I have of the 3rd book (I don't think it has a title yet) in the series then continue writing it, or edit/go through Sweet Endless Terror after that.
I'm going to draw a full body of Junko next. Decided to plan and get ideas first. She's the 2nd character introduced in the series. I could go in order of appearances for the others, too. She's a cat demon, so there will be cat elements. With Shadow being human, there wasn't much 'extra' to figure. Plus, I'd like to draw what her previous (non-humanoid) cat form was next to her. The demon-type characters sound like they might be more fun/detailed to do.
Finished watching High Seas on Netflix. The cinematography was stunning and definitely gave off that 40's feel. It seemed that they really tried to be true to the time period with lots of things right down to hairstyles. I didn't expect the World War 2 angle, although it makes sense. It was overacted at times, but that seemed more like a Spanish cultural thing. I liked it for the most part. The ending left it on a huge cliffhanger. It didn't seem like there would be a possibility of a 2nd season until the last few minutes. I suppose they could continue it until the boat makes it to Brazil. I'll start the 2nd season of Dark next. It's a pretty complex German show.
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