19th of Adar

Had a fun weekend. Went to a new place called McCloud’s for dinner on Friday. Their menu is huge! There were so many good sounding desserts on their specials menu. We shared fried pickle fries. They come with ranch. They were kind of in a nifty shape. I thought they were pretty good. I got their bbq combo. I chose the brisket, mashed potatoes, and potato salad. It comes with cornbread. The brisket was very fatty, but the rest of it was decent. The sauce was interesting. The mashed potatoes didn’t look very normal. It needed more salt. The potato salad was just ok. Cornbread was just ok. I ate close to half of everything, and had the rest (including pickle fries) for lunch on Sunday. The mashed potatoes were much better after I added a lot more salt at home. Maybe the rest of their entrees/sides will be better. I had their toffee caramel bundt cake. It was amazing! I ended up eating it all.

We went to Burger King on Saturday for lunch. Been a while since I had been there. I got a whopper with cheese without onions with onion rings and a vanilla cream soda. It was great!

After that, we got pedicures. I decided to get those instead of going to the podiatrist just to get my toenails clipped. I got the same ‘package’ as my parent. The signature one. They do a few different massages in addition to the actual pedicure part. They also add in putting on nail polish. I didn’t want the nail polish. I wasn’t sure if it would make my toenails worse. They almost didn’t understand that I didn’t want it. They don’t know very much English. I think I might have it next time. Something sparkly. I guess it’s ok to try and see what it does. They didn’t trim my nails much. That was my main thing. Next time I’ll ask them to trim them shorter. Hopefully they’ll be able to trim both my big toes’ nails. They’re the weird looking ones. They were still pretty short this time, so it was understandable that they didn’t do much with them. The skin on my legs and feet still feels really soft from all that stuff they did. I think I’ll get their basic thing next time. That still has a couple of massages. (And they still apply lotion and such.) Nail polish is included in it, too. I had worn my slippers so I can easily slip in and out of them. They tried helping me put them on afterwards. They were really nice.

We went home so I could get my socks and shoes on. My feet/legs felt naked and cold on the way home. We went to Starbucks for a snack after that. I got an iced lavender cream oatmilk matcha latte and coffee cake. The latte was new, and it had kind of a fun taste. The coffee cake was good, but very crumbly.

Went to my haircut appointment at 4:30pm. My stylist and the receptionist were the only other people in the store. It was a little weird. I got another buzzcut. It feels like she cut it even shorter than usual. I think the 6-week thing worked out more. It wasn’t getting too crazy before the haircut like it had been. The only issue is I had to make an appointment for more than 6 weeks out. It’s going to get funky again. I guess I can wear a hat if it gets bad. I brought up Rosie passing away. She suggested we get another pet. To fill the void, and that many pets need good homes. It’s hard. I don’t think I want to get attached like that to another pet and then deal with their death again. It hurts. She talked about her new chihuahua puppy. I was thinking a while ago about getting a chihuahua. (Long before Rosie passed away.) A nice small dog. Again, I don’t think I want to deal with that again. Unless maybe if I won the lottery and had my own house. (I might get both a dog and cat.) That’s a big maybe, though. Anyways, it looked like a lot of hair was on the floor when she was done. I didn’t think my hair was that long.

My parent made our usual St Patrick’s Day dinner on Sunday. It’s easier to cook like that during the weekend. There were corned beef, potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. They were all boiled together with a little spices. I had the corned beef with a little maple mustard. It was great without it, but it elevated it a little more. It was all great. Shared soda bread for my last snack. Another fave.

This month’s Universal Yums is on Colombia. (Got it on Monday.) I don’t think Treats covered Colombia. It’s pretty new to me that way. Should be interesting to see what emails I’ll get on it from them. So far, there was a recipe for Sancocho Colombiano. Apparently, a huge stew with beef and vegetables. They usually add a sauce on top of it. They might have rice or avocado as sides. Went through the booklet. I can have the 2 recipes in it. I think 1 of them looked really good. Cheese in hot chocolate is apparently a thing. The music playlist wasn’t great. I thought they’d have traditional music. Instead it was pop, rap, and hip-hop. Looks like fun and different snacks this time. There’s one I can’t have. It’s bacon and lime potato chips. My parent said she might have that one.

I’ve tried the cheese rings with cassava powder. They were pretty good, just had a strange aftertaste. Had some of the Chew n Crunch Stix. They weren’t great. Very interesting that it had specks of candy inside. I noticed there was gelatin in it. I don’t know if that’s from pork, beef, fish, or plants. (I can’t have pork products.) The uncertainty scared me and they weren’t good, so I threw the rest out. Had one of the passion fruit flavored lollipops with bubblegum in the center. The candy part was really good. Very flavorful. You could smell it, too. I’m not sure if I’ve had passion fruit before. It looked like it had seeds, but I think they made the candy have bumps and colored them in to make them look like seeds. The gum wasn’t very good. Didn’t last long. It was an experience, though. Today, I had a little bit of the coconut caramel stick candy. It was awful. It also had gelatin. It wasn’t worth having the whole stick. I threw the rest of it out, too. I also had the coffee cake that actually has coffee in it. It was really good. Seemed like it was steamed. It was nice and moist. Had a little strange aftertaste. Not sure what that was. I gave it 3.5 hearts. I gave the coconut caramel sticks 0 hearts. So, today had both the lowest and highest ratings so far. There are lime potato chips from the same brand that did the bacon and lime potato chips. It sounds interesting. I’ve had lime tortilla chips, but not potato chips. There’s also mayo potato chips. To me, that could be good or bad. All depends on how it’s done. There are garlic plantain chips. I’ve tried plantains a couple of times and didn’t like it. Maybe I’ll like it in a different form? There’s a gummy thing. I’ll try a little bit, but it also has gelatin. If it’s good, I might eat more of it. There are lemon cream sandwich cookies, a peanut chocolate bar, and a wafer chocolate bar. Those seem ‘normal’.

Yesterday I had a meatloaf meal from Safeway for dinner. It also had green beans and mashed potatoes. Their meatloaf only has beef, which is great. They use a ketchup-based sauce, which reminds me of what my mom did with her meatloaves. It didn’t have the garlic and herb butter for the green beans/potatoes this time. I like that usually. It still was good. I had a slice of their Biscoff cookie butter cake for my last snack. It’s one of the best cakes they have. Super popular. They didn’t have it for a while. It was the last one. I’m so happy I got to have it. It was amazing! I had Amy’s broccoli cheddar bake for dinner tonight. It’s a frozen meal. One of my faves. I had an oatmeal raisin cookie for dessert. It was pretty tasty. For my last snack, I’ll have cheddar pretzels and either the last of the s’mores chocolate or the beef and cheese sticks. I love the beef and cheese sticks. Another thing I haven’t seen in a while. It might be best to have that then.

I’ve decided to get most of my Passover food from Amazon. They have a good selection. The QFC in Seattle disappointed me last year. They really didn’t have much. They used to be impressive with a huge selection. They actually have a section for it on Amazon. I looked at it last year and it had pretty much everything I needed. Even the jarred charoset and actual choices of cereal. I’ll check it out again soon. The holiday starts the night of April 12th. I have a little while.

I finished my little project of listening through the decades on Spotify. I didn’t find much in the 2010s and 2020s. I added a little over 330 songs to my liked playlist with that. Now I’m listening to my liked playlist on shuffle with their ‘new’ recommendations mixed in. I’ve added quite a bit more that way. I’m still not used to listening to music throughout the day again. It’s another experience. I used to do it all the time, but I stopped it at some point. Probably after my fall 5 years ago and cancer stuff.

Pinterest (I didn't make these. Just sharing):

(Cheesy Beef Wraps):

Youtube:

11th of Adar II

Decided to make myself go to bed earlier than I have been. I've been tempted to stay up late lately because of the pain. Instead, I can go through the pain in bed while trying to fall asleep...It's better than doing it later, I suppose. I don't want to take the extra strength Tylenol too often, which puts me in a dilemma. Is it bad enough to need it or not? It only keeps the edge off. It's better than nothing, though. I managed to go to bed and get up at a decent time last night/this morning. Yay!

My throat's getting worse, too. More difficult when I lay down. It feels like it's squeezing more now. I've choked on my pills a few times. Not the huge ones (Lialda), but the normal-sized aspirin-shaped pills (Lamotrigine). I guess because they're wider? It tastes nasty when it gets stuck. Feels like there's more stuff in my throat. Not food, just like it's stuffed or something. Takes me a while to eat and drink, which is getting annoying. The 27th feels far away with this thing. (When my upper endoscopy/colonoscopy is.)

Almost done with the 2nd level of Verbs 1 in Duolingo's Korean course. There have been a lot of weird sentences. Like, the animal writes a message, I don't throw my friends, the men fall down together at the library, the cat and dog speak Korean to each other, etc. What's up with most things centered on the library, park, or sea? Makes it interesting, though.

Read more of MAR Omega. Nanashi made an appearance. I remember him from the anime. This takes place after the first manga series (which is what the anime was based on). He's still a thief. They also met the one that was the ref of the tournament before. He has a weird name, and pretty much everyone in his village looks the same. Except for the royalty, who look more like monsters. All their names are similar, too. To me, those creatures look like yoda. Might have been based on him. Fun to see old characters again. Apparently the 'Omega' part is based on a system of the same name. Having all of Babbo's stones will be part of the system that'll give his memories back. 

Finished cleaning up the full-body drawing of Shadow in Photoshop. I'll thin and shape the lines better next time. I already did that with his hair, which turned out interesting. Then, I'll color him in Photoshop, too. Edited more of Alliance. Getting through a lot of it. 

Had corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, spices (from the beef's package) and carrots all boiled together for St. Patrick's Day dinner. My parent made it. It was really good. I usually think of it as like an Irish Heritage Day. Celebrating St. Patrick himself would be weird for me. I'm part Irish, so it's like I get in touch with some of my roots. Even though that dinner is considered an Irish-American one (I've heard not many actual Irish people eat it like that), that also plays into my family background. It's our usual dinner for the holiday. An easily digestible meal, which is good for my gut issues. We sometimes listen to Irish music, I sometimes play them on my clarinet (that would be difficult for me right now), sometimes read Irish poems, etc. during the holiday. Didn't do any of that this year. We did have raisin soda bread for 'dessert'. I usually like the savory kind, but they had a sweet version at Safeway. So, we tried it. It was encrusted with sugar and saltier than usual. It was a bit too sweet and salty for me. Not as dense as usual either. I'll have more to help finish it, though. We do have a savory version as well. So, the good stuff after this sweet one. 

National Ravioli Day!

Mood:

This holiday was on Sunday. I love ravioli!To have a day devoted to it is awesome! I usually have the beef filled ones. But, I've also had spinach and artichoke, a mix of different cheeses, and a pesto filling. Probably others that I can't remember at the moment, but shows a little bit of the variety out there. There's a bunch of different sauces you can have with them, or just have them by themselves. I actually like most dumpling-like things.Monday was National French Bread Day. A nice, crispy, just came out of the oven French bread is the best. 

St. Patrick's Day was last Thursday. I kind of think of it as: Getting In Touch With My Irish Heritage Day.We did our annual traditional Irish-American corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and soda bread dinner. The soda bread had sugar on it this time, which was pretty good. People used to warn me about soda bread. That it's an 'acquired' taste.I liked it the moment I had it. I think it was like that with mince meat pie, too. (The modern sweet version, not the actual traditional savory one.) Having the soda bread sweet is interesting. I think I like both versions.

Tonight's the start of Purim. I'm not going to any parties for it this year.I might dress up in costume tomorrow.Might reuse parts of my Halloween costume...Or at least just wear the ears, maybe the mask I didn't wear on Halloween (it's weird, I'll take another look at it), the choker, and maybe some cat earrings. I have quite a lot of cat-themed earrings. Just simple and fun. It's a lot like Halloween in many ways. People dress up in costumes (either of the characters from the story, or as other people/creatures/things/etc.), you usually eat candy, the adults are told to drink enough so we can't tell the difference between the villain (Haman) and one of the heroes (Mordechai), there are special triangular pastries/cookies with a variety of fillings for it (hamantaschen), sometimes people act out the story through skits, sometimes there are carnivals, etc. It's a lot of fun.I actually can't drink, so I can't do that part, but there's plenty of other great stuff to it. When the story's recited, we tend to do different things once certain names are read. Like, stomp our feet, boo, and/or use groggers or noise makers when Haman's brought up. I know that the congregation I like the most usually has a pretty sizable crowd for Purim. Since I'm still on an immunosuppressant, I don't want to be in a potential environment where I could easily get sick.I got sick there after going to Yom Kippur evening services. I'm trying to protect myself from getting sick, yet again, as best I can at the moment. It's only been a little over a month since I was last sick. I can have my own party at home, and maybe watch vids for it, too.I have different versions of the megillah I can read from, as well. 

Last week was tough for me physically.My IBD suddenly got worse last Monday. The pain has pretty much been constant, but frequently fluctuating between 'annoyance' and 'can't stand it anymore'.So, I emailed my gastroenterologist on Thursday. She responded surprisingly quickly. About an hour and half later. She sounded very worried. She wanted me to do a blood test and another nasty test right away. I got to the blood test last Friday. I couldn't do that other test. With the way it would have been done there, I think I would have passed out.In the near future, I might try the clinic where I had it done last time. They were able to do the part I might pass out on...If I can't do that one, I'll have to get a sigmoidoscopy. At least, that's what she said before this email. Not sure how it'll be now. I'm scared of that, too. 

As of right now, I've gotten 3 blood test results back. One was a basic panel that they always order for people, one for the ALT, and the last one was for my sed rate. I was normal with the first 2. Although, a couple of readings for the basic panel were close to breaking out of the normal range. The ALT one can indicate liver damage. So, yay! No liver damage!My sed rate was actually the closest its been since they started monitoring it. It measures inflammation, and can be an indicator of remission. I've come very close to the remission range for it once before, but it just got worse over time after that. The normal range is 0-20mm/hr. I had 26 this time. My highest, back at the end of June, was at 44. According to that, I like that it seems I'm getting close to remission again. However, I don't 'feel' better.I actually haven't felt this bad in months. My symptoms seem to be just as bad as they were back then, too. (Although, at times in different ways.) I'm getting really frustrated and scared of it.Hopefully the other blood tests will show something that reflects what's happening with me. Maybe that nasty test I've been avoiding will indicate something. The blood tests might not be enough. I think my gastro mentioned something like that before.

I scheduled an appointment with her the week before I emailed her. It's for the beginning of next month. I thought that was pretty soon, but she wanted me to make an 'urgent' one for sooner. There was only one available in between now and then. It was close to that date anyways, so I'm sticking with it. She definitely thinks I'll have to switch to remicade or humira now, and wants to discuss it at that appointment. This scares me, too.

She wanted to prescribe prednisone 'in the meantime'.I just got off of it last month. Plus, one of my main symptoms might have been brought on by it. I also had some bad side effects. Just as I started taking prednisone, I went down a dose of azathioprine, and down a dose of balsalazide. Now that the prednisone has made it out of my system (supposedly it takes a month after you finish taking it), I have less meds in my system to combat it or keep it at bay. It makes sense that it'd be hitting me hard.

My body couldn't stand being at the dose of azathioprine that my gastro wanted me at. The balsalazide helped a great deal at the beginning, but it seemed to become useless after a while. She wants me to stop taking it after I'm through with my current prescription of it. I think that's in a few days. So, the only thing I'll be on for a little while, for this at least, will be the azathioprine at a lower dose than what would supposedly help me. That's also a scary thing to think about.I've been kind of in a waiting game for a while already. Haven't really found the right med since I was diagnosed back in July. I remember, at the beginning, my gastro said it might take a while...Maybe my body's reacting before it shows up on things like blood tests? Also, I'm going to space out what little of azathioprine I have until my next batch arrives. So, I might be in even more pain. But, at least I would have some of it in me, rather than nothing at all. I should get my new prescriptions soon, though.

To somewhat distract me from this, I joined Instagram. It's been interesting.People seem to really like my pics.I've been experimenting a bit with the filters, too. I'm starting to like them, and for a lot of pics, they seem better with those filters. I'm also thinking of taking at least one pic a day and posting it on there. I might not post all of them on other places. Although, that might be different for deviantART.  

I managed to get enough gumption to take a selfie of myself.I've always felt weird about being in pics. (Same with being in a video and audio recordings. Even if the recording is just me playing my clarinet.) It was worse when I was at my heaviest. Now that I've lost so much, I'm a lot better about it. Although, I still feel a bit weird. Hopefully, that will change more in the future.Took a pic of Rosie today. She almost seemed to be saying: "Ah, you humans, taking a picture of me again!" But, she's so cute, and she was staring at me for a while. It's tempting if you stare at me like that...

I was so nervous on Saturday about what's going on with me, I decided to message someone who also has Crohn's. I've also known her for a while. Used to go to the same synagogue. Didn't know she had it until recently. Anyways, we ended up going to brunch at a local breakfast place called Elmer's yesterday to talk. After that we went to a place called Mora for ice cream. I got half a scoop of cheesecake brownie ice cream, and the other half was dulce de leche ice cream. They have about 3 different kinds of 'dulce de leche' ice cream. I got the original. They have such a wide variety, it can be hard to choose. But, I think I chose wisely.After that we talked more in the driveway as she dropped me off. It was nice to talk to somebody who might at least somewhat understand what you're going through. Although, everyone is different with this thing. 

Interestingly, I went back out to Elmer's for a late dinner. Found a new fave there, too. It was their pot roast dinner. The beef gravy was probably the best part of it, but the rest was good too.Tonight, Dad and I went to a place called the Boat Shed. She had a gift card that I think was given to her for her presentation at a medical assistants' meeting. Pretty cool. The dinner in total, after the gift card and without the tip, ended up being $6. That's $6 for 2 people...That's really good. The only downside really was getting there. It's a bit weird. We ended up having to go down a long staircase, and it's literally right on the water. It was also raining, which made things a bit slick. At least they had a railing for the stairs. I got their smoked salmon. It was decent, but needed a touch more flavor. 

Oatmeal Cookie Day!

Mood:

I love oatmeal cookies! They just seem 'heartier', compared to most cookies. Plus, I love almost anything with oatmeal. Apparently these cookies have been around since the 1800s. They evolved from the English oatcake. 

Hope everyone who celebrates it, had a great St. Patrick's Day!We had our regular annual dinner of corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes. Soda bread for dessert. Listened to some Irish tunes, too. I thought Dad would be making some colcannon, like she hinted at before. But, this was fine. Seemed pretty subdued for the rest of the day, too. Joined a site called WorldIrish. It was interesting to see where people with Irish descent live now. Plus, the ones who are just interested in the culture. There were pics of some of the parades in Japan. That was interesting. I kind of got bored with the site quickly, though.Maybe that'll change the next time I check it out. 

On Friday, I went over to Seattle with Dad. (Got up pretty early for it.) She dropped me off at U-Village. Apparently, I was there before the shops had opened when I arrived. So, I had to wait about an hour or so. Just gave me time to do a little reading.I looked around a lot of the shops until about 3pm. Ate at a surprisingly cheap Italian restaurant for lunch in between. Had their fettuccine Alfredo. The noodles were a bit chewier than I like, but it was good. I was thinking about getting something from a place that does Japanese-style crepes. I've always wanted to try them, but most of what they served was sweet. And, I wanted something that wasn't a dessert. Maybe sometime in the future.There's a lot of interesting shops there. The only place I wasn't able to look into was a kitchen/cooking store. Thought that would be interesting. They opened a bit later than most shops around that section of the 'mall'. So, I skipped it, and looked at other places.

At around 3pm, I made my way to QFC, and looked around. We usually go to this one for Passover stuff, but I usually don't get the chance to really look around at the other stuff. This QFC's amazing!I read somewhere that it has one of the largest selections of kosher products in the region. I didn't know that those kosher sections were scattered around, and not in just one area. Really cool to me!They had kosher meats (hard to find a good selection in this area), cheese, frozen foods, baked goods, etc. Their wine section was huge, too! 

After that, Dad met up with me in the Passover section. It's a pretty big section. Went through my list, and got most of the stuff that was on there. Including Passover stuffing, Passover couscous, and Passover noodles. I love the noodles, even though I've always been the only one that can stomach them.The couscous was surprisingly good last year. The stuffing would be interesting. Not sure if we've gotten the boxed stuff before. But, Mom occasionally would make stuffing for Passover. I can see if it even compares.

I think I'm going to make a Passover apple crumble cake for our seder. They had so many options there. A lot of it sounded awesome.Sounds like it'll be easy and simple to make. Also, got some mandel cuts (similar to a tiny biscotti), double dipped chocolate matzah, fruit (jelly) slices, macaroons, gefilte fish, and more. After that, we went to a Denny's for dinner. I got their BBQ chicken with mashed potatoes and peas on a skillet. Then, a sundae for dessert. It was really tasty! 

Apparently, we're not going to either of the congregations' seders.Our friends are having theirs the first night. (I think, from what I've been told.) So, we're going to have our seder at home, the second night. Not sure who will be at ours, because we haven't really talked about it yet. Or, if we're just having it for ourselves...But, there's a week to figure it out at least.It seems more crazy than usual, to me, because Mom's not there to give advice or anything. When I did my own seders in college, I had the option of calling her. I don't now. So, I have to be more on top of it, and look at it all calmly. 

Also, I'm thinking of applying to be a barista at Starbucks. If I get the job, it'd be perfect for me. They're known to treat their employees (or as they call them: 'partners') well. They provide health/eye/dental insurance (which I really need) that kicks in about 2 months after you start working for them, there's a lot of clubs you can join, you can move up the ranks, free pound of coffee or tea (I think each month), etc.

Once I'm stable for a bit with that job, I'm thinking of transferring over to one of the Starbucks in U-Village and working there. And, I'll be living in an apartment around there, too. Probably in the Ravenna area. They have a lot of synagogues, the QFC I mentioned earlier has a lot of kosher products, it's not too far from Uwajimaya (another place I really love), the community looks nice, it's near the university, the transit system is much better than here, etc.There's 2 Reform synagogues really close to each other in the area. Both have similar hours. And, also have 'young adult' (people in their 20s and 30s), singles, and women's groups. In fact, I saw they have something every single day of the week. It's really sounding amazing!