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 |  Blog and other works of literary sense |
| Here is a collection of ruminations and whatnot. |
| Hi Everyone, A new day - after 3 am. I'm up because my knee is bothering me. Just another thing to endure, haha. But thank God I'm able to hobble around the house. I am on pain meds which dent the pain somewhat. I'm trying to distract myself from the pain. I wish I could wish it off but it's here and sometimes it gets worse and other times its very painful. Yesterday was bad because I'd gone out with the family to run errands. I was so pained that getting out of the car was a tremendous effort. I had the pups with me which made things more complicated. The smaller dog was so eager to get out of the car and I had to organise myself so I could at least hang on to his leash and then get my things out of the car with me as well. It was a miracle I got to the door and got things into the house. Fortunately, it got accomplished. I made spaghetti ala Ameritriciana, which is an homage to those in Ameritricia in Italy who died in that awful earthquake a few years ago. I went online to look up the recipe which consists of pork and spaghetti with sauce that was made from tomatoes. I usually make it with whole canned tomatoes and tomato sauce and paste then with a large dollop of red pepper flakes. So very tasty and it definitely filled up my belly well. I really enjoy making this recipe. I've always liked spaghetti and I know people who are into slimming don't care for it because of the carbs but I'm not good on keto type of diets. I tried that keto diet and well, did not lose more than seven pounds and I had some issues that made me quit it. I went to a clinic in town that specialised on this sort of diet and when I told the nurse about how I wasn't losing a lot of weight (I was down to about 20 g of carbs by then) she gave me a Rx for metformin. This is a med that diabetics take to control their sugar in the blood. I took a dose and then I suffered a great back pain. I called the nurse and told her of this and she insisted I go to the ER and have them test me for a heart problem. That day wasn't a good day to go to anywhere as they predicted a blizzard. I wasn't about to get stuck in the ER and so I said no I'll not go. She threatened me implying that this was not a good idea. I said forget it and hung up. I discontinued metformin and decided to forget the whole keto diet thing. I think it was too much fat and not a healthy thing to forsake carbs. Our bodies need to have carbs and it's because they get used up when we do normal activities and even if we only walked a mile a day it wouldn't be great to be on a low sugar going on in your bloodstream. I've learned from school (I took Pharmacology in graduate school) that the brain feeds on the glucose it has from the bloodstream so being foggy-minded is not a good sign. I do not have any idea why the back pain happened but it was a transient problem. I'm on a more stable diet and I take carbs and have a healthy smoothie and eat enough for each meal. So I don't know what my weight is right now. I had a fitbit scale that I used before but my fitbit has bit the dust and I don't wish to spend on another one again. I've already gone through two fitbits. I merely go with how I feel and if I can have some carbs, a bit of a vegetable in the diet, and protein then I'm ok. I've not written a lot lately but I'm starting a new novel called The Bridge. It's about a young woman who works in a research laboratory in Paris. She's going through depression because of a lost love who left her (not quite sure how) and that was what has been making her sad even though on the outside she's doing ok. I'm really interested in writing this novel mostly because it's a bit close to my heart and I've had the experience of lost love, and many of you I'm sure had something like that in your lives. I'm trying to get some free time to write. Now I'm also trying to get up to speed with sending out flyers and newsletters to talk about my work and other things that I find interesting. I've started a nonprofit company that is aimed at helping the poor families or individuals, mostly brought to their knees financially due to the COVID issue and from other problems like Acts of God (hurricanes), terror attacks and times of war. I'm also hoping that this nonprofit will help the homeless to get free cell phones so that they can keep in touch with places where they could get help on their own, like jobs or paying bills, or finding a place to live more permanently than the usual places that are established to house the homeless. I'm working on getting the nonprofit a tax status and so that's a big job in itself but it's a challenge and I'm hoping this will come to be achieved. I've put in my name to see about standing for a Council Seat in my city and see how I could be helping as an advocate for the seniors who are on a fixed income, to see how they could be heard because I think they're not able to get their problems to the right people who could help them. There are other places in town like Area IV which is devoted to helping people in cases, for example, finding someone to come and help the elderly who are sick and in need of some care at home. I researched Area IV a while ago when I worried over my Dad and how it might be if he were laid low by an illness or whatever and to see how I could possibly find someone who could see to his care while I was working full time. The people in Area IV were very helpful and sent over a thick packet of information. There were several volunteer organisations that were listed and these would come in handy to call if anything drastic were to happen to my Dad. I hope that you would do your part in finding out how best to care for those who are less fortunate. We are all lucky to have our jobs and our homes, our workplaces and the social stuff we do. I hope that in your readings you can find good ideas about keeping your families healthy and watch out for whatever might be ailing them or even causing then problems. I know there are times we get impatient with our elderly parents or other relatives because they get a bit testy or impatient themselves for the fact they can't do things on their own. So we must always try to find a good way to talk to them and draw them out of their sad feelings. I think we all need to take care of our parents while they are still alive. We derive our own selves from them, after all. We need to keep them in our prayers. We also need to take care of our children and keep them safe. With all that's going on with COVID, we ought to think of better ways to educate them out of the schoolroom. I don't have kids myself but if I did, I'd homeschool them. It's a popular method of educating children. In fact, the UK, France and I think other parts of Europe have homeschooling. There's website or two about homeschooling. One of the people at my church homeschools her kids and they get packages every term or so with new books to teach their kids. It's also a way to bond with your kids and to keep them occupied. It doesn't take a PhD to homeschool your kids and those websites surely have tips on how to homeschool if you're new at it. I am sure we all want to remember Algebra but it will come to you when the time comes! I hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy. Life is precious and we must always try to live healthy and well, Mary |
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