Heather Shrinks in Houston!

[Houston Heather]

It was pretty good in spite of idiot neighbor weed-whacking next to my bedroom. It is so important to get the edging done before the severe weather /sarcasm rolls in. We're having severe thunderstorms right now.

We don't have a big freezer, just a little one.

I have a lot of canned/dehydrated foods - good for any kind of disaster.
Plenty of medicine
A couple gallons of water and plenty of 5 gallon, lidded buckets.
Portable igloo type cooler and ice packs - if I know something is coming I can put the ice packs in the freezer, and some 2 liter bottles, and freeze them. Freezing a gallon jug would also work fantastic.
Ron has plenty of canned and frozen foods, and I made him a whole loaf's worth of PB&J sandwiches today.
I also have remedies for just about anything, cold/flu/upset stomach, so I don't have to go out and buy them after I'm sick. I believe in buying a remedy while I'm well so I won't infect the poor cashier! I HATED it when I worked at Target and all these sick people would come and cough all over me, wiping their runny noses on their hands, and then handling the money. I wasn't suprised to catch several colds, a flu, and mono the first year I worked there!

Tomorrow I'm going to cook up the last of the meat I bought at Foodtown. Pork chops and skillet steaks. I was REALLY queasy all afternoon - I don't know why. Tomorrow I need to freeze some more cooked meat and that's it.

Ugh. I had 2 antacids, a chug of pepto, ginger root capsules, and some turkey and veggie soup. Finally it went away.

I made myself some pumpkin pudding and it was delicious. I was able to take my pills and get them to stay down.

I made some more iced tea, too. I've been drinking that.

So far, only 1 bottle of aspartame soda. I'm very pleased with myself.

Sorry if I'm a little incoherent, I'm still a little queasy and tired. I think my lithium's just got my stomach upset today.

[skeopple]

Great ideas, Heather! My almond flour arrived today. 25 pounds of it. DH already has it vacuum sealed in gallon bags and stored in 2 five gallon lidded buckets. I also ordered a case of dehydrated green beans but it's taking a long time. I just got an email that directed me to UPS tracking and it says "rescheduled" at Canadian border. Should arrive end of this week. That's weird. I did not order from Canada.
They are both things we use all the time and couldn't be low-carb without. Always be prepared!

[Houston Heather]

Oh, yeah. Canned green beans are a favorite queasy food for me. I also have 3 pounds of rice for Ron. He loves rice, and it seems to love him.

Since I use the "bad" PB it keeps indefinitely on the shelf. I would like to get some shelf-stable milk but I really doubt he'd drink it.

Did you use Walton? I love Walton foods - I just got the #2.5 cans because it's just the two of us. I still have most of a can of "beef" I opened a few years ago, plus lots of other stuff. It's all TVP "meat" but I figure in a disaster I won't worry so much about soy protein .

I was very proud of myself. You know I am very open about my illness - discussing what it's like to be sucidal and all.

Anyway, a guy said he would be praying for me to get saved - implication that, if I had been suicidal, I could not have known Jesus. I slapped him down with some statistics, told him Jesus was the only reason I'm still alive, and told him "Don't hurt yourself jumping to conclusions".

I was very pleased. Normally, the old Heather, long brooding grudge... thinking about it, can't get it out of my head... not now. Just a sharp rejoinder and forgetaboutit.

Now I have to figure out what's running all over the kitchen floor, being chased by Bubba. He brought home a "toy" aka "prey". Ick.

Or as Ron says "HEATHER!"

[Snowman]

Just saw on the news how much rain Houston got and I thought of you! Hope this finds you and Ron dry!!

Did you find Bubba's "toy?"

How's your tummy feeling today? I hope better!

[Houston Heather]

I think Bubba ate the new ... nope. It's a lizard, and running around in the computer room. The tail's a little short but it can run fast. It ran away from the open window. Dumb lizard.

Ron woke me up with the words "Houston is flooded". Sure enough, it was. We were OK. We don't live in a flood prone area. We had a fine ride to work, too. Work itself was fine, no flooding, and they got the water on again. Thank God!

The other vendor called and said they couldn't get to work - meaning their guy couldn't. They claimed that all their people (2 different employees, plus the married couple) were "flooded in" and couldn't get the milk. Would I get it?

Ron agreed, I get the milk anyways. I had to do in the stockroom and rearrange all their stuff to get the cart and access to the fridge. They had a new freezer they just got yesterday.

However, while they were there yesterday they apparently forgot to leave a check for the milk company. Ron called. Oh, they forgot. Would we pay for it for them? We don't do that and we both have brain damage. We don't forget things like that. [cough] Anyway, Ron said he'd pay but they needed to repay him before getting their receipt back.

They agreed. I got the milk and paid for 2 invoices with 2 checks. I left the milk in their fridge.

I was kind of brooding about it this morning, that and the Flu. Ron finally gets what I've been saying, the pandemic level is a 4 out of 6. Nothing to laugh at. I used a lot of sanitizer today.

Everyone at work seemed healthy, but I wore gloves while counting money and like I said, used a lot of sanitizer. I encountered the "germ factories" as Ron calls them, at the bank. One lady was flushed, waiting in line to open an account. Coughed all over her husband, her baby, and Ron. Another lady was walking by in high heels and coughed all over me as I checked Ron's balance at the ATM. Great.

I took some extra Olive Leaf. I'm a big fan of the stuff.

I got the rest of my pay today and Ron and I planned to go in for a little bit tomorrow, even though it's supposed to be an off day. I didn't get a chance to fill soda 3 or snacks, and Ron needed to do something too. Besides, they always buy more when it rains. We have a wonderful captive audience in the building. No one wants to go out in the pouring rain to the Stick-em-up-Chevron (violent armed robberies are a common occurance there) if they can just buy something from a vending machine.

After work, Ron has an emergency! Almost out of CAT TREATS! Heather, we HAVE to go to Walmart! I'm glad Ron and I share the same values

Today, we did work-bank-TGIFridays and home. He wanted ribs, and had a 20 dollars off coupon. I wanted steak and sweet potato. I settled for steak and broccoli. Ron said he would have paid for my upgrade to salad, but I didn't really explain to him that salad and broccoli are about the same in my book anyway. I'm not terribly into either.

My weight is more stable and I feel I look less bloated. I only had one aspartame soda today and it took me forever to finish it. I seem to be OK with ONE soda a day. The rest of the time, it is Diet RC (splenda) or unsweetened iced tea.

I'm glad we're going back to Walmart. I can get Ron more bread, PB, and milk; I can get myself some canned veggies and maybe a soup or two. Both of us will get Master his cat treats.

I have uncooked pork chunk (soon to be green chili stew), pork chops (skillet) and beef steak (slow cooked on low heat - skillet). Guess what I'll be doing? That's right.

[skeopple]

I'm glad you guys are not in the flooding area!

You are so kind to cover for the people who couldn't take care of their business. If you ever need help, I hope they would return the help. And I pray they pay you quickly for the milk bill you had to cover!!! Sleep well tonight.

[Houston Heather]

Oh, that's the funny thing. The rare times we do ask for help, they act like we want a quart of blood.

I had fun cooking up my "nums" tonight. I made green chili stew - with some modifications. The cumin was ... unusable so I substituted red chili powder. I chopped up the pork "chunk" whatever it is... kind of fatty but lots of good meat.

Then I made skillet steaks, cooked them on really low heat with garlic, onions, and pepper. When they got done, I did pork chops.

I got hungry cooking them and ate a pork chop. Yum! I saved the bone for Bubba, who enjoyed it. Tomorrow I'll throw it over the fence to one of the dogs.

I froze cooked pork chops, cooked skillet steak, turkey soup, pot roast, and something else this week. I'm cooking the green chili stew right now.

Now I have lots of easy meals, ready to go. Tomorrow I need to start making Ron burritos.

[Houston Heather]

Ugh. Today has been interesting.

Ron was in a really bad mood, sick of the swine flu coverage. He was pretty cranky. I had to remind myself "MY job is to please GOD, Ron's allowed to have a bad day. It's not my fault, just treat him like you would Jesus and you're good." It worked. Not responding to the crankiness made Ron a nicer guy, too.

We went in to work for a while, and then Walmart.

I woke up very queasy and headachy. UGH. I'm sitting here at my computer with a bowl of oatmeal because I HAVE to eat. I need to take my pills. I can't take them alone or I will puke. Catch 22.

So, queasy all day. Headache isn't bad, just nauseous. [shrug] It's the price of sanity... the meds can be rough on my stomach. Lithium is notorious in that regard. I made sure to take it with food and a good amount, so I don't know what's up today.

I drank diet soda... so much for no aspartame. Diet Dr Pepper has been the only thing that helps.

I was miserable enough to get things like Pepto, zero carb "gatorade", unsweetened applesauce, canned pears in juice, and veggie/barley soup. I should have that stuff anyway, really. They were out of pumpkin.. I cleaned them out last time, I guess. I got cat treats and some gloves, too, I figured they'd be a good thing in the disaster kit.

I got Ron his stuff, flavored waters, cat treats, and 2 boxes of strawberries. He sat in the wheelchair, eating them as we waited on our ride. I plan to get him more. I like having him eat healthy stuff if I can manage it.

So, I got my drinks, diet sprite, ginger root tablets (good for queasy, also antiviral), and queasy foods. We came home.

I ate some raspberries out of the backyard. Some wild ones came up so I let 'em live. Yum.

The applesauce I had is staying happy, so I'm about to eat some oatmeal and take my pills. No sugar, just a little cinnamon (also good for tummies).

Ugh. I saw my first surgical mask at Walmart, but the person didn't tie it properly. One client was chiding a driver because he didn't carry hand sanitizer. Well. I guess we have nothing better to do.

If you're really worried about illness, don't ride public transit!

So, I ate the raspberries and they were good. I plan to go out later. I came in the house and put up all the groceries. Lots of stuff in the disaster kit now.

Bubba came in the house through his cat door, with what I term the "proud meow". MOW MOW MOW MOW (a short sound, not a long one, it rhymes with "now").

Uh, oh. RON SHUT YOUR DOOR! DO IT NOW!
What?
RON SHUT YOUR DOOR!
I ran back to his room and shut the door just as Bubba released the live sparrow. Poor thing flew around the house. It's partly cloudy so I had turned some lights on... it flew towards the lights. The good news was that it was definitely unharmed (except mentally).

I opened the front door and shut off the lights. As the bird flew out of rooms, I shut the doors. The house only has 3 rooms with doors, other than the main area. I shut them.

Sure enought MOW MOW MOW... running towards the front door as the bird wisely flew the coop!

AGH. Now Bubba is on cat door restriction. No unopened door unless I am home, to save the creature.

I'd much rather he brought me another grasshopper. You'd think a 7 year old cat would be more lazy.

Now, off to the grocery store (I want some of the really good Kitchen Basics broth) and I want to go to the good Dollar Store, too.

After I eat my oatmeal and take my pills.

[Houston Heather]

Queasy until well after 4 pm. I finally got my appetite back and ate whipped cream, salami sticks, and MORE whipped cream. Tomorrow is another day.

I'm putting Ron on Youtube, so I can give him a permanent spot on my other blog, so I can blog about the APORKALYPSE as Houston Posters are calling it on our news site.

[Houston Heather]

Someone in the Houston area had swine flu and is recovering.. so it's here.

It's nice to have my faith about now. I know nothing will happen unless God wills it so.

[Houston Heather]

Well, I woke up an hour early. Metrolift rescheduled our trips while I slept, picking us up an hour later.

Oh, WELL. I'm up now. I'd set some taco meat on the counter as Ron and I discussed what he wanted for breakfast. I realized it was right next to the hot dog buns.

"What about a taco dog?"
WHAT?
A hot dog, with taco meat on top.
Huh... OK.
I made it and Ron devoured it, especially when I brought out the salsa.

So, we can add taco dogs to the repitoire.

Things actually seem quieter today now that we know the flu's here.

[Houston Heather]

Today I forgot my camera.

I also forgot the money I had set aside to pay my doctor.

I got very sick to my stomach, but didn't puke.

Other than that, I had a good day.

I put my face on and left. We rode in a big van to the doctor's office. It wasn't a straight trip of course, but only one other stop made it essentially straight. I started to get queasy on the ride.

We got off and I tried drinking a diet sprite... didn't help. In desperation, I had a bag of baked lays (worked great during gallbladder attack) and they helped. I took 4 ginger root capsules too.

Then I went to the doctor's office. Someone in the office was "out sick" and they were santizing everything. I gave them $50 of grocery money and the "copay". My gift of vanilla-scented hand sanitizer was more popular than the bag of snickers! I thought that was funny/sad.

Dr P was teaching medical residents. He sent the resident out to get us. He told the resident "Heather has lost A TON OF WEIGHT." and asked me to tell the resident how I did it. I did.

I gave the doc his "Herbal PDR" which was a huge hit. I'm glad he liked it. I have him 2 small bottles of hand sanitizer because they're hard to find here. He was thrilled. He is flying today and will use it on the plane. I don't want my Doc to get sick!

He was talking about having designer masks. He offered a daughter in law a mask because she is flying, but she declined because they "aren't fashionable". He said he'd get designers to create fashionable masks to sell to people like her. I thought it sounded great.

I told him this was going in my blog and he laughed. He's a great guy.

So, in front of the resident, I told him how the Lexapro sexual side effects were a real bummer, but the Black Cohosh helped a lot. I pointed at the "issue" in the herbal pdr and said "That one". I also mentioned the rash and got the expected "Stay out of the sun".

He ordered more blood tests, just to make sure everything is ticking. He got me some phenergan for migraines and agreed to get me some lithium 150 mg for the times when I need a little more, but not too much.

It was a great visit. I like him a lot.

Then Ron and I met my aunt and went out to lunch. We went to Chilis. She was thrilled to watch Ron murder a half rack of ribs, my corn, my garlic bread, and his side of loaded mashed potatoes. I ate steak and broccoli, as the nausea had finally died.

I wouldn't care so much about the nausea but it affects my ability to take my pills. THAT is a problem. Lithium can only be taken by mouth. AGH.

I got my aunt's opinion on the outfit I wore, "Perfect for daytime, Heather" and some needed advice on socks (white was better than black). Good. I am not afraid to use trusted friends as "Fashion Police". I think it is important to do so. I have brain damage issues and didn't always pick up the rules.

We still had LOTS of time before the pickup so we went to Starbucks. I had a low blood pressure attack. Not fun, I had to sit down several times. Maybe it was related to the chips? I used to have a lot of low blood pressure problems on higher carb eating. I don't know... but when I ordered the heavy whipping cream "steamer" with only sugarfree vanilla, they messed up and made it with expresso.

I figured, I probably could use the caffeine and drank it anyway. I didn't care that much and I hate to see food wasted. Why throw it out? It helped tremendously. I think the "caff" helped raise my blood pressure to an OK range.

When I've felt that way and checked my blood pressure, it tends to be 78/60 or so. Side effects... better than being nuts.

So, we had a good time. Ron showed off his tunes.

A nice driver picked us up in his cab. We were not squished. 3 stops before we went home AND he let Ron jack his MP3 player into the speakers. Ron was having a great time. His music and mine aren't the same but Ron and the driver were happy.

I still feel a little goofy. I may lie down for a bit.

Tomorrow Ron and I go to work, fill 'em up, go home, and then take him to the dentist. After the dentist we just go home.

Saturday will be Foodtown.

[Houston Heather]

I ordered olive leaf capsules, 500 mg, about half a week ago.

I thought I was getting 4-6 bottles. I got 8.

Yeee-haw. Like I told Ron, I guess it's God's will for me to stay healthy. I split the bottles with him and took a few capsules right then and there.

I also redid my tote bag so it's easy to find my money, keys, etc. I am sick of feeling like a loser because I can't find something!

[skeopple]

It's a good thing you're young, Heather!! You've been very busy today.......you got a lot done.

I guess it's hard to buy (find in stock) hand sanitizer in a lot of places now. I do have one of the big refill jugs so I think we're okay for awhile anyway. I never thought of giving them away to friends and people tho. That's pretty cool.

[skeopple]

I feel so efficient when I organize my tote!!!

[Houston Heather]

Oh, yeah.

I try to treat everyone as thought they're Jesus. I figure with the sanitizer at a premium, might as well give it away. It's been very popular.

Queasy again! I'm getting sick of this. I'm going to cut out all supplements except olive leaf and hope that helps.

We already went into work. Now we're about to take Ron to the dentist. I'll run over to Walmart and try to fill my prescriptions.

There's a book exchange... somewhere I go. I occasionally sneak in Christian Romances and the occasional Bible (budget permitting). They always vanish, so someone takes them! I always hope they go to someone who needs one. The last things I left are gone so I've been looking for some new Bibles to donate. I'd like to do a New Testament with psalms and proverbs, still looking for one that's affordable.

I didn't have much luck, so I may just look at Wally world and see if they have a couple I could donate. I don't mind spending a few bucks each but not much more than that on my budget!

A website had some great ones with an evangelism message but they stopped making them. Agh. Frustrating.

I found a few at the thrift store and donated them... 66 cents was the best I've seen!

All that said, I hardly ever read MY bible. I'm working on that.

Now I'm going to dig around and see if I can find something that appeals to an iffy stomach.

[Houston Heather]

I found some interesting stuff online.

Well, I was going to get a bunless hamburger. That didn't work out. We ordered chinese.

I ate egg drop soup and dry string bean with pork (they put double pork ). The dish is just green beans in a wok with pork and a BOATLOAD of yummy garlic. Perfectly OK for OWL.

RON ate my fried rice, my eggroll, and the eggrolls he ordered for himself. Everyone's happy.

[Houston Heather]

I'm manic for Jesus again. It's happened my whole life, a period of intense devotion...followed by a dust-covered Bible. Poor Jesus. I'd be sick of me by now!

Hyper-religiosity is actually a symptom right there in the book. Oh, well. I'm sure He'll appreciate my efforts for as long as this lasts.

I already took my lithium and I may very well go to bed early. I'll see what's on TV. Ron's already asleep.

[Houston Heather]

Well, that was discouraging.

I was flipping through the directory on my DirectTV. I saw the word 'Zombie" and alerted.

"Zombietown" sounded promising, but so far it was so terrible I got up before the opening credits to check on the laundry. That's a bad sign.

The British just CANNOT do good zombie. It's all about their version of comedy and trying to make the zombie attacks funny. GACK.

American zombie movies set up a decent plot first, get you to empathize with some characters, make you hate others, and watch them get munched off one by one. The weak become strong, the strong become weak. Good vs. Evil, living vs. dead.

But the British movies wreck it everytime. Of course, someone's probably saying "No the Americans wreck good zombie movies, our guys do it right, and yours do it wrong."

So, I've learned an important lesson Zombietown bad, City of the Dead, good. I need to buy some DVD's.

[skeopple]

We are soooooooo blessed to have our heavenly Father!! Enjoy.

[Houston Heather]

Well, tonight's movie looks promising.

I plan to have a good dinner of pork or beef roast and veggies.

I went to foodtown - you can look in the $20 thread - and got all kinds of good stuff. I have some nice beef bones soaking in a marinade that will leach calcium. Tomorrow, beef stock and beef soup! Yum.

I'm a little hyper but I'll live. I took an extra lithium.

[Houston Heather]

Since I'm running a little wired today I plan to do some housework. Tomorrow will probably be yard work.

I have the energy and the motivation to clean up - might as well use it! The good thing is the fact that the inevitable following depression ought to clear up before the cruise.

I'm about to have a delicious dinner of beef pot roast on a bed of greens with pumpkin pudding for dessert. I got some new "complexion soap" at the store and plan to give myself a facial tonight... I can't remember the last time I did that!

Off I go to empty the clean dishes from the dishwasher, do some dishes, and sweep and mop the floor. This is so unlike me I have to laugh at myself.

[skeopple]

inevitable following depression?

I don't understand..........why a depression?

[skeopple]

Heather and Ron!

I'm leaving this with my special friends today, which I feel you are one!

"When we think about Jesus, we picture peace. He went slow enough to hear from God all day long. We should set our pace with His today." Joyce Meyer

[Houston Heather]

Oh, I always go down after I go up, like a rollercoaster. I'm up right now, but I WILL crash into a depression sometime in the next week. The depression will last about 2 weeks, so I ought to be OK before the cruise.

Mania always runs a week or so, and depression runs about 2 weeks (unless my cat dies, when it goes to a month). It's pretty predictable, actually. I can plan accordingly if I know it's coming.

I hate it when a depression comes out of nowhere and mugs me. UGH.

I'm still a little up but my dreams were a lot more normal last night. I'm a little groggy and WAY queasy, but "alright" considering. I was able to harness the energy I had and direct it into work. I did 3 hours work in one hour today!

[Houston Heather]

I don't have my glasses as I type this... I'm diong a "mask" to pull junk out of my pores, or so the label states. Huh, I can type ok.

I went to the ethnic food market near me - they specialize in Asian things. They had a frozen item labeled "Giant water bug". It looked revolting, and something in the meat case swear looked like a part we Americans throw away.

Everything had ethnic labels, but I looked around. Zer would have loved the selection of sardines. Lots of canned food, and AHA - herbal teas. The Asian cultures are very much into medicinal teas and in my experience, they work great.

I got some forsythia/chrysanthemum tea. It is excellent for cold sna flu. If I'm coming down with something, I drink a mug every few hours, up my olive leaf and BAM no more cold/flu. It's a useful item to have in the cabinet. They also had the Fritarilla (sp) and Ballonflower syrup, it is excellent for persistent cough. I didn't get that but I plan to next time.

I got some jasmine green tea, lots of choices! They also had some "Stomach" tea.

Excellent. I am SO SICK of feeling queasy all the time! I snatched it up. I'm brewing some right now, we'll see how I feel after drinking it. My mask has almost dried, so that's good.

I had a good talk with my sister and her cat. Yes, her cat. Cappy likes to jump up in Sue's lap and meow into the phone. I talk to the cat and the cat meows at me. Then she marks the phone (rubbing her head), I hear the purring, and she goes back to resting in Sue's lap.

I told Sue today that I would definitely take care of Cappy and her "sister" if something happened to her. I'd love to take care of that cat! She is such a sweet, loving baby.

That was great for all 3 of us. OK, I'm going to go peel my mask off and drink that tea.

The smell says it's working, I say.. the tea smells very alarming... I know it will taste like crap but maybe I need to threaten myself with bad-tasting tea to get better!

I told Ron once, I think that's why all those old time remedies worked- they tasted so bad people forced themselves to get better rather than endure another dose!

[Houston Heather]

Interesting.

I have been queasy all day.
I drank my "Stomach Care Tea".
I did some food prep for tomorrow.
I opened the fridge... OOOH! TURKEY DOGS!
I'm hungry for the first time all day.
I eat 3 turkey dogs and some cheddar cheese.
I feel good.

Good Stuff! I've gotta get more! I only have 19 more teabags!

[skeopple]

I wish I knew and understood all those cures and treatments for ailments. (like you do) To figure it all out and work it. How'd ya get so smart? I'm serious. Where and how did you learn all of this. It's Greek to me. One time I bought a tea, I think it was nettles to get rid of a rash, allergy. Made it worse. When I inquired, it was something about "synergistic"? ........that you need the other thing to make the first thing work. I got all confused.

Best of everything to you today, Heather.

P.S. A public school in our county is closed this week, due to possibility of swine flu.

[Houston Heather]

Oh, herbal/alternative medicine is a hobby of mine. I've read a lot of books. "The Green Pharmacy" is a good starting point.

For a rash, I would have gone with milk thistle/yellow dock or liver supporting herbs. Most skin dysfunction can be traced to liver "imbalance". When I give my husband Milk Thistle tablets, his psoriasis is much better. Also, getting him out in the sun is very healing - the UV rays are good for the skin. Me, I'm just the opposite. The Lexapro freaks out my liver and I get the sun allergy rash.

I need to get myself some Milk thistle. That will help a lot. It didn't stop until I ran out!

HOWEVER, that said, you generally don't want to know what's in that Chinese Herbal remedy. It would be icky. I know for sure there is some kind of dried fungus in the tea, but it works. It wasn't as bad as I thought. It's not great but a packet of stevia would do the trick.

Today was interesting. Up at 4 am to get pastries. I got 'em and stocked em, did candy bars and such. I was a little queasy but not too bad. One thing about upset stomach, I sure don't eat much!

After work we went to the bank. Ron had some business. Then we went to Walmart. I had seriously considered getting a cute $19 dress, but determined (as I was literally stuck half way into the dress because of my chest) that it was "not working". Same with the bathing suit... not good. Floral print and my body.. just looked ALL WRONG. I was fine with just me in my "undies" and bra in the dressing room mirror, so I'm blaming the suit.

I will try on the black one after I get paid. Otherwise, I'll try on a 2 piece I have. It's cute but was a little tight last time. I'm not losing sleep over it.

We set up the Carnival Fun Pass account. We also set up the Super Shuttle trip, it's like Metrolift but more reliable. I could have booked an exclusive van that would have only picked us up, but in my experience half the time it's a straight trip anyway. We planned on over 2 hours to get through security. He's got a wheelchair, we've got electronic toys, he's got metal in his body (wires in his chest and a titanium pin in his leg), so it's going to get personal at security. I expect that, and watch, it will probably be "Go ahead buddy".

I also checked with Southwest and found out my favorite backpack is too large, and my rolling duffle is almost too large. We still need to get a garmet bag, and dry clean Ron's suit and put that in there. It's a lot of little puzzle pieces to fit together.

So why am I so chatty today? Well, I'm properly medicated. I mentioned a while ago that taking and extra 300 mg lithium is too much, I turn into "Dopey". Dopey is a lot better than Grumpy, if you have to be a dwarf! Now I'm "Happy".

I asked my doc for some lithium 150's. Just a regular release formulation as opposed to the slow release 300. I took that at the pharmacy counter today and it went to work right away. I still have that revolting metal mouth taste. ICK.

After work we went to Walmart and I turned in my prescriptions (I also got phenergan tablets in case of another migraine, God forbid). Ron sat in the sit and shop wheelchair with the attached basket. He had to "go" so I put my groceries in his basket and took him there. We didn't have too long after that so I asked him if he minded shopping with me. I pushed the wheelchair/cart around the store and we had a lot of fun. We got my pills, we looked at cat treats, and we got Ron jalapeno cheddar dogs, mustard, and buns.

Thanks to my lithium, I feel "just right". It's hard to describe but similar to when you're balancing on something, and you "get it". You know you won't fall now.

Tomorrow it's work, Burger King (extra burger for after donation), and Blood bank. They are DESPERATE, stalking me. They even got Ron, too "We don't care about your hand surgery... come in!" So they get 2 for 1. I'll bring extra drinks, and Ron will cut back on his neurontin dose so he has an acceptable blood pressure.

I find it funny that we both have problems with low blood pressure due to our respective medications.

So, tonight, I eat something on plan, get Ron to try on his suit, (take off the suit) and trim his beard. He's looking a little unmedicated, like something that lives under a bridge and begs for handouts. Poor baby. I'll fix him up.

[Houston Heather]

I'm very happy. I just ordered 25 NT Bibles (with reading advice, concordance, and salvation plan), 10 Spanish Gospel of Johns, 25 Spanish "Footprints" postcards (to put in the bibles), 25 English Footprints cards (to put in Bibles), and a "How To Read The Bible" book that will make it into a book exchange... somewhere.

I've never had someone get upset when I offered them a Bible. When I leave Bibles in the book exchange, someone takes them home.

The usual reaction is "OH, THANK YOU!"

Oh, and all of it with shipping cost less than $40.

Next time I will get a case of the NKJV bibles and some "Read the Bible in a Year" tracts to go inside, along with more Footprints cards.

When Ron was in ICU after the accident I had about half a dozen "extra" Bibles at home. I brought them all to the hospital and snuck them onto the bookshelf. I had the surreal experience of coming back from the cafeteria and every family in the waiting room and gotten themselves a Bible!

One lady, not knowing it was me, even told me "I felt so much better after reading the Bible someone left".

I don't have to be obnoxious to be an evangelist.