4th of July!

 It is our nation's 250th birthday today!

Our nation has problems, for sure, but in many ways, the USA is an amazing place to live. I am thankful for our freedoms. 

A lot is going on here at the Kendig house. All of this is in no particular order of importance.

I finished my edits for a book yesterday. This book took longer than usual to finish because Kevin has been dealing with back and ear problems and wasn't editing as fast as he typically does. Anyway, I am done with almost everything I have to do.

I am 20,000 plus words into another book already. Part of this new book involves a court case so I am reading up on courts and law in the Regency period in England. Fascinating stuff.

Miriam and Joseph have decided to move out together. They are looking for an apartment. Joseph wanted to move out but was having a hard time finding one given his income. He is currently working as a janitor and it doesn't pay particularly well. Miriam is in IT and together they can find a good 2 bedroom apartment. I am glad Miriam will have a big brother in the same apartment. I like having sibs rooming together because they can keep track of each other.

Miriam is only 20 but she is ready to be on her own and running her own life. That is reasonable. She and the older kids will all be close enough to us that we can give advice and help out with things like car issues and so on.

I will miss M and J, but it will also be nice having a quieter house. I think a lot about how I am 56 and it is weird we have 6 kids still under our roof :-).

Of course, having six kids at all is weird, and nine is truly insane :-).

Anyway, they are looking for an apartment and I suspect will be out of our house by the end of the summer.

Lydia has a new job which she will start later this coming week. She has been working as a concierge at a retirement community for 2 years and she likes the job, but it doesn't pay well enough to live on, really. Her new job has a 20% higher pay.

Lydia's work place lost a couple of concierges in the last couple of months (and now, of course, they are losing Lydia) and so the poor kid has been working really intense hours. That means overtime and more money, which is helpful for her, but she is working 64 hours this week including today and she is tired. New job will not require overtime as far as I know.

Angela, who has been working as a server/dishwasher at the same retirement community, is going to take Lydia's job, which comes with a pay bump and steadier hours. Angela is still looking for an IT job but so far hasn't had any luck.

Part of being a mother is really wanting the kids to be happy and earn enough money, and sometimes life happens and I have to step back and pray and support. 

I have mentioned a few times that I wanted to lose weight. Well, I did so. I dropped my lexapro dosage, because that was the initial spur to my weight gain. I lost some weight, but then realized that I needed my full lexapro dosage and went back up again. Surprisingly I kept losing weight. So I was 180 lbs, and now I am about 167. I am trying to be really careful about eating which, not surprisingly, helps with losing weight. Some evenings I am hungry and there just isn't anything appropriate that is quick, so I go to bed instead of eating.

I am going to end this blog post and start a new one for pictures.

Happy Feet and Birthdays and Christmas

 First, feet!!

I have been having problems with my left foot for about a month now. I had quite a bit of pain on the top. My nurse practicioner suggested that I see a podiatrist, and I did last Thursday. They did some x-rays to rule out any obvious skeletal problems and then did a test to make sure I didn't have neuropathy.  And I passed that with flying colors. No signs of neuropathy!

I have been diabetic for 20 years so I am very thankful for that. I assure you that it did not just happen. I have been eating carefully for decades now. It is nice that saying no to excessive carbs has actually resulted in something good.

The podiatrist messed with my left foot and then gave me a pad thing to put in a certain place on my foot (it fits around my foot) and basically the pain has gone away. I am grateful!

We have started Birthday Season for kids. We have three within a week of Christmas. We are mostly ready with presents. Mostly.

This morning, Kevin and I led singing at church. We did four Christmas songs. Kevin had to learn them all in less than two days so yeah Kevin!

I have five chapters to go on my current book. I will probably have it done by the New Year. We have a lot going on with celebrations so I likely won't make as much progress as usual with writing this week and next.

We will be having a wet and warm Christmas. It is supposed to rain and be in the 50's. We have already had a lot of snow for Ohio in December so I am not too sad about a warmer Christmas. It will make driving easier.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Very End of July

I haven't posted in two weeks, I see. 

Tomorrow is August!

I like summer a lot, but I am not mourning that autumn will soon be upon us with cooler temperatures. The end of June and all of July were hot, and we have also had a lot of rain. The grass is very excited. Our pool is like swimming in warm bath water. SO warm. I have been swimming every day almost which is good for my joints and all that.

Today and tomorrow highs will be only in the 70s, but then it will heat up again. I do like the seasons. I don't even mind winter all that much anymore, which is a change, because I used to be cranky about cold temperatures.

Now that I am post menopausal, I get hot very easily so am super thankful for air conditioning!

Last week was full of doctor and dental appointments. We had dentist visits for four people, and orthondontic checks for three kids, and I had a trip to a gastro surgeon. That proved to be useful as I discovered that I have an anal fissure, not hemmorhoids. It is healing but still painful. Annoying that something so small could be so uncomfortable.

I don't think I have a high pain tolerance, though. So that is part of it.

Anyway, this week has been much more mellow. I am on Epilogue 2 of my latest long book so almost done. That makes me happy.

The younger three kids start school next Monday. We always ease into it slowly so it won't be a heavy work week.

I hope to have the new book edited by the end of the next week and then I can pass all the other work off to Kevin like making a cover and marketing and stuff. He is a total boss with that kind of thing.

That is about it! 

Sickness and Reading

 Well, ugh!!

I am sick now. Ugh.  

The kids kept complaining of a sore throat and I was sympathetic but now that I have the same sore throat I am shocked at how painful it is! Not all the time, but some of the time, especially when I wake up in the morning. Which reminds me, I need to take some ibuprofin.

Ok, I am back.

I also have completely lost my voice. But my breathing is good, so praise God!

I paid big bucks to get a COVID and 2 types of flu test from Amazon. I tested myself and they were all negative. So I guess this is some random annoying virus. And annoying is the word!

Strep throat occurred to me but strep is usually localized and doesn't have a cough with it. So I don't think so.

Sarah is sick today as well. I thought she already had this but apparently not. I lost track.

Anyway. Enough whining.

So I have been reading a lot lately, even more than usual, and I always read a lot. It is my favorite hobby.

I wonder if any published writers who are moderately successful are not big readers. It seems like reading and writing would go hand in hand.

This last fortnight I read a couple of books by a man named Joe Tasker. He was a mountaineer who climbed many difficult mountains before dying on Everest at the age of 34 in 1982. Obviously a long time ago. He turned in his last book to his publisher right before heading for Everest, where he died.

I love reading mountain climbing books for some odd reason. I also like reading about polar exploration, especially Antarctica.

Why? I guess it is because explorers and mountain climbers are weird people and I like reading about weird people. I like to think about how different they are, and how their brains work.

Also, there is nothing to make me feel more calm about an illness then to be curled up on my couch, sipping tea, warm, with plenty of oxygen, while reading about people miserably climbing tall mountains.

Anyway. Joe Tasker was always going to die on the mountains. He was not a careful person who had any sense of self preservation. There were two times in his books where he ALMOST died. Came within a hairsbreath of dying, and yet he wrote that he always thought maybe he was being a coward and always felt this internal desire to push himself farther.

He was high up when he died, along with his friend Pete Boardman, who also died, and no one knows exactly what happened, but neither man seemed to have much self preservation.

Another mountaineer who writes well, who has lived to a decent age, is Ed Veisturs, now age 65, who has climbed all the mountains over 8000 meters. He was the first American to do so. He also writes autobiographically, and his perspective was very different from Joe Tasker's. Namely, Veisturs said over and over that getting to the top wasn't the most important thing, getting down was. He was always willing to give up a climb if he thought the conditions were too dangerous. Now he would be the first to say that ANYTHING can happen on a climb, but he was very conservative, unlike Joe Tasker, who was downright reckless at times.

I find both men interesting. Tasker died young doing what he loved, but it is still sad that he had this inward drive to go upward beyond what his body could handle. Veisturs is even weirder in a way, because he took on a very dangerous career (after becoming a veterinarian as a young man) and yet approached it with care.

Yep, interesting.

As I breathe in the thick oxygen of near sea level and drink lemonade.

Very interesting.

And I would never, ever, ever want to climb a big mountain.

Sickness

 At the very beginning of the first movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies, there is a dramatic scene wherein the narrator talks about how Sauron and the One Ring took over Middle Earth, almost, until an army came up against them and managed to temporarily take Sauron out of action.

The sentence that comes to mind is "One by one, they fell to the power of the Ring."

We are falling, one by one, to the power of a cold.

Which is totally normal. This is life with a big family. We get sick, and it takes its sweet time working through the whole family.

Unfortunately, we can't cast the cold into the depths of Mount Doom and destroy it. We have to be PATIENT.

When I realized we had a respiratory illness flowing through the house, I prayed fervently that I wouldn't have breathing problems. When I start having asthma issues, it is often a multi week affair that ends in steroids and I really hate the whole thing.

By God's grace, I have no breathing problems! Hooray!

However, two days ago, I had a massive nosebleed that lasted more than two hours. Not sure if it had anything to do with being sick. Maybe it is just dry air. Anyway, it was kind of scary and I didn't feel great yesterday. Thankfully so far yesterday and today I have been fine, and I have been using some nasal spray and other things to get my nose happier.

Almost all the kids have been ill, with Isaac the sickest. I did test him and me for COVID and the tests were negative, so this isn't COVID, praise God!

Isaac had finals last week and he was healthy through them and then after his finals, he got pretty sick. He is a miserable puppy. Not like dangerously sick, but not feeling well at all. I remember after finals I would often be incredibly tired and sometimes I would get sick too. My body and mind were pushing really hard and then when I could relax, I was incredibly exhausted. So maybe that is it?

Anyway, it has been a kinda miserable season of illness but it isn't dangerous, just annoying.

Oh, we also have been down to one car most of the week. Kevin's car has a crack in its fuel line and the auto place we took it to is waiting on a part. Of course, two of the kids have cars of their own, but they have been using them most of the time.

It is fine. I stayed home all week and it was actually nice seeing as I wasn't feeling well and also was looking after sick kids.

Rose with the finished puzzle. She has a remarkable eye for finding the location of puzzle pieces.

I have also been a low key decluttering frenzy, organizing and throwing things out because here comes Christmas and three birthdays, with all the presents that come with it!

Exercising and Losing Weight

 

This is a not very good picture of me taken in a mirror, with a surprising mess in the background.

But hey, I don't take pictures of myself often so here it is.

Anyway.

I have slowly been gaining weight over the last few years and I don't like it. It obviously isn't healthy to keep gaining weight and gaining weight and gaining weight. Also, I am diabetic which is another reason to not be happy with getting heavier.

Last week I was thinking about this. The thing is, I hate being hungry. Like, really. Eating less is stressful. I have never had to go on a real diet in my entire life because I used to be effortlessly thin.

Then I thought, well, I could at least start exercising regularly. That would be good, right!

Then I thought, WHEN? I have a busy life.  Except that I often get up pretty late. So I decided I would start getting up at 8 a.m. (which is not THAT early) and exercise.  I have done so the last 6 days. I already feel more energetic which is impressive.

Regarding losing weight, nada so far. I am about the same. But I will focus on the exercise part before tackling the eating part.

Speaking of eating, I have been having lower blood sugars the last few days, and I can feel it. That is not a happy feeling. Now I am not on insulin so I am not in danger of going REALLY low, but it isn't comfortable when I drop to the mid 70s. I feel shaky and weird.

Anyway. I am paying attention to how I feel. It may be I have been running rather high for awhile, and am lower because of exercise and my body is confused. I have an appointment this week and will see what my latest A1c is. I hope not above 6.5; if so, I will be seriously annoyed with myself. for eating carelessly. Or maybe I need to add some other meds.

We will see!

Improved

 I am like 95% now. Still occasionally feel a trifle short of breath, but so much better!

I have been doing more, too, which is great. I like being able to walk around the house, and talk, and fun stuff like that!

We had two birthdays in the last week. Angela is now 17 and Joseph is now 20. Wow, they are growing up!

I will try to get a picture of them together.  I was sick both days so wasn't taking a lot of pics.

Our green beans are going mad and I am so happy. I love green beans and bacon, so much!

The three younger kids started homeschooling last week. So far so good.

Whew, what else? I am writing a lot. Kevin's mom is in the area so we are spending time with her, which is wonderful.

Early August

 

Now it is getting serious with the veggies. Lots and lots and lots of zucchinis, and Kevin is freezing tomatoes, and we have cucumbers and GREEN BEANS.  I love fresh green beans. So much.

Kevin likes to take the kids to lunch one at a time. Very different interaction then when the Horde is swirling.

So...

James 4: 13-15

13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

I got sick this week. That is annoying because HELLO it is SUMMER and I don't want to get sick in th summer! We got sick after VBS too so yeah, I guess when we hang out with people, sometimes we get sick.

I have tested twice for COVID and it has been negative so that is good. Whatever I have, and I think it is just some random virus, it is affecting my breathing. I can't do much without panting dramatically.

It isn't dangerous, just annoying, but I had it in my head that this week we were going to start school for the year. BUT, the kids are sick too so no. That would be stupid. We will wait a week.

I am someone who loves to plan and indeed, planning is good. There are plenty of places in the Bible, particularly Proverbs, where people are urged to plan ahead. 

I think the verses in James have more to do with keeping one's heart ready to accept changes that the Lord brings into our lives. Not that I think God struck me down with sickness. I was hanging with someone who was sick, no doubt, and got sick. Or someone else in the family did. The point is, I need to not fret about pushing school back a week. That may sound like a minor thing, and thanks to Lexapro (yeah!) it isn't bad, but like I said, I LOVE to plan.

Six years ago I had a hysterectomy at the end of August so that whole school year was weird and the kids learned a lot anyway. So sometimes life throws a curveball.

In other news, we get to see a family this week whom used to be neighbors. They are a military family and were in Europe the last few years serving there, and are moving back to the area. They are a wonderful family with as many kids as we have, so we are all excited they will be back in the area soon.

Also, what would a summer blog post be without a mention of chiggers? Two finally got me. Sigh. I am so thankful for cold packs. 

I wrote a lot this week as sitting at a computer doesn't make my breathing get wonky. I have made major progress on both books I am working on, so that is good.

Great news, good news, and bad news

 The great news is that Joseph got an offer letter for an IT job and signed it and it is ON!

Both he and Miriam are now having to wait on background checks and stuff but it is happening!  We are so excited and thrilled for them!

I think IT is a good fit for both of them. Miriam picks things up quickly and is a problem solver. Joseph just "gets" computer stuff in a way that I certainly do not!  They (along with Naomi) get their IT skills from Kevin for sure! He has always done miracles with computers. I just want them to be black boxes. They should just work and when they don't I get fractious and irritable.

Good news is that the weather event we were expecting fizzled! Not for everyone, sadly; some people north and south of us got whacked by tornadoes, but Dayton somehow just didn't get much of anything. We had rain and we had some lightning and thunder, but no serious winds and no tornadoes. I am so grateful!

The bad news is minor, but it happened. Two nights ago I leaned over to pick up a basket of laundry and did something bad to my lower back side. I think I pulled a muscle. I was in a ton of pain instantly; it was like getting stabbed. However, I crept to a chair and sat down and that didn't hurt. The last two days I have spent most of my time sitting and my dear Kevin and my children have been running around serving me. It is better today, though still a long way from Ok. I still walk oddly but less oddly than yesterday.

It is improving and therefore there is no mental struggle with it. I am irritated but not terrified this won't go away.

A long time ago when I was pregnant with Lydia or Isaac, I pulled a muscle in my neck and couldn't turn it for a day or two. It hurt so much. This is like that. Weird but it will pass.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I have been watching 600 lb life stories, though I usually check the people ahead of time to see if they accomplished anything. I don't like the "train wreck" episodes where the people don't lose weight. I like it when they do improve their lives.

I also read a book recently called Hungry: Lessons learned on the Journey from fat to thin by Allen Zadoff. He was a binge eater who crept up to like 360 lbs before managing to overcome his addiction to food and now is sitting at a little above 200 lbs.

I was interested because people in 600 lb life are absolutely miserable but they keep eating. It really does make sense. They are miserable, and they are addicts, so they eat to feel better about their miserable lives. Of course, eating a ton keeps them very heavy, which makes the miserable, which makes them want to eat more...

It isn't that different from an alcohol or drug addiction or even a shopping addiction.

It is very noticeable of course. People can hide an alcohol addiction for a time, but one can't hide being 600 lbs.

Anyway, I have been thinking about how when life is rough, it is hard not to escape into things. I have mostly overcome my own desires to escape. I think if I was in this much pain all the time, I would really struggle with the mental part of it. It is so much easier hurting when one is confident the pain will go away.

I wrote a lot about my back I see. It is not a big deal.

It is far more a big deal that Miriam and Joseph have been offered jobs! So happy!

Oh, I forgot to say that Moonbeam, our cat, is doing great and is recovered. I had to pour antibiotics down his throat for a full week and he didn't like it, but he is good now.

February

 So far it has been a mild winter except for a couple of really cold weeks in January. And now it is February! It is warmish -- like high of 40 something today.

Ok, busy week here. Health wise, Kevin and I continue to improve. We also are doing more, so increased energy input and output. I am usually super tired when I get to bed but that's Ok.

Miriam and Joseph have been studying for months to take an exam called the Comp TIA Security Plus Exam. The certification is a basic requirement for many IT jobs.  Kevin took Miriam and Joseph off to the testing center on Wednesday and both passed!  I was actually pretty surprised; it is a hard test and most people don't pass it the first time. Naomi did also so Kendigs are three for three on that test the first time!

So now they are job hunting! And I am praying. And Kevin is working a lot with the kids with resumes and all that. We have some connections in the IT industry (Naomi and some friends of Kevin's from his Air Force years). I am hopeful they will both have jobs soon.

We are going to purchase another car for the kids. We have a Toyota Corolla that Isaac and Joseph share. Miriam is taking her driving test in a couple of weeks an if she passes, we will have three teen drivers. Also we hope that M and J will soon have full time jobs.

Kevin is looking around for a used car. I don't know much about cars and he is handling all that, but I did request blind spot monitoring for the new used car. It really is very helpful and with new drivers -- well, I would like the new used car to have blind spot monitoring.

Kevin found a possible car yesterday and we decided on a "date" 90 minutes north to check it out in the great city of Lima, Ohio. Spelled like Lima in a lima bean, not Lima as in Lima, Peru.

There was a huge accident on I-75 North which slowed us down.  We ended up getting off the highway and driving through the less wonderful parts of Lima. It is a refinery city and there are giant tanks and smokestacks and fun stuff like that. We went through a part of town that was falling down.

We finally got there and checked out the car. The man showing it to us was very pleasant. BUT the car, erm, the car's heat was having opposite day. Not only was the heat not working, the air coming out of the vents was colder than the outside air, or at least it felt like it. It behaved as if it was permanently stuck on AC.

So yeah, no. Kevin also detected an issue with the suspension. Never mind.

It was a date. We got away for four hours together. We'll take it.

Kevin and I also toiled away this last week to finish the latest book. Don't have a publish date yet because we are also having Harry Frost do an audio narration of the book to launch at the same time as the e book.

It was definitely a busy week and we had homeschooling on top of it.

But we are both feeling better so are thankful!

Patience is a Virtue. So is Gratitude

 A friend of mine who is a little older than I am has been battling cancer for a few years. I got a message from her that she recently had a stroke as well. It breaks my heart. She is a wonderful person and this is hard.

Her faith in the Lord is inspiring and I keep praying for her, that God would help her recover from the stroke and the cancer, and will continue to comfort her.

Another friend got smacked with serious long COVID. She is recovering but it has been a long journey.

Both of these wonderful women have encouraged me as Kevin and I deal with the lingering effects of COVID. We don't have a lot of energy, and want to sleep a lot, and my breathing continues to be a bit off. I just want to be better!  But I am not yet. And I need to rest as needed.

I am so thankful that the children are old enough to run much of the household. In 2009, when we had 6 kids under the age of 10, we got swine flu and wow, that was a rough time!

So yeah, I think Kevin and I are improving, but it is slow going. 

The weather outside is currently frightful -- windy, snowy, and cold. We are only getting like an inch of snow; apparently up north a few hours, they are supposed to get over a foot!

So that's...fun.

We do not have to be anywhere today which makes me happy.

I do love getting things done and there are things I want to get done, but I also need to respect my own limitations.

Miriam is ready to take her driving test, mostly, but I want to do a little more driving with her. This coming week is kind of busy with various appointments so probably I will be using my energy to take people here and there.

I'm good. I'm thankful it isn't worse. 

Oh, I am also nearing the end of a book, a shorter one than usual. I honestly dislike it at this point. I am tired and my brain isn't firing on all thrusters and I look at it and think, argh, I don't like it.

I think it is actually a decent book. I always dislike my books at the end :-).

I just have to keep on, keeping on.

Physical Issues

 My paternal grandmother, now gone, used to scold me about walking around campus with my backpack straps only over my right shoulder, with a very heavy load of books in said backpack.

She was, of course, right. I didn't know that at the time.

Then I had 9 children and carried babies and toddlers with my right arm.

Because I am silly.

So yes, now I am reaping what I sowed. I have chronic back and neck issues, though they are not at all debilitating. They are annoying.

I will be 54 this month and Kevin, who has been encouraging me for many years to work on my back and neck, bought me a fancy gaming chair.

It was expensive but it will be worth it if it helps and I think it will.

I spend a lot of time writing obviously. This chair is set up so that I can push my head against a pillow. This in turn keeps me straight.

My neck is currently kind of mad at me because I am forcing muscles to hold me in an unfamiliar position.

Because I have been slumping for decades at least a little.

In the long run, I am certain I will feel better.

I also have issues with ulnar nerves in both arms. This is the "funny bone" nerve and writers often have issues with it. I have been battling weird tingling feelings in my pinky and ring fingers and the part of my hands below those fingers. Classic ulnar nerve issues. 

I have a great chiropractor who told me all that. I am doing various things to help with that and my attempts are succeeding. I am doing better.

It is vaguely disturbing to be having issues in my 50's as I hope to have many years to live, but I can only go forward in life.

Oh, Kevin is also building me a new desk for our room. We are going to have a great setup which will allow me to work with proper posture.

February 2nd

 And just like that, January is over!

I am so proud of myself!  I bought a little water purifier test kit for an experiment and actually did it!

That seems silly since I am a Ph.D. level engineer but the truth is that for years, I had toddlers running around snatching things off of surfaces, so got out of the habit of actually doing experiments.

It worked. We put nasty, dirty, oily water in the top and cleanish water came out of the bottom. It looked great but of course nasty things can be in water and the water still be clear. We didn't drink the water, but we admired it.

Push ups are a big thing here among certain strong people.  Here, Miriam and Rose are doing push ups.

Sarah made a very unstable, tall tower out of Settlers of Catan houses. Neat! She is so creative!

So I went to the dentist yesterday to get a couple of cavities taken care of. I did not enjoy the experience.  Our dentist is great and I was treated very well but wow, my jaw was mad at me and I do hate that feeling of having a numb cheek, nose, and jaw after the novacaine.

And yet, I still have my teeth and I have the opportunity to have someone competent take care of my teeth, so am very thankful for that!

I came home and rested for a couple of hours and today I have been tired too.  Maybe a minor illness?  Not sure.

Anyway.

We also published an updated edition of The Banished Uncle today.  The original was 57,000 words and the new version is 89,000 words, so I added a lot.

Health Update

 I did an at home A1c test a few days ago and it was 5.8.  Color me happy! That is pretty good!

Many months ago, I said that I had gained some weight and was going to try to maintain 165 lbs.  Since I am 5 ft. 9 inches tall, that isn't exceptionally heavy, but I was like 140 lbs until I went on Lexapro. Apparently anxiety kept me from eating, or from resting, or something. I will gladly take 25 healthy pounds and not be anxious.

Anyway, I was at 165 for months and then about a month ago, maybe 6 weeks, I decided to start exercising more.  I've been consistently punching the punching bag in our basement, and doing the elliptical machine, and even lifting weights.

And...I promptly put on 5 more pounds. I don't think I'm eating more!  Maybe it is muscle?  Anyway, I am not going to worry about it but it does show how lame "weight" is for analyzing one's fitness. I am certainly in better shape but now weight 170 lbs!

I have been messing around with low carb fudge.  I made some that was pretty good, made up of cocoa, no sugar peanut butter, butter substitute, vanilla, and low carb sweetener.

It was quite tasty, but there was always a nasty aftertaste.  I kept messing with the recipe, trying different sweeteners, but the after taste remained.

A couple of days ago, I tried agave nectar, which isn't as low carb as I usually go for.  That fudge tasted pretty bad for some reason. Ugh.  I ate quite a few bites before deciding forget it -- I am not going to worry about wasting food when this tastes so bad.

At some point, my Ph.D. level brain thought -- hmmm, maybe it is not the sweetener?

I think it is the butter substitute.  I took a tiny bite of straight butter substitute and YUCK!

So next time I will try coconut oil.

In the middle of all this experimentation, I didn't think to google agave nectar and whether it is high fructan, because I do have a fructan intolerance...

Yes, agave nectar is very high fructan.

So yesterday, after eating some of the fudge, I got pretty unhappy digestively.

Sigh.

The older I get, the less I can eat.

But I am doing pretty well all in all.  My doctor is always thrilled at my A1c levels and my blood pressure is low and my cholesterol is high but not too high...

So I am grateful that I am as healthy as I am.  And also vaguely annoyed that my body has decided that no dairy, no wheat, no high fructan anything, is my future in life.

Oh well. There is always dark chocolate!  Thankfully.

Autumn and I am Tired

 

I do love autumn.  When I was younger, I always felt sad when autumn came because after autumn is winter and I used to really dislike winter.

Now I don't.  I rather like winter. Because winter means NO BUGS!

Also life is easier. We aren't keeping the pool in order and running around to parks and stuff.  We stay home more and it is relaxing.

Anyway, so it is cool and crisp and the leaves are lovely.

Also, I am COVID negative. Hooray!  It took awhile.  But yes, I am now officially not spewing out noxious viruses!

However, I am still extra tired, and so is Kevin. This is not unusual post COVID, apparently.  Given that Kevin is working a new job (with lots of extra stuff) and we are together caring for seven children, and we are finishing a book, it isn't a marvelous time to be extra tired but oh well.

Also, we are going through winter stuff to see what we have, what we need, and what we can give away.

Our church has a clothes closet and they need coats and snowpants and stuff so yes, I am figuring out what we will use and what we can pass on.

End of this Round of COVID

 Whew!

We are all almost better.

That is inspiring, I know, but almost better is good!

When we got COVID back in late 2020, I was seriously alarmed.  While we are moderately young to have major COVID complications, I was 50, diabetic, and asthmatic.  I remember lying on the bed pleading with God that He would keep me safe from breathing problems.

And He did.  I had aches and pains and frozen feet and headaches and total exhaustion, but my lungs were great.

This time, I was pretty blase about getting COVID.  I mean, yeah, inconvenient, but I am fully vaxed with two boosters, albeit 2 years older than last time, still diabetic of course, still asthmatic.

And wham, breathing was an issue!

Not a scary, COVID pneumonia issue, but I should have prayed about that this time as well!

My asthma is triggered only by viruses.  When I was a kid, I had allergy and exercise induced asthma, but my only problems in the last couple of decades were when I got sick.

So I got COVID a couple of weeks ago and I was tired, and had headaches, and then asthma smacked me.  My blood oximeter levels were great all the time, but I was panting when I walked up stairs, and one day I couldn't even talk without gasping for oxygen. NOT IDEAL.

However, I am surrounded by competent people and Kevin carried the load (he got COVID, and got over it, before I did) and here we are, 95% better.

We have been flaunting our great wealth by buying copious COVID tests.  (That is a joke.  Like we WANT to spend lots of money on COVID tests!)  As of yesterday, everyone is testing negative except for me, and my last test was super super super light.  So probably today it is negative but I am not going anywhere today. So I will test again tomorrow.

Anyway, we are thankful that we are almost all better and getting back into the swing of normal things.

COVID Marches On

 Now everyone has it or had it except for Angela, who is Last Woman Standing!

Of course, she may have it and be asymptomatic.  Kevin is back to work.  He has a few residual symptoms but is doing much better.

I did test a couple of days ago and wow, was I positive!  I mean, any positive is positive but it was a very, very dark COVID positive test.

I also started coughing a couple of days ago.  Again, blood oximeter levels are fine so it is just annoying mostly.  If I talked, I coughed. A lot.  So I didn't talk much. I am better today; still coughing but not as much. 

Miriam and Isaac are both the sickest now.

At least my foot is still good!  My plantar fasciitis foot.  Isn't that just the best looking boot?

We are a Mess!

 Wow!

COVID is marching through our family and we are a mess!

But not a dangerously sick mess, thankfully.  The really weird thing is that we had COVID in November 2020 and while Kevin, Naomi, Lydia, Isaac, Joseph and I were sick, the younger five didn't have any symptoms.

This time around, everyone is falling to COVID.  Rose spiked a fever of 103 yesterday afternoon and was miserable, poor darling. There are people coughing some, with sore throats, little appetite, and so on and so forth.

Ugh!  However, we have a blood oximeter and no one is having trouble with oxygen levels so hooray!

I did want to mention that my BOOT is working great and my plantar fasciitis isn't bothering me at all, which is a miracle considering that other parts of my body are aching.

Tired children!

Rose actually FELL ASLEEP last night on the couch, which is so not like her.  In her view, naps are for wimps. She looked angelic in a sad, sick kind of way.

I am pretty sure I am feeling better and am thankful. I will test for COVID shortly and see if I am still showing positive.

Good News and Bad News

 The Good: Miriam and Angela are home and had a great time in D.C. with my parents!

Also, I bought a weird boot for my foot and have been wearing it in bed.  It is helping my plantar fasciitis. Yeah!

Bad News:  Kevin has COVID!  He has been sick since Monday and last night I suggested he take a test. And it was positive.  I have been a little sick also but my test was negative.  But I don't know; I think I probably have a super mild case that just didn't show up.

Anyway, Kevin feels lousy but is not seriously ill. We are all vaxed so I am pretty sure we'll get through this fine.  It isn't fun, but we are managing.

Feet!

 For three months now, my left foot has been hurting. Based on Doctor Google, it is plantar fasciitis.  I am almost certain it is.

I tried home remedies for 2 months (not very diligently) and then finally broke down and made an appointment with a podiatrist. I had to wait a full month to get in, but thought, Ok, he will help.

It was for September 7th.

Except it wasn't.  I had a God nudge to check the morning of, and the perky receptionist informed me that no, my appointment was for October 7th!

Argh!

Not that I am angry at the doctor. I know everything is crazy after COVID years.  It is just wow, long time.

So I have decided to get serious about home remedies.  It seems pretty obvious that tight calves are a big part of the problem.  If I stretch often, my foot feels better.  I also bought a compression sock and just ordered a boot for sleeping at night. It will keep my foot at a ninety degree angle. Hopefully all this will help.

My foot doesn't hurt ALL the time, but it hurts often enough to be really annoying.

So I am praying I can sort this out, and soon. I need my feet to feel good!

So far my right foot is fine.