Seriously?

Yeah, I know… not for this blog, right?  Yet it's the back-drop to everything until this nastiness is out of my system.  So how long?  No one can answer that.

Tic toc.  Tic toc.

I've already been on the computer way too long this morning doing other things, so this entry is going to be way short.  All the research has yielded the same ole same ole, so I can simply do my best to ride this out and detox, drink super-powered-health-drinks and keep going as best I can, and forgive my body for its succumbing to the medications as it has.  Time will heal.

Yeah, this is looking more like it should've gone into the other blog, but hey… I'm here and I'm just going to leave it as-is.

And… the good stuff should arrive today.  At least I will have those two smoothies a day to feed the body the extra nutrients it needs to help fight off the toxins the medications introduced so my body can right itself and recover.  Every day that passes I realize even more just how bad most prescription drugs are for us, and how some of them (maybe most?) have lasting effects. Perhaps not permanent, but lasting just the same.

Back to the good stuff (which I am going to call it from here on out.  Who cares what it's marketed name is).  This stuff has a full day's worth of vegetables and fruit in ONE glass.  It's not cheap, but it's SO worth it for the health benefits.  A healthy person can absolutely use this stuff and feel like a million bucks, and anyone not feeling up to par, even sick folks can use this and help their body heal itself.  It's organic, gluten-free, and just about as real and raw as it gets.

Blah blah blah. ;p  More later.  I have a movie to watch, and I'm freezing to death.  I don't think it's going to get up to that lovely 73* we're expecting.  But these heart meds keep me cold most of the time anyway.  Brrrr.  So it's me and a blankie today, and a movie of course.

Laterz!….

P.S.  I sure wish I could taste things again.  More weirdness, thanks to stupid meds.  Thank goodness I'm off 2 of the 3 that cause this awful side effect.  blech!

Chemical Carnivale

Seriously.  Well, just to let you guys know, there's a new blog.  All the edges honed from this one are somewhere else. lol  Hey, well, you know.  I'm monitoring some medical/health stuff and am not wanting to lump it all here, so… it's somewhere else.

Basically, I have to keep track of a few things, and it's been really frustrating dealing with side effects from some medications.  So I'm doing it online because it may actually help someone else who may be going through the same thing(s) with regards to certain medications, etc.   Some meds are necessary evils, and you simply have to roll with the punches and get through it somehow.

Anyhoo… it's late, and I'm tired.  So… I'll be back tomorrow sometime.  Have to see the dr. again.  they did a bone scan and found stress fractures in my foot.  Yay. :/

Nite nite….

Zuppa Toscana!

It was a great Sunday.  Better than great, perhaps.

So warm outside.  No humidity really to speak of.  And a breeze coming through the windows that was soft-spoken and light of touch.  Absolute perfection, in my humble opinion.

I spent a lot of the day in the kitchen, happily so, cooking homemadeTuscan soup and absolutely loving the fact that, well, that I CAN.  Gone are the days of microwaved and/or meals otherwise short-ordered in a broiler oven.  How I've missed REAL cooking, baking, preparing the table, the presentation… ah, well.  I have it now in my little Tuscan style kitchen.  The Tuscan heartbeat of my little kitchen (though so much larger than the kitchen of my old apartment) breathes life into the rest of this home.  It's rather like having a small little slice of Italy in a way…  but the kitchen… the kitchen… well yes, there's that.

So the main meal for Sunday is lunch, and today it was Zuppa Toscana (not really a name, but rather a description); a simple Tuscan soup with a not-so-simple flavor.  Anyone who's been to Olive Garden has probably tasted a similar soup by a similar name.  It's basically a sausage/potato soup with kale and garlic, a few simple veggies, etc., etc. based in a heavy cream and chicken stock base.  Served with soft Italian bread of choice, and a little Tawny Port (love the cherry flavor), a few slices of fruit, salad, or whatever… it becomes an extraordinary meal, especially with the warm breeze flowing through those gauzy white sheer curtains near the table.  So perfect.

And it's not just a meal.  It's an experience.  We choose to eat with cloth napkins around here.  It's no bother to launder them, and if you choose wisely and choose patterned… well, you don't have to worry so much about stains.  So in our case, meals are formal and stuffy, but rather beautiful and little elements of celebration each day.  Even if we opt for a simple meal, even if the meal is one spent in front of the tv while T watches the game, we are never 'mindlessly eating.'

….I've gotten a bit off-track.

I love spending time cooking and baking in my kitchen.  I love being surrounded by the black marble countertops with their copper and gold flecks, the natural stone tiles, the cream and caramel cabinetry, and all the beautiful colors that hint of that old Tuscan style.  I love the newness of all the appliances (hey, I'm a girl!), and I love the light that comes in the window while I'm doing what I love to do in there.  I even love our 'celebratory white dishes' (Bianca Laurel) and hope to get the gorgeous charger set to go with them.  Yes, we use charger plates as well, though not highly decorative ones for everyday use.  Either way… we enjoy these little things in celebration of everyday life.  We call it living.

It's when the ordinary become extraordinary.

Maybe it's only the light.

Maybe it's just the angle of stretching shadows.

Perhaps there's no change at all.  Yet…

Maybe, it's simply how you see things.

Maybe that's what's changed.

Or, it could just be the afterglow of good soup and wine shared with extraordinary company.  Cheers!

Red Rain

"It was as if she walked in faded sepia of an old photo, wandering a colorless, depthless snapshot along an empty street."  - E. Riddle (Wigginton)

Taken from a partially-written novel, one of my own, the quote above has often found its way into the electronically frayed lower edges of emails, or perhaps a little stamp here and there on a forum tagline.  I will never forget the quiet surprise I felt when I found myself looking up at a large, framed version of that small, yet telling scene from a novel that will most likely remain ever-private.

I would discover the title to the painting to be "Red Rain," and further discover enough about the details to know it really only parallels a moment in my story.   But the more I uncovered, the more I liked what I found, and the rather large, framed art became the centerpiece of my living room, and the focal point of which all else in design therein was built.  What a beautiful foundation.  And what makes it even more interesting is the story of that red umbrella, which I am awaiting on one similar to come sometime in April.

The scene.  The setting.  The umbrella's origin, history, and even the color tells a story in and of itself, all of which makes perfect sense… not just in reference to my quote, but in my living room, and also in my life.

"In Thailand, red is associated with Sunday. The color gold symbolizes many things. It is most often related to wealth, royalty, spiritual riches and Buddhism. Gold is also intrinsically linked to anything of high value. In Thailand, the Thais consider yellow/gold to be a royal color and is the color for Monday and also the King’s birthday. It is also considered auspicious, as it is the same color as the “cassia fistula” which is Thailand’s national flower. This tree is also known as the “golden shower tree” and is very pretty and a vivid yellow color. The history of umbrella making in Thailand dates back to around 1800"

I love the color red, as well as black (of course), and I love red balloons..as most who know me know.  But I also love parasols and umbrellas, having to use them as "portable shade" (photosensitive).  So it wasn't much of a stretch that I fell in love with this gorgeous burst of color that just so happens to provide protection from the sun when needed.

"Red Rain."  I would call this a major score and will continue to thoroughly enjoy the continued treasure hunt for the little things that will tie the room together and set the scene in perfect 3-D…