Let's Catch Up

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Since my last swine flu/pneumonia update, I'm pleased to announce that I'm feeling better and our house is germ-free. I spent the week before Thanksgiving in bed and started feeling better just in time for an extended holiday break. From my posts showing our Thanksgiving pies and other food, you could see that I spent some time last week cooking.

This year I put my foot down and somewhat demanded that Chad and I pick only one Thanksgiving dinner to eat. Does that sound strange to you? To explain, let me clarify that for as long as I can remember, I have eaten at least two Thanksgiving dinners (splitting time with two sides of the family). Since my first Thanksgiving with Chad five years ago, there have been holidays where we have eaten a meal on Wednesday, followed by three (yes, THREE!!!) Thanksgiving dinners with the rest of our family units. Having two sets of divorced parents will do that. I had been looking forward to this year for a while - I offered to have family here at the house - Chad's Mom, Jim, and my mom had the main meal with us, followed by Chad's Dad and Marta joining us all for dessert. Choosing to have one meal like this of course meant that we missed out on seeing some family this year on the big day, but we have since gotten to see my Dad and Rose for some Firebowl Cafe and pie at our house.

We have been somewhat productive at our house over the last few weeks as well. A cleaning service (thanks Ruth Anne!) came to the house last Tuesday and thoroughly cleaned our main living areas and we have been able to keep up the tidiness since then. We're expecting to get new carpet installed next Thursday, so we have been busy sorting through our 'box room' to try to clean out the clutter. We also decided that this is the best time to install tile in our upstairs bathroom, so we are having that done on Monday. I'm thrilled to see how our house will look next weekend...by then we will also be able to put up our Christmas tree and have our house looking ready for the holidays.

Have I been running? Not really. Pneumonia kind of makes it impossible. I ran Sunday, Nov 15, then got sick. I didn't run again until Thanksgiving morning for the Turkey Trot. That five mile route with hills was just enough for me to think mid-race "What the hell was I thinking making this my first run back?" I ran well considering my lungs were not happy having to breathe heavily again. My plan was to take it nice and easy and only run faster if I felt okay. My first mile was about 9:00 and I progressively got faster to about a 7:40 pace at the end. My overall time was decent for a 'fun run' as my overall pace was 8:12. It was great seeing folks out there, Rogue friends, a high school friend, and a couple of old running friends. My leg hurt afterwards, but I was able to run three miles yesterday with a very minimal amount of soreness.

Hmm...what else? There are going to be some big changes at the Jones house. Before you go expecting a baby announcement, let me say no. I have actually had some of my ongoing female issues come back (since September) and have had some gyn exams done - one of which deserves a tmi post. I'll wait for now to write that one, but it is a lovely story. No, the big story in our family is that Chad is in the position to branch out on his own and start his own construction business. He'll likely start talking about it with those of you who know him, but he has filed the necessary paperwork and has been approved by the state with his name and stuff. It is weird to think that we'll both be working out of a home office sometime in the next few months. I'm so proud and excited for him.

That's about it. I would apologize for the time between posts, but I do my best. Hope to keep you all up with everything else as this busy month of December begins.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Clockwise from top...Roasted squash and parsnips with maple glaze and
Marcona almonds, wild rice stuffing with pearl onions, cherries, and
pecans, Cornbread stuffing (made with my homemade green onion
cornbread), Cranberry orange sauce, Green beans with onions, Roasted
sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping. Not pictured - Rudy's smoked
turkey. It was all yummy!

Pie #2 - Lattice Top Apple

This recipe had a brown sugar layer between the apples and lattice
top...mine didn't 'melt' properly.

This is also using the frozen Whole Foods g/f crust (which I thawed,
broke out of the pan, and rolled to make the top).

We'll see about this pie. I think it is going to be too juicy and
won't set up right. However, I'm pleased about using more apples than
the recipe called for so that it is the perfect rounded middle after
the apples cooked down.

Pie #1 - Pumpkin Ginger Cheesecake Pie

From Gourmet Nov 2006
Made with g/f gingersnap cookies. Hope it tastes as good as it smells.
Mmmmmmmmm!!!!!

The Diagnosis - Oink Oink

Those of you who are my FB friends probably already know this, but the diagnosis yesterday was a little surprising to me. Doc says Influenza A (likely swine flu) and pneumonia. I couldn't believe it at first. I felt like crap in my lungs, so I believed the pneumonia bit, but I asked him to clarify the swine flu statement. He said that it definitely came back as 'flu A' and from what I understood from him, that all of the flu As that have been tested recently have come back swine. Nice. They did the nasal swab (never knew a swab could be inserted so deeply in my head) and did a chest x-ray (which came back cloudy in places, I think).

I'm definitely not a doctor, so I might have described some of those details incorrectly. They definitely checked me out thoroughly.

So here is what is going on -
I have been in the bed now for four days. I get up to go to the bathroom, to fix myself some tea when I am home alone, and just this morning to wash my bed linens and try sitting in a chair. I have run a fever of 100+ for some/most of the last three days. I have showered every morning (the steam feels really good on the bronchial passages) so I am reasonably fresh for a sick person. Chad has brought down my work laptop so that I can do a little bit of work in the morning and then check email and stuff between naps during the day. Mostly, I have been sleeping and watching TV.

The first 60 hours, all I wanted was a basic diet - oatmeal and tea for breakfast, Jamba Juice and Clif Bar close to lunchtime, hot tea during the day, and miso soup for dinner. Finally yesterday afternoon, I was starving and asked Chad to make me dinner. He very graciously made me scrambled eggs, sweet potato fries and sliced strawberries for dinner...just what I asked for. Chad also did some grocery shopping and picked up some food that I can make quickly by myself.

The past two nights I have not really slept much. I have been too busy hacking up and cringing at the burning ripping fire in my throat when a big cough happens. The only thing that keeps me asleep is putting a Chloraseptic or Cepacol lozenge in the pocket of my cheek while I sleep so that it numbs the back of my throat as it melts. I basically wake up every couple of hours to put in a new cough drop and try to get as much sleep as I can. I think tonight might be better...my coughs today are much more productive.

Poor Chad has been sleeping on the couch (which is actually very comfortable) and has been awesome as my nurse. He continues to Lysol the things we both touch and has disinfecting wipes. Last night he did a bit of cleaning in his area of the house. My mom has also taken a round of bringing me food and cough drops.

I'm getting kind of pooped typing this up...time to take a break...but I'm really bored.

If you are being seen for flu-like symptoms....

...please ask for a mask. That is the sign posted at check in at Tx
Sports and Family Medicine, and I appreciate their efforts to prevent
the spread of flu and cold germs. I guess fever and cough qualify me
for this sexy look. I wonder why the man sniffling next to me won't
wear one...he looks to be in worse shape than me.

The Sick Office

What you see in the picture is me trying to look my sickly best (no shower, no makeup, no hairbrush) posing with my caretakers for the day. Miko and Felicia are on the bed and Beans is chillin' adorably on the brown chair in the back.

My fever went down overnight and hopefully won't go back up. The coughing has gotten worse, even with Mucinex DM, but that is how it goes 24 hours into a chest cold. Last night Chad brought me a huge container of Miso soup (didn't worry if it had bonito flakes or a minimal amount of gluten...it is what my body wanted). I sipped the entire 32 ounces of soup and slept so soundly for almost 10 hours, after sleeping or resting most of the day.

Today I'm going to try to work some and will probably stay in the bed to try to feel better faster.

Testing, Testing, can you hear me?

I'm testing the BlogPress lite app on my iPhone, so hopefully this works. I'm sick. Been in the bed most of the day. I'm running a fever (as high as 101.1 today) and my lungs feel wheezy. I have been coughing some and have generally just felt tired and weak. I don't think it is the flu, despite what you may think. I get a chest cold every few years and it feels like that.

Flip Eared Miko

She did this to herself. Crazy Miko.

Updates - round one

So, what has been going on with me?

• I have a project at the house going on. All of the cabinets (and much of the trim) in our house is brown wood. The look is very rustic, and while it looked really nice with the former owner's bachelor/texas ranch/rustic furniture and decor, it looks kind of weird with our stuff. I'm not really a brown kind of girl. So...I'm painting some of the cabinets a creamy white. We're getting new carpet soon (brown carpet, funny enough), and I'm trying to get all of the cabinets that are over carpet sanded and painted before the carpet is installed. So far, I'm almost done with the upstairs bathroom and have started sanding the hall linen closet. After that, I have the two vanities in our master. Now that I have the experience of doing the bathroom, I understand how to make the process go faster and easier....and I'm trying to do it with as little help from Chad as possible. Go me!
  
• I got my cruiser bike and have been enjoying rides around our neighborhood. Some days I will ride while Chad runs. Sometimes he will ride with me. We tackled hills the other day and it was awesome! The back of our neighborhood is the Great Hills neighborhood and if you know streets like Sans Souci and Fire Oak (up to Yaupon), you know that some of those hills are monster, even for a road bike. Picture me on my bike with the white seat and grips, with a basket in the front in my lowest gear huffing and puffing away, while two cyclists on their road bikes give me the nod as they pass me. Yeah...Blue Belle can climb!
  
• I've been cooking. For my birthday, I cooked a bunch of stuff for a wine dinner...Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Cranberry Sauce, Cornbread Apricot and Toasted Pumpkin-seed Stuffing (made with homemade gluten-free green chile cornbread), Wild Rice with Pearl Onions, Dried Cherries, and Apricots, Polenta with Comte Cheese, Spiced Apple topping over ice cream. Recently, we have been sharing a farm-share with my mother-in-law, so I have made some new veggie recipes...Roasted Acorn Squash with Chile Vinaigrette, Roasted Beet Salad with Oranges and Beet Greens...you get the picture. Tonight I am making an Asparagus and Yellow Pepper Fritatta, Chili Lime Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and Cinnamon Applesauce. Yum.
  
• I have been reading. I read the two books that Keith has blogged about, plus starting The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson. I also read The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs. Everything so far has been pretty good, but definitely agree with Keith on the Stieg Larsson books.

More to come...and I am trying to run again.

Chad's Eating Habits

He seriously needs to update this. I mean, the man ate beets last night in a salad with onion, orange, beet greens and balsamic vinegar. He also ate acorn squash last night with a spicy lime cilantro sauce that was yum-o. He ate polenta squares (with cheese in it) on my birthday. He regularly consumes dishes with more creative veggies like fennel and eggplant. He loved eating at the Clay Pit (Indian food) and thinks that the fennel naan is the best flavor.

We should all be impressed by him. Here's a peek at the yummy beet salad and acorn squash from last night. They don't look so good (all the more reason to admire Chad's willingness to eat it), but they sure tasted good.

I O U

Sorry! I know I owe you some sort of update. There has been too much going on.

I have been enjoying things besides the computer and blogging, so I haven't really felt like sitting down and typing stuff up.

Anyone still out there?

NASCAR Weekend!

Birthday Bike

Hooray! I got the bike I wanted! Here's a pic of me getting fitted.