Coconut Water

The new "IT" drink - Coconut Water. I have never heard of it. I have heard of using coconut oil in place of other oils for cooking and its health benefits but I wonder if coconut water does the same. Going to have to check this out.

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Sister's Car Accident

One of my little sisters was in a car accident last week that involved three cars.  She is okay but her car was badly damaged.  She had a nice car that was paid off but she didn't have full insurance on it - just the basic to drive it on the road.  I bet you that she is wishing that she had shopped around for the cheapest car insurance for full coverage now.

It's a good thing she knows somebody who fixes cars because her friend is going to fix it for about a third of what it would have cost her otherwise.  If he hadn't, the car would have been another pile of steel in a junkyard after parts were leached off of it.

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Weight Loss Going Again

Woo hoo!  The scale moved again!  I was beginning to think it was going to stay stuck forever but it dipped lower this morning than I've seen it in a few years.  I was so happy that I decided to see if my wedding ring and anniversary band would fit properly again.  They went on without feeling like they were choking my finger! 

I was starting to get discouraged again and was going to look up the best weight loss pill when I went to take a shower and I looked thinner in the mirror. I decided to jump on the scale to see. Sure enough...I went over the hump I was stuck on.

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Eczema Going Away

One benefit of the thyroid medication increase is that my eczema is clearing up.  It started on the first day of my double dose of thyroid medication and has been improving steadily since.  My face is completely clearned up.  My daughter thought I needed acne medicine (she said my face looked "gross" - thanks honey!). However, it was eczema but it's gone from my face and chest. I have a little bit left around my waistline where the pants rub but that's a lot better too.

I attributed it to my thyroid medication but I guess it could be because I stopped drinking milk too.  Though, if it was milk, I would think I'd have it all year long and not just in the winter like I do.  My doctor wanted me to stop for two weeks and then drink it again and see how I felt.  I went about four days without drinking milk but then I forgot and had a glass after eating some chocolate.  Boy did it hurt my stomach! 

He said I could have cheese if it didn't hurt my stomach.  Cream cheese had me doubled over with cramps yesterday morning so I guess cream cheese is out.

My doctor asked me why I needed milk, especially since it hurt me.  I told him, "Calcium."  He informed me there were other ways to get calcium, which I knew but some of those ways involve veggies I don't like.  Guess that means I'll be adding a calcium pill to my daily pill regimen (I take about 8-10 pills a day now between thyroid meds and supplements...I feel positively ancient).

I guess this makes me lactose intolerant.  Oh well, what other species drinks the milk of another species?  None that I know of!

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Weight Loss Goal an Uphill Battle

I've managed to lose 13 pounds of weight since changing my thyroid medication regimen but it seems to be at a standstill right now.  I really thought when my thyroid dosage increased, it'd start peeling off again but so far, it hasn't.  The doctor said it takes three weeks to build up to the proper level when a dosage is changed but this is going to get discouraging real fast if it doesn't start coming off again.  I have 17 pounds to lose.  It doesn't seem like that much.  I don't think I am at that point of needing to find the best weight loss pills but I really wanted to be an additional 17 pounds lighter by spring.

Spring is almost here.  The days are getting longer and the geese have already come back.  That actually seems a bit early to me since we have a couple feet of snow on the ground but the geese are here.  Huge flocks of them are along the creek anticipating spring.  That's not a whole lot of time left to get rid of 17 pounds.

I can't wait for the snow to melt to get out and start walking.  That should help.

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Get Ready for Spring!

Picture from: Stanford.edu

I looked up in the Farmer's Almanac sunset times this morning.  Sunset tonight is at 6:15 p.m. and sunset a month ago was 5:38 p.m.  Days are getting longer which means there IS an end to this wretched snow that has had us snowed in here for almost two weeks straight.  Getting snowed in with three girls has been a big trial in patience because they have been all about the "girly wars" which drove the rest of us nuts.

I am looking forward to ditching the winter clothes, pulling out the outdoor furniture, and watching the flowers come back again. My four-year-old asked me today if I'd buy her a pair of flip-flops so I guess she is as ready as I am for warmer weather.  I think it'll definitely improve some moods in this house.

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Lung Infections and Asthma for Infant and Toddler Swimmers

If your infant/toddler swims before age two, are you setting them up for lung infections and asthma later in life?  Read about one study here.

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Easy Way to Get Out a Loose Tooth

My son is afraid to manipulate a loose tooth out of his mouth.  He drags it on for days, complaining about it the whole time with the tooth hanging by barely nothing at all.  So, two teeth ago, I put some Baby Orajel on a Q-tip and rubbed it around the gum of that tooth (including in between the loose tooth and the gum where it was separated).  It was quickly numb.  He had the loose tooth out both times within seconds!

I wish I'd thought of this about a few kids ago!

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House Buying Market

The housing market has been hard lately eh?  If you're a buyer, it's great for you.  You have your pick of houses to choose from right now at great prices.  I would imagine it is easy to find what you are looking for.  For instance, type in Des Moines homes for sale in a search engine and I bet you come up with a lot.

For sellers, it's not such a great time. I'm wondering if any of them in our area are considering a "rent with the option to buy" or land contract deal.  If we could get into a bigger house with several acres at a rental price for now and then buy it in a few years, that would be awesome!  I have a feeling we are stuck here until my husband's child support bill is done (3-1/2 more years...wow, time flies...not).  Oh well...if we've managed 14 years, we can manage a few more until we can find the perfect ranch house on a good piece of property.

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Daughter Has Costochondritis

My 13-year-old daughter has Costochondritis.  Costochondritis is inflammation of the cartilage that connects the ribs to the sternum. He says it is commonly seen in athletes and with her cheerleading schedule and then weight training twice a week for gym class, he wasn't surprised.  There is nothing we need to do for it unless it doesn't get better on its own within the next four weeks.  She can take ibuprofen for the pain as needed and just wait.

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Body Breakdown

For the last year or so, I've had a lot of joint pain whenever I get up.  It takes me about 30 seconds or so for my legs to start working without hurting.  I have to walk it off.  I think it's part of the thyroid thing because everything is off hormonally plus I'm carrying extra weight.  At least I hope that is all it is and I don't have to start looking at rheumatoid arthritis treatments anytime soon.  Maybe it is from doing knee slams in cheerleading and it's catching up to me.  I hope at 38 I am not looking at arthritis anytime soon.

When you have one autoimmune disorder (my thyroid problems), you have a higher chance of developing another.  I'm just waiting for a Lupus or MS diagnosis.  Now that would stink!  Hopefully my new doc will get my hormones back within normal levels and I can stop worrying about my body trying to keep up with its needs when it doesn't have what it needs to do so.

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Feel Like Bad Mommy

I'm grounding my 13 year old and her grounding includes no cheering at tomorrow's basketball game. She got a bad grade on a report and I told her before she started cheerleading that if she was going to do cheerleading, she had to keep her grades up or I was pulling her. I shouldn't feel bad for giving consequences but I do!  Maybe I'd feel a little bit better if hubby totally agreed with me but he thought the zero on the report was consequence enough.  Um, no!  What would that show her if I allowed her to go back on our agreement?  What would that show her if we didn't make a big deal out of a zero on a report?  She did the crime, now she does the time and if that means her last away game of the season, so be it.

We give her the tools to do her homework - a desk, a laptop with enough laptop memory to do whatever she needs, help if she has questions.  She didn't ask me for help on the report and she said she was too embarassed to ask her teacher for help because she'd look stupid in front of her classmates.  Well, here's the consequences.

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