euphrasyne

We'd changed to regular milk a few years back, but for about a decade I used to buy the 5 gallon pail of non-instant powdered milk from Walton Feed.   I'd repackage it and it would last us about 9 months each time.  It isn't that hard and takes about half an hour to redo.  

Citing HIPPA sounds great.  But in practice...health department will still be fining businesses when they see mask-less customers and other customers will accost me for not wearing one.  Overall...not worth it.  I'm staying home.  

The Chinese jute/velvetweed  can be eaten or used medicinally...just like Kudzu.  It take over like Kudzu too.  You will get a lot of it and nothing much of anything else.  It strangles out the rest of your plants.  I used to fight it when I lived down south.  It was in the neighbor's yard and he would not deal with it, so it kept coming back into mine and choking out my corn and tomatoes.  

I'm hating the new mask law in VA.  I cannot breathe at all with it on, DD16 is hearing impaired and reads lips, and I'm more scared of people than getting covid right now;  people are crazy.   DH went out yesterday and said all the businesses already have no mask no service signs up.    According to decree 63 it is enforceable by the health department but it STILL counts as a class 1 misdemeanor, so Northam lied about not wanting to prosecute the public.  He is just wanting to destroy small businesses even more (close down if not enforcing his policy) before he goes after individuals.   We also only have to wear them inside...because the virus does not spread outside.  Oh and we have to wear them at restaurants...except when we are eating.  I'm envisioning...mask on.... mask off, bite.... mask on...  rinse, repeat.   I'm not leaving the house.  

I forgot to add.  It says point blank towards the bottom of the decree that we are not supposed to wear medical grade masks, but rather cloth ones.  Yea.  they really doing this to keep us healthy.  

https://www.governor.virginia.gov/media/governorvirginiagov/executive-actions/EO-63-and-Order-Of-Public-Health-Emergency-Five---Requirement-To-Wear-Face-Covering-While-Inside-Buildings.pdf

That looks like Chinese jute to me.  Its very invasive and will take over.  Pull it up.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abutilon_theophrasti

They make a horrible sound.  Fortunately they only come out less than once a decade per group and there are only 7 groups (meh depending on which new data you look at there are between 7 and 15) in the US.  

We finished hanging items in DD16's new room and painted the nursery this weekend.  We decided on Behr Mossy Cavern green and it looks great.  Someone is supposed to come by this afternoon and buy our giant roll top desk.  I hope she shows up and decides she likes it.  Proceeds are going to the baby gear fund.  Now that the nursery is painted, I'm gathering up all the various baby stuff I've stashed around the house and am dumping it all in that room to sort through.  

Today's focus is food tetris.  I have a bunch of various fruit on the verge, some potatoes, and tomatoes that all need to be used or preserved within the next few days.  There are various leftovers that need to be used, and I need to check the garden to see what is ready now.  ooooffff.   Planning today and probably in the kitchen all day tomorrow.  

It seems like everyone is trying to just make it through the current crazy.  I am praying for everyone.  

When I was having to care for my grandfather, before he went into diapers, we used a potty chair.  It was tall enough to get up off of and close enough to not have a ton of extra transfer issues.  Completely worth it.  We also set up a hospital bed in the living/dining room so everything was central.  Papaw had one leg amputated just below the knee and the other leg above the knee, so transferring and mobility were a huge issue with us.   We did the same thing with my uncle who passed at a much younger age about  decade prior to that.   You may qualify for a home health aid and/or nurse to come in and help you.  Not sure if that is still even available with the covid insanity.  

This weekend, we primed and painted the downstairs bedroom a lovely light blue.  Yesterday, DD16 started moving her stuff downstairs.  S...L...O..W...L..Y.   I need the upstairs room emptied so that we can get it painted before the kids leave for the summer (ex-husband.)  I think I may have to go shift the rest of her things down today.    On the plus side, she is telling me that she wants to purge most of what is left   which is desperately needed.   DH is going to change out the light fixture in her room for one with a ceiling fan today.  Ceiling fans are necessary for us.  

I'm hoping that I can get some of the baby items I've bought moved into the upstairs bedroom soon.  I've currently got them cluttering the garage, living room, and my bedroom.  

Shoes have been crazy for awhile now.  I have no issues buying decent ones from thrift stores and garage sales.  

I used to work in insurance.  The tele visits are billed cheaper with smaller treatment times and usually have smaller copays.  Things could have changed, but that is the way it used to be.  

I'm having a lot of trouble breathing through the mask and my doctor told me not to wear it unless I had a specific reason to--like I got sick.  It was making my overall health worse and not really protecting me from anyone else.  

I have to go to my OB every other week and he sees me in person (I have to have an ultrasound every 2 weeks due to health issues)  my DH always comes with me.  We have to jump through hoops at the front door, but it is fine after that.    My therapist sees me on video chat and that works out, but my hearing impaired child still goes in to see her therapist because she has trouble communicating (hearing) him over the phone.   My GI doctor does the video call thing and my nutritionist just calls me on the phone.     

We did not take DH to the ER when he burnt himself b/c we didn't feel like the RX cream was worth the crazy.  I do not like the video calls.  I feel like they are the equivalent of me googling my symptoms and it makes me extremely less likely to make medical appointments unless there is a very clear need for Rx.  I also do not like the 'call me in the car mechanic.'  I forget my phone half the time and this is bound to cause issues in the long run.  Also, I hate it when they take my teen kids without me and then make appointments with them without looking at my schedule.  I'd almost rather not have routine care than deal with that.

IF (big IF) you get any sort of immunity from this by having had it....then I'd rather get it now before it mutates into something  more horrid and all the handwashing wrecks my immune system for all the nasty bugs.  It isn't going to magically disappear over time, and it will be years before there is a vaccine.  

That being said, we are being careful and not leaving the house when we do not need to and I hate interacting with people even before COVID. 

I'm not a big fan of holidays of any sort, they always seem to be more trouble than they are worth.  Yesterday was typical. 

DD12 decided to make me a brunch and DH was supposed to oversee her.  Fast forward....it ended up being a late lunch of fruit salad, coolwhip/yogurt mix, and crumpets.  All of which sounds amazing.. except I cannot eat any of it because of my GI surgery a few years ago.  DD12 had worked so hard on it...I just choked it down and smiled and thanked her then spent the next 3 hours curled in bed, vomiting clear fluid, and hoping to die.   

Blood sugar then plummeted and I had to eat some carbs so I would not pass out.  So the carb count for the day was large-- which means I still felt awful even after my sugar went over 80.  Next, I called my mother and she wanted to chat for 3 hours about the crazy.  Then I heard a crash, cussing, and  yelling, so I had to jump off the phone.  

I got downstairs, and saw a broken crockpot, sauce & chicken all over my kitchen, and scalded/burned family.  I tossed DD12 into the downstairs tub and DH into our shower upstairs while DD16 started cleaning up the glass and ceramic.  DD12 had burns on her feet an knee and DH had a bad burn on his foot, arm, and a cut on  his face.  By the time I got everyone calmed down and tended to it was late, the kitchen was a wreck and everyone was hungry and upset.  I ordered a pizza --THANK YOU DOMINOS for delivering in 30m!   I let them eat and tucked all of them into bed.  I skipped eating b/c I couldn't deal with any more carbs or blood sugar issues that day and I was too tired to be hungry.

I spent the next two hours cleaning sauce off the cabinets and floor, doing the metric ton of dishes that overflowed the sink from 'brunch' and 'almost dinner', and mopping up the remainders of the day.   I also realized that DD12 had broken my apple corer when making brunch so it went into the trash also.  I left my mop in the sink to dry out and went to bed.  

When I got up this morning, the mop was soaking wet because DH ran water in the sink without removing it this morning.    

Fortunately, DD12's feet are fine and DH only has a large, slightly painful red mark on his arm.  No one was hurt permanently or badly in the chaos.  

I'd love to say this will be hilarious in a few years, but it seemed like a fairly typical holiday to me.  

Daikon is great pickled.  You can also use it just like it was onion by chopping it up and putting it in whatever.  

I grew up in MS, so barefoot is my standard. 

DH also thinks it is hilarious I'm barefoot in the kitchen most of the time.  His favorite thing to yell at me atm is "Woman! make me a sandwich!"  I usually smile, make it, and serve it with a honey-do list on the side  ^^

I'm expecting it everywhere, especially with all the stuff going on in Washington State.  There are only two good local places to get them and neither is inexpensive so I'm stocking up now.  

I made a giant pot of gumbo with zucchini instead of okra because that is what I had.  Between that and the apple butter I was in the kitchen most of the day.  A good, dark roux takes forever.  It also doesn't help when you have short arms and your baby bump wants to change the temperature for you.

I put up 3 quarts of apple butter in half pint jars.  I'm expecting an apple shortage this fall.  

I grew up with a type 1 diabetic.  Eating fig anything was his favorite way to quickly raise his too low sugar.

I like the way this guy explains things.  Fast forward to minute 29:32 to see what the harvest ready potatoes should look like.    Its the bucket on the far right in the main frame also.  

The potatoes will start to look dead when it is time to pick them.

The amount of glucose tablets would have a greater volume (and volume is serious for me since the GI surgery)  than the fruit snacks I use to immediately boost my sugar when it dips too low.    My sugar will actually jump about 40 points for every pack of fruit snacks I eat within a 5m time frame.  I have a great nutritionist and we've worked out the best way to boost my sugar when it falls, but keeping it from falling is an issue.  This pregnancy is really messing with my hormones and endocrine system.  The carby meal usually comes later after I've stabilized it for the immediate time and mostly just since I've been pregnant and I do not use meals as a solution for extremely low blood sugar, but rather as a preventative to stop it from dropping back down again.

I really, really wish I could spike my glucose with too much carbs.  Then I would know what was going on and be able to fix it.  Unfortunately, this isn't dumping because I'm not getting any high spikes no matter what I eat.  

My great-grandmother was born in the 1910s.  She grew up poor in the poorest part of Mississippi, lost one husband to a war and outlived a second, traveled globally and generally lived though a lot.  She used to tell a lot of interesting stories.  My daughter makes 5 generations of female first-born children straight down a maternal line that were alive to take this pic about a decade ago.  She has since passed at age 99, but we will always remember Big Mamaw.  

Since my GI surgery a few years back, I mostly stick to a low carb diet.  I usually only push heavy carbs when I'm having low blood sugar. Usually everything runs fairly smoothly and I've been off medication for about 4 years now.  This pregnancy has it plummeting frequently though--its been under 50 3x in the last week alone.  I was worried it might be dumping --spike then drop, but I'm not getting any spikes....just drops.    I've gained a lot of inches for how far along I am, but I've only gained 2 pounds so I don't think it is gestational diabetes, but I have no idea what else it could be.