MRS. HYDE RETURNS

 It has been several months since I posted.

 It has been AGES since Mrs. Hyde visited but she made a surprise ( to me) visit and stayed almost 2 weeks. 

In this time I was very upset with Tom.  It seemed like he was always picking on me for something really stupid.  Each time I would respond with a sarcastic remark.  He would roll his eyes and mutter under his breath "WHAT is your PROBLEM?!" and I would reply quite loudly...."YOU, YOU'RE THE PROBLEM".  Then that would be the end of that until the next complaint / shouting match. 
I had a follow up Dr.'s appt. for my blood pressure late Tues. morning.  Before we left, Tom stood at the stove eating a piece of leftover Halloween chocolate.  He said "Who keeps leaving candy wrappers on the counter?"  Well DUH!  We're the only two that live here, and if it wasn't him, I suppose it had to be me, right?  I told him it was me.  He counters with " why didn't you put them in the garbage?"  " Maybe because I got sidetracked, who knows?"  Then he starts to say something sarcastic and I blew up.  "IF TWO CANDY WRAPPERS SITTING ON THE COUNTER BOTHERS YOU SO FREAKING MUCH, THROW THEM AWAY YOURSELF!".  He replies "YOU BETTER TALK TO YOUR DR, THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU!!".

I always take my medication list with me when I go to the Dr.'s, and I needed some refills.  Dr. M. says, why isn't your Venlafaxine on here?  What's that?  Your Effexor XR...and then it hit me.....that's for my ...........................WAIT FOR IT.........................WAIT FOR IT...............



MOOD SWINGS!!!!!   I hadn't taken my medication for nearly 2 weeks!!!  I have no clue what happened to the bottle.  Luckily for me ( and Tom) he went down to the drugstore as soon as we got home and picked it up for me.   You aren't supposed to go off this medication cold turkey.  I wasn't even trying to get off it.  But I do know when I miss 2 days in a row I get horrible headaches.  And I DID get headaches, but did not realize I was out of those pills.  That's pretty easy to do I guess, it's not like I take one or two - I take 9 pills ( includes aspirin) a day.  I even distribute them in those weekly medicine containers.  Can't understand how I missed them, but I suspect Mrs. Hyde had something to do with it.

It's been quiet on the home front for the last two days.  Things are back to normal.  Tom asked me both mornings if I took my mean pill.

★Denise★

Top 30 Menopausal Blogs

 Nancy, author and owner of the website How To Become A Nurse Practitioner contacted me this morning to let me know about her Top 30 Menopause Blog list of which Menopausal Monster is included, in the Comedic category.  Yay!  Thank you Nancy.

Comedic

Sometimes we all need a good chuckle. Check out these blogs to make you smile, as well as provide some factual information!

1. The Menopausal Monster
   The Menopausal Monster is a comical blog that chronicles the everyday life of a woman, Denise, going through her trying menopausal times! She is upbeat and gives great advice on how to handle various situations. If you are looking for some chuckling relief, tune in here!

 The other categories are General, Remedies and Support.  Tons of information here ladies, be sure to check out all of these menopausal blogs.

★Denise★

FINALLY....An Explanation!!!

  For the past year and a half I've been experiencing these 'twitches, flutterings, hic-cups, palpitations' feelings in the right side of my chest beneath the breast and to the right.  They are not painful but they are extremely annoying.  I can actually see that area moving.  Sometimes it looks like my breast is doing a naughty dance.  After a couple months of this when I went to my doctor for a prescription refill, I mentioned it to her.  I don't think she took me seriously.  And of course my breast would not dance for her when I wanted it to.  Apparently it has a mind of it's own.  While I was waiting in the waiting room to be called in it was having a merry time fluttering.  Maybe it was shy in front of the doctor, I don't know, but it wasn't co-operating.  On the way home in my car it was twitching like it had a tic.  A couple more months go by and this irritating flutter, twitch, palpitation is getting more frequent and more noticeable to family members.  Come on Grandma, do that again!!!  I'm trying to have a sense of humor about this, but it's seriously disturbing to me.  I had an appointment with my cardiologist about 3 weeks after my other doctor appointment.  It was at Thanksgiving time last year.  My cardiologist took me more seriously ( although he also did not detect what I was explaining to him.  All was quiet and non-moving) ...until I left his office.  But he did have me pick up a heart monitor to wear for the next 48 hours.  Every time I felt the movements, I was supposed to chart it.  I did.  They happened frequently and at different times during the day and night.  I also had to chart what I was doing when they happened.  I could be eating, sitting, laying down, in the line at the grocery store, watching TV, sitting at the computer, etc.  Thanksgiving Day 2008, we returned the monitor to the hospital.  Several days later I got the results back.  There were no results.  My heart was normal ( for me) and not showing anything unusual.  So all Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter again I keep having these weird movements in my chest/breast.  Sometimes I actually went days without anything and it was wonderful!  Then it would start up again.
Well..................today was my yearly appointment with my cardiac physiologist.  He's the one who replaced my lower lead on my pacemaker/defibrillator last year..... twice.  He wanted to see how I was doing since then and had to run some tests on the pacemaker to make sure it's working properly.  His associate did the tests and while she was reading the papers that were spewing out from the machine she noticed something unusual on the readings everytime she made my heart race with the testing.  My husband noticed something else.  He said " Your chest is fluttering".  He could see it from across the room.  The associate said "FLUTTERING?  Where?"
She ran some more of the tests and my chest/breast was doing the Watusi.  She actually saw it.  To make a long story shorter, it turns out that the upper lead on my pacemaker which sends electrical impulses into my right ventricle appears to be next to a nerve in my diaphragm.  When it sends an impulse, sometimes the nerve receives it too, and that causes the jumping around in the right side of my chest.  The physiologist turned off that upper lead.  It does nothing now.  Since coming home, I have not felt anymore movement and it feels GREAT to feel 'normal' again. He is also having me decrease by half, my daily doses of Coreg.  I may feel more fatigued but that will be better than those twitches.  I'm supposed to call him in 2 weeks to see how I'm doing.  If I don't feel any better, then he says the next step will be to go 'in' and replace that upper lead.
I NEVER would have guessed my pacemaker had anything to do with all this.

★Denise★

Where Is Mrs. Hyde When I Need Her?

Tom likes to be 'warm' and I like to be 'cool' or at least comfortable.  For the past week he kept all the windows in the house closed, and I didn't complain because the weather at night had been on the cool side.  Yesterday the temp went up to 80 degrees.  The house did feel nice and cool and 'comfortable' so I didn't bother opening any windows, as I felt it would let the heat in.  With the sun beating on the roof all day by early evening I really needed to have some fresh air let in so started opening windows.  DARN IT if Tom didn't shut all the windows right before he went to bed.  I don't understand his reasoning and I'm so tired of arguing with him about it and I asked him to at  LEAST keep our bedroom window open so I could get a good nights sleep.  He said okay but if he got cold he was going to close it.  It was in the 70's when I went to bed at 11:30!!!  He slept with the flat sheet and thin quilt over him, I didn't use anything.  When I got up this morning, our window was only open 6 inches!!!!!!!!!!   Mrs. Hyde  where are you?  Our husband needs to be disciplined!!  You went away and never came back.  Did you think I no longer needed you?  Please come back.  I'll take you on vacation with us if you do  :)  Our motel has Air Conditioning!!!!!

Back To Curves

I've been a bad girl and stopped going to Curves last summer when it just got too freaking hot for me.  I don't like to sweat as it is and working up a sweat while working out and then coming out into 85+ degree weather with high humidity just wasn't doing it for me.  I figured that I would do some water exercises in our pool so I could keep cool but that didn't work out either since we had a bad summer with a lot of rain and the pool wouldn't clear up.  We had a bad case of algae.  So.  The next plan was to go back to Curves in the Fall and Winter.  Well, that didn't work out either as my middle daughter had her first baby end of Oct. and was suffering from Postnatal depression.  It was pretty bad and I'd have to go spend a few days at her home to lend her a hand.  What about the other times?  Well, I was busy!!  Isn't that a good excuse?  I didn't think so.  ~sigh~.  When my daughter went back to work, I started watching my grandbaby at my home and daughter would get off work, stay for dinner and leave for home at 8 pm.  She needed her mom to talk to about her therapy sessions, her husband out of the country on a job, her depression and anxiety.  I just didn't feel 'right' saying " hey sweetie, I know you need me right now, but I really need to take a run over to Curves and get back into the groove".  She was more important.  My SIL doesn't understand that, but that's how I'm made.
My daughter is doing very well now, her medication seems to be working finally and her therapist has her coming every 2 weeks now and says how well she's coming along.  So, I now finally feel she doesn't need me quite so much as she did previously and I've started back to Curves with my eldest daughter.
This morning was our 3rd workout this week and we decided to get weighed and measured.  I was scared.  I was so sure that I had to have put at least 15 lbs back on since I really haven't been watching what I'm eating and no exercise.  I was HUGELY surprised when the scale showed that I gained only 4 lbs since last May which was the last time I weighed in. 
I'm one of those people who just cannot DIET.  I have no willpower.  Nada.  But I am able to cut back on my portions a bit and still eat what I want.  I had 2 slices of pepperoni pizza last night.  Ordinarily I might eat 3 or 4 if I'm really hungry.  Instead of eating a whole bagel with globs of Skippy peanut butter for breakfast, I'll have half a bagel with strawberry jam.
My goal is to be able to wear a bathing suit this summer without having to wear a men's size XL to cover myself up.  I know I'll still be a Xlarge woman but with some hard work and some luck maybe I'll lose some inches so I won't look too bad.
My long range goal is to be able to wear my 36 year old daughter's clothes, hee hee.

They're Baaaaack

Those darned spasms have returned and are strong again.  My conclusion is that Simvistatin is not the culprit since I've been off it for several weeks now.  I admit that the spasms were greatly reduced when I was off the med for over a week but they are getting stronger and more frequent again.
My cardiologist  was going to see about putting me on Crestor after the New Year, but now I'm wondering if he'll put me back on Simvistatin.
 My last blood work showed that my cholesterol was on the high side and that my blood sugar was 106, so I have to get some more blood work done after the New Year. It's always something.

I've been very busy the past few weeks.  My youngest daughter moved out and I've turned her bedroom into my craft and sewing room.  Painting is a good workout, I'll tell you.  I was sore for days.

 

 

 

 Happy Holidays!!!!

An Award For Top Medical Blog

I was very surprised to receive this email ( below) this afternoon. I think I would feel better about it if the writer actually mentioned my blog by name, lol  I know they weren't referring to my other two blogs since they are craft related blogs so Menopausal Monster must be the one....although personally I don't feel there is that much medical information here, I just write about my own experiences.  Maybe that's enough.  Anyway, I thank Top Medical Blogs for this award.


Dear Blogger
Our website is a Medical Professional Database that is used by over 100,000 users monthly to connect to and seek Medical professionals. We recently ran a poll asking the professionals listed what online informational resources they use to keep up to date or even to simply find great information. It seems many of our users have labeled your blog as an excellent source of Medical information. We have reviewed your blog and must say, we absolutely love the information you have made available to the public and would love to make your blog a part of our top medical blogs. After browsing your blog, our research team has decided to award you a Top Medical Blogs award banner. It is a distinction we offer to blogs that our team feels is ahead of the curve in terms of content.

Thanks again for the great information and we look forward to the great responses your blog will receive from our site. Your blog presence will be very effective for our users (top medical blogs).

We have put great efforts in making this decision to give deserving with award acknowledgment.

Sincerely,
--
William Lee
Research team
NewDoctor.com
1 international blvd
Mahwah NJ USA - 07430
201 247 8553
newdoctor.com@gmail.com

What A Great Fall Day!!!

I'm lovin' it!!!  It's cool enough to have to use a blanket at night and chilly enough in the morning to really enjoy my hot coffee.  It's windy and the leaves are whirling and twirling about. 
I've invited my children and their families over for dinner today so this morning I plan to work on some crafts and then will have to put everything away ( that means put everything on my bed until they leave and I can put them back out on the dining room table) so we will have a place to eat!  That's been one of Tom's biggest complaints, that the house looks so cluttered with all my crafts spread out between the dining room, our bedroom and the computer room. 
Our youngest daughter still lives at home but is planning to move out in November to live with her boyfriend.  They have been  looking at apartments.  I plan to change her room into a sewing/craft room before Tom tries to move any of his jukeboxes or soda machines in there!!!  He has the entire basement and garage....he CANNOT have her bedroom too!!!!  I have staked my claim and Mrs. Hyde will help me protect it.  She still has that cow prod Thomas.
I've already purchased a long banquet table to use as my craft table and to set my sewing machine on.  I've been searching Craigslist and the PennySaver for wooden shelves and book cases to use for storing craft supplies.  I've also been perusing websites looking for the 'perfect' window treatment.  I would love to use a tobacco cloth panel, but I would need 4 and they are quite expensive, so I'll have to settle for some homespun valances or panels.  The very first thing I want to do, is repaint.  My daughter wanted pink walls and they are soooo ugly, LOL.  She had started to stencil a rose border along the top of the walls a few years ago and never finished it, 3/4 of one wall is done and 3/8 of another wall is done.  I'm going to choose my curtains first and then I'll choose the paint color.

 My 2 year old grandaughter has pink eye again.  She had it last week and it cleared up right away with the prescribed eye drops.  Mom's going to take her back to her pediatrician this morning.  Poor baby woke up at 7:30 crying "I can't see...I can't see" but wouldn't let me wipe her eyes with a warm wash cloth.  She fell back to sleep. 

 I'm still having those 'spastic' throbs on my right side below the ribcage.  I'm not in any pain but they are annoying the crap out of me.  I'm due to see my Dr. soon so will be sure to bring that up.  Someone told me they thought it might be 'gas'.  If that's true....I could blow up my entire street with the gas that's building up in me.  It doesn't feel like gas.  It feels like my intestines are having a free for all or doing the boogie.

It's All Good

My 9 year old grandaughter started her first day of 4th grade yesterday.  She spent the night Wed. night and had a hard time falling asleep because she was too excited.  I'm sure it was well after 11:30 before she finally fell into a deep sleep.  I thought I was going to have a hard time waking her up at 8 am but she was up at 6:30 with her 'Poppy'.  He told her it was too early for school and to lie down with Gramma.  She came into our room and climbed into Poppy's side but kept tossing and turning and I believe trying to 'wake me up'.  I ignored it all for about 15 minutes and then gave up.  I told her to go on and get dressed.  She didn't want breakfast, too excited to eat but I managed to get her to eat half of a half of a toasted bagel with peanut butter and a glass of milk.  School opens it's doors at 8:30 and provides free breakfast for the students but since Jordyn wanted to eat at my house the first day we planned on leaving at 8:50 as school is only a 3 minute drive away.  Jordyn moved the time up to 8:40 and then at 8:25 she couldn't wait any longer and we left for school.  I was hoping that once she saw her friends in the cafeteria she would change her mind and eat a little more breakfast.
This morning, she was hoping to walk to school with a couple of her friends who live down the street from me and eat breakfast with them at school.  She was waiting on the front porch for them at 8:15 and when they hadn't walked past by 8:25 I woke up the other two grandkids and with pajamas still on loaded them in the car.  Jordyn spied her friends being driven to school today, lol so I don't think we will rely on her walking to school every day.  Jonah starts kindergarten next Thursday and he's getting anxious now too.  Now next week, I won't be driving them to school, as they will be walking together.  Mom and I just weren't comfortable with Jordyn walking alone.
Our friend John called last night to talk about our planned cruise in May of next year.  Tom and I have been going to Atlantic City with John and his wife Teddi in February for the past 5 years.  John worked with Tom for over 20 years and is now retired.  Tom's turn will be coming up very soon.  Originally we were planning on a 4 day cruise to Bermuda but John found a better deal for us all and it's a 6 day cruise.  Sounds good to me!!  Tom and I have never been on a cruise before, so I'm very excited.  John and Teddi have been on several.
We are all going to get together on Sunday for dinner and go over the brochure.
Now that the weather is cooling off I'm going to start back up at Curves.  I stopped going there for awhile only because I was so HOT and had absolutely no energy to exercise my hiney off and sweat some more only to sweat even MORE when I got outside and back home.  Just couldn't do it.  It's one thing to sweat while exercising and then go outside and have some nice cool air cool me down, but it's another to sweat like a roasted pig and jump from the spit into an oven.  Doesn't work for me.
I am LOVING this cooler weather - I have more energy and am actually looking forward to going outdoors now.
I stayed cooped up in the house most of the summer with the ceiling fans going all day long.  Normally I would spent 3/4 of that time in the pool but we had so much trouble with algae this year we closed it early.
The grandkids are already asking for lunch ( it's only 10:45 ) so I'll have another cuppa coffee and see what's in the fridge.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Menopause 'Sisterhood'

I got an email this morning from a fellow crafter who is a fan of this blog and who has herself been experiencing many of the same menopausal 'ailments' as I've written about in the beginning of this blog. She even wonders if our husbands are brothers, LOL. While menopause affects each of us differently, there are still enough similarities that we can all identify with each other in one way or another. I started out writing this blog as a humorous look at my own situation. Mrs. Jeckyl being myself and Mrs. Hyde my alter ego who says and does things that I might ordinarily never do. I have a warped sense of humor sometimes, and what I might find funny, someone else reading this blog might find weird or not so funny.

My 'fan' wrote "Your a very special person in so many ways and the kind of person that should I have met on the street.....I would have surely wanted to become good friends. You have the cutest sense of sarcastic humor when speaking about your husband. Nee Nee, you keep talking girl!!! I love your sense of humor, the way you have written in both personalities etc. Reading so far ...although I feel a sisterhood of sadness...I have enjoyed it very much and laughed many times and cheered you on the entire way!!!"

R., you've made my day with your email and as I wrote back to you, I cannot have too many friends. I count you as one of them.

hugs
Neenee

Stay At Home Sunday

Yesterday was Tom's 59th birthday. He had to work until 5 but when he got home I took him out to dinner. He wanted to go to Blinkey's which is a local tavern/restaurant near our home and we had a nice dinner and a few drinks. We got home around 7:30 but he couldn't even make it until 8:00, he fell asleep on the couch watching TV, finally

He was up at 5:45 and went to Trader Jack's to fleamarket. He got back home around 9:30 with some goodies, mostly fresh fruit, a basket of flowers to replace some that had died while we were on vacation, a car vacuum, some new steak knives for me ( I'd been complaining I needed some)and a light up sign for himself.

I had all the kids and grandkids over for a cookout today to celebrate Tom's birthday since we all weren't together last night. We had burgers & hotdogs on the grill, pasta salad, baked beans, corn on the cob,fruit salad and banana split dessert instead of cake.

I had hoped the pool would be nice and clear today for the kids to go in, but it's still light green and we're still trying to clear up the algae from all the rain we had 3 weeks ago. We are using the ABC non-chlorine chemicals and have had nothing but trouble so next year we are going back to chlorine and shock treatments. I vacuumed out the pool yesterday and the bottom had some slime, grossed me out. When I woke this morning my lower back was aching, now I'm also sore between my shoulder blades.
Tom will give me a good rubdown with some icy hot gel before I go to bed. I may have to return the favor as he was out vacumming this evening after the kids all left.

The grandkids will be back in an hour after they've had their baths. We are having a sleepover. After their swimming lessons in the morning Aunt Nicki and Bobby are taking them to a local public pool for a few hours. Tom is off tomorrow and has some things he wants to finish up around the yard and I'll go grocery shopping, make a stop at Joanne Fabrics for some muslin and then try to finish up an order for a customer.

It's Been Awhile

Have been very busy. Leading up to our 2 week family vacation to the seashore in Wildwood NJ 3 weeks ago, I was busy working on craft orders.

While on vacation, I had every intention of going to the Curves in the area, made sure I had a traveling pass but I never used it. The nearest Curves was 20 miles away and I don't know what it is about being at the seashore, but it sure makes you hungry!! I ate what I wanted, but in moderation and we did walk quite a bit, whether it was on the beach, on the boardwalk or around town. The weather was wonderful, the ocean was cool but felt so good on those hot hot afternoons and we had a great time. We all got nice tans and for once I didn't get sun poisoning as I usually do. That 50 spf is wonderful!! You tan without the burn.
Our middle daughter Carey wasn't able to go for the 2 weeks, but she did fly into Philadelphia on Thursday July 2nd. Tom and I drove to Philly ( which is normally a 1 1/2 hour drive from Wildwood)leaving our motel at 7:30 pm and it took us two hours. Traffic was beginning to back up for the July 4th holiday. Carey's plane got in at 9:40, was on time and we headed back to Wildwood. It was the trip from HELL. It took us 4 hours to get back, not arriving until 1:45 am. We were exhausted.

Grandson Jonah (6) had a misshap on his scooter a few days before that and had to be taken to the ER. He flipped over his scooter when he tried to go around a bed, hitting some railroad ties and he landed mouth first on the pavement, knocking out one of his front baby teeth and loosening the other. One of his permanent bottom teeth was also loosened. He had a cut in his mouth so was cleaned up and given antibiotics.
When we got home, his mom took him to the dentist to make sure that permanent tooth was going to be OK. She was told that it 'should' root back but depending on how much damage was done to the nerves, the tooth could discolor.

We got home last Sunday and since then I've also been busy working on more craft orders and modifying blogs for customers, catching up on laundry and housework. I put off going to Curves this week because I've just been so busy but will get back into the routine again on Monday.

Weight Loss as of June 12, 2009

I am still going to Curves at least 3 times a week. I got weighed this morning and I've lost a total of 12.8 lbs so far. and 15.5 inches. Last weekend we went to Michigan for my sister's only son's wedding. We made a whole weekend of it and while I ate what I wanted, I was careful. I had gotten weighed right before we left and I had lost 8.5 lbs. Eating out like we did, not to mention all the goodies at the wedding, I was sure I had put on 5 pounds. But the Curves scale shows I've lost 3 more lbs. so I'm a happy camper!!! I know going to Curves has made a huge impact on my resolution to reach my goal by this time next year. There are times when I am too tired or have other things to do, but then I tell myself, it's only 1/2 hour out of your day, JUST DO IT. So I do. I almost didn't make it over last night as my car's battery was dead. Tom jumped it with his truck and while it did start up he was leery on me taking it out and having it die on me again until he can have the battery checked out. He offered me his 'truck' - that's his baby! We've had it for 3 years now and I'd only driven it once, around the block when we first got it. Of course I jumped on the offer !! Good thing it was still light out because I had no idea where the headlight switch was or how to turn on the wiper blades if it chose to rain again. I lucked out. I didn't need the lights and it didn't rain again until after I'd gotten back home. I love driving that truck, being so high up off the road I can actually see in front of me without having to crane my neck.
I prefer to go to Curves when they open at 8 am, since I sweat so bad I can come home and shower and I don't have to worry about being a procrastinator if it's late in the day and I'm too tired to go.

Genetic Testing Results

I went to my cardiologist for my 6 mo. checkup on Tuesday. I'm doing very well and don't have to go back for another 6 mo. Doc just received the results of my genetic testing for the gene that would pass on Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy to my children and grandchildren, and from how he is reading the results....my HCM is not familial and my family is 'unlikely' to get this heart disease. He still is in favor of them getting periodic echocardiograms however. It also appears that I did not get this heart disease from my father who died at the age of 42 from a heart attack. It was assumed that I inherited HCM from him since he died so young but now it appears that isn't the case. I asked my Doc if I didn't get the gene from my Dad....then how did I get HCM? He doesn't know. Says I must have a mutant gene. I don't really understand this but I'm extremely relieved that I won't be passing this heart disease on to my family.

Mrs. Hyde Returns

Maybe she never really left and was hibernating. I know she's around when I speak up for myself, as I normally take sh*t quietly but fume internally. This is not the case when Mrs. H is here, she speaks up on my behalf, and is not the least bit shy about yelling right back at the offending party. In this case, it's Tom. Yep, the husband who can be very demanding and irrational at times and who is more used to his little mousie wife, had a run in with Mrs. H yesterday afternoon. The mouse ALWAYS has his highness' dinner ready when he comes home from work at 4:30. He only eats a light breakfast of cereal and banana before he goes to work, he does not expect the mouse to get up at 6:30 AM and prepare him a King's breakfast, I'll give him that. He CAN fend for himself, he just usually doesn't as he takes for granted the mouse will take care of him since he's the 'breadwinner' in the family. He does not eat lunch when he works. Back to dinner. We were having leftover Rigatoni from the night before as I wasn't about to waste food and throw it in the garbage when there were starving children all over the world and I just spent $187 at the grocery store this week. The King was not a bit happy about that either, but I did have to buy extra ingredients for another rigatoni dinner I made and took over to my daughter's best friend's family who just lost their father to cancer. I also made a big bowl of pasta salad to take to a cookout our middle daughter had. Does he think food grows on trees?
He knew I had plans to go to Curves with our eldest daughter after she picked the kids up from school at 4:00.
Curves takes 30 minutes. When we got home, his Majesty was mowing the front lawn. From past experience I know that once he starts, he wants to just get it all done. All I had to do was heat his rigatoni up in the microwave for 5 minutes and I had a salad already prepared. While I was waiting for him to finish the mowing, I got on the computer to check my emails ( hoping I'd got a craft order, but I hadn't ) and check in with the craft forum I belong to. I wasn't on the computer more than 5 minutes when the Lord of the Manor stormed into the house and bellowed "WHERE'S MY DINNER" !!!! Not "is dinner ready yet, Hon"? "WHERE'S MY DINNER"!!!! "YOU'VE BEEN HOME FOR A HALF HOUR AND I'M HUNGRY, I DON'T SMELL ANYTHING COOKING"!!! (insert a lionly roar here).
I calmly walked into the dining room and said "you were cutting the lawn Tom and I know how you like to finish it once you get started. It'll only take a few minutes to heat up your dinner". ROARRRRR "I WORK ALL DAY AND I'M STARVING, THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS HAVE MY DINNER READY WHEN I COME HOME". Aw oh......
Mrs. Hyde clawed her way out with fangs bared and told the SOB 'King' that 99% of the time his dinner WAS ready when he walked in the door, and how about all the times that it WAS ready and he was LATE and didn't bother to call to let me know to hold off dinner. And he KNEW I was going to be over at Curves when he got home and if he was so Fricking hungry he could have popped his plate in the microwave himself, you're not a moron or are you?
Hoo boy...Mrs. H knows I never call him names and she'd always wanted to so I just let her. I wasn't even scared.
Neither was she. HE might have been, hard to say. He hasn't seen me like this for months.. The worst part was our youngest daughter and her boyfriend were in the living room. It really p*ssed me off that he screamed at me in front of her boyfriend. That was really uncalled for. Mrs. Hyde at this time decided that she'd had her say and was going to nap for awhile, leaving me to deal with His Highness now. I said " it's all ready Tom, all I have to do is pop it in the microwave" and he bellows 'FORGET IT I DON'T WANT IT". "FINE" I retorted and went about my business. I cleaned up the kitchen, ran the vacuum, dusted the living room and threw some clothes into the washing machine. He disappeared into the tunnels somewhere, didn't come up for air for almost 2 hours. When he did, I'd thought he'd gotten on the computer and I heard the TV on in the LR so went in to turn it off, and lo and behold His Almighty was sitting on his throne watching TV so I walked right back out without a word. Now was a good time to wash the kitchen floor so I did. Now 3 hours had passed and the King still hadn't eaten. I was so sure he would have been so p*ssed that he would go get himself some fast food. He didn't. Now I'm not a total b*tch. And I was still mad but I walked into the LR and said "do you want to eat or not, last time I'm asking". He said (without roaring) " Well, yeah, I'm starving" I gave him his salad which he really could've gotten himself and I heated up his rigatoni which he could have done himself. What the hell is this man going to do when I'm gone for 4 days the middle of this month? I'm going to Harrisburg for a crafter's convention with the girls from a crafting forum I belong to. Oh wait.... there's a wedding we were invited to that same weekend which I'm not going to be able to go to, and he's going...he'll eat there.
He eats his dinner and even remembers his manners and says "Thank you". I start to do some hand stitching on a prim sheep pillow I was working on earlier and he brings his empty plate and salad bowl out to the kitchen. I wasn't talking. He says "What are you making"? LOL that man doesn't give a hoot what I'm normally working on. "It looks nice". Hmmmm maybe he WAS scared and making nice right now. Well, I'd show him I'm not always a MENOPAUSAL MONSTER and I remembered my manners and said "thank you". Shortly afterwards I took a glass of wine into the LR and started to watch TV with him. End Of Days with Arnold. By the time Tom was ready for bed he even gave me a kiss goodnight. Something he never does when he's p*ssed at me. Chalk one up for Mrs. Hyde.

Day 7 at Curves

Daughter Deana and I went to Curves early this morning since it's so nice out. She will be working out in the yard this morning and then taking the kids to their softball practices this afternoon. I'll be doing housework. Yuck. It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. Today was Deana's time to get measured and weighed and she lost 5 more pounds and several more inches!! I am so proud of her and she's looking wonderful. She gives me inspiration. I have 19 more days to go before my weigh in. I think I'm doing pretty good watching my portions and spacing out my food during the day. I noticed that the capris I bought to take to Chicago last month are feeling a bit looser in the waist.

I have a feeling Mrs. Hyde took an extended vacation. She's not been around for quite a while now, the least she could have done was left me a note. After all, I named this blog after her since she was such a big part of my life. Now she's left me high and dry ( pun intended as I've not had hot flashes for a long time now).

Everything else is going well. Carey is now in her 13th week of pregnancy. She is starting to show already - such a cute baby bump!! She is going to go out shopping for maternity clothes today.

Have a great weekend!!

It's Been A Week

Well, I joined Curves on April 7th. I'm wanting to get there everyday that they are open ( they are closed Sundays) and up until yesterday I did go every day. My middle daughter and son-in-law came over for dinner so I didn't want to push them out the door before Curves closed, lol. I was unable to get there in the morning but it worked out today. Going to Bunko tonight so wanted to get that workout in since I missed a day. They leave me feeling energized. I need that. I've cut back on my portions and am eating 6 small meals a day. I won't be getting measured and weighed until May 7th, so will be anxious to see how I'm doing.

It's been about 4 months or so since I've been using the CPAP machine. Once in a while I'm able to keep the mask on for a full night, but the average time is 4 hours. I wish they could come up with something more comfortable and less cumbersome. I'm supposed to be feeling more refreshed and have more energy, but that isn't happening. I still find I am nodding off in the middle of the afternoon or early in the evening.

My incision has healed up beautifully. For a while there I felt like Frankenstein, but it looks pretty good, for a scar.

I've had this nasty rash on my left leg since mid February. I thought it was hives and my sister-in-law thought it was cullulitis. It was neither but my Dr. isn't sure what it is exactly. It started off on the lower region of my leg, above the ankle and towards the center. The itching was unbearable. Dr. gave me scripts for an anti-itching pill and a steroid ointment, not to exceed 14 days. Well, the original area looks great now, except for a couple scars from scratching so heavily, but the rash began to spread behind my leg and around to the other side. And now it has appeared on my right leg. I have an appt. with a dermotologist on the 28th.

My middle daughter is 13 weeks pregnant with her first baby and we are all so excited for her. She'd been trying for over 3 years. We are already planning her baby shower for the end of summer.

Joining Curves

I've been wanting to join Curves after seeing the wonderful results my eldest daughter has made in the 2 months that she's been a member. She's lost a little over 20 lbs and 8 inches on her last weigh in and measurement a few weeks ago. Besides Curves, she is also doing Weight Watchers and she gets a lot of walking in on her job. I was hesitant about Curves because of my Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, so double checked with my cardiologist and he gave me the go ahead!

I've had this nasty rash on my leg for 2 months that I thought was hives. My sister-in-law thought it looked like cellulitis so I did go see my doctor a week and a half ago. She said it was definitely not hives nor cellulitis but didn't know what it was. She gave me scripts for a steroid ointment and anti-itch pill. The ointment seems to have worked so far as clearing up the area I had......but now the rash has spread to the other side of my leg and upwards to to the calf area. It's driving me crazy and is so unsightly. I'm going to call a dermotologist this afternoon to see if I can get in this week.

Tom and I just returned this Sunday from a week 'road tripping'. We had a great time and when I got home I had several craft orders waiting for me so I've been busy the past two days working on those.

We got some snow flurries overnight and this morning. The tops of our bushes and cars were covered but it's not laying so that's a good sign.

We noticed as we were coming home from our trip from Illinois and riding the turnpike through Indiana and Ohio that the closer we got to Pittsburgh the greener it was. I think we are all wintered out and looking forward to some nice warm weather. Notice that I didn't say 'hot' weather. Or 'humid'. Once summer gets here I'll be looking forward to some nice winter weather I'm sure. That's the fickle menopausal monster in me.

Got Away For Several Days

Tom and I went on our 5th annual Atlantic City Valentine Week mid-winter getaway the week of the 8th. We had a really nice time and it was so nice to get away and not worry about anything or have any set schedule. We always stay at the Tropicana.

We would start our day off with a nice brunch at 11 am and then were able to walk the boardwalk because the temp was in the mid to upper 60's most of the week. We would browse the open shops and walk in some other casinos to look around. Occasionally Teddi and I would play a slot machine that the Tropicana didn't have. Teddi is very lucky, she's always winning something over $200. I have no luck whatsoever, but I have fun and only play with my day's allotment. If you go to the casino's expecting to win big...you're in for a very big disappointment and will end up spending and losing more money than you can afford to lose. So I'm always very careful.

Our second night we went to the Trop's show, Spirit Of The Dance ( Irish dancers) which I really enjoyed. Our third night we went to the Comedy Club, always a treat. Our fourth night I called it an early night and went upstairs to our room at 9 pm to watch LOST. That shows you what a die hard fan I am, I'm in Atlantic City and I'm watching TV!! Our last night Tom and I went to the IMAX to see The Dark Knight. We had seen it at home on DVD but IMAX is so much better!

Of course our trip wouldn't be complete without John pulling something on Tom and he didn't disappoint. They were enjoying a pitcher of beer at the bar and John told the young female bartender that once a week Tom dances in a thong for an old folk's home. Tom just hangs his head and sighs. One evening we stopped by the bar to have a drink before dinner and as we were leaving that same bartender came on shift and asked Tom if he would be back later to dance for everyone. He said " you can count on it". I put his thong in the freezer.
Last year, while at the bar, John needed to use the men's room and upon getting up from his stool he turns to Tom and says quite loudly "do you want me to empty your colostomy bag for you?" It's always something.

When it's time to head for home, we always drive to Adamstown, PA and stop at one of our favorite Diners, Silk City Diner. When we got there it was closed and under construction. Might have been a fire, hard to tell, but that was our consensus. Luckily there was another diner down the road a bit and it was open and the food was just as appetizing. This year John didn't experience his yearly 'car sickness' on the way home which I always attributed to too much beer and the guys went easier on it this year and were actually in bed every night before midnight. Hee hee, they are really starting to show their age.

Jan. 8 update

I haven't updated here for several reasons....I've been busy working on my crafts and graphics and there really hasn't been anything 'new' regarding Mrs. Hyde, who I believe is hibernating for the winter, my health has been okay and I haven't noticed any improvements on better sleep with the CPAP machine. Only one night in the past couple weeks was I able to leave the mask on all night. I was just as tired that morning as I am any other morning.
Most nights I can use it for 3-4 hours before I have to rip it off. Even though I try not to fiddle around with the straps, one night air leaks or another night the mask feels too tight. One night Tom was snoring so loudly even the sound of my machine couldn't drone him out. I moved to the couch when I couldn't get him to roll over and it just seemed too much of a hassle to move the machine along with me so I slept without it the remainder of the night. It is so weird trying to talk with the machine on. It's near impossible. I tried to tell Tom to roll over and all that came out was a big puff of air and some gurgling. No wonder he didn't hear or understand me.
It was funny last night. When Tom went to bed, I put the mask on so I could try to readjust the head straps to minimize the air leakage so I wouldn't disturb Tom doing it when I went to bed. Tom wouldn't look at me, he threw the covers over his head and said 'don't scare me' Well, that's all it took for me to imitate the sound that the vampires made in the movie 30 Days Of Night.
Have you seen that? They open their fanged mouths and a screeching noise AAAAAHHHHH comes out. I did that and it really creeped Tom out. LOL Of course if I really wanted to be mean I 'could' do that in the middle of the night while he's in a light sleep, but he'd probably have a stroke. That sounds like something Mrs. Hyde would think of. Maybe she's only pretending to hibernate.