Season's greetings from Eddie and Lindsay! I'm so glad to be back on today, after a pretty decent night's sleep, and discuss my very eventful Halloween!
First of all, on Devil's Night evening, I went to bed early-ish with a growing red rash on my neck...again...it seems the 1 week of prednisone didn't do it's job. (to catch up on this facial trauma and maskne saga, see here, here, here, here, and here's the beginning of my maksne drama and hospitalization for spironolactone adverse reactions) As you may have read, I found out I am allergic to keflex and/or amoxicillin and even though I only took the antibiotics for a few days, and haven't had a dose in over 3 weeks, the allergic reaction is still occurring in the form of weeping painful hives on my neck and chest. I called our primary care's office yesterday morning to speak to their urgent care clinic. I was hoping they didn't have to see me in person, because a $50 co-pay sucks (better than no insurance though!) but they definitely wanted to see me as they felt like there was no reason why I should still be having these reactions. I got a super duper high does of prednisone and a 3 week script. Starting with several days of 60mgs a day. I was already feeling the horrible headaches, insomnia, rapid heart rate and high blood pressure on 20 mgs of prednisone. I was dreading taking the higher dose. but as the pain increased to feeling like a thousand throbbing paper cuts and raw chafing skin under my bra, I knew I had no choice. and the anxiety while on this stuff is no effing joke. It's the worst. I feel constantly antsy, exhausted, flighty and wringing my hands. I feel like a creepy zombie looking through foggy glass. I feel every vein in my brain throbbing. Such a strange experience yet I am so grateful for the having access to health care because at the end of the day, this allergic reaction left un-treated can lead to dangerous things such as anaphylaxis.
After my appointment we went to CVS/Target for the millionth time this month and I had to take the pills with food and we had a few other errands to run so we were super naughty and went to Starbucks drive through. I've only been to Starbucks once since moving to Michigan. Why? Because we lived off of that shit for years while living in San Francisco and everything is so full of sugar and toxins and it costs way too much money. Just a not a good habit for us. but we had an old gift card that needed to be used so we waited in the super long drive through lane and I ordered a Frappuccino and pumpkin bread. I knew the caffeine and sugar wouldn't help the prednisone jitters but I had a moment of weakness. We were already so far behind for the day considering we weren't planning on going to the doctor's and pharmacy and we had so much to do to prepare for the night!
Here's a disclaimer before I continue. You may be asking yourself where the hell my priorities are if I am jaunting around town consuming sugar and not resting when I am very sick and struggling. *sigh* sometimes I have the same thoughts. However, I have been determined to celebrate life as much as I possibly can. Especially since I'm having a really good phase in my life where I am balancing my mental illness with my goals and abilities. The truth is, we wanted to do all of the hard work so that we could have a safe and happy Halloween for our closest friends. They were also willing to do what's uncomfortable to see each other for a brief amount of time, that means outside and distanced, in the cold and wind. In order to do this short gathering outside yesterday evening, we need to have fun and safe outdoor activities and good food options. Here's a break down of everything we did to make this celebration happen:
- outdoor heaters: we have two outdoor heaters and they work wonderfully on our backyard pavers/patio area. This machine that blows hot hair, that we got on a huge discount from Blain's farm and fleet, made it feel as balmy as Florida in our backyard. These truly did the trick. (the price for this heater was $220 but we somehow managed to get it for under $150. not sure how that happened. Good luck getting the same deal we did! I'm not sure what witchcraft black magic occurred but we did it!) We've also had this heater from amazon for next to our hot tub since last year. We moved it to our patio and had that on as well. We also had these torches from home depot, on sale for $3 each, that didn't do the trick for keeping heat as much as they just looked amazing next to our corn stalker. Although we didn't get chance to get our fire pits going last night, as it was plenty warm without them, these are the 2 (1, 2) that we have. (this set is first one, btw the chairs and cushions that come with this set, it was a floor model we got on major discount at the end of last season, are so freaking comfortable. Please don't think that we paid over $800 for this. Like I said, it was floor model from last year that was missing a single cushion that we simply ordered another replacement for online. We only paid $250 for the four chairs and table. If you find a good deal, I can't recommend this exact set and brand enough) (another sidebar: I want you guys to see that with time, patience, budgeting and hard work you make a safe gathering happen this crazy day and age)
- along with the comfy outdoor chairs and cushions, we have these wool blankets that make any chilly outdoor gathering a cozy success.
- outdoor projector for movie time! So we took a gamble on one of these cheapo outdoor movie projectors and after a ton of research we found that works so well! We set it up outside and had it playing on the screen that comes with it hanging on the side of our house. The built in speaker so loud and high quality! I couldn't believe we could hear it over the roaring heaters! but we did and the picture quality was awesome! We still used our portable speaker though to give it that movie sound quality. It was a snap to set up and plug our roku stick into! We just went to our disney+ account and played, for free might I add, the only movie that is allowed to be played on Halloween night, at least in my book of imaginary rules: The Nightmare Before Christmas! This movie for me signifies the magic that takes place while straddling one holiday celebration to the next. A perfect movie to end our Halloween Horror movie marathon before the Christmas movies commence. BTW, this is the Bluetooth speaker we have and it will be the last because this is the end all be all of portable speakers with amazing sound. I went through about 8-10 different portable speakers before finding this one in 2019 and haven't looked back since.
- good and hot food: My husband is becoming quite the budding chef, entertainer and decorator extraordinaire. As we've seen and the past weeks. Honestly, his healthy and locally sourced homemade meals have fueled the renaissance of life that we've experienced since moving to Michigan. I thank God, and of course thank Eddie outload and in person every single day, because that is so important to show your gratitude. I have been able to lose over 70 pounds in a year not just due to my hard work, but to his hard work as well. It takes a lot of planning and hard work and lots and lots of time to shop locally for and curate all of these meals that we eat not only for daily meals but for our special events. While living in California and having access to so many good restaurants that deliver through multiple services but also have a tiny apartment kitchen in our condo made us lazy over time. We now have the time, extra funds and energy to buy locally grown food and cook everything ourselves. but he does most of the work. I just gotta let you guys know- it's all him! Anyway....for this gathering we had the same homemade butternut squash soup and hot sausage dip (see this blog for recipes from our pumpkin carving party) Eddie is at a Airborne veterans committee meeting right now otherwise I would share the recipe he used for butternut squash quiche from last night. It was the star of show. or maybe it was the charcuterie boards! Oh my goodness you guys he spent some so many hours sweating and stressing out making these good food items not only look amazing but to have it easily accessible outside and warm for everyone to eat in the cold and windy Halloween weather. (You guys...this is taking so much longer than I ever thought to write about so I have to tell you that yet again I am going to make another part of this blog solely dedicated to the charcuterie boards, all the nuts, seeds, berries, fruits, meats and cheeses along with all the really cool wooden bowls and trays that we've amassed over the last year or so. I'll come back to it, I promise because it was really fun to make and present. not to mention enough left over health snacks for the next month if not more! in this other blog post, I'll also list the kitchen gadgets, chaffing dishes, crockpots and warmers that we use)
- a safe and outdoor party spot with a fully sanitized and short walkway to the bathroom. Bean was in her "studio apartment" lol which is what we call the bedroom when she is shut in there with her food, water, and litter. She doesn't mind being away from the doors opening and closing and loud kids and adults alike. Also we don't have to worry about the doors being open for too long and her getting out. The doors and surfaces were fully cleaned and sanitized by yours truly before and after our guests were here to make there brief visits to the bathroom safe. Also our group gathering was small. After trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, our good family friends brought 2 of their children and we had just one other adult visitor. For a grand total of 5 adults and 2 kids. That's 7 people including Eddie and I. We only gathered fully for about an hour and a half. Just long enough to take photos, watch a movie outside, eat and then pack up doggy bags for our guests to take home. You know, most of us being in our 30s and above we don't really want to hang out that much longer anyhow to be honest!
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| forgot to show you guys my dollhouse pumpkin finished product! he's a got a planter box under his window and pink disco ball! he's having a great time! |
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