MY FEET HURT, MY TAILBONE (OTHERWISE KNOWN AS MY ASS) HURTS, BUT I AM HAPPY!

 A camping we shall go, a camping we shall go, hi ho the derry oh, a camping we shall go.

I am pretty smug about the fact that I just pull up in my jeep, hop over to the passenger side, grab a blanket to sleep, grab a plate and go around and beg other people's food to eat, and all the while everyone else is putting up tent trailers, levelling light ships, I mean trailers, pitching tents.....but....this time it feels different.

I have filled three coolers, three huge Rubbermaids, three yellow No Frills bins, a suitcase, briefcase and camera bag.  Good Lord!  So much stuff and organizing.  And now I have to park the jeep far away from April's up on a street and there is no way I am unpacking the whole truck into her place for two nights.  So I shall be worrying about the stuff left in the truck.

Something has suddenly gone wrong with my tailbone.  I can't bend over and straighten up without it hurting like hell.  What the hell can go wrong with a tailbone?  And when you are packing a ton of heavy stuff, you actually need to bend over and straighten up, over and over.  It freaking hurts.

And my neuropathic stupid feet have decided to burn and stab and hurt.  Jeez I do not like it when my body lets me down, not that I don't deserve it.  Eat cake?  Burn feet, burn!!!  But, pout pout, I don't think I deserve a sore tail end.

Today is my little man's birthday!  He is 32!  And on the 30th my older little man is fifty!!!!! It's hard to believe that fifty years ago they handed that wee premature scrap of meat to me in the Surrey Memorial after a 48 hours of complete hell.  No epidurals back then!  And 32 years ago after a pleasant c section they handed me another scrap of premature meat.  That tiny thing is now 6'7 and huge.  I can't wait to see Kevin.  He will be camping with us with my two awesome grandchildren, whom I hardly ever see, thanks to covid.  They are now ten and thirteen.

Well my massive packing list is now down to about ten things so I am going to hang it up here and go finish.  I am leaving at ten in the morning for the 12:30 ferry.  I have reservations thank goodness.  It is so exciting to see the family, the whole family.  There will be pictures!!!!  Stay safe, and TTYL

Firstly, before I write a quote, I have to say something about the author.  His name is Bill Bryson.  He is the funniest author I have ever read.  In the mornings, my Bill would be in the tub, I would be sitting in a chair at the end of it.  And I would read out of a current book to him.  And one day I tried to read a Bill Bryson book out loud.  Well, that wasn't a success.  I was laughing so damned hard my glasses were sliding off my wet face.  I literally could not get that book read it was that funny.

'What on earth would I do if four bears came into my camp?  Why I would die of course.  Literally shit myself lifeless.'  Bill Bryson

PICTURE BY APRIL

POTASSIUM SMASHIUM

 As I mentioned last post I am working my butt off to get my A1c down.  It was running at 9ish.  Well I talked to the doc this morning and it is down to 7!  That makes me happy.  But...apparently my potassium is too high.  Wouldn't you know.  And that causes all sorts of grief....like heart attacks and kidney failure.  Jeez!  You can't win! I always feel going to a doctor is like taking your car to a mechanic....they always find something else wrong.

So I just spent the last half hour researching the foods that have potassium in levels that I have to avoid.  FUCKADOODLE!!!!  I am not eating meat, which makes low carbing difficult, and over half the vegetables I eat I can't have anymore.  In fact the allowable list of food is just plain sad, and kinda works agains low carb.  No tomatoes, broccoli, no legumes, no avocados, no squash, no peas etc....I can have cucumbers and celery if I keep the quantity down to half a cup.  This reminds me of Kerry's sister.  She was telling me about her three main ailments and how she couldn't eat certain foods for each different disease and in the end I think she was throwing her hands in the air and just eating.

So Ange and I have been gardening, not my fave pastime as most know.  I didn't want to spend money on plants this year.  I think we are in for a nasty summer and I don't want to see them not thrive.  So we planted wild flower seed.  I did go to the dollar store and buy six large pots.  I plan to plant geraniums in them for the front.  It has actually been kind of fun.  At least it's fun watching Ange, who is like an energizer gazelle at everything she does!  Now the hard part, waiting for the seeds to outgrow the weeds!  It's a race!!!!!

We do have two rosebushes.  Mine is quite small, hers is bigger.  Mine have yellow roses and hers has red roses.  Mine is called Bill and hers is called Pat. There were a number of comments about where husbands belong!!!  Hahahaha!!!!

I just received the most wonderful note from Aunty Dorothy.  She is reading one of Gramma's diaries and apparently Gramma mentions how 'heartwarming' my visits with her were.  Gramma and I were very close until she couldn't remember who I was.  She was such a wise woman and very funny.  I truly missed her and it was so good to hear that she enjoyed our relationship.  It was really good of Aunty D to pass that along.

You know, right now we need rain, a good soaking.  And wouldn't you know it...the sun is just blazing away out there!  And I have a burst pipe I need someone to fix so I can't sprinkle the newly planted stuff.  I do have a watering can but it doesn't have a diffuser on the spout.  See????  I do not like gardening!  Endless problems.  I think I am going to have to pour water through a sieve or colander.   Jeez!!!!!

Well gotta bounce.  We went to Nezzy's and purchased three bags of sea soil and a bunch of begonias and geraniums and one hydrangea. The geraniums smell like spring salmon do when you clean them.  Stay safe peeps.  Hug a neighbour and make his/her day!!!!  TTYL

HOLY CATS! TIME FLIES BY

 Wow!!! I can't believe it's been a whole week since I wrote last.  Maybe I should turn this into a once a week thing and stop feeling guilty.  Nothing happens in my life anyway

But I will say my excuse this week is this household was SICK!!!  Holy Hannah!!!!!  Monte and I came down with it first.  Pukey, tired, so weak I could hardly stand up and NOT hungry.  When a couple of parcels showed up at the door, they lay at the top of the stairs for five days before I could get the umphf up to open them.  Plus I can't eat normally right now.  I found it easy to keep my blood sugar low and have lost enough weight my pants are falling off.

Hey Kathy, remember that time we went to that awesome kitchy store by the tracks behind that little trailer park?  I bought a pair of cammo pants in there.  Well they got too tight for me to wear without them cutting off my digestive circulation.  I found them in the back of my closet today and pulled them on.  I didn't even have to undo them!

Back to being sick and pathetic.  I am a lot better now but I tip over.  My balance is all screwed up.  I am not dizzy, I just tip over.  So annoying.  And I still am not hungry.  And now poor Ange has it and she has been really sick.  Headache, ears ringing, super nauseous, dizzy and being a type 1 diabetic she has to eat a certain way.  It's really hard to keep her blood sugar level, poor girl.  God, if we had a dog I am pretty sure he would be limping around too.

We all feel much better except for the dizzy part and tiredness, but jeez it just isn't going away.  So freaking annoying.

Yesterday, my gardener, Jonathon Joe, brought an associate over to do the front garden beds for us.  He was a big handsome young native and his name was Jonathon too.  I called him Jonathon Two Two, like that Morticai Rickler book and he knew what I meant!!!!  Then my Jonathon left for his real job.  This is the guy I get my fish from.

Well the one doing the garden was a rather vocal fellow.  He would use the f word and then follow it up with how difficult it all was.  It took him about three hours to do the most beautiful job.  But half way through he got a phone call from his wife or girlfriend.  OMG!!!  She was on speaker and I could hear them clearly.  He was NOT pleased.  She wanted to go out to dinner and he wanted to get take out.  Honestly it was so funny.  He was mad!!!  Every second word, and I mean second, was the f word.  She stayed pretty calm at first then got on him about wanting to be home so he could drink.  Oh jeez!!!!  He finally hung up on her.

When he was done, my Jonathon came to pick him up and I asked how much I owed him.  Do you know what he said?  Fifty dollars!!!!!!  For three hours of back breaking work!!!!  Wow.  I interacted him 200.

Now I am going to buy or find or whatever canning jars.  I have my pressure canner that Bill bought me a hundred years ago, thank you Kathy for giving it back to me, and I am going to can salmon like crazy this summer.  Jonathon is going to keep me supplied.  And I shall be liberally sharing them with those interested!  I am going to give Kathy some jars for her birthday with the promise that she will get a years supply!  She does that with me with her amazing pickled beets!

Well thats it.  My fingers are tired, whine.  Stay safe and healthy.  TTYL

'someone may offer you a freshly caught whole large fish, like a salmon or a striped bass. Don't panic.  Take it!'  Julia Child

I HAVE A FOOD TIP FOR DIETERS

 I stumbled across a perfect way to make seafood cocktail sauce, low carb and low calorie.

First of all take a bag of still frozen prawns, the really big ones that are cut down the back and the poop chute has been removed.  Pop them into your steamer, bamboo, or double boiler type like I use or whatever you use for steaming.  Cook them until cooked.  What I like is that all the water that comes out drains away so you don't have to worry about defrosting them first.

Whilst that was happening, I decided to make the cocktail sauce.  I was copying Costco.  They have those cooked prawns in the cooked food section and when I am low carbing it I get those instead of a hotdog and poutine.  (I'd rather have the dog and poutine. waaaah)  So as I decided to steam the ones I have here, I needed cocktail sauce.  The little jar of store bought that I have is 24 carbs per tsp.

So I decided to make my own.  Two tablespoons of diet sugarless ketchup, half a teaspoon of horseradish, a tetch of sombal olek to make it super hot, and one quarter teaspoon of sweetener.  Perfection.  And because it is super strong you just need a tiny tick of red on your prawn.  Most of it is still in the wee jar I used, now with a lid on it and in the fridge to go with the salmon we have been blessed with.

And another find today, found by the lovely Ange, whilst I sat in the truck hiding from the rain, she bravely slogged into No Frills and found me beef broth....ZERO CARBS!!!!  You know it should be zero carbs but most of them aren't.  They have dextrose etc...in it which adds up to two carbs per one cup.  And when you are drinking gallons of the stuff, that adds up!  So I am so grateful to her.

Then on the way home my truck, with no urging from me, drove right into the Starbucks line up.  Right in!!!!!  I never go to Starbucks unless Monte is doing it, on purpose I might add.  Anyway Ange and I ordered two grande lattes, made with cream and sugarless French vanilla syrup.  OMG!!!!  It tasted like melted ice cream!!!  We were in heaven!!!  

Alright now, this post is turning into a low carb post. Not keto.  Keto allows way too many carbs.  I don't know how anyone loses weight on keto or controls their type 2 diabetes.  Anywhooo thats it for this rainy day.  No Nanaimo today....too rainy and Monte's van is in Canadian tire being totally rebooted all way around with new tires.  And the van is that comfortable I prefer long trips in it.  Plus I am thinking of Ange, or me for that matter.  Whoever sits in the back seat of the truck is in for an 'experience'!  I pretty much lose my virginity every time I climb out of there.  The van is a whole different experience, a really cushy good one.  

Gotta bounce.  Crap to do.  Take care, hug a people and TTYL

'Maybe psychopaths are just people on low carb, sugar free diets.'  Nobody owned up to this quote.  LOL!!!

This is so not appropriate or PC.

PORT ALBERNI ADVANTAGE!!!!

 I got a dm from my lawn person Jonathon Joe.  He had gone fishing at five o'clock that morning before work....and he had sockeye to sell!  25 a fish!  And they were completely beautifully cleaned.  I bought two.  I cooked one up immediately for dinner.  We had a right pig out on it!  I cooked the other one tonight for fish tacos.  Delicious!!!  And this time there is a lot of leftovers!

And tonite I got another dm....two more fish!  And these ones were bigger, by quite a bit!  I think I shall freeze these ones and take them camping, if I can figure out how to keep them frozen.  I can cook them over the fire, if we can have fires.  If not I shall put them in Kathy's tiny freezer!  Hahahahaha!!!!

Well I signed into the Costco site tonight and went through the whole grocery part.  As I perused, I made a comprehensive list.  There are things I have been deprived of since leaving Kamloops and I am going to find room somehow for what I am going to buy on Thursday when we go. 

 The only drawback is finding a respirator that will fit Monte.  It has been a real problem through the whole pandemic.  He is a big guy.  Like, is he the only big guy in the world?  Anyway we shall play it by ear and see how it plays out.  It's always exciting to leave town!  And Ange is going with us so that should be fun!

She and I decided to dig out our garden out front today.  I went into the back under the stairs for my shovel, my precious jeep shovel, and someone had stolen it!  Bastards!!!!  There was no way we could do it without a shovel.  I called Jonathan and he is coming tomorrow to do the lawns and bringing a buddy that does that sort of thing and they will dig it out for us. Yay!!!!!!  Then we plant!!!

I have gone to town on my low carbing so I don't have to use insulin.  I am on day seven and I think I am going to have to cut out my metformin.  I go down to 2.9 so I eat something carby and it will come up to 3.5ish, but no matter what I do it doesn't come up higher.  I don't like how it feels.  You get all spacey and clammy.  Today I cut out the metformin and I still can't get it to come up.  I like to be 4.5 but it seems to be hard to keep it there.

The other thing is weight loss.  Now that is a bonus.  I am the lightest I have been since living in North Van.  But.....you see my scraggly skin!!!  LOL!!!  I am looking like an old lady now for sure.  Thank goodness it doesn't bother me!  And thank goodness for tights.  My jeans just fall off. It's amazing what cutting carbs can do.  If I can get rid of my type 2 diabetes it will def be worth it.

Well I have to go clean the kitchen, again.  Plus I need to get those two fish into the freezer.  And that's going to be harder that the kitchen cleaning!  Three freezers and all of them plumb full.  I think I am more like my mom than I think I am!!!!

Well stay safe folks and healthy.  Hug someone who needs it!  TTYL

"Fish is the only food that is considered spoiled when it smells like what it is."  P. J. O'Rourke

NOT THE BEST LOOKING BUT DELICIOUS...FISH TACOS

CARBS CARBS CARBS

 I am not sure I mentioned this before, and if I did, my apologies.  My doctor has decided that I need to start taking insulin to get my numbers down.  I can't. I just cannot start using insulin.  It's bad enough that I have to take other medication to lower my blood sugar, especially when eating a low enough carb load does the same thing.  But insulin?  For type 2?  Not doing it.

So with that in mind I am now keeping my numbers between four and six.  I did have one eight but that was at the beginning.  I don't know if any of you know what carbs do to a type two diabetic but it wreaks havoc.  One piece of bread, brown, white, rye, sourdough...doesn't matter, has 25 carbs.  That is five over what I need to do for a whole day right now.  It is so hard to keep the carbs under 20.

I used to do this to lose weight, and it works super well.  I lost almost a hundred pounds once and kept it off for many many years.  But then babies, age,  quitting smoking and a giant tumour in my nethers, which forced the removal of all things female kind of defeated me in the skinny area.  LOL!!

But now it's diabetes that is leading the way.  So back to cheese, eggs, broccoli, cauliflower, leafy greens etc...No grains, no potatoes, no below ground veggies.  My new fave snack is a long celery stick with peanut butter on it.  Sigh.  But I am determined to get my A1c down and keep it down. I'd rather suffer the lack of carbs than go the easier route of insulin.  I know other type 2's that have to take insulin.  I am not one of them.  I am lucky, I can control it with my carb intake.

Well enough of that.  Let's see what else is happening?  Ummmmm.....nothing.  It has been raining so we haven't really ventured out.  The next thing on the list is to weed weed weed!  The front gardens are knee deep in odd looking plants!  Time to rip them.

  Have I mentioned that next to walking, gardening is second on my list of most disliked pastimes.  Fortunately for me Ange is an ace gardener and she likes it!!!!  We have flowers to try to grow in this cold weather!  All I can think is 'what's to like?'  I get a back ache immediately upon bending over so I shall have to use my collapsable tool stool, and I mean tool as in 'idiot', the gardens are plumb full of cat shit. 

 There are sooooo many stupid cats running around our neighbourhood.  They are considered an invasive species.  Cats are responsible for actually causing about forty species of birds to become extinct.  Plus run around cats get hurt. I don't understand how so many cat owners let their stupid cats roam free, crapping everywhere, getting into trouble, getting hurt, go fund me's set up to help owners that can't afford to pay their vet bills.  Complete irresponsibility.  

Fortunately I see a lot of municipalities are now passing laws that you have to keep cats indoors and all roaming cats will be taken to the SPCA.  If one of them turns out to be yours, you will be royally fined. If my attitude seems harsh and/or offensive, go out and grab handful after handful of cat shit, then come talk to me about it.  Although I do love cats and they can be adorable.  Ange's youngest cat is crazy and keeps her hopping.  And totally an indoor cat.

Well it's time to get the kitchen clean and tidy up before bedtime.  Maybe I will watch one more show...or two.  I don't like going to bed too early.  I wake up thinking its six in the morning and it isn't even twelve o'clock yet!!!  Stay safe and healthy and TTYL

'The best and most proven diet in human history has always been one and the same:  eat less, share more, work hard, and don't take ourselves too seriously.'  Louis Yako