This Is Cool

Time Management - Life Management

Three different speakers, three different approaches.

One Week On Medication

Last Friday night I started new medication prescribed as part of my depression / anxiety therapy, as well as grieving therapy.

It was a little rough at the start, which was why I waited until a weekend to start it, and thankfully it turned out to hit on a three day weekend to give me more time to get acclimated to it.

There is still some issues with sleeping and restless leg syndrome, but I am getting things worked out, namely with ibuprofen to help block the aching that I feel causes the restlessness.

There has also been more tremors, but 1/2 dose of the Primidone has helped with that.  

I’ve had more energy as a result of all of this, meaning I’ve not depended so heavily on chocolate.  Those cravings have decreased.

I have had to deal with nausea first thing in the morning, as the medication is in my system, but I don’t have any food in my stomach, so the nausea sets in.  The first morning back to work, Tuesday, I brought breakfast and some 7 up for my stomach.  Since then, I’ve been able to handle breakfast without the 7 up.  Again, once food is in my stomach, the nausea goes away.

All in all, I’m thankful for this.

I also had a huge blessing in that I went to my cardiologist and found out the PET scan that was done on me during break showed everything was clean, and I have a healthy heart.  The chest pains I’ve had over the last few years has been largely due to stress.  With the medication I’ve started, those chest pains have not come back.

Progress!

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day

In honor of Dr. King, from a child.

A Fantastic Resource for LDS Women With Depression & Anxiety

At first I ordered the workbook, without realizing it was for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Photo from Amazon.com

I started with the workbook and found that I wanted to read the book it accompanies.  I purchased it as an ebook, and at that point I finally saw that the book was written for female members of my faith.  This book spoke to me from the very beginning.  The description of what I have been experiencing for decades was spot on.  SPOT. ON.

Now that I am getting professional counseling, I showed the books to the counselor and the psychiatrist, they were both glad to see that I was wanting to take an active role in healing.

I want to heal, but I know a lot of wounds from unfinished grieving are going to be re-opened in this process, I know it’s not going to be pretty.  I need to develop healthy tools to be able to handle the blows that life seems to be determined to throw at me.

The links I’m giving for Amazon are not affiliated links.

Between Two Minds - Healing from Depression and Axiety for LDS Women

Between Two Minds Workbook - 10 Techniques For Healing From Depression and Anxiety

Remember:  These books are not a substitute for professional help.  If you suffer from depression or anxiety, seek professional help.

The U.S. Federal Government Partial Shutdown

My prayers go out to those affected by this, so many are really struggling and a few who are freaked out.

I have a business degree and came from the world of retail and banking before moving to education.  I am accustomed to my employment being at will.  I also experienced the hostile takeover of First Interstate Bank of Arizona to Wells Fargo.  The people escorted out on the day of the takeover were the management.  Wells Fargo needed us worker bees to keep the business running while the Wells Fargo management made their plans.

I also witnessed being in a “more stable” position working at the school when the recession hit.  A lot of people working at the banks and other financial institution suddenly found themselves out of a job and, those with bachelors degree or higher, fast tracking the process to become substitute teachers.  For a low income school that always had a hard time getting substitute teachers to agree to work at the school, all of a sudden we were inundated with offers for substitutes.  Wow.  Of course, some of these people didn’t last long, once they found out what it was like to work at the school I worked at.

The partial shutdown has meant a lot of people have already missed one paycheck and are on their way to missing a second.  This is turning into a “mini recession” for people whose jobs used to be considered secure.  The decreased purchasing power, though, has consequences for the overall economy.

When people stop spending, business suffers.  JMHO.

Here are some informational videos:

A YouTube Content Creator, also one of the unpaid government employees:

A few ideas from a veteran and spouse of a current active duty officer:

17 January 2019

I took a vacation day today at work as I had scheduled three appointments.  I’m thankful I had the foresight to do this, as it took all day to get through the three appointments.

7:30 am - I left the house for appointment #1

8:00 - 9:00 - Appointment #1 - therapy session

9:30 - 10:00 - Breakfast treat at Cracker Barrel.  French Toast.  Yummm.

10:30 - 11:30 - Appointment with the Dentist - getting the impressions done for the final implant tooth.

12:00 - 1:00 - Riding the Light Rail to downtown Phoenix for the last appointment

1:00 - 1:30 - Meeting with the Psychiatrist to have medication prescribed.

1:45 - 2:45 - Riding back to the Park & Ride in Tempe on the Light Rail.

3:00 - Arrival home

Yeah, it was almost an 8 hour day with all of the traveling in between the appointments, but it was a productive day.  After all of this, I fed the cats, myself and picked up my meds at the pharmacy.

I didn’t get much sleep, so I’m so ready to get my night meds in me and go to bed.

There Are Times When You Have To Step Outside of Your Self...

WOW - Warning - Politics In This Post

Of course, it’s only politics until you find out the U.S. Government has been lying to you - with the help of the U.K.

The Guardian article from 2011:  

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks

The Grazone Project:

https://grayzoneproject.com/2019/01/08/new-documents-reveal-a-covert-british-military-intelligence-smear-machine-meddling-in-american-politics/

https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/12/17/inside-the-temple-of-covert-propaganda-the-integrity-initiative-and-the-uks-scandalous-information-war/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Ben Norton’s tweets on The Integrity Initiative:

https://twitter.com/benjaminnorton/status/1083039008480002052?s=21

https://twitter.com/benjaminnorton/status/1077853048729489408?s=21

https://twitter.com/benjaminnorton/status/1067211746904023041?s=21

Photos from this post:

One last note of my own, from history:

Finance Resources

I love Our Life, On A Budget on YouTube.

I will also say, in my own experience, outside of my studies in Personal Finance and Entrepreneurship in college, the book The Millionaire Next Door as the pivotal book that changed how I viewed personal finance.  The book uses focus groups to determine how wealth should be really defined as well as the lifestyles of people who have achieved the status of wealthy according to the definition outlined in the book

Another book worth looking at, written as a novel is called The Richest Man In Babylon.

One note:  I do not participate in Affiliate Links and none of this is sponsored, I am solely interested in sharing great information.

This Evening’s Mission

I’m down to my last bottle of Robitussin.  If you’ve read my blog for a while, though, you know this isn’t your average Robitussin.  In fact, it’s not the liquid cough syrups that get all sticky.  Nope.  These are liquid gel caps.  Here is the post from a few years ago:  Cough Suppression On The Go

It took some hours driving all over town to find these, everyone is sold out.  But, after 5 Walmart stores, I found them... and bought 3 bottles to last me a little while longer.

By the way, my voice is still not at 100% yet, but it is slowly improving each day.

This year’s illness really knocked me for a loop.

18th Century Live - And Cooking

The Townsends is a channel on YouTube that gives fantastic information about 18th Century life.

Here is a series of videos on earthen ovens:

18th Century Thanksgiving:

Make Your Resolutions Stick

Just an FYI, there are some swear words in these videos, however the points used are fantastic.

Not 100% But Much Better

It’s Thursday and while my voice is still pretty much toast, my throat no longer feels like it’s on fire and I can now swallow without a tremendous amount of pain.  It’s irritated, but not raging pain.

It felt so good to get a shower and be able to leave the house to get some groceries.  I have been running out of the usual food and started raiding my pantry (which needed to be gone through anyway) and fixed my cream of chicken soup - rice - corn with American cheese and minced onion flakes as a different touch.  It was delicious.  My taste buds totally woke up.

The last few nights I’ve actually been able to sleep around 6 hours, for a good week I was averaging about 2 - 3 hours per night and was completely sleep deprived.  Not helpful when trying to heal.

Among the other foods purchased, I got some salad and ate some for lunch.  

Thankful my doctor was willing to see me on short notice and prescribed the medications I needed or this might have ended up in the ER.

Progress.

Creating New Routines - How To ADHD

This was originally posted in February 2018, I’m reposting this for the new year.

Losing a spouse also means losing the life you once lived.  Building upon routines that had already been in place can help in the process of building a new life.