Living Proof

This year I have taken two large breaks from writing. Back in November I had my hysterectomy that left me foggy for a few months and this past week, I came down with a terrible flu which I'm still recovering from. I'm better, but because of my underlining asthma, the after effects of the bronchitis leaves me hacking up a lung still. Thank God for the prescription cough meds at night or I wouldn't sleep at all. I can see how people get addicted to this crap. I never had such great sleep in my life. Little by little, I've been trying to do more, or at least slowly slide back into my routine again. As soon as I think I'm ok -- I get knocked out by exhaustion and curl up into the fetal position with a mountain of tissues & a few puffs of my inhaler. It definitely hasn't been fun at all. With two trips to the ER to receive breathing treatments and a ton of albuterol and steroids 'to go' -- I should have more energy than my chihuahua. There's no ...

Remember when Valentine's Day used to be fun? OK maybe I'll just speak for myself. I still send cliché roses carnations to Madelene at her job, because well, I do love her and also, she and I are both allergic to roses yet send them anyway, because well, we have anger issues. Actually, she's allergic to everything - that girl can sneeze a mile a minute. That's neither here nor there. While I'm very grateful for receiving cards, wine, flowers and all that good romantic stuff that gets washed away by consumption -- (well not the flowers, I have some self-control) -- I'm thankful to just have someone here who truly understands my madness. I use that term loosely. This morning, while having coffee, I said, "Happy Valentine's Day, I'm going through menopause." No, it wasn't a joke. She laughed anyway, and cried just a little. While everyone says I'm "too young" (thank you very much), women who go through menopause under the age ...

There goes all my dinner parties... There is not one diet I haven't tried. There hasn't been one diet that has really worked for me, except for Weight Watcher's - but for me that was like a starvation project. I've always had issues with weight --  up and down and getting round -- so I decided to bite the bullet and do a no carb thing, perhaps even the Paleo diet, also known as "the caveman diet", suggested by my doctor friend who is guiding me right now, cringing at every mistake I make along the way. Paleo's focus (or in my opinion because I know I will get corrected on this which is fine) is on cutting all sugars out of your diet, including grains like wheat bread, pastas, starches and even beans. The list goes on about what you can't have, but there are some perks. I'm Italian so this is very difficult for me to eliminate pasta, however, I'm also allowed to eat all ~the evils~ that I was told not to eat by my family doctor. Foods inc...