January 1, 2023
Started out snowy today here in Moncton, then changed to rain for the rest. New Year's Day - the Eve involved Janice and me at home enjoying chicken wings. We were invited to brother Greg's but opted to stay home so we could stay a bit calmer and retire without worrying about being under any influence. * Logging onto the internet, I decided to try to figure out why I've been having an ongoing thrush problem. I came to the conclusion that it's due to my use of cannabis oil, which dries me out overnight and I wind up waking up with major cotton mouth. I'm concerned, somewhat, that it's migrated to my gut, which I found out, can happen. Upon further investigation, candida can be quite problematic. I'd dealt with it before, and went on an elimination diet to rectify it. It's not easy to do, but so very worth it. Even better, upon reading up on it, I believe it's the cause of Alexandra's ongoing maladies, which has doctors baffled. She also uses cannabis for anxiety. I truly believe that if she embarks on a journey of the elimination diet, that she'll finally solve the riddle of what's been ailing her. And me too. * Janice and me went for a drive this evening, getting our traditional hot chocolate/iced coffee and taking a spin around the rainy city. We spun out to Magnetic Hill and then off to Dorchester, just because. We love being in each other's company and just talking about whatever comes to us. I've been talking to her a lot about the book my man Shawn Cook gave me a few years ago, "The Book of Joy", that I finally came around to reading, and am just about finished with. It has the ability to change one's outlook, and I must let him know how much of a difference it's been making. I will re-read it and even make notes, once Janice reads it herself. * Upon coming home, Janice suggested we get take-out, which we've admittedly had too much of the last couple of weeks, which will change beginning tomorrow. I tried this Horseradish Burger King Whopper that was really good, and Janice had a bacon one. Burger prices are crazy now! It'll be a long time before we do that again. Besides, I like to cook. * We came home to Marbles the cat and ate, giving Marbles his supper (freeze dried chicken breast), and watched "Pro Wrestling Territories" on Crave, a fun show to watch for any longtime wrestling fan. Then we migrated upstairs to put in the "Prometheus" blu-ray, watched the extras, and then the movie with subtitles. And once again, we picked up a lot watching it that way. It's a movie that gets better as it ages. * Time to retire. I'll attempt to sleep with no CBD/THC oil in an effort to cut down, in light of the candida threat.
January 2
Janice went back to work after a short holiday respite - had a decent sleep. Janice brought home a lemon loaf that Alexandra made for me for my birthday, probably the best one she ever made even, and that's saying a lot! * Was cloudy out today with temps hovering around plus or minus three. * We went to Champlain Mall to check out the calendar sales, seeing as their prices aren't cheap beforehand, and we got three. The Mall was quite busy, a lot of kids there since school isn't back in session yet, but it was nice to see the livelihood after the last couple of depressing years of covid. We hit the gym right after that, and saw that the new Popeyes Chicken take-out still had lineups stretching down Mountain Road two weeks after opening. * Expecting Planet Fitness to be busier than usual post New Year's Day, but it was just average, which is fine by us. It was freeweights Shack Day, or shoulders and back. 20 minutes cardio warmup followed by over an hour of free weights, and another 20 cardio. Janice is getting scary strong! She whipped my ass on New Year's Eve. She's determined to lose some lbs. before summer, and really the rest of the year. I better keep up the gym work or she'll wind up burying me! * Back home to shower, weigh in - I'm at 182-ish, Janice was 191-ish - and supper with ribs, green beans and air fryer fries. Our air fryer is a piece of dog dung. It's an Insta-Pot brand air fryer that was pricey and very inadequate, after using it for several months now. I don't recommend it at all. Our little boy Marbles had his soup for supper with us. He always has supper with us everyday, it's a family thing. * Later off to the bedroom to take in "Alien: Covenant" on blu-ray. Good movie, but doesn't quite measure up to the finesse of "Prometheus" before it. * News-wise, we're keeping our eye on the U.S. congress, where nimrod Kevin McCarthy is looking to be Speaker of the House, but is being met with a lot of resistance. If he doesn't win the position, it'll be the first time in 100 years that it goes beyond the first ballot. That's the mess the republicans are right now. * Since I'm writing this the morning after Jan. 2, I can comment that last night's sleep was horrendous. I used the shower massager after the gym, but it failed to alleviate the oncoming tremendous headache that would rule the night, coupled with a sinus headache, which is something I've dealt with a lot since the change of seasons. I was nearly in tears, it hurt that much. Since I took Kirkland brand Robax before trying to sleep, I had to wait at least 6 hours before taking Sudafed Advance, which is the magic bullet for me when it comes to sinus pain. I only got to sleep around 7:30 in the morning, woke up at 11. And here I am. Onwards and upwards. * I should also notate that today is now five whole months since my last anxiety attack. That's a serious milestone for me. Wasn't without hiccups here and there, but thanks to my cannabis oil when it counted, I kept it in check. Janice is tremendously understanding when anxiety creeps up on me. * And that's the kind of day it's been.
January 3
It's 1:20am on the 4th actually right now, and I still haven't slept, but here we are. Another mild day in cloudy Moncton, with occasional drizzle and temps hovering just above or around the freezing mark. * Today I didn't go back to sleep, and opted instead to watch the shenanigans in Washington as McCarthy couldn't get his Speaker gig in the U.S. House, even after three ballots. I find it pretty entertaining watching the GOP tear each other apart after all the lies and false pledges during the election cycle. * But anyway, Janice came home from work and I boiled a bunch of eggs in prep for making my lovely egg salad sandwiches. * We headed to the gym once again, feeling bitchin' sore in the neck and shoulders - both of us - from yesterday, but thankfully, no headaches. It was freeweights leg day, probably one of the more brutal leg days in a long time. Janice put in her time for cardio as well like she's pledged to do, and we dropped into Sobeys for some stuff for my sandwiches and some Carlsberg and Heineken. Came home to shower and proceeded to make the mix for the sandwiches, consisting of: nine boiled eggs, one small shredded carrot, Miracle Whip, garlic powder, green onions, salt and pepper and a splash of Frank's Red Hot. I cooked some bacon in the oven too, for the first time, and I don't think I'll do it any other way going forward. I put it in the oven on baking sheets and parchment paper at 400F for about 20 minutes - came out in sublime quality. * Watched MSNBC to take in the commentary on the day's events, we went to bed, and here I am. A pretty normal day. Ah yes, we did drop into Janice's store too with the intention of getting Diflucan or something like it to try to counter what might be Candida in my gut, but I got cold feet after realizing it was in the fem section. Janice said why not ask the pharmacist - I said because I don't want everybody to know I'm this walking bread machine... we already have one of those to make real bread. She'll ask the doctor when she can get hold of him what I ought to do. But, laying off the cannabis oil so far in the New Year seems to be paying off right now, too. We'll see how it goes. I also need to talk to the doc about my hands, where the tendons in the palm of your hand tighten and contract. You can see the tendons in the palm of my left hand, and I can't flatten it on a flat surface, and I need padded gloves for things like going to the gym. It hurts sometimes. I want to get it looked at before it ... well.... gets out of hand. Sorry. * Guess Janice, Marbles and me will retire now for the night, hopefully with better results than last night.
January 4
Another calm day weatherwise, temps around the freezing mark, dipping a bit lower to minus six after dark. Winter has been kind to us so far, but we know it ain't gonna last forever. * Got lots of sleep last night; guess I was so tired from a lack of it the night before that I caught up. What woke me was a dream turned nightmare I had. I dreamt that my old work called me up and asked me to go in to help, as the receiving area was a mess - I was flattered and delighted that they would regard me in this way to ask, so I went in. At the drug store I worked at, the receiving area was a massive mess. Empty pallets all over the place, stacks of them, and full ones loaded with product. The receiving room where the loading doors were was in complete disarray, and trucks were arriving. And it was on a Sunday, of all days, but the way the company is these days, you wouldn't have been surprised. I got the place cleaned up and ship shape, and the store owner, the last one I worked for, comes in with his arms crossed and says, "I need to talk to you in my office. We know about the $90,000 that went missing when you left because of your bad orders." MY bad orders?? I don't even do the orders! I told myself to wake up, this must be a nightmare. So I did. I went back to sleep and was back in the same place. I think this stems from an actual accusation that I was responsible for an order gone bad made by the new boss I worked for after the one left that I worked for, for 10 years, had left. He tried to pin it on me, and I think told the owner it was my fault instead of his own. It's stuff like this that drove me over the edge and forced me into disability. Anyway, I shook it off. * I watched day two of the fecal fiesta that is the nomination for House Speaker in the U.S., as they went another six rounds of voting without picking anyone. What a fustercluck. The legacy of tRump just keeps rolling and destroying that country after letting that clown out of the box back in '15 on the escalator to hell. * Janice came home, and had to go to the post office on St. George Street to pick up a popcorn maker for Alexandra that Lex had ordered, and was shocked at the clueless service there. My wife and kid deserve the kind of pay P.O. employees get and not the slave wages that they do have. Loblaws is a greedy, self-serving outfit that cares little about its workers. I know that firsthand. * We resolved to go to the gym again, but first put ingredients in the breadmaker to have fresh bread for egg salad sandwiches again tonight; to find out that mice got into our cupboards hand helped themselves to the flour. Little bastards. So when we went to the gym, we went next door to Dollarama and got plastic containers for anything that was cardboard or paper wrapped on our shelves. * We start out in the gym, embarking on our 20 minute warmup on the treadmill, and I decided to get my running legs back. Janice did her usual steep uphill walk, and I ran - only to feel something pop in my calf after a mile and a half. I nearly collapsed. It hurt like hell to try to walk it off the last half mile, probably not a great idea, but I'm hoping it's just strained. We continued to work out, doing our freeweights Chest and Arms workout, or Charms Day as we call it. We go pretty hard, but not overly hard. Janice really puts her best into it. We expect to be sore tomorrow, but a good sore. We did our stretching, another 20 minutes on the treadmill - though I kind of limped through it - and headed home. * Popeyes is STILL crazy busy. It's long after 9 at night and the restaurant is still packed and a lineup for the drive-thru stretching out of the parking lot. I think people are finding out what we found out when we first tried it in the States years ago, that it's the best chicken around. And those biscuits and sides are something else! * Got home to the smell of the breadmaker being just about done its job making our bread for the sandwiches. Eventually we made them and DAMN they were good. We ate the leftover bacon from last night too, and I ran into what my childhood dentist used to call a 'fender bender' - or a broken molar. What a drag. Thankfully, it doesn't seem sensitive, and I have an appointment for a checkup next month anyway, so I'll get that looked after then. Anyway, we had that sandwich with a beer while we watched AEW on TV, with a banger of a show that was possibly the most entertaining one they've put on to date. What a crazy, boisterous crowd. Great athleticism and storytelling. * Janice cleaned up, and it's upstairs to bed we go. Gave Marvelous Marbles Hagler his meat stick treat, and settled into bed. * We learned late tonight via text that one of Janice's brothers suffered a stroke, but he seems like he'll be okay, though he's in the hospital. It's scary news that no one wants to learn of their sibling. Prayers for him to recover... and I hope to God it won't be difficult. Hopefully better news tomorrow on that. * That's the kind of day it's been.
January 5
Weather has kind of been in one place all week here, around the plus or minus three degree mark, and maybe a flurry here and there, but no real action. A suspiciously calm winter up to this point. The gorgeous Cindy Day has done a marvelous job with her predictions on her website. * Not a bad night of sleep. Woke up to the usual, being kind of addicted to the House Speaker drama in the States while the rest of the country is salivating over hockey. Canada won, I hear? Seriously, the whole Speaker of the House voting thing is exactly what everyone says it is, Groundhog Day over and over again. Actually, it's beginning to look frightening more than funny. * I'd said at the conclusion of the previous day that Janice's brother had suffered a stroke; turns out, doctors only thought that was a possibility, and he actually is having heart issues, not unlike their father did handy to the age he's at right now. So the situation is a lot less dire, but still in need of desperate attention. Here's hoping he gets it. * Janice and me had a short nap when she got home from work, then we got up and hit the gym again. My leg is much better today, but no running for me. Instead, I wound up walking uphill at 15% for 20 minutes, while Janice did her usual sweating boogie. We then did the machine Shack Workout, where we work the shoulders and back on the machines, since we did the freeweights version a few days ago. We'll be sore tomorrow, in a good way. Janice wanted to hit the gym more in an effort to knock down the weight. We've been there everyday so far since the new year for at least two hours a day. We finished off today again with lots of stretching and another half hour or so of cardio and headed home for supper, where I grilled boneless, skinless chicken thighs in my own homemade spice mix with Bulls Eye sauce, cooked rice on the side and made peas/corn together for myself, and just corn for Janice, where she has an aversion to peas. I usually made grilled chicken in olive oil, but opted this time for Pam Olive Oil cooking spray. It actually turned out better. We both loved it. We had it with vodka and Diet Canada Dry - after I'd primed myself with a Vanilla Diet Coke and Jack Daniels. I'd never tried Jack before, but it was part of a sale at Christmas, so I thought I'd try. It's okay I guess... not as good as Crown Royal, but better than that Forty Creek crap. The best is Canadian Club 12 year with Diet Vanilla Coke - tastes just like Butter Rum Life Savers. Janice is loyal to her vodka and Diet CD. When Lent season hits, we go dry and cut out alcohol altogether. Haven't even had any cannabis oil yet since New Year's. I used to take it before bed for sleep, but adjusted to going without it. My suspicion is, as I stated before, that it dries me out so much, I suspected gut issues. I'm feeling a lot better these days. * Gave Marbles his kitty chocolate (don't worry, not real chocolate, just looks like it), hit the sheets and now it's time for lights out.
January 6
Pretty boring reporting on the weather on this, as it's been the exact same thing pretty much every day this week. Temps around plus or minus 3, but it was cooler last night at around minus 6, enough to make our oil heat kick in, so I cranked the heat pump up a bit to thwart that. We got an oil delivery the other day, a whole 45 litres! Damn good - the heat pump is paying off big time. Since we got it last summer, and the government announced later that they were subsidizing them a few months later, I have to figure out how we can get some of it paid for. In the meantime, it's paying for itself. * Not the best of sleeps last night. I dug into some Hawkins Cheezies at bedtime and paid for it all night. I asked Janice to call me from work to wake me up at one for a blood donor appointment at 1:45, but it wasn't necessary because I was up way sooner. I almost cancelled the appointment, the gut rot was so bad. But I sunk some water, ate a Drake's cake and was good to go. * Made it to the blood clinic on time, and it didn't take long to bleed out a pint - something like six minutes. They patched me up and I was on my way. This is number 17 on my donation count. I wanted it done today because of a tattoo appointment I have on Sunday to get my Irish cross touched up, and a couple of other things. Touch ups are free with the girl that I get to do my ink work. * Dropped the car off for Janice at her work and came home to watch the circus that is the House Speaker vote thing. It stretched on to late in the night with a fight even breaking out on the R side. McCarthy eventually won, after 15 rounds of balloting. He basically sold his soul to the extremists in the party to get it, though. Anyway, it was fun to watch this week. * When Janice came home from work, we were both pretty pooched, and opted to go upstairs for a short nap to catch up on some Z's. That 'short nap' turned into a three hour snoozefest, evidently one we needed. We decided to give the gym a rest today, where she was quite tired, and I was kind of shaky from my blood donation, which is normal and usual. We'll go back tomorrow and I'll scale back a bit for the next couple of weeks while I build my count back up. Last time I went full tilt after a donation and thought something was desperately wrong, but of course it wasn't. I can admittedly sometimes be a hypochondriac. It's a Cook thing, I think, with some of us! * Speaking of which, I looked into Dupuytren Contraction disease, something I realized I had for a little while now. Actually Janice had pointed it out and helped me investigate it. It freaks me out a little bit, because my brother Rick's fiancee May has very serious issues with her hands, and I've seen what she deals with - I don't know that that's what she has, though. All I know is she's gone through hell with it. I think I have it in both hands, one more pronounced than the other, but according to what I read, I have to get it taken care of before it takes off on me and becomes irreversible. The treatment for it isn't pretty! I think surgery is in my future for this, but we'll see. A lot of needles involved. Ugh. Could be worse, though. But, this is further evidence that I need disability, I guess. I did so much work at my job in the past 15 years with my hands with heavy lifting that it's kind of just caught up with me. The worse hand is the left one, so that'll probably be treated first. Then I'll have to probably get the right one treated, which, I imagine, means I'll have to learn to wipe me arse with my left hand. (!) Believe it or not, Janice offered to help me with that! I said, uh, NO. I'll figure it out. But is she a keeper or what? But she says the same about me. If I had to do the same for her, I think I'd need a barf bucket to keep up the pace while I did that for her! * Tonight on the menu, Janice made herself a rare treat of Kraft Dinner - rare because it's probably not the healthiest of meals, but not the worst either. A treat. I had my own treat - creamed peas on toast with homemade bread. You either love that or hate it. My family grew up on it, where we were quite poor and made do with what we could get at times, but we all really loved this stuff. And it's cheap. * I had a Dr Pepper Zero with vodka, and one with Diet Canada Dry tonight, and Janice had a pair of DCD/vodkas, and we relaxed into the night, and sent ourselves to bed, not before giving our black and white bomber Marbles his meat stick treat, and here I am ready to sign off, with my wife fast asleep beside me, and Marbles camped out on my lap. The weekend is upon us. * And that's the kind of day it's been.
January 7
A few flurries today, no big deal, as the weather holds steady here in mighty Moncton, again temps hovering plus or minus three. The weather has been pleasantly boring so far this year here. * Had a tough time getting to sleep last night, probably due to the long nap we had last evening. I wound up reading some more of the "Book of Joy", nearly finishing it. What a great, potentially life-changing book. I want to read it periodically to inspire myself to keep growing as a person, which I really feel like it's doing. Anyway, I think I might've got to sleep around 7:30am, and woke up several times between then and around four in the aft. Janice slept like a rock for a long time, as she often does on Saturdays to catch up with her sleep she lacks during the week. * We gobbled a waffle before heading out to gas up at Costco - the only place we buy gas - and dropped into the store for a few things. I really like this Spyder wear that they have, and tonight I got this black and gray pullover that'll be good for the winter and spring, and cool summer nights. Janice got a pair of active-wear pants, and we got a few other things. Align probiotics were on sale, which we take daily. Picked up a few guilty munchies to boot. Dropped into Sobeys to get stuff for tacos for supper. * Boy this is boring eh? This is adult life. * We dropped off our stuff home and then hit the gym and did machine Leg Day and a lot of ab stuff, followed by stretching and the usual hour of cardio. Janice is kickin' it... she wants to do at least three miles a day pretty much every day. That's basically what I do. Today was a little rough because of my blood donation yesterday, but not terribly difficult. We've been drinking this stuff called Bio Steel, a Gatorade substitute, pretty much, and it's pretty tasty. We get it pretty cheap at Costco. Back home we go. * And then it's suppertime. We had this taco kit that's half hard shells and half soft, because we like to wrap the hard shell tacos with the soft ones. I find it a pain in the arse when you eat a taco and it basically self destructs a couple of bits in, so the soft taco holds it all together. We made it with a pound of farmer's market ground beef, red bell peppers, green onions, fresh garlic and Tex Mex cheese, with the taco seasoning of course and sauce. Bitchin' stuff! The leftover meat mixture we ate with these plain tortilla chips we had from our last batch of nachos. * Warning: one of Janice's stocking stuffers was a can of Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey Lemonade with honey... grossest shit I think I've tried to drink in ages, and Janice agreed. Yech!! So I opted for a Blackfly Orange and Vodka, and Janice had her usual DCD/vodka. Dessert was strawberry shortcake that we recognized as my birthday cake which we also got at, you guessed it, Costco. Another thing we got there was 30 free run eggs, since we're going to eat more of them. It'll likely be omelettes tomorrow for dinner. * Retired upstairs shortly after that and watched "Turner and Hooch", one of Janice's all time favorite movies. She laughs so hard when she watches that! I actually recorded her laughing at it a little on my cell phone. Took in Marketplace, which was about high sodium dishes at restaurants. No surprises there, really. We don't eat at restaurants a lot, between that and the crazy tipping you have to shell out, we just don't find it's worth it. Besides, I like to cook. * Tattoo day tomorrow. I'll post shots of what I get done on facebook and Insta. * And that's the kind of week it's been.
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