Month: April 2025

Holey Hell

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Monday started off great. I got the front yard mowed. We had grabbed some honeysuckle off our trail 2 years ago and this year it has finally vined.

Some of the plants are growing back from where the neighbor butchered it bald. We still have plans for our cozy corner, but rain is heading our way for the next few days so all of that will have to wait.

Then, while I was mowing the backyard, my foot slid into the infamous hole. I had marked it with a faucet cover the last time I mowed, but apparently it had fallen in. This is what the hole looked like.

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I KNEW it was there, but in the heat of mowing, I completely forgot about it. It’s about 14″ deep and my foot slid down pointed and I jammed my whole foot.

After falling to the ground and yelling some not so nice words, I kept mowing. It hurt. Bad. That, however, didn’t stop me from going on to my next project which is our shed. That poor thing was chipping and the wood needs tending too. I got our some wood screws and tightened the panels.

Next I sanded and scraped the loose paint off. Everything looks better with a tan so I used the brown storm coat paint I already had.

By this time my foot was killing me so I only got the front done. I have more plans for it but had to stop for the day. My foot was swelling and bruising. I iced it that night but it couldn’t sleep well because of the pressure the covers put on it. The next morning we were concerned that I might have fractured it so off I went AGAIN to the bougie ER.

After the x-ray it was determined that it was just a really bad sprain so they sent me home with this beauty.

It actually does help stabilize my foot, but I am so ready to be fully functional again. Rain is supposed to let up by Saturday so I’m planning on at least finishing the paint on the shed. Fingers crossed.

Big 1-8

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn BirthdayLeave a comment

Yesterday the baby of the family turned 18. It seems like just yesterday he was dragging his Mr. Potato Head suitcase into the living room so we could play with it.

His big present was going to the Tyler the Creator concert in Dallas last month. He got to pick out a few pieces of clothing from one of his favorite designers.

He is definitely one of a kind and has been since birth. He is so funny. He is also caring and kind. He is smart. Some of the conversations I have with him are mind blowing. He has great things ahead of him and I’m so proud to call him my son.

Although he didn’t have a party, he got to choose his birthday cake. He doesn’t like cake or many sweets for that matter. We decided on Mr. Churro. They make them while you wait and they are delicious.

Everyone gets to choose where they want to go to dinner on their birthday. Jackson chose Wingstop and got to pick out all the flavors he wanted. It was a good day.

ER Visit

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Thursday Donny and I decided to take a walk on one of the trails in our town. The forecast said there was supposed to be rain in the late afternoon so we decided to get an early start.

We ended up only walking a little over a mile and a half because Donny’s ankle and knee are getting better but we didn’t want to overdo.

When we got home I wasn’t feeling great. I’d noticed that for the past couple of days my stomach had been bloated, especially at the top. I noticed that it would go down when I woke up in the mornings, but if I had any food at all it would start sticking out like Jiffy Pop. By Friday I was feeling awful. It felt like a baseball was in my stomach. I hadn’t eaten dinner on Thursday and didn’t eat anything on Friday. I decided that I really needed to go to the bougie ER and see what was going on with my body. I got in very quickly and they did blood, urine, x-ray and cat scan with and without contrast. The only thing they could tell me was that I was constipated at the top part of my large intestine that just happens to run between your lower ribs and navel.

The thing is I poop every single day. So, even though I saw the cat scan and can confirm that I was constipated, it still didn’t make sense to me. I started looking online to see if I could find any answers. I started following nutritionists that specialize in Hashimoto’s and SIBO. I have every symptom of SIBO, which stands for Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth. I think I could be in a kill off stage which would make my symptoms worse until everything is killed off and then you get better.

I recently have gone gluten free. Doing this has gotten rid of my joint pain that I was having on a regular basis. I have also been following the Low Fodmap diet. If I am in the kill off phase of SIBO I want to do everything I can to finish it. I went to Vitamins Plus today and Dave, the amazing nutritionist there helped me pick out what will help.

He told me to take a dropper full of oil of oregano in the mornings and at bedtime take the probiotic. We will see if this works. He also asked if he could pray over me and of course I said yes because I will take all the help I can get. I look at feel pregnant every time I have any food. I am so frustrated. I actually have a doctor’s appt on the 5th to go over my quarterly blood work.

I’m including a picture I took after the ER visit so I will be able to check my progress. Wish me luck because this is not easy.

Oh, I need to add that the ER docs recommended me taking Miralax when I got home. I ended up taking 6 capfuls because I didn’t think it was working. Oh, it did work. It worked all night. I woke up with a normal belly until I ate a small breakfast. My SIBO baby came back.

Green-ish Thumb

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn gardeningLeave a comment

My seeds have finally grown tall enough to go into the ground. Yesterday I got the front bed weeded and tilled up in preparation for the little sprouts.

I have 5 cucumber plants and 10 tomatoes.

Some of them went into the front bed.

The pots have Calendula seeds that I’m hoping will eventually sprout.

I planted the squash and 2 of the cucumbers in the garden.

The 2 extra cucumbers went in the corner by the potatoes that are getting pretty big. It will still be a while before we can harvest them.

I had quite a few broccoli sprouts that I just planted in pots and we’ll see how those do. I still have some lettuce and tomatoes that were just slower growing than the rest and are still to small to plant. It’s supposed to rain for the next few days so we’ll see how it goes.

Jackson wanted to go thrifting today. I only found one thing that I thought was pretty cool.

Sharon made it, or bought it and gave it to someone, in 1974.

I just love giving old objects a new life and home.

Switcheroo

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

We were planning on heading out the Avalon Faire, our local Ren Fest, but it rained on and off on Sunday. It seems like every Easter we get rain. Since Donny had the day off we decided to switch dining tables once again. I absolutely love the drop leaf antique table we have been using, but honestly, it’s just too big for the space. Everyone fit around it, but it wasn’t comfortable getting seated. The door is in a weird spot and was always hitting one of the chairs.

I had seen a parlor table on FB marketplace that I really liked, but when I measured it was going to be way too small. So we decided to bring in the rectangular table that we had used at one point during our years here. I still can’t believe that we have lived in Longview 7 years and in this house for 5 of those.

It was nice having Donny here to help me move everything around.

I plan on painting the bottom part as we’re out of the turquoise phase.

There is just so much more space. If we have more people for dinner we can always eat outside on the dining table there.

I have put the other table to good use. I was outside gardening most of the day today and it makes the perfect potting table.

And just because I am embracing my low maintenance style, this is how my hair looks when I just go to sleep with it damp. I do not miss my long hair one little bit. Now I can get ready in about 15 minutes. That’s definitely a win.

Recipe + Progress

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

This morning I needed to make more sweet potatoes. I keep roasted ones in the fridge because I eat them everyday. They are so easy and so good. Anyway, I thought I’d throw in the recipe I use.

About 2 pounds of sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 T olive or avocado oil

1 T pure maple syrup

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cinnamon

!/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

Put everything in a bowl and stir it until everything is coated evenly.

Spread it out on a baking sheet lines with parchment paper.

Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven.

After 15 minutes give them a flip and continue baking for about 10 minutes.

They are so good and so good for you.

Remember the eggs I froze? I thawed out two of them for cookies and you couldn’t even tell the eggs had been frozen.

I quit buying cookies a while ago. I will bake something sweet and that’s the choice my family has until the jar is empty and then I’ll bake something else. It seems to be working out pretty well. Truthfully though, we are not really snackers so they last over a week at least.

My mustard pickled eggs were finally ready to eat. I had one with an apple for lunch and it was so good. I’m trying not to eat a whole lot of meat so this is a good way for me to get protein.

The seeds I planted are sprouting. Donny is off for the next two days so we’ll be working on the garden.

Hopefully something will come of these. Fingers crossed.

The garlic, green onions and celery are growing also. Green onions are so easy to grow. I just stuck the white part in the pot and the green part grows like crazy. I just walk outside and cut off what I need.

Last year our hostas didn’t really take off. I guess they just needed to get used to the pot.

And last, but not least, we have a semi new member of the family.

His name is O’Malley and he is a feral cat that I have been trying to get close to for months. One day he just decided that we weren’t out to kill him and has hung around our patio ever since. He has come into the house 3 times but it still very leery of the indoors. As soon as he gets more comfortable with us I’m going to get his vaccines and neuter. Baby steps.

Did You Know?

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

Our chickens didn’t lay many eggs during the colder months. That’s perfectly normal, but when it started warming up they started producing like crazy. We were getting overrun with eggs. We knew that it was time to start giving them away. I took them all out and did the egg test to see if they were all still fresh. We don’t wash them until we use them because it keeps the bloom on them and they stay fresh much longer.

We ended up having 107 eggs. We gave them to neighbors and co workers. We still ended up having too many so I decided to freeze them. Did you know that you can freeze raw eggs? The method I used was washing the eggs and then cracking them into silicon muffin pans.

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After they are in the cups you just sprinkle them with salt, this keeps the yolks thinner, cover them with cling wrap and freeze. When they are fully frozen, you just pop them out and store them in a freezer baggie. They can last up to a year.

I also made soy marinated eggs. They were so good.

I did a batch of pickled mustard eggs also but they need to pickle for about 10 days so I haven’t been able to try them yet.

I save all of my glass jars to reuse so if you happen to look in our fridge that’s what you’ll see most of. I use them for sauces, leftovers and pickling.

I also have a new favorite meal. I keep roasted sweet potatoes in the fridge at all times because they are a healthy snack and I eat them every day with fried eggs. If you haven’t tried it yet I highly recommend it.

It only takes about 25 minutes to roast a whole pan and they reheat well.