Health Fitness and Beauty

The Brazilian Boarder

September 15, 2006 by Tricia

I mentioned earlier that I’d tell you about our third boarder. Well, the time is now.

We’ve taken in few boarders over the last few months to help pay the bills around here. I’ve been off work due to illness for over 9 months now and I have NO income coming in. So we had to come up with a plan to bring some money in or else we’d be in a lot of trouble with bills or rather with not being able to pay the bills.

Since I keep hoping that I’ll get better soon and get back to work, we didn’t want any long term boarders. That’s probably a good thing since the first two, particularly the second, didn’t turn out to be very good boarders. We are “home stay” parents. What does that mean? Well people from other Countries come to Toronto to learn English in a private school. While they are in Canada they stay in English speaking homes so that they are truly immersed in the language that they are here to learn. The students that we “host” could be anything from teenagers to adults of any age. The average stay seems to be two or three months.

Our first two boarders were from South Korea. The first was a male and he was 19, and the second was female and she was 21. The first boarder didn’t talk much – he slept a lot though! – and we couldn’t get a good read on his personality. This made things a little awkward and uncomfortable. The second talked too much and ended up being extremely demanding and lied to us about just about everything. She even told our neighbors that she had three body guards back home. I’m certain that was a lie too.

For our third boarder we decided to switch agencies (Various agencies put students in touch with families willing to house them and teach them English). So now we have a Brazilian man staying in our home.

I was really hoping that our Brazilian guy would be great eye candy. Hey I deserve that after the brutal experience that I went through with the last boarder don’t I? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with his looks, but sigh, he’s not the gorgeous hunk I was hoping for.

Our Boarder is a really nice guy. Very polite and helpful. He arrived last Thursday. I wasn’t feeling very well when he arrived so Chris took him out and showed him a little bit of Toronto. They came back with a case of beer! I didn’t think this was the best start … but it’s worked out ok. The boarder had paid for half the case – something the other two would never have thought of doing.

Chris was off work on Friday and Saturday and I was feeling a little bit better, so we took our boarder out around Toronto again on Friday. Mostly it was just to a few shopping malls because he wanted to pick up a few things. Saturday I had kind of been hoping that we’d go to the Zoo. I haven’t been to the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo for a few years and I really enjoy it. However it was a rainy day, well at least the morning was anyway, and I wasn’t feeling quite as well as I was on Friday. We did end up going to the Toronto beach area and we walked around for a couple of hours on the Beach and in the touristy area nearby.

On Sunday the boarder did his own thing, and then he started his classes on Monday. We’ve fallen into a nice pattern. He must be touring the town on his own because he usually doesn’t come home until about 7 pm. We have dinner shortly after he arrives home, and then he sits with us for a while. He’s usually up in his room studying or preparing for bed by 9 pm or so.

So far so good … but then I thought the other two were doing well in their first week too, so I’ll reserve final judgment for a while. He’s 31, so he’s more mature than our other two boarders were, and he seems to be a generally nice guy. He even tries to do the dishes each night after dinner … at least his own, and he’s been washing his breakfast dishes in the morning too. So no fuss, no mess, and he’s not in our face all the time like our last boarder was.

It is a bit taxing having someone around who’s first language is not your own. It seems that our male boarders haven’t been quite as good at English as our female boarder was. The latest one understands most of what we are saying, but there’s times when we say something and have to try to explain it several different ways before he begins to understand. For the most part this is fine, but when I’m not feeling all that well it can be a bit draining.

At least I’m not ranting this time round!

Itchy and Scratchy

September 4, 2006 by Tricia

Have you ever watched a drunk person when they are trying to stand still? They can’t can they? Their body starts to wobble from side to side or front to back. They think they’re standing still, but they rarely can.

That’s sort of what I’m like right now. I’m wobbling as I sit here typing. I think I am anyway, it sure feels like it. I definitely stagger when I walk.

If someone’s making a bobble head doll in my image now would be the time to observe and get the moves right ’cause my head is a bobbin’.

It’s 8:30 in the morning. I haven’t gone to bed yet. It’s not for lack of being tired or not wanting to go to bed. I want to sleep, man do I want to sleep. I’ve pretty much been up since I awoke on Friday morning. Ok, I’ve slept a bit. 2 hours Saturday night, and uh, oh – that’s it. That’s not good is it?

So now you’re probably wondering why I haven’t slept. Do I have insomnia? Nope. Have I tried to sleep? Yep.

It’s my pain meds.

None of my prescriptions have changed. The newest pain medication that I’m on was given to me sometime in early June I think. So nothings new, but suddenly I’m reacting to them- badly.

The pain medications are all opioids – derivatives of morphine. I don’t take many of them, in fact I take less than what the doctor has prescribed. My pain doctor is aware of this. She knows I need the medication, but she also knows that I can’t take the total dosage that she’s prescribed. For example, one of the medications orders are to take two tablets every four hours when needed. Well, I can’t take two of them or I’ll become a total zombie, AND I’ll get so nauseated that I’ll throw up.

Same with one of the other meds that’s even stronger. That one’s directions are to take one pill every 4 to 6 hours when needed. I can only take half a pill. I’ve only taken a whole pill when the pain was so severe that I didn’t plan on moving around, thinking or doing anything. If I take a whole pill I get the shakes, and I throw up if I move around.

I usually take about three of the first medication that I mentioned each day. Mostly in the evenings and very early morning hours. The second pill I have perhaps only once every three or four days, and only half of one at that.

There is a third pain medication that I take. This one is a long acting opioid. It’s a slow release pain medication that lasts for 12 hours. I’m sure some of you can guess what it is but I really don’t want to state specifically what meds I’m taking. That pill doesn’t hit me quite as hard because it only releases a little bit of the pain medication at a time over the 12 hour period. I’m supposed to take one of those every night at bedtime specifically so that the pain will be lowered enough that I can get to sleep. I don’t take that pill every night – even though I’m supposed to, and again my doctor is aware of this. I do take it about 5 times a week though, and it has been helping to lower my pain levels at night. That’s the one that I started most recently.

All of these opioid medications have side effects – the nausea, dizziness, light headedness and sleepiness that I experience when I take these meds are quite normal side effects. Itching is a less common side effect, but unless it’s accompanied by hives and swelling it can be considered a normal side effect of opioid analgesics as well.

I started seeing the pain doctor and began receiving prescriptions for pain medication on a regular basis this past January. This has been the only time I’ve ever been prescribed pain medications regularly since my Crohn’s began in 1992. I think I only got pain meds twice since 1992 – for other problems and I saved them to use when my Crohns pain was really bad. I don’t want to have to stop taking them as they are the only thing that takes the edge off of the constant pain that I’ve been in for the last two + years.

Unfortunately I’m afraid that I might have to stop taking them, and very soon. I’ve started to have a bad side effect, and that’s why I can’t sleep.

As I said earlier it’s common for all these meds to cause some itchiness occasionally, and I’ve experienced some itching from time to time, but not every time I take a pill. Just now and then. I’ll have an itchy leg, or itchy scalp for a half hour or so and then it will go away.

On Friday evening my husband and I decided to watch a DVD movie. I had taken one of my pain pills earlier and I think I took one near the beginning of the movie. I was lying down trying to relax as I watched the movie and sometime, perhaps halfway through the movie, I fell asleep. We were watching the movie late in the evening- perhaps starting at 11 p.m, so I think I fell asleep around midnight or a bit later. I awoke at 1:30 with bad abdominal pain. I took my long acting pain pill at that time and then I went over to my computer and started puttering around.

I was in a lot of pain and there was no way I could have slept. I don’t think the pain started to calm down until about 6 a.m. or so. Around that time I started to get a bit itchy. Ok, that’s normal enough. I still wasn’t tired enough to sleep after all the pain I’d been through all night and I didn’t end up going upstairs to the bedroom until 8:30 in the morning or so. I tried to read a novel. The itching was starting to drive me a bit nuts, I think every part of my body was itching. I’d rub or scratch a bit and it would calm down and my eyes would get heavy and my novel would snap closed. Then I’d wake up a and try to read some more, and I’d itch some more.

By 11 a.m. I knew it was a losing battle. I was going insane with the itching. I went downstairs and found my husband in the kitchen. He’d gotten up earlier. He had no clue that I was in so much distress until he saw me walking into the room swiping at my head, and jiggling my arms and legs to try to stop the itching.

I desperately said to him “Get the Benadryl!” He scrambled to the cupboard to try to find the antihistamine medication that would help stop the itching. I didn’t have any hives so I didn’t think it was an allergic reaction, but I was pretty sure the Benadryl would help.

It did help. Within a half hour or so the itching had calmed. It didn’t totally stop, but it calmed down. Somehow I made it through the rest of the day and well into the early hours of Sunday morning without getting tired enough to fall asleep.

I decided on Saturday evening that I wouldn’t take the long acting pain medication in case that was the one that set off the itching. I stuck with the very first pain medication that I described for you- the one that I can take two pills every four hours (but don’t ). I tried to go to bed at about 4 a.m. on Sunday morning but the itching was happening again.

I have a problem here. When I don’t get much sleep the pain is worse. So I tried taking some meds again last night. Again the itching. Crazy crazy itching, and here I sit still awake.

If I don’t take the pain meds I won’t bring my pain levels down enough so that I can fall asleep. If I do take the pain meds it seems that I’m going to suffer with horrible itching. I’m hesitant to take the antihistamine (Benadryl) too often because opioids increase the effect of the antihistamine and I believe vis-versa.

What a predicament eh?

It’s Labour Day Monday here so I can’t call my doctor. I will be calling her tomorrow morning though as I need to figure out how to get around this problem. I’m very afraid that she’ll tell me to stop taking my pain meds, and since I’m on some of the strongest meds that you can take – and they only take the edge off my pain (rather than totally take it away) – I’ll probably suffer quite a bit if I have to stop them, and there won’t be much else that they can give me that will be unlikely to cause the same side effects that I’ve been having.

Send some good thoughts or prayers my way that the itching stops?

I’m going to go and try to go to sleep now. If you don’t hear from me for a while I’m sleeping. Shhhhhhhhhhhhh

Scratch, scratch … grrrr SCRATCH, scratch, scratch … nod, bobble, wobble

Oh yeah, it’s my birthday on Wednesday. I sure hope that I feel better by then!

Quick Change Artist

September 1, 2006 by Tricia

Do you have any special skills?

A unique, yet possibly quirky talent?

I do! I’m a quick change artist.

I don’t remember exactly when I realized that I had this super power. I think that acquiring super powers is something like getting a headache. It’s not there, it’s not there, BOOM, Oh my gosh do I ever have a headache. Curiously headaches seem to leave the same way too don’t they?

But I digress, back to my talent.

I can completely change my top in public without anyone being able to see any parts that I don’t want seen. Ah, I know, not much fun for those watching ’cause they probably want to see what I’m trying to hide. Tough.

How did I acquire this hidden talent? And why? Well, I think it had something to do with having a cottage as a child. Huh?

Well, we used to go up to our cottage in the late fall, and early spring, sometimes we even went in the winter. Do you know how cool cottage bedrooms that are far from the Oil heater or fireplace get in the cool months? They’re freezing!

As a child I was forced to master changing from whatever I was wearing- usually pants and a top and perhaps a sweater, into my little nightie or flannel pj’s (depending on the time of year) without actually baring any flesh to the frigid air. This was the only way to avoid massive goosebumps, and a case of the shivers that often lasted 2 hours or so.

So it makes sense that I developed this talent out of necessity as a child, right? But I still use my hidden talent on occasion. Sometimes it’s necessary.

Take for example my most recent quick change scenario:

Last Saturday, while we were in Chicago, we were rushing to find the concert hall that we had to be at before 8 p.m. after leaving the downtown area. We were lost. We’d left the downtown area at about 7:15 p.m. after our afternoon of sightseeing and picture taking, knowing that we were cutting it close. By 7:45 p.m. my husbands brother realized we were lost and finally stopped for directions.

I had a feeling this might happen. I had wanted to change from the t-shirt and shorts that I was wearing while touring downtown Chicago into a nice top and some jeans prior to the concert. Just before we left our parking space I’d grabbed my top out of the the trunk and brought it into the front passenger seat with me. I had a feeling that I would need to do a quick change scene.

Knowing we’d only just get there in time to get in and find our seats before the concert started I decided to change my top. I don’t think I’ve ever done this before while moving slowly through crowded city streets, in the front of a car with the window down and the sunroof open. If I made a mistake, not only would my friends and family get an unexpected exposure, but so would complete strangers who were passing by our car as we drove the crowded streets, or when we were stopped at a set of lights.

I was also trying to be a good law abiding citizen and keep my seat belt (lap and shoulder strap) on while completing this quick change. This complicated matters, as did the fact that I was trying to change into a tiny little tank top with multiple holes for my arms or neck to make a mistake poking through.

It was a struggle! It was probably like watching someone struggle out of a straight jacket. At one point my arm was stuck in an awkward position behind my back, in the tank top that was under my t-shirt. I thought I might have to dislocate my shoulder to complete the act, or be forced to bare it all. Finally, my arm slipped into the right place and the tank top was in place. Off came my t-shirt to reveal the cute tank underneath.

I didn’t know what the concert would be like, dressy, casual or what. So I decided to put a nice open shirt over the tank top. Unfortunately I was still wearing the shorts. What I was wearing on top didn’t quite go with the shorts I was wearing, but I’ve yet to master changing into tight jeans while in a car. If they’d been baggy or looser jeans yeah, I probably would have tried. Oh well.

Since I have these unique super powers I decided to take a test to find out which Super Hero I’m most like:

Your results:

You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man		85%
Superman		80%
The Flash		65%
Green Lantern		65%
Wonder Woman		60%
Supergirl		60%
Iron Man		60%
Robin		57%
Catwoman		50%
Hulk		45%
Batman		45%

You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.

Click here to take the “Which Superhero am I?” quiz…
Where does Spiderman change anyway? Doesn’t he always just appear in costume whenever he’s needed? Yeah, he must be a quick change artist too. As you can see I’m also 80% like Superman and we all know he changes in telephone booths, right? Kinda like me changing in a car.

So which Super Hero are you, and do you have any hidden talents or skills that match your Super Hero persona?

Come on, talk to me.

One big city to another

August 29, 2006 by Tricia

I’m back!

1127.28 miles (1 814.18 Kilometers), or in understandable terms – about 22 hours of driving from Toronto to Chicago and back again, and I sure glad I’m home.

We had a fantastic time. Chicago is a beautiful city, I really was blown away by all the fantastic looking buildings and beautiful sights. Maybe that’s what they really mean by “Windy City”? It’s not the wind that blows you away it’s the beauty.

The Bruce Cockburn concert was great too. I’m not a huge fan but I do appreciate seeing such a talented musician. Chris, my husband, was glued to the edge of his seat watching Bruce’s every move on the 6 different guitars that he played. Chris was trying to figure out if he plays Bruce’s music the same way, and except for a few chords here and there, yes he does.

The two people who came on our trip with us weren’t the greatest choice to have brought along. The one guy was someone that Chris works with and he’s supposed to be a musician too, but I think he’s more interested in producing than performing these days. Needless to say he didn’t bring any instruments. He brought along a girl that we hadn’t met before … a different person than who he’d told us he was bringing. We learned in the car that the girl was only 19 years old. That meant no going out to the Blues and Jazz clubs ’cause she wouldn’t be able to get in. Wish we’d known that before we started out.

I guess Chris and I must have “Mr. and Mrs. Doormat” stamped on our foreheads lately, because these two people really stiffed us on the cost of the trip. They only put in $40 for gas (Total cost of gas was close to $200), didn’t pay for the concert tickets, and didn’t really hang out with us in Chris’ brothers home or when we went downtown sight seeing. Every time we asked them for money they kept saying oh we have to go to the ATM, oh we’ll stop at an ATM on the way home and pay you, Oh we don’t have any money in our bank accounts- sorry. GEEEEEEEZZZZZZ

Anyway, I wasn’t going to let them ruin my trip. I had a great time.

We arrived at about 9:30 pm Chicago time (10:30 pm Toronto time) and a friend of Chris’ brother showed up and took us to his office to show us around. Not really what I wanted to do right after driving for 12 hours (we hit a lot of construction on the way so the trip was longer). He’s an architect and his whole office building was a beautifully restored old house. I wish I took pictures of that. It was worth the visit, and it was a short outing.

Chris’ brother cooked us up a fantastic meal of steak and grilled veggies when we got back. Mmmm that steak was so good. Then we all went outside onto the deck and Chris pulled out his guitar and entertained us for a few hours. He was so tired after doing a good portion of the driving, plus he was trying to match his brother drink for drink – which is an impossible task, so his playing stayed good, but the singing faltered after a while … he could only stumble through the songs if he had to sing along, but he did fine when we all sang. I eventually herded him towards the bedroom and we got some much needed sleep.

We didn’t get up all that early on Saturday – maybe 10:30, and by the time everyone had had the wonderful breakfast that they made for us (two types of sausages, pancakes and lots of fruit) and we all got ready to go it was getting close to 1 pm.

We drove downtown, driving by the lake shore as we went. Their beach area reminded me very much of Toronto’s beach area. We spent the afternoon walking around the downtown core. Well, Chris and I and his brother did. The two kids we brought along went shopping.

Millenium park is beautiful. What Chris’ brother was calling the Bean, I’ve since found out is called the Cloud Gate. It’s a huge metallic elliptical object that reflects everything around it. It’s quite the experience to walk up to and view yourself and the crowds surrounding you on the face of the sculpture. When you walk under it everything gets distorted and the shiny mirror like sides almost disappear to the point that you can easily walk into the walls. Which I did of course, klutz that I am! I took a lot of pictures of this sculpture and I’ll put some up over the next few days. We must have spent an hour and a half to two hours just in that park alone.

When we left the park we headed over the House of Blues. Unfortunately the bar was closed for a private party. The inside of the building was amazing to look at though, as was the outside. As I said Chicago has some wonderful architecture and you could go there and just walk around looking at all the fantastic building shapes and art work for hours. Which I guess, is pretty much what we did.

We ended up in the Harry Carey bar for a few drinks and some appetizers. We saw the baseball that was blown up last year. It’s just shreds. I love the outside of the bar, it’s really interesting looking. Pictures coming soon. Then we met up with the people that came with us on our trip and frantically drove around trying to find North Lincoln where the concert was taking place in the Old School house. We made it just on time and had a great time watching Bruce Cockburn entertain us for 3 hours or so.

After the concert Chris’ brother wanted to take us for some Chicago Deep dish pizza at a restaurant near his house- in the burbs. Unfortunately when we got there the restaurant was closed and we ended up going to a TGI Fridays. The food was NOT good there, but the bartender was entertaining. Did you know that if you fill up a beer glass or mug with draft, making sure it’s got a good head of foam that reaches the top of the glass, that if you put a napkin over it (to create a seal), you can then throw the glass about ten feet? I didn’t know that, but I saw it three times. It works.

When we told the bartender we were from Canada and asked him if he’d ever visited he said “no, it’s too cold up there I think”. LOL Hate to tell you buddy but it’s about the same temperature in Toronto as it is in Chicago and we’re in the same gardening zones (Toronto’s might be higher actually, hard to find accurate info). I always find it funny when people just seem to automatically assume that Canada is cold. Yeah, our winters are, but winter in most of the US states are fairly cool too.

After our restaurant adventure we went back to Chris’ brothers home. The kids we brought disappeared without a word and the rest of us went outside for more music al la Chris.

Sunday was a bit weird. When I got up Chris’ brother and his wife were leaving to go visit their daughter at University. They hadn’t mentioned that they would be doing that so we had a fast good-bye, then off they went. In the meantime one of Chris brothers friends had come over for a visit and he sat with us for a while talking. We’d met him before as Chris brother had brought him to the Toronto area for visits a few times. The friend is also a Canadian. Chris’ brother seems to know all of the Canadians in the area.

Leaving took a long time as people kept stopping by. Chris’ brothers father in law came to pick up one of my nephews for Hockey practice. I love the way they say Hockey, it’s more like Hawckey, and cops are caps etc. Interesting accent Chicago.

Our trip back only took about 10 hours. We skipped some construction and a few tolls by taking a slightly different route. We didn’t get home until close to 2 a.m. Monday morning.

I’ve got to work on my photos and put some up for my visitors to see. I’m very happy with most of them and I hope that you’ll enjoy them when I start sharing them with you.

I titled this post “One big city to another” because I was traveling from the fifth largest city in North America – Toronto – to the fourth largest city in North America- Chicago. The city of Chicago only has us beat population wise by about three hundred thousand people. Their urban area has perhaps 5 million more people than ours does though, but they don’t count that when they count populations for cities. Now I need to visit Los Angeles (3rd largest), New York (2nd largest) and Mexico city (1st) and I’ll be able to say that I’ve visited the five largest cities in N.A..

I didn’t see or do as much as I would have liked to have during my visit. Our trip was too short and was mostly travel back and forth. The next time I visit Chicago I’ll have to go for a week or more so that I can really come back saying that I’ve got a good sense of the city.

Funny thing, when we first got to Chris’ brothers home in the suburbs of Chicago the girl that came along with us turned to me and asked if I thought I could live there. I looked at her a little puzzled and said “Well, we just got here, all I’ve seen is the highway and this little suburb, so I have no idea if I’d like living here or not.” Now, after a day of walking around downtown and seeing some of the sites I think I could answer her question with a Yes, I think I could live here. It’s a big city, I like big cities because there’s so much to do. Yeah, I could live there.

Hey! I’m still waiting

August 28, 2006 by Tricia

Hmrmmph. Well, that’s the last time I ask anyone for a donation. Not one of you responded to my donation request. Actually that’s not true, there was some laughter, but no offers of donations.

Really people. You know I’m a major klutz if you’ve read any of my posts. Doesn’t anyone want to prevent my next big accident?

You didn’t send it before my Chicago trip and for all you know I did it again. Let’s hope not!

I need bubble wrap. Yes indeedy I do.

I’ve already had two bad falls this year and there’s still 4 and a bit months to go. I’m certain that there’s yet another great fall coming my way. I want to be pro-active and protect myself so that when it happens, and I’m pretty sure it will, I won’t hurt myself.

I can’t live in a bubble, but I can wrap myself in bubbles. Yes, that’s just what I hope to do if only some kind folk would donate some bubble wrap. Hey, I might even create some new fashion trend – bubble pants, bubble shirt or jacket, and of course I need a bubble helmet because one of my falls got my chin.

Darn, I missed the boat on that invention. I just found out that my idea is not original, someone already invented bubblewrap suits. Never the less- I still need one.

I wonder how creative I could get? The clear bubble wrap could be used as a sexy suit a la saran wrap; and the pink bubble wrap could be made into bubble wrap dresses, skirts, and blouses. If I wore a bubble wrap suit while boating I wouldn’t have to wear a life jacket because I’m pretty sure I’d float. I’d just have to watch out for rocks, sharks and piranha. The bubble wrap suits might be a little warm in the summer but I suppose I could always put some ice on the inside. They’d be warm in the winter with all that air for insulation and I could probably just slide where ever I wanted to go.

If you don’t want to read about any more injuries or falls please send some bubble wrap. Yes you, stop popping the bubbles and send me the wrap whenever you get a package that has some in it.

The Brazilian Boarder

Itchy and Scratchy

Quick Change Artist

One big city to another

Hey! I’m still waiting

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