Basically, just another blog
Does anybody remember which of the Fractured Fairy Tales featured the oft-repeated phrase “She’ll have a head like a casaba melon,” or something like that? It was my favorite but I can’t even remember what story it was. Man those were awesome:
Best shoestore in the whole world: Zappo’s. Great selection, good prices, free shipping both ways, easy returns, and they always upgrade me to overnight shipping. It’s awesome to order a pair of shoes one afternoon and have them the next day!
Now it’s even better, because they’ve implemented this little code block thing for blogging and MySpace and such. So here are a few of my picks for shoes I just can’t freaking live without this fall:
I Like:
Time for another update on Weight Watchers-friendly, low-points value foods, especially SNACK foods. Weight Watchers is going really well for me (I’ve lost 23 pounds so far! woot!), and I’m always on the look out for ways to get satisfied without going over my daily points budget. So let’s take a look at some snackin’ options!
Fiber One Bars – At first these were a little hard to find, but they’re everywhere now. Fiber One is branching out into foods in a big way. I freely admit I’ve never even tried the cereal itself (Raisin Bran and Kashi Good Friends have always given me plenty of fiber in my bowl) but I was intrigued by these new bars, which each have 35% of your daily recommended fiber: 9 grams. That’s a lot of fiber, people. But how do they taste? Well, the good news is, they’re delicious! At least the ones I tried – Oats & Strawberry with Almonds – were awesome. They rack up to only 2 points, and are strangely satisfying. It must be all that fiber content, but after I eat one of these things I feel really full. And they’re not dense either – the texture of the bars is surprisingly light and loose, with a nice amount of chewiness and great flavor. The only drawback is they seem to be a little sticky, so make sure you hang onto the wrapper while you’re eating one. Thumbs up!
Hostess 100 Calorie Packs – I got introduced to these when the snack wrangler at work ordered them for our kitchen. If you like Hostess Cupcakes, Ho-Hos, etc. you will LOVE these. Just one regular Hostess cupcake is worth 4 giant points, but each little package of 100-calorie bites is only a single point! How do they do that? Well, it’s low calorie, low fat, and high fiber. I’ve tried the chocolate cakes (gooey, delicious, decadent) and the blueberry muffins (crunchy, sweet, satisfying). They also have golden cakes, carrot cakes, banana muffins, and cinnamon coffee cakes. When you see these I know you’ll be saying “What the hell Groovy, these are TINY!” It’s OK though – they’re really very satisfying, and just think – at only 1 point per package, you could go all crazy and eat TWO packages and still not consume as many points as in a single twinkie, ho-ho, or cupcake!
Chex Mix 100 Calorie Packs – The only disappointment that I have to report. This was another discovery in the kitchen at work, and I was excited – I love Chex mix! Unfortunately, we had the cheddar flavor and to me, well, it tasted like feet. BIG disappointment. If I get a chance, I plan to try the other flavors (chocolate caramel, strawberry yogurt) and see if they’re any better. Maybe it’s just me, but I think I’d like to have a plain chex mix 100 calorie pack, no extra flavors required.
Happy snacking!
OK so I’m miserable. I have this history with rashes. I’m fairly allergic to certain things (ragweed, grass, wool, certain kinds of self-tanner, certain antibiotics). One of the reactions I often get is a rash, or hives. Usually a reaction like this reacts very well to steroids, and I’m better within a day of starting them. But not this time.
About a week and a half ago I started having an allergic reaction to something. I don’t know what it was, since I wasn’t in contact with anything that usually makes me react, and I haven’t changed my diet or my medications or anything like that (or at least I don’t think I did). It started with just a hive – one hive, on my neck, which started on a Friday but was gone by Sunday. I figured “Oh well, false alarm.” Then last Monday morning (8/11) I woke up with a GIANT swollen lower lip. I mean, my lip looked like a hot dog. It was gross! So I went to the doctor.
“Allergic reaction,” was the theory. Doctor gave me prednisone, advised me to take benadryl if I could handle it, continue taking Zyrtec (which I already take daily for the grass, ragweed, etc.), and make an appointment with the allergy clinic for testing. Over the next five days, I got worse, not better. My lip stopped swelling and returned to its normal dimensions, but I started getting hives all over my body. Really different from hives I’ve had in the past – very wide, spread out, flat, curvy looking things. Almost like an abstract floral or paisley pattern! Weird. So this past Saturday I went to the doctor again.
I was worried maybe I was actually allergic to prednisone, but he didn’t think so. He gave me a stronger dose, and switched me from Zyrtec to Allegra – every eight hours. So now I’m pumping myself full of steroids and antihistamines and guess what – I’m getting worse. The itching is much worse, the pattern is more widespread. It has crept from my shoulders to my neck to the back of my scalp, and also down onto my torso and my hips. Basically, I’m in itchy, paranoid agony. I stayed home from work today to take benadryl and try to sleep, but this time the benadryl didn’t help. I’ve tried various other home treatments – cool compresses, ice, cool baths and showers, aloe vera gel – but nothing seems to help very much.
So tonight I go to bed hoping and praying there’s some improvement by tomorrow. If there isn’t, I am not sure what to do. Allergic reactions like this are the hardest to treat since the cause is completely unknown, although I think I have some theories. For instance, I never used to use Splenda at all but I recently started putting it in my iced tea, and I have been drinking A LOT of iced tea. So I stopped using Splenda completely as of yesterday, but I haven’t improved yet. Still hopeful that’s the ticket though.
I guess if I get up and have hives or swelling on my face, or the itching is so bad I can’t handle it, I’ll have to go to the doctor again and beg for a steroid injection or something. Certainly if it starts causing any tightness in my throat then I’ll have to probably go to the hospital. Insane! Oh and this doesn’t even touch on the strange side effects I get from taking so much prednisone – weird manic episodes, sweats, increased appetite, nausea, food tastes funny, etc.
I did make an appointment with the allergy clinic – but not until September 4. I have to stop all antihistamines completely for five days before my appointment, and I’m dreading it. I just wish I could wake up tomorrow with all of this gone.
