Month: July 2020

We both went to see the dentist this morning. Do you remember her, Dr. Priscila? This is how she looked as she took care of us today.

My last metal filling fell out three, maybe four, weeks ago, and then quite a bit of my tooth broke off, after that. Lovely. Not much I dislike more than going to the dentist.

I have had bad teeth since childhood, and nothing has changed that, in my adult life, except amalgam. That is the stuff they use to fill your teeth, then put that blue light on it for a few seconds, “to cure it”. It is amazing. And, it leaves the tooth white, and stronger than the original enamel. How cool is that, I ask you?!

Well, we went to her office, as I said, after calling yesterday to see if she was back to work yet. Ivan went first, to have some adjustments to his implant posts, and then, it was my turn.

To say that I am “one of those” patients, those, that clasp their hands so tightly over their abdomen that it is like holding on for my life, and do not breathe for long moments of time, then, yes, that is me.

I can, and, do, admit it- I am the white knuckler that people laugh about. A few years back, I had a cavity that needed attention so I went to a dentist quite close to our house. To say that he traumatized me for the past ten years, is absolutely no joke. He gave me the smallest amount of local anesthetic humanly possible, let my side, to go work on someone else, came back and started drilling. I almost got sick on the spot. It was like this for about four injections, directly over the tooth, not at the nerve bundle, at the joint of the top and bottom jaw. No siree.

We played this game of start and stop for about forty five minutes, in which time, he was finally able to get the worst amalgam filling on the tooth, and sent me on my way. Thank God.

I have been dreading the dentist visits, even just for a cleaning, ever since.

Today, however, Dr. Priscila has restored my faith in the practice, and I am now, going forward, going to be much more calm in her chair than I was today.

We have follow up appointments for next Wednesday, but until then, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Cover your mouth, wash your hands, and protect your loved ones.

I should be excited about this being the one hundredth day of quarantine, because of the CoVid19 virus, but I am not. Is anyone?

Today, you may be happy to know, we had three bottles of some awesome homemade kombucha, pineapple flavored. I have found that, for a second fermentation, which actually gives the kombucha more carbonation, and flavor, pineapple, fresh, or frozen, gives the drink the most amount of flavor thus far.

I have not had the opportunity, down here, anyway, to do much experimentation with second fermentation flavors. I added some guayaba to the pineapple, and that fermented well. Before that, I found some ginger, in the grocery store, and added a bit of that, and that did as well. As the fermentation times are so completely different than that of up North, (it took a week to ten days for first ferment, then another four to seven days for the second ferment), this is all sort of a win, lose, or draw investment right now. I think, once the world is done with this blasted virus, things will be considerably different than they are at present.

That said, this last batch of “booch” is great. It has the right amount of sweet, tart, and carbonation. I am hoping the next batches are equally good. The first fermentation only took three days, in the two gallon jug, and two more days after being decanted into sixteen ounce flip top bottles. Once I saw the carbonation already present, after such a short period, I got them into the fridge, so they did not bust open the bottles.

I have since made two, two gallon jars of the “mother”, and am waiting to finish the bottles of kombucha already made. Now that we know how good it is, it will not take us more than a few days to finish the lot.

Until then, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: Have I mentioned “The Alienist”? An absolute must watch! Netflix. You will thank me later. Well, Lynn, you will not- definitely. Everyone else, watch it.

Woohoo!!! The “house” phone just rang, (the one that anyone uses at the front door, downstairs, inside or outside, to talk with us), and, I answered it. Yes, you read that correctly. I answered it. It was a delivery man from Estafeta, a company, like FedEx, or DHL, but used, quite frequently, for international deliveries.

The gentleman, at the other end, who was outside, said he had a package for us. So I got my keys, and headed for the front door. The main door has a four dead bolt lock, plus a regular, one bolt lock, though both open using the same key, turned multiple times in the lock.

Anyway, I went downstairs, signed for the package, and walked back up stairs, just a bit lighter in my step than yesterday. You see, last night, I decided to start watching my absolute favorite show, (at the moment) “Chicago Fire”, by listening to it in Spanish, with English subtitles. You cannot imagine, in just a few, short hours, how much confidence it has given me. Somewhere, in the back of my all too feeble mind, that little bit of audible Spanish has given me the impetus to continue my self-education of the beautiful Spanish language, though, this time, jumping in with both feet, so to speak.

I was momentarily struck by just how much Spanish I already know, yet, do not give myself any credit. Dumb! So, while I am continuing on my second language journey, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Cover your mouth, wash your hands, and stay vigilant. No one can do it for you.

Post script: Happy Fourth of July, though, down here, we have read that most celebrations have been cancelled. That does not make the day any less needing to be celebrated. The independence of the leading nation in the world needs to be remembered, with, or without all of the hoopla! Take the country back from ANTIFA, and all of the looters, and MakeAmericaGreatAgain.

NEVER AGAIN!!!

This evening, I got on the scale, and, am heavier than I have ever been, in my entire life.

I took a picture of the scale, and may, possibly, post it here, just to let you know what six months of incarceration has done to me. Needless to say, I/we have begun doing something about this.

We have not stopped eating, because that is just not right. What we have done, is stop eating so much. By we, I really mean me. I am so bored, the only thing I do is eat, watch stuff on my iPad Pro, drink, and sleep.

We only go outside once a week, to buy perishables, and Tequila. Down here, no alcohol is sold Friday morning through Monday morning. So, one has to plan accordingly, or one has several sleepless nights, waiting for Monday. Sad, but true.

Instead of two over-easy eggs, with four strips of bacon, four ounces of cheese, and salsa on two beautifully charred flour tortillas for breakfast, I now only have one egg, scrambled, with onion and garlic powders, and nutritional yeast instead of cheese, (it has a cheese flavor), one slice of bacon, or whatever meat is available, and one beautifully charred corn tortilla; about half the calories, fats, etc. We will see.

Plus, for lunch, instead of two, or three, quesadillas, with cheese, pulled pork, and salsa, I have a large tossed salad, with about fifty grams of cottage cheese, two cherry tomatoes, one slice of Canadian bacon, (it is what was in the fridge that needed eating), and Ranch dressing, about two tablespoons. For dinner, it is whatever comes to mind, at this point- a quesadilla, a pulled pork taco, or a scrambled egg with toast. Much better, I assure you.

Will it work overnight? Not in my lifetime. But, as I have told many of you ad nauseum, lose the weight before you are in your fifties, much less your sixties. It is so hard for me, at three weeks short of sixty five, to lose weight, or exercise, which is exactly what I told you. Learn from my mistakes.

As I continue on this journey, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Cover your mouth, wash your hands, stay vigilant. The virus is not even close to being through with the world. Do not believe you are immune. You are not. No one is.