Monthly archives of “October 2020

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Undokai + Halloween 2020

This year, due to the pandemic, Miyu’s first grade undokai was shortened. I wasn’t disappointed, if I’m being honest. Crowded places, noise, and a language I can’t speak spells disaster for my anxiety. But the nicest surprise was that Ken decided to forego work and spend the day with us instead. Afterward, we shopped and ate, and then before we knew it, it was time to go trick o’ treating.

I’m happy to report that Miyu finally experienced her first ever full Halloween event. I got her a leopard/cheetah costume from Amazon that she absolutely adored. At around 6pm, Ken and I accompanied her as she went trick o’ treating on base. At first she didn’t really know what to do or say, but after the first two houses, she quickly got the hang of it and was on a roll.

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Potato for your thoughts.

It’s Friday night and Miyu is in her room, playing with her toys because I had declared TV time over. Our microwave oven says that in 17 minutes and 45 seconds, the baking sweet potato inside will be ready to devour. Outside, the sounds of cars passing by rain-slicked roads make my eyes and shoulders droop with the promise of a good night’s sleep.

My thoughts are like the tangled Christmas lights boxed up in our closet, eager to come out but the timing just isn’t right. Lost time, vivid dreams, flashes of pain. My little girl is growing up and she’s becoming more and more beautiful each day.

How I ache to hold my camera.

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A Painful September

Toward the end of August, I started noticing that my arthritis pain was getting more frequent and intense. The following month of September was pretty much a series of flareups that killed my mood to blog. If it wasn’t my fingers or wrists, it was my ankles, knees, elbows, or shoulders. Actually, it was so bad this time around that even my hip joint hurt. Two of those flareups were caused by significant dips in atmospheric pressure, so it had absolutely nothing to do with the foods I ate. The most recent flareup was so bad that Ken had to help me shower because I couldn’t bend my right elbow.

Fasting helped for a while, but then I noticed my body was burning through its meager stash of vitamins and minerals and I wasn’t feeling so great. As a result, my intermittent fasting is currently on hold while I’m making an effort to eat meals that (1) avoid sugar, gluten, and milk, and (2) contain good fats, protein, and spinach. I was going to say leafy greens there but in reality, spinach is the only dark leafy green that I actually like. I’m also taking Vitamin D3 (2,000 IU) and Magnesium Complex supplements. So far, I’ve noticed that the intensity and frequency of my pain have significantly lessened. The only major factor that’s left for me to correct now is making sure I get at least 7 hours of sleep each night, which is proving difficult for me. I’ll think about exercising once this pain is under control.

On the plus side, because I fasted a lot during September, I managed to lose a good chunk of weight. As of October 4 at 7am, I weighed 125lbs, which is a total of 26.2lbs lost since April 2019. I’m almost at my happy weight range of 110-115! I swear the remaining ten pounds is in the spare tire hanging at my midsection.