Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
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Thursday, January 01, 2009

A real breakfast

I normally have a Pop-Tart out of the vending machine for breakfast. Today I'm having 2 scrambled eggs, 2 pieces of hearty bread with spreadable fruit (blackberry) [I forgot to get butter when I went to the store], a banana, and even a little Toffee Nut coffee.

One of the side effects of Strattera is nausea, which can be counteracted by taking it with food, particularly protein. Hence the eggs.

I had a little trouble sleeping last night--I kept waking up, particularly after 6:30, although since I didn't go to bed until after three, I stayed in bed until 9:30. So much for sleeping in. But I have a lot to do around the house today, including cleaning and setting up the aquarium, so it's just as well, I suppose.

My hair is very wavy this morning, since I didn't comb it after the bath last night and it's about 2-3 inches shorter now. I kind of like it, although I'll take a shower later (I bathed in salt water last night, not using shampoo, etc., so I'll need to actually get clean) so who knows how it will turn out then. I may let it dry without combing it and see what happens; sometimes it works, sometimes it sticks up in strange ways, which is why most days it's mostly straight and curls around at the ends. I have the type of thin, baby-fine hair that you can use volumnising shampoos, mousse, and even hair spray, and it will fly away and refuse to do anything, looking decent for about two hours before reverting to the norm. And gel just makes it look greasy. If I were famous and monied, I'd hire a personal stylist, for I sure can't do a thing with my hair, despite years of reading women's magazines. I'm better with makeup, but I don't use it that much.

I'm thinking of changing that this year, as 1) it shows I care a little about my appearance, something that I obviously do not judging from my norm, and 2) at age 41, there are imperfections that are best dealt with by make-up and moisturisers (I never thought I'd ever have to use moisturiser, having had so much trouble with oily skin when young). My main problem with my face is that I'm too ruddy. Physician's Formula makes a green sub-foundation that's good for that. I used to have some, but I have no idea where it got to, and it probably isn't any good anymore. The last time I went to use my eyeshadow, the applicator disintegrated in my hand--that tells you how much I use makeup. Foundations tend to dry out on me, too.

My eyes are probably my best feature; they are largely without wrinkles, have a natural purple tint to the lid, and are open and bright. They're a nice shade of hazel brown. Unfortunately, I am so nearsighted that my glasses make them look smaller, and makeup doesn't really make much of a difference. I am thinking of getting contacts this year--the type you can wear for a few days during the day and night. It's not just vanity; I see better with contacts (the correction is more precise for some reason, in my experience, maybe because they're close to the eye), and I'm having trouble seeing some smaller print road signs and books even though I don't think my prescription has changed per se. We'll see. Once I verify that my flexible spending card is working properly in the new year, I'll make an appointment.

Speaking of which, theoretically I can get the prescriptions I've been off of for the last 2 weeks-a month due to lack of money for medical expenditures on my card. I'm going to go to the pharmacy today and see if I can get them filled; I've been off my glipizide, Provigil (which is now replaced by the Strattera), Tricor, and for the last week I haven't been able to get a hold of Abilify, although I managed to get some samples before that. I have stayed on the Lamictal and Janumet through everything. Lamictal's an absolute must--if you go off and go back on the likelihood of a life-threatening rash increases. Besides, I needed to make sure something was keeping my brain chemistry on an even keel through the holidays, right? :)

This year I elected to have about $3,000 taken out of my pay to cover my medical flexible spending account. That should hopefully get me through the whole year. It means my pay will be smaller (it had been about $2,200 this year), but my co-pays are doubling for doctors' visits, and the medicines are going up, too, so what can you do? I actually have until March of 2010 to spend it, so I don't think that will be a problem. At least it really does help out through the year, and since it comes out as pre-tax money, it saves me quite a bit on my medical expenses.

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