Continued from here Bipolar Check In Thread #27

I haven't really been depressed, but I've isolated a bit more than usual and feel particularly lonely. Alot of stressful things are going on in my head when I'm unable to distract myself sufficiently.

Today I should do something. I was thinking about driving to a large Asian grocery store. I haven't been to one in ages. It's only about 20-25 mins from my home, but I rarely drive that direction and as odd as this may seem, that trip would be a bit stressful. I rarely drive to my dad's anymore, which is 35 mins away. The only slightly longer drive I regularly make is about 20 mins every Friday to my therapist. I'm OK driving downtown or even more locally, but do so only as really needed.

Moreta, it looks like a politics type crime. No? I don't understand how the world has come to the point where people vandalize, demonize, or even send death threats to political candidates, news reporters, and even people who report sexual abuse, etc. Such offenders don't seem to have any respect for democracy. If they don't like people with differing views, they should just vote against them, not watch them, avoid them, compete against them, write opinion pieces about them, or at the most, organize peaceful protests again them. We don't live in the wild wild west.

Originally Posted by BirdDancer

I haven't really been depressed, but I've isolated a bit more than usual and feel particularly lonely. Alot of stressful things are going on in my head when I'm unable to distract myself sufficiently.

Today I should do something. I was thinking about driving to a large Asian grocery store. I haven't been to one in ages. It's only about 20-25 mins from my home, but I rarely drive that direction and as odd as this may seem, that trip would be a bit stressful. I rarely drive to my dad's anymore, which is 35 mins away. The only slightly longer drive I regularly make is about 20 mins every Friday to my therapist. I'm OK driving downtown or even more locally, but do so only as really needed.

I'm the same with driving, except I live in the Greater Boston Area.

I haven't been to an asian grocery store since I lived in downtown Boston 3 years ago. (30 minute walk from my place.) Nowadays, I just go to Indian grocery stores. I'd highly recommend one of those if you're into Indian food. Or if you've never tried the food, most of those stores have at least a small menu to try.

I'm hispanic, so I'm neither asian nor indian, but I like both a lot. I just prefer Indian food.

Originally Posted by bluebicycle

I'm the same with driving, except I live in the Greater Boston Area.

I haven't been to an asian grocery store since I lived in downtown Boston 3 years ago. (30 minute walk from my place.) Nowadays, I just go to Indian grocery stores. I'd highly recommend one of those if you're into Indian food. Or if you've never tried the food, most of those stores have at least a small menu to try.

I'm hispanic, so I'm neither asian nor indian, but I like both a lot. I just prefer Indian food.

Actually, that same road has a lot of Indian and Pakistani groceries. I like that food, but my hubby doesn't that much. I do have a particular interest in Chinese cuisine because I studied and traveled throughout China/Taiwan. Hubby does like Chinese food and Japanese food. He'll occasionally try other types of food from Asia, but his garlic allergy makes it difficult.

In China, it's been the Mid Autumn Festival period.

[Nammu]

I now live in a very small town where imagrants are now a large proportion of the population but all we have is one small Mexican grocery. I keep meaning to go as they have their own bakery and there's now only one bakery left in town. But I never remember it's there.

Originally Posted by BirdDancer

Actually, that same road has a lot of Indian and Pakistani groceries. I like that food, but my hubby doesn't that much. I do have a particular interest in Chinese cuisine because I studied and traveled throughout China/Taiwan. Hubby does like Chinese food and Japanese food. He'll occasionally try other types of food from Asia, but his garlic allergy makes it difficult.

In China, it's been the Mid Autumn Festival period.

Ah, my dad is the same way with Indian food. Though, he has a serious hatred for it. He says the smell alone makes him nauseous. lol. He did give the food an honest chance, though.

Anyway, sorry to hear about your hubby's garlic allergy. At least you can make your own food without garlic, so that's really nice. Garlic allergies must be really tough for him to deal with.

I hope you find some good things at the asian grocery store! That's very cool to hear about your travels and studies. I used to buy bags and bags of frozen potstickers at the asian grocery store. I'm addicted. lol.

Originally Posted by Nammu

I now live in a very small town where imagrants are now a large proportion of the population but all we have is one small Mexican grocery. I keep meaning to go as they have their own bakery and there's now only one bakery left in town. But I never remember it's there.

Ah, hispanic bakeries are AWESOME. Any kind of one. Dominican, Puerto Rican, Mexican, etc.. The tropical fruit cakes, tropical fruit cookies, etc. are amazing. That's what makes them so unique.

When I lived with my parents, we'd always get pineapple cake from the local store (30 mins away). The only problems is that a lot of the people there don't speak English very well or at all. Only Spanish. The sad thing is that a lot of them are here illegally and regularly get deported, so shops open and close all the time. My Spanish speaking skills suck, but I can at least understand it for the most part. I basically forget indefinite articles when I speak. It's the equivalent of knowing when to use "a" vs "an," but slightly more complicated. For example, you don't say in English "I see an car" or "I see a apple." You obviously say, "I see a car" and "I see an apple." I f*** that up in Spanish and everyone looks at me like I'm an illiterate moron who dropped out of 1st grade. lol.

[Blueberrybook]

Originally Posted by BirdDancer

I haven't really been depressed, but I've isolated a bit more than usual and feel particularly lonely. Alot of stressful things are going on in my head when I'm unable to distract myself sufficiently.

Today I should do something. I was thinking about driving to a large Asian grocery store. I haven't been to one in ages. It's only about 20-25 mins from my home, but I rarely drive that direction and as odd as this may seem, that trip would be a bit stressful. I rarely drive to my dad's anymore, which is 35 mins away. The only slightly longer drive I regularly make is about 20 mins every Friday to my therapist. I'm OK driving downtown or even more locally, but do so only as really needed.

Moreta, it looks like a politics type crime. No? I don't understand how the world has come to the point where people vandalize, demonize, or even send death threats to political candidates, news reporters, and even people who report sexual abuse, etc. Such offenders don't seem to have any respect for democracy. If they don't like people with differing views, they should just vote against them, not watch them, avoid them, compete against them, write opinion pieces about them, or at the most, organize peaceful protests again them. We don't live in the wild wild west.

I have a driving problem too, especially with driving into Houston, which is not that far from where I live depending on the part of it (the city sprawls a lot). Lots of interesting places I could go to or markets to shop at though I haven't got any money to spend anyway. Though here we do have a lot of Mexican food places, sometimes bakeries, food trucks. The area H teaches at is highly Hispanic, so we go to places there sometimes, but not lately, trying to save money. Financial issues suck so much.

[Blueberrybook]

Here today. Very exhausted. Looked at my app, and my cycle is due Friday. The app tends to be pretty accurate for me though I am feeling maybe it's coming today or tomorrow.

Fibro is flaring again. Seasonal allergies are bad, and the fibro seems to flare with allergies, stress, any time I'm sick.

My burned right hand hurts to pieces. I took Tylenol, but it didn't help. I should have called the pdoc once I realized I had forgotten to tell him I was forgetful, and I probably could have avoided burning myself so badly from forgetfulness and/or horrible distraction. I do think the lowered dose of Wellbutrin is helping with the memory issues though.

Stupid diet commercial on TV made me feel guilty about not exercising and eating more. Ugh...I really, really hate those. I hate to gain weight when it feels like everyone else in the world wants to lose weight.

I've avoided the scale today at least. I had reached a period I never weighed myself except when I'd see the PCP, dermatologist, etc., and I'd like to get back to that. One day at a time.

Going to lie down. I've been very sleepy lately, even though I have been getting an hour more sleep by not running every morning. Still, I'm exhausted.

Bit depressed today, but it could be the pain & fatigue.

[Nammu]

Growing up my home town was 100% white German/Scandinavian but in the 80's factories closed and those that remained cut wages and benefits so there was a huge exodus of people. Then the first was of asylum seekers came willing to work for the reduced wages. Other asylum seekers followed and even though my home town is now smaller than it was when I was growing up now there's 47 home languages spoken at the high school but fewer people own their home cause of low wages. With all those imagrants not many can afford to open stores. So there's only the one Mexican bakery. Walmart pretty much insures that nobody can afford to compete with them.

[liveforsummer]

Sending hugs out to everyone that needs one !

Originally Posted by Nammu

Growing up my home town was 100% white German/Scandinavian but in the 80's factories closed and those that remained cut wages and benefits so there was a huge exodus of people. Then the first was of asylum seekers came willing to work for the reduced wages. Other asylum seekers followed and even though my home town is now smaller than it was when I was growing up now there's 47 home languages spoken at the high school but fewer people own their home cause of low wages. With all those imagrants not many can afford to open stores. So there's only the one Mexican bakery. Walmart pretty much insures that nobody can afford to compete with them.

Wal-Mart sucks when they pull that crap. They're not cheap anymore like they used to be, and they don't even price match to their own website. Also, their groceries are 1.5x or 2x the price of the groceries at our local grocery stores. They just undercut all the competition and then raise their prices afterwards because they have no competitors left. I hate them. Oh, and of course they pay everyone like crap, too.

They can't compete with local bakeries around here, though. Their bakery is just complete s*** compared to local bakeries because all it is is like f***ing Betty Crocker. Plus, people around here are sick of Wal-Mart's crap. They'd rather support the local mom and pop shops. Thank god. They're not allowed in Boston. Banned from it by the mayors.

[Nammu]

I agree they suck. I'd love to see more stores and restaurants by the imagrants. When I lived in Austin TX there were restaurants a galore. My favorite was an authentic Greek close to where I lived but it closed suddenly one day. Mmm baklava!

[Moose72]

Noah's party is in a few hours! Big 17!

It's very difficult to find actual bakeries in my area anymore. There are some in certain towns of my state, but they are now like landmarks. I'll admit that our local grocery stores do have some nice bakery goods. We have some rather higher end grocery stores in our area.

[liveforsummer]

Today’s the first day posting in a while. Basically because I become immobilized with any decision making. I will stand/sit in one spot (can be 15-20 min) to decide if I should use the big or small roasting pan, what time should I start dinner, should I take a sleeping tab or not, to post or not to post, should I, shouldn’t I etc etc..... anyway I have missed being a part of this community. So I decided to post today phew decision was made!

I felt ambitious today. I signed up for an adult school class. I'll take an evening French class every Thursday from mid Oct to mid December. I signed up for the level 1, though I actually do know a good amount of French. I just don't want to feel overwhelmed or have any performance anxiety. At level 1, I definitely won't.

Another thing I'm contemplating, but wouldn't dare sign up until mid to late 2019, is a Professional TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certification program. If I feel up to it then. I hope hope hope. Both options I'm considering are mostly online options. Both require practicums (teaching practice at the end). One is a destination course where you pick an international location for the practicum. The other allows for the practicum to be done in the US. I asked if it could be done via Skype or must be done in a classroom.

If I were to pick the destination course, I would surely pick Prague, Czech Republic. My husband has family and friends there that I could either stay with or at least have support from. The practicum would only be two weeks in early December (not this December). Perhaps my hubby could even go with me, as a kind of vacation...for him. Or, he has been doing consulting work that requires research in Czech Republic. If he's still working on it, that would be a great time to go. It would be good for me to have him with me, if possible. My husband is a native of Prague.

I am trying to figure out types of work I might do when I am FINALLY able to get off of disability. I want to have something I can do if we move to Europe. I'd like something that can be done part-time or full-time, as I can, and possibly from home, if needed. If I live in Europe, it may even be possible that I could do side work, part-time, for my old employer. I'm not sure. They didn't "fire" me. They only terminated me via letter, writing that I was welcome to contact them in the future to inquire about open positions. That was years ago. If I had never had to go on disability, and was still with that company, my husband and I would surely not be thinking about a move to Europe.

[Blueberrybook]

Frustrated because I tried to nap today (have been very tired) and couldn't fall asleep.

Started prepping the recipe for dinner (a new recipe for me). It's for chicken noodle soup, and uses a rotisserie chicken (already prepared) according to the ingredients, so I figured that meant de-bone the chicken, which I did. It's soup, so obviously you are not going to serve it up with the chicken whole. Finish chopping carrots, celery, onion (none of it easy with badly burnt right hand). Then, I start reading the recipe. No! For some strange reason, you are supposed to put this whole rotisserie chicken into the pot with the veggies & chicken broth, and boil it, then remove it and de-bone it! Ugh! I should have read the recipe all the way through. It got a lot of stars, but honestly, de-boning a hot chicken in the middle of a recipe is not my idea of "Easy Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe." Now God knows how dinner is going to turn out. The recipe had lots of stars, people reviewing it saying it was easy, so I didn't bother to read the directions. Truly, aren't rotisserie chickens already prepared & cooked when you buy them in the store, otherwise aren't they just 1 whole raw chicken? But oh, well...we'll see. Hopefully, the end result turns out to be something like chicken noodle soup.

Raining again. Skies still gray, still thundering. I have to pick my daughter up from school as a walker since I didn't call early enough to make her a car rider today. It sounds and looks like it's going to come pouring down on us. It's always likes to come pouring down the minute school lets out.

[Moose72]

I cant adult today. We got mail that says we got denied for food stamps and something else that says n2 needs to show another proof. Plus something from the subsidized rent people camr and i didnt even open that yet. Oh and bills. We got bills....

[Wild Coyote]

Originally Posted by liveforsummer

Today’s the first day posting in a while. Basically because I become immobilized with any decision making. I will stand/sit in one spot (can be 15-20 min) to decide if I should use the big or small roasting pan, what time should I start dinner, should I take a sleeping tab or not, to post or not to post, should I, shouldn’t I etc etc..... anyway I have missed being a part of this community. So I decided to post today phew decision was made!

I am sorry you are having a tough time.
So glad to have you posting! Have missed you!

WC

[Guiness187055]

Originally Posted by liveforsummer

Today’s the first day posting in a while. Basically because I become immobilized with any decision making. I will stand/sit in one spot (can be 15-20 min) to decide if I should use the big or small roasting pan, what time should I start dinner, should I take a sleeping tab or not, to post or not to post, should I, shouldn’t I etc etc..... anyway I have missed being a part of this community. So I decided to post today phew decision was made!

Welcome back

Originally Posted by Blueberrybook

Frustrated because I tried to nap today (have been very tired) and couldn't fall asleep.

Started prepping the recipe for dinner (a new recipe for me). It's for chicken noodle soup, and uses a rotisserie chicken (already prepared) according to the ingredients, so I figured that meant de-bone the chicken, which I did. It's soup, so obviously you are not going to serve it up with the chicken whole. Finish chopping carrots, celery, onion (none of it easy with badly burnt right hand). Then, I start reading the recipe. No! For some strange reason, you are supposed to put this whole rotisserie chicken into the pot with the veggies & chicken broth, and boil it, then remove it and de-bone it! Ugh! I should have read the recipe all the way through. It got a lot of stars, but honestly, de-boning a hot chicken in the middle of a recipe is not my idea of "Easy Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe." Now God knows how dinner is going to turn out. The recipe had lots of stars, people reviewing it saying it was easy, so I didn't bother to read the directions. Truly, aren't rotisserie chickens already prepared & cooked when you buy them in the store, otherwise aren't they just 1 whole raw chicken? But oh, well...we'll see. Hopefully, the end result turns out to be something like chicken noodle soup.

Raining again. Skies still gray, still thundering. I have to pick my daughter up from school as a walker since I didn't call early enough to make her a car rider today. It sounds and looks like it's going to come pouring down on us. It's always likes to come pouring down the minute school lets out.

Blueberrybook, you don't need to boil the whole chicken unless you're making broth from scratch. If the rotisserie chicken is already cooked, which I'm sure it is, you need only remove the meat and chop it into small pieces. What I'd suggest is to first saute your fresh veggies in a little bit of oil or butter until they get slightly brown on the edges, then add the pre-made broth, which I assume you have in cans, cartons, or frozen from the past. I'd then add a bay leaf and any little bit of dried herbs you want (optional: like thyme), and then when the veggies are just about cooked, remove the bay leaf, and add the noodles just in time to so that the noodles cook sufficiently when the veggies are cooked sufficiently. Then I'd add the little cubes/bits of chicken, some chopped fresh herbs (parsley and/dill as examples) and salt/pepper to taste. Reheat just before serving, and add a little chopped herbs to each bowl of soup, if desired. These ideas should "doctor up" canned broth sufficiently. If you'd like a "Greek style" chicken noodle soup, add a squirt or two of lemon juice.

Unless your chicken is itty bitty or your soup is one huge pot full, I don't think you'll need all of the chicken meat. Save some for chicken salad or something else.

I can't wait to start looking at houses to move into.

If I put down 3% on a $300k house, I will have a good chunk of money left over by the end of the year that I can use to remodel part of the house if need be. I've been saving up a lot of money over the years. I just hope I don't end up with a little ol' out-of-date granny house, because then I'm ripping off pale-green, flowery wallpaper and tearing ugly 60s wood molding off the walls. I can't afford to vomit every time I look at the walls.

[Unrigged64072835]

Originally Posted by bluebicycle

I can't wait to start looking at houses to move into.

If I put down 3% on a $300k house, I will have a good chunk of money left over by the end of the year that I can use to remodel part of the house if need be. I've been saving up a lot of money over the years. I just hope I don't end up with a little ol' out-of-date granny house, because then I'm ripping off pale-green, flowery wallpaper and tearing ugly 60s wood molding off the walls. I can't afford to vomit every time I look at the walls.

If you got a house like that I’d worry more about asbestos and lead paint.

[Unrigged64072835]

Hi—

I worked my butt off today. Contractor finished yesterday—hooray—and I spent all day cleaning and moving stuff around. I was so sore that I was having a hard time breathing because my abs hurt. At least the cat is out, I can take a shower in the master bath and I have my computer out again.

Getting meds and computer glasses tomorrow. Yay!

We have all kinds of international food stores around here. Quite a few are Mediterranean because we have a Turkish population in the area.

Lots of love and hugs to you all!