Posted on April 19, 2011 - by Ashley Jackson

I lied…

…but when I said I’d update later that week three weeks ago, I really meant I’d update in three weeks? Yeah.

I had another visit with my sleep specialist today…no more appointments for two months! But I’ve had three dentist appointments in the past two weeks (one cleaning, one treatment consultation, and one round of fillings) and I’ve got another one coming up Thursday, and then Monday I have a consultation with an oral surgeon about having my wisdom teeth removed, and I need to make an appointment to get my blood pressure medication adjusted because being able to sleep is lowering my BP (yay!) but now it’s going too low and making me dizzy…

…so I’m very happy that the Federal government didn’t shut down, so I have money to pay for all of this and sick leave to take.

The car loan is currently around $1040, with a $200 payment pending, and I’ve been writing in my spare time and should have another $150 to throw at it next week.

Oh, and those tornadoes that hit central North Carolina on Saturday? That was scary, and I’m not ashamed to say that at one point when the hail was beating against my sliding glass door and shingles were flying around up in the air that I picked up the dog, wrapped him in a blanket, sat him on top of the washer in the laundry room, and then climbed in after him. Fortunately, my part of north Raleigh didn’t see too much damage, but downtown and northeast Raleigh got hit pretty bad, as did Sanford, the town I grew up in and live in/near from the time I was six until I left for college. Here is a picture of the building I was baptized in…

Fortunately, although there were deaths both in Sanford and Raleigh, all my family and friends are safe and still have houses.

—

Here’s a picture of Cliffy.

Here’s a picture of one of a couple of trips to China Queen over the past couple of months.

Here is a picture of a single slice of pizza from Tomato Jake’s in Durham.

Here’s what I had one Friday night when Alison and I went to some Italian place in Raleigh, the name of which I can’t remember…Pulcinela’s?

Salad with house dressing…

…and cheese manicotti.

Here…is a picture of Heathcliff on my bed.

Here is an unfortunately blurry picture of the spinach and mushroom enchiladas I was raving about. Soooooo good.

Here is a meal that is two-thirds composed of Aldi products: the steak and the asparagus both came from their freezer section.

And here is one of the awesome veggie pizzas from Aldi that I took a chance on and bought. I picked up two and ate them both within a week.

It had zucchini on it. For real.

And here are two of my current worries…

I am actually kind of petrified of the dentist, and teeth, and things being in my mouth. I hadn’t been to the dentist in five years since I went in for a cleaning two weeks ago. Fortunately, I found a great dentist’s office (in the same office park as my sleep specialist!) and even though I was almost in tears after the cleaning at my exam (from the stress, not because they were mean to me), I was actually pretty okay while getting fillings in three teeth on Friday. Unfortunately, the wisdom teeth — all four of which are impacted — have to come out because the dentist can’t work on my back teeth with them in there. I manned up and made the consultation appointment with the oral surgeon, but I have a full-scale freak-out planned for the day before my surgery, whenever that is.

I am very pointedly staying up until 10PM in an attempt to fix my sleep schedule (now that I can sleep), so I may as well watch this episode of Criminal Minds that I’ve already seen like twice. I will post again later this week (promises, promises…)…

Posted on March 29, 2011 - by Ashley Jackson

There’s no food in this post, either…

What’s up, pudding cups? I can’t believe it’s only been three weeks since I last posted. It feels like a loooong three weeks. Probably because I’ve been able to sleep!

In fact, the past two nights have been the worst nights of sleep I’ve gotten since I started taking the medication my sleep doc prescribed me, and even then, I still got four or five hours. On a good night I can get seven or eight, and in hours-long chunks. The first couple of nights were awesome, but in the past week and a half so I’ve been waking up more, so I’ve got a new prescription for a higher dose and instructions up it as necessary (to a point). I can’t convey how excited I am that this is working, even if there’s still some negotiating to be done on the dosage.  I feel so much better now that I’m well-rested, and I’m getting a ton done at work and at home (since now I don’t have to stay in bed for 12 hours trying to get 6 hours of sleep!).

In fact, I’ve been able to make a few hundred dollars writing on the side in the past few weeks, and I’ve been able to save up enough money that once I get paid again on Monday, I’ll be able to make a payment on my car that will pay down half the remaining $2800 balance. Except that I’m not going to do that, because I work for the Federal government, and we’re still under a continuing resolution because Congress can’t get their ducks in a row or whatever, so I’m saving the money until a budget passes just in case there’s a furlough of Federal employees. In the past, Feds have been backpaid after furloughs, but I’m guessing in the current political climate it won’t happen. It’s nice to know I’ve got money saved to pay my bills if I do have to go a few days (or weeks) without pay, and it’s also nice to know I’ve got a way to make more.

I have pictures of food on my camera, but my camera is in another room. I went to Aldi for the first time in a long time yesterday–the first time I’ve got since I’ve lived on my own, I think. I bought some of those knock-off Snackwell’s Devil’s Food Cookie Cakes that are awesome, and several other things that I’m hoping are just as good. I’ve already tried the refrigerated hashbrowns–a bag was $1.49 and I used them to make smoked (turkey) sausage and hash browns. I had that for dinner last night and then again for lunch today and  they tasted exactly like Ore-Ida hash browns. But they were cheaper! I’ve also tried the veggie chips–they were $1.69–and they taste like the Snyder’s of Hanover kind. I’m excited to try some of the other stuff I bought–I’ve only had a couple of bad things from Aldi in the past.

I’m also very excited about the spinach and mushroom enchiladas I’m making Thursday night…although I may have to move them to Friday, because I’m in a meeting all day Thursday it might be easier to make stir-fry afterward. But there are spinach and mushroom enchiladas happening this weekend, my friends, and they’re going to be the bomb.

Okay, I’m off to take out the recycling and wash a few dishes, since I have no clean plates or cups…for some reasons I can keep the rest of the apartment clean, but the kitchen tends toward entropy. Back with food and pics later this week….

Posted on March 9, 2011 - by Ashley Jackson

There is No Food in this Post

It’s been a long couple of weeks since I last posted…been busy at work and trying to (and mostly succeeding in) sticking to a regular schedule to see how it affects my sleep. The answer is: not much. I took  3 mg of melatonin at 8PM or so for two weeks, then bumped it up to 6 mg for the last week. I switched one of my meds to the morning even though doing that makes me queasy. I read for an hour every night before bed (except for two nights when I played trivia and didn’t get home until 10:30, and one night when I stayed up until 9PM to watch an episode of Criminal Minds). I tried to keep the lights low in the evening, rarely used my netbook in bed, and tried to remain as chill as possible when I couldn’t sleep.

And the result is? Not much improvement. I’ve been able to get an extra hour or so of sleep every night because the melatonin is helping me fall asleep, but then I go right back to waking up every hour, and being up most of the night several nights a week. Yesterday was my second appointment with the sleep doctor and she prescribed me some meds that I picked up at the pharmacy today. I really really really x 1000 hope they work, because it’s getting to the point where I’m having to take sick leave from work during the weeks when I get very little sleep because I can’t function for a full work day. And also because I’m afraid I’m going to drive my car into someone else’s.

In happier news: I’ve been getting a lot of reading done. I finished American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, and The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers by Thomas Mullen. The first was looooong and kind of boring at times, but mostly interesting. Wouldn’t say it was terrific, though. The Man in the High Castle was weird–I’m not sure Philip Dick’s sci-fi is my style. But I really loved The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers–it was pretty fantastic. I finished it in less than 24 hours. In fact, I went to the library yesterday after my doctor’s appointment (the library was right down the road and I had to take a lunch break anyway) and got Thomas Mullen’s other novel, which I think is called The Last Town on Earth. I also picked up George W. Bush’s Decision Points. But right now I’m about 100 pages away from finishing Kathryn Stockett’s The  Help, which everyone seemed to be raving about last year. I’m really enjoying it–I’m hoping I can finish it tonight  after I do my chores and before I head to Durham to play trivia; otherwise, I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what happens…

Speaking of chores–this may be the longest stretch of time ever that my living space has been clean. And by living space, I don’t just mean my 1050 square foot apartment–I’m including college dorm rooms and childhood bedrooms. I’m not saying everything perfectly neat; there are clothes piled on the dog crate and a couple of dirty dishes in the sink–but for the past couple of weeks I’ve managed, with the help of lists, to keep my apartment clean enough so that if I wanted to have company, I would barely have to do anything before I felt comfortable inviting them over. And I’ve even skipped some of the chores I’m supposed to do some days, too.

Better get to it so I can try to finish my book…