Ice Cream Headache

This happened about three months ago...

I created the blog post but I never posted it. Awesome Chick and I were talking to some friends and they said I should post it. So here it is......

I love all kinds of hats, even hats that I'm too much of a stiff to actually wear. I recently bought myself an Australian Outback brand Wax Cloth hat that sort of looks like the one Indiana Jones wears. The only problem was that it was a bit too tight. The large was tight but the extra large was way to big. I came up with this idea to really soak it with water and wear it around and see if it would stretch.

So I'm wearing this hat around the house that I'm keeping so wet water is dripping down my face. I don't know why but I decided to go outside. After a while, I'm not sure how long, the strokes took my sense of time, I start to get a headache. It starts to get really bad like my head is in a vice, so bad I'm getting nauseous. I'm thinking "this is the worst ice cream headache I've ever had".

I literally stumbled into the house, feeling like I was going to throw up. I reached up to grab my hat off my head and the darn thing was not only frozen almost solid it was frozen to my head! As awesome Chick and I jokingly say now I had turned my head into an Australian Outback popcycle. I had to lay on the floor with my head in the sun wondering if I had killed more of what brain I have left.

Well just like when you eat ice cream to fast my head thawed out and I went to our computer and logged onto the 9 News web site to check the temperature. It was only 20 friggin degrees outside!

I usually have these "stroke moments" when I'm alone. I can tell Awesome Chick is a bit concerned about the time when the weather warms up and I trade my indoor trainer in for riding outside.

Is my spell checker anti-Catholic?

I noticed today that the spell checker on my email and blogging clients, both Microsoft products, do not recognize the words:

prolife and Magisterium

However it does recognize prochoice and protestant.  Dictionary.com recognizes all these words. 

Cleaning Toilets

OK, so I have trouble staying focused. If somebody isn't directing me all the time I will get distracted and end up who knows doing what. When Awesome chick comes home at night unless I keep careful notes about my day, or keep recording in a digital voice recorder she got me I won't remember anything. So, my therapists came up with a plan.Awesome Chick puts a list of things I'm to do every day on a white board. When that list is complete, then I get to do things just for fun, like get on the computer and blog. This is a good system for me because it gives me as much structure as I can get when I'm by myself and it helps out Awesome Chick because I'm more consistent about getting things done that help her out.So today I look at my list! Dust and vacuum our bedroom, OK. Sweep and mop the hardwood floors, CHECK. Clean 4 toilets... WHAT??? Hold everything! I'm sure I've seen somewhere in the Americans With Disabilities Act that toilet cleaning is strictly out of the question. I know I've seen the ACLU win case after case where disabled people did not have to clean toilets. I just know Congress passed a law about it. First my Neurologist refused to list doing dishes and housework as official restrictions for me and now this!Oh well, it guess I'll survive. By the way; since I'm writing this and I don't get to get on the computer unless my list is complete I can assure everyone that our bedroom is dusted and vacuumed, the hardwood floors have been swept and moped and yes we have four sparkling clean toilets.

New Computer

Well our new computer came today. It's a Dell of course. What a nice change from the Lenovo piece of crap we dealt with for three months. It is like going from a bicycle to a Ferrari.

Ebay

Well today I made my first post as a seller on Ebay. Yep I'm in business for myself now. Well not really. I'm just trying to get rid of some junk and make a few extra bucks for some fun stuff. It's amazing how simple Ebay and Pay Pal (now owned by Ebay) make online business now days.

My Favorite Quotes

• "The secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage." ~ Pericles
• "All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." ~ Edmund Burke
• "Tis a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own." ~ Benjamin Franklin
• "Politically Correct nullities and mediocrities always deny merit. They always replace quality with quantity. But it's quantity that moves the world." ~ Oriana Fallaci

Technorati tags: Quotes, Oriana Fallaci, Edmund, Burke, Benjamin Franklin, Pericles

My Favorite Quotes

• "The secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage." ~ Pericles
• "All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." ~ Edmund Burke
• "Tis a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own." ~ Benjamin Franklin
• "Politically Correct nullities and mediocrities always deny merit. They always replace quality with quantity. But it's quantity that moves the world." ~ Oriana Fallaci

Technorati tags: Quotes, Oriana Fallaci, Edmund, Burke, Benjamin Franklin, Pericles

TIME.com: 50 Coolest Websites

Hey the title says it all! I haven't been through all the site but make sure you have a lot of time when you start looking at this article. Not only can you find 50 sites from 2006 but you can link to the same article for 2005, 2004 and 2003. Enjoy.....

Technorati tags: Cool Web site

Link to TIME.com: 50 Coolest Websites

Tequila Christmas Cookies

 Now this is a cookie recipe!  Thanks to one of my buddies on the Stroke Net.

Enjoy! Be sure and read to the end.
Christmas Tequila Cookies
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup (two sticks) butter
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups dried fruit (dried cranberries or raisins)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
2 cups all purpose flour
1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila (silver or gold, as desired)
First, sample the Cuervo to check quality.
Take a large bowl. Check the Cuervo to be sure it is of the highest
quality.
Pour another 4 ounces in a measuring cup and drink.
Turn on the electric mixer.
Beat one cup of the butter in a large fluffy bowl.
Add one teaspoon sugar. Beat again.
At this point, it is best to make sure the Cuervo is still OK. Try
another 4 ounces, just in case.
Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break two leggs and add to the bowl and
chuck in the cup of dried fruit, picking the frigging fruit off the
floor.
Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers, just
pry it loose with a screwdriver.
Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity.
Next, sift 2 cups of salt or something.
Check the Jose Cuervo.
Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.
Add one table.
Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.
Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall
over. Don’t forget to beat off the turner.
Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Cose Juervo and
make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.
Cherry Mistmas.

Source: Tequila Christmas Cookies - StrokeNet Message Board

Happy New Year

I'm really looking forward to the New Year. Everything was so new in 2006. It seemed like I was just along for the ride; if somebody decided I should do something that is what I did. Lately I've been trying to take more control of my environment and life. This is good for me but sometimes I think it drives Awesome Chick nutty. It must be an adventure to be married to somebody who is charging through life one minute and sitting down the next with no clue what he was doing the minute before. Of course AC handles it great.

During the last half of 2006 I turned a major corner emotionally. I'm much more accepting of my cognitive disabilities and even enjoy working out those compensatory strategies on my own. I've been coming up with ways that work for me. I've even been doing that in the therapy area to. We found a therapist that listens to what Awesome Chick and I decide is important for us to work on. Then she helps us understand what will help us achieve the results we want. Then we figure out things that fit into our life, our way of doing things and quite frankly things that we enjoy doing that will help achieve the result. It has been over a year since my strokes. I know that the chance of actual healing of my brain is very very low at this point. I also know that the sky is the limit as far as how much the quality of my life can improve and the number of ways that can happen are countless.

My son came home from college for Christmas. Wow was I shocked. He had a beard!!! I wasn't even sure if he was able to shave that peach fuzz I thought he had on his chin. I was also shocked because I've been wearing a beard the last few months, almost the exact same style. The big difference is one of us has a mostly gray beard and one of us has a very dark beard with not a hint of gray. I will leave it to the reader to guess which is which.  My daughter is in the process of starting a new business. She was in catering with her grandfathers’ food store. Now she is going to do interior decorating for people who just want to decorate their houses for a party. Wow, when AC and I have a party we budget how much we spend on beer and Doritos. I guess some people re-decorate their houses just for the party, then go back after.

That brings me to the next big event of the last part of the year. I was approved for SSDI. The long term disability insurance company I have required that I apply. That was no big deal because they also hired an attorney at their expense who did all the work. Awesome Chick and I just had a couple of phone conferences with the attorney and that was it, I got a letter that said I was approved. Wow, I've always wondered if Social Security would still be there when I retired so my wife and I have always really saved and invested. Now I'm on Social Security at 46 years old. Oh well, I'm dam lucky to have what I have.
On a solemn note I was watching some of the funeral for President Ford. Something occurred to me. We will probably never have a president again from the time of World War II. The people who fought that war, governed our country and kept our country going at home were my grandparents generation. I've always had huge respect for them. Tom Brokaw called them the Greatest Generation. I think he could be right. Although since 9/11/2001 I have seen many young people serving our country and their families that I have a feeling are made of the same stuff.

 

Technorati tags: Stroke Recovery, SSDI, Stroke

Source: StrokeNet Message Board -> The Journey Back