Pneumonia

I went to the doctor’s office last Wednesday for a high fever and a cough. After a blood test and urinalysis, they could not deduce what was wrong with me. They sent me home with some samples of Maxifed which is an expectorant mixed with pseudoephedrine. I guess they thought I wouldn’t have a problem with it since my BP is low. No, it made my heart pound a little and gave me a panic attack. On top of that, I wasn’t feeling any better. I was really worried (a side effect of the Maxifed) that I might have something really serious like emphysema or lung cancer. So I went back and they took some x-rays. When the doctor told me it was only Pneumonia, I was thrilled! I started to feel better just a few hours after my first dose of antibiotics. She also gave me an Rx for an inhaler and made me get Mucinex, which I think is helping.

On a similar note, I called my dad tonight because I forgot his birthday (it was the 17th) and I asked him how his birthday was. He said it wasn’t great because he had injured his back at work, had dental work done that day, and had a sinus headache. The two of us are just falling apart!

Things I’ve Tried Since I Became A Vegetarian, That I Probably Wouldn’t Have Tried Before

Wow! That’s a ridiculously long title! I just want to tell you about some foods I’ve tried since I became a vegetarian 18 months ago. I don’t think I would have tried any of these things otherwise.

- Indian food – I wanted to try Indian food for so long, but was afraid and don’t know anyone who was willing to take the leap with me. About 8 months ago, I saw a curried rice microwave meal at Target for $2 and thought “I should try that, what’ve I got to lose.” I LOVED it! I have tried a number of other dishes since and have loved them all. I hope that I will be able to visit an Indian restaurant soon, so I can enjoy fresh food and ask questions of knowledgeable people.

- Pad Thai – I’m not a big fan of Chinese/Japanese food and I recently discovered that my favorite Asian restaurant is a fraud (but that’s a different story). I tried pad thai noodles and was instantly hooked! the spice combination is perfect!

- Avocado – Just bought one for shits and giggles and my Grandmother suggested eating it sliced with grapefruit which was pretty good. Then I bought more and made fresh guacamole, which is one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.

- Blue-green algae – A superfood because of its protein and antioxidant content. I tried it mixed into grapefruit juice as per the raw foods cookbook Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis. It tasted great, but upset my stomach. I will definitely look for other ways to incorporate blue-green algae into my diet.

- Wheatberries – Tasty and nice texture, packed with protein and fiber

- Veggie dogs – Tried three different brands, can’t remember which ones, hated all three with a passion. They were the most disgusting thing I’d ever eaten. On a slightly different note, I do like Morningstar Farms “Corn dogs.”

- Vegan cheese – I tried one brand of “vegan cheese” that shall not be named and I did not like it at all. It tasted funny, melted oddly, and wasn’t really vegan in the first place b/c it contained casein (a milk protein). Then, on the recommendation of Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, I tried Follow Your Heart “Mozzarella” and loved it! It tastes better than real cheese b/c it doesn’t have that weird “rotten milk” aftertaste that I’ve hated since birth.

- Vegenaise – delicious, just as tasty as real mayo, but healthier

- Amy’s products – I really tried this brand out of necessity, none of Amy’s products have any kind of meat product in them. The soups are amazingly good (even the low-sodium ones), the tomato sauces are out of this world. I can’t wait to try more of this brand.

- Smart Lean – LOVE their Italian “sausage” and their “bacon.” I’ve used these products in foods I’ve cooked for church potlucks, and gotten rave reviews.

- Yves “pepperoni” – amazing, tastes just like pepperoni

That’s all I can think of right now, I hope to add many more at a later date.

Bad Drivers

I can’t figure out why people (men mostly) are convinced that women are such bad drivers. Men are typically bad drivers; that’s why their car insurance premiums are higher than women’s! The worst drivers I know are all men except one (I’m not going to name any names). The worst driver I’ve ever known is convinced that he’s the best driver in the world. Of course, he suffers from a number of delusions.

I like to look at bad driver videos on YouTube as much as anyone; they’re usually good for a laugh. The other day I was quite upset by the number of “bad woman driver” videos that came up. Even more upsetting was the fact that it was mostly the exact same video reposted by 50 different people (another pet peeve of mine). Is it really necessary to repost someone else’s video? If the video is really that great, it’s not going to fade into obscurity. Just to clarify, this reposting phenomenon that I’m referring to does not include videos of similar shows, events, etc. that may have been recorded at the same time by different people.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand. I came upon this video which was quite frustrating to watch partly because women like this perpetuate the myth that women are bad drivers and partly because I wasn’t there park the car for her which would have taken me 30 seconds as opposed to the almost 6 minutes she took. Enjoy!

Nikki Giovanni @ Books-a-Million

My mom and grandmother and I went to see Nikki Giovanni at Books-a-Million Wednesday night. It was disappointing in some ways but good in other ways.

If you don’t know, she is well-known poet who has taught English at Virginia Tech since the ’80s. I first heard of her when my 4th grade teacher made everyone in our class memorize “Winter Poem.” I’ve been a fan ever since.

When I was a student at VT, I minored in english lit, but was still unable to get into her African-American lit class.

Anyway, this was the second time I’d seen her. The first being at the SC Book fair 2 years ago. I got her to sign my copy of The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni. This time around she was promoting her new book Bicycles. My mom bought me a copy when she went to the bookstore Wednesday afternoon to get our tickets. So I got that signed.

One of the things that was disappointing was that the bookstore people gave us the impression that Nikki would write whatever message we wanted on the title page (they gave us sticky notes for this) but really it was just to write our name so she would spell it right. The other thing that disappointed me was that she had to get political. I really don’t want to say anything more about that.

Overall, it was a good time. She can be very funny (She claims that Oprah can’t stand her!). She read 3 poems from the new book: Free Huey, Deal or No Deal (yes, it’s about the game show), and My New Car. It was such a treat to hear her read. Overall, a good experience.

My cat’s wildest dream come true . . . almost!

We bought a real pine wreath this year to help support our church’s youth group, who sell them every year. We hung it on our front door the next day and about a week ago we noticed that a couple of finches had taken residence there when they flew out at us upon returning home that evening.  One or both of them flew out at us on a few other occasions, too.

Tonight, however, was a different story. We were about to head out for dinner when we opened the door and one of the finches flew into our house. I knew this was going to happen! We freaked out because we weren’t sure how a bird would react in this circumstance or how to get the bird out. We did not want to leave the house with this bird still in it.

It didn’t take the cat long to wake from a deep sleep and see that there was a bird in HER house.  She began to stalk it, but it eluded her and us for nearly 20 minutes. We tried guiding it with a broom, we closed all the doors in the house in order to keep it contained to the main living area, and opened the front and back doors. After we saw how much it liked sitting on the ceiling fan, we turned it on to deter it from sitting there. None of this worked at all.  So I called animal control, who had closed for the day. I called their emergency number and got transferred to the SC Dept. of Natural Resources who took a message. Our tax dollars at work!

My grandmother, who is quite the bird lover and a frequent customer at a store called Wild Birds Unlimited (where we buy our birdseed), suggested we call them for help. Luckily they were still open and a very knowledgeable woman talked me through how to get the bird out of our house without harming it.  First of all, chasing it with a broom and turning the ceiling fan on were both bad ideas (although the bird really seemed to know better than to go near that moving fan!). Since we didn’t have a net, she suggested using a sheet or umbrella to guide it out the door. While I was listening intently to what she had to say, my mother turned out all the lamps and Christmas lights because she thought it might be attracted to them.  I guess she was hoping the bird would then be attracted to the porch light, outside! With the lights out, the bird did go to the foyer. So, I hung up the phone, ran downstairs, waved it towards the door and it flew out!

I did call the store back to let them know we got it out and to thank them again for their help. I will be writting a letter of commendation on behalf of this woman who so graciously helped us get this poor bird out of our house without harming him!

Where does the time go? Seriously?!

Wow, i really should write more often. It turns out that I started this blog right about the time my life started to get busy. Well, at least I’ll have something to write about! This past Sunday, our church had its charter service (the previous Sunday our charter was granted by the Presbytery, thus making us official) after 4 years of a lot of hard work by a lot of faithful and dedicated people who built a relatively large congregation literally with their bare hands. First, let me just say that being at the presbytery meeting and watching them vote to grant our charter was one of the most spiritual experiences I’ve ever had. The holy spirit was most definitely in that room and the joy that all of the New Kirk members felt at being officially declared a family was almost too much to take.

Yesterday’s services were also very moving. We had bagpipes (which always makes me emotional even though I haven’t got a drop of Scottish blood in me!) at the afternoon service. We had so many visitors that those of us on stage could actually hear the congregation singing for a change; I think that’s what made the music sound so much better! I hate to say I rarely pay much attention to things like vows when I am in the midst of a ceremony in which I am taking those vows (I have ADD, so cut me some slack!), so I can’t say much about that part of the service. I should add that I have been a Methodist all my life, but as of yesterday I am a Presbyterian. All that aside, it feels really good to belong to New Kirk OFFICIALLY! Now that we’ve gotten over that hurdle, it’s on to the next one-getting an actual building. We are supposed to break ground before the end of the year (within the next 6 weeks!!!).

God has taught me so much through all of these experiences, mainly humility and joy. I am merely a tiny little part of his vast kingdom, yet I am able to experience the joy that God offers us. Also, that Joy in Christ is far better than any worldy happiness.

Well, that’s all for now!

-Elizabeth

About me and why i’m here

I’ve never really had a blog before (MySpace doesn’t count), but I’ve read lots of other blogs and found plenty of interesting and useful information. I plan on writing whatever I feel like writing at any given time, but I figure most topics would be related to the most important things in my life: church, graduate school, family and friends. I also spend alot of time listening to music, reading,cooking, watching movies and TV.

About me-God is central in my life. It hasn’t always been that way; I got pretty wild in college! I belong to a brand new church in Columbia, SC (New Kirk Presbyterian) which is quite an adventure. We don’t have a building yet; we’ve been meeting in a school cafeteria for almost 4 years! I am currently working on my thesis in the hopes of earning a Master of Arts degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of South Carolina sometime in the near future. I belong to P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization); we raise money for grants, scholarships and loans for women. I’m a republican, a vegetarian, and an environmentalist.

Well, I’m sure I could go on and on about myself right now, but I will just let the rest unfold gradually over time. Stay tuned!