Is It Over?

The Anti-Depresant

I have had the unluckiest of unluckiness lately. Basically I'm coming off a cold, which is rare for me... especially since I've become a diabetic and a stroke victim... all that ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure stuff, and I'm getting another cold, or at least a piece of one. Not good. I'm also coming off the Lexapro. I've been wanting to do this for some time, but the holidays and the time needed to adjust etc, etc it just was possible until now. So I'm trying to come off some medicine and recover from a cold.

The Lexapro definitely has "something" in it. Because I walk around thinking my wife is mad at me for stupid reasons. Plus there is some kind of shock thing going on (like a buzzing in my head), and I have tried to ween myself off of it, it's the same either way. I am ready to come off of this though, I just need a little more time to adjust. But it's weird how a little pill, cut in half at that, can make such a difference. I think the world seems much darker now. But I still think that I'm better off without it, than to become a slave to it. I can say that even though I'm a slave to other drugs like high blood pressure and cholesterol, because of the stroke... for life. That seems kind of crazy. I know, why don't you just take the Lexapro and be done with it?

Because of what the drug does to your head. Pretty much. Maybe I'll fail, and I'll be forced to go back onto it again. But the buzzy feeling I have because of serotonin releasing or whatever is not good at all. If I stopped taking my other meds I would not have such adverse side effects.

I love google, looking up "stop taking Lexapro" and I see I'm not alone. Nobody asks "What happens when/if I stop taking _____". And the doctors don't really know anyway. I say all this not to tell anyone "Hey, look at me, I did/didn't do it". I really just need this so that I have a place were I can look back to as to gauge my progress and maybe tell others if they are looking at taking Lexapro, to look further and ask about what happens after. Nobody ever thinks about it.

That's all I'm saying, and I don't think Lexapro or any other "anti-psychotic"or "antidepressant" is meant to be permanent.

Traffic

We went to Georgia to see a friend over the weekend. It was all good except for traffic. And it was just along interstate 95, and only along the South Carolina part... some 8 miles. It was backed up. I mean bad. Once in Georgia it was fine, but otherwise, that was one back up that I just couldn't understand. Once in Georgia we got another lane and there was no accident or anything else, but the backup was still there some 5 hours later, when we were coming home. No traffic problem going northbound, but southbound... Yikes!

And when we getting ready to go to said friend's house, I could see the potential for new clothes, new shoes, new stuff... How many of us have seen the same? Getting ready to go somewhere, just two days after Christmas, surely we all had something new. And thus we did one daughter had new shoes, pants, and shirt, the other had new hair barrettes, I had on new socks... know what I mean?

Out with the old in with the new...

I Almost Died

It was on Christmas Eve and we were busy doing elf work... I trudged outside for like the hundredth time or whatever and I felt what I thought was a rock in my shoe. I went inside after I got whatever and took my shoe off to see what it was (it was actually a slipper).

And that's when I see the spider come out of my shoe. I kind of scream like a girl, not because I was afraid of the spider but because it was so close to me... Anyway my wife says "kill it". And this is a woman that pretty much takes everything she finds and sets it free, but this one time she said "kill it", and I did. See here:


And so I flattened it, with the same shoe it was living in. I feel bad about it, but at the same time I think the spider should have known better. I mean really, what did he think would happen from him holed up in my shoe? He never bit me, but he got squished all the same... little bastard, scaring the bejesus outa me....

Body Squeegee

I have some of my best ideas in the shower, or at least I think I do, it's just that I always forget them once the towel hits my body. Well this one idea involves my father. We grew up in this very small house in Gretna, which is just to the west of New Orleans, the white trash of New Orleans if you will. It was a 2 bedroom chalet, about 800 sq ft, needless to say there was only one bathroom. Me, my brother, and many times my father had to bathe together. I think the same held true for the females, but I can't say for sure.

Its when you are standing there naked with your father and brother (also naked) that moments of high intellect come through. See we didn't even have a shower, just a tub and a hand sprayer, kind of like the one many people have in their kitchen. For me it was not a problem, since I didn't like the shower, but anyway. My dad would squat down in the tub and take a shower, again me thinking nothing of it. Now I have 3 bathrooms, something I never even knew existed. How we grow huh?

So my father, never one to waste anything has this theory, or maybe motto is a better term. Basically you had to "squeegee" off all the water on your body, before you could dry off with a towel. If you're anything like me you're thinking.... WTF, I paid good money to have a nice towel... use it! Well, not him, and because of something ingrained into my head, not me either.

That is unless I catch myself, which is typically mid-squeegee and I don't even know if that really works...

Garden Update: Week 12

So it's Friday... Wha... Yeah I know I'm a little late. Ok a lot a bit late. this whole Christmas thing has got me off. So anyway I figured this would suffice for a movie review, because who has time to watch anything this week?

The week was beautiful, in the 70's, and then the bottom fell out and I had to cover everything back up. Notice that this also made it colder than a witch's ahem... you know and I still had to put things together for Christmas. But it will all work out.

If you look at the bottom of the picture you can see the spinach, but for whatever reason, the sprouts are turning yellow. Anybody know why? Otherwise it's been a quiet week.... for the garden.

Better Off.... Right?

Just a side note... the event didn't happen on Christmas, I'm posting this in advance, because life is crazy. So don't think I'm crazy or whatever because I posted this on Christmas... I'm crazy, just not like that. So with that enjoy a bit of my misery before the holidays on the holiday...

So why is it that when all children are trying to be good, and trying not to be naughty or EVIL, my kid, my oldest, instead tries to push everyone's buttons and we want to take all her Christmas presents, and basically... kill her?

I am trying to remain calm and keep in mind that she is a teenager, and they have certain issues to deal with. I also have the "broken home" issue to handle as well, but honestly the kid in mind anyway, has the absolute best bargain that I could possibly imagine.

Go back to 2004. I was living at the Suburban Lodge. My daughter and I had Christmas in a hotel room. Not a nice comfy room, and there was the added burnt smell that permeated everything, because my daughter read the conventional oven directions... only she was using a microwave. Basically, it was less than ideal. I had just moved here, knew nobody, pretty much just me and her.

I had presents and a "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree, so we were not completely out in the cold. But compare that to what we have now. A 2000+ sqft home, our health, two more people, and many other things... we are a lot better off.

So again I ask, why does she make me have to kill her? I know, I know, I can't really kill her... no place to hide the body. I'm kidding but it is frustrating when we have so much to be happy and thankful for, that we're stuck on stupid. I don't know, but my child successfully completing middle and high school is going to take a lot of my time.