RBOC

nicoleandmaggie

Apr 26

There's a new spindrift flavor called nohjito that is mint and lime and it is SO GOOD.
One of DC1's teachers sent an email to all hir students complaining about red and blue pens being stolen and students must bring in their own, so I sent hir 48 of each. Only $30! It is nice being rich. (Also I have a different last name than DC1 so no embarrassment for hir.)
Oddly no DC2 school requests for additional Kleenex this spring, at least not yet. There's a really bad cold going around but maybe it's keeping people home?
I'm usually a pretty pragmatic parent, but I'm bummed I can't go to see DC1 off (they do it on a weekday in September and I can't miss class and DC2 can't miss school). DH will be going and I guess they will be flying. There's no logical reason for this— a second parent won't be useful, I can do tearful goodbyes just as easily from home, the parent activities are there to keep parents out of kids' hair not for any real purpose (except financial aid sessions that don't apply to us). They even "symbolically seat" the parents apart from their kids at the combined events. But there is a little part of me that's sentimental and is sad about it. DH promises to take pictures.
Last spring/summer I seemed to develop some kind of lactose intolerance. So I stopped eating soft cheeses and ice cream (even in Europe-- this was a hardship, but also I didn't want indigestion!) Then I got Covid, and when I got back to full health, I seemed to have no problem with any milk products. The problems seem to be back. So I guess I will back off of lactose again. This is irritating because cheese in sandwich form or on top of crackers makes a good last-minute lunch when we're out of other things.
Speaking of intolerances, my allergies are INSANE this year. I think it's because they're using the wood chips that they usually use on the coasts instead of whatever woodchips they usually use around here. I don't know what the difference is, but my eyes turn red and itchy and start dripping along with my nose if I'm not anti-histamined up. Zyrtec is my best friend.
This Science Friday suggests I should not cold-turkey dairy but rather do the opposite and binge on it for a week.
For people who don't understand why referee reports in economics usually start with a summary paragraph... right now I'm responding to an R&R in an interdisciplinary journal (that is a field journal for econ, but it's clear we got non-econ reviewers) and I think that one reviewer and the editor think we did a study design that we didn't do, but that would be a heck of a lot clearer if they had provided summary paragraphs.
I need to remember to try magnesium when I'm feeling fatigued. I already know I need vitamin D (that, in fact, is doctor ordered). Vitamin B complex and Vitamin B-12 in particular seem to help pep me up as well, and I often remember those when I'm flagging, even though blood tests have not suggested I'm deficient. I have been taking a multi-vitamin (doctors orders at the last appointment), but sometimes the thought of a centrum causes revulsion so I take a children's chewable and that just doesn't do much. (Usually centrum is ok, though their women's mini gives me a horrible stomach ache, sometimes I take Rainbow One pre-natal, but that can also cause revulsion sometimes.) All of my problems (the newly discovered large amounts of white hair, chipping fingernails, fatigue, etc. but also my insulin resistance/PCOS more generally) seem to be linked somehow to Vit D or Vit B-complex or Magnesium or Potassium deficiencies, but I wish I had better control of when which vitamin supplements would help, and even more I wish I knew WHY. Like, I eat a pretty healthy diet-- how is it I'm deficient? Or is it all psychosomatic?