How's Life?

Well, my palsy is finally almost 100% improved! I am probably the only one that would notice I'm not completely back to normal, and I'll take it!

The past couple weeks have been crappy as far as food goes. Steroids, in combination w/a period from hell has resulted in a gain of about 5 pounds or so. And let me tell you, I feel bloated as HELL after 2 rounds of steroids! My face is so puffy it's not even funny!

So when I started this blog, I didn't stop to think about the fact that if you simply google my first name, Teale, with as rare as it is, my blog is one of the first things that pop up... and that means that family & friends can have access to this with pretty minimal searching. It's not that I have things to hide from friends & family, but it does make me apply a bit of a filter to know that people who know me IRL could read about things that potentially I don't want RL people to know about. It also means that things I write in here could be gossiped to other family members and/or my parents. This doesn't apply to those that I KNOW read my blog (Melissa, Amy), but to those who are laying low under the radar. So, to the few readers that are still around & have commented that they wonder what I'm up to lately and want some more personal posts... this is why they've been few & far between.

CVS Deals 10/20

I had been out of the CVS loop for a couple weeks when I was really ill, and last week I went and built up my ECBs to $7. I started last week w/only $1.50, so it was helpful to get some deals that got me some ECBs. So, this week I started w/$7 ECBs, and I ended up getting all this for only $4.38 OOP and earned (almost) another $7 in ECBs.

The lighting is a little odd, but you get the idea.... here's how I did it:

Brachs Autumn Mix $1.29 & earn $1.29 ECBs
Colgate Max Fresh (large tube) $2.99 & earn $2.00 ECB (also use a $1.00 coupon to make this item free)
Colgate Max Fresh (small tube) on clearance for $.75 & use $1.00 coupon for $.25 overage
2 Glade twin pack scented oil refills on sale for $3.99 each & use BOGO coupon, getting both for $3.99
Colgate toothbrush for $2.99 & earn $2.00 ECB & use $1.00 coupon
Powerade $1.69 & earn $1.69 ECB
2 Excedrin 24 ct (back/body & migraine) for $1.99 each & use 2 $2.00 coupons

I saved about $30.00 today by using coupons, ECBs, and shopping sales... good week!

Good morning!

I'm going to try to start being more diligent with my blog, but that also means being more diligent with reading & commenting others too! I will do my best!













The Bell's Palsy is still there... no telling when it will fade away. I'm hoping by the end of the month! Eddie and I have a wedding to go to in early November, and I would love to not be palsied for that! Here is a picture of what I look like... this is me smiling. You can see how one side just doesn't work!

It's ok, you can laugh... I look kinda like a pirate. LOL

This weekend (before the palsy set in), Eddie and I went to the pumpkin patch & had some fun at the Halloween store. I don't have the pumpkin patch pics on this computer, but here's one of us having some fun w/the Halloween items at the costume store!

In other news, I did some CVS-ing for the first time in a couple weeks. I had used up almost all of my ECBs when I was sick & needed meds, but was broke as a joke... so I was pretty much starting from scratch, with only $1 ECB. I needed toilet paper, then there was also a good Swiffer deal where starter packs were on sale for about $7 & I had a $5 coupon, then I also had a coupon for buy 1 starter pack, get diff starter pack free. On top of that, they had an ECB deal with it, where if you spend $10 in Swiffer-ness, you get $5 ECB back. Then of course there are always toothpaste deals. On sale for $3, I had 2 coupons I could use (manf & CVS), saving me $2, and I earned $2 ECBs. All in all, I got those 4 items for $6-something & tax, making it $8 something, and I earned $7 ECBs. Not too bad, and it got my stash built up a little! I also joined some kind of CVS feedback group that will randomly send you surveys, in exchange for ECBs if you qualify. I qualified for one that's coming up this weekend & I'll earn $10 ECBs for it. I'll take it!

I weighed this morning, and as expected was up just a bit. But, it is what it is, and I'm not worried at all about it. I am on my 2nd round of steroids in 2 weeks, and I'm due to get my period this weekend. Usually I'm bloated during my period, rather than before though, so this probably has nothing to do with Flo.

Starting Weight: 321.8
Current Weight: 308.4
Total Lost: 13.4

So, a little over a pound gain... no biggie!

Watched The Biggest Loser last night & actually participated in the live blog chat over on Krissie's blog since FB was out of town. Usually I read FB's summaries (even though I watch the show, her narration of it is great!) and catch up on everyone's comments then... I don't know why I don't participate, I sit there watching the show w/my laptop on my lap anyway, doing other stuff. Colleen is by far my favorite this season. I thought she was a knockout when she came to the show, but she just keeps getting hotter! She will definately be one hell of a bombshell come the finale... and her cute Daddy will have to beat the boys off with sticks! Brown (the Poop Troop) isn't irritating me this week as much as they have in the past... maybe b/c Brady kicked some serious tail on the day-long hike... he ran over 20 miles! That is just freaking amazing. If he keeps his mouth shut he's pretty good looking too. Just keep your mouth shut, Brady... and tell your wife to do the same! Oh goodness, and someone else I wanted to put a sock in it last night was Heba. Maybe it's b/c we are somewhat similar in personality (like to take control, enjoy the center of attention, LOL)... but if I had to hear her wine about how her husband went home ONE MORE TIME, I was going to scream. Colleen's dad went home, and she didnt turn into Miss Whiny Pants, bringing it up at every turn. She just turned that sadness into energy to kick some serious booty... and Heba needs to do the same! Anyway, enough BL banter...

Hope everyone is doing well with whatever is going on in their lives right now... update me, let me know whats new with you since I haven't been a good blogging buddy/reader/commenter lately!

If it's not one thing...

...it's another.

I finally fully recovered from my last ailment... Tonsillitis From Hell. Only to wake up this weekend to one side of my face being completely expressionless & weak. Lucky for me, a friend of mine recently had Bell's Palsy after a bad infection, so I knew what was going on... otherwise, the first thing you think of when you have facial weakness is a STROKE! No stroke here...

So, friends & family encouraged me to call the doctor, just to be sure, and so I went. Annnnd it's Bell's Palsy. For those that don't know, it's a condition that happens randomly sometimes due to one of the nerves in your face/head getting inflamed. It happens pretty much overnight, lasts as long as it sees fit (sometimes days, sometimes months), then most of the time, just goes away on it's own as quickly as it arrived. The doctor gave me some anti-viral meds and some more steroids (as if I hadn't been on enough as it was). So I'm pretty sure the steroids this time around will cause a gain, which is to be expected with a double round of them in the same month.

The condition isn't painful, just exceptionally annoying. I can't smile, wrinkle my nose, move my eyebrown, or even blink my eye willingly. The eye thing is the most problematic. Because I can't blink, my eye gets dry... and when your eye gets dry, it starts watering like crazy to lubricate itself. So, I have a runny eye. And I have to TAPE it shut when I sleep.

I swear, when it rains, it pours! The past 4 or so months have just been one thing on top of another for me! At the end of June, I injured my right shoulder. Doctors thought it was a rotator cuff issue, and I went through 4 weeks of occupational therapy. That didn't help, so I got sent to physical therapy for 4 weeks. That didn't do much good either, so I got sent to an orthopedic surgeon. He did an MRI and wants me to have an EMG (nerve test) later this month. However, in the past couple weeks, it's been an improvement & it no longer hurts. Meanwhile, the week before my birthday last month, I got an upper respiratory infection and missed 2 days of work. Went back to work for a week, then developed horrible tonsillitis & got tons of sores in my mouth & missed 5 more days of work. I finally recovered from that, and now this. I THINK IT'S SOMEONE ELSE'S TURN, POWERS THAT BE!

So anyway, there's a little update on me... how are you doing?!

Progress

After a round of steroids and a week of bed rest, I am finally feeling better! Most folks blow up when they're on steroids, but the only 2 times I've been on them, I've been severely ill & have dropped more than 10 pounds in that week.

I'm down on the scale again, but thankfully with a more reasonable number. I'm down 2.6 from last week, which is putting me closer to the 200s again! Wahooo!

Starting Weight: 321.8
Current Weight: 307.2
Total Lost: 14.6 pounds

Wednesday's WI

Guess I forgot to post over here, but from last week's WI, I am down 12 pounds. This is skewed by the fact that I have been sick & haven't been able to eat much though, so if in the next couple weeks a little of that weight comes back on (eating, coupled with the fact that I am on a round of steroids), or is slow to drop, I'll know it all evens out.

Starting weight: 321.8
Current weight: 309.8
-12 pounds