It’s like a beach blanket and a bottle of wine,
it feels something like summertime.
Bon Jovi
Something happened to me last week. Something I haven’t really talked about, even with my family. Something that was embarrassing, frustrating, and discouraging.
It’s funny, the majority of times I have tons to say but sometimes things happen, and you try to push them down, bury them, talking about it makes it real. I remember when I was a teenager, and I started to question my feelings for my boyfriend, who I’d had a crush on for years. I never said it out loud though. Until one day, I said, I hate the way he rolls his jeans. It was the early 90’s OK 🤣 anyways, as soon as I said that out loud, it was over. I knew it, my WinnipegBesty knew it, and my Dad knew it too… Because I also changed my hair colour 😜. That’s like this. I would prefer to ostrich this entire situation, like it didn’t happen to me.
But it did.
I have mentioned before, that my eyesight has bothered me a lot since my diagnosis. I try to think like a scientist and figure out the variables in my life in order to get a handle on my daily symptoms. One that I haven’t been able to figure out so far, is my eyesight. Some days it is blurry. Some days it feels like the left side of my face has had a stroke and my eyelid is hanging over my eye, leaving a dark shadow, like a hood over my pupil. Ninja says my face looks perfectly normal though! I talked to my optometrist and she said at face value my eyes look great. She gave me a prescription for progressive lenses, and I bought an every day pair and a pair of prescription sunglasses. They are amazing! Unless my eyesight is wonky. And then no glasses help. Sometimes my eyes are excruciatingly dry! The next day it feels like there is an oil on top of my eyeballs and they profusely weep. No rhyme or reason! Super frustrating! So my optometrist sent me to the eye specialist. I gushed to everybody, I love our healthcare system!
They called relatively quickly! Another bonus! They set me up for 2 appointments, 1 for tests and then another the following week to see the actual specialist. So 2 weeks ago I went in. It’s a very small waiting room and it was packed! A lot of elderly women brought their husbands for support and as their drivers. They were all taking up 2 seats as a couple. After waiting 45 minutes past my scheduled appointment time, a woman came in with her husband. She was about a half an hour early. There was only 1 seat available. One of the other elderly women offered to give up her seat . The woman that just walked in looked directly at me and said, “no. She can get up. She is young and healthy” and pointed directly at me. I could feel the heat rising. I started to sweat and my eyesight got all blurry. It’s like a physical panic attack when my symptoms flare. I said nothing. I didn’t know what to say. So I sat there, like an ostrich, with my head in the sand, ignoring everybody’s pointed stairs and just looked down at my hands. I was so grateful when they called my name. I stood up and took that first step and buckled. My leg didn’t support me and I went face first into the waiting room floor. I got up looked around and said, “I have MS.” I then dragged my left leg into the next waiting room, did both my test within 5 minutes and hobbled out of there as quickly as I could.
The next week I had to go back. There were more tests, more waiting rooms, and after an hour, I finally got into see the specialist! She asked me what was wrong, and I started talking. I laid out everything that I had been thinking about during my broken sleep over the past few weeks. I had the list of my eye issues, memorized and ready to go! As I was talking, she leaned forward and started squirting drops in my eyes! My head wasn’t even back. She hadn’t even introduced herself yet. She snapped, “put you head back.” Then I could taste it. I realized that the drops she had put in my eyes did not go in my eyes and were running down my face. It dripped right down into my mask! She didn’t even say sorry. She picked up a light shined in my eyes and then interrupted my list of grievances. She said, “your eyes are perfectly fine. It’s all in your head.” She then tossed a Kleenex at me and swivelled around. Apparently our appointment was over. I started to panic. This was my shot. To explain to her that I’m not being a hypochondriac, that the problems are real and yes, they could be in my head because MS is a neurological disease. I have lesions on my brain. It literally is… In my head! I needed to tell her. I needed her to listen.
She didn’t. I tried again. She dismissed me with some free eye drops. I thanked her for her time and dragged my left leg back to my van. Once I got there, I realized the drops she had put in my eyes were yellow. It ruined my mask, stained my shirt, and I had yellow all over my face. She didn’t even tell me! What if I had to go to work after my appointment?
I didn’t know what to do. I went to the beach. I sat there. I cried. I questioned whether or not, I was imagining things? I questioned whether or not these doctors were on my side? If they were part of my team? Today I have an appointment with my neurologist. Until then, I’m going to sing! Loudly! 😂
I think summer music is my favourite music of all. I know I say that about every season, but there’s just something about summer music that gives me life. Vitality! To me, summer music is inspired by blue skies, a hot sun, bush parties, staying up late, working at the farm and loud music blaring as you race down the highway on an epic road trip! Summer music is bonfires, a cold beer, and sticky barbeque sauce! It’s songs from our past and earworms from the present. I have over 18 hours on my summer playlist, but I narrowed it down to 30 that have been stuck in my head ever since temperatures went to double digits! If you’d like to follow me on Spotify, I am KmaeMaier and you can find my summer playlist HERE!
My Summer Playlist:
Strawberry Sunscreen * Lostboycrow
Shotgun * George Ezra
Geronimo * Sheppard
Feeling Good * Nina Simone
Story of My Life * Social Distortion
Wide Open Spaces * The Chicks
Fishin’ In The Dark * Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Hurts So Good * John Mellencamp
Sugar * Maroon 5
All These Things I’ve Done * The Killers
Relentless * The Arkells
Home For a Rest * Spirit of the West
Something Like That * Tim McGraw
Chattahoochee * Alan Jackson
Bitter Sweet Symphony * The Verve
Santa Monica * Everclear
Peaches * Presidents of the United States of America
Patio Lanterns * Kim Mitchell
Revolution * The Beatles
Godless Graceless and Young * The Glorious Sons
Miles Away * Goldfinger
Photosynthesis * Frank Turner
Mistakes * Tove Styrke
Every Day Should Be a Holiday * The Dandy Warhols
Three Little Birds * Bob Marley & The Wailers
Good As Hell * Lizzo
Super Duper Love * Joss Stone
Gold On The Ceiling * The Black Keys
Hard Road * Sam Roberts Band
Passionate Kisses * Mary Chapin Carpenter
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #330: Dr. Doctor HERE! This week after a few family medical appts. to discuss: local podcasters, Oliver, check stops, more eye Dr’s, the Palmer Files, Bryan visits, more Dr’s, SOW, & RIP Tuna Turner.
I want to share 2 recipes wth you this week!!! These 2 recipes come from one of my favourite food bloggers, Carlsbad Cravings. I love how colourful, flavourful and exciting her dishes are! The reason I am sharing 2 wonderful recipes with you is for a few reasons,
- They taste AMAZEBALLS.
- They can BOTH be frozen and make for perfect meal prep dinners.
- You can make BOTH dinners using ONE cooked rotisserie chicken!
That’s right! 2 dinners for the price of 1!!!!
These recipes are different enough that you can have them both in the same week and not get bored of the taste but pack enough flavour to leave your tastebuds wondering what happened?!?! 😂
Both of these dishes are easy (especially if you buy a precooked rotisserie chicken like I did), pack a lunch and are perfect for weekday dinners, especially in June when you are running out of ideas, it’s hot out and you just want something that don’t take much effort but tastes delicious! These 2 dishes perfect for spring/summer! Put on a summer playlist while you cook and ENJOY!
TIP: I use a foam jar gripper to open my jars. Especially now with my MS hands! This one works SUPER well and you can get it HERE!
Salsa Verde Honey Lime Chicken and Rice Bake
Adapted from Carlsbad Cravings
Adapted from Carlsbad Cravings
1/2 cooked rotisserie chicken
1 cup basmati rice
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups chicken stock
1 bottle salsa verde
1/4 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
1 can corn, rinsed and drained
1 4 oz. can mild diced green chilies
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 bottle salsa verde
1/4 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
1 can corn, rinsed and drained
1 4 oz. can mild diced green chilies
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Garnish: Tortilla chips, sour cream, cilantro
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Garnish: Tortilla chips, sour cream, cilantro
Add rice, butter, and chicken stock (you can use veggie stock or water too) to a pot. Season with salt. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat down to simmer and cover for 15 minutes. Once done, remove from heat and set aside for 15 minutes. That’s it. That’s my basic basmati rice recipe and it is foolproof!
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a very large bowl, whisk together the honey, lime juice, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper. Add cooked chopped chicken and let marinate 10 minutes.
Add 1 cup cheese, salsa verde, rice, sour cream, green chilies, and corn to the chicken and marinade. Stir until evenly combined. It will seem a little “wet” which is normal. Add chicken/rice mixture to a 9 x 13 casserole dish and top with remaining cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes or until hot in the centre then broil until cheese is golden.
Serve with desired garnishes.
Sweet Chili Chicken Enchiladas
Adapted from Carlsbad Cravings
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cooked rotisserie chicken
1 can pineapple tidbits in juice
2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
1/2 cup Asian sweet chili sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Asian chili sauce
1 can coconut milk
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4-5 flour tortillas
2-3 cups Monterey jack cheese, shredded & divided
Garnish: chopped green onions, chopped fresh cilantro, crushed roasted peanuts
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and the can of pineapple with juice to the skillet. Cover and reduce heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add carrots and peppers, cover and simmer 5 minutes more.
Whisk the Asian sweet chili sauce, honey, lime juice, chili powder, ginger powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and salt together.
Add 1 cup of the sauce to a medium saucepan and stir in coconut milk and cornstarch. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer until thickened, 1-2 minutes.
To the remaining sauce in the bowl, add shredded chicken/pineapple/carrots and stir until well combined.
Lightly spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Add 1/2 cup of sauce from saucepan and spread over the bottom of the baking dish.
Add a few spoonfuls of chicken/carrot/pineapple to each tortilla and top with a few spoonfuls of cheese. Roll up and place seam side down in prepared baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over tortillas and spread evenly. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350 F. Turn oven to broil and cook until cheese is golden brown. Garnish with chopped green onions, cilantro and crushed peanuts.
This week was a rollercoaster of ups and downs. I did some yoga and some meditation to help keep things in perspective. I read, hung out with the Doggo, and I was a guest on a podcast (more info on that later). I took the Kids to their annual eye appointments (theirs went better than mine thankfully), and then out for treats! SBean had a GREAT week! She had a fun field trip at the Penticton Public Works Yard and then went to LocoLanding with Grandma, Grandpa and Daddy! On the third try she finally made it to the top of the rock wall!!! It was her goal this year! After a fun evening, they went to Penny’s (as SBean likes to call Denny’s)!
The next day was HBear’s turn! She was unable to go to the Pen High Dry Grad fundraiser with SBean because she had to work but she got to go with The Foundry which has a stellar lineup of activities for teens throughout the spring and summer! Follow Crystal Foundrywellness on Facebook for upcoming free teen events over the summer! For the rest of the weekend, Ninja worked on the yard and the Kids helped out! I tried to help a little too and so did Oliver 😂. We ended the week with a bottle of wine (well Ninja did, red wine makes my symptoms flare 😡) and the Kids had a spa night. Wishing everyone a positive week as we move into June 💜💛💚💙💗.
2 thoughts on “MS Eyes, My Summer Playlist and How to use a Rotisserie Chicken 2 Delicious Ways”
We love chicken in any shape or form, so pinned this to come back and try out later.
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Both chicken dishes look delicious! I love Costco rotisserie chickens as they are so large and plump and so inexpensive.