Just a Saturday, and some news!

Hey friends!

I hope you’re having an amazing weekend? What are you up to? I would love to know!

I got home about half an hour ago. I went to the doctor this morning, then we ran some errands (we found a way to pay less for our cell phone services, so took care of that), we did some shopping and bought Rosa a huge toy that she loves. Then I went to my mother’s house to see her and to pick up my sister who was going to my uncle and grandma’s house for lunch and then home with us. After lunch we went to the city to pick Rui’s brother up, he is also staying with us until Monday.

Lunch was nice, I got to meet my uncle’s new girlfriend whose name is… Rosa. Yep. My dog and my new aunt share a name. None of them is offended.

My uncle is an amazing cook and makes perfect desserts, so we had a great bacalhau dish and some chocolate crepes with whipped cream. It was yummy! It’s difficult for me to go to that house because there are so many memories. My grandfather lived there until he did, my sister and I lived there with my grandparents for many many years, while my mother was working abroad. It’s a sad house now. And the village too. Holds too many memories. Memories of people who are no longer living, people who used to be my friends but are no longer in my life. People I would give anything to be close to again. Those things make me sad. And then… you have my grandmother. Who is there, but not really there. She’s lost, somewhere in her mind. Somewhere in here fewer and fewer memories of her life. She’s with us, but she hasn’t been with us for many years. We are with her, but it hurts so bad. There’s nothing more hurtful than to mourn the living.

So after lunch, we went and picked my brother-in-law up from his apartment in the city. Then we came home, but stopped for some groceries. Some things we needed for tonight’s dinner and for next week. We decided against pizza and we are grilling some meat instead, with fries and a salad. I bought avocados to try again, because I have only tried them once and didn’t like the taste. I know they’re really good for you so and would love to add them to my diet, so I’m gonna try again. I also bought some frozen berries, for my oatmeal. Someone suggested to try that and I thought it was an amazing idea. I bought 750 g for 2,99€, which I thought was cheap, since they last for a while. We also needed some basics, fruit (I got kiwis, bananas and oranges, since we have a ton of apples left), bread, milk, eggs, napkins, charcoal for the grill, and orange juice. We got some onions to plant too. Red and some other kind. We are doing a huge garden this year!!

I’m trying to limit our grocery budget. For the last two months we wrote down all of our expenses and realized were we were spending too much. Communications was one of the areas we were paying too much for, but it’s now taken care of. The other big shock was groceries. 250ish for two people. Nope, cannot be. My mother spends 300 for 3 people and they buy cookies and soda and some expensive detergents. We are spending too much! I’m in charge of limiting our grocery expenses to 150€ per month, including toiletries and detergents. 175€ is the maximum and only because my new food choices ask for some expensive things like seeds, dried fruits and whole wheat pasta and brown rice. Anyways, I will do my best to keep our food shopping at that amount!

We also bought some cute little bunnies with Easter eggs for our little cousins. We are spending Easter with Rui’s family and we always give a little present to the girls. We still need to buy things for everyone else, but I’m glad that we are done for the kids. One less thing to worry about.

So, what’s the good news?

I went to the psychiatrist this morning. Rui went in the room with me this time. I asked her if he could and she said yes, which was good because he can tell her things that I forget! I told her about my lifestyle changes, about how much better I feel and she was happy and impressed. She said that I obviously needed this but didn’t know it or was unwilling to admit it. Rui told her about the blog and how he thought it was one of the best things in my life right now. She was interested so I told her more details and how I met such amazing people, some going through the same issues. I told her how much support I would get from those people and how amazing I felt because I was writing again (I used to write many years ago, fiction at the time, and one day I just stopped, until now) and because people were interested in reading what I write. She was happy about everything I told her and told me that she could see improvement. She said that my neurons are healing because, without the work stress, they can “accept” the medication better and heal properly!! So my brain is doing better hahaha. Rui told her I was a totally different person, which made me really happy. He has been in a better mood (I know you will read this, you little shit), and I’m relieved by that, because I never wanted to burden him in any way. He seems happier and I know it’s because I’m so much better.

And that’s it guys. Those are my news, for today. I’m so sore from the cardio video I did yesterday. Those are some powerful 15 minutes. My thighs and arms are not happy…

But I am 🙂

At least for today. Tomorrow we’ll see!

Love you, friends.

xo

Cheila

*Picture is the view from my grandmother’s house. It seemed appropriate for the post.