Bread anyone?

Well it is Sunday morning and my sons friend is still here with no idea of when or even if they plan on picking him up.

My shoulders are still quite sore and I am stumped as to what may be causing the pain. I did have 5 stellate ganglion blocks at the C-6, which would be one of the nerve roots involved in the area that hurts, but I have not found anything that links the blocks to arachnoiditis.

What I was thinking is that if there is a link to arachnoiditis is it possible to develop it at 2 separate sites in the spine. One would be at the L5/S1 and the other would be between the C5/C6 with the lumbar site causing pain in the lower back and the cervical spine location being the cause of the shoulder pain.

It has not gotten much worse over the last few days but it is enough for me to notice it and have it keep me from sleeping comfortably. I thought maybe trying to sleep in the recliner would help alleviate some of the pressure on the shoulders. It did have some effect and I was able to catch some Z's it eventually woke me up when I tried to sleep on my side.

When I see the doctor again I will ask him. I have an appointment in 3 weeks for him to go over the results from the EMG, some of which I already found out. When the doctor was running the test he did tell me that the nerves from the S1 were showing limed response. Whether that means it is damaged from the earlier spondy or from the arachnoiditis he could not say. While I am not a fan of the MRI I would guess that between his findings on the EMG and the pain in the shoulders that they will most likely want to perform another one to confirm what is going on.

Even though this morning I am a bit sore I am in a good mood. The nice weather of the last few days has ended and they are calling for some snow tomorrow but I am still feeling good. I thought that maybe later on I might bake some bread or some cookies. If I make the bread I was thinking about 4 loaves of wheat bread for sandwiches, 2 loaves of Italian bread for garlic toast and maybe a loaf of Challah Bread, just because it is so good.

It is not as much as it sounds really. I received a kitchen aide mixer for Christmas a few years ago and it has a dough hook. It makes the process so much quicker, so I can crank out a good deal of dough in about an hour. While it is something that is "fun" to do it is also much cheaper then buying it. I can make the 4 loaves of wheat or even just white bread for the cost of 1 store bought loaf. It is amazing how much they charge for it now, a loaf of Wonder Sandwich bread is $2.79 here and specialty breads? Forget about it, they can be $6 or more even from the mom and pop bakery in town. Of course there is also the fact that my bread has nothing extra in it, no preservatives or any other garbage and my son loves it. If I bake once or twice a month and freeze the extras it is enough to last us several weeks.

I have to say that there is nothing better or more satisfying then having some pasta with homemade garlic bread! The next thing I want to get and learn is an ice cream maker. I love ice cream but again, it is expensive and I am sure making it home is not only better for you but cheaper.

I guess I have always been an artisan but never knew it until I got the job in the brewery. My folks opened a bed and breakfast when dad retired from the military and they had an "industrial kitchen" where you could usual find me cooking something up. Since I was a kid I loved to cook and still do. The brewing job just made me realize that there is much more out there then what you can buy in a grocery store. After hitting all the "gourmet" food stores like Wild Oats and Whole Foods I realized that I could make all the stuff we were buying and I could make it just as tasty if not better.

I have also made my own cheeses before but that is one craft that can actually be more expensive then buying it. Some of the items that are needed to make it are quite expensive as well it can be time consuming. I do however like to make my own mozzarella, there is nothing better for pizza margarita. Of course I also grow my own herbs too so that when I make my pizza it us on a crust that I made, topped with a homemade pizza sauce, homemade cheese and homegrown basil.

My kitchen aide also has a sausage attachment so one of these days maybe I will put it and the meat grinder to use.

I guess what I am really trying to say is that being in the kitchen can be fun, healthy and save you tons of money.