My Nose, and other things.

Olfaction:
Is there such a thing as an over-sensitive nose? A super sensitive sniffer, if you will? I seem to be able to smell things that no one else can. When we had our two (yup, that's TWO) gas leaks, I smelled both of them first, before Ben could. One of the times, the repair person from the gas company said she was even surprised I could smell the leak, because she couldn't even smell it. The leak was definitely there, since her gas-detecting contraption thingy (that's the official term for it) said there was a leak, but apparently it wasn't very bad.

Also, I am constantly taking out our trash. I'm always complaining that "our house smells!" and emptying the trash can. I also am annoyed that our trash can seems to absorb the trash smells, and they never go away, even if I change the bag every day, let it sit outside overnight to air out, wash the thing out, etc. We've even recently replaced our trash can because the old one just got too smelly, and guess what? The new one already smells. I think the smells must permeate into the plastic. I've thought about buying a metal trash can to see if it is immune to smell permeability, but I just can't stomach spending $50+ on a metal trash can.

Stupid nose.

Portrait Painting: (This is long and probably boring, so feel free to skip it)
I've started portrait painting again! I'm working on a small test-portrait right now, and will probably do a few smaller ones before I start on something serious, just to help me get back into the swing of things. I'm surprised both how easily some things came back to me, and also by how much technique I've lost by not painting for so long! The color mixing and matching have come back really well, and I forgot how much I love painting skin tone! There are so many different colors that make up skin tone! What's kind of funny is that I've struggled a little bit with my highlighting (lights) but not my shading (darks). I know I have the tendency to not be bold enough with both of those, so I'll have to work on that a little bit more.  The thing that surprised me the most, though, is how much of my actual brush technique I lost (I don't even know if that's the correct term for what I'm talking about, but that's what makes sense to me). I really struggled with figuring out which brush to use, and how to pull or push or smoosh it across the canvass to get the effect I wanted. I could feel in my hand what I wanted to do, but my brain couldn't get the brush to do it, or it couldn't remember which brush to use or which angle to use it at in order to get what it wanted. Does that even make sense?  It used to be so effortless! I would just pick up the brush and paint! Maybe I'm over-thinking things now? Any way, I'm sure it will come back with time and practice!

Sleep:
Remember how I'm the world's worst sleeper? Well, two things were really helpful with that these last few weeks. First, when we had my dad's dog, he would herd us both to bed at a decent hour. He was warm and snuggly and I would be lulled right to sleep when he was lying in the bed with us. Also he made sure we got up at a decent hour too, by stirring and getting in and out of the covers. Brilliant, and totally cute. Second, I got that Wake-up Light. That things is pure bliss! I would seriously headline an infomercial for that thing, that is how much I love it. BUY ONE!  Between that and the dog, my sleep habits were whipped into shape in about 2 weeks! My recent foray into the world of beta blockers has put a little snag in this, but mostly it just makes me want to sleep all_the_time, so it's not so bad. I'm sure I'll get used to it soon!.

And that's it. I'm off to empty the trash. :)

Week 1 on Atenolol.

So, I've been on Atenolol (beta blocker for SVT) for about a week now and I have mixed reactions.

Things I don't like:

• It totally masks my low blood sugars, but I was aware that it could do that so I've been prepared for that. I've been wearing my CGM more and testing more to stay on top of that, but I've definitely tanked a few times before catching those lows! Crazy! 
• It's given me a crazy bad headache for like 4 days, but it's not so bad that I can't function. And today I actually haven't gotten one, so maybe I'm adjusting?
• It makes me exhausted! But not all day long, so that's good. I was also informed that this might happen, but that after about 3 weeks, you kind of adjust to it.
• It doesn't seem to have really stopped my strange heart palpitations. The first few days were okay, but I've had a ton of them since then. 

Things I like:

• It has definitely lowered my heart rate, and while I'm still having tons of palpitations/flutters/heavy heart beats/skipped beats, they don't seem as intense, if that makes any kind of sense.
• It makes it SOOOOOO much easier to work out! Before atenolol, my heart rate would sky rocket to like 175-180 bpm within the first 10 minutes of working out. I'd be out of breath, and ready to stop and the whole rest of the work out would be so labored. Now, it barely hits 140 and I feel like I can work out forever! It makes me wonder how long my heart rate has been high, because I've been feeling this while working out for years. My heart rate has always skyrocketed really fast (I always remember having a really high one in high school when we'd measure it in gym class), but I haven't had the weird palpitations, etc. until this year.  Interesting. Any way, I just know that working out has been so much more fun this last week! Woot.

So, the verdict's still out. There are other beta blockers I can try if this one doesn't work or if the side effects are unbearable, so it's good to know that I can find something else if this one is not adequate.