Well, Ron got the flu, poor baby. He had a fever of 101.7 for about 2 days. My naturopathic books tell me (and even the Merck Manual) to leave a fever alone. Your body will kill off a lot of virus particles with heat. If you take a fever-reducing drug, you're basically prolonging your illness. Ron didn't want to infect anyone so we stayed home 2 days until he had a normal temperature.

The first day I took our "local" bus to Krogers. We have 2 Krogers near our house. One is an "OK" Krogers, but I don't trust their meat or perishables for various reasons (I have my reasons). We usually end up going to that one, which is fine, they have the tea and the canned sugarfree sweet potatoes that I enjoy.

I don't have my own Metrolift, so no Ron = No trips. Work didn't need us, as it turned out. I still had plenty of products in my snack machines and we were able to handle all the stocking in a couple of hours today. Ron and I got some much-needed rest and he healed up without complications.

I can take the bus and I am familiar with this other Krogers. I went there and found some adorable little cake pans and some little loaf pans too. Walmart doesn't have the little cake or loaf pans, so I snatched them up. Ron's birthday is coming up in a few weeks and he loves "Orange cake" (more on this later). Now I can make him a lovely little cake, with filling. It won't make him fat because it'll be a mini-cake.

While I was there, I also got some instant milk. I got a horrible case of salmonella food poisoning, at a restaurant, the day we bought the house. I got so dehydrated, I lost 15 pounds in 2 days. I wanted to die. Ron had to get out the commode chair. Enough said. As a result, I am pretty lactose intolerant. If I just look at a dairy product, I'm going to need the bathroom. Urgently.

"Maybe I'm over that." I thought. "I won't be going anywhere tomorrow, I think I'll make a glass of instant milk at home and see what happens." I wanted to get instant milk so I can prepare a cup or so as needed, to do my baking. I don't see the purpose of buying a special bottle, when even the milk we sell at work retails for 80 cents for one cup. I bought the instant milk for 2 dollars or so, it makes 3 quarts' worth. That's plenty.

I called Ron, found out he wanted Popeye's red beans and rice, and got him his dinner. I caught the bus home, repaid Ron the money he loaned me (chicken, yes, but I'm not making him pay for my cake pans). I made some oatmeal muffins (not bad, not fantastic) and half a cup of instant milk.

The next day, Ron had a fever of 101, and I had a whopper migraine. I've eaten the rest of the batch of muffins with no ill effects, so it's got to be the milk. Yike.

That makes:
Chocolate (took me many migraines before I accepted it)
Milk (but I'm OK with yogurt, what's that?)
Nuts (or even nut oils)
MSG
and Artificial colors

All migraine triggers. Ron was really sweet, I just took my phenergan, curled up into a ball, and got out the ice pack for my head. He left me alone for hours, I got up, ate a little, took 900 mg of Lithium all at once (I am not getting manic on top of a migraine, it's hell - been there!), and went to bed early. I slept about 10 hours and still woke up tired!

I was pretty groggy at work but Ron praised me for being a "A really big help" and "Couldn't have done it without you." That's always great to hear. Ron still wanted chicken so we came home, and got some chicken later.

The orange cake? I got manic for baking around Ron's birthday about 10 years ago. I told him I wanted to make him a birthday cake. He said, he wanted an orange cake. I looked around in the ready-mix aisle. Nothing. The first cake I tried to make from scratch. It used egg whites for leavening and I didn't have a mixer. It looked more like a 2-layer pancake when it was done. Ron ate a little but not much. He loved my from-scratch frosting, though.

I bought a box of lemon cake mix from the grocery store, added orange extract and some orange zest, and baked it according to directions. I made the icing he liked and fixed it up for him. Half the cake was gone in a day or two. I threw out the "flat cake" which Ron said was a good effort and evidence "I tried".

Other years I was depressed, manic for something else, he didn't want a cake, or we were fighting. This year, I've got mixers, two recipes, and some cute mini cake pans. I might even make his and hers, lemon for me (all the cake mixes have artificial colors) and orange for him.